On May 14, the U.S. Consulate General and Vladivostok Youth Lecture Series Luch-5 held a Skype presentation with multi-award winning U.S. documentary producer Jon Alpert. The event attracted over 20 young people searching for professional guidance on modern documentary filmmaking. Alpert’s tales of creating films covering important social issues, plus his practical filmmaking tips, were warmly and enthusiastically received: the one hour presentation was followed by a Q&A session that stretched on for another hour. Alpert covered a number of issues such as how to choose topics for a documentary, how to gain access to inaccessible people and places, why a journalist’s passion and ethical standards are a must for success, and why the use of the latest technologies is important but not critical.
