UPDATE: Grizzly Man (7/20/06; Film & History, 11/8/06-11/12/06)
Updateâ€"CFP: Grizzly Man (2005)
Panels are being formed on Werner Herzog’s film about Timothy Treadwell,
which uses amateur footage documenting life with Alaskan grizzlies. Herzog’s
editing and portrayal of Treadwell raise many questions that need to be
explored. How do we evaluate the work of a feature film director editing footage of
someone else’s experience in the wilderness? How should we respond to the
mission of someone who intrudes into that wilderness? Can the wilderness be
protected when changed by the presence of the protector/filmmaker? What is
the role of a documentarian in the wilderness? Can a documentary filmmaker
truly be a friend to the environment or the ecosystem being filmed?
Several participants have already accepted the challenge to deal with this
film that aired multiple times on the Discovery channel. The promotional
rhetoric shifted from a man who lived with bears to a “grizzly activist.†What
does the change in descriptive language suggest about the film? What is the
“rhetoric†of nature films (visual and verbal)? Grizzly Man is but one
thread to be unraveled in the panels on Nature and the Environment in
Documentary Film and Television at the Film & History 2006 conference. See details
below and go to www.filmandhistory.org for complete conference updates.
2006 Film & History Conferenceâ€"“The Documentary Traditionâ€
8-12 November 2006
Dolce Conference Center â€" Dallas, TX
Deadline: July 20, 2006
AREA: Nature and the Environment in Film and Television Documentaries
Early filmmakers often traveled the globe to introduce audiences to views of
far away places. Niagara Falls and scenes of the Holy Land shared the
screen with the dancing Carmencita. Later, the filmic exploration of the natural
world added support to the argument that movies were educational tools.
Walt Disney, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and Carl Sagan took audiences into new
natural worlds.
The Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and PBS continue the tradition of
nature film. NASA, too, has a television channel. Audiences continue to share a
fascination for the natural world, as witnessed by the success of The March of
the Penguins (2005). Why?
Environmentalist and preservationist groups use the power of film and
television to disseminate information, create public awareness, and activate
change. And there is a political aspect; witness the work of Al Gore and Robert
Kennedy Jr.
Presentations are invited on individual documentaries, television
programming, or on particular directors and cinematographers. A survey of movies
analyzing our cultural fascination and identification with nature films and the
ways in which nature and the environment are filmed would be welcomed.
Panel proposals, for up to four presenters, are also welcome, but each
presenter must submit his or her own paper proposal.
Deadline: July 20, 2006
Send a 200-word proposal to:
Deborah Carmichael
Department of English
Oklahoma State University
205 Morrill Hall
Stillwater OK 74078
Email: debcar6569_at_aol.com
Phone/fax: 405.372.1883
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Received on Sun Jul 09 2006 - 09:29:51 EDT