Al Jazeera airs documentary shot on a mobile phone

Al Jazeera is today broadcasting a documentary about Syria. The project was shot entirely on an iPhone. (There is a teaser video at the link.) Near the beginning of the documentary the reporter says:

I can’t tell you my name. I’ve spent many months secretly in Syria for Al Jazeera.

I cannot show my face and my voice is disguised to conceal my identity, because I don’t want to endanger my contacts in Syria.

Because carrying a camera would be risky, I took my cell phone with me as I moved around the country and captured images from the uprising that have so far remained unseen.

What have you been doing with the phone in your pocket?

A documentary on something forgotten

Dr. Martin found this one. Sounds like a great premise. Eating Alabama will premiere at SXSW. :

In search of a simpler life, a young couple returns home to Alabama where they set out to eat the way their grandparents did – locally and seasonally. But as they navigate the agro-industrial gastronomical complex, they soon realize that nearly everything about the food system has changed since farmers once populated their family histories. A thoughtful and often funny essay on community, the South and sustainability, “Eating Alabama” is a story about why food matters.

Here’s the trailer, including a great quote “That information has been lost.”

No matter your medium, that’s what storytelling should really be about.

You can see stills on the movie’s site.