Laura Poitras, director of the Academy Award-winning Citizen Four (2014) about Edward Snowden, launched with producer Charlotte Cook and filmmaker AJ Schnack the Field of Vision project: a visual journalism unit which commissions indie filmmakers to shoot episodic documentaries or short non-fiction films.
The first season premiered online in November 2015, covering very different topics around the globe including refugees, the Greek crisis, poverty and the US military presence in Afghanistan. All of them reveal political awareness, approach journalistic assignments cinematically and have various and intriguing forms of artistic merit, showing that episodic documentary doesn’t only stick to American true crime (think of The Jinx, Making a Murderer) but can also be wise and short, informative and fragmented. This special showcase will include works that have yet to premiere as well as some of their highlights so far.