The Right Footage

The Right Footage

Illustrating the Archive: Didier Lefèvre and ‘The Photographer’

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Illustrating the Archive: Didier Lefèvre and ‘The Photographer’
© Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefèvre, Frédérique Lemercier, Le Photographe (France: Dupuis, 2010).

From the vibrant city of Peshawar to the remote town of Zaragandara in Afghanistan, The Photographer transports the reader into war zones where fascination and indignation mingle together. The book tells the true story of photojournalist Didier Lefèvre whose job was to cover a three-month MSF (Doctors without Borders) mission in the summer of 1986. Following the Soviet invasion of 1979, countless Afghans suffered from the ravaging conflict. MSF was there to rescue the helpless and heal innocent citizens who were injured. In this engaging graphic novel, war is not glamorous. The reader witnesses the atrocity engendered by war as Lefèvre walks from village to village, observing and recording the distress of innocents. Guibert shows the conflict through the lens of a vulnerable photographer, for whom danger is omnipresent and whose fear and tension are highly perceptible. As immersive as it is intense, The Photographer is in line with other classic graphic novels such as Maus (1986-91), Palestine (1993-95), and Persepolis (2000-03).  (more…)

The Right Footage

Recreating the Trial of the Century: O.J. Simpson

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Recreating the Trial of the Century: O.J. Simpson

Seven hours and forty-three minutes. That’s how long director Ezra Edelman managed to keep the audience at the initial screening of his latest documentary glued to their seats. “O.J.: Made in America” provides a look back at the famous double homicide trial surrounding American football star O.J. Simpson and the polarized state of the US at the time.

The question that Edelman poses to audiences was not whether the lovable O.J. Simpson killed his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend,  Ronald Goldman. Rather, he questions how the O.J. Simpson trial was part of a larger, tragic story regarding race and identity in America?  (more…)

The Right Footage

Unearthing the Past: When Exceptionally Rare Photographs and Footage of Renowned People Resurface

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Unearthing the Past: When Exceptionally Rare Photographs and Footage of Renowned People Resurface

Today, people connected to the Internet have unprecedented access to tons of visual materials – some would even say we live in a world built by images from the selfie to the motion billboard to film penetrating new parts of our daily lives. However, there was a time when newsmakers and prominent people barely featured on visual documents, whether because they were outlaws (who preferred to hide rather than pose with local inhabitants) or because we hold – or know of – very few records of them. This article aims at presenting some exceptionally scarce photographs and films of a few personalities who made history.  (more…)

The Right Footage

The Human Side of the Doc Market: An Interview with Sunny Side’s Irem Couchouron

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The Human Side of the Doc Market: An Interview with Sunny Side’s Irem Couchouron

Sunny Side of the Doc has been around since 1989 and has expanded to Asia and Latin America. What is Sunny Side’s current philosophy?

Sunny Side of the Doc is one of the most renowned international marketplaces solely dedicated to doc professionals, and has been set up at first to facilitate co-productions and sales of finished programmes in the non-fiction and factual markets. The idea was to create a global marketplace in France where people gather every year to exchange ideas, do business, co-create & co-produce, and meet each other, in a more relaxed atmosphere.  (more…)

The Right Footage

‘Stranger Fruit’: How New Footage Changed a Narrative

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‘Stranger Fruit’: How New Footage Changed a Narrative
Photograph of 18-year-old Michael Brown before he was shot by police officer Darren Wilson (Common Dreams)

Before last Saturday, the Michael Brown case was already a big pill for Americans to swallow.  Another young black man was left dead in the streets by police and most of the world had come to accept the fact that Darren Wilson had gotten away with murder but also that Michael Brown could’ve possibly committed a robbery.  That is, until filmmaker Jason Pollock released the biggest mic drop this year in the form of hidden footage at SXSW.  His documentary Stranger Fruit features damning footage that somehow had not made its way into public view until now.  (more…)