In an awards ceremony broadcast live on Spanish national TV featuring Sofia Loren, Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar's documentary Made in L.A. received a Special Mention of the Jury at the Valladolid International Film Festival. The film follows the remarkable story of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles garment sweatshops as they embark on a three-year odyssey to win basic labor protections from a mega-trendy clothing retailer. In intimate vérité style, Made in L.A. reveals the impact of the struggle on each woman's life as they are gradually transformed by the experience. The film, which premiered at Silverdocs and screened at the Los Angeles Film Festival, recently received international attention when it premiered in Mexico at the Morelia International Film Festival. Made in L.A. is a 2007 IDA Pare Lorentz Award nominee, and had its broadcast premiere on PBS' P.O.V. series on September 4, the day after Labor Day. www.madeinla.com/blog.

New members Michael Chandler and Sheila Canavan won the Maysles Brothers Award for Best Documentary at the 30th Starz Denver Film Festival with their feature documentary Knee Deep. The award is presented to a filmmaker who best represents the truth and purity of documentary filmmaking as established by the Maysles Brothers. A darkly satiric "rural Rashomon" about a Maine farm boy who tries to kill his mother when she sells the family farm, the film has also won juried prizes for Best Documentary at the Florida, Hollywood and DocNZ Film Festivals; has screened at Full Frame, Mill Valley and Hot Springs; and was presented by Full Frame's Nancy Buirski at the Paley Center DocFest. www.kneedeepthedoc.com.

Peter Davison just completed the score for a feature documentary, The Last Word, from Cinco Rosas Productions. It is the true story of Johnny Frank Garrett, who was wrongly executed by the state of Texas; not long thereafter, his accusers all died mysterious deaths. www.lastworddocumentary.com.

IDA has accepted Steven Fischer's latest documentary for fiscal sponsorship. Old School, New School is an educational documentary series that attempts to empower younger storytellers (filmmakers, musicians, playwrights, etc.) by introducing them to the art of storytelling, as practiced by established masters of the older generation.

Dave Gardner's Hooked on Growth: Our Misguided Quest for Prosperity is currently in production. The film examines the sustainability of society's worship of growth everlasting. www.growthbusters.com.

Paula Haller, one of the founders of IDA, presented the sixth annual DocuFest in Wilmington, North Carolina, in January. The event was a co-presentation of IDA and Cinematheque/WHQR.

Felicia Jamieson directed The Power of Villanova, a new thirty-second TV commercial for Villanova University. The spot started running nationally in December on ESPN, and it focuses on students, faculty and the powerful traditions of Villanova. The commercial was edited by Juliano Lutz. http://tribepictures.com/VILLANOVA/Villanova_New_Audio.mpg.

Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer continue to host theatrical screenings of Plagues and Pleasures of the Salton Sea across the country; the film was released by Docurama Home Video last fall. Metzler and Springer are also currently in production on a feature-length documentary on the legendary ska-punk-rock band Fishbone. www.plaguesandpleasures.com.

In his new documentary Prisoner of Her Past, filmmaker Gordon Quinn examines the post-traumatic stress that Chicago Tribune jazz critic Howard Reich's mother has suffered for the past seven years, as memories from her youth in Nazi-occupied Poland has affected her later years. Quinn, who is also executive producer, shot the film on DVCam. Reich and Joanna Rudnick are producing and Jerry Blumenthal is the editor. Currently seeking finishing funds, Quinn hasn't yet decided if this project would work better for television or as a feature-length film, but regardless of platform, he plans to use the film as some form of outreach. "People are already using the demo to talk about some of these issues," he says. "But what we've learned through this is something like this needs to be addressed when you're a child. That's where the healing needs to take place." www.prisonerofherpast.com.

Barbara Rick's newly completed documentary, Road to Ingwavuma, is about to embark on the festival circuit. The film tells the story of a remarkable delegation to post-apartheid South Africa led by Artists for a New South Africa. Says Rick, "This project was beyond rewarding, thanks to great friend and executive producer Deborah Santana, who narrated and co-wrote the film. Deborah invited us to witness this journey to Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban and capture it with our cameras for the Santana family archives and this documentary film." Delegates included Deborah and her husband, musician Carlos Santana, and members of their family; actor Samuel L. Jackson and LaTanya Richardson Jackson and their daughter; actor Alfre Woodard and Roderick Spencer; actor CCH Pounder and Boubacar Kone; Jurnee Smollett and Sharon Gelman, executive director of Artists for a New South Africa, among others.

Helen Hood Scheer's JUMP! won the Audience Choice Award at the Santa Fe Film Festival.

The George Washington University's Documentary Center received a $400,000 grant from the Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to bring 10 filmmakers from around the world to Washington, DC, for a six-week, intensive fellowship in documentary filmmaking in May and June 2008. The fellowship at GW will allow these international filmmakers to build upon their documentary experience and share their unique vision of the art of nonfiction with fellow filmmakers from around the globe. GW and the State Department will solicit applications from emerging filmmakers from Algeria, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Somalia, Tunisia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. IDA Member Nina Gilden Seavey is the founder and director of GW's Documentary Center in the School of Media and Public Affairs.

David Sheehan has joined the CNN News Services' executive team as vice president for CNN content licensing and sales. CNN Worldwide's content and stock footage licensing business. Sheehan was previously director at IDA Trustee ABCNews VideoSource, where, under his leadership, the network saw record sales of ABCNews' stock footage, and he established key partnerships with a range of content partners. Sheehan also serves as co-president of the Association of Commercial Stock Image Licensors, a nonprofit association dedicated to promoting and advancing the professional interests of the stock footage industry.