To most of us, films are just a form of entertainment.
We go to the movie theater because we want to get away from our boring lives and live vicariously through someone else in another world. What draws us in is that dramas, comedies or even romances often seem too good to be true.
Yet there are always those people who look at films as more than just a moving picture on a screen. These are the people that make the films we love, the ones we recite over and over, and leave us thinking the magical question: “What if?”
Pamela Cohn is one of those visionary people in the nonfiction film industry and is planning on bringing her passion to Columbia this year for the True/False Film Festival as the festival’s newest programmer. In an email, Cohn explains her favorite thing about films.
“I like the way a random group of strangers can come together for a brief period of time in a cinema, each person having his or her own experience, but also simultaneously sharing something communal, no matter how temporary that is — to be frightened together, to be turned on together, to laugh together,” Cohn says.
Ever since she helped a friend make his documentary “La Fabri-K” in Cuba back in 2003 as a co-producer and shooter, she fell in love with the world of nonfiction films and hasn’t looked back since.
Her admiration for films has led her to take on many jobs in the industry such as a producer, line producer, location scout, talent agent, casting agent, an actor and many other jobs.
Currently, Cohn lives and works in Berlin as an associate programmer for DokuFest, a documentary and short film festival that takes place in Prizren, Kosovo, each August.
That will change this upcoming November when she moves to Columbia to take her new position, working alongside David Wilson, Paul Sturtz and Chris Boeckmann to create the film lineup for this year’s festival.
Besides deciding the festival’s lineup, Cohn will also have a role in shaping panel discussions, helping curate The Great Wall (the festival’s outdoor screen), as well as being the festival’s liaison for the Based on a True Story journalism conference that takes place concurrently.
She says she first heard about the festival itself in 2007 through word-of-mouth and on a favorite blog of hers. From that time until she accepted her current position in Berlin in 2010, Cohn had been a regular attender of the festival.
So when she heard through the grapevine that Sturtz and Wilson were looking for a programmer to join their team, she threw her hat in the ring and sent in an application.
After landing the job, Cohn asked Sturtz and Wilson why they were looking to bring someone new to the festival, and “their response was that they weren’t so much looking to expand the fest as much as wanting to deepen its curatorial profile,” Cohn says. “Adding a new (but experienced) voice and presence into the mix was what they thought they needed.”
A change from previous endeavours, Cohn’s position at True/False will involve her stepping into a more “fully realized” role. Rather than applying her ever-expanding aesthetic to a new project before moving on to another, the next scene in Cohn’s career will feature her adding her name to a more permanent script.
When asked what aspect of the festival she’s excited to work with the most, Cohn states in an email, “I don’t think there is really any one thing, but obviously, the overall film program and getting to have a hand in curating that is very exciting. Working closely with David, Paul, Chris and Arin means I’m working with a group of people at the top of their game, individually and collectively. It’s a distinct privilege. I’m really looking forward to meeting the rest of the team.”