I was not actually as interested in the film, per se, as I was in the prospect of having a voice of independence, dissidence and critique of authority. - Patricia Aufderheide
Dr. Patricia Aufderheide is a Professor in the School of Communication at American University. Her most recent book is Kartemquin Films: Documentaries on the Frontlines of Democracy.
Aufderheide is a Guggenheim fellow (1994) and has served as a juror at the Sundance Film Festival. She has received numerous journalism and scholarly awards, including the George Stoney award for service to documentary from the University Film and Video Association.
In this conversation Professor Aufderheide and I talk:
Her favorite member of The Beatles.
Writing film criticism at the University of Minnesota.
Being an acolyte of Pauline Kael.
Filmmaking as narrative transportation.
Gordon Quinn and Kartemquin Films.
How documentary can help people be more active in demanding democracy.
Cultural Marxism, Antonio Gramsci, and Thomas Dewey.
Barbara Kopple’s documentary Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing.
Steve James’ film The Interrupters and his series America to Me.
How Kartemquin Films has a fundamental goal of showing how human agency functions in society.
How contemporary documentary reduces the role of society and highlights individual exceptionalism.
Her book Kartemquin Films: Documentaries on the Frontlines of Democracy.
“ Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.”
Demand democracy.
Jacqueline Olive’s documentary Always in Season.
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