Tuesday nights panel at the museum of radio and television in New York had more than a few memorable moments.

I've been on panels before, but being a moderator is a whole different thing. And the combo of a live audience and a satellite audience of 30+ colleges made the whole thing a little surreal.

Stuart Brotman - the Museum President - welcomed the crowd and provided a generous introduction (and then showed a clip from 'Inside The Bubble' - (which was a fun bit of advance PR for the film).

My opening remarks were meant to throw a little red meat, and get things riled up. But perhaps it was more effective than i knew. (The mention of F/911 seems to make some filmmakers squirm in their seats.)

Bob Drew - the dean of the political documentary - was in fine form. After showing a clip from the JFK doc Primary Drew revealed that he'd be asked to do a Nixon film some years later. He passed.

Drew was the lone voice on the panel defending the concept of Objectivity (I'd posed the question "Is Objectivity Dead" to get things rolling). But it seems like it was more a matter of defining Objectivity. Drew's work - when cinema verite was being invented as bulky film cameras were retrofitted to become portable. Drew was both critical of Michael Moore - who he called propaganda, and praised Alexandra Pelosi - whose film he said was a masterpiece. He seemed to reject a film with an agenda.

Next to him- Eugene Jarecki, who showed a clip from "Why We Fight" I'd never met Eugene before and found him to be startling reveling. He talked about the 'little lies' of making a film - and how you try to be honest about your bias and point of view. This is film I MUST see based on meeting him.

The always entertaining Alexandra Pelosi was in fine form. She proclaimed that she hated John Kerry, that she liked Bush - though not his policies.
Overall she left the whole "Passion of the Partisan" thesis a bit muddy, but probably rightly so. Part of why so many filmmakers have issues with Partisan films is that they pride themselves on being committed to honest storytelling, which means not just selling your thesis at the expense of your legitimacy and an honest dialog.

Thom Powers showed "Guns and Mothers" - and may have had the most truly startling moment when he showed an NRA Promotional tape that included women shooters learning how kill deer. It was a chilling scene - and it's hard to think of any film with those images as objective.

Ted Steinberg - the filmmaker behind Celsius 41.11 was next, and showed a clip from the anti-moore 'atackumentary'. Oddly - he didn't have horns. In fact he was pretty up front about the slapped together nature of Celsius (it was made in 5 weeks). While hardly a Moore fan, he didn't engage in the Moorebashing that he had been billed to provide.

Last on the Panel was Paul Steckler. His film "Last Man Standing" was a truly great political film - a bare knuckles campaign in Texas. Steckler seemed the most uncomfortable with the whole evolution of Partisan filmmaking - and his work is a good reason why.

Overall - it all seemed not to come down to objectivity - but to fundamental fairness. But I can't help to wonder if we don't all like our films with their political bias elegantly woven into the music track, the sly editing, and the convincing overall debate being swung in favor of the filmmakers agenda. A film like "Why we fight" is an intellectual, reasoned, carefully constructed argument. Fahrenheit 911 is a filmmaker with a nuclear weapon and an agenda - hell bent to change the world or take his best shot. It's passionate, but not gentlemanly in the old style of documentary film.

one final note: Ron Simon, Ritty Burchfield, and the entire staff at MTR did an amazing job of organizing, hosting, and managing this event. The place runs like a top and it's a pleasure to work with them.