Program: August 2011 Curator: Kim Munro
program"People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?"
In the oft-quoted words of Rodney King lies the essence of a deeply human conundrum. As social beings we have an innate need to co-exist with others, and yet the complexity of humans renders our attempts sometimes fraught.
Documentary films have often plumbed the depths of human relationships, allowing the viewer an intimate perspective into a world of how others live and respond to close proximity.
In the Maysle brothers’ classic, Grey Gardens (1975), the observational style allowed the viewer an insider’s look at the mechanics of an eccentric mother-daughter relationship or co-dependence. The uncomfortably abject experience is compelling yet can leave us with the feeling of uninvited intrusion.
Grey Gardens
For some, the difficulties of co-exisiting with humans drives them to seek a seemingly simpler yet meaningful existence amongst animals, as in Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man. However, nature too can be cruel and unpredictable.
Grizzly Man
Don’t You Have Docs? August focuses on short documentaries, which deal with the theme of co-existence.
People in Order (Love) gives a taxonomy of couples, arranged by descending order of length of time together.
People in Order
The title line from Peter Snelling’s You’re Meant To Like Them comes from an insight from one of the many of the young people, as they acknowledge the imperfection of families....
Your'e Meant to Like Them
No Ward examines how people integrate into new communities when forced to migrate; what is lost and what is gained.
No Ward
Shafiur Rahman questions why we can’t all get along in Italian Vandal
Italian Vandal
Ten Things I have Learned About the Sea contemplates the co-existence of human and nature, the harmony of the image offsetting the immensity of the observations.
10 Things I Have Learned About the Sea
After being diagnosed with terminal cancer, Mark Brookmire’s daughter sets out record the last few months of her father’s solitary rural life in One Man's Life. The subject of this film passed away a few weeks before this screening.
One Man's Life
One man shares the joys of long-term companionship in Hector & Me
Hector & Me
The full program is available on our Don't You Have Docs? Mubi Garage channel and will also screen at LOOP in Melbourne on Monday the 15th of Jully at 7pm. No door charge!
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