Maiden and Archival Storytelling with Alex Holmes

The Documentary Life

Ever wonder what it might be like to discover a treasure trove of archival footage that lay untouched for over thirty years for your documentary film? That’s exactly what happened for veteran BBC and multi-award winning filmmaker, Alex Holmes on his latest film, Maiden, a documentary about 26 year old Tracy Edwards who set out to skipper the first-ever female crew during the Whitbread Round the World Race, a race that spans 33k miles and lasts for nine months.

Topics Discussed

• how finding this boat load of archival footage allowed Alex Holmes to tell his doc in an exciting narrative, nearly real-time fashion
• Alex Holmes gives his four elements for funding for documentaries
• details the search for archival, how to edit with it for free, and license afterwards
• how all doc filmmakers actually experience imposter syndrome
• how the first step in leading a documentary life is the hardest and most essential step

Additional Resources

Trailer for Maiden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SGpb6K9C5s

Chris in Cambodia Series

In Chris in Cambodia, TDL host and doc filmmaker, Chris G. Parkhurst shares some of his stories and lessons from his most recent trip filming in Cambodia, working on he and his wife, Steph’s, current documentary, Elvis of Cambodia.

Cambodian Singer, Sinn Sethsochhata

In Part Eight, Chris, discusses one of his final and most difficult of interviews with the granddaughter of famous Cambodian singer, Sinn Sisamouth. This segment takes a look at not only how important the interview is for the doc filmmaker, but how often, important relationships are built during with our subjects during these interviews.

Sponsors & Thank Yous

Thank you to music licensing platform, Music Vine for their fresh and diverse music and for contributing the wonderful music that we’ve used in this week’s episode.

If you need any music for your doc project, we can honestly recommend Music Vine.

Want 20% off of your first music licensing purchase? No licensing restrictions or number of tracks! Simply use promo code MYDOCLIFE at checkout!

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