Barbara Hammer, Filmmaker
Danny Schechter, Globalvision
Matisse Bustos, WITNESS
Christopher Allen, UnionDocs
Jesse Shapins, UnionDocs

The documentary form has long been one of the main tools used by artist-activists to draw attention to political and social issues. Since the 1890s, when Jacob A. Riis published his famous series of
photographs documenting the lives of lower Manhattan's tenement population, photographers and filmmakers have captured countless images of suffering, conflict, and struggle on film, disseminating
them through channels ranging from newspapers, television, and websites to galleries and museums. Because documentarians convey a message simply by focusing viewers' attention on one thing and not another, the act of framing itself is politically charged. But what other aesthetic strategies are available to artists seeking to create engaged documentary work? What roles do post-production considerations such as context (the settings and formats in which documented images are presented and received) and contextualization (the textual and visual information with which documented images are juxtaposed) play in creating meaning?

In addition to discussing the aesthetic choices that go into creating documentary works, panelists will also offer their perspectives on the political potential of documentaries: How can making people see what needs to be changed translate into effecting change? When and how does the passive gaze become active?

In this panel discussion, experimental filmmaker and documentarian Barbara Hammer will discuss her work creating films focused on gender and queer politics; documentary filmmaker and media critic Danny Schechter will describe his role as the founder of both Globalvision, a film and television production company specializing in informational and educational programming, and MediaChannel, a media-issues website; and Matisse Bustos will share her experiences as outreach coordinator for WITNESS, an international organization dedicated to supporting human-rights advocacy through video and communications technologies. The discussion will be moderated by Jesse Shapins and Chris Allen of UnionDocs, a Brooklyn-based documentary collective.