Synopsis
Directors: Jennifer Tiexiera, Camilla Hall
Producers: Camilla Hall, Jennifer Tiexiera, Joe Caterini
U.S., 96 min
For decades, documentaries have spoken truth to power and exposed inequity and injustice--but what about documentaries’ own biases, imbalances, and abuses? Filmmakers Jennifer Tiexiera and Camilla Hall go behind the scenes of such famous nonfiction stories as Hoop Dreams, Capturing the Friedmans, Minding the Gap, and The Staircase to reveal the murky ethical dilemmas and complex relationships that exist between documentary filmmakers, their real-life subjects, and the audiences who watch them. Who gets to tell whose story? What’s it like to be left behind when the cameras stop rolling? And what are the lines between empathy and exploitation? “Entertaining,” “thoroughly effective” (The Hollywood Reporter), “inspired” (Village Voice), “fascinating” (CBS News) and crafted with “fluidity and grace” (Indiewire), Subject is a vital exposé of the media and its messengers, trauma and resilience. Followed by extended post-screening panel discussion.
