Film Authorship, Accuracy, and Artistic Freedom

All panels are free and open to the public. NO TICKET REQUIRED Moderator: Professor Mike RandPanelists: Barry Crimmins—Call Me Lucky Josh Epstein—EadweardJosh Lawson—The Little Death Tyler Measom—An Honest Liar Shawn Rech—A Murder in the Park How does a filmmaker determine which story is worth devoting years to bringing to life? And how much of a screenwriter’s or director’s original vision makes it to the screen? There are both philosophical and logistical elements that can intervene in defining the “authorship” of a film and in the guarantee of artistic freedom. In this panel, these issues will be explored for both documentary and narrative filmmaking. Further, in films based at least in part on actual events, persons, or socio-political worlds, we see a particular tension between historical accuracy and artistic expression, which has recently been the focus of some public controversy (e.g., Lincoln, American Sniper, The Theory of Everything, Selma). The panel will include a discussion of how filmmakers deal with this tension in their own projects, and how they view the notion of accuracy within the artist’s medium of film. More info