Jess Shane & Katharina Smets: Ethics in Storytelling

How do we, and how might we, understand the relationship between documentary makers and subjects? Like it or not, it is always a tense relationship, couched in forces beyond the intimacy shared in the space of the interview. While drawing out an interviewee's vulnerability, the documentarian is aware that she must soon create a product that will circulate on the mass media market. How can we - as makers, listeners, and distributors - account for this tension?

In this session, Jess Shane and Katharina Smets - with help from the session participants - will explore makers, thinkers, and modalities that offer alternate ways forward - beyond the standard extractive model.

Jess is a Canadian podcast and documentary maker who, earlier this year, released the thought-provoking podcast Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative - about how podcasts bristle with personal stories, though mainly to the benefit of its creators. Katharina is the first Flemish “podcast doctor” - she holds a PhD in the arts on the attitude of the audio documentarian - and teaches audio storytelling at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp. She also makes podcasts, musical narrations, and documentary performances herself, such as De stemmen, Misia, and LAND.

This talk is in English. With the support of deAuteurs.