6
Thursday, March 30, 2000
DOUBLE TAKE
From Page 5
Lazin, executive producer and vice
president of MTV News and Specials.
In addition to co-sponsoring the
event, MTV is showing four documen
taries at Double Take. Lazin said the
group’s involvement also signified
MTVs interest in producing documen
taries more serious than the self
described “real life entertainment” of
“Road Rules” and “The Real World”.
AGES Creative Speakers Series Presents
CULTIVATING
WRITERS
A Roundtable discussion of creative writing
in the 21st century
5:30 March 20
The Commons Room #39 in the Jemes Johnson Center for
Undergraduate Excellence in Graham Memorial, on Franklin
Street, next to Morehead Planetarium
Free Parking will be available in the Morehead
Planetarium lot.
A Panel of eminent MC writers & teachers
discuss the evolving profession of creative
writing and the role of professional writers
in colleges & universities.
Moderator: Doris Betts, Fiction Writer
and Essayist
Panelists: Fred Chappell, Poet Laureate, Fiction
& Nonfiction
Betty Adcock, Poet
John Kessel, Fiction
Marianne Gingher, Fiction
& Nonfiction
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“We are very interested in the pro
gram because it’s something we’ve been
doing for years - letting young people
tell their story in their own words.
Usually these stories have been experi
enced through adults observing them,"
Lazin said.
Outside of MTV and large-scale doc
umentary producers, the Double Take
Festival also highlights more personal
works from independent filmmakers.
Washington DC-based filmmaker Linda
Duvoisin will premiere her new film
“you don’t know what i got” on April 7
DIVERSIONS Music
at 11 a.m.
The film revolves around Duvoisin’s
five conversations with women of all
ages and backgrounds, including singer
songwriter Ani Difranco. Overlapping
these five conversations, Duvoisin
explores the traditional coming-of-age
theme of following one’s passion.
Although the festival offers her the
chance to market her film, Duvoisin
said she was more excited about seeing
her film on The CarolinaTheatre’s big
screen and presenting the fruits of her
labor to the other film aficionados.
“No matter how well the film does, I
feel like it was a really great experience.
These women’s advice will be with me
no matter what,” she said.
While most festivals tend to treat
documentaries as a subset for the pro
gramming, The Double Take Festival
solely features the genre, which is gain
ing in popularity.
Lazin said documentaries have
gained an increased appeal since audi
ences were appreciating reality over
fantasy more.
“I think that real life is intensely fas
cinating and engaging. There’s a lot of
unheard stories out there."
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
Mon " Fri & 932-9010
11am-10pm 161 E. Franklin St
W
Crootfs Corner
Fine Southern Dining Serving Sunday Brunch
) ***
Bar & Dpffnti room mien every ninht at 5:30 pm. Sun. Brunch 10:30 am-2 pm.
Franklin Street Chapel Hill, Norlh Carolina 919-929-7643.^
STUDENTS
From Page 5
Oregon, said documentaries were a
powerful medium because, in contrast
to features, the stories were truer and the
actors were authentic.
“(The documentaries) are telling the
subject’s stories and that has more
power for social transformation than
something that is made up and specifi
cally designed to entertain," he said.
While pursuing his master’s degree,
Opel said he filmed a half-hour docu
mentary on the environmental conflict
between cattle ranching and famine.
“For me, it’s got to have some social
ly redeeming value that sheds light on
the struggles of the human condition,”
he said. “There are a lot of stories out
there that just need to be told.”
Cory Cavin, a senior communica
tions major, said successful documen
taries had subjects that were intriguing
or over-the-top.
Even a documentary about a restau
rant in the most rural side of Anytown,
USA, could be made entertaining with
the right angle, Cavin said.
“One cool thing about documentaries
is that you can take some of the most
mundane things and really make them
interesting,” he said. “It really exposes
the intricacies of the things other people
don’t see.”
Some filmmakers also start a docu
mentary out of a personal interest in the
subject, dig a little deeper and uncover
dynamic stories that were beyond their
expectations.
One such story, for Cavin and three
other classmates in his Communications
135: Documentary Production class last
semester, was the story of the “Metal
Maniac.”
The documentary, “The Day We
Shot the Maniac,” revolving around an
overzealous small-time wrestler, ended
up with less than desirable results.
After receiving the class assignment
to pitch documentaries, Cavin said his
group had pitched a wrestling docu
mentary that would follow the same
lines as a special on WCW wrestler Bret
“The Hitman” Hart that they had seen
earlier in the semester.
“We were kind of wanting to follow
the wrestler around,” he said. “We were
wanting the whole documentary to
show what its like for this small town
North Carolina rural wrestling scene.”
After a contact led them to wrestler
Jeff “The Metal Maniac” Miller, the
group made a trip to interview the
wrestler that left them with some rather
Have You Heard the News?
The Second Biennial George Moses Horton Society
"■xplorisig Community and Culturo in African American Poetry"
Starts this Friday at 7:00 p.m. with Keynote Speaker and Award-Winning Poet
Nikki Olovanni
(with an introduction by Houston Baker, Jr.)
ADMISSION FREE
Conference panels all day Saturday: beginning at 8:30 a.m.
and concluding with a Poetry Reading that night from 8-10 p.m.
So Check It Out!
(It will impress your friends, and give you something to do this weekend.)
All events held in the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building, 301 Pittsboro St.
For more information, contact Ms. Fiona Mills at fmills@email.unc.edu
Officially Recognized
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(Nomination forms can be picked up at the Union Desk, George Watts Hill
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lackluster footage, Cavin said.
“During the interview he was acting a
whole lot and just acting like a real jerk
like in a televised wrestling interview,"
he said.
“Then he made (one of the group
members) lift all these weights and then
put him in the ring bodyslamming him
and stuff.”
Their finished documentary, which
has been shown at a few local docu
mentary festivals, ended up being more
reflexive, Cavin said.
“We instead focused on the actual
making of the documentary,” he said.
“We had our own interviews about the
whole experience and did not try to
hide the cameras.”
While documentaries have been gar
nering attention this year due to
“Beyond the Mat,” a documentary that
sheds light on the behind-the-scenes
events of the WWF wrestling scene, the
future of documentary lies in the stories
that are still waiting to be told, Opel
said.
“That is always the trick, finding a
good story because you aren’t creating
the story ,” he said. “Instead, you have
to find one.”
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.