Verité Documentary Conference 2024
Presented by SCA Documentary Program, the Collective Futures Film Lab,
and The Visiting Artist Series
Join us for a full day of workshops and masterclasses
followed by a screening of "Subject"
CDM Theater, 14 E. Jackson Daley Building LL105.
Friday, May 10th 12:00pm - 9:00pm
Schedule of Events: Friday, May 10
12:00pm - 2:00pm | Daley 214
12:00pm - 2:00pm | Daley 214
Workshop on Building Consent
with filmmaker Assia Boundaoui
2:00pm Refreshments | Daley 213
3:00pm - 5:00pm | Daley 214
Centering curiosity and humility in your filmmaking practice
with Dr. Kameelah Mu'Min Oseguera
5:00pm Reception | LL 107
6:30pm - 8:30pm | LL 105
Screening: SUBJECT
Subject explores the life-altering experience of sharing one’s life on screen through key participants of acclaimed documentaries The Staircase, Hoop Dreams, The Wolfpack, Capturing the Friedmans, and The Square.
Panel Discussion with Margie Ratliff and Nick Thompson. Moderated by Samira Abderahman
Learn More About the Conference
Workshop on Building Consent with Participants with Assia Boundaoui
12:00 - 2:00pm | Daley 214
Assia Boundaoui is an Algerian-American investigative journalist and filmmaker. She has reported internationally for PRI, BBC, AlJazeera, VICE and CNN among others. Her debut short film set in an Arab women’s hair salon in Chicago for HBO Documentary Films premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Her award-winning feature-length debut The Feeling of Being Watched, a documentary investigating a decade of FBI surveillance in Assia's community, had its world premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, was nationally broadcast on PBS “POV” and was awarded the jury prize for Best Documentary at the Woodstock Film Festival. Assia was most recently a fellow at the MIT Open Documentary Lab where she incubated a community co-created, new-media installation: the Inverse Surveillance Project. Assia earned a Masters degree in journalism at New York University and is and is an Algiers born Chicagoan.
Masterclass/Workshop with Dr. Kameelah Mu'Min Oseguera
3:00 - 5:00pm | Daley 214
In this masterclass, trauma-informed filmmaking expert Dr. Kameelah Mu'Min Oseguera will share ways that filmmakers can contemplate how systems of oppression, power, and privilege impact who they are. Participants will bring into conscious awareness their biases, attitudes, core beliefs, and assumptions, to center curiosity and humility in their approach to the filmmaking process.
Dr. Kam is a leading expert in trauma informed considerations and practices in documentary filmmaking and has served as a consultant to documentary filmmakers, directors and writers on matters related to race, religion, participant care, ethics, consent and healing centered filmmaking. Dr. Kam serves as the Head of Care at Multitude Films. She is also an Executive Producer and Coordinator of Care and Wellness for the film SUBJECT. Dr. Kam is a member of the Documentary Accountability Working Group (DAWG) and Color Congress, a national collective of majority people of color (POC) and POC-led organizations aimed at centering and strengthening nonfiction storytelling.
SCREENING: SUBJECT
(followed by a panel discussion)
6:30pm | Daley LL 105
Subject explores the life-altering experience of sharing one’s life on screen through key participants of acclaimed documentaries The Staircase, Hoop Dreams, The Wolfpack, Capturing the Friedmans, and The Square. These erstwhile documentary “stars” reveal the highs and lows of their experiences as well as the everyday realities of having their lives put under a microscope. Also featuring commentary from such influential names in the doc world as Kirsten Johnson, Sam Pollard, Thom Powers and Sonya Childress, the film unpacks vital issues around the ethics and responsibility inherent in documentary filmmaking. As tens of millions of people consume documentaries in an unprecedented "golden era," Subject urges audiences to consider the often profound impact on their participants.
PANELISTS
MARGIE RATLIFF| Producer and Participant
Margie Ratliff is a Producer and key participant of the film Subject, where she examines her participation in the 2018 Netflix true-crime documentary, The Staircase. She is also the Managing Director of the Documentary Participants’ Empowerment Alliance (DPEA), which aims to bring mental health, legal, counseling, and mentorship resources to all those who have appeared in or are considering appearing in documentary films. After receiving her MFA from Columbia College Chicago in documentary filmmaking, she has worked at companies such as The Gersh Agency and Imaginary Forces in Los Angeles. Margie is a globally based independent Producer/Director of documentary films, marathon runner, and passionate traveler of the world. Her dream is to be able to speak at least ten languages.
NICK THOMPSON | UCAN Network
Nick believes everyone has a story to tell and should shine as their authentic self. Nick’s most passionate about building human connections to remove stigmas around mental health, holistic lifestyles, culture, free speech, and more. His podcast, “Eyes Wide Open with Nick Thompson,” elevates these societal issues through honest, authentic conversations with expert guests. All to ensure we show up in the world with our eyes wide open.
Nick is a software marketing executive, leader, activist, and founding board member of the UCAN Foundation. Nick is dedicated to ensuring that all reality TV cast members are afforded mental health and legal services before, during, and after filming reality shows.
MODERATOR
SAMIRA ABDERAHMAN | Sisters in Cinema
Samira Abderahman (she/her) is the founding Director of the Sisters in Cinema Media Arts Center. Originally from Dallas, Texas, she has worked as a curator and project manager in Chicago for almost a decade. She previously created Black Iftar, a Ramadan program centering Black Muslims and their friends, organized primarily by women, and successfully held across 11 major cities in the U.S. Ultimately, she is driven by a need to create genuine relationships and communities. She is passionate about culture, wellness, and community building, and has contributed to related organizations locally and nationally. Samira brings experiences and best practices from a diverse range of industries, across non-profit organizations, public media, music and technology. Samira received a B.A. in political science from Southern Methodist University, Dallas.