by Herman Manson (@marklives) Encounters, the documentary festival, returns to Cape Town and Johannesburg from 7-24 June 2012 and this year features Tiffany Shlain (see schedule), the founder of The Webby Awards, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, 
and director of Connected, which won The Disruptive Innovation Award from Tribeca, the Audience Award for Best Documentary from Maui Film Festival and four awards from The Los Angeles Movie Awards.
The documentary, billed as ‘An Autoblogography About Love, Death & Technology,’ aims, as Shlain explains it in a blog post for the Wall Street Journal, “to trigger a conversation about the question, ‘What does it mean to be connected in the 21st Century?’ While I didn’t imagine this when starting out, that question now also entails, ‘What does it mean when everyone today is living in the 1st person and sharing who they are online?'”
Shlain looks at the good and the bad of our technology facilitated connectedness. Being connected all the time offers interesting opportunities but also poses risks – both socially and to out health (an upcoming documentary will explore how our brains deal with over-stimulation – ‘Brainpower’ will debut next fall).
Her workshop at Encounters will focus, Shlain says, on collaborative film making techniques and her talk will cover the Cloud Filmmaking Manifesto.
Cape Town workshop:
Date: Monday 11 June
Time: 10:00am – 12.00pm
Venue: Big Fish School of Digital Filmmaking, The Foundry, Unit 109D, 74 Cardiff Ave, Greenpoint
Cost: Free
To Book: email manager at encounters.co.za
For more info: 021 465 4686
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