”I Didn’t See You There” with Reid Davenport

Top Docs: Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers

Director Reid Davenport joins Mike to discuss his new documentary, “I Didn’t See You There.” As the title intimates, this is a film about seeing and being seen. Reid confronts not only the legacy of P.T. Barnum–which he traces all the way to photographer Diane Arbus–but what he sees as the possibility of his own participation in the “freak show”, one which he notes doesn’t necessarily require a tent! He even questions the motivations of what he calls the “Neoliberal” documentary audience: what compels them to watch, to even pat themselves on the back?

Reid and Mike talk about both the pleasures as well as the challenges of navigating Oakland’s urban landscape in a wheelchair. Reid explains how his new camera allowed him to shoot his own film, as well as facilitated showing the world from what will be to many a wholly new perspective. And he describes a variety of purgatories that he experiences: with his family, but not mobile; mobile, but without them.

“I Didn’t See You There” will be showing on PBS’s POV starting January 9th.

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