When the Occupy Wall Street protest erupted in September 2011, Corey Ogilvie had just completed Nash: The Documentary a profile of Victorias homegrown NBA star and was about to unveil it at the 麻豆传媒映画International Film Festival. While the 麻豆传媒映画documentarian wasnt looking to jump right into another project, he recognized that Occupy presented a unique opportunity with a distinct sense of urgency.
Id studied social movements pretty extensively at UBC when I got my degree in Sociology. That base knowledge allowed me to understand Occupy a little bit better than most, explains Ogilvie, speaking from Toronto where Occupy: The Movie is playing the Hot Docs film festival.
Americas been apathetic for the past 40 years. Not a single protest movement in 40 years. So, this is something that comes around once in a generation.
Once hed committed himself to the project, he realized that the movement was a documentarians playground.
You have all the pieces of an entertaining film: You have violence, injustice, blood, love, hatred, conspiracy, corruption...
The difficulty was zeroing in on the core essence of the movement. As Ogilvie explains, It took four months of research, at about 60 hours a week, to really synthesize a storyline I could make this film with. Perhaps taking cues from philosopher Cornel Wests apt comparison of the Occupy movement to jazz, Ogilvie adopted a slightly improvisational approach to his filmmaking. As he says, I went in half-prepared. I wanted a loose structure so that I could still be spontaneous but not get lost.
The result is an orderly, detailed assessment of Occupy, calling on Noam Chomsky and other familiar voices of the left, that nevertheless has the capacity to surprise with its twists and revelations.
After Hot Docs, Occupy: The Movie next opens Vancouvers DOXA Documentary Film Festival on May 3. The film also screens on May 7 at Collingwood Cinema (3215 Kingsway) and May 11 at Cinematheque (1131 Howe).
Making the rounds on the festival circuit has only reinforced Ogilvies belief in the value of investigative docs.
The mainstream media is not designed to cover the Occupy movement properly, he asserts. Its just structurally incapable of covering a dynamic social movement with multiple facets.
It is a movement that deserves a two-hour film. Heck, it deserves a 10-hour film, he concludes. In some way, I hope this film can be used as a utility that future social movements can use to learn what to do and what not to do.
DOXA runs May 3-12;
