Smith Street Productions

I love documentaries, but not the PBS/DISCOVERY CHANNEL/ HISTORY CHANNEL type. Not that there is anything wrong with those, but my taste fall more towards the gritty, raw stories that take the audience on an emotional journey. Having said that I should also confess that for the last two years I have served on the doc selection committee for the Florida Film Festival. I couldn't be prouder of the doc choices we have made (these last two years) and I couldn't be prouder of the Florida Film Festival/ Enzian Theater in general - a cultural arts organization that is a true class act. What is documentary, you ask? A documentary film is one that presents information about factual topics. These films have a variety of aims, to record important events and ideas; to inform viewers; to convey opinions and to create public interest. Docs come in all shapes and sizes, and there has been some exciting work done recently with animated feature film docs. The rules are always being broke in the doc genre (much like in memoir) and memory, truth, and reality become subjective exercises. I dwell long and hard on these topics in my blog (www.gettinglear.blogspot.com) in the context of making my own doc.