Hi folks,
I'm very excited to be attending my third JTM (after Memphis in '06, Seattle earlier this year which we co-hosted).
A heads-up that my University of Washington colleague Scott Macklin and I will be filming JTM Detroit.
We're doing so primarily as part of a short documentary that adopts the gathering's premise: the parallel between journalism in crisis with a city in crisis, and what community can do to overcome it.
I've been meaning to shoot a film about Detroit for the last two years. During the production of my last film (
http://www.risingfromruins.com), I was interviewing a food security expert in New Orleans about the post-Katrina initiatives in her city. She told me that while NOLA was doing good work, the true leaders nationally could be found in Detroit.
That took me by surprise, and also intrigued me. I like telling unexpected stories -- and I like looking for light in the darkness. My first film, Independent America: The Two-Lane Search for Mom & Pop tries to do that exact thing. You can watch it on
Hulu.com if you want to get a better sense of the "tone" that I shoot for.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/105821/independent-america. And Scott has done considerable film work in South African townships along with Seattle's youth and hip-hop artists. Here's a trailer from his film Masizakhe: Building Each Other
http://vimeo.com/1473577.
So all this to say:
(1) We hope you're okay with being filmed. We'll ask anyone we capture specifically and identifiably for written permission to be used in our film.
(2) As Bill said, JTM Detroit is "on the record" -- we intend to share our "best of" clips with the organizers.
(3) We'd love to connect specifically with Detroit-based participants as we lay out what parallel neighborhood stories we can capture. We're looking for grassroots-based initiatives. I'm especially interested in urban farming.
Thanks very much for your cooperation. Scott and I look forward to meeting all of you.
Hanson
Hanson Hosein
Director
Master of Communication in Digital Media
Box 353740
University of Washington
Seattle WA USA 98195
President
HRH Media Group LLC