Digital Video - November 2007 - (Page 29) Wexler also has Barker’s second key attribute for a successful documentary subject: accessibility. Just days earlier, Wexler lost his contentious bid for the presidency of the International Cinematographers Guild to incumbent Steven Poster, ASC. Among other things, Wexler ran on his key concern, the sleep deprivation suffered by his overworked peers. That leaves open the subject of “what’s next?” for the octogenarian, who recently shot an episode of HBO’s drama Big Love but seems to have stepped away from photographing feature films—his body of work including such classics as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, In the Heat of the Night and Bound For Glory. Shot on Sony PD-100 and PD-150 cameras and requiring two years of editing, Wexler self-financed Who Needs Sleep?, which premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Fest, and he’s not sure when he’ll have the wherewithal to shoot another doc feature. “The kind of documentaries I make take time,” he admits. “I’m looking for someone who would pay for it.” All of this leaves Wexler free to participate in Barker and Churchill’s project, which seems a bit informal and open-ended at this point. “It’s a process,” says Churchill, who concedes she has no idea what the finished product will look like or when it will be ready. “You have to be open to where it goes.” If anything, Wexler seems to view the project as fertile ground to express some opinions—he has many—and to conduct a few on-camera experiments. “This serves a purpose for me to ask myself, ‘Do I think we’re artists?’ When you’re working and you’re in the swim day-to-day, it’s hard to ask those questions,” he explains. Wexler agreed to DV’s interview request on the condition that it be filmed for Churchill’s documentary. He wonders aloud how the camera will affect the interview. He staunchly rejects the notion that documentary filmmaking can exist in a vacuum and not influence its subject matter. He’s eager to find some way to prove to “the purists” that the camera has an undeniable, inescapable effect on all of its subjects. “For example, I know I’m a lot more verbose today because Joan is here,” he says, adding that being on camera has provided him with a new perspective. “Now I know why the people I film feel obligated to do something they think is good for you.” At the same time, he notes that advances in convenient, lowbudget digital filmmaking have made the documentary process less intrusive than ever. To hammer home this point, he picks up the bulky Éclair NPR 16mm camera he used in the 1980s while filming such politically charged docs as Target Nicaragua, which required that film mags be swapped out every 11 minutes, or whenever the filmmaker transitioned from indoors to outdoors. Wexler wonders, with so many inexpensive options available to them, why don’t more established filmmakers today do what he did 20 years ago—take a break from Hollywood and head to a hot spot, say the Mideast? He and Churchill cite Laura Poitras’ Oscar-nominated My Country, My Country (2006)—which captured tribal life in Iraq from several perspectives—as one of the more notable digital documentary achievements to date. www.dv.com > AN EYE ON TECHNOLOGY Always seeking greater intimacy with his subjects, Wexler has long sought out the latest lightweight gear to facilitate shooting. From top, Wexler frames up with an ARRI II (filming an industrial in 1947), a Cameflex (shooting and directing Medium Cool in 1969) and a Sony VX-1000 (shooting his 1999 doc Bus Riders Union). “It created insight into people who are often demonized by the press,” Churchill says. “It’s a great example of the power of small-format technology.” “Artists have to speak to authority, and not just in Bush times,” Wexler adds. “At some point, videomakers have a responsibility to themselves and a social responsibility until all these basic things—the destroying of our air, our water, our food and our climate—are addressed. The technology is there.” DV dv november 2007 IMAGES COURTESY OF THE ASC 29 http://www.dv.com
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