Making It
2006 · 10m · Canada
Directed by Sobaz Benjamin
Genres: documentary
Tones: contemplative, tender
Black youth describe achieving ambitious goals through determination, in a project addressing racism in the workplace.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A straightforward doc about resilience and workplace racism—exactly the kind of well-meaning, consensus-friendly premise that puts me to sleep. Where's the formal rupture, the weird angle that makes you question the entire framing?
A graceful nonfiction work that situates itself squarely in the social documentary tradition; the tender, contemplative tone suggests a filmmaker attuned to restraint and the dignity of their subjects' testimony.
The real move here is likely in how Benjamin lets silence and pacing do the work—ten minutes of intimate testimony that trusts the viewer to sit with contradiction and ambition without voiceover scaffolding, letting the subjects' own rhythms become the film's architecture.