Filmmakers Behind ‘Frida,’ ‘Elton John: Never Too Late’ and More Talk the Power of Documentaries at Variety’s Inaugural Doc Dreams NYC
Variety hosted its inaugural Doc Dreams NYC event on Nov. 12, featuring two panels with some of this award season’s top documentary feature contenders.
Speakers on the first panel included Carla Gutiérrez, director and editor of “Frida”; Irene Taylor, director and producer of “I Am: Celine Dion”; and R.J. Cutler, director and producer of “Elton John: Never Too Late.”
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“I Am: Celine Dion” follows the Canadian singer’s musical journey and life-altering illness, the latter of which Taylor admitted she was not aware of prior to signing onto the project.
“I was so intrigued and encouraged by Celine herself when we had met and talked through the idea of a film,” Taylor said. “I think she was ready to spend the amount of time that a thorough biography with a living subject would offer.”
Gutiérrez’s documentary “Frida,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, traces the life and legacy of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Gutiérrez discussed her personal connection to the painter who, she said, served as a symbol of female empowerment.
The filmmaker recalled discovering Kahlo around the age of 19 through a self-portrait of the artist standing along the border between the United States and Mexico.
“I was a new immigrant then and I just saw my own kind of reflections and thoughts reflected in her self-portrait,” Gutiérrez said. “That was my entryway into her art. As I had different experiences as a woman in the next two decades, I always found myself attracted and finding comfort, finding in a way refuge and catharsis by just looking at her paintings and being grateful to her for kind of exposing herself and exposing her most intimate feelings to to the public through her paintings.”
Cutler detailed his experience committing forgery and larceny in order to acquire a ticket to a 1974 Elton John concert which took place on Thanksgiving evening at Madison Square Garden. John Lennon would go on to join John on stage, in what would become the final public performance of Lennon’s career. This concert, Cutler explained, played a central role in “Elton John: Never Too Late.”
“It was very meaningful to me as a 13-year-old coming of age,” Cutler said. “It blew my mind musically, aesthetically in all sorts of ways. You can imagine Elton came out on stage on the shoulders of two loincloth bodybuilders wearing six-inch heels and a gigantic boa.”
Speakers on Doc Dreams NYC’s second panel included Sahra Mani, director of “Bread & Roses”; Malala Yousafzai, producer of “Bread & Roses”; Mary Mazzio, writer, director and producer of “Bad River”; Hasan Oswald, director and producer of “Mediha,” and the film’s subject Mediha Alhamad.
“Bread & Roses” captures the point of view of Afghanistan women facing the Taliban. Mani described how the pejorative impact of the Taliban on Afghanistan led her to discern how she could best provide aid as a filmmaker. After getting involved with a charity to support women in Afghanistan, she began to receive videos from various patrons, which she collected as an archive. Later, Mani received an email from a Jennifer Lawrence-related production offering support to Mani in making a film.
“I switch off working for a charity to back to filmmaking,” Mani said of the opportunity, which she admitted, she initially thought was a spam message. “And the process of making ‘Bread and Roses’ started.”
As producer of “Bread & Roses,” Yousafzai said upon learning the stories of the women that would go on to be featured in the documentary, her answer was a resounding yes. She added that using the medium of film as a platform to bring the voices of Afghan women to the global stage is especially necessary.
“The reality that Afghan women face is horrifying and heartbreaking,” Yousafzai said. “Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are banned from going to universities. And women are prohibited from work. Human rights experts have been calling it a gender apartheid.”
“Bad River” chronicles the Wisconsin-based Bad River Band and its ongoing fight to defend Lake Superior. Mazzio explained the documentary examines a 71-year-old pipeline cutting through the heart of the native tribe’s reservation. This pipeline, the filmmaker added, is at imminent risk to rupture, which would affect Americans across the nation.
“It shows the clash of cultures between one that is driven by quarterly earnings and profitability. And we have a community who is a disenfranchised community,” Mazzio said. “They have turned down $80 million to settle this case to protect everyone in this room.”
“Mediha” follows Alhamad, a teenage Yazidi girl returning from ISIS captivity as she processes her trauma.
“It had to end up with Mediha telling her own story and her people’s story. We thought it would end up as creative vignettes,” Oswald said. “We were blown away by how quickly Mediha and her brothers took to cinematography, the depth of what they had to say…she had really grabbed the reins of this film.”
Alhamad said she found herself being a bit shy during the first two weeks of filming the documentary. However, she explained, the camera ultimately became a tool to help her tell her own story.
“I want to make something for my people,” Alhamad said. “Genocide is still going. That’s why I make a movie.”
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