by Charles Vogl on May 9, 2011
Filmmakers Yoni Brook & Musa Sayeed
Musa Sayeed and Yoni Brook have been documentary friends since we met as ITVS filmmakers years ago. I attended the IDFA premiere of A Son’s Sacrifice which tells the story of a family passing on a Halal slaughter house. The audience was impressed the two NYU film alumnae could work together. Yoni is Jewish and Musa is Muslim. Recently PBS’ Independent Lens released an ambitious documentary project entitled The Calling. Yoni and Musa spent over a year creating one of the four hours. The series follows seven people for a year as they train to become clergy in seven different faith traditions. As the website describes, “they struggle to balance religious convictions, professional responsibilities, rigorous academics, interactions with congregants, dedication to lifelong service, and occasional spells of doubt and uncertainty.” 
I just completed four years studying religion and ethics at Yale among hundreds of classmates who were forming themselves to become clergy, social sector leaders and academics. I know they are exploring their intentions, concerns and hopes as well. One thing that unites us is that we have devoted years of our lives to creating a better-informed ethical rubric in order to fulfill our personal and professional lives with integrity and conviction. If done well, the learning is challenging and full of contradictions.
I’m not suggesting that everyone go to divinity school to explore this space. However, I have noticed that when I’m approached by others struggling in discernment for a meaningful life direction, I often find that they have not yet discerned what their most dear values are. For the over 90% of Americans who self identify as religious or spiritual, the satisfactory answers usually come from our personal faith. This can be a frighting idea without examples of spiritual leaders who have honestly grappled with the complications and nuance of a faith-led life in a modern world. I’m inspired by the filmmakers who have taken the time to share with everyone the variations in the journey and the seriousness it entails. May it inspire many more to open the question of what is really important in this lifetime.
“All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us.”
- J.R. Tolkien
by Charles Vogl on May 4, 2011
Claire Missanelli
Claire Missanelli and I met on a sunny afternoon in 2004 at a filmmaker’s event in NYC. Since that day, we have had a friendship supporting each other as documentary filmmakers. Claire is most famous for working with Director Paul Devlin for about ten years. I’m an outright fan of their films Slamnation, Powertrip and BLAST. The films have been seen all over the world.
The documentary film business seems to change every 20 minutes. Clarie would call me and ask about what we were doing that was working. I would call her when I wanted to learn about her wisdoms. We had exactly the kind of relationship filmmakers with a mission need — one of generosity and support within a single phone call.
In March, Claire died after living with cancer for years. I joined Paul, Claire’s family and several other filmmakers for her memorial service in Manhattan on Sunday. The service was deeply moving with musical performances by Claire’s friend Susan
McKeown and stories from siblings and friends.
Because I only knew Claire from our NY events and phone calls, I never met the others filmmakers in her community who appreciated her so much. I listened to two film directors share about how they feel lost with their producer, knowledge reservoir and team manager gone. In tears, one director shared how she had chosen to walk away from one film in post-production because each time she sat down to work she thought, “I should ask Claire about . . .” I was reminded how good producers make directors effective. Claire was great at this.
There was a particular insight that moved me deeply. I learned that Claire had been struggling with cancer since 2003 and she didn’t tell colleagues (or me) unless they asked her directly. She preferred that we all know her as a producer instead of a cancer patient. I then learned that she kept working on documentary film outreach right into February until she chose to stop the ineffective chemotherapy. Even when she knew she was likely to die in months, she kept working to spread stories that she knew were important.
For those who don’t know, professional documentary film-making is an exhausting commitment. The financial rewards are usually unstable or non-existent. Filmmakers live with a fear of financial collapse and often nothing to show for years.
Filmmakers like Claire do it because they actually believe that telling stories makes a difference. They think that sharing unheard voices and new points of view changes the world. May we all be so inspired by our work that the possibility of death will not turn us away.
Thank you, Claire, for reminding me what such deep commitment and meaning looks like. It is a rare condition. Every example is a precious jewel.
by Charles Vogl on April 19, 2011
Photo from nytimes.com
Tonight I shared a conversation with Danny Meyer after attending his lecture on Yale’s campus. A modest description of Danny would mention that he is the CEO of the Union Square Hospitality Group. This overlooks the fact that he is perhaps the most admired restaurateur in the country, maybe the world. At 27 years old he opened the Union Square Cafe which is still considered one of the best restaurants in New York City. On the Zagat ratings, three of his restaurants are still rated among the most favorite restaurants in the city. In an industry that is famous for using, abusing and losing staff, he treats his employees with respect and dignity. Restaurant professionals fantasize about working with him. I know because there was a time I was a senior server in a high grossing NY restaurant.
I looked forward to Danny’s lecture, but I didn’t expect to be inspired. I was. As he spoke without notes or prompts for an hour it was clear to me that he is a master. No one creates a series of the top restaurants in the country by accident, or because they were lucky or they had one good idea. They do it because they are good. The New York restaurant industry will disembowel anyone who isn’t tough, flexible or fast enough. Danny has learned to create businesses, hire staff and attract deserved attention by trial through fire and broken glass.
The lesson he chose to share with a room of Yalies is that he cultivates hospitality for his staff first and then for his customers. He believes in what he calls “the virtuous cycle.” In the same way a vicious cycle spins into worsening disaster, a virtuous cycle once started grows bigger to create something greater than the good that inspired it. Danny has created a culture where the management are out to treat the staff well so they grow the good. This is the context each of his guests step into when they visit his restaurants.
One of the things I love about Danny Meyer is that he is so much more than talk. He is a living example that prioritizing your employees can make you a leader in a cutthroat field. The industry is famous for eking out a profit on the backs of its undocumented workers.
You can find more about the wisdom he’s learned over the years in his book Setting The Table.
In what is perhaps the greatest compliment in my house, his words are going onto our quote board.
“The road to success is paved with mistakes handled well.”
- Danny Meyer (Yale Lecture April ’11)
by Charles Vogl on April 9, 2011
Photo by Frenzied Vole
Today I had a long lunch with Yale MBA candidate Raymond. He sought me out because he is working toward his goal of being an entrepreneur and he has a sense that he is not connecting with people as quickly and deeply as he would like. Raymond is a Chinese national. He and his wife are children of the one child policy. Raymond is now in his 30s and he explained that in his near future he will financially support his own nuclear family, his parents and his wife’s parents. This means his earnings will support 7 individuals. You can imagine this can feel like quite a burden.
Raymond understands that families across China are facing the same economic challenge. It took a number of questions for me to learn the story of how his father was injured when he was two, how his mother worked a factory job to support him, giving him access to an education at one of China’s top universities and now Yale. He wants to return her commitment and help other Chinese to do the same.
Together what we saw is that Raymond wants to transform how the Chinese can care for their aging parents. It is a much bigger vision than creating an elderly care company. Because Raymond had not articulated his vision in these terms he was downgrading his power. I suggest that the difference between where he is today and where he wants to be tomorrow is partly a function of how powerfully Raymond can share this vision with partners, investors, etc and then back up his promises with action. I promised Raymond that if everyone he talked to knew the motivation, scope and power of his vision, this would be a conversation that they would remember and connect with.
The lesson is a simple and powerful one. Deeply connecting with people is not a only function of charm, humor or brilliance. It is a function of authenticity, emotion, and inspiration.
by Charles Vogl on April 9, 2011
Marshall Curry is a hero of mine. He makes my favorite kind of films, about well-intentioned people facing real challenges. Further, Curry’s stories are an emotional ride that connect us to issues we have not reflected on before. Marshall deserves all the attention he is getting.
He is best known for his Academy Award nominated documentary STREET FIGHT. His film RACING DREAMS took the audience award at the Tribecca Film Festival. IF A TREE FALLS recently premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. On Thursday Socheata and I shared dinner with Marshall Curry. We gathered a group of filmmakers and sustainability consultants to share the evening with him when Marshall’s latest film screened at the Yale Environmental Film Festival.
Though Marshall now has a track record recognized by any documentary filmmaker in the world, funding is still an ongoing challenge. And making films still demands 15 hours a day in the edit room throughout the year. He does this all while raising his family in Brooklyn.
Our conversation reminded me about the nature of commitment. Even after we have accumulated a lot of evidence that we are good at something it doesn’t mean the work gets easier. Even with press, name recognition, good ideas and lots of strong contacts there is no shortcut for success.
As a fan, I’m reminded that it sometimes looks easy on the outside. It looks like our heroes have “made it”. The truth is they are my heroes because they do the work and keep going far after others have stopped.
