The Flaherty

Decades in the Cause of Independent Cinema

Add to my list

by Patricia R. Zimmermann and Scott MacDonald

Type: Stories
Subject: Genre > Independent cinema
Keywords: independent cinema, documentary
Publishing date: 2017
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 360 pages
7 ½ x 10 ¼ inches (19 x 26 cm)

ISBN

978-0-253-02624-8

User Ratings

(0 vote)

Average rating:

0	rating	= We can do without
0	rating	= Good book
0	rating	= Excellent book
0	rating	= Unique / a reference

Your rating: -

Book Presentation:
This is the inspiring story of The Flaherty, one of the oldest continuously running nonprofit media arts institutions in the world, which has shaped the development of independent film, video, and emerging forms in the United States over the past 60 years. Combining the words of legendary independent filmmakers with a detailed history of The Flaherty, Patricia R. Zimmermann and Scott MacDonald showcase its history and legacy, amply demonstrating how the relationships created at the annual Flaherty seminar have been instrumental in transforming American media history. Moving through the decades, each chapter opens with a detailed history of the organization by Zimmermann, who traces the evolution of The Flaherty from a private gathering of filmmakers to a small annual convening, to today's ever-growing nexus of filmmakers, scholars, librarians, producers, funders, distributors, and others associated with international independent cinema. MacDonald expands each chapter by giving voice to the major figures in the evolution of independent media through transcriptions of key discussions galvanized by films shown at The Flaherty. The discussions feature Frances Flaherty, Robert Gardner, Fred Wiseman, Willard Van Dyke, Jim McBride, Michael Snow, Hollis Frampton, Erik Barnouw, Barbara Kopple, Ed Pincus, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Bruce Conner, Peter Watkins, Su Friedrich, Marlon Riggs, William Greaves, Ken Jacobs, Kazuo Hara, Mani Kaul, Craig Baldwin, Bahman Ghobadi, Eyal Sivan, and many others.

About the authors:
Patricia R. Zimmermann is Professor of Screen Studies at Ithaca College. She is the author of Reel Families: A Social History of Amateur Film (IUP, 1995) and Open Spaces: Openings, Closings, and Thresholds of International Public Media, among many other titles.Scott MacDonald is Professor of Art History at Hamilton College. He is author of many books including, most recently, Avant-Doc: Intersections of Documentary and Avant-Garde Cinema and Binghamton Babylon: Voices from the Cinema Department(a nonfiction novel).

Press Reviews:
"The co-authors amply demonstrate that there's much to appreciate about the Flaherty history, 55 years of discovering and celebrating independent cinema and independent filmmakers from around the world."―ArtsFuse

"Thoroughly readable . . . [Readers] will be impressed by the history and inspired by the possibilities as yet unknown in the world of independent film, as seen through the lens of The Flaherty Way."―Documentary Magazine

"This would seem like mere lore, were it not for the contribution of The Flaherty, Scott MacDonald and Patricia Zimmermann's new volume on the history of this singular institution that has indelibly shaped independent and documentary filmmaking, as well as its critical reception, both in the United States and internationally."―Film Quarterly

"Part myth and half truth, The Flaherty Seminar's reputation as a hot bed of polemical debate attests to its absolute centrality to the documentary tradition. And here's the proof: historical context provided by the authors and scintillating encounters generated between filmmakers and participants. Raw, incendiary, insightful: it's a treasure to behold."―Bill Nichols, author of Introduction to Documentary, 3rd edition

See the publisher website: Indiana University Press

> From the same authors: