Top Ten Links
Shannon Walsh
Researching documentaries is huge work. I visit thousands of sites in researching a film, and there is a lot of good stuff out there. I picked a handful of some of my favorites that keep me informed on the stories that are not in the mainstream media, and sites that keep my creative juices flowing…
1. Sub-Media- “Good Morning Slaves!” There are few sites we crowd around at my house quite like Sub Media. We laugh, we cry, we get informed, we get angry, and we get organized. Sub Media videos are full of great interviews, timely coverage, and witty, right on analysis of the crazy world we live in. Sub Media is also the mastermind behind the END:CIV film, one of my favorite radical docs at the moment that “examines our culture’s addiction to systematic violence and environmental exploitation…” http://submedia.tv/endciv
2. Montreal Media Co-op (http://montreal.mediacoop.ca), Vancouver Media Co-op (http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca), and Toronto Media Co-op (http://toronto.mediacoop.ca). This is where the real independent news from the grassroots is happening. This is where I turn when I want to get the low down on what is happening in this country that we aren’t being told about. The co-ops haven’t been around for long but they are really making waves. Tune in for what’s going on in your city, get involved in creating the news, and support this amazing initiative to continue growing in a time when the information is often controlled by a very few corporate powers. In the same vein as the media co-op, I must mention The Dominion (http://www.dominionpaper.ca), the progressive grassroots national magazine with longer stories and diverse coverage and writers from across the country. A vital independent resource to documentary maker.
3. Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands (http://oilsandstruth.org) This was an invaluable resource while I was researching H2Oil. Great information and analysis, maps and other useful links in understanding the largest industrial project in human history – right in our backyard. There is so much research and NGOs to wade through, Oil Sands Truth cuts right to the chase…I’ve also listed more links to oil sands research and websites on http://h2oildoc.com
4. Indigenous Environmental Network - This site has great information, analysis, and resources grounded in indigenous perspectives on environmental and economic justice issues. IEN is a great network and resource for any political work being done in a North American context. www.ienearth.org
5. Cinema Politica - If you want to know what documentaries people are making that are tackling some of the most relevant issues of our time, go no further than Cinema Politica. The offerings of public screenings with debate across the country (and now the world) are really incredible. An absolutely vital resource in the documentary world. www.cinemapolitica.org
6. Walking Turcot Yards (http://neath.wordpress.com) - I really enjoy this blog and read it frequently when researching St-Henri, the 26th of August. There is a huge span of information that has been accumulated by Neath since the 1990s on the south west of Montreal. Through his blog roll, I stumbled on some other great resources about Montreal, such as the amazing Under Montreal documenting those who explore our urban underground (www.undermontreal.com) and The Turcot Mobilization (http://mobilisation-turcot.info/en/index.html) the community project fighting for a sustainable and healthy direction for the eventual demolition of the Turcot interchange.
7. NFB/ONF’s beta site. I know this has been mentioned before, but it deserves a second mention. I just can’t get enough of this site. It was here that I watched the original St-Henri film a bunch of times (Saint-Henri le 5 septembre), and also dug around to see some of the cinema-direct films from the 60s and 70s that I hadn’t seen yet. It’s totally an amazing resource for filmmakers and for the public. Run don’t walk if you have yet to see Quebec classics like Pour la suite du monde, La Lutte, Les aquetteurs, Golden Gloves, Rouli-Roulant… Or the great Challenge for Change films like The Ballad of Crowfoot, Encounter at Kwacha House, Cree Hunters of Mistassini, VTR St-Jacques… Or life-changing films like Rocks at Whisky Trench and Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance…There is so much great stuff… www.onf.ca
8. Kickstarter has become a site I wander around in, and check out what creative people all over the place are up to. There are some really great projects getting started here, and it’s amazing to have direct contact with the artists, filmmakers and writers themselves. In these tough times models like this help us think out of the box about how to make and distribute our own work. www.kickstarter.com
9. Hot Docs Library- I’m really into this new offering by Hot Docs to watch films online. To my delight I finally got to re-watch the amazing film by Allan Zweig, I, Curmudgeon and plan to spend lots more time here. www.hotdocslibrary.ca
10. FRIENDS! What would a top hits list be without a few shout outs to those amazing artists, musicians, filmmakers and projects that make Montreal an incredible city to live and work in. Those I’ve had the pleasure to collaborate with include: Parabola Films (http://parabolafilms.ca), Little Scream (www.littlescream.com), La Moustache (www.lamoustache.ca), Loki Design (http://lokidesign.net), James Braithwaite (www.thebathwater.com), Wide Open Exposure (www.wideopenexposure.com), Kaveh Nabatian (http://kavehnabatian.com), Constellation Records (http://cstrecords.com), Patrick Watson (www.patrickwatson.net), Clea Minaker (http://cleaminaker.wordpress.com), Les projections libérante (http://casaobscura.org)… And, and, and, so many more…
Almost 40 years based in Ottawa. Imagine! I first arrived in what was once the Canadian film centre, finding work, after two years of extensive film studies at York University, at the rapidly diminishing and declining empire of Budge Crawley. My formative influences were Budge, James Beveridge who taught the first university class on the subject of the history of Canadian film and Jay Leyda an internationalist, who took exception to the auteur theory of Andrew Sarris, seeing film as more of a collaborative effort. Jay's appreciation of film was focused on most anywhere but the formulaic melodramas coming out of Hollywood so I got to see, for example, films of Satyajit Ray and Ousmane Sembene.
My latest film - co-produced with the inimitable Peter Raymont of White Pine Pictures, is WINDS OF HEAVEN which will be broadcast in a 72 minute TV version on Bravo! on January 30 at 7:30 pm (4:30 PT) and again on February 5 at 6:30 pm ET (3:30 PT). This is the fourth documentary in the last ten or so years that I have made with Bravo. It's a compliment to Bravo's foresight and patience, taking on a filmmaker and allowing for development and growth - not unlike a good book publishing company working with a new author.
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Nimisha Mukerji is an award-winning producer/director from Vancouver, BC. Nimisha completed her Undergraduate Degree in Film Production Program at UBC. After graduation the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television selected Nimisha for their National Apprenticeship Training Program. Nimisha was a director, producer and editor on 65_REDROSES, her first feature length documentary for which she received a Gemini Nomination for Directing. Nimisha is now in production on two documentaries- The Coconuts and Blood Relative.
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Liz Marshall is an auteur director who fuses cinematic storytelling with social and environmental justice issues. She has been creating award winning and socially relevant documentary projects since 1994 and has focused on a range of significant global issues including the right to water; HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa; the rights of girls in developing countries; censorship affecting writers and journalists; war-affected children; corporate globalization; sweatshop labour, and refugees. Liz’s most recent release is WATER ON THE TABLE (2010), an award winning theatrical and broadcast documentary featuring “water-warrior” Maude Barlow.
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