February 2021
The Flaherty Officially Welcomes Interim-Executive Director Mary Ellen Pelzer
Dear Flaherty Friends,
Although my time with the Flaherty will be brief, I wanted to quickly introduce myself, I have extensive experience leading nonprofits through periods of change, including arts organizations. And I’m happy to bring my skills and experience to The Flaherty, an organization that remains vibrant and innovative through this extraordinary period of global and institutional change. The Board continues to implement their transition plan to find a permanent executive leader - one who will build upon The Flaherty’s recent successes and chart a course that further strengthens the organization.
During this important time we will continue to bring you the programming you know and love. Looking forward to the months ahead, our Flaherty NYC Programmers will bring you a virtual program this April and we will present The Flaherty Seminar in a hybrid format this Summer.
Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you again virtually and when conditions permit, in person.
Mary Ellen Pelzer
Flaherty Interim Executive Director
Dispatch: “An Evening With The Sachs Family”
This past January 19, we had the opportunity to co-present a live discussion with filmmaker Lynne Sachs, her brother Ira Sachs Jr. (Little Men, Love Is Strange), and filmmaker Kirsten Johnson (Dick Johnson Is Dead, Cameraperson). The online event, organized by Museum of Moving Image (runs through February 7) and introduced by Eric Hynes, MoMI Curator of Film, was shown live via the museum’s YouTube channel and had the participation of a very lively audience.
The conversation focused on the making of Film About A Father Who and Lynne’s production process, but it also included questions from Ira and Lynne to Kirsten Johnson about Dick Johnson is Dead, and her own personal experiences integrated to the creative process of filmmaking. At the beginning of the conversation, Johnson who is also part of the Sachs family as a co-parent with Ira, mentioned how much she wanted to go to the Flaherty Seminar: “I just want to say, I’m always delighted to be in the house with Eric Hynes and the Museum of Moving Image and that I’ve never been to the Flaherty Seminar. It has been a life long dream of mine, so I got festive at the idea of finally making it into the Flaherty family in a certain kind of way.” Maybe in the near future, post pandemic world, we’ll be able to see Kirsten Johnson and all the Flaherty community gathering in person again!
We were very fortunate to be part of this conversation and we want to thank the panelists for being so open to share their family stories with us and the audience. We also realized how great of an interviewer and panel moderator Ira Sachs is, some of his questions helped connect Lynne Sachs’s film and Kirsten Johnson’s and the idea of “imprint”, which speaks to the influence fathers have had in the lives and works of the filmmakers and their families. Ira also added how both of “the works reveal pain, and pain is not a discussion so much in family.” This comment helped us spectators put into context how much these filmmakers have become so vulnerable by opening their personal inner world through their work, and how these themes can speak to many in a universal language of moving images.
Lynne Sachs focused the discussion back to Ira Sachs. To him she says “you made the first and second film of dad and I made the third.” It is interesting to watch the work of Lynne and Ira and see the different perspectives that they have chosen to speak about coming from a similar experience, as well as how they have become such different and unique filmmakers being part of the same family.
Another very interesting theme touched by Lynne Sachs is when she talks about “obstacles” that come up in every film project. As a conclusion to this idea and with her long time experience making films she passionately states: “We realize that the very biggest obstacle to making the film is actually what makes it the most interesting. And we have to keep trying. To me the hardest part was (in Film About a Father Who) what was my point of view?”
To close this dispatch, we want to leave you with the kind words that Lynne Sachs shared about the Flaherty Seminar during the discussion: “People wanted to ask about the Flaherty. The Flaherty is this fantastic gathering of film people who are very-very-very committed to the documentary practice. It is named for Robert Flaherty (and Frances), he was an early documentarian and he worked in the real… the idea of working with the real! and I think it has been extremely important to me. I saw my first experimental films at the Flaherty, I saw the work of Maya Deren there, I saw Bruce Connor (both in 1984), but then jump ahead, I went to a Flaherty where George Stoney was (he showed work back in 1955 and later in 1982, 1987, 1990, 1994, 2002, 2004 and 2011), where Tran T Kim-Trang was (in 2000), you know where people were doing really-really outlandish, and wonderful, and risk taking things with their work. Les Blank was there one year (he showed work at the Flaherty in 1972, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1990 and 2011), people who lived and breathe documentary, and it mattered to them. I think the fact that I saw the Flaherty work and experienced it at age 24 left another kind of imprint in me.”
You can read more about Lynne Sachs’ impressions of the seminar in her website also published by Patricia Zimmerman in VOICES FROM THE FLAHERTY FILM SEMINAR on August, 2018.
The 2021 Sundance Film Festival Wraps up
Congratulations to all of the Flaherty Filmmakers, Programmers and Fellows that participated in the 2021 virtual edition of Sundance Film Festival this past January 28 to February 3: Jay Rosenblatt (1998 Flaherty Seminar Filmmaker, 2017 Flaherty NYC guest artist) with When We Were Bullies, Pacho Velez (2013 Flaherty Seminar Fellow, 2015 Flaherty NYC Programmer) with Searchers, Sierra Pettengill (2013 Flaherty Seminar Fellow, 2015 Flaherty NYC co-Programmer) with The Rifleman, Sam Green (2002 Flaherty Seminar Filmmaker, 2011 Flaherty NYC guest artist) with his performance 7 Sounds and Terence Nance (2017 Flaherty NYC guest artist) with the collaboration Traveling the Interstitium with Octavia Butler.
An extra big shout out to Theo Anthony (Sundance Grantee for the 2018 Flaherty Seminar) who won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Nonfiction Experimentation for All Light, Everywhere (Directed by Theo Anthony and Produced by Riel Roch-Decter, Sebastian Pardo, Jonna McKone)
All Light, Everywhere by Theo Anthony
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Call for Entries
Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective Fellowship
The Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective is now accepting applications for the BFC Fellowship for Emerging Filmmakers, currently seeking Black and Indigenous applicants.
The movement for Black lives and subsequent racial reckoning has exposed systemic failures in all industries, including our own. Recognizing that filmmaking is too often accessible only to the few, we decided to offer our resources and network to two Black and/or Indigenous emerging filmmakers in New York City* and help further their work and career.
Candidates may apply to The BFC Fellowship with a fiction, non-fiction or experimental project at any stage. Throughout two BFC seasons (approximately March - December), a group of mentors will offer the fellows support with development, production and/or post-production. In addition, we will provide professional development and networking opportunities within our community, such as shadow days and networking events (Covid 19-permitting). Fellows will be included in all BFC meetings and have the option to continue as BFC members at the end of the fellowship. The fellowship will conclude with a public presentation of the fellows’ work. Each fellow will receive a $500 stipend. Application deadline is February 15.
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival 2021
The YIDFF 2021 will be held in Yamagata, Japan, from October 7 to October 14 and it is currently accepting entries for the International Competition and New Asian Currents. Entrants must choose one program for each entry. There is no entry fee. Entrants are required to submit the completed online entry form on the festival website. Please visit their website for detailed information regarding the submission of films for selection.
The entry deadline for International Competition is April 15 and for the New Asian Currents is May 15.
The Mimesis Documentary Festival, presented August 4-10, in Boulder, Colorado, is an immersive theatrical and virtual experience featuring screenings, workshops, and conversations with international documentary artists, scholars, and producers. MDF focuses on personal, underrepresented, and culturally specific subjects that offer the most profound experiences of art made from life. Submissions to the festival are now open.
Job Opportunity
The Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts at CU Boulder seeks to fill a faculty position in Black Cinema Practices. The successful candidate will be an active filmmaker with a visible record of media practice centered on African American/African Diaspora, and will be encouraged and expected to continue their creative production as part of their research requirements, with support from the college and university. The deadline is February 15 and to apply click the job posting’s link: CU Boulder Professor of Black Cinema Practices
virtual office
We are currently working remotely. If you have any inquiries please email us info@theflaherty.org, as we are not answering our phone calls at our 80 Hanson Pl office in Brooklyn.
SUPPORT the Flaherty
With your support, we will continue to bring filmmakers and audiences of all levels together. All contributions, whether large or small, help ensure the excellence of Flaherty programs for many years to come. Every donation makes it easier for us to support the artists in their art and to inspire others to create. Any amount you are able to donate will have a big impact.
If you prefer to donate by check please make it out to: The Flaherty, 80 Hanson Place, #603, Brooklyn, NY 11217.
Add the 2019 Robert Flaherty Seminar Catalogue to your library!
The 2019 Seminar Catalogue includes detailed information about the 65th Robert Flaherty Film Seminar. This publication is the result of a collaboration between Flaherty / International Film Seminars, Inc. and World Records, in conjunction with the Action: the 2019 Flaherty Film Seminar, programmed by Shai Heredia.
Thank you to all our contributors: Shai Heredia, Jason Fox, Abby Sun, Joel Neville Anderson, Lakshmi Padmanabhan, Priya Sen, Ani Maitra, Pooja Rangan, Aparna Sharma, Jim Supanick, Tenzin Phuntsog, Jheanelle Brown, Chet Pancake, and Carl Elsaesser.
Edited by World Records
Design by Dan Schrempf
Copy Editing by Nadine Covert
About the Flaherty
The Flaherty is a media arts organization that brings together diverse, curious minds to foster an in-depth discourse on film and the creative process. We believe in the transformative power of the moving image and its ability to change how we think about film, and the world we live in. Since 1954, our unique Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, has provided an unparalleled opportunity to explore beyond known limits of the moving image and renew the challenge to discover, reveal and illuminate the ways of life of peoples and cultures throughout the world.
