The Bowdoin Orient

December 1, 2000
Volume CXXXII, Number 10

Presenting National Geographic

by J. YALE WALDO - STAFF WRITER

  This Sunday Bowdoin will enjoy a private showing from two of the foremost creators of documentaries in America today. Mick Davie and Sean Fine create films for National Geographic, and they will introduce a showing of three of their movies.
   Starting at 8:00 p.m. Davie and Fine will give a brief introduction of the three movies. Davie will introduce the two movies he produced, entitled From Capetown to Cairo and War Child. Fine will speak a few words on his film Pigeon Murders.
  Davie made From Capetown to Cairo when he was only 22, and it is an account of his seven-month journey from South Africa to Egypt, by any means possible. He covers many different areas and topics, starting with police violence in Johannesburg. He then documents conditions among street children in Zimbabwe, detailing their dreams for their country as well as themselves. He also treats the issue of land mine deaths among the people of Mozambique.
   Davie first got his job at National Geographic from this film. He first showed it on Australian television, where National Geographic found it and decided to buy the film and hire its producer. He also produced War Child, an account of the status of the innumerable refugees in Albania and Kosovo. What makes both of these documentaries fascinating and incredibly moving is their first person perspective. This gives the viewer the sensation that s/he is actually there, and conveys an immediate sense of what it means to be a refugee in Albania, or someone in Mozambique who lives in fear of his/her every step.
  Davie still works for National Geographic, and some of his current projects include a film dealing with Pakistani honor killings, and he returns to a theme in From Capetown to Cairo in making a movie about post-apartheid South Africa. He has a prominent place at National Geographic, which earned him a place in a National Geographic Explorer episode, opposite National Geographic notable Dr. Robert Ballard, titled "The New Explorers."
   The episode was an examination of the few areas of nature left to be explored, since virtually the entire globe has been discovered. In addition to other answers, such as the bottom of the world's oceans, was the area in which Davie specializes, namely cultural investigations and expeditions.
  Accompanying Davie is Fine, a talented filmmaker and producer in his own right. Fine, after having finished The Pigeon Murders (which he is introducing), continued making films with National Geographic. He is currently working in collaboration with Davie on a piece called Frontline Diaries, which, judging from both their past work, promises to be quite good.
  Both men, in addition to showing their films on National Geographic, have shown them on other television stations, such as the Australian release of From Capetown to Cairo, but their movies have also been shown in America on other channels, such as CNBC.
   After the introductions and the films, each producer will hold a question-and- answer period. The questions will obviously deal with the films just shown, but the audience is free to ask any questions about their past work, their current projects, or even filmmaking in general, such as how one gets into the business.
  The movies themselves are not incredibly long. The entire event, from introduction to question and answer, should take more than two hours. The showing is free to all members of the Bowdoin community, courtesy of the Bowdoin Film Society.

Sills Hall, Smith Auditorium
8:00 p.m.