American master doc maker, Steve James sits down with Ondi to discuss his incredible body of work. From showing the Chicago ghetto guardian angels of “The Interrupters,” to the heart wrenching aspirations of “Hoop Dreams,” to his own troubled family in “Stevie,” Steve provides great insight on the process of documenting overlooked people.
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:
Steve James‘ affiliation with Kartemquin began in 1987 with the start of production of Hoop Dreams, for which he served as director, producer, and co-editor. The film won every major critics award as well as a Peabody and Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in 1995. The film earned James the Directors Guild of America Award and the MTV Movie Award’s “Best New Filmmaker.” Recently, Hoop Dreams was selected for the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, signifying the film’s enduring importance to American film history, and hailed by critic Roger Ebert as “the great American documentary.”
James’ next documentary, Stevie, won major festival awards at Sundance, Amsterdam, Yamagata and Philadelphia, and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. The acclaimed feature landed on a dozen “Top Ten Films of the Year” lists for 2003. James was also an executive producer, story director, and co-editor of the PBS series, The New Americans, which won two Chicago International Television Festival Golden Hugos, and the prestigious 2004 International Documentary Association Award for Best Limited Series for Television. In 2005, James completed the documentary Reel Paradise, his fourth film to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. James then served as producer and editor of The War Tapes, a documentary comprised of video footage shot by American soldiers in Iraq. The film won the top prize at both the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, and the inaugural 2006 BritDoc Film Festival.
In 2008, he co-produced and co-directed with Peter Gilbert the acclaimed At the Death House Door, which won the top prize at the Atlanta Film Festival, the Inspiration Award at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, and aired on IFC-TV. At the Death House Door is James’ fourth film to be officially short-listed for the Academy Award.
James’ 2010 documentary No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson
had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival and aired as part of ESPN Films’ 2010 International Documentary Association award-winning series 30 for 30. The film was selected for the IDOCS International Documentary Forum in Beijing, and also played at the Cleveland, Full Frame, Dallas, Nashville and Atlanta film festivals, among others, as well as earning James the Best Director award at the Midwest Film Awards. In 2011, No Crossover was selected by the U.S. Department of State for the American Documentary Showcase.
In 2011 James released his sixth film in partnership with Kartemquin, The Interrupters. Marking a return to some of the same Chicago neighborhoods featured in Hoop Dreams, James co-produced the film with acclaimed writer Alex Kotlowitz (There Are No Children Here). The film was his fifth feature be selected for the Sundance Film Festival, and was a hit on the festival circuit winning a dozen awards including the grand jury prizes at the Sheffield Film Festival, Miami Film Festival, and Minneapolis Film Festival. It won both the IndieWire and Village Voice’s national critics polls as the best documentary of the year, and was listed on over 60 “Best Films of the Year” lists including Time, The New Yorker, The Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, and The LA Times among others. James won the two top prizes at the 2012 Cinema Eye Honors – “Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking” & “Best Direction” – and was nominated for the DGA Award (his third DGA nomination). The Interrupters also won the 2012 Independent Spirit Award.
James’ dramatic films include the theatrical feature Prefontaine (1997), which premiered at Sundance, and cable movies Passing Glory (1999) and Joe and Max (2002), which was nominated for an ESPN Espy Award.
ADD’L LINKS:
http://kartemquin.com/
http://interrupters.kartemquin.com/
https://twitter.com/Kartemquin
EPISODE BREAKDOWN:
00:01 Coming up on BYOD.
00:53 Welcoming Steve James.
03:34 Achieving intimacy with subjects, even in intimidating situations.
05:51 The Interrupters, Clip: Kobe and Flamo.
09:00 Getting involved with the Interrupters and their work against community violence.
12:42 The Interrupters, Clip: Ameena.
17:11 Editing and inter-cutting many stories in doc.
20:55 “What drew you to making films?”
27:21 The Interrupters, Clip: Barbershop apology.
30:32 Filming a convict’s apology.
33:37 Premiering the film in the hood and making films about people most people aren’t interested in.
37:06 Finding the stories of Hoop Dreams.
40:36 Getting up close with the Agee family.
42:01 Hoop Dreams, Clip: Arthur’s 18th birthday.
45:09 The real reason for following Arthur and William and the community 25 years later.
50:25 Hoop Dreams, Clip: William in rehabilitation and with his family.
53:42 Using the voiceover and how William revealed his family.
1:01:45 Deciding to make Stevie.
1:03:48 Stevie, Clip: Stevie’s history.
1:06:57 Returning to Stevie and realizing the real picture within his own family.
1:14:18 Stevie, Clip: Stevie’s Mom and Aunt.
1:17:39 Conflicted feelings within the family, “A film about damaged souls.”
1:21:05 Doc makers: Part psychologist and social worker.
1:25:10 Stevie, Clip: Stevie and sister Brenda.
1:27:40 “Did you get closure from making this film?”
1:32:40 Stevie, Clip: Tanya and Stevie.
