From the "On The Scene" Archives:

by Hugo Perez

(indieWIRE/ 05.09.01) -- "I think that putting Doubletake together is like being a non-fiction filmmaker, with probably everybody saying forget it, don't do it, nobody wants to see these kinds of films," said celebrated filmmaker Barbara Kopple who received the Doubletake Documentary Film Festival Career Award over the weekend in Durham, North Carolina.

The fourth edition of the DDFF unspooled over the course of four days with screenings of 100 documentaries, including several world premieres and dozens of both aspiring and legendary filmmakers on hand to celebrate what has become the largest and most important festival for documentaries and documentary filmmakers in the United States.

Overall attendance at the festival almost doubled from 6,000 tickets sold last year to 10,000 tickets this year. Festival director Nancy Buirski and assistant director Karen Cirillo were perfect hosts, extending southern hospitality to festival attendees, and creating a relaxed gathering place for documentary filmmakers and audiences alike.

Festival highlights included three world premiere screenings of feature length documentaries. "The Press Secretary," Ted Bogosian's revealing portrait of White House press secretary Joe Lockhart is the first film completed through the Roland House High Definition Documentary Award, which provides the winner with a full High Definition production and post-production package. (Note: This year's deadline for submission has been extended to June 15.) "The Press Secretary" is most engaging in its verite moments when it shows the mundane and often comic slices of life in a White House apparently fueled by massive quantities of Diet Coke.

Bogosian was very pleased with his Doubletake experience You know why it's great' The feedback that one gets here with so many filmmakers present is really therapeutic. We do what we do as renegades most of the time, and to have the opportunity to show something to a group of independent filmmakers... it's a family reunion. It's just fabulous to be in this self-selected audience. It's a true privilege."

The most eagerly anticipated premiere of the festival was "ABC Africa," screening this weekend at the Cannes Film Festival, the first documentary in almost ten years from master Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami. Kiarostami's film is an intimate account of his travel to Uganda with documentarian Seifollah Samadian to make a film about children who had been orphaned by the aids epidemic. There was no middle ground in the audience for ABC Africa. Many spectators felt that the style of the film, which Kiarostami referred to as documentary 'notetaking' was slowpaced and lacked a narrative. Most audience members, however, were deeply moved including D.A. Pennebaker who extolled it's virtues and felt it was a lyrical, visual, personal essay that capitalized on the advantages of shooting with small format DV. "I felt like I was really seeing things the way that he saw them."

The third world premiere, Steve Earnhart's "Mule Skinner Blues," focuses on Beanie Andrew, a recovering alcoholic and showman who pursues his dream of making an Ed Wood-ian horror film with an eclectic assortment of his trailer park friends. "Mule Skinner Blues" is sure to find a niche with the audiences that made "The Cruise" and "American Movie" cult favorites. Subject Beanie Andrew was on hand at the screening to advise filmmakers in the audience; "Every one of you has talent. Just go out and do it."

Pennebaker Hegedus Films was represented at Doubletake this year by not one, but two new films. "Startup.com," opening in theaters this Friday, by Chris Hegedus and Jehane Noujaim sets out to capture the essence of the Internet revolution through the story of two college friends who launch startup company govWorks.com. The film succeeds with a narrative as dramatic and compelling as a Greek tragedy. With a debut collaboration, filmmaker Jehane Noujaim promises to be one of the leading verite documentarians of the post-2000 generation. Also screened was the much anticipated concert film, "Down From the Mountain" by Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, and D.A. Pennebaker. The film was a crowd pleaser as audiences occasionally sang along to the music of the country and bluegrass stars featured on the "O Brother, Where Art Thou'" soundtrack. Despite the fact that the soundtrack has sold almost one million copies, presently there are no plans for significant distribution of the concert film. "These films are like your children. You make them, and send them out, and hope for the best," said Pennebaker after the screening.

Documentary heavyweight Maysles Films was represented at Doubletake by the luminous "Lalee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton," directed by Susan Froemke, Deborah Dickson, and Albert Maysles, soon to air on HBO. It is a powerful and compelling examination of the institutional poverty faced by predominantly African-American communities in the Mississippi Delta.

Other recent Sundance participants included Bestor Cram and Mike Majoros, with "Unfinished Symphony," perhaps the most moving film screened at Doubletake this year. About the activism of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the film follows their staged bivouac at the Battle Green of Lexington Kentucky thirty years ago which posits civil disobedience as one of the most important tenets of a democratic society. The film unfolds in three movements corresponding to Henryk Gorecki's 3rd Symphony, and could not be more relevant to today's audiences given the nature of Democracy in America today. "Unfinished Symphony" is currently seeking distribution

"Gaea Girls" by Kim Longinotto and Jano Williams was one of the most engaging docs at this year's festival, focusing on life in the excruciating boot camps that Japanese girl wrestler wannabes must go through to achieve their dream of debuting on the Gaea Girl circuit. Unrelenting at times in it's verite proximity to the violent world of the Gaea Girls, this doc shatters any pre-conceptions audiences might have about the daintiness young Japanese women. indieWIRE recently interviewed director Longinotto about the film; you can read the interview at:

http://www.indiewire.com/film/interviews/int_Longinotto_Kim_010425.html

Also worth mentioning is the short documentary gem "Robodog" by Tim Bieber, a hilarious portrait of one man's attachment to his Sony robotic dog, which manages to be a strangely touching rumination on the nature of sentience.

Other notable films that screened at Doubletake include: "The Sunshine" by Phil Bertenson, "Bombay Eunuch" by Alexandra Shiva, Sean MacDonald, and Michelle Gucovsky, "Gimme Some Truth: The Making of John Lennon's Imagine Album" by Andrew Solt, "Gibtown" by Melissa Shachat, "Fidel's Fight" by Laurence Thrush, and "Soldiers in the Army of God" by Marc Levin and Daphne Pinkerson.

In addition to the screenings, Doubletake offered a slew of special programs including a Docuclub sponsored works-in-progress forum for three documentaries. "Sister Helen" by Rob Fructman and Rebecca Cammisa elicited very positive responses from the audience and promises to be one to watch in the next festival season.

On Sunday afternoon, after a southern style barbecue held outdoors, Doubletake Documentary Award Winners were announced. Heddy Honigmann's "Crazy," a gripping account of how music helped U.N soldiers cope with difficult situations in trouble spots around the word, received the Center for Documentary Studies Award. Honorable Mention was given to "Losing It," Sharon Greytak's rumination on whether other people with disabilities struggled with her identity as she did. The Jury Award was split between festival circuit favorite "Benjamin Smoke" by Jem Cohen and Peter Sillen and Marie Laubier's "Avant de Partir" ("Before Leaving"), an unsentimental portrait of life in a retirement home outside of Paris. The Audience Award was given to Stephen Ive's "The Amato Opera," an intimate account of a small family run opera house in Manhattan which was screened as a Docuclub work-in-progress at last year's Doubletake festival. The first MTV News: Docs:Prize for the film that best captures the essence of what it is to be a young adult was awarded to "Startup.com."

After the Doubletake awards ceremony, Academy Award winning, "Big Mama" director Tracy Seretean reflected on what made her Doubletake experience special, "People are just so accessible here. It's amazing to have people like Pennebaker wandering around. It would be like being able to walk up to Spielberg at an outdoor barbecue and talking about camera placement."

A more direct assessment was expressed by Mule Skinner Blues star Beanie, "I'm just glad to be somewhere where people are really doing stuff. Actually, I just feel happy to be alive."