When I went to art school for a year, I was tasked to partner up with someone and make a short documentary about her. Armed with no knowledge of how to make a film and a time window of just one fortnight, I got to work on my first real film. After shooting, I sat…
When Myles Kane and Josh Koury were looking to distribute their film Voyeur, they had a lot of interest in the documentary. The pair had spent three and a half years working independently on the film, and wanted to make sure to find the right place for it. Enter Netflix. While the directors had offers…
“The aliens are always with me.” What was your first thought when you read that line above? Typically, when working with subjects that have unique lifestyles or beliefs, an audience’s first reaction is to write them off or laugh at them. Unless you are making a film that’s sole purpose is to make fun of…
With films from the first graduating class of the Murray Center starting to enter the public sphere and be accepted into film festivals, the center and its alumni have officialy entered the distribution and festival circuit. Though I’m a current Murray Center student myself, I’ve been working for a distribution company for more than a…
Even starting this article is giving me anxiety… My whole life I have been a persistent procrastinator. Many nights have been spent crying to my mother, begging her to help me with my 5th grade science project that was due that next day or writing an essay I was assigned weeks earlier but had only…
With streaming channels becoming increasingly popular, documentary films are given the chance to stream in millions of homes, affording filmmakers the opportunity to have their stories shared with a variety of demographics. Streaming services like HBO Go and Netflix are paving the way for filmmakers to profit from their films after working through festivals, and the…
For the most part, I was somebody more interested in the filmmaking side of documentaries. I thought that I could combat my shortcomings in journalism with better “filmmaking” skills and that’s where my energy should be devoted. I thought that, for the most part, documentaries shouldn’t be too closely associated with journalism and the idea…
“Do you ever have those dreams that are completely real? I mean they’re so vivid it’s just like completely real. And there’s always something bizarre going on in those. I have one like once every two years or something, I always remember them really good. One time I had lunch with Tolstoy, the other time…
I want to preface this article by saying that I know accolades and recognitions are not the end all be all. They are not why films are made and they don’t add to or deduct from the value of a piece of art. Still, they do acknowledge films that break boundaries and execute new ideas…
Last fall, as classes were quickly approaching and the excitement of the inaugural class at the Murray Center settled in, the 20 or so students chosen to be a part of the program were asked to participate in several “kick off” events leading up to the first day of class. We first got to go…