Starting from this morning and moving backwards, I will give a partial recap of my first SilverDocs up to this point (this point being a cheesy Mexican restaurant in the strip mall Disneyland that is SILVER SPRING, where I am finally able to log onto a network called “Eggspectation,” a restaurant next door.) As children dance in fountains and groups of slightly overweight families enjoy their Old Navy apparel, I am about to get my head around the last couple of days. In those last two sentences, I have written “I” three different times, which firmly positions me as “blogger” rather than “journalist.” I bring this up because it was the most interesting, and perhaps provocative, point made at the panel I attended this morning called “Film Critics: Main Street vs. The Blogosphere.” Moderated by former Washington Post critic Desson Thomson , the panelists — Indiepix friend and associate Aj Schnack of All These Wonderful Things ; my personal heroine of blogging, Karina Longworth of Spout Blog, the well-respected Anthony Kaufman , a freelancer who has contributed to Indiewire, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times ; the renowned blogeeek Scott Kirsner of Cinematech , and Sandy Mandelberger of International Media Resources . Though some of the panel retreaded old ground (”Which four blogs would you go to if you lived in a Communist country and were only allowed that many?”), there were many interesting discussions, which arose out of Mandelberger defining the dichotomy between journalism and blogging as resting on what he called “The I Factor.” As he described blogs he had seen being personal recaps such as “When I was drunk last night. . . ” (A blog style I personally have found myself falling into), I watched Karina’s face intently, eagerly awaiting her sure-to-be-witty, sharp as nails response. I was not disappointed. Without seeming angry (one must imagine that Karina deals with this strand of criticism all the time), Karina agreed that she sees herself as less of a journalist than as a stand-up comic or radio DJ, an arbiter and curator of taste whose mission is to make the audience care about film. As opposed to many other writers, Karina noted, her personality itself is a commodity that she uses to champion indie films otherwise left in the shadows of the film festival circuit. Spout, she noted, has always been committed to being transparent about the fact that they ARE people with subjectivities, rather than purporting to espouse some sort of objective truth. As the conversation moved on to the purpose of criticism on the blogosphere, most on the panel agreed that their role is to champion or advocate films that would otherwise be sucked into the void, and try to avoid dragging an independent filmmaker through the mud. As Karina said, “If I hate a film, I just won’t write about it.” (That said, the previous statement excludes mainstream, Hollywood films and in fact, when Karina does drag people through the mud it’s some of her most insightful writing. See all of her posts on SEX AND THE CITY for evidence). Anthony Kaufman concured that he sees his posting as “part advocacy and part political”, while Schnack announced that he is, as we aware of the Cinema Eye Honors know, a “champion for craft in documentary filmmaking.” Already, Scott Kirsner has posted his own rundown of the panel, which can be read here

In other news, as both AJ and Karina noted on their blogs, Spike Lee made an ass out of himself by being terse and egotistical. This reminded me of the year Full Frame bent over backwards to worship Sydney Pollack, whose first nonfiction film, the I’ll-pat-myself-on-the-back-for-also-being-a-male-Jewish-genius-who-managed-to-marry-art-and-commerce docu-biography of his friend, the architect Frank Gehry,SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY, opened that year’s festival. If the nonfiction world feels we have to worship Hollywood narrative directors who stoop so low as to make non-fiction films, when will we ever be able to feel like equals in film, rather than second class citizens who just weren’t good enough to make into the multiplex? Still, unlike Pollack, who only made one by-the-books, dull nonfiction film, Spike Lee has proved himself a dedicated practitioner of the form, and I respect the non-fiction work he has done to date, in particular WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE . And though many nonfiction filmmakers are amazing at the craft without having an ounce of humility (see Michael Moore or Eroll Morris), I would like to think that it is only through humility that we non-fiction filmmakers can truly connect with our subjects.