Documentary Intentions, Online and Off


date | location: November 14-15, 2003 | The Department of Film and Media Studies at Hunter College, New York, NY

Facilitated by Martin Lucas (Hunter College), Meg McLagan (NYU) and Trebor Scholz (SUNY)


audience.jpgThe conference brings together artists such as Alison Cornyn, Caroline Koebel, Horit Herman Peled, Jenny Perlin and Alex Rivera with graduate students of the Department of Media Study (SUNY Buffalo), The Program in Culture and Media (Department of Anthropology, New York University) and The Department of Film and Media Studies at Hunter College, (CUNY).

Web-based documentary practices allow for audience participation, cross-connecting the multitudes. How does the Internet in this context become a useful tool for organizing and audience development? How do possibilities of large bandwidth, accessible to an increasing number of people in the US, change the approach to video distribution?

What do new low cost technologies imply for the politics of the image, particularly in a period when authenticity can be co-opted and sold readily? What is the relevance of a documentary intention in an age of digital manipulation? What are implications for production, editing, distribution as well as for producer "positionality."

julie.jpgFew would claim that the Internet fulfills its interactive potential simply by enabling peer 2 peer communications.  Formats like maiing lists, weblogs, wikis, instant messaging are exemplary tools for dialogue opening possibilities for building tmporary alliances.  What happens to the documentary pact when the interview and fieldwork give way to the interface?

participants: Alison Cornyn, Caroline Koebel, Horit Herman Peled, Jenny Perlin, Alec Rivera, Julie Perini, Shanti Avirgan, Christine Dierk, Orkan Telhan, Beth Miranda Botshon, Cortlan McManus, Elizabeth Knipe, Harlan Whatley, Eleana Kim, Swati Bandi, Ruth Goldman, Hector Canonge, Jennifer Uihlein, and Robin Brasington.

website: conference website

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