Scarlett Johansson's directorial debut, a short film titled These Vagabond Shoes, starring Kevin Bacon, will premiere as part of the opening night of LA Shorts Fest '09, which runs July 23-31 at the Sunset 5 Laemmle Theater in West Hollywood. Johansson and Smith will appear and take part in a Q&A. (via The Hollywood Reporter)
VH1 and History have joined forces to bring the Barbara Kopple doc Woodstock: Now and Then to television, with airings on both channels: Aug. 14 on VH1 and again three days later on History, coinciding with the event's 40th-anniversary weekend. Kopple, won feature doc Oscars for 1976's Harland County, U.S.A. and 1990's American Dream. Woodstock festival organizer Michael Lang is an executive producer. (via Variety)Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences accounced that they will broaden the best-picture Oscar race to 10 nominations. Could this open up the category wide enough for a doc to get a nod? (via Variety)
Indie studio Gigantic Group is launching an online service bringing first-run independent films to broadband households, starting with the documentary Motherland on Aug. 26. See the Motherland trailer here. (via Variety)