Tiffany Shlain comes to BYOD to bring her message of Inter-Dependence and discuss filming her family in her doc, “Connected.”
Her work on the web founding the Webbys, and her “Digital-Hippie” philosophy is articulated clearly, as is the release and re-release of her films. She shines as a media presence on this full length interview.
Watch new episodes of BYOD live each week on Tuesdays at noon on TheLip.TV, or tune in for the archived replay starting here on the following Thursday.
ABOUT BYOD:
BYOD is hosted by Ondi Timoner, director of “DIG!,” “JOIN US” and “WE LIVE IN PUBLIC,” and has the rare distinction of winning the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance twice. Each week the show explores a different documentary filmmaker or aspect of filmmaking, with special guests and a live Q&A– diving deep into creative process and the business realities of producing and distributing films. Ondi shares her insider views, opinions, and personal stories, welcoming audience participation. BYOD aims to entertain, inform, and elevate documentaries in general by bringing attention to films and film makers that deserve exposure.
GUEST BIO:
Honored by Newsweek as one of the “Women Shaping the 21st Century,” Tiffany Shlain is a filmmaker, artist, founder of The Webby Awards, and co-founder of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences and was recently the campus-wide commencement speaker for UCBerkeley.
Her films have been selected at over 100 film festivals including Sundance, Tribeca, and Rotterdam, have won 30 awards including Audience and Grand Jury Prizes, been translated into 8 languages, and been shown at museums including LACMA and Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art. Tiffany’s films are a fusion of documentary and narrative and are known for their whimsical yet provocative approach to unraveling complicated subjects like politics, cultural identity, technology and science. Her films include Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness about reproductive rights in America, and The Tribe, an exploration of American Jewish identity through the history of the Barbie doll, the first documentary short to become the #1 on iTunes. She recently made, Yelp: With Apologies to Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, about our addiction to technology and the importance of occasionally “unplugging,’ which was selected as finalist for Guggenheim Museum & Youtube’s YouTube Play: A Biennial of Creative Video and for Sundance 2011.
Her feature documentary, Connected, premiered in the US Documentary Competition at Sundance 2011 and was selected by the US State Dept and USC for the 2012 American Film Showcase. She was the only director to have two films at Sundance in 2011. Connected had its theatrical run in the fall of 2011. The Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences recently acquired the script for Connected to be part of their permanent Core Collection. Her video art installation, “Smashing,” with artist and husband Professor Ken Goldberg, premiered in NYC at the Pulse Contemporary Art Fair.
ADD’L LINKS:
http://tiffanyshlain.com/
http://twitter.com/tiffanyshlain
http://connectedthefilm.com/
http://letitripple.org/
EPISODE BREAKDOWN:
00:01 BYOD Intro
00:18 Introducing Tiffany Shlain.
01:18 Archivalist vs. Filmmaker, and the roots of a style.
04:48 The process of making “Connected.”
07:18 “Connected,” Clip: Narrated history.
09:57 The film is the appetizer and the discussion is the main course.
11:24 Creating the Webby awards and Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.
13:08 “Connected,” Clip.
16:10 Telling a story only with images.
18:20 The rewiring of society through literacy.
20:36 Inter-dependency and innovation in society.
22:57 “Connected,” Clip.
25:34 The power of filming your parents and family.
30:40 “Connected,” Clip. Tiffany’s father.
33:00 Editing and collaborating–”Pulling apart and putting back together.”
41:12 “Connected,” Clip: Consumption.
43:07 Taking the big problems and looking at them positively.
46:56 Defining “Inter-dependence,” and making collective films.
48:10 Re-releasing “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
49:03 Forging a new genre of film.
49:56 “Engage,” Clip.
51:57 Digital Hippie-collaborating in new ways.
