Filmmakers

Alan Govenar (Director)

Alan Govenar is a writer, folklorist, photographer, and filmmaker. He is president of Documentary Arts, a non-profit organization he founded in 1985 to present new perspectives on historical issues and diverse cultures. Govenar has a B.A. with distinction in American Folklore from Ohio State University, an M.A. in Folklore and Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Ph.D. in Arts and Humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and the author of thirty books, including Texas Blues: The Rise of a Contemporary Sound, Stompin’ at the Savoy: The Story of Norma Miller, Extraordinary Ordinary People, Everyday Music, Untold Glory, Stoney Knows How: Life as a Sideshow Tattoo Artist, Deep Ellum: The Other Side of Dallas, Portraits of Community, The Early Years of Rhythm and Blues: The Photography of Benny Joseph, and The Blues Come to Texas: Paul Oliver and Mack McCormick’s Unfinished Book. His book Osceola: Memories of a Sharecropper’s Daughter won First Place in the New York Book Festival (Children’s Non-Fiction), a Boston Globe-Hornbook Honor; and an Orbis Pictus Honor from the National Council of Teachers of English.

Govenar’s film, Stoney Knows How, based on his book by the same title about Old School tattoo artist Leonard St. Clair, was shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and was selected as an Outstanding Film of the Year by the London Film Festival. Govenar has also produced and directed numerous films in association with NOVA, La Sept/ARTE, and the corporation for public broadcasting for broadcast and educational distribution. His documentaries The Beat Hotel, Master Qi and the Monkey King, You Don’t Need Feet to Dance, and Extraordinary Ordinary People are distributed by First Run Features.

Govenar is also a playwright, whose musicals include Blind Lemon Blues and Lonesome Blues (with Akin Babatunde) and Texas in Paris. His musicals have been at the York Theatre (New York), Forum Meyrin (Geneva), Maison des Cultures du Monde (Paris), Zuiderpershuis (Antwerp), Leidse Schouwburg (Leiden), Regentes (Den Haag), and Oude Luxor (Rotterdam).

His artist books and photographs are in collections in the United States and abroad, including The Museum of Modern Art (New York), Victoria and Albert Museum (London, Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), National Portrait Gallery (Washington, DC), and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Didier Dorant (Cinematographer)

Didier Dorant is a French cinematographer who has worked with Documentary Arts on numerous projects. He was the cinematographer for the feature films You Don’t Need Feet to Dance and Master Qi and the Monkey King, for the short films Bridging Utopia and The Poetry of Exactitude, and for video segments for The Franco-American Museum at the Chateau de Blérancourt. Dorant is a graduate of l’ESEC, Ecole Supèrieure d’Etudes Cinématographiques à Paris. For the last 28 years, he has been a Journalistes Reporter Caméraman and Grand Reporter Caméraman on documentaries, news magazines and news reports. In addition, he teaches at the CFPJ School of Journalism in Paris, France.

 

Alan Hatchett (Editor)

Alan Hatchett worked with Documentary Arts from 2003 to 2011 as associate producer, technical director, editor, and multimedia artist. Most recently he edited the feature film Master Qi and the Monkey King and the video content for the Jasper, Texas: The Community Photographs of Alonzo Jordan installation at the ICP. Alan is also a founding member of the Dallas Makerspace, where we created an interactive art installation for the TEDxSMU talks in 2010.

 

Documentary Arts (Producer)

Documentary Arts was founded in 1985 as a non-profit organization to create and preserve new perspectives on the arts, culture, and history. Over the years, Documentary Arts has produced more than two-dozen non-fiction films, ranging from “Cigarette Blues” (San Francisco Film Festival Judge’s Award), “Texas Style” (American Film and Video Festival Blue Ribbon and CINE Golden Eagle), “Black on White/White and Black” (Michael A. Wilder Silver Citation Award) to “Le Naufrage de la Belle” (Le Prix Spécial du Jury, 16th Festival International de l’Emission Scientifique de Télévision Palamarès, France) and “Voyage of Doom” (NOVA), “The Devil’s Swing” (Finalist, USA Film Festival) and “Jaber” (6th Recontres Autor de L’Art Singulier,  Musée d’Art Moderne, Nice, France). To find out more about Documentary Arts’ films, videos, radio and television series for national and international broadcast, touring exhibitions, publications, and interactive media, see www.documentaryarts.org.