Barry ZeVan
This weeks Featured Doc Maker, Mr. Barry ZeVan has done it all.

From Reporting the Weather, to acting, to working in the documentary medium Barry has had a long and interesting career. We recently had the opportunity to speak to Barry and to talk a little shop. Here are the highlights of that conversation.

Doc: Talk a bit about your background in filmmaking. Did you go to film school??

Barry ZeVan: I did not go to film school, although I was awarded an honorary Ph.D. in Cinematic Arts from the Hollywood International Institute in Los Angeles two years ago. Unfortunately, they no longer exist, but were accredited by the State of California. It was somewhat of a lifetime achievement award, and I was very flattered to receive it. Having been actively engaged in this business since I was a child singer beginning on KDKA radio in 1943 in my hometown, Pittsburgh, Pa., to working in every conceivable arena of the business since the advent of commercial television in 1946 in New York, on which I appeared (as a young talent, with, among others. the late Bill Cullen), two years before television hit the entire nation, I was blessed to also have a natural curiosity about almost every aspect of life, and have lived and worked with the giants of the industry continuously for over 60 years. (I'm in the midst of writing my biography, at the urging of a very published author. No one will probably read it, but I'm flattered to have been asked to write it!) The catalysts for my motivation to create documentaries is, I feel, as follows: Because my mom was a working mother and my father had left us when I was a baby, I sort of raised myself as a latch-key kid, listening to great music and talk on radio during the World War II years while my mother worked nights at the War Department, and I watched the fire from the steel mills rise high into the air for more nights than I could count. Those times made my imagination soar, especially akin to what visions the music brought to my mind. I guess I was creating films to music, in my mind, even in those days. Every documentary I've ever produced, or had a hand in producing, has had some element of music as a motivator and stimulator for the action, and audience reaction. Regarding film ideas, as stated, I've had them since I could remember, and feel blessed to have been able to bring those ideas to life, thanks, most of the time, to someone who would "listen", and allowed me to prove the ideas I had could be effective in communicating messages and feelings that would have "legs". One longtime friend for me, and a mentor, was the late Delmer Daves, a Warner Brothers director who was the only one Jack Warner ever signed to a lifetime contract. He told me I had a "natural" good eye for motivating people via the visions I had for how any project should look, especially through a lens. The first film I ever did, a documentary about The French Alps, was nominated for an Emmy in Washington, D.C., in 1976. That nomination, for me, validated Delmer's kind observations about any talents I might have behind an eyepiece, and I subsequently went on to produce and direct 13 additional documentaries, one of which won a Telly Award this year (“American Indian Homelands”), and two others which were nominated for Emmys, i.e., films shot in Iran and Chile. The Iranian film was seen on HBO for a year, as an intermission piece, until the Shah's regime was replaced. That event was something no one saw "coming" at that time, but the exposure for the film—aimed at luring skiing tourists to Iran—was wonderful.

Doc: How did you first begin working in the documentary medium?

BZ: In 1975, I told my bosses at WJLA-TV (ABC) in Washington, D.C., I had some ideas for documentaries, and they simply just said, "go ahead." I think it's probably not that easy anymore!

Doc: Your recent film "American Indian Homelands" features a very compelling look into Native Americans. How did you come to choose this subject for the film?

BZ: Thank you for the kind compliment about the film being compelling. That seems to be the "buzzword" for it from several people, and I'm glad for that. In my opinion, and the opinions of so many other non-Indians, American Indian people deserve more than just cursory or surface attention. Regarding how I chose the subject, it kind of actually chose me. One of my favorite personal philosophies is "the best things happen by accident", and what led to making this documentary involved one of those serendipitous "accidents." It happened because I had actually done some public relations consulting for several Indian tribes during the course of my checkered career, and one of the people with whom I had worked introduced me to some very astute American Indians involved with re-purchasing Indian reservation land that had been taken by the federal government, and who told me they thought the public should know about the degree to which Indians had been mistreated, to almost a Machiavellian level, by Congressional action. This was completely addressed in the film, and corroborated by Senators John McCain and Tom Daschle, the latter of whom was still a Senator when we filmed him in the Autumn of 2004, as well as noted scholars and factual information not generally known by either the non-Indian public, nor many Indians themselves. They asked me if I'd write a sample script. I did. They liked it, and the film was made, over an almost 18-month time span. The film is totally non-militant but very intensely cerebral, especially good for people interested in the law or United States history in general, and not one to leave in the middle to get a cup of coffee. National feature writer Jim Neff kindly stated it's a "must see for anyone who cares about this country". By the way, you'll note I don't use the term "Native American." Actor and former activist Russell Means told me several years ago that "Native American" is a government appellation, meant to be politically correct. I've also been told by many Indians, including chiefs, that the term "Indian" was actually a "compliment" from Christopher Columbus, stating in his journal that the people who greeted him and his sailors so warmly were "Los Indios", or "Those of God," and not because he thought he'd landed in India (which also means, "Of God"). Just a bit of trivia. So they ask that they not be called Native Americans. Anyone born in this hemisphere is a "Native American," and the Indians prefer to be called American Indians, for the most part. (Even the Smithsonian's new National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., is named as it is, because of the aforementioned historic date regarding Columbus.)

Doc: The film is also hosted/narrated by Sam Donaldson. How did Sam become involved in the project?

BZ: I had the pleasure of first knowing Sam when I was working as talent (weatherman and documentary producer) at the aforementioned WJLA-TV in D.C. from 1974 through 1977. We "locals" socialized with the network people frequently, thus I got to know Sam via those times. When thinking of a host/narrator for this mostly "aimed at non-Indian audiences" documentary, Sam's name was suggested by some of the Indians who wished to have the film created, and I thought it was brilliant, thus I made the contact and Sam immediately accepted. He owns three ranches in New Mexico (where he was raised) which border an Indian reservation there, thus he knew from first-hand experience some of the egregious subjects addressed in the film. That was a "bonus" for my script writing, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Doc: What do you think is the importance of documentary filmmaking in modern American cinema?

BZ: I feel that we should never stop learning nor being curious about the world in which we live, and if we're smart, we never will, regardless of age. It sounds trite, I'm certain, but nonetheless, if we only do "go around once," we should strive to make knowledge about our surroundings, and what created them, one of life's primary goals. In my opinion, good and compelling documentaries have the capacity to motivate people do that. In the case of interview-and-history-driven documentaries such as “American Indian Homelands,” hearing from the people to whom certain things have happened that are unpredictable to the listener/viewer and knowing the back-stories, is, in my opinion, so eye-opening and vital, especially for today's younger generation, to help them realize that nothing should be taken for granted, and that knowing the geneses of occurrences makes their lives so much richer. In my opinion, just thinking that things happen "by magic", without knowing that struggle or thought or seriousness of purpose creates events of significance and motivates world events, is to be robbed of knowledge that could be so important to embrace and develop higher-plane thinking, which I think is desperately needed today in this country, at almost all age levels.

Doc: Do you have any future documentary projects that you'd like to talk about?

BZ: Not to be coy or imperious, there are several, but because no contracts have yet been signed, I'd prefer to keep descriptions under wraps until that time. I can guarantee they'll be "not ordinary." Generically, two have to do with music (one domestic, one foreign), and one with unique and very real adventure on the high seas. I'll be able to "open up" more within a month or two. I'm also somewhat superstitious, and feel that trumpeting something before it happens has a tendency to "jinx" it, so for right now, I need to keep specifics confidential. Thanks for asking, though, and you can be certain they'll all be very gladly offered first to the Documentary Channel for consideration to air as the world premiere distribution entity.

We thank Mr. ZeVan and look forward to hearing and seeing what the rest of his career holds for Doc fans.

Chris Dortch II