UnionDocs Video Podcast

An interview by UnionDocs with Laura Poitras, director/cinematographer of "My Country, My Country."

An interview by UnionDocs with Catherine Lupton, author of "Chris Marker: Memories of the Future" on occasion of screening Marker's "La fond de l'air est rouge" ("A Grin Without A Cat").

Discussion following the screening of "State of Fear" with directors and producers Pamela Yates and Paco de Onis on June 10th, 2007.

Clips from the discussion with director Isabel Hill following the screening of "Brooklyn Matters" on June 3rd, 2007. Atlantic Yards simulations by Jonathan Barkey.

Clips from the post-screening discussion of the series "Charged in the Name of Terror" coupled with sections of the federal bill H.R. 3162 Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA P

Words quoted and interpreted by Eric Metzgar from a book recommend for the shelves of The Documentary Bodega.

Compiled from clips of the post-screening discussion with Eric Metzgar, director of "Chances of the World Changing" screened in the Documentary Bodega Series at UnionDocs. Edited by Stephanie Morales and Christopher Allen.

Interview with Sophie Fiennes, director of "The Perverts Guide To Cinema," which was screened as part of The Documentary Bodega Series at UnionDocs. Camera by Christopher Allen. Interview and edit by Christopher Allen & Johanna Linsley.

The Documentary Bodega is Opening Soon... For a taste, here's a new edit of the DisLocation premiere. For three days, UnionDocs welcomed Sudhir Venkatesh, professor of sociology at Columbia University and director of Columbia's Center for Urban Policy and Research, as he presented his documentary film DisLocation for the first time. The screening included a discussion with several subjects of the film and a photography exhibit which remained installed at UnionDocs through the spring. An interview of Venkatesh was collaged with other UnionDocs audio recordings in a radio broadcast on WKCR FM NY. In February 2002, families living in the Robert Taylor homes on Chicago's Southside were given a 180-day notice of eviction. In six months, the community that had been their home for generations would be demolished. DisLocation chronicles the lives of families forced to relocate from the high-rises. It is an attempt to understand how tenants cope with the loss of their home (and their collective identity) and start their lives over in new residential communities. This conversation with some of the tenants who took part in DisLocation was edited by Alex Marvar.

A collage of recordings and photographs from screenings held at UnionDocs. The Documentary Bodega is Opening Soon...

Somewhere Inside: This video is a document of some private thinking that's being going on. Animation and sound by Christopher Allen and Johanna Linsley.

Somewhere Outside: This video is a document of some anxious thinking that's being going on. Animation and sound by Christopher Allen and Johanna Linsley.

Somewhere. This video is a document of some rambunctious thinking that's being going on. Animation and questionable music by Christopher Allen and Johanna Linsley.

Happy Holidays from UnionDocs! Music by Daniel Cashin. Video by Christopher Allen.

There is a payphone outside 322 Union Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Like payphones all over, it is a public staging ground for private dramas. Raised voices are not uncommon, and conflicts range from relationship management to business affairs (legitimate and otherwise). UnionDocs, a documentary arts collaborative, works inside 322 Union. The members have been observing the payphone outside for over two and a half years. For the Conflux 2006, UnionDocs presented two projects which seek to understand the contemporary payphone experience. Serial Number: T0PS60083A, a project by Johanna Linsley, is the ritual examination of one (until recently) traditionally operational New York City payphone.

This video showing many members of UnionDocs in 2006 was a collaboration between Megan Metcalf and Christopher Allen. It is the documentation of a spontaneous dance event, which was the result of individual directions written on cards and delivered in envelopes to a group of hung-over birthday celebrators on a hill.

This video was one of many pieces that made up The Commons_Berlin, a performance documentary presented at the Volksbuehne Theater in Berlin for the Rollende Road-Schau festival. The Commons describes the space where private spheres intersect - where the relationship of the one to the many, the individual to the collective, is negotiated. In The Commons_Berlin, each short documentary fragment was an answer to the question what is common? Through these brief examinations of public space, intellectual property, the language of political consensus, models of collective living, globalization, and the collective unconscious among other subjects, this inquiry attempted to paint the broadest picture of the myths and realities of what we share today. Music in "Roehre" was composed by Simon Fink and the pictures are by Jesse Shapins.

UnionDocs presented an open studio exhibit of Plans for other days, by the Janfamily, a London-based art collective. Structured as a long list of suggestions for alternative everyday actions, Plans for other days is a kind of whimsical instruction manual. Published in book form in September of 2005 by Booth-Clibborn Editions, it's full of How-To's (How to get in touch, How to make an instant shelter), all illustrating practical solutions to too-often overlooked needs. For two days in the UnionDocs gallery space, the JanFamily and members of UnionDocs interpreted these instructions with photography, video, sound and sculptural projects. Visitors were welcome to come and observe the creative process, which culminated in an opening screening and presentation. Founded by Nina Jan Beier and Marie Jan Lund, both graduates of London's Royal College of Art, the Janfamily share a unique approach to life. They have created an exhibition and publishing platform structured around simple, personal works that take everyday life as their starting point. The group includes an open network of collaborators who take the middle name 'Jan' for the duration of the projects with which they are involved. This video was shot during a dinner with UnionDocs by Chosil Jan.