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Whether working independently or as part of an established
organization, documentary work is full of challenges, a trio of filmmakers said
while sharing their experiences with convention attendees Saturday.
The Doc Maker’s panel featured a married couple reporting
for Current TV -- Mariana Van Zeller and Darren Foster -- and the independent Sarah Singh.
Van
Zeller and Foster produce half hour documentaries on international affairs while
Singh recently finished a feature on the partition of India and Pakistan called "The Sky
Below" – a film she pulled off with no crew and very little funding.
Singh detailed the struggles of independence from a
well-known and well-funded channel or production company. An artist by
background, Singh described her a film as a challenging process of discovery.
She and Van Zeller and Foster detailed the struggle to reach
the eyeballs of audiences, especially those in U.S.
Working for Current TV means that Van Zeller’s and Foster's
content has an audience. Singh however has had to work harder to get her film
in front of people. She currently has been promoting the film at festivals across North America. Van Zeller and Foster have a somewhat easier path toward
viewers, but because their content isn't heavily reliant or closely tracking
ratings, it is hard for them to decipher exactly what films of their viewers
flock toward.
Van Zeller and Foster, however, have a complex challenge to
tackle even with their exposure through current TV: how to get Americans to
shift their gaze from the stories of Britney Spears, Michael Jackson and
Jessica Simpson to those of unrest, conflict and the human experience around
the world.
Still, the pair is hopeful, believing that the interest is
international news is there but remains an unfulfilled void within the news
industry.
Singh, however, is perhaps more realistic, saying that as the large
media corporations in America are driven by ratings that international coverage
would like take a back seat to more
entertainment-based news.
-- By Sweta Vohra, University of California at Berkeley graduate student.
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