Nerd subcultures are becoming a popular subject for documentaries: they’re filled with fascinating characters, surprising behaviors and worlds that make the mundane seem exotic. And yet we all have that inner geek that can relate on some level. Documentary filmmakers tend to choose subjects because they’re fond of them. Sometimes though, in an attempt to make the films more accessible to a general audience, there’s a temptation to mock that which is unfamiliar and strange. What is the filmmaker’s responsibility to the people who have consented to allow us to explore and expose every aspect of their life, work, or play? And do they also have a responsibility not to make their films a “love letter” to the subjects? A panel of filmmakers who have focused their work on geeky subcultures will discuss the challenges and rewards of making documentaries about the untold triumphs of geekdom. They’ll discuss how they approached the material, the people, and the choices they made. And maybe we’ll even have a special guest or two.
Rachel Lovinger is an Associate Content Strategy Director at Razorfish, where one of her extracurricular activities is to program a monthly film screening series. She shows documentaries about creativity and passion, and the sometimes wonderful, sometimes ill-advised things that people do to express those two very human drives.
Negin Farsad has written for and appeared on various shows on Comedy Central, MTV, PBS, and IFC, among others. She is also director/producer of current feature film release Nerdcore Rising (New Video Distribution). As a standup comic she has opened for the likes of (Senator) Al Franken in venues ranging from the Comedy Store in LA to Town Hall on Broadway.
Jeanie Finlay is a British artist and filmmaker who makes documentaries for the cinema, for broadcast and for gallery spaces. She is obsessed with music and this passion runs through all her work.
Her latest film is SOUND IT OUT, a feature about the very last surviving record shop in Teesside; a distinctive, funny and intimate film about men, the North and the irreplaceable role music plays in our lives.
Jeanie grew up three miles from Sound It Out Records. She is somewhat partial to Bobbie Gentry, Scott Walker and all things Dolly. Since making the film she has started buying vinyl again, a lot of vinyl.
Previous work includes GOTH CRUISE for IFC (75 mins), the most downloaded title ever on IFC), the critically acclaimed Teenland for BBC4 (60 min) and the award-winning interactive documentary Home-Maker.
In 2008 Jeanie set up Glimmer Films and is currently in co-production on two new feature documentaries, one with Met Film for BBC Scotland; THE GREAT HIP HOP HOAX and ORION: THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING with Quark Films.
Jason Scott is a full-time computer historian dedicated to saving the stories, data and artifacts of bygone technology. Besides TEXTFILES.COM, his collection of BBS-era data and software, he also has filmed documentaries and acquired thousands of magazines and writes an awful lot of stuff at ascii.textfiles.com. He is also popular on twitter, but is overshadowed by his cat Sockington, who has a million and a half followers. Poor Jason.
