The Million Dollar Duck film

It’s not every day your professor works as part of an award-winning documentary film. Professor Kye Woo LEE at KDI School did precisely that! Professor LEE worked as an Associate Producer for ‘The Million Dollar Duck” a feature-length documentary that won the Grand Jury Award and Audience Award in the Best Documentary Feature category at the 2016 Slamdance Festival as well as the Audience Choice Best Documentary Film at the 2016 OMAHA Film Festival.

The documentary covers what is called the Federal Duck Stamp Contest in the US. The only art competition run by the US Government, the Contest is held annually to select the illustrations used on the face of Federal Duck Stamps where sales revenues of the Stamps are directed into a conservation fund for the National Wildlife Refuge System in the US. According to the New York Times, Mark ANDERSON, the 2004 Federal Duck Stamp winner, “In music you have the Grammys. If you’re an actor, it’s the Oscars. If you’re a wildlife artist, it’s winning the Federal Duck Stamp Contest.”

The Million Dollar Duck looks into the lives of different contestants who enter into the contest year after year to win the Holy Grail of wildlife art in America. It also addresses some of the challenges the Contest faces to keep the conservation fund and program in the future.

The Globe met with Professor LEE to get some of his thoughts while producing the documentary.

GRASS  What motivated you to join the production of the Million Dollar Duck film/video, and what was your role?

LEE  I liked the two themes of the film. A long-time friend of mine invited me to join the production of the film as an Associate Producer. My role was mainly to advise the production team, especially the Director, on how to strike a right balance between the two themes of the film.

GRASS  What were the most difficult and interesting aspect in the process of the film production?

LEE  The main challenge was how to reconcile the two themes of the film in an amusing but educational manner. The film has two themes: First, the film tries to give you a vivid sense of achievement and recognition after years of lonely dedication to your set objective, that is, your painting is selected as the US million-dollar duck stamp of that year. For some people it was one or two years of endeavor, but for others it was 27 years of conscientious and repeated human devotion. Second, the film tries to teach us how the government can be good, creative, and practical to mobilize and incite all walks of citizens to participate in the preservation of nature and biodiversity without giving a feeling of being exploited or unduly imposed financially. Each individual only buys a 15 cent duck stamp, but so many people collectively and voluntarily amass 25 million dollars every year for the conservation of nature, especially the wetlands and endangered animals, in the US

In the end, the film weaves the individual human endeavors and the grand public policy issues in an artistically brilliant way. That is why the film was awarded the coveted Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature, in addition to the Jury Award for Documentary Feature at the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival.

GRASS  What do you think are the important lessons that members of KDI School can draw from this documentary film?

LEE  Public policy should be thought out with simple and clear objectives, and it should be implemented in a creative and practical manner by inciting citizens to share the grand public objective and by urging them to join voluntarily. Public policy and its delivery should appeal to human nature and it also should be entertaining and amusing as much as possible. It does not have to be an expensive and grand project.

For those interested, Professor LEE’s intriguing documentary is available at Amazon.com so please go online and search “The Million Dollar Duck” to stream the video instantly.

By Marian GRASS [2015 MPP, Egypt]