At 10 years old, Chico Colvard accidentally shot his older sister in the leg. This seemingly random act detonated a chain reaction that exposed unspeakable realities and shattered his family. Thirty years later, Colvard ruptures veils of secrecy and silence again. As he bravely visits his relatives, what unfolds is a personal film that's as uncompromising, raw, and cathartic as any in the history of the medium.

Driving the story forward is Colvard's sensitive probing of a complex dynamic: the way his three sisters survived severe childhood abuse by their father and, as adults, manage to muster loyalty to him. These unforgettable, invincible women paint a picture of their harrowing girlhoods as they resiliently struggle with present-day fallout. The distance time gives them from their trauma yields piercing insights about the legacy of abuse, the nature of forgiveness, and eternal longing for family and love. These truths may be too searing to bear, but they reverberate powerfully within each of us.

Location Name:  OWN

The CINE Golden Eagle Competition, the prestigious, half-century-old competition based on peer recognition of excellence in film, television, and new media, accepts a broad range of professional, independent and student productions in a variety of categories including documentary, fiction, history, arts, science, advertising, and much more. Series submitted for Golden Eagle consideration can receive special recognition for Excellence in Televised Series. And this Spring, CINE is launching the Original Digital™ Division, which will accept entries of original, made-for-digital programming in both fiction and non-fiction categories, including comedy, drama, animation, documentary and reality.

Past recipients of the CINE Golden Eagle Award include Mel Brooks, Steven Spielberg, Ken Burns, Ron Howard, Mike Nichols, Albert Maysles, Martin Scorsese, and many other industry notables.

Entries may be submitted through CINE.org or Withoutabox, and those who enter by the early bird deadline on February 15 will receive a discount. All entries are due by March 1. For more information visit www.cine.org or call the CINE office at 301.652.8714.

Find them on Facebook and Twitter!

Tel: 301.652.8714

The Flaherty is currently accepting applications for the Professional Development, Graduate Student and LEF New England Fellowships. The deadline for applying is Thursday, March 1. Keep an eye out for announcements about additional fellowships in the coming weeks.

Each year the Flaherty offers fellowships to graduate students and emerging and mid-career filmmakers and media professionals. The fellowship program is led by an academic who has attended previous Flaherty Seminars and is designed to further your knowledge of cinema through participation in an array of unique activities. Besides interacting with the group at large, Flaherty fellows take part in private meetings and discussions with the featured artists and other special guests in attendance, including programmers, writers, and academics. The program is rigorous and rewarding; Fellows arrive on campus a day before the Seminar begins to learn about the history of the Seminar, discuss pre-assigned readings relating to the theme, and watch and discuss each other’s films, by way of an informal Fellows’ film screening. Fellows will be able to return home with creative inspiration, experiences and connections, which will aid them in furthering their own careers and artistic endeavors.

ELIGIBILITY/CRITERIA
We search for applicants who have demonstrated achievement in their profession or field of study, or who show potential to be an emerging talent. In the required essay, applicants should effectively convey reasons they would like to attend the Seminar and also how they feel they can contribute to the event. All Seminar attendees are encouraged to participate in discussions and the overall discourse, and we want to know what you can add. Graduate Student fellowships are only open for graduate-level students and applicants must show proof of enrollment in a higher educational institution. In order to receive a fellowship, you must be available to arrive on campus by Friday, June 15 at 5 pm for the start of the fellowship program. If you have received a fellowship to attend the Seminar in the past, you are ineligible to apply.

2012 FELLOWSHIPS OPPORTUNITIES:

Professional Development Fellowships:
The Professional Development Fellowship is designed for emerging or mid-career professionals such as filmmakers, programmers, writers, scholars, archivists, and media professionals, from both the U.S. and abroad. Awards are partial grants that cover a portion of the registration fee (usually half). Grants are applied directly towards registration for the Seminar.

Graduate Student Fellowships:
Graduate Student fellowships are open to graduate students only, who are currently enrolled in a degree program. All areas of study are welcome; we select a diverse array of graduate students from throughout the U.S., as well as internationally. Awards are partial grants that cover a portion of the registration fee (usually half). Grants are applied directly towards registration for the Seminar.

LEF New England Fellowships:
LEF New England, a regional office of the LEF Foundation, is supporting the participation of four New England-area filmmakers to attend the Seminar. The award covers the entire registration fee, which includes room, board, and all special events throughout the week. The mission of LEF New England is to fund the work of independent film and video artists in the region and broaden recognition and support for their work locally and nationally. If you have previously received a LEF Fellowship you are not eligible to apply at this time. Sorry, students are not eligible to apply.

Click here for Fellowship Application

The True/False Film Fest returns March 1-4, 2012 for its ninth edition. The festival highlights innovative work with a cinematic scope, creative takes on contemporary currents, and most of all work that provokes dialogue about its subject and the documentary form itself.

For four days, downtown Columbia, Missouri is transformed into a small-town Midwestern utopia. Most films come freshly discovered from Sundance, Toronto and other festivals, others appear mysteriously before their official premieres elsewhere. Sandwiched between the non-stop movies, we throw parties, host debates and field trips, and challenge local filmmakers to reimagine the possibilities of nonfiction filmmaking.

New for 2012! All festival theaters will be located in downtown Columbia, all within easy walking distance of one another. We're adding two new venues this year: Jesse Auditorium on the MU campus and The Picturehouse, located inside the Missouri United Methodist Church across the street from Shakespeare's Pizza. Returning venues include the Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts, The Blue Note, the two-screen Ragtag Cinema, the Forrest Theater at the Tiger Ballroom, and the Globe Theater (at the First Presbyterian Church next door to Ragtag).

Location Name:  True/False Film Fest

Address: Columbia, MO

Miami International Film Festival (MIFF)'s mission is to bridge cultural understanding, encourage artistic development and excellence and broaden horizons by provoking thought through film. MIFF brings the finest new works from established and emerging filmmakers to Miami to foster the vision that film is transformative and engaging for all members of the community.

Location Name:  Miami International Film Festival

Address: Miami, FL

As rising health care costs threaten to bankrupt the country, MONEY AND MEDICINE examines the medical, ethical, and financial challenges of containing runaway health care spending.

Please join us for the world premiere of this new documentary by Roger Weisberg at the 2012 Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, CA
Camera 12, 201 South Second Street
Monday, March 5 at 12:30pm
Thursday, March 8 at 6:45pm
Saturday, March 10 at 2:00pm

Tickets available at http://www.cinequest.org/event_view.php?eid=1646 or 408.295.3378 (FEST)

The Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund provides finishing funds to feature-length documentaries which highlight and humanize issues of social importance from around the world. Funded films are driven by thoughtful and in-depth storytelling, bolstered by a compelling visual approach.

As mainstream media moves away from in-depth coverage of world affairs, domestic issues and social conflicts, the documentary has become an important and much needed tool to draw attention to the serious issues facing our world today. At the same time, the craft of the documentary is expanding in exciting directions, merging diverse points-of-view with new technologies and responding to the immediacy of the internet.

Funding

In 2011, the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund, through the Tribeca Film Institute, offered grants ranging from $10,000 – $25,000. 2011 projects were selected by a jury consisting of Jessica Alba, Amir Bar-Lev, Wendy Ettinger, Frida Giannini, Edward Norton and Mariane Pearl. The committee chose the recipients from finalists selected by TFI. In addition to funding, grantees will each receive year-round support from TFI, including one-on-one guidance and consultation, helping each film to reach completion and enter the marketplace in the best possible position.

Guidelines

The Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund seeks feature-length documentaries that are in production or post-production with the intended premiere exhibition in late 2012 or 2013. Eligible films highlight the most critical, important stories affecting the world we live in today told in a humanizing, illuminating way. We are looking for films which challenge the status quo not just as it pertains to subject matter but also in form. Films should be able to exist on multiple distribution platforms and should resonate with a wide audience.

The [A]LLIANCE association has been organizing the annual International Film Festival on Human Rights for the past eight years. This event is held at the Nouveau Latina Cinema (Paris 4ème -M°Hôtel de Ville/Châtelet). The Paris International Film Festival on Human Rights has become the most prominent, annual cultural event on human rights.

Aimed at the general public, the goal of the festival is to raise awareness and promote education in film in schools and among young people. Every year many new films or previews are shown. The festival also contributes substantially to the variety of films that are shown each year as the majority of its productions are not normally screened in Ile de France.

The FIFDH is organized thanks to the support of the Mairie de Paris, the Conseil régional d'Ile de France, the Acsé and the Secours Catholique-Caritas France.

Location Name:  Paris International Film Festival on Human Rights (FIFDH Paris)

Address: Paris

Genesis P-Orridge has been one of the most innovative and influential figures in music and fine art for the last 30 years. A link between the pre- and post-punk eras, he is the founder of the legendary groups COUM Transmissions (1969-1976), Throbbing Gristle (1975-1981) and Psychic TV (1981 to present), all of which merged performance art with rock music. Celebrated by critics and art historians as a progenitor of "industrial music," his innovations have transformed the character of rock and electronic music while his prodigious efforts to expand the boundaries of live performance have radically altered the way people experience sound in a concert setting.

But that's just the preamble to the story. Defying artistic boundaries, Genesis has re-defined his art as a challenge to the limits of biology. In 2000, Genesis began a series of surgeries in order to more closely resemble his love, Lady Jaye (née Jacqueline Breyer), who remained his other half and artistic partner for nearly 15 years. It was the ultimate act of devotion, and Genesis's most risky, ambitious and subversive performance to date: he became a she in a triumphant act of artistic self-expression. Genesis called this project "Creating the Pandrogyne." Influenced, like so much of Genesis' work, by Brion Gysin and William Burroughs' Cut Ups, it was an attempt to deconstruct two individual identities through the creation of an indivisible third.

This is a love story, and a portrait of two lives that illustrate the transformative powers of both love and art. Marie Losier brings to us the most intimate details of Genesis's extraordinary, uncanny world. In warm and intimate images captured handheld, Losier crafts a labyrinthine mise-en-scene of interviews, home movies and performance footage. The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye documents a truly new brand of Romantic consciousness, one in defiance of the daily dehumanization of the body by the pervasive presence of advertising and pornography, conveying beauty, dignity and devotion from a perspective never before seen on film.

 

Location Name:  The Chelsea Clearview

Address: 260 West 23rd Street, New York City, NY 10011

As rising health care costs threaten to bankrupt the country, MONEY AND MEDICINE examines the medical, ethical, and financial challenges of containing runaway health care spending.

Please join us for screenings of this new documentary by Roger Weisberg at the 2012 San Luis Obispo International Film Festival
Friday, March 9 - 11:00am, The Palm Theatre, 817 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo
Friday, March 9 - 6:00PM, Downtown Cinemas, 888 Marsh Street, San Luis Obispo
 
Tickets available at http://slofilmfest.org/tickets-passes/ or 805.546.FILM (3456)

IFP’s unique year-long mentorship program supports first-time feature directors when they need it most: through the completion, marketing and distribution of their films. Focusing exclusively on low-budget features (<$1million), this highly immersive program provides filmmakers with the technical, creative and strategic tools necessary to launch their films – and their careers.

Through the Labs, IFP works to ensure that talented emerging voices receive the support, resources, and industry exposure necessary to reach audiences. Open to all first time feature documentary and narrative directors with films in post-production.

Documentary & Narrative Finishing Lab (Documentary: May 14-18, 2012 Narrative: June 11-15, 2012)

These initial Lab workshops provide skills for polishing your film with expert-led workshops on:

• Editing – strengthening your structure and story
• Music – collaborating with a composer, song selection, rights and clearances
• Post-Production – tools and budgeting for visual and audio finishing
• Legal Issues – navigating contracts and deliverables
• Audience Building – How to identify and activate your core fans
• Film Festivals – evaluating your festival screening opportunities, assessing your representation options, and building your team
• Publicity and Marketing – building social networks and creating the assets necessary to promote your film at festivals and beyond
• Distribution Models – evaluating models to understand the best option (alternative, DIY or traditional distribution) for your film
• Documentary-Specific Topics – reviewing archival footage and fair use

Location Name:  The Center for Social Media

Address: 3201 New Mexico Ave. NW, Suite 330, Washington, DC 20016

Join fellow documentary filmmakers for a two-day event held at the prestigious George Washington University, in the heart of Washington, DC. Each day details cutting edge and contemporary documentary filmmaking techniques, strategies and success stories, from conception through to completion.

 

DATE: MARCH 10 and 11 (Saturday/Sunday, 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.)

VENUE: The George Washington University, Washington, DC. 

PRICE:  $149.00 (Early Bird $99 until February 10th, 2012)

The Documentary Summit is led by Los Angeles based filmmaker and author of The Documentary Filmmakers Handbook, Andrew Zinnes. He will be joined by a group of distinguished industry guest speakers covering all aspects of documentary filmmaking in 2012 and beyond.

Location Name:  George Washington University

Address: Washington, DC

Interactive-March 9-13
Film-March 9-17

 

In March of 1987, the SXSW Music Conference and Festival kicked off its first year in downtown Austin. While SXSW Film was officially launched in 1994 (as the then titled SXSW Film and Multimedia Conference), the spirit behind it was born much earlier than that, as the prolific and passionate Austin film community built a solid momentum on which SXSW Film was founded and continues to flourish. Since its inception, SXSW has maintained a steady agenda--to provide a forum for new voices in filmmaking, a community where filmmakers can celebrate and support one another and a source of discovery for the future landscape of film. Establishing itself as the destination for game-changing buzz that every filmmaker dreams of, SXSW has hit its stride with a distinct identity that sets it apart from other film festivals.

The Film Conference & Festival The SXSW Film Conference portion of SXSW Film has been described as a five-day crash course on guerrilla filmmaking and marketing for every level of filmmaker from novice to veteran. Panels, workshops and interviews are peopled with knowledgeable experts and entertaining speakers offering unique access to the best and the brightest of the industry. Specialized sessions such as hands on workshops, mini-meetings and one-on-one meetings in the Mentor Program distinguish the SXSW experience.

Simultaneously, the internationally acclaimed Film Festival program celebrates raw innovation and emerging talent, featuring provocative documentaries, comedies, genre standouts and more.

The prestigious Film Awards take place on the final night of the conference, and honor films selected by Special Jury and by audience ballot. Recent years have seen the introduction of the SXSW Film Design Awards, honoring Excellence in Poster and Title Design.

It Doesn't Stop There! In addition to presenting the best in new independent films, providing informative panels, workshops, and mentor sessions, SXSW provides an industry trade show exhibition; a unique, four-day exhibition connecting leaders in the Music, Film and Interactive industries with the companies and agencies needed to succeed in modern media.

Location Name:  SXSW

Address: Austin, TX

 

The 14th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival focuses this year on documentaries from two different geographical regions, the country of Denmark and the general Balkan region; the year 2011 has been quite prolific for both in terms of documentary production and international success. 12 films from Denmark, amongst which 4 documentaries for children, and 6 films from 4 Balkan countries will be screened during the event.

Location Name:  Thessaloniki Documentary Festival

Address: Thessaloniki

The Center for Asian America Media presents the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) every March. The SFIAAFF is the largest and most prestigious showcase for new Asian American and Asian films in North America, annually presenting approximately 120 works in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose. SFIAAFF also features the best in Asian American music and digital and interactive media. Since 1982, the SFIAAFF has been an important launching point for Asian American independent filmmakers as well as a vital source for new Asian cinema.

Location Name:  San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival

Address: San Francisco, CA

The grand opening of the newly renovated Bloor Hot Docs Cinema will take place Wednesday, March 14, offering invited guests an advance screening of a film premiering at this year's Hot Docs Festival, April 26-May 6. Members of the public are invited to preview the new cinema at free open house screenings of Lucy Walker's Waste Land on March 12 and 13. The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema's scheduled programming will commence on Friday, March 16.

Bloor Hot Docs Cinema memberships and discount cards are now available. The first 50 to purchase Friend of the Cinema Memberships before noon on February 22 will receive tickets to an invitation-only screening on March 15.

Location Name:  Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

Address: Toronto, Ontario

The All Roads Film Project is multimedia festival and grants program dedicated to providing a platform for indigenous and underrepresented minority-culture storytellers from around the world. The objectives are to showcase works by these artists to promote knowledge, dialogue, and understanding with a broader global audience.

The All Roads Seed Grant program funds film projects by or about indigenous and underrepresented minority cultures from around the world and seeks to support filmmakers who bring their community stories to light through first-person storytelling. Submission deadlines are the 15th of each March, June, September, and December. Grant award notifications are approximately six weeks later.

To apply, download an application in Microsoft Word or PDF.

In this special four-part companion television series to Werner Herzog's critically-acclaimed theatrical documentary Into The Abyss, the Academy-Award nominated filmmaker dives deeper into the abyss of the human soul. Through interviews with five additional inmates awaiting their appointment with a lethal injection in the Texas and Florida prison systems, Herzog conducts a uniquely thought-provoking analysis of why people, and the state, kill. Each episode features an intense interview with a death row inmate to hear their own account of life in captivity and the crime that condemned them.

      James Barnes Premieres Friday, March 9 at 10 PM ET After hiding his wife's corpse in the closet, James Barnes was convicted of murder in 1998. While in prison, Barnes converted to Islam and, during the holy month of Ramadan, confessed to a previous murder--the gruesome homicide of Patricia Miller in 1988. Barnes broke into Miller's home, where he sexually assaulted and bludgeoned her to death. To cover up his crime, Barnes set fire to the bed to which Miller was bound. Barnes pled guilty to the murder and was sentenced to death. Location: Florida State Prison - Starke, FL

      Linda Anita Carty Premieres Friday, March 16 at 10 PM ET Linda Carty was convicted and sentenced to death in February 2002 for the murder of 25-year-old Joana Rodriguez, allegedly in order to steal her four-day-old son. On May 16, 2001, Carty organized three co-defendants to invade Rodriguez's home. The young mother was hog-tied with duct tape and placed in the trunk of a car. A bag was taped over her head and she died from suffocation. Carty claims she is innocent and has appealed exhaustively against her conviction. Barring the granting of clemency, she stands to become the first black British woman to be executed in more than a century. Location: Mountain View Unit - Gatesville, TX

     Joseph Garcia/George Rivas Premieres Friday, March 23 at 10 PM ET Joseph Garcia was only 19 years old when he repeatedly stabbed a man after a night of heavy drinking and a jury sentenced him to 50 years. Despairing after six years behind bars, Garcia joined the "Texas Seven." This now infamous gang was allegedly formed by George Rivas, a man whose record includes numerous counts of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon. The group escaped the prison walls but while on the run, several of the escapees shot and killed a police officer. As a result, all of the convicts were given the death penalty. Location: Allan B. Polunsky Unit - Livingston, TX

      Hank Skinner Premieres Friday, March 30 at 10 PM ET The brutal murder of Twila Busby and her two sons seemed easy to solve. Hank Skinner was found nearby with blood from the crime scene on his shirt. After a trial, Skinner was given the death penalty. Skinner protested, complaining that DNA tests had not been performed on many crucial bits of evidence. He was scheduled to be executed in March 2010 but, just 45 minutes before the lethal injection, the Supreme Court stayed his sentence--and Skinner was notified of the stay just 23 minutes before his scheduled execution. While he remains on death row in Texas, new DNA testing is moving forward. Location: Allan B. Polunsky Unit - Livingston, TX

On Death Row is written and directed by Werner Herzog and produced by Erik Nelson of Creative Differences. For Investigation Discovery, Henry Schleiff and Sara Kozak are executive producers.

 

Location Name:  Investigation Discovery

This year the Environmental Film Festival celebrates a major milestone: 20 years of advancing environmental understanding through the power of film. As the first film festival devoted to the full range of environmental topics, the Environmental Film Festival was a novel idea when Flo Stone founded it in 1993. While 1,200 people attended the inaugural Festival, today the Festival has expanded to become the nation's largest showcase of environmental film, attracting an audience of over 30,000. Beyond Washington, DC, the Festival has launched a movement, serving as a model for environmental film festivals across the country and around the world.

The 20th anniversary Festival, our largest and most ambitious yet, presents 180 engaging and thought-provoking films, including 93 Washington, DC, United States and World premieres, from 42 countries. A centerpiece of our 20th anniversary year is a retrospective of the work of Academy Award-nominated director Lucy Walker, who will screen her latest film, The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, and receive the Festival's Polly Krakora Award for artistry in film.

Location Name:  Environmental Film Festival

Address: Washington, DC

The acclaimed documentary team behind the groundbreaking Planet Earth presents Frozen Planet. Narrated by award-winning actor Alec Baldwin, the sweeping seven-part series will premiere on Sunday, March 18 from 8-10PM ET/PT, and on subsequent Sundays from 8-9PM ET/PT, on Discovery Channel.

A Discovery Channel/BBC co-production four years in the making, Frozen Planet will provide the ultimate portrait of our earth's polar regions, where the scale and beauty of the scenery and sheer power of the natural elements are unlike anywhere else on the planet. Ambitious and epic in scale, Frozen Planet will reveal an astonishing world filled with more creatures, variety, color and spectacle than ever imagined--including the birth of an iceberg bigger than the largest building on earth, a caterpillar with antifreeze in its veins, the greatest concentration of sea birds on the planet and tiny baby polar bears, who at birth are 25 percent smaller than human babies. Never-before-filmed sequences will include the growth of a saltwater icicle (brinicle) that freezes everything it touches and orca whales working as a team to create killer waves that wash seals off ice floes.

To capture nature's majestic power--as well as its ultimate fragility--Frozen Planet's filmmakers utilized the latest cinematographic techniques and technology to capture groundbreaking imagery both above and below the ice in some of the most extreme and remote regions of our planet. Combined, the Frozen Planet team filmed in every nation inside the Arctic and Antarctic circles during a record 2,356 days in the field, 18 months years at sea, more than six months on the sea ice and 134 hours beneath that ice, filming in the polar oceans.

The Frozen Planet team's extreme efforts will be profiled exclusively in a "Making Of" episode. Other episodes of the series will provide an introduction to the poles and the elemental power of the weather and ocean there, how seasonal changes all year long impact landscape and wildlife alike, and how humans, pushed to the very edge of survival, adapt to this extreme environment. The series' seventh episode, hosted on camera by British naturalist David Attenborough, will investigate what rising temperatures will mean for the people and wildlife that live there--and for the rest of the planet.

For behind-the-scenes perspectives directly from the Frozen Planet crew, and to relive the best moments from the series, the official Frozen Planet website will offer hours of video. Viewers will also be able to experience engaging interactives, breathtaking photo slideshows and more leading up to and during the series' premieres.

Frozen Planet is a Discovery Channel/BBC co-production. For BBC, Alastair Fothergill is executive producer; Vanessa Berlowitz is series producer. For Discovery Channel, Susan Winslow is executive producer; Christine Weber is vice president of production.

Location Name:  Discovery Channel

Girl Model shows a rarely seen side of the fashion industry. The film brings a novelist's eye for emotional and psychological complexity to its portrait of two women. Ashley, an American former model, travels to remote Siberian villages to scout young teenaged girls for fashion shoots in Japan. We see her discover Nadya, a thirteen-year-old blonde, who radiates the innocence coveted by Ashley's clients. Like thousands of other Russian girls, Nadya sees modelling as the best chance to support her family. She feels lucky when Ashley's agency offers a contract with guarantees. But as the film follows Nadya to Japan and Ashley on her further scouting trips, we see each one grapple with the kind of harsh realities that fashion magazines tend to ignore.

Filmmakers David Redmon and Ashley Sabin (a different Ashley from the one onscreen) demonstrate an intrepid ability to track an unregulated system, and go far beyond mere fact collecting. Their attention to poetic detail--in faces, interactions and environments--elevates the film to a work of art.

Location Name:  IFC Center

Address: 323 6th Avenue & 3rd Street, New York City, NY

A co-presentation of the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, New Directors/New Films has showcased the work of emerging artists for over 40 years, and continues to celebrate the most innovative voices in filmmaking. This year's New Directors/New Films includes the documentaries 5 Broken Cameras (Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi), How to Survive a Plague (David France), and The Ambassador (Mads Breugger).

 

Location Name:  Museum of Modern Art/Film Society of Lincoln Center

Address: New York City, NY

DOCSDF 2012 7th International Documentary Film Festival City will be held from 8 to 18 November 2012.

Each participant may submit one or more documentaries to Competitive Categories:

• International Best Documentary Feature
• Best Mexican Documentary Feature
• Best Iberoamerican Documentary Feature
• Best International Short
• Best Mexican Short
• Best Documentary for Television

REGISTRATION
Each participant may enter one or more documentaries. To do this you must complete the registration form online at www.docsdf.org and then send two (2) copies on DVD to

DOCSDF
Documentary Film Festival of Mexico City,
Republic of Cuba 43, 1st Floor. Historical Center
CP 06010, Mexico DF, Mexico.

The deadline to register is March 23 at the first call and April 30 in second round.

The documentaries presented to Mexican Best Feature Documentary should not have been exhibited in theaters, web or TV before completing the festival (November 18, 2012).

The documentaries presented to Best Short Film can not exceed 30 minutes. If they do exceeded, they may compete in other categories.

View more rules and regulations at the link below.

Location Name:  Documentary Film Festival of Mexico City

Address: Republic of Cuba 43, 1st Floor, Mexico City, Mexico 06010

The NYC Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment and IFP will showcase the best of "Made in NY" films with a curated two-night screening series featuring Constance Marks' Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey on March 27 at 7:30pm and Whit Stillman's Metropolitan on March 28 at 7:30pm. Being Elmo, winner of a Special Jury Award at Sundance 2011 and an Audience Award nominee for a 2011 Gotham Award, gives an inspirational, inside look at Kevin Clash, the creator behind the icon beloved by children of all ages. Clash displayed his creativity and talent at a young age and following his dreams, ultimately found a home in New York on Sesame Street. Preceding the upcoming release of Whit Stillman’s new feature, Damsels in Distress, the Metropolitan screening salutes one of the great New York independent films of the 1990s. Writer-director Stillman’s surprise Oscar-nominated hit is a sparkling comedic chronicle of a middle-class young man’s romantic misadventures among New York City’s debutante society. Part of Spotlight on Independent Film, the free screenings are presented by Arts Brookfield and sponsored by RBC Capital Markets. No RSVP is required. For more information, click here.

Location Name:  World Financial Center Winter Garden

Address: Three World Financial Center, 220 Vesey Street, New York, NY

Decision makers view online one-minute pitch teasers of innovative documentary ideas (uploaded via Distrify), along with short synopses, biographical information and headline budget figures, in advance of Doc/Fest. From this, they select which projects they would like to discuss in one-to-one meetings at MeetMarket. Projects can also be in any genre of documentary/factual, from factual entertainment through to art/installation documentaries. We also welcome cross-platform/interactive projects and those projects looking to raise finance and distribute/exhibit their projects through alternative strategies including via crowd funding and third sector. Once again, MeetMarket will feature experts in these areas for you to meet, alongside broadcasters, film funds, sales agents and distributors.

Location Name:  Sheffield Doc/Fest

Address: Sheffield, England

Docs In Progress will be taking its popular Peer Pitch program on the road to the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival in Sonoma County, California. This program will give documentary filmmakers the opportunity to present new projects to fellow filmmakers for feedback and for all attending to gain valuable insights and new connections which can guide their own filmmaking. Constructive feedback from peers in a nurturing environment will help to identify strengths and areas for improvement in projects. Participants will also develop skills and comfort in verbally describing their projects among peers before trying their pitches out on industry.

Docs In Progress is a nonprofit documentary film organization which has been presenting Peer Pitch program for a number of years in the Washington DC area, including for the last three years as a sidebar program to the Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival. This will be the first time that the program will be presented on the West Coast, in collaboration with the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival (named one of the 25 Coolest Film Festivals by MovieMaker Magazine). Participation is open to both filmmakers with films in the festival and other documentary filmmakers from the region. Peer Pitch will take place on the second day of the festival, Friday, March 30 from 12:00 noon until 4:00 pm.

Films which have been presented at past Peer Pitch workshops when they were in their early stages have gone on to be funded by major supporters such as Sundance Documentary Fund and ITVS, been accepted into industry pitching opportunities such as IFP’s Independent Film Week and DocsBarcelona, and be completed to play festivals, television, and community screenings. Participants have also made connections with other filmmakers which have led to later collaborations.

Advance registration is required and may be done through the Docs In Progress website.

Location Name:  Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival

Address: Sebastopol, CA

This comprehensive seminar—for new attorneys, attorneys transitioning to entertainment law, and filmmakers—explores how independent films are financed and distributed. Topics include financing via pre-sales, debt and equity investors, negotiating tactics, typical contract terms, cross-collateralization, and creative accounting. Particular attention will be paid to how producers and filmmakers can protect themselves by: investigating distributors; watering down warranties; adding contract provisions covering performance, termination, and alternative dispute resolution; getting errors and omissions (E&O) insurance; and using lab access letters and schedules of minimums. Other topics will include: criteria for selecting a distributor; new media distribution; which contract terms are negotiable; compliance with state and federal laws regarding investors; retaining an attorney, producer reps and publicists; and confirming awards and enforcing judgments. Extensive handouts will be made available exclusively online for download, including a distribution contract, articles, and a self-defense checklist. Finally, the lunch hour will provide a great opportunity for networking.

Mark Litwak is a veteran entertainment attorney based in Beverly Hills. He has lectured at UCLA Extension for more than 20 years, and at Harvard and other top universities. He is the author of six books including: Reel Power: The Struggle for Influence and Success in the New Hollywood, Dealmaking in the Film & Television Industry (winner of the 1996 Krazna-Kranz award for best book in the world on the film business), Contracts for the Film & Television Industry, and Risky Business: Financing and Distributing Independent Films. He has executive produced 6 feature films and successfully arranged for the distribution of more than 50 features as well as serving as production counsel on several TV series. Mark also functions as a producer rep, assisting filmmakers in the financing, marketing, and distribution of their films. He is AV Peer Review Rated and has been named a Southern California Super Lawyer multiple times.

• Online registration closes at 11:59PM, Friday, March 30, 2012.
• An optional $10 lunch option is available for purchase during the online registration process.
• Participants requesting lunch must register by 5pm Thursday, March 29, 2012.
• Lunch option not available for walk-in registrations.

Location Name:  West Los Angeles College, Fine Arts Auditorium

Address: 9000 Overland Ave., Culver City, CA 90230