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Master Class & Workshop

Subject

Personal Documentaries and Documentary Making as a Personal Exercise With a Public Purpose: Looking at the role of geopolitical and cultural identities and personal histories to inform ones' documentary work

when

26-27

where

Université privée de Marrakech UPM // Marrakech

Michelle Medina // Morocco, USA

She is a filmmaker and writer in Casablanca, Morocco. Media graduated with honors from Smith College in 20115 and has written her thesis and lectured on Moroccan women in Cinema and identity. Michelle Medina received a Fulbright Scholarship in 2005 and returned to Morocco to create a visual project for her academic work. Medina was born is the US and raised in Japan under un-conventionanl circumstances that have influenced her vision of home, religion, and identity.

Introduction

Documentary for me is a personal exercise even if it's not about the filmmaker directly and focuses on an event of community. Personalized perspectives are relevant for audiences in this ever more globalized world. I often describe and defend documentary filmmaking by saying it's the much superior news reporting tool, which is true, but why? Documentary can be a reporting tool because it is shared with the public thus becoming instantly political yet remains extremely personal and personalized. 'Personal' does not mean being 'far from the truth' or 'irrational'. It often can hit a truth that standard media reporting cannot. "Personal" is important especially in a context where standard documentaries and the news are held up as being examples of neutral complete truth when most things have more than one narrative and one truth. Bringing the personal to the forefront is relevant and powerful for many reasons including disturbing central narratives and normative political constructs.

Categorie

Master Class & Workshop

Subject

Personal Documentaries and Documentary Making as a Personal Exercise With a Public Purpose: Looking at the role of geopolitical and cultural identities and personal histories to inform ones' documentary work

When

26-27

Where

Université privée de Marrakech UPM // Marrakech

Web page

http://www.michellemedinafilm.com/Home.html