By Myah Overstreet
When I first began working on this project, to curate an inspiring collection of media created by youth in 2016, I didn’t know where to start—I didn’t know who to contact, what artists to recruit, or what kind of media I was really going for. The only thought that truly gave me inspiration was the thought, the vision, of living in a world transformed by art that young minds created, and how much I yearned to create this world.
NAMAC Executive Director Wendy Levy participated in REMAP: Detroit and was inspired by the conviction of the communities in the rooms, the fearless examination of the challenges, and the celebration of the arts, in the broadest view, as an engine for transformation.
By Renee Tajima-Peña
I once considered documentary to be a fallback for filmmakers of color who were shut out of the fiction universe. I was wrong. As it turns out, we may be more under-represented in nonfiction filmmaking. Sundance estimates the proportion of documentary directors of color screening at the festival to be around 15 percent. The Directors Guild of America estimates 82 percent of its narrative members are white males; it doesn't even bother to calculate documentarians.
By Yanqing Yang
Before joining NAMAC’s Creative Leadership Lab, I was building a cultural connection platform for young creative changemakers and thinking about how to build a system of collaboration.
By Sahar Driver
The impact producing space has grown dramatically in the last few years. People are catching on to the power that film has in affecting change around social issues. And as that awareness builds, issue-based funders have taken an increasing interest in using film to advance their goals.
By Kate Fowler
I've been reticent to post about this collection of essays on Central Appalachia recently published on VICE. It includes some important, hard-hitting and necessary stories on stereotyping, healthcare needs for residents of the region, the decline of a mono economy and the rising prescription pill and suboxone epidemic.
A Video Roundtable is a group conversation (like a Google Hangout with better production values!) hosted by NAMAC on the zoom.us platform. They can be curated and produced on any relevant topic, any issue, any film, and hosted by any NAMAC member. Send us an email at creative@namac.org and let us know what's next!
By Simon Kilmurry
On behalf of the International Documentary Association, I am writing to express our deep alarm and concern at the recent rejection of a visa application for documentary filmmaker Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami by Immigration New Zealand.
By Erica Ginsberg
What if I told you there was a documentary strand which has shown nearly 100 amazing social issue documentaries about the forgotten stories of contemporary American society followed by provocative conversations on the issues spotlighted?
By Mary T. An
What happens when you put a climate scientist, a filmmaker, and an environmental activist together in a room for a day and ask them to create something?
