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July 30, 2005Real life provides better storiesGroup focuses on growth of documentariesBY LINDSAY VANHULLERecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - The best documentaries have elements borrowed from fictional films and novels, a group of documentary directors and fiction writers said at the second panel of the Traverse City Film Festival on Friday. "I wanted to make my film play out like a narrative, told from the voices of the characters," director Marilyn Agrelo said of her film, "Mad Hot Ballroom," which is about New York City sixth-graders taking ballroom dance lessons. "It became this intimate look into the minds of 11-year-old kids." Panelists for "Is Fiction Dead? The Rise of Documentary Films" included Agrelo; Alex Gibney, director of "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room"; director Adrian Belic; Kathleen Glynn, filmmaker Michael Moore's wife and producer of several of his documentaries; and fiction writer Bob Sloan. Several of the filmmakers said they try to focus on the stories of their characters - in contrast to Hollywood films, which they say are more manufactured. Sloan said Hollywood films can have characters who are difficult to believe in or take seriously. "We go to Hollywood films and don't see people like ourselves," Sloan said. But interesting stories about real people and real life can be found in both fiction and nonfiction films, Glynn said. "If you're willing to go on the journey, you will find these stories," she said.
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