Subject – screening + Q&A

Presented by Our Race, Subject focuses on the ethics and responsibility inherent in documentary filmmaking. It examines well-known documentaries of the past decade and reveals the impact their commercial success has had on the lives of the onscreen subjects.

Subject explores the life-altering experience of sharing one’s life on screen through key participants of acclaimed documentaries The Staircase, Hoop Dreams, The Wolfpack, Capturing the Friedmans and The Square. These erstwhile documentary “stars” reveal the highs and lows of their experiences as well as the everyday realities of having their lives put under a microscope.

Also featuring commentary from such influential names in the documentary world as Kirsten Johnson, Sam Pollard, Thom Powers and Sonya Childress, the film unpacks vital issues around the ethics and responsibility inherent in documentary filmmaking. As tens of millions of people consume documentaries in an unprecedented "golden era," Subject urges audiences to consider the often profound impact on their participants.

Join a panel of experts to discuss Subject and the bigger question of "Who Gets to Tell the Story?"

On the panel will be Margie Ratliff, producer and participant on Subject and founder of the Documentary Participants Empowerment Alliance (DPEA), a non-profit organization that will focus on documentary film participants, bringing vital resources to past, present, and future people who have been in documentary films.