Meredith College Documentary Film Festival 2014

The inaugural Meredith College Documentary Film Festival took place yesterday on the college’s campus. It was a lot of fun to serve as the hostess / emcee and the panel discussion moderator. Did you attend? See any of the films? What’d you think?!

One of the things I loved about the festival was the chill atmosphere. Everyone was calm, welcoming, and engaging. That type of thing always leads to great conversations. And you know I love good convos.

The line up was really great, too. This was the first time I got to see three of the films from start to finish, after hearing about them for years. I was totally geeking out all day.

Granny’s Got Game

The first feature-length film was Granny’s Got Game directed by Angela Alford. It’s about women in their 70’s who play a mean game of basketball. They’re inspiring! (I also feel like my grandmother would have been best friends with them, since she was a P.E. teacher who always preached about staying in shape.)

Angela and I first met a few years ago when her film was being finalized. She studied at the Center for Documentary Studies. Through Angela’s experiences there, I’ve seen how awesome it would have been to start with that type of documentary film education and support system. I highly recommend it to any dreamers out there reading this post, even though I’ve never been through the program.

February One

The second feature-length film was February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four. Filmmakers Rebeca Cerese and Steven Channing were there for the Q&A following the film. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing more behind-the-scenes info about the making of such a powerful documentary.

I first heard about this film at the Documentary Summit in 2012. They played a very powerful clip and I heard Rebecca Cerese talk about making it. (See a photo from that day in 2012 here.)

Short Films & Alice Fest

Following that discussion, a series of short films were screened. I won’t comment on all of the short films here for the sake of brevity. Just know that they were great!

Most of those films were screened at Alice Fest, which I attended last year for the first time. I look forward to Alice Fest 2014. I highly recommend you attend.

The Loving Story

The final feature-length screening was The Loving Story, which is about an interracial couple who fought for the right to live peacefully as husband and wife in their home state of Virginia. It’s a beautifully crafted documentary full of incredible archival footage. It’s so moving.

I’ve been lucky enough to hear the filmmakers talk about the making of this film on numerous occasions. It screened at Full Frame in 2011, which is where I’ve heard director Nancy Buirski talk about her work. Elisabeth Haviland James spoke at the Documentary Summit in 2012. I’d been looking forward to seeing the film for a long time!

My Conclusions

So what’d I learn from watching so many docs in one afternoon, serving as emcee/hostess, hanging with incredible filmmakers, and spending time with the kind folks at my alma mater? Well. A lot, actually.

I’ll be back with more on that later. This post is long enough already. And I’m still recovering from a cold. 🙂