intro to documentary studies

For the last nine Saturdays I have attended my second class at the Center for Documentary Studies here in Durham. The class is one of only two required courses in the certificate program. It is titled, appropriately, Introductory Seminar in Documentary Studies.

(My first course was a weekend spent learning alternative print processes – cyanotype and van dyke – with Leah Sobsey.)

For the Intro class when had to do a short presentation, up to five minutes on a documentary idea. It could be any form, and I chose to make a short film. I filmed the Crop Mob in Carrboro, read the New Blood for the Old Body essay into a narration track, strummed on the banjo to make a 30 second loop and came out with this –

Crop Mob: An Introduction from Cricket Bread on Vimeo.

Crop Mob is primarily a group of young, landless, and wannabe farmers who come together to work and build an interconnected agrarian community. Crop Mob is also a group of experienced farmers and gardeners sharing knowledge with their peers and the next generation of agrarians. The Crop Mob is open to all regardless of experience, background or age as it is intended to be a community effort.