Baseball's Early Players: A Worthwhile Documentary Project

"Baseball is ballet without music.  Drama without words..." wrote sportscaster Ernie Harwell in his baseball essay, 'The Game For All America' (originally published in the 1955 edition of The Sporting News)

There's a history behind baseball.  A connection to the past.  A tradition to enjoy into the future. It's a sport I've always loved. I can watch 'Field Of Dreams' any day.  I've seen Ken Burns baseball documentary.  Sometimes, I'll listen to a ballgame on AM radio while sitting in traffic just so I can feel like I'm at the ballpark.  And so there's a sadness I feel when autumn rolls around and I hear the beginnings of football being uttered on the airwaves.  Because the next baseball season feels so far away...

Sure, we're well into football season but in Sunday's Los Angeles Times, baseball still reigned.  And I was delighted to see this.  The cover story of the travel section highlighted Cooperstown, New York. Someday, I want to visit Cooperstown, home to Baseball's Hall Of Fame.  As kids, my father talked about taking my brother there.  But never me.  Maybe because I'm a girl and he didn't think I'd be interested.  Although I may not be fanatical about rooting for certain teams, I enjoy baseball for the true sense of it-- for the pure 'love of the game.'

***

Neftalie Williams, a USC grad student, grew up riding skateboards, not eating hotdogs and watching ballplayers with awe at a local ballpark.  But for the next five years, his life will be all about baseball.  His mission is to document the momentous and rocky beginnings of Major League Baseball's racial integration from 1947 to 1971.  He wants to capitalize on living history by reaching out to each and every living African-American baseball player from that era.  His hope is to interview them on camera, record their thoughts, their stories, their emotions from that time.  By the end, if it all goes well, he'll not only have a comprehensive catalog of baseball's history, but our history as well.  I wish him the best of luck in his mission.  I think it's an absolutely worthwhile cause and a project I feel I'd enjoy researching myself.  Without The Los Angeles Times, I never would've heard of Neftalie Williams nor his baseball project or his passion.  To learn more, read the original article, Living Bridges To History by LA Times writer, Zach Helfand.

Follow this link to read the full content of Ernie Harwell's 1955 baseball essay, 'The Game For All America.'

Copyright © 2015 by KLiedle/@cococaffeine

Finding Vivian Maier: Add To The Doc List Of Must Sees

Through a friend, I recently became aware of this documentary about photographer Vivian Maier.  It looks completely fascinating-- the woman, her photographs, the story behind it all.  Can't wait to see it for myself.

-KLiedle

“People want to see documentaries, but there’s a disconnect between that desire and the exhibitors out there...We’re not asking for charity. This could be on the 15th screen of a multiplex that would otherwise have the sixth showing of the new Harry Potter movie.

~Documentary Filmmaker, Michael Moore

Filmmaking-- Rising To The Occasion...

In the aftermath of last night's 80th Academy Awards, many filmmakers, stars, and fashions will be showered with attention. Others who woke up with a golden statuette on their pillow this morning are not necessarily stars or A-listers ~ in fact, you may not even recognize them. For the good or the bad, most documentary filmmakers fall into this group...

This past week, I had the privilege to attend the IDA (International Documentary Association) Academy Award Documentary Nominee Program and reception as well as Docuday. Seeing the programs, meeting some of the filmmakers, and hearing them speak so passionately about their films gave me newfound appreciation for documentary filmmaking. At the reception, filmmakers were allowed to speak about the stories behind their films—the struggles and dangers they faced in getting their films made as well as the indelible impact the experience had on them personally. These are the stories we don’t get to hear in 40-second Oscar acceptance speeches.

Sometimes in creative ventures, we wonder how (and if ) we’re making a difference. How does art contribute to humanity? Can a film open our eyes to worlds we’ve never seen? Can it be both thought-provoking and powerful enough to instigate social change? The answers to all of these questions is a resounding “Yes.” And no one knows that more intimately than the documentary filmmaker.

I urge everyone to give documentaries a second look-- a viewing chance. The nominated documentaries are each educational, thought-provoking, and extraordinary in their own way. They certainly deserve more recognition, as do documentary films, in general.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

No End In Sight --The first film of its kind to chronicle the reasons behind Iraq’s descent into guerrilla war, warlord rule, criminality, and anarchy. (Charles Ferguson / Audrey Mars)

Operation Homecoming: Writing The Wartime Experience—Explores the first-hand accounts of American soldiers through their own words. (Richard E. Robbins / The Documentary Group)

Sicko – Profiles ordinary Americans whose lives have been disrupted, shattered, or in some cases, ended by health care catastrophe. (Michael Moore / Meghan O’Hara)

Taxi To The Dark Side* -- begins with the death of an Afghan taxi driver from injuries inflicted by US soldiers. From there, the film is an unflinching look at the Bush administration’s policy on torture. (Alex Gibney / Eva Orner)

War/Dance – tells the story of three Ugandan children whose family have been torn apart by civil war. When they are invited to compete in a music and dance festival, it gives them an opportunity to regain part of their childhood. (Amanda Nix Fine / Sean Fine)

DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Freeheld* -- follows the battle of Laurel Hester, a dying police officer who fights to transfer her pension to her domestic partner. (Cynthia Wade / Vanessa Roth)

La Corona (The Crown) – follows four inmates competing for the crown in an annual beauty pageant of the Women’s penitentiary in Bogota, Colombia. (Amanda Micheli / Isabel Vega)
Salim Baba –tells the story of Salim Muhammed, a father who lives in North Kolkata, India with his wife and five children. Since the age of ten, he has made a living screening discarded film scraps for the kids in his surrounding neighborhood using a hand-cranked projector that he inherited from his father. ( Tim Sternberg / Francisco Bello)

Sari’s Mother – follows the struggle of an Iraqui mother who is trying to help her 10-year-old son, Sari, who is dying of AIDS. ( James Longley)

Filmmakers of all genres must rise to the occasion and produce films that contribute to our culture, force us to question our own humanity, and challenge us and our established beliefs. Documentary filmmakers know this. Through getting to know IDA, I’ve learned that documentary filmmakers are family-- supportive of each other and passionate about making films that truly matter.

If others in the entertainment industry could follow their lead, we’d be all better off.

* - denotes Academy Award winner

Copyright © 2008 KLiedle
This post also appears as a full-length article in the Los Angeles Edition of Broowaha

Film Poster: Taxi To The Dark Side (X-Ray Productions)

Good Grief, What A Relief!

I’m not gonna lie… I’m sooo gosh darn glad that Thanksgiving is over. The end…finnisimo…fin.
All that pressure to figure out what you’re going to do (and/or where you’re going to go), what you’re going to bring--or if you’re going to bring something...

Won’t there already be too much food? Then, you have that interior monologue about whatever it is you may or may not bring to whatever gathering you may or may not decide to attend on the day, and those are your thoughts if you're merely a guest!

My "guest" thoughts run rampant. Should I bring dessert? Another dessert? Is that what people want? It’s probably what people really want, but they don’t want to admit that they want it. Or should I bring a vegetable side dish? People want to want the vegetable side dish or an extra helping of yams, but in all reality, they’ll suffer through the healthier items so they can indulge in the desserts that they really don’t want to admit that they want.

Notice how there’s always leftover turkey (and countless ways to use it up), yet there’s hardly ever tips on how to best preserve the last of Emeril’s Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake…

At Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving, each person gets:

* Two slices of buttered toast
* Some pretzel sticks,
* A handful of popcorn, and
* A few jelly beans.

It could be worse, but the thing with Thanksgiving is that no one will allow you to not have the traditional feast or, God forbid, spend Thanksgiving alone...even though secretly you were kinda looking forward to it... BUT staying home would've meant that you wouldn't get to try that mean bourbon cheesecake or talk about world travels with a documentary filmmaker recently returned from Bangladesh after doing a doc on the demise of cruise ships.

So...as luck would have it, I got that last-minute invite to whip me into shape and out into the Turkey Social World for the evening so I'd have a reason to whip into shape afterwards.

Popcorn, toast, jellybeans? Not bad... since besides yams (which I actually like) and mashed potatoes (which are hard to mess up), I could safely live without most of all the other turkey "fixins." But thanks to all, who made my Thanksgiving a memorable one, despite my reluctance of Pilgrim's Pride.

****

We can be thankful and gluttonous all we want, but let’s face it, Thanksgiving is just a holiday to keep us occupied while we get ready for the real holidays. I'd rather skip Turkey Day and hold out for the good stuff of Seasons Greetings fame.

But in the meantime, pass the leftover Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake…

Oh,wait—there’s isn’t any? Gosh, darn it! Someone should've brought another dessert!

Copyright © 2007 Kendra Liedle