Full list of 2008 films and events...
How To Make A Roots Culture Documentary Film
Panel discussion on how to make an independent documentary film on roots culture led by guest filmmaker Robert Mugge. Stephen Holden of the New York Times writes of Mr. Mugge: "To describe the recent films of the documentarian Robert Mugge as cultural reference books doesn't mean to imply that these explorations of the musical byways of Southern rural America are lacking in pungent musical sap. It's the careful balance between music and scholarship that lends Mr. Mugge's films a foundation of academic seriousness that flirts with dryness without becoming mired in trivia. Documents of a flourishing below-the-radar culture, often involving older musicians who won't be around for much longer, they are archival records as well as entertainments. For every obscure blues or folk musician shown performing in these films, there is usually an expert standing by to explain where this artist or group stands on the family tree of American vernacular music. Instead of concentrating on the trunk and larger branches of that tree, Mr. Mugge likes to examine the smaller branches and even the twigs." Jeff Shannon of The Seattle Times adds to this assessment: "Just as Alan Lomax made and preserved valuable recordings of Mississippi Delta blues, Mugge has been traversing the continent for more than 20 years, capturing the music of America -- the music that really matters -- on 16mm color film, as performed by the masters of their chosen forms."
