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Pov-Cameraperson-Discussion-Guide POV Community Engagement & Education DISCUSSION GUIDE Cameraperson A Film by Kirsten Johnson www.pbs.org/pov LETTER FROM THE FILMMAKER The joys of being a documentary cameraperson are endless and obvi - ous: I get to share profound intimacy with the people I film, pursue re - markable stories, be at the center of events as they unfold, travel, collaborate and see my work engage with the world. I experience phys - ical freedom and the chance at artistic expression and discovery in each moment I hold a camera. No wonder I’ve been doing it for 25 years and love my life. But/and, the dilemmas I face while holding my camera are formidable. There are the concrete challenges I must face in the moment—how to frame, find focus, choose the direction to follow. The other troubles are implicit and often unseen by the audiences of films I shoot: • The people I film are in immediate and often desperate material need, but I offer little to nothing material. • I can and will leave places I film (a war, a refugee camp) when the people I film can’t. • I traffic in hope without the ability to know what will happen in the future. • I ask for trust, cooperation and permission without knowing where the filming experience will lead the subject. • I alter the balance of power through my presence and act on behalf of one side or another in a conflict. • My work requires trust, demands intimacy and entails total attention. To both me and the people I film, our relationship often feels like a friendship or family connection, but it is something different. • I know little about how the images I shoot will be used in the future and cannot control their distribution or use. Director Kirsten Johnson. • My work can change the way my subject is perceived by the Photo courtesy of Janus Films people who surround him/her and can impact reputation or safety for years into the future. • I follow stories the director I work for does not need and/or want me to follow. • I fail to see or follow stories the director I work for hopes I will follow. I’ve been aware of these dimensions for most of my career, as are most documentarians, and have long discussed them with colleagues. What I didn’t know is how the accumulation of these dilemmas over time would begin to impact me. And what I didn’t anticipate even as recently as five years ago, when work on this film began, is how many more people in the world would be filming on their cell phones, as well as seeing images from every part of the globe, communicating visually and in - stantaneously. Surveillance, political repression, censorship and the possibility of global distribution of images filmed by any individual impact all of us and our relation to filming in shifting and unprecedented ways. In making Cameraperson , we decided to rely as much as possible on the evidence of my experience in the footage I shot in the moment. We know that this fragmentary portrait is incomplete and are interested in the way it points to how stories are constructed. Our hope is to convey the immediacy of finding oneself in new territory with a camera, as well as giving the au - dience a sense of how the joys and dilemmas a cameraperson must juggle accumulate over time. This film is an acknowl - edgement of how complex it is to film and be filmed. Kirsten Johnson Director, Cameraperson DISCUSSION GUIDE Cameraperson |2 TABLE OF CONTENTS CREDITS Kirsten Johnson. 2 Letter from the Filmmaker Photo courtesy of Janus Films 4 Introduction Writer 5 Potential Partners Faith Rogow, PhD 5 Key Issues Insighters Educational Consulting 5 Using This Guide Guide Producers, POV 6 Background Information Eliza Licht 6 Films Featured in Cameraperson Vice President, Content Strategy and Engagement, POV 17 The Filmmaker Alice Quinlan 18 General Discussion Questions Manager, Community Engagement and Education, POV 19 Discussion Prompts Ione Barrows 24 Taking Action Associate, Community Engagement and Education, POV 25 Resources Design: 26 How to Buy the Film Rafael Jiménez Copy Editor: Natalie Danford Thanks to those who reviewed this guide: Kirsten Johnson Director, Cameraperson DISCUSSION GUIDE Cameraperson |3 INTRODUCTION What if your junk drawer was filled with assorted film clips Kirsten Johnson. instead of that collection of extraneous parts, left over proj - Photo courtesy of Majlinda Hoxha / Janus Films ect tidbits and product packaging that was just too good to throw away? If you were Kirsten Johnson and you’d been a cinematographer for the last quarter century, you’d make a film. In Cameraperson , that’s just what Johnson has done. She invites viewers to join in her own exploration of the ten - sion between the camera’s simultaneous objectivity and its intervention, as well as the complex interaction of unfiltered reality and crafted narrative. Exposing her role behind the camera, Johnson reaches into the vast trove of footage she has shot over decades around the world. A boxing match in Brooklyn; life in postwar Bosnia; the daily routine of a Nigerian midwife; an intimate family moment at home: these scenes and others are woven into a tapestry that combines documentary, autobiography and ethical inquiry. What emerges is a thoughtful examina - tion of what it means to train a camera on the world. DISCUSSION GUIDE Cameraperson |4 POTENTIAL PARTNERS KEY ISSUES Cameraperson is well suited for use in a variety of set - Cameraperson is an excellent tool for outreach and will tings and is especially recommended for use with: be of special interest to people looking to explore the following topics: • Your local PBS station • Groups that have discussed previous PBS and POV • cinematography films relating to documentary filmmaking and • documentary media analysis, e.g., 5 Broken Cameras, The War • ethics Show, Point and Shoot, or POV films for which • filmmaking Kirsten Johnson did camerawork: Two Towns of Jasper, What I Want My Words To Do To You, • media literacy Election Day and The Oath. • memoir • Groups focused on any of the issues listed in the “Key Issues” section • High school students, youth groups and clubs • Faith-based organizations and institutions • Cultural, art and historical organizations, institutions and museums • Civic, fraternal and community groups • Academic departments and student groups at colleges, universities and high schools • Community organizations with a mission to promote education and learning, such as local libraries. USING THIS GUIDE This guide is an invitation to dialogue. It is based on a belief in the power of human connection, designed for people who want to use Cameraperson to engage family, friends, classmates, colleagues and communities. In contrast to initiatives that foster debates in which participants try to convince others that they are right, this document envisions conversa - tions undertaken in a spirit of openness in which people try to understand one another and expand their thinking by shar - ing viewpoints and listening actively. The discussion prompts are intentionally crafted to help a wide range of audiences think more deeply about the issues in the film. Rather than attempting to address them all, choose one or two that best meet your needs and interests. And be sure to leave time to consider taking action. Planning next steps can help people leave the room feeling energized and optimistic, even in instances when conversations have been difficult. For more detailed event planning and facilitation tips, visit www.pov.org/engage DISCUSSION GUIDE Cameraperson |5 BACKGROUND INFORMATION A woman walks through a graveyard in Bosnia. Films Featured in Cameraperson Photo courtesy of Janus Films Below, in order of appearance in the film Cameraperson, are synopses of the films for which Kirsten Johnson shot footage. Johnson secured permission from each filmmaker to include footage from their work together in her film. Audrie & Daisy (2016) by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk Footage Location: Nodaway County, Missouri I Came to Testify (2011) When the 2012 sexual assaults of two teenage girls are Part of Women, War and Peace, captured on camera, their families and communities must a five-part special series on PBS confront both sexual violence and the ways social media can magnify survivors’ suffering. After Audrie commits sui- Footage Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina cide following her assault, Daisy, her family and two of Au- When the Balkans exploded into war in the 1990s, reports drie’s assailants candidly discuss coming of age in an era that tens of thousands of women were being systemati- when teenagers can be victimized both in person and on- cally raped as a tactic of ethnic cleansing captured the in- line. ternational spotlight. I Came to Testify is the moving story of how a group of 16 women who had been imprisoned by Serb-led forces in the Bosnian town of Foča broke history’s great silence—and stepped forward to take the witness stand in an international court of law. DISCUSSION GUIDE Cameraperson |6 BACKGROUND INFORMATION A midwife pauses and looks at the camera in Kano, Nigeria. Cradle of Champions (2017) by Bartle Bull Photo courtesy of Janus Films Footage Location: Brooklyn, New York The New York Daily News Golden Gloves tournament is the most important amateur boxing tournament in the world— Derrida (2002) one that has pulled young men out of poverty and pro- by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering Kofman duced more professional world champions than the Footage Location: Manhattan, New York Olympics. Cradle of Champions follows three young box- What if you could watch Socrates, on film, rehearsing his ers, sometimes at dangerously close range, as they fight Socratic dialogues? What if there was footage of for their lives at the storied 10-week tournament.
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