DoubleTake Docs Strong in First Outing; “The Farm,” “In Harm’s Way” and “Travis” Take Top Awards

The festival's definition of documentary film was expansive, including works ranging from Ken Burns' now classic talking-heads-and-images approach in "Frank Lloyd Wright" to Jem Cohen's lyrical narrative, "Lost Book Found." Many of the films were centered around political themes or issues of social justice, including Tim Kirkman's "Dear Jesse," an ironical ode to Senator Jesse Helms, "The Brandon Teena Story," directed by Greta Olafsdottir and Susan Muska, an investigation into the mysterious murder of a cross-gendered person, and Barbara Kopple's "Defending Our Daughters," alook at violent abuses against woman around the world.

The festival included one student film, "Man and Dog," by Randolph Benson, who is attending the Carolina School of the Arts. His 15-minute film presents an unflinching look at the work of an animal control officer. Benson found the festival to be "an amazing experience. Just being around all these people, seeing my name and my little film in competition with Ken Burns and Barbara Kopple, my idols and huge inspirations to me," he said.

Representatives from public television and several cable stations attended the festival, including HBO, USA Networks, Bravo, and Turner. Also in attendance were representatives from the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the Museum of Modern Art, and Fine Line Features. Festival Coordinator Karen Cirillo said that although no major deals were signed at the festival, she felt the festival was "eye opening for people who do have money, to see this work and be excited by it."

For many attending filmmakers, however, the festival represented a chance to connect with the audience and a community of documentarians rather than a hotbed of industry attention or funding. Jonathan Stack said the festival gave him "a chance to talk to people, to see some work, and just to enter into the kind of dialogue that gives you new ideas and inspires you to keep doing it." He found the festival-goers to be a "particularly engaged" audience, so that "the Q & A afterwards is at a level of discourse which is exactly what inspires making documentaries in the first place." He is planning on using his film stock award on a film-poem to New York, in which he'll film Manhattan while encircling the island in a kayak.

Johnny Symons, who directed "Beauty Before Age," a 22-minute film on ageism in the San Francisco gay community, said that "it was clear from the questions people asked that people really got it and were interested in it." He stressed the importance of making contact with his audience. "You make a film in isolation in a cutting room, and you want to know how people feel about it," he said.

Throughout the weekend, the screenings experienced a noticeable number of technical glitches, including poor prints, bad sound, halted screenings, and poor focus. The worst problem occurred during a screening of Bill Morrison's "The Film of Her," a 12-minute short on film restoration whose poetic, evocative visuals were completely out of focus for several stop-and-go minutes of projection time. Filmmaker Jem Cohen, who noticed the sound was distorted with an echo during the screening of his "Lost Book Found," expressed frustration with the festival's technical problems. "If they don't get the tech right, it's really difficult for people to engage with the work," he said.

Buirski acknowledged that there were many technical problems, attributing them to poor equipment and under-experienced staff getting "flustered." She stressed that "all the problems are solvable." The Carolina Theater, where most of the screenings were held, has promised to upgrade equipment for next year and she plans to budget for projectionists who are accustomed to the pressures of film festivals. Plans for next year's festival are already under way, although Buirski said she wants to leave time to "absorb" this year's festival before plunging ahead.

[Laura Phipps is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn. (Imagine that.)]