Joe Day has been a journalist for most of his seventy years. He was a newspaper reporter and an editor in Milwaukee and Providence for ten years, an on-air reporter and producer in public and commercial television in Boston for twenty-two years, a reporter and producer for public television in New Mexico for almost eight years, and currently is an independent producer of documentary films dealing with social and environmental issues. At present, Day is at work on a documentary film that will explore the life and the legacy of former Interior Secretary Stewart L. Udall, an ardent environmentalist, an accomplished author and historian, and an impassioned spokesman for a sustainable future for our planet.
Print and Television to Filmmaking
After more than thirty years of daily print and television journalism and eight years of teaching it at the University of New Mexico and the College of Santa Fe, I felt that making documentary films could be a powerful and effective way of telling what I had to report because I consider myself first a reporter, which I define as someone who tries to find out about things and tell others what he or she has found. Sounds simple enough, but of course it’s often much more complex and difficult than that. I can’t imagine doing anything else.
Past Projects and the Udall Film
In 2000, with cinematographer Manuel Machuca of KNME-TV, I made a film on the devastating heroin epidemic in Rio Arriba County. In 2003, I produced a film on the endangered Rio Grande and in 2005, a film on New Mexico’s continuing drought. All have aired on New Mexico public television and in other venues. I am currently producing a film on the life and legacy of Stewart Udall, who lives in Santa Fe and has much to say about global warming, the impending oil crisis, and his view that our lives must change dramatically for the sake of those who follow—these will be among the themes of this film. I believe we can learn from and should honor people such as Stewart Udall, and I want to help make that happen.
Social Responsibility and Involvement of Artists
To me, each artist—including filmmakers—obviously chooses his or her own path, and there are as many paths as there are artists. I try to look at any art with an eye to the intention of the artist. I feel that in the art of filmmaking the lines between entertaining and informing often are blurred. My goal is not to entertain, nor is it the goal of an increasing number of young filmmakers who have chosen a path of social responsibility, using their craft to explore and even expose some of the more relevant and difficult elements of our complex world and even our personal lives. I am proud, at age seventy, to be in their company.
Self-Criticism and Objectivity
As a reporter/producer—somehow the word “journalist” seems a bit fancy—I try to evaluate my work as others might see it. This is not to say that I try to tailor what I’m doing to reflect how others might judge it, and whether or not they like it, or at least I hope I don’t. But I do try hard to keep in mind that what I’m doing might be seen and heard by many people, and I care very much that they understand it, that it means something to them, and that they somehow are moved by it. That is my goal in doing this work I love.
