Guth Gafa Documentary Festival 2008

Filmmaking for Social Change

A panel discussion on the role of documentary filmmaking as a tool for social and political change, focusing on the role of the activist or human rights filmmaker. This seminar will also look at the practical difficulties in making films where production values and style are often sacrificed to the greater goal of portraying struggles against injustice and attempts to bring change. We will also talk about how ethics and aesthetics can mutually coexist as filmmakers structure their narratives and edit their films as works of art, raising questions such as authorship, consent, morality and social responsibility.

The panel for this seminar will include:

Hugh Purcell, Head of Studies, EsoDoc
Louise Hogarth, director of Angels in The Dust from USA
Jim Gilliam, producer with Robert Greenwald Pictures and Brave New Films
Matthea de Jong, Movies That Matter

Guest Profiles

Hugh Purcell
Hugh Purcell is Head of Studies at ESoDoc - European Social Documentary, which is an EU Media Plus training initiative that encourages documentary film makers to work in the areas of human rights, social justice and environmental protection, particularly in the developing world.

Louise Hogarth- award-winning filmmaker
Louise Hogarth is the founder and president of Dream Out Loud Films, a Los Angeles based non-profit independent television and film production company that specializes in true stories about people and events focusing on social and human rights issues. Louise has produced and directed the award-winning documentary The Gift which premiered at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival in 2003 and has since screened at more than 140 film festivals and continues to show worldwide and as part of HIV/AIDS educational programs. Hogarth also co-produced The Panama Deception, which won an Academy Award for Best Feature Length Documentary in 1994.