Contacting Sundance Docs & Blogs Panelists
The Sundance Film Festival starts tomorrow, and there is an interesting panel discussion that is happening on Saturday called "Docs, Blogs, & the Changing Politics of America."
From what I've been able to see online so far, Sundance hasn't published the list of panelists anywhere. I've been able to contact panel's moderator and determine the following list and makeup of the panelists:
* 4 Documentary Directors (Robert Greenwald, Heater Rae, Alex Gibney & Aaron Raskin)
* 1 Blogger (Jason McCabe Calacanis)
* 1 Political Action Committee Representative (Laura Dawn)
* 1 Journalist (Andy Bowers)
Part of the panel description reads, "Now that there are more ways than ever to influence the political process and make your voice heard, what are the strategies for marketing your message?"
I was able to track down more information on all of the panelists and either talk to them or send an unsolicited e-mail press release about my open source documentary.
Those who I was able to contact seemed really interested in what I've been doing, and I passed along some links to my website for them to check out before they head out to Utah.
More information on the Docs & Blogs panelists are listed below:
* Panel Moderator: Andy Bowers -- Senior Editor at Slate.com & oversees NPR's daytime news magazine Day to Day
* Robert Greenwald -- Director of Uncovered & Outfoxed.
* Laura Dawn -- Event and Cultural Director for moveOn.org.
* Jason McCabe Calacanis -- Co-Founder of Weblogs, Inc.
* Heather Rae -- Director of Sundance Competition documentary Trudell, Adjunct communications professor at Boise State University
* Alex Gibney -- Director of Sundance Competition documentary "Enron: Ask Why" & writer of The Trials of Henry Kissinger.
* Aaron Raskin -- Producer of an upcoming documentary The Dreams of Sparrows & Founder of the IraqEye production cooperative.
Greenwald and Dawn certainly have the most insight on the marriage between documentaries and the Internet considering that they have teamed up to coordinate the successful House Parties for Uncovered and Outfoxed.
Calacanis appears to be the only blogger who is on the panel, and is presumably the only one who has had any first hand experience with the full scope and capabilities of the blogosphere.
The other documentary directors who I was able to speak to didn't seen to have a clear vision for how Docs & Blogs could potentially change the "fundamental dynamics of media and politics."
One panelist told me that he didn't think that bloggers could change the world by sitting at home and typing on their computer. I agreed with him, but noted that a hybrid approach of doing original on-the-record investigative filmmaking along with using the Internet to make the media production process more transparent could potentially produce media that have far reaching impacts on the culture and larger political institutions.
Another panelist told me that he was worried about the polarization of the blogosphere, and wondered how much true dialogue was happening online. I agreed and told him that I hope to start bridging this gap with The Echo Chamber by interviewing established institutional authorities and publishing the full transcripts online and then structuring the film so that it stimulates dialogue and understanding instead of debate and polarization.
I'll be watching Calacanis' Sundance blog and indieWIRE's blogs to see if they publish any summaries of the panel since I'll be in Maine and not Utah.
