Documentary bilong Australia
I found a very interesting site from Australia about documentary films, The Documenter. It almost looks like it’s a site for a magazine, but there’s nothing on the site about getting it on paper, so perhaps not. There are some very interesting articles there, like an interview with Albert Maysles, who co-directed films like Salesman and Grey Gardens, both of which I recently bought on DVD (but haven’t had a chance to watch yet). I also read an article by a filmmaker who shot a documentary in North Korea. I think North Korea is fascinating. I love reading about things like Andy Kershaw’s trips there and the music he brings back, where the songs have titles like "Song of Bean Paste" and "We are marching with bayonets firmly fixed".
It’s interesting to read The Documenter, because Australian documentaries get, if anything, even less exposure here than American ones do. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen an Australian documentary. Looking at the site, it seems like there’s a fairly significant scene there. The films about Eddie Mabo and his struggle to establish that the native population actually owned their own land before the Europeans came and decreed Australia was terris nullis look particularly interesting.
Posted at 2:03 AM