2002 | Linear documentary | 58 min | Co-Director, Editor, Co-Producer
SEEING IS BELIEVING
SEEING IS BELIEVING
Association for Asian Studies Film Festival, Society for Visual Anthropology — Award of Commendation
American Anthropological Association Film Festival — Official Selection
Hamptons Film Festival — Abraham Award (Conflict & Resolution Series)
Amsterdam International Documentary Festival (IDFA) — Official Selection
It may have been the greatest media-technology paradigm shift since the advent of TV. From Rodney King to Osama Bin Laden, handycams weren’t just for weddings and family vacations anymore. Amateur camcorders became the eyes of the world when no one else was watching. Human-rights activists, war-crimes investigators, right-wing proselytizers, and ordinary citizens armed themselves with the tools of the new visual revolution. For two years, filmmakers Katerina Cizek and Peter Wintonick crossed the world tracking media activists to look at what happened when front-line advocates picked up personal camcorders.
Seeing is Believing: Handicams, Human Rights and the News discusses the history of the camcorder and illuminates the work and words of key international journalists and media activists. And it shines a spotlight on the compelling story of Joey Lozano, a courageous video-activist documenting abuses against indigenous people in dangerous corners of the Philippines. But did Lozano’s camera prevent violence, or jeopardize lives?
Drawn from original shooting around the world, and sampling hundreds of hours of exclusive contemporary archives, Seeing is Believing provides a dramatic and multifaceted window into the power of do-it-yourself filmmaking.
Seeing is Believing was co-directed by katerina Cizek and Peter Winotick, and produced by Necessary Illusions, by Francis Miquet, Peter Wintonick and Katerina Cizek.
VIDEOS
Short sequence of the Indigenous Nakamata Tribe accepting a video camera from the human-rights organization WITNESS, through Joey Lozano, a Filipino journalist and activist, in Seeing is Believing (1m 58s).
Part of an interview with the inventor of handycam technology in Seeing is Believing (0m 59s).
Full film, Seeing is Believing: Handicams, Human Rights and the News (58m).
Update from the directors, Peter Wintonick and Katerina Cizek, from the DVD box set, Seeing is Believing.
A 2003 update from Joey Lozano, of Seeing is Believing.