Though the Athena Cinema does not draw sizable crowds for documentary showings, Alexandra Kamody is hoping a documentary about music will change popular opinions surrounding that genre of film.
The Athena Cinema will screen the documentary Miss Sharon Jones for one night only on Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $8 for non-members and $4 for members. Sharon Jones is a Grammy-nominated artist known for the R&B group Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. The singer’s documentary follows her struggle with pancreatic cancer.
Kamody, the director of the Athena, said she first became aware of the documentary's subject when Jones performed at the Nelsonville Music Festival. Kamody added that she was “blown away” by Jones’ talent.
Miss Sharon Jones is directed by Barbara Kopple, who Kamody said is revered in the documentary-film industry.
“Two women, (Jones and Kopple), are involved with this production that I really admire,” she said. “I’m really excited to be featuring that work because, as we all know, women are underrepresented in film sometimes.”
Kamody thinks documentaries do not do well because of the stereotypes surrounding them, such as the idea that they are depressing, even though that is not often vocalized, she said.
“I think [a documentary] just gives people a deeper understanding of a topic that they really just might have a surface knowledge of,” Kamody said. “You walk away, after an hour and half in some cases, and have an amazing, vast knowledge about sometimes a very narrow focus.”
As the root of the word documentary implies, the main purpose of the films is to document the subject, Rafal Sokolowski, an assistant professor of film, said. He added that the main goal is to present the film as something authentic versus something manufactured.
“I think that exposure to certain subject matters, to certain issues, to events or processes that shape our world — this is all within the power of documentary,” Sokolowski said. “Film has the power of immediacy. It can transport the audience right into the center of that issue.”
The effect of documentaries, Sokolowski said, is “stunning” and can change people’s “fundamental belief system.”
“It’s because the film format allows this really intimate experience of that subject matter or of that issue,” he said. “The audience can get a glimpse of the emotions surrounding that issue … that has incredible power.”
Jillian Koehler, a sophomore studying nursing, said she finds it hard to discern if a documentary is going to be good, but if one is recommended to her, she will watch it.
Koehler said she understands why some people do not like to watch documentaries because “they can be boring.”
“They’re not action-oriented,” she said. “[Sometimes] it’s just a person on a screen talking to you.”
Kingsley Lims Nyarko, a second-year graduate student in the school of film, is working on a documentary that focuses on women who have cancer in Botswana and the impacts it has on families and society.
“I take interest in very intriguing life stories,” he said.
Lims Nyarko said documentaries carry “emotional value to the viewer,” which is what drives a documentary.
“It has more impact than fiction because [viewers are] getting real-life stories,” he said. “The stories are happening when and as the camera is capturing it. That’s what makes it interesting.”
