#9 Co-directing and using animation in documentary to tell a personal story

11/17/20 • 58 min

For the very first time on Film & Impact Zephrine has the pleasure of speaking with not one, but two filmmakers! She sits down with Kira Dane and Katelyn Rebelo, the makers of the award-winning film Mizuko to talk about co-directing their first film, using experimentation to bring stories to life and using animation in documentary to tell a very personal story. They share what it was like to get their first grant, being “scrappy filmmakers”, receiving recognition for their work for the first time, and having a surreal experience with the “voice of the NYC metro”!

Kira Dane is a half-Japanese filmmaker from New York, currently based in Nara, Japan. Having been shaped and informed by two extremely different cultures, she is most comfortable in gray areas. And as an artist, she's most interested in telling stories that dig for nuance in overlooked places. With a background in illustration, she often utilizes animation and experimental form in her work. Kira is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in Film & TV. In 2019 she was named a fellow of the Sundance Ignite Program, and she is an active member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective. Most recently, Kira co-directed the short animated documentary “Mizuko", supported by Tribeca Institute’s If/Then Short Documentary Program. The film received Special Jury Awards at SXSW and IDFA, and was selected to screen at AFI DOCS, Atlanta Film Festival, Palm Springs Shortfest, and others.

Katelyn Rebelo is a filmmaker based in Brooklyn. Her work sits at the intersection of documentary & experimental film, often exploring stories that reimagine concepts of femininity, politics, and personal freedom. She is currently the Spring 2020 Womxn Filmmaker Fellow at Jacob Burns Film Center, and holds a BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a major in Film & Television and minor in Social & Cultural Analysis. Most recently she co-directed, animated, and shot "Mizuko" supported by Tribeca Film Institute's If/Then Short Documentary Program & the Sundance Ignite Program. The film received special jury awards at IDFA and SXSW, and has been selected for AFI DOCS, Atlanta Film Festival, and Palm Springs Shortfest.

See Kira’s work:

Website: https://www.kiradane.com/

Connect with Kira:

Instagram @kira.dane

See Katelyn’s work:

Website: http://katelynrebelo.com/

Connect with Katelyn:

Instagram @rebeloke
Facebook @katelyn.rebelo

www.filmandimpact.com

Watch here:

See Kira’s work:

Website: https://www.kiradane.com/

Connect with Kira:

Instagram @kira.dane

See Katelyn’s work:

Website: http://katelynrebelo.com/

Connect with Katelyn:

Instagram @rebeloke
Facebook @katelyn.rebelo

www.filmandimpact.com

Watch here:

Previous Episode

#8 - Creating a successful film festival and promoting sustainability in the Caribbean with Carver Bacchus

Today I welcome Carver Bacchus, a fellow Caribbean filmmaker and festival organizer to Film & Impact! Carver has over fifteen years’ experience in the areas of Communication and Film Production. He has worked as a communications consultant since 2008 and has directed and produced documentaries, animations and corporate videos for a wide range of clients including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme, The German Embassy (Port of Spain), The University of the West Indies and the Institute of Marine Affairs (Trinidad and Tobago).

Carver is the Founder and Managing Director of Sustain T&T, a not-for-profit focussed on environmental and economic sustainability education. He is also the Founder and Festival Director of Green Screen the Environmental Film Festival, the only environmental and sustainability themed film festival in the English-speaking Caribbean.

Carver served on the Board of Directors of the Asa Wright Nature Centre (Trinidad) from 2012 to 2015.

He is also a member of the NextGen Board, constituted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) Trinidad and Tobago office in 2018. A first of its kind for the IADB, this group of cross-sectoral change-makers was assembled to take action on the sustainable development agenda in Trinidad and Tobago. NextGen focuses on creating solutions through partnerships to address some of the most pressing challenges T&T faces - Crime, Transportation, Mental Health and Environmental concerns.

Carver holds a BSc in Communications and other specialist training including a Diploma in Motion Picture Directing and a Certificate in Integrated Marketing Communication for Behavioral Impact in Health and Social Development (COMBI).

In today’s episode, we talk about creating and running a successful film festival in Trinidad, changing mindsets and shifting towards a future of sustainability in the Caribbean, “doing more” and bringing more of “us” to the big screen.

Visit the Green Screen Film Festival:

Website: https://www.greenscreenfest.com/

Connect with Carver:

Instagram @carver.bacchus

Watch this episode here: https://bit.ly/2yy0lp7

Subscribe to the newsletter for more content: https://bit.ly/3k4NyvZ

www.filmandimpact.com

Next Episode

Making a 13-year film and looking at the intersections of art and politics with Michèle Stephenson

In this episode of Film & Impact, Zephrine meets up with Michèle Stephenson, a badass filmmaker, artist and author who pulls from her Panamanian and Haitian roots and international experience as a human rights attorney to tell compelling deeply personal stories in a variety of media that resonate beyond the margins.

In today’s episode, we talk about making American Promise, her 13-year, Emmy-nominated documentary, the ethical challenges of telling a documentary story, the key role of advocates when approaching gatekeepers for funding, and looking at the intersections between art and politics.

Co-founder of the Rada Film Group, Michèle’s work has appeared on a variety of broadcast and web platforms, including PBS, Showtime and MTV. Her most recent film, American Promise, was nominated for three Emmys including Best Documentary and Best News Coverage of a Contemporary Issue. The film also won the Jury Prize at Sundance, and was selected for the New York Film Festivals’ Main Slate Program. Stephenson was recently awarded the Chicken & Egg Pictures Filmmaker Breakthrough Award and is a 2016 Guggenheim Fellow. Her current work, Hispaniola, is supported by the likes of the National Film Board of Canada, the MacArthur Foundation, Telefilm Canada, the Ford Foundation and the Sundance Documentary Fund.

Michèle Stephenson is one of the founders of and has co-produced several short documentaries in The Conversation, a series of Op Ed documentaries for the New York Times, including An Education in Equality, A Conversation With White People on Race, and A Conversation with Black Women on Race.

Her community engagement accomplishments include the PUMA BritDoc Impact Award for a Film with the Greatest Impact on Society, a Revere Award Nomination from the American Publishers Association, and she is a fellow of Skoll Storytellers of Change. Promises Kept, written along with co-authors Joe Brewster and Hilary Beard, won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work.

See Michèle’s work:

Website: http://radastudio.org/projects/

Connect with Michèle: