Come workshop your doc

If you’ve been looking for a way to incorporate documentary technique into your work, or you have a film idea you’re developing, I’ll be giving a weekend class in May you might like to attend. Details below.

First, a bit of news. Last week the DOXA documentary film festival announced that our film “Renaissance Man” has been invited to screen as part of the lineup in May. Needless to say, I’m pretty stoked. Here’s the writeup from the festival program:

“In the world of 17th-century lute music, Matthew Wadsworth is a star. But few of his listeners would guess his other passion: jumping motorcycles. That’s because Matt is blind. From the Mojave Desert to Montreal to Manchester, this episodic documentary follows Matt and his motorcycle coach, Micky Dymond, as they train to set a world record. What drives them? How far will they push it? With the first two parts uploaded to YouTube as part of a distribution experiment, DOXA is proud to offer the world premiere of part three of Renaissance Man. Filmmakers Evan Crowe, Kai Nagata, and Candice Vallantin will present the work and offer up their own experiences of creating an international story, with no equipment, no distributor, and no money: a process a little akin to blind motorcycle jumping itself.”

If you can make it to the screening, that’s Friday, May 11 at 5pm at the Pacific Cinémathèque in Vancouver.

Tickets are free and will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis. If you like, you can RSVP on Facebook so we have an idea how many will be there. ()

We’ll be unveiling something else large and exciting at the screening itself.

So how do you do it? How do you take a little idea and wind up a year later at a big festival? One thing’s for sure — there’s no way we could have shot the film without the support of our friends. Friendship is the basic building block of this entire project and we’re extremely grateful.

But there are other tricks and techniques — other theories and skills that can help you make a little go a long way. We’ll be talking about some of these ideas at the screening, and I’ll be going into more depth during a weekend “D.I.Y. Documentary” course at the Tyee offices in Vancouver, May 19th and 20th.

Maybe you’re a journalist who’s being asked to shoot video. Maybe you work at a non-profit or an educational institution that’s trying to jazz up its website. Maybe you put together campaigns. Or maybe you have a story and you’re ready to go, but the scope and scale has you a little daunted. This course is designed to get you un-daunted.

That’s my shameless plug. You can sign up through the Tyee by clicking here. While you’re at it, check out some of the other classes being offered this spring. There’s all kinds of cool stuff on offer and the proceeds all help support independent journalism.