Todd Mundt

Filmmaker Deborah Scranton (The War Tapes) collaborated with soldiers in Iraq, who filmed their service. She worked with them over the Internet, rather than going to Iraq herself so she could stay out of the story and not interfere directly in the soldiers’ storytelling. She spoke about working with the soldiers, winning their trust, and giving her word that she would remain true to their experiences. For 11 months, the soldiers filmed their experiences as they had time and discussed the film with Scranton, using instant messaging to get advice on storytelling. The result was 800 hours of tape. “This [is a] new model of living narrative.”

“The War Tapes” just won Best Documentary Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival.