Panelists will discuss nonfiction storytelling

Brent Renaud, award-winning documentary filmmaker and festival founder and programmer, pays particular attention to character-driven films. “There’s a real trend away from the standard issue-oriented talking-head documentary and more of a turn to documentaries with compelling characters and a more narrative structure,” he says. “You’ll see a lot of feature film techniques used in documentaries, a lot of work with cranes and dollies.”

In the panel, “Cinematic Nonfiction: The New Documentary,” Hammer to Nail critic and filmmaker Robert Greene will lead a discussion on what he terms “this renaissance in documentary culture,” which seems to mystify critics. Other panelists include Lotfy Nathan, director of 12 O’Clock Boys, Rick Rowley, director of Dirty Wars, Bill Ross, director of Tchoupitoulas and Omar Mullick, co-director of These Birds Walk. The panel will be held at 12:45 p.m. Saturday.

Following Greene’s panel, Joshua Fu, head of marketing for Oscilloscope Laboratories, will chat with the directors of some of the company’s newest documentaries.

Panels are held at in the filmmakers lounge, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 601 Main St., Little Rock. Priority seating, pass-holders only. For a complete schedule, go to littlerockfilmfestival.org. For more information, call (501) 205-0400.