American Cinematographer - January 1993 - 86

Now You
Can Leave
Home
Without It.

Points East

by Brooke Comer
If the number of East Coast

documentary
productions is any indication of the indus¬
try at large, 1993 is off to a good start. Edi¬
tor Steve Wechsler of New York's The

Wechsler

Group had his hands full cut¬
ting "Big Business and the Ghost of
Confucius," the seventh episode in the 10part PBS series The Pacific Century.
Wechsler's work involved translating the
program's historical perspectives into an
informative tapestry of sequences. The pro¬
gram, which explores "economic miracles"
in Asia's newly industrialized countries,
was produced by Pacific Basin Institute
and Jigsaw Productions in association
with NHK Japan, KCTS Seattle and
Teleac/Holland. Wechsler's segment ex¬

plores how elements of Confucian philoso¬
phy have been used by authoritarian re¬
gimes to spur their populations to greater
growth. Wechsler is also busy cutting a
Nova documentary dealing with the ethics
of pirating for sunken treasure. The piece
explores the controversy of marine archae¬
ology versus the interests of the treasure
seekers ♦ The Film Society of Lincoln
Center recently presented "Films of Local
1199," four powerful documentaries por¬
traying the union's struggle to win human
rights for health care workers over the past
30 years. Like a Beautiful Child, which won
applause from union and nonunion viewers
across the country and accolades from Rob¬
ert F. Kennedy when it was released 25
years ago, was directed and edited by John
Schultz. I Am Somebody goes back to

FILM

Arriflex

Tyler mounts

Unilux Strobes
Power Pod head
Enluva II crane
1 50-600

zoom

Telephoto lenses
Innovision lenses

VIDEO

Sony Betacams
Nightscope
Canon LI

Charleston, South Carolina in 1969, when

HI-8

400 black female

protest of the firing of 12 co-workers.
The film, a graphic portrayal of how Local
1199 and the civil rights movement forged

Gyrozoom
Plus

our

stage

with the

an

biggest eye

Film/Video

Equipment
Service Co.
Denver, Colorado

303*778-8616
84

effective coalition in the heart of the

workers,

was

tive American filmmakers titled Wind and
Glacier Voices. WNYC producers Barbara

Mayfield and Esther Turnbull call it "a
first for television." Native American host
Michael Horse ("Hawk" in David

Lynch's Twin Peaks series) described the
presentation as a means of dispelling the
Hollywood myth of Indians "as Plains war¬
riors with long braids, shooting flaming ar¬
rows at peaceful settlers." The programs
include In the Land of the War Canoes, a

painstakingly restored black & white film
originally shot and directed by Edward S.
Curtis in 1914 that recounts tribal love and
revenge among the Kwakiutl Nation on
Vancouver Island. Doctor, Lawyer, Indian

Chief, focusing on five Native women of
various ages who have achieved success in
different careers, was directed by Tlingit
filmmaker Carol Geddes. Warrior Chiefs
in a New Age, a portrait of Chiefs Plenty

Coups and Medicine Crow and their pro¬
phetic visions for the future of the Crow
Nation of Southern Montana, was written
and directed by Dean Curtis Bear Claw

Wiping the Tears of Seven Generations,
directed by Gary Rhine and Fidel Moreno
of the Yaqui and Huichol Nations, tells the

story, in both English and Lakota, of the

"Bigfoot Memorial Ride," during which over
300 Lakota Sioux rode on horseback for two
weeks through sub-zero weather, praying
for the lives lost 100 years earlier at
Wounded Knee. Additional films include
Surviving Columbus, directed and produced
by Diane Reyna, Taos Pueblo, Edmund
Ladd and Zuni Pueblo; In the White Man's

directed and edited by

Image, chronicling Captain Richard Pratts'

Madeline Anderson Leon Davis: Practi¬

attempts to civilize American Indians in the
mid 1800s;... And Women Wove It in a
Basket, an oral history of Klickitat basket

South,

in town.

RENTALS SALES SERVICE

hospital workers walked

out in

benefit improvements for 50,000
directed and edited by Rob¬
ert Rosenberg. All four films were execproduced by Moe Foner ♦ WNYC-TV
presented a month-long celebration of Na¬

wage and

was

cal Dreamer, narrated by actors Ossie
Davis and Ruby Dee, was directed by
John Schultz and Victor Teich. On The
Move:
litical

Victory at 1199, which depicts a po¬
and media campaign that won major

Ksl

FAX 303*778-8657

January 1993

Nettie Jackson Kuneki made by
Kuneki, Marlene Franum, and Bushra
Azzouz; Qaggiq, made by Zacharias
weaver
American Cinematographer - January 1993

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