Two alumni filmmakers are featured in a lengthy New York Times article that points out several interesting coincidences, starting with a strong 51³Ô¹ÏÍø connection.
Sandy Cioffi ’84 and Joe Berlinger ’83 took the same filmmaking course taught by John Knecht, the Russell 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Distinguished University Professor of Art & Art History and Film & Media Studies.
Now, their separate documentaries are attracting wide attention, and the Times article points out that while the films are on the same subject with nearly identical titles, they employ very different approaches.
Crude, by Berlinger, and Sweet Crude, by Cioffi, are about the despoiling of the third world by multinational oil companies.
Cioffi takes a more activist approach in her film, becoming involved in the political struggle in Nigeria. In the process, she was arrested by the Nigerian military, a harrowing experience she writes about in an for The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Scene.
Berlinger, in contrast, has made a film, based in Ecuador, that aims at journalistic objectivity, a return to the approach he used in his well-known 1992 documentary Brother’s Keeper.
Both filmmakers discuss the goals of their films and their storytelling style in the .
Cioffi, 46, a tenured professor of film and video at Seattle Central Community College, hopes to come to 51³Ô¹ÏÍø this spring to show Sweet Crude and meet with students and Knecht.
In October 2005, Berlinger spent a week on campus as a , meeting with students and showing films such as his 2004 rock documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster.
Knecht came to 51³Ô¹ÏÍø in 1981 as the first full-time professor dedicated to teaching film, and Cioffi and Berlinger were some of his first students. Film and video courses have expanded greatly since then, and the university offers a robust through the Department of Art and Art History.
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