By: Neha Aziz
Recorded at CAAMFest 2025, in partnership with A-Doc, the conversation about Navigating Participant Care and Impact continues about the benefits and consequences for documentary participants, filmmakers have a responsibility to care for our protagonists and crew. The panel, Jalena Keane-Lee, Director (STANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS), Steph Ching, Director (SLUMLORD MILLIONAIRE), moderated by Michael Kinomoto, Supervising Producer (ITVS) are talking about how they captured deeply personal stories, while being mindful of protecting the dignity and safety of their subjects.
SLUMLORD MILLIONAIRE follows the housing crisis in New York City and STANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS centers around activists who trying to protect a sacred mountain in Hawaii. Each filmmaker discusses the access they had with their respective film’s subjects and participants and the practices that guided them like ongoing consent, open conversations, and acknowledging power dynamics. In addition to these principles, the simple fact of acknowledging that every single person a part of the production is a human being with a life goes a long way when it comes to protection.
“Just because it was okay yesterday, doesn’t mean it is okay today.” – Jalena Keane-Lee on continual and affirmative consent.
Some resources mentioned include The DAWG Framework and Lawyers For Reporters.
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