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Laura Seltzer-Duny: Documentary Filmmaker

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Laura Seltzer-Duny: Documentary Filmmaker



Introduction to Laura Seltzer-Duny.  0:53 sec.  Interview:  Raymond Elman.  Camera: Lee Skye.  Video Editing & Production:  Genesis Valencia.  Recorded: 1/15/20, Miami Jewish Film Festival.

 

 

LAURA SELTZER-DUNY has produced and directed award-winning documentaries and educational programs for over 15 years. She founded Seltzer Film & Video, LLC because of her passion for producing videos that inspire change for causes she believes in. Laura’s experience growing up on the Chesapeake Bay sparked her desire to produce her first independent film, The Last Boat Out, about watermen and water quality.  Her film premiered in 2010 and still airs on PBS stations throughout the country.

Her current film, Nobody Wants Us, about refugees during WWII, is a little known but significant event in US history that took place in her hometown of Hampton Roads, VA. The 1-hour film version is slated to air on PBS in 2020. A 37-minute film version has been used in classes and community groups because it allows time for post-screening discussions.

Seltzer-Duny started her documentary film career working on the Cinemax film Living Proof: HIV and the Pursuit of Happiness while attending NYU Film School.  It was then that she realized that telling powerful stories through documentaries was what she wanted to do. Over the next 10 years, she worked on documentaries featuring Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, Ronald Reagan, John Steinbeck, Brooke Shields and Terry Bradshaw, to name a few. Her work has aired on PBS, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC and Discovery Channels. She has produced educational series for the National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, Classroom Close-Up and the Department of Education.

Seltzer-Duny is in the Washington, DC area.

–newday.com

The videos below are organized by topic and run between 30 seconds and 3 minutes. Click on any video. You must be connected to the Internet to view the videos.

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION: 0:54 min.




When did you start to feel passionate about films and why?

 

VALUES FIRST-RATE EDUCATION:   0:43 min.




What film school did you go to, and what did you learn that helped you in your career and still informs you today?

 

DEVELOP A VOICE:  1:47 min.




How did you evolve from being a volunteer on a film to getting paid for your work?

 

SEIZES OPPORTUNITIES: 0:57 min.




How did you get to a point where you started your own film company?

 

EMPATHY:  1:30 min.




Tell us about you most recent film, “Nobody Wants Us.”

 

PERSEVERANCE FURTHERS:  3:03 min.




How long have you known about this story and how did it come to your attention?

 

CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND: 2:06 min.




In your film you blend video of eye witnesses, archival video and photographs, illustration, and actor voice-over. Have you used this approach before and how has it evolved?

 

DEVELOP A VOICE:  0:58 min.




Describe your approach to using actor voice-overs to represent people at the time of the events in your film.

 

COLLABORATION:  2:04 sec.




Your film includes archival Holocaust photos that I have seen in many other documentaries. What was your thought process when you decided to us such familiar images?

 

OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED:  1:23 min.




How many refugees were on the boat, and what were the selection criteria you used to select spokespeople for your film?

 

PERSEVERANCE FURTHERS:  1:39 sec.




What was the timeline for beginning and finishing the documentary?

 

COLLABORATION:  2:57 sec.




Do you already have the material you need to extend the length of the documentary or do you need to develop new materials?

 

UNDERSTANDS THE AUDIENCE’S PERSPECTIVE: 1:46 min.




How do you segment your audience, and are students who are still in school the most important audience ?