The 13th Annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival (BSDFF) brings this year’s best stories to Missoula, featuring films that entertain, educate and impact us all. Each year, BSDFF holds DocShop, a 5-day conference (Feb 22nd – 26th 2016) for filmmakers and professionals, to discuss the art and impact of filmmaking. For all media makers and enthusiasts, DocShop tackles the filmmaking process through panels, workshops, pitches, screenings and presentations – invaluable continuing education for the veteran and emerging filmmaker. The focus for 2016 is FILMS FOR CHANGE. The 2016 DocShop will highlight media activism and documentary film as a catalyst for positive change. Filmmakers, media artists, activists and representatives from nonprofits will discuss strategic plans for using a variety of platforms and media to produce impactful campaigns that shape our world.
Here is a selection of the different workshops that will be available, along with the time and location of each.
Ethics in Representation Feb 22nd 3:30-4:30 PM – Panel – UC Theater: This panel discussion will hit on the challenges and implications of how you effect individuals and their story when they become a subject in your film or video.
Online Video Activism Feb 23rd 2:15 – 3:15 PM – Workshop – Holiday Inn: Shuling Yong is a documentary filmmaker with a passion for creating positive impact on the community. She is the founder of Media for Social Change, a social enterprise that works with non-profit organizations and socially conscious businesses to tell their stories through the power of video. Shuling will walk us through a few case studies of online video activism that has worked. Speaker: Shuling Yung
All the Rage (dir. Michael Galinsky) Feb 24th 5:00 – 7:00PM – Screening & Discussion – UC Theater: “All The Rage” (directed by Michael Galinsky, Suki Hawley & David Beilinson) is a film about Dr. John Sarno who pioneered a mind body approach to treating back pain in the 1970’s. It is also a personal journey for filmmaker Michael Galinsky, following him as he seeks to both heal from his own back problems and get to the bottom of why our culture is so resistant to dealing with the mind body connection.
BIG SKY PITCH Feb 25th 9:00 – 5:00PM – UC Theater – FREE TO THE PUBLIC: Watch filmmaking teams “pitch” their documentary work-in-progress to some of the top commissioning editors and funders for documentary film in North America. All documentary forms and all subjects are eligible to submit. The session will be held Thursday, February 25th, 2016 at the UC Theater in Missoula,
Transmedia for Social Change Feb 26th 9:00-10:30AM – Case Study – Holiday Inn: Filmmaker Thomas Nybo has been producing a video series for UNICEF dealing with the refugee crisis, and two of the last short docs went viral — seven million views and counting. Learn how one person, with minimal equipment and support, can tell powerful stories from any corner of the earth. Speaker: Thomas Nybo, UNICEF
The full schedule is viewable here.
DocShop 2016 Panelists include:
Erica Anderson, Seed & Spark
Bryan Bello, Street Sense, DC
Gorman Bechard, Independent Filmmaker
Melinda Booth, Wild & Scenic Film Festival
Lisa Chanoff, Catapult Film Fund
Sonya Childress, Firelight Media
N’Jeri Eaton, ITVS
Jon Fitzgerald – Co-founder of Slamdance and Author
Michael Galinsky, Independent Filmmaker
Kelly Matheson, Witness Video as Evidence Unit
Molly Murphy, Working Films
Justine Nagan, POV
Michael O’Heaney, Story Of Stuff
Patrice O’Neill , Not in Our Town
Ondi Timoner, Interloper Films
Erin Sorenson, Third Stage Productions
Beckie Stocchetti, Kartemquin Films
Christine Wilcox Holmes, co-founder of MissRepresentation.org
Shuling Yong, Filmmaker
FREE TO PASSHOLDERS & STUDENTS FROM UNIVERSITY of MONTANA and MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY.
Individual events are $10/each. DOCSHOP PASS is $150 and includes the conference, a 5-punch film pass and VIP events.
