The first documentary is one from VICE about the Charlottesville riots where far-right groups gathered for the “Unite the Right” rally.

Elle Reeve, the correspondent, interviewed the white nationalist leader Christopher Cantwell, and others, going behind the scenes of this rally. Alongside this, members of the Black Lives Matter movement and the Charlottesville police were also spoken to.

The way which this was filmed felt as though I was there, giving me shivers down my spine. When I first watched it I was prioritising the content of the documentary rather than the choices they had decided to film this, so I watched it again to see the ways VICE decided to portray this event.

You see Reeve in action, in front of the camera. You see her interview and also state what is going on. It is clear that her political stance is against the far-right but despite this she asks the subjects neutral questions. There was a moment where her emotions were clear, this being after the fatal incident. I think adding her sympathy emphasises the intensity, the sorrow, the anger that would’ve been in the air in that moment, and as I viewer I could feel the pain of those protesting against these white nationalists.

The next documentary I watched was Blank City (2010). It documents a group of aspiring filmmakers in the 1970s who yearned controversy and pushing limits. Interlacing art, music and cinema, these filmmakers singlehandedly erupted the No Wave movement, a short-lived avant-garde scene.

Blank City has many talking heads interviews – the interviewees being those who were part of this scene. There were some interviewees I knew, such as Glenn O’Brien, Steve Buscemi, Debbie Harrie and John Waters, in which I had no idea were part of this scene. What was intriguing about this documentary was that it was constructed of these talking head interviews and archival footage, mostly of the films they were describing. By doing so, we as viewers are able to watch these innovative films while listening to commentary from their creators.

I enjoyed watching this as it’s a documentary on making films. It killed two birds with one stone for me, because I am beginning to watch more documentaries for this studio while discussing an interest of mine, that being films, creating stories and avant-garde lifestyles. It was great to listen to eccentric creatives, which most definitely triggered motivation in me.

Here are some quotes that I wrote down straight away after they were stated:

  • “You wouldn’t eat, but you’d buy film or a Super 8 camera”
  • “I’d have to fight through the junkies to get to the equipment”
  • “Technique was hated… nobody was doing what they knew how to do”
  • “Go out and do it”
  • “Try to be as offensive as possible”

The last documentary I watched was a very condensed version of Sylvester: Mighty Real. I didn’t have time to watch the full documentary so I watched this random, shortened one that someone uploaded onto Youtube instead.

I’ve been recently getting into Sylvester and his disco music, so this video was an informative introduction on his backstory, his lifestyle, and on the great person all the interviewers described him to be! The documentary was released in 2002 so the documentary kind of looked VHS quality, which suited very well with the rest of the footage. Like Blank City, the video was a combination of talking heads and archival footage – mostly being Sylvester’s music videos or his performances. Throughout the whole video, a song of his would be playing which made me bop along.

I can’t really say much else about it as I am yet to watch the whole feature-documentary, but this short video has definitely gotten me interested!