Hearing Robert Seidman speak in class was truly a treat. I had not been too familiar with him or his work before coming to class, but his fun-loving personality quickly turned me into a fan. I enjoyed a lot of the scenes that he presented to us in class. I especially liked the clips from his film on Hasidic Judaism and from his film about Billy Strayhorn. It is likely that I will revisit these films in the future.
While I enjoyed his presentation overall, I was a bit confused about the points he was trying to make. I could not tell if he was trying give us some sort of message with each clip he showed us or if he was just trying to share his experiences with hopes that we could draw something from them. I would have liked him to be a little clearer about his intentions. I think in the end however, I did take away a lot from his time with us in class. For one, I was reminded of the importance of compromise in collaboration when he began to speak about his experience working with Hasidic Jews. Another big take away was being exposed to the idea of a scripted documentary. Finally, I feel I have a better understanding about what a screenwriter does and their role in a non-fiction film. These are valuable lessons and ideas that I will try to carry with me as I go on as a documentarian and a film maker.