David Holzman's Diary, Riverdogs, Backyard

Program:

David Holzman's Diary (dir. Jim McBride, 1967, 74min) 

David Holzman’s Diary is a signature film in the history of documentary filmmaking that isn’t a documentary. It's a fictional narrative that satirizes the supposedly "unmediated reality" that cinema vérité, or observational cinema, was seen to be. David Holzman (played by actor L.M. Kit Carson) unloads comic-neurotic monologues to his 16mm camera, with humor and pathos, reminiscent of the “personally expressive cinema" emerging out of Boston at this time.

Riverdogs (dir. Robb Moss, 1978, 32min) 

A lyrical chronicle of a thirty-five day river trip along the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon. His thesis film as a graduate student at the MIT Film Section, Moss' inspired photography shapes what becomes a meditation on youth, nature, and an idyllic, fleeting moment in time. 

Backyard (dir. Ross McElwee, 1984, 40min)

Backyard was McElwee’s breakthrough autobiographical film and thesis work as a graduate student at the MIT Film Section. He portrays his southern roots through a portrayal of family members—his brother, an aspiring medical student; his father, a surgeon—as well as depicting the nuances of race and relationships.