DOK Industry Podcast
Against the Stream: Oppositional Film in the Neoliberal World Order
In today’s documentary* landscape, issues of race, gender, and other under-represented groups are rightly under scrutiny, yet ‘neoliberalism’ remains largely unexamined in documentary production. Also, the major streaming platforms have increased documentary output but narrowed platformed works to largely align with market-driven interests, favouring ‘spectacle’ – like celebrity culture and true crime – and conformity to Western storytelling tropes. As these platforms expand their global reach, the spread of neoliberal values has intensified, further entrenching a homogenised cultural landscape.
*Please note that documentary also refers to non-fiction in this text
These issues provide the context for this conversation with veteran filmmakers Jean Marie Teno, Pratibha Parmar, and curator Inney Prakash.
They discuss their “oppositional” film practices – in creating works and spaces that challenge the global dominance of Western neoliberalism – and share their histories, highlighting that these practices are more critical now than ever before to counter neoliberalism’s influence in shrinking political, aesthetic and cultural imaginaries worldwide.
Length: 76’15’’
Recorded on August 22, 2024
Moderator: Meena Nanji
Meena Nanji is an award-winning filmmaker who has produced, written and directed independent documentaries, experimental videos and short narratives that have screened at international film festivals and broadcast on global television. Her projects have been funded by the Sundance Documentary Fund, World Cinema Fund, IDFA Bertha, Just Films, HotDocs Blue Ice and others. She's also programmed film/video festivals, including Outfest in Los Angeles, She is a co-founder of GlobalGirl Media and has taught film workshops in India, Uganda and the US. Her most recent feature documentary, “Our Land, Our Freedom” concerns the legacy of British colonialism in Kenya and an ongoing struggle for land by dispossessed Kenyans. The film premiered at IDFA in November 2023.
Guests
Inney Prakash is a film programmer and critic based in New York City. He is the founder and artistic director of Prismatic Ground, a festival centered on experimental documentary and the avant-garde.
Teno has been producing and directing films on the history of Africa for forty years. His films are noted for their personal and original approach to issues of race, cultural identity and contemporary politics. Teno’s films have been honored at festivals worldwide: Berlin, Toronto, Yamagata, Paris, IDFA, San Francisco, London …
Many have been broadcast in Europe and featured in festivals across the United States. Teno has been a guest of the Flaherty Seminar, an artist in residence and has lectured in many universities. Since 2017, he is member of the Oscar Academy for the Documentary branch.
Filmography:
“Chosen”, 2018, Producer, Director
“The Colonial Misunderstanding”, 2005, Producer, Director
“Afrique, je te plumeraiu”, 1993, Producer, Director
Pratibha Parmar is an award-winning filmmaker globally recognized for her ground breaking films that push the boundaries of storytelling and centre untold stories and are often rooted in her work as a human rights activist. Pratibha’s film “My Name Is Andrea” (2022), an experimental essay documentary received excellent reviews from The Hollywood Reporter, The NY Times and The New Yorker.
Her critically acclaimed film “Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth”, a documentary on the life of Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Color Purple was on PBS/BBC Television. Other awards include: ICON award (2017) presented by London Indian Film Festival with the British Film Institute for Outstanding Contribution to Indian & World Cinema and Mind The Gap Award (2022) honouring people whose work helped close the gender gap in the film industry.
Filmography:
“My Name Is Andrea”, 2022, Writer, Director
“Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth”, 2014, Writer, Director
“A Place of Rage”, 1991, Writer, Director
Exhibitions:
Sari Red & Reframing Aids featured in Women In Revolt! “Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990”, Tate Britain (2024), National Gallery of Scotland (2024),The Whitworth Manchester (2025)
My Name Is Andrea, at Tribeca Film Festival (2022), Raindance Film Festival - Jury Award for Best Documentary (2022)
DOK Industry Podcast 2024 is realised in partnership with POC2 Programmers of Colour Collective and What’s Up With Docs Podcast, and supported by Docs-in-Orbit and film.macht.kritisch - The podcast about the *other* cinema.
DOK Industry is realised with the support of Creative Europe MEDIA Programme of the European Union, the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM) and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media upon a Decision of the German Bundestag.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
