Andrea Claire Maio thoughtfully discusses Street Fighting Man and the work of Vincent Moon over at Back to Your Senses.

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This week, in addition to editing the “James” piece, making my bed and eating my oatmeal every morning (ok, at least twice this week), I’ve been thinking about narrative structure and post production work-flows, and so I’ve been dipping into the book that functions as my documentary production bible: Michael Rabiger’s Directing the Documentary. Its designed to be an academic text book, and its full of useful technical information, but Rabiger is dyed-in-the-wool documentary director, and reflects upon his personal experience through out the text in brilliant, boldly titled little chunks of wisdom. It’s one of those books you can open to any page and take away some morsel; like this one in Chapter 30, under the heading BELIEVING IN YOUR AUTHORITY:

It takes no mystical powers to see which way a person leans, only careful observation… If you elect to play a role-that of investigating and making a record-you must expand enough to become assertive and politely demanding in a way that people in regular life (wrongly, I think) might deem invasive. The more stoic and repressive of feeling a person (or culture) is, the more extreme are the pressures they hold behind the mask and the more your function as a catalyst can matter.

Here Rabiger is reminding us to trust our impulses to inquire. It’s an important sentiment, in part because it’s so contradictory to all of the rules of social behavior we have been trained to adhere to. Every day, we go to great lengths to avoid conflict. But conflict is the main ingredient in every story worth telling.  I worry that my work avoids conflict. Or allows it to rest below the surface, and maybe too much below. Is this an aesthetic choice, or am I being a wimp? Is politeness outweighing my commitment to the content? Does there always have to be some kind of battle structuring the arc of a story, or can the battle be something thats more abstract? Or implicit in the approach of the filmmaker?  I find myself thinking about the moody, abstract, sonically sumptuous “take-away” shows of Vincent Moon  in which there is no explicit external conflict shaping the arc of the individual pieces, rather, it’s an implicit conflict inherent in the expression of music (each piece lasts the duration of at least one song) which always has its origin political or personal upheaval, as well as the surprising intimacy of his lens. Instead of searching for explicit conflict, Vincent Moon crosses boundaries that others would politely avoid in order to gather unmasked, improvisational “performances”- musicians singing and playing without a dedicated audience in their homes or in the streets. He gets closer with his camera than most would, and focuses on the features and textures of the subject with an almost romantic intimacy; whether its an old aboriginal man making a traditional instrument, or a young beautiful woman singing in the streets of her hometown. I am moved by his work, and though I can’t identify a story arc outside of the structure of a song, I remain engaged for the entirety of each piece.

A different approach, and one I am equally engaged by, is the socially motivated work  of Andrew James. In his forthcoming film, Street Fighting Man, James takes on the staggering social issue of three men facing the daily struggle of living in poverty in Detroit.

Similar to Moon, he employs a poetic eye in his cinematography, and has clearly established trust and intimacy with the subjects of the film. But in James’ work, each scene emphasizes the battle each character faces in their daily life. The dramatic external conflict of each character structures the film. Though they aren’t diametrically opposed in approach (both filmmakers employ a verite style with an attention to poetic visual detail) these filmmakers offer two different ways to engage a subject and, believing in their own authority, to move into formerly hidden, revelatory territory. Moon’s films are meditative and more akin to a poem. James’ films are nuanced and visually stunning statements about injustice- and they shake the audience into lucidity about a particular cultural issue. Their literary equivalent is long form non-fiction. Both filmmakers invite us to become more aware of our surroundings- literally more alert in our senses- and discover something new. Both filmmakers assert their authority in order to get closer to their subjects than other people would. There is a confidence in the intimacy of their lens and a boldness in the way they edit what they have recorded. There is no question what they value when you watch their work. Because of their clarity, their subjects have integrity. Because of their lack of apology, we trust their eye.

Michael Rabiger continues:

In your role as a director you sometimes probe on behalf of the audience, on behalf of history, or even on behalf of humanity. This is both frightening and exhilarating… To the participant, your attention, your invitation to make a record, confirms that he or she exists and matters… The camera is a little engine of history and a magnet to confession. Those who use it often get treated like priests or doctors.

With this authority comes a huge responsibility, to be sure. If I’ve made it to the stage of producing a video, if I’ve required a commitment of time and resources from myself and others in order to pursue an idea, the idea is probably worth the weight. As I get older, this weight is what I look for; it’s an indication that I care deeply about the situation at hand and that there is something important at stake. Rabiger uses the similes above to indicate how charged the relationship is when someone trusts you with their personal narrative: you become privy to the prayers, pains and predilections of the people you bear witness to. And sometimes, just because you have had the privilege of viewing, you see things that more clearly than others do. Like Rabiger says- it’s not mystical. It’s a product of observation. As a director, what is your responsibility to the subject when you have this knowledge? You aren’t a doctor or a priest. It’s up to others, not you, to use your work as a prayer or a poultice.

Going forward, I want to be less of a wimp. My questions need to match my passion for being present. My inquiry needs to meet my depth of feeling for the subject at hand. I have to believe in my authority, not as an exercise in ego, but as a commitment to the subject matter. Politeness is a bad excuse. Kindness and compassion can be executed without it.

(Source: backtoyoursenses.org)

2012 was a good year for cinema. Thanks to our local art house, and a few film festivals throughout the year, I think I went to the movies almost every week. Here are some of my favorites divided into categories:

DOCUMENTARIES

Whores’ Glory

The Waiting Room

How to Survive a Plague

Only the Young

Tchoupitoulas

Samsara

Searching for Sugarman

Chasing Ice

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Detropia

Girl Model

Bully

The Queen of Versailles

ART HOUSE

Amour

The Master

The Kid With a Bike

In Darkness

The Forgiveness of Blood

The Loneliest Planet

Safety Not Guaranteed

Take This Waltz

Moonrise Kingdom

Bernie

BIG BUDGET

Zero Dark Thirty

Django Unchained

Lincoln

The Dark Knight Rises

Argo

Skyfall

Prometheus

Looper

Cabin in the Woods

The Avengers

STILL NEED TO SEE

Room 237

West of Memphis

5 Broken Cameras

This is Not a Film

Once Upon a Time in Anatola

The Invisible War

Silver Linings Playbook

Life of Pi

Holy Motors

The Turin Horse

Shut Up and Play the Hits

Oslo, August 31

The Central Park 5

Tabu

Cloud Atlas

Magic Mike

Haywire

End of Watch

Wuthering Heights

Rust and Bone

Sister

First Position

Low and Clear

Brooklyn Castle

The Law in These Parts

The Gatekeepers

GUILTY PLEASURES

The Hobbit

Dredd 3D

The Hunger Games

MOST OVERRATED

The House I Live In

The Impostor

Les Miserables

Beasts of the Southern Wild

We are excited to announce that CLEANFLIX is now available to stream on Netflix. It looks and sounds great and is sure to start a debate or two. In addition to the Netflix streaming option, you can purchase the DVD on our website, which is loaded with extras, including director commentary, deleted scenes, and a family-friendly version. You can also stream or download a digital version of the film on iTunes and Amazon. It’s been a long road, but the film is now available on every major platform. Click here to add CLEANFLIX to your Netflix queue.

Today we are hosting a guest blog post written by the team behind the documentary STREET FIGHTING MAN. The documentary (twitter,FB) is due out in Spring 2013, and the production and post-production have been funded almost entirely through two Kickstarter campaigns, which raised over $30,000. Additionally, the STREET FIGHTING MAN team threw a series of old school house parties, hosted by some of their biggest Kickstarter cheerleaders, in cities across the United States to supplement their campaigns. The combination effect of the Kickstarter campaigns and the house parties is noteworthy. Not only did they raise the needed money to complete production on the documentary, but they also managed to create an audience for STREET FIGHTING MAN months before its release in the process. The following interview features insights into their success from director/producer/cinematographer Andrew James and producers Sara Archambault and Katie Tibaldi.

1) Tell us about SFM. What story does it tell?

ANDREW: STREET FIGHTING MAN is a character-driven documentary that asks tough questions about the challenges facing the people of Detroit and offers a nuanced portrait of daily life in urban America. In essence, it’s a story about three generations of men who are struggling to build a future for themselves in Detroit. Deris Solomon is a young father who wants to leave behind a high-risk life on the streets; Luke Williams is a middle-aged man remodeling a former crack house after being homeless for several years; and James “Jack Rabbit” Jackson is a retired police officer struggling to save his neighborhood from crime after the local police station is dissolved. Through their stories, the film reveals how hard it can be to build a future when everything seems to be crumbling around you. STREET FIGHTING MAN is is a celebration of the fighting spirit it takes to build something lasting for yourself and for future generations.

In this world of the 24/7 news cycle, particularly with election coverage focusing so much on the wealthy; the experiences of people like Deris, Jack Rabbit, and Luke go unheard, unseen, and forgotten. Recent studies show that one third of all US citizens are dipping beneath the income standards their parents established for their families. However, the risk for the black community (particularly black men) are dramatically increased. This reality of downward mobility bares out in the lives of our subjects. Jack Rabbit desperately tries to hold on to the quality of life in the neighborhood where he raised his family. Luke’s “American Dream” collapsed with the markets, and the obstacles toward rebuilding his life are staggering. A middle class life has always seemed beyond Deris’ reach, who deals every day with scarce resources and limited opportunity. Our film aims to put a face on this phenomenon.

We aren’t making this film with stereotypes and statistics. STREET FIGHTING MAN is unique in the level of intimacy it has with its subjects. I shot the film over a period of 2 years, using the techniques of observational documentary. I was there when Deris got suspended from school, when Lucas’ house caught fire, and when Jack Rabbit was out with the Detroit 300 searching for a rapist. The level of trust we were able to establish with these men will help audiences get closer to them and understand their lives with more empathy.

2) Importance of crowd-funding to SFM? 

KATIE: STREET FIGHTING MAN had two Kickstarter campaigns – one during pre-production and one at the start of post-production. Our first pre-production Kickstarter campaign (ending September 3, 2010) raised $8,152, with 153 backers, surpassing our goal of $6,500. Our second, more recent post-production Kickstarter campaign (ending June 10, 2012) raised $23,673. The post-production campaign had 353 backers and surpassed our goal of $20k. In both cases there were some people who gave checks directly to the film who weren’t as comfortable donating online. We were overwhelmed by the support and generosity we received through both. We can honestly say that we couldn’t be doing this without the support of these true believers!

3) SARA’S 6 Lessons from the STREET FIGHTING MAN crowd-funding campaign(s)

Lesson 1: Get some strong cheerleaders out of the gate. Your friends and family love you. They want you to succeed. Encourage them to like the film on Facebook, spread the word about the campaign, and give on the first day so that people new to the campaign will see that you already have some support.

Lesson 2: Success requires getting beyond your family and friends. Those people who love you can only get you part of the way there. In order for you to reach your goal, you need to find people who are inspired by your work or feel connected to the subject and dip into their wallets to make sure the work will happen. When you craft your appeal, keep this audience in mind. And then get out there and find them. Are there organizations working on the same issue your film is about? Will they send out an announcement about the film and campaign in their next newsletter? Is there a fan group obsessed with a character or place in your film? Does anyone out there blog about what the project focuses on? Go out there, find them, and tell them about what you’re doing.

Lesson 3: Communicate. A lot. Meet your new best friends, Facebook and Twitter. Share news about the film and campaign every day using social media. Over 50% of the donations to our campaign came from direct links that people posted on Facebook (thank you, Analytics!). Send a message to your donors at least once a week updating them with news on the campaign or updates on the film. Encourage your donors to spread the word through personal emails to their friends, or letting their circles know that they donated to the film by posting it on Facebook. Yes, these kinds of campaigns do often have a viral quality, but someone needs to tip the first domino. That person should be you.

Lesson 4: Create a buzz in any way you can. Sustaining buzz over the course of a 40-day campaign can be difficult, but that is your challenge. It can start with social media and emails, but it can’t stop there. Write a press release. There will be a lull where donations slow down about halfway through your campaign. Prepare for that by timing your press releases to go out then. Send releases to your local newspaper, your college’s alumni magazine, blogs linked to the subject matter of your film, the Huffpost editor for your city, film magazines, and local independent radio stations and blogs. Hook them not just with – I have a film, we’re raising money – but about WHY you are making the film. Get creative. Because the longer your campaign goes on, the more you’ll need fresh approaches. Sometimes something as simple as just letting people know, “hey, we’re two hundred dollars from breaking a thousand,” will be the extra incentive people need to get involved. Work to create interest on a daily basis.

Lesson 5: Personalize your appeal. Put yourself in your pitch video. You need to inspire newcomers with the film and mission, but they need to trust you and sense your ability to make this happen. Send personal emails to the people in your address book, not group emails. Make follow up phone calls or meet in person with those who have expressed interest in the project, but not yet donated or gotten involved. It takes a lot of time, but it makes a big difference. In the end, you’re not just attracting financial support for your project, you are building longitudinal support for your work as an artist. If this community you develop through Kickstarter loves your work, they will come back for more.

Lesson 6: (I can’t stop!) Set aside time to work on the campaign EVERY DAY. Build a team. Assign tasks. Create a spreadsheet tracking your progress. Make sure at least one person can be monitoring, posting, emailing, and/or writing each day — ideally working in morning, afternoon and evening shifts until the campaign ends. A Kickstarter campaign can be a full time job. Make sure you have the resources in place to make it work.

4) Have any other forms of crowd funding besides Kickstarter been beneficial to SFM?

KATIE: We found a second crowd funding platform that appealed to us: STREET FIGHTING MAN supporters throwing individual fundraising parties for the film. Having established a strong group of supporters from our initial pre-production Kickstarter campaign, we reached out to some of our biggest cheerleaders to host fundraising parties in cities all over the country. For each fundraising party, the amount of money raised has varied. We’ve had different financial goals for each. Factors such as who the host invites and how many people are able to attend play a role. In July we raised over $1,400 at a small party, but last year we raised over $5,000 at an event where we had more attendees and bigger pockets to draw from. It all depends on your audience.

But fundraising parties are as much about raising awareness and growing audiences as they are about raising money. Thanks in part to our parties, we’ve added hundreds of Facebook fans and Twitter followers and built interest in the film in cities across the country. The most exciting part about hosting these fundraisers is the ability to connect with new fans, make new friends, and spread awareness of the project by expanding our networks. Building interest in your project before it is even finished is invaluable. Hand picking the locations, we made sure that at least one of us from the production team could be at each event, and asked the hosts to invite others they thought might be interested in getting involved with our film. This does three things for you: 1) Gives you access to groups of people you wouldn’t have otherwise, expanding your reach, 2) Helps potential donors to really feel part of the film by meeting you in person, seeing footage first hand and hearing from others supporting the project in a relaxed environment and 3) Immediately builds a sense of community around your film, fostering new relationships and a larger audience. In other words, WIN!

(Source: jonreiss.com)

CLEANFLIX was finally released on DVD this week. You can also find the film on iTunes, Amazon Instant, cable pay-per-view, and cable on-demand. The film should be available on Netflix soon, but no word on an exact date as of yet. Its been a long journey - six years to be exact. Its been almost three years since our world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in 2009. Was it worth all this time and energy and suffering? That’s a good question. I’m proud of the film for what it is. I think it has moments of brilliance, but generally suffers from being too apologist and too pop. By that I mean that the aesthetics of the film serve as a deterring factor when trying to intellectually engage with the deeper questions of the film.

In my opinion, the film needs more of a critical edge when dealing with the underlying philosophies of self-censorship, shame, and religious fanaticism. It’s a missed opportunity to really question the philosophies of censorship vis-à-vis Mormonism. I will say this for it though: CLEANFLIX tells an entertaining story and asks some interesting questions about the nature of the sanitizing beast. It has been well received by most critics and met with consistent enthusiasm from film festival audiences. My own misgivings aside, CLEANFLIX is a pretty good little doc about a weird, misunderstood culture. It’s more than worth a viewing or two. Pick it up on DVD or check it out on iTunes and let me know what you think.

Last week was a big one for Street Fighting Man. In addition to our continued Kickstarter success, the film was covered by WNYC’s The Takeaway, The Selective Echo, Absolute Michigan, and indieWIRE’s Shadow and Act. Street Fighting Man was also featured on Kickstarter as a Staff Pick and written up by Jay Cheel on The Documentary Blog. We are on track to reach our Kickstarter goal of 20K, and according to funding trends, we are in a good position to surpass it! One thing we’ve learned about Kickstarter is that it takes a committed team with diversified networks to really take your campaign to the next level.

Celeste Headlee (WNYC’s The Takeaway) says that Street Fighting Man is “beautiful, hopeful, and totally real.”

Les Roka (The Selective Echo) says that Street Fighting Man “does not scrub away any of the harsh realities that might unsettle or even disturb viewers who perhaps are more accustomed to the memes that keep them at a safe artistic distance. In ‘Street Fighting Man,’ these realities take on eye-opening awareness wiping away the expectations of exoticism that inadvertently creeps into some documentaries about the urban crisis in America.”

Jay Cheel (The Documentary Blog) says “It looks like ‘Street Fighting Man’ is going to be a powerful, beautifully shot piece of work that gracefully combines a socially relevant issue with some great, cinematic filmmaking.”

In addition to all the press coverage and twitter action, Street Fighting Man was also mentioned in a great piece for The Independent by our very own Sara Archambault, about the challenges of balancing Motherhood and filmmaking. The article highlights several inspirational working Mothers, Sara included, and reveals some of the passion, determination, and commitment that it takes to produce independent films like Street Fighting Man.

(Source: kickstarter.com)

This week, we launched a Kickstarter campaign for Street Fighting Man to raise funds for post-production. We are trying to raise 20,000 to help pay for editing, sound, color, music, and more. Actually, we need to raise a lot more than that, but 20K definitely puts us in a good position to get everything rolling.

For those of you who are new to Kickstarter, let me give you a brief overview. Through a partnership with Amazon, Kickstarter allows supporters to make secure pledges in return for incentives or rewards. We are offering all kinds of interesting incentives, from photographs, to t-shirts, to signed DVDs. But unless we reach our goal by June 10th, none of that will matter because the pledged funds won’t actually be awarded to us. So we have scramble to raise this cash in 38 days. Our deadline is June 10th.

As I think back on this two-year journey, I can’t help but feel completely lucky and blessed to be working on this project. Street Fighting Man is one of the most important endeavors of my life, partly because the process of making the film has made me a better person, but also because I care so deeply about the men in this film. I grew extremely close with Deris, Luke, and Jack Rabbit, and I feel obligated to present their stories in a truthful and candid way. We shared intimate and personal moments together, and I experienced first-hand, a part of American life that usually escapes our collective narrative.

Living and working in Detroit for two years was life-altering. Everything I do and see these days is framed by that experience. And my sincere hope is that the film can share a little bit of what I learned from Detroit with the rest of the world.

To check out our campaign, follow this link: tinyurl.com/streetfightingman

In conjunction with the release of Cleanflix, Josh and I had the opportunity to join Brent Beal, Richard Dutcher, and host Dan Wotherspoon on the Mormon Matters podcast. We had a great discussion about Mormonism, culture, art, film, and more. One of the best podcasts we’ve done so far. Check it out at the link below!

(Source: mormonmatters.org)

Well, its official. We are bringing on Greg Snider (How to Die in Oregon) to help edit Street Fighting Man and I couldn’t be more excited! Dennis Przywara (Jam) and I are working on a rough cut and will deliver the footage to Greg by June 1st. After the delivery, Dennis and I will help Greg in whatever capacity he needs and will likely spend a few weeks in Portland finalizing the cut with Greg in late July.

We also finalized our editing advisor team. We are very excited to have the likes of Mary Lampson, Aaron Wickenden, Robb Moss, and Zachary Stuart-Pontier on board to look at cuts and provide valuable perspective. Collectively, the body of work represented by Greg, Dennis, and our four advisors, is nothing short of stunning. I am relishing the opportunity to learn from such great talent. The end is in sight! More details to come…

During the past month, I’ve had the opportunity to help edit this video with Kendall Wilcox, the director of Far Between, a documentary about the many complicated issues facing homosexual Mormons. This video, while not directly affiliated with Far Between, is a sign of things to come. Kendall is on a mission to deepen the conversation in the Mormon community about homosexuality. And its about time someone stepped up to the plate. Kendall, a gay man, and former BYU employee, is the perfect man for the job, and I am honored to be part of his team. I am currently taking a short hiatus to finish the rough cut of Street Fighting Man, but look forward to working with Kendall to help craft this important, and oh-so-timely film. For now, check out this video he produced with the help of BYU student group, USGA. Its gone totally viral. The video has been picked up by news agencies all over the West and was even featured on the Huffington Post. More to come.

Cleanflix, the film I co-directed with Joshua Ligairi, that premiered at TIFF three years ago, is finally available for any and all to consume. You can find it on iTunes, Amazon Instant, and Vudu for the time being. You can also pre-order the DVD on our new website or get it on Pay-Per-View. Look for it on Hulu and Netflix in the coming weeks!

After months of editing, organizing, writing, and fundraising, I’m happy to announce that we have released our first real trailer for Street Fighting Man. We are knee deep in editing the film and busy putting together a festival strategy. This is the part of the process where there are fewer and fewer things toi write about for a while. So in the meantime, please take a look at our trailer!