真相寻求者赢得了斯坦利·尼尔森（Stanley Nelson）的需求，为所有纪录片制片人提供机会
Truth Seekers Honoree Stanley Nelson on the Need to Expand Opportunities for All Documentary Filmmakers
在1980年代，斯坦利·尼尔森（Stanley Nelson）花了7年的时间才制作“两美元和梦想：C.J. Walker夫人的故事”，他的第一部纪录片。他又花了七年的时间才制作他的第二篇文档：“黑人出版社：没有剑的士兵。”一旦他有两部电影，现年66岁的尼尔森（Nelson）即将成为最重要，最多产的电影纪录片制片人记录美国黑人体验。纳尔逊（Nelson）最近著名的电影包括“迈尔斯·戴维斯（Miles Davis）：凉爽的诞生”，“塔尔萨（Tulsa）燃烧：1921年的比赛大屠杀”，《黑豹：革命的先锋》和即将到来的“阿提卡”。诺尔森意识到他的道路，尼尔森意识到这一点，尼尔森意识到了这一点。迫切需要培训，指导和其他计划，以打开有色电影制片人的大门，以使他们能够在媒体上拥有有意义的职业。在尼尔森的《 Firelight Films》中的电影和Docu系列作品比以往任何时候M的实验室课程，用于有前途的纪录片。认识到他的工作身体以及他致力于为他人提供他所谓的“腿”的承诺，纳尔逊被Variety and Rolling Stone选为“真相寻求者”的就职典礼，以纪念非凡的真相寻求者奖纪录片制作的贡献。该奖项是8月26日作为《长时间寻求者》会议的一部分颁发的，由综艺和滚石乐队主持，以研究纪录片和非小说类作品的爆炸性增长。在接受kudo时，尼尔森参加了一场关于关于的广泛的虚拟谈话。他在综艺作家Addie Morfoot的职业生涯中指出，纪录片形式的扩展和追求高端非小说类作品的媒体数量是有变革的。几年前，他与总部位于纽约Firelight电影的合作伙伴坐下Duce功能和多集系列开始流入。直到几年前，Firelight一次主要制作了一部主要电影。不再了。”我们说，让我们继续前进，”纳尔逊说。 “让我们看看我们还能做多少，还有多少人可以与员工一起工作，因为这是我们的使命，就像纪录片实验室的使命一样，我们如何才能使更多有色人种进入行业？我们如何雇用更多的人，然后可以独自飞行。”'尼尔森是低调的，完全是事实，因为他解释了黑人电影制片人，高管，才华代表和创意人在获得一个额外的负担时成功的衡量标准。他在基金会赠款和机构慈善资料的支持下创建了Firelight的纪录片实验室，以简化尼尔森和他的小组行业同行已经定期分配的非官方指导。我们给别人吗一条腿？我们如何给人们一个开始？不仅我本人，而且有那么多电影制片人是导师，这是其他电影制片人，尤其是有色电影制片人的非正式导师。人们会打电话给我，从字面上说，只是说：“我看过你拍的电影，呃，你知道，你是一个黑人电影制片人，我是黑人，你能成为我的导师吗？``不仅是我，还有其他电影制片人。因此，我们想尝试考虑将其制度化，并将其更像是一个程序，而不是临时或捕获式捕捞。纳尔逊（Nelson）和莫福特（Morfoot）谈到了纪录片的繁荣和流媒体革命，这使文档的发行环境升级了。但是，订单的激增主要涉及过去与主要网络合作的既定生产商。这使得新声音很难突破，即使有深袋的彩带似乎无法订购Docu系列FA足够了。“人们正在寻找有关不同主题的新文档。因此，它确实使人们可以扩展表格。对于某些人来说，这是文档的黄金时代。”他说。 “因此，如果您在食物链上有点高处 - 无论出于何种原因，可能是因为我已经老了，我已经做了很长时间了，那就是黄金时代。您知道，人们实际上是在打电话给我，想帮助我做事。但是我们与许多初次电影制片人合作。对于他们来说，让他们的第一部电影制作仍然是一场挣扎。而且，要制作第二部和第三部电影，这仍然是一场挣扎。因此，我认为这对某些人来说是一个黄金时代，但是许多DOC电影制片人仍在努力进行项目。他在那个地区也没有大型员工。 “我们只是阅读书籍并与人交谈，然后关注关于Docu电影制片人的“客观性”：纳尔逊是一位老式电影制片人，他的电影中没有倡导他的电影中的倡导立场。他试图介绍他训练镜头的人民和机构的疣和全部肖像。纪录片“试图具有客观性的幻想。我认为没有完全的客观性，但我们至少希望看起来我们是客观的，并且我们对这个主题进行了深入的研究。”纳尔逊渴望看到他的电影，讲述纽约臭名昭著的1971年监狱起义，现场观众。这部电影的访谈是对当时从未谈论过自己经历的年轻囚犯的访谈。他说：“我以前从未去过多伦多电影节 - 我真的很兴奋。” “我认为'Attica'是一部非常令人震惊和重要的电影。所以我只是想看一部有观众的电影。您必须喜欢看文档，您必须喜欢该表格。如果您这样做，那么您就有机会长寿，因为您喜欢自己的工作。”尼尔森说。“你知道，有史以来对我说的最好的事情之一是，当我由一位年长的电影制片人担任助理制片人时。他对我说：“您必须享受旅程。”您必须享受这一过程。您必须享受在您所处情况下遇到的人。您必须享受这些东西，因为您可能不记得您是否投入了这张照片或那张镜头 - 因此，享受旅程非常重要。”（如图：Variety的Addie Morfoot和Stanley Nelson）
In the 1980s, it took Stanley Nelson seven years to make “Two Dollars and a Dream: The Story of Madame C.J. Walker,” his first documentary film. It took him another seven years to make his second feature doc: “The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords.”
Once he had two films under his belt, Nelson, now 66, was on his way to becoming one of the foremost and most prolific documentary filmmakers to chronicle the Black experience in America. Nelson’s notable recent films include “Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool,” “Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre,” The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution” and the upcoming “Attica.”
As he forged his path, Nelson realized the desperate need for training, mentorship and other programs to open doors for filmmakers of color to allow them to have meaningful careers in media. At a time when Nelson’s Firelight Films is busier than ever with movies and docu series productions, the non-profit Firelight Media arm is in its 12th year of running the Docufilm laboratory course for promising documentarians.
In recognition of his body of work and his commitment to trying to give others what he calls “a leg up,” Nelson was selected by Variety and Rolling Stone as the inaugural recipient of the Truth Seekers award honoring extraordinary contributions to documentary filmmaking. The award was presented Aug. 26 as part of the daylong Truth Seekers conference, hosted by Variety and Rolling Stone, to examine the explosive growth in documentary and nonfiction production.
In accepting the kudo, Nelson took part in a wide-ranging virtual conversation about his career with Variety contributing writer Addie Morfoot.
Nelson noted that the expansion of the documentary form and the number of outlets pursuing high-end nonfiction production has been transformative. A few years ago, he sat down with his partners at New York-based Firelight Films to decide whether the company should step up its volume of production as so many offers to produce features and multi-episode series began to flow in. Until a few years ago, Firelight primarily made one major film at a time. Not any more.
“We said, let’s go for it,” Nelson said. “Let's see how much more we can do and how many more people we can work with as employees, because that’s our mission in the same way that it’s the mission of the Documentary Lab -- how can we get more people of color into the industry? How can we employ more people who can then go on and fly on their own.”’
Nelson is low-key and completely matter of fact as he explains the extra burden that Black filmmakers, executives, talent representatives and creatives shoulder when they gain a measure of success. He created Firelight’s Documentary Lab, with the support of foundation grants and institution charitable sources, in order to streamline the unofficial guidance that Nelson and his small group of industry peers were already dispensing on a regular basis.
“We wanted to think about was, how do we give people a leg up? How do we give people a start? Not only myself but so many filmmakers were serving as mentors -- informal mentors to other filmmakers and especially filmmakers of color. People would call me up, literally out of the blue, just saying, ‘I saw a film that you made and, uh, you know, you're a Black filmmaker, I'm a Black guy, could you be my mentor?’ And it was not only me, it was other filmmakers, too. And so we wanted to try to think about institutionalizing this and making it something that was more of a program instead of just ad-hoc or catch as catch-can. And that became the idea for the lab.”
Nelson and Morfoot spoke of the documentary boom and the streaming revolution that has leveled the distribution playing field for docs. But the spike in orders has gone largely to established producers who have worked with major networks in the past. That makes it hard for new voices to break in even when streamers with deep pockets seemingly can’t order docu series fast enough.
“People are looking for new and inventive docs about different subjects. And so it's really allowed people to expand the form. It’s a golden age for docs for some people," he said. "So if you're kind of high up on the food chain – which for whatever reason, probably because I'm just old and been doing it a long time, I am -- it's a golden age. You know, people are actually calling me on the phone and wanting to help me make things. But we work with a lot of first-time filmmakers. And for them, it's still a struggle getting their first film made. And it's still a struggle many times getting their second and third films made. So I think it's a golden age for some people, but a lot of doc filmmakers are still struggling to get projects made."
Among other highlights from the conversation:
On research: Nelson said there’s not much mystery to the research process on his documentaries. Nor does he have a large staff in that area. “We just read the books and talk to people and follow the story and let it go where it goes.”
On the “illusion of objectivity” for docu filmmakers: Nelson is an old-school filmmaker who does not take advocacy positions in his films. He tries to present a warts-and-all portrait of the people and institutions on which he has trained his lens. Documentary films “try to have the illusion of objectivity. I don't think that there's complete objectivity but we at least want appear that we're objective and that we've done really deep research into the subject,” he said.
On "Attica" premiering at the Toronto Film Festival and Showtime: Nelson is eager to see his film about the notorious 1971 prison uprising in New York with a live audience. The film features interviews with men who were young inmates at the time who have never spoken of their experience. “I’ve never been to the Toronto Film Festival before -- I'm really excited about going,” he said. “I think that that 'Attica' is a really shocking and important film. And so I'm just dying to see a film with an audience.”
On advice for aspiring documentarians: “You’ve got to like making docs, you know? You’ve gotta like watching docs, you’ve got to like the form. If you do, then you have a chance for longevity because you like what you do,” Nelson said. “You know, one of the best things that ever was said to me is when I was working as an assistant producer by an older filmmaker. He said to me, ‘You’ve got to enjoy the journey.’ You’ve got to enjoy the process. You’ve got to enjoy the people that you meet in the situations that you get in. You have to enjoy those things because you might not remember if you put in this shot or that shot -- so it's really important that you enjoy the journey.”
(Pictured: Variety's Addie Morfoot and Stanley Nelson)
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发表于 2022-7-5 05:33:01
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