CINE: 2009 Educational Advisory Board

Patricia Aufderheide

Center director Patricia Aufderheide is a professor in the School of Communication at American University in Washington, D.C., and the director of the Center for Social Media there. She is the author of, among others, Documentary: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2007), The Daily Planet (University of Minnesota Press, 2000), and of Communications Policy in the Public Interest (Guilford Press, 1999). She has been a Fulbright and John Simon Guggenheim fellow and has served as a juror at the Sundance Film Festival among others. She has received numerous journalism and scholarly awards, including career achievement awards in 2006 from the International Documentary Association and in 2008 from the International Digital Media and Arts Association. She received her Ph.D. in history from the University of Minnesota.

If you could give one piece of advice to beginning filmmakers, what would it be?
Network.

At what point in your life did you realize you wanted to be a filmmaker, and why did you? How long have you been making films?
I've been a film critic and analyst of the business since I got a job reviewing films at my college newspaper when I was 17 years old.

Who or what are your major influences, stylistically or substantively?
I admire scholars who have looked at how culture changes, such as Stuart Hall, Raymond Williams, and Pierre Bourdieu. In terms of film, I admire many many makers including Gordon Quinn, Pirjo Honkasalo, Barbara Kopple, Kim Longinotto, Jon Else, and Agnes Varda.

How long have you been teaching? Why do you like teaching filmmaking? What knowledge and ideals to you try to instill in your students?
I've been teaching at American University since 1989. Teaching is a thrilling way to learn as well as to communicate learning. My students become allies in the quest to learn and to make. I teach about the history of documentary, strategies of social documentary, and I also train future teachers. I never want my students to have to reinvent a single wheel.

Has the changing nature of filmmaking - the advent of new media, the changes in distribution, etc. - had an effect on either the way you make films or the way you teach filmmaking?
It has broadened dramatically the possibilities for documentarians, and it has made possible for documentarians to reach new audiences, to reach them in different ways, and to use and reuse materials creatively.

Has it become more important for film students to understand the business component of filmmaking, for example, the need to understand legal concepts such as fair use, rights clearance, etc.?
It is always important for my students to understand the business because they are professionals. We teach them among other things about the tools they can use created by the Center for Social Media, clarifying fair use (centerforsocialmedia.org/fairuse).

Do you find your students are more interested in new media outlets, television or traditional release, or does this simply vary?
Everyone is hungry to learn how to get funds and to get their work out, all ways they can.

Full Board