The IDA Membership is composed of directors, producers, composers, cinematographers, students and nonfiction enthusiasts, among others. Members News is the place to find out about their accomplishments and activities.

 If you are an IDA Member and would like your news to be featured in the Members News column, please send your blurb (150 words max.) to Documentary Associate Editor Tamara Krinsky at krinskydoc@ca.rr.com. You must include your name and the words "Members News" in the subject line.

BBC Motion Gallery served as a creative partner for a number of 2009 Oscar nominees. The films featuring footage licensed from BBC Motion Gallery include The Betrayal (Nerakhoon), Trouble the Water, Man on Wire, Milk and Frost/Nixon.

Chris Billing's documentary Lost Sparrow premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in January 2009. Lost Sparrow is the culmination of Billing's two-year probe into the tragic deaths of his two adopted Crow Indian brothers. The two boys, Bobby and Tyler, were struck and killed by a freight train on January 27, 1978. His investigation into their deaths uncovers a painful secret that shattered his family. Lost Sparrow is a project in the IDA Fiscal Sponsorship Program.

Reto Caduff's latest feature-length documentary film, Charlie Haden-Rambling Boy, is screening February 12 at REDCAT (Disney Hall) in downtown Los Angeles. The film explores the life and work of the fascinating American musician, bandleader, composer, producer, educator, political activist and family man, Charlie Haden. www.charliehadenfilm.com.

Paul Devlin started the New Year off with good news about his film BLAST!. The doc had a premiere broadcast on BBC Four's Storyville on January 7, and is now an official Special Project with the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009), a year-long global effort to excite general audiences about astronomy. As part of IYA2009 (www.astronomy2009.org), BLAST! will be  screening at events all over the world.

Lilyn Hester reports that One Day, Introducing Kooley High, a 40-minute documentary that chronicles a day in the life of North Carolina-based rap group Kooley High and their desire to be heard, premiered in January in Cary, North Carolina. The documentary was filmed throughout Raleigh and Durham and is produced in association with M.E.C.C.A. Records.

MacGillivray Freeman's award-winning giant screen river film Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk 3D was nominated by the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) for a prestigious Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing in the Special Venue category. Nominees for the 56th Annual Golden Reel Awards were selected by MPSE member panels, and the awards will be presented February 21 at an awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

According to an article in Variety, Greg MacGillivray (Everest) is slated to direct a feature-length documentary examining 50 years of Hollywood surfing movies, with a particular focus on John Milius' 1978 film Big Wednesday. With this project, MacGillivray returns to his filmmaking roots; his early work from the 1960s includes such gems as The Moods of Surfing, The Performers, Free and Easy and Five Summer Stories.

The fully financed project is produced by Lincoln Forrest-Phipps, Chris Kobin, MacGillivray-Freeman Films and William S. Price III. Sam George, who wrote Stacy Peralta's acclaimed 2004 surfing doc Riding Giants, is on tap to co-direct and write MacGillivray's untitled film.

IDA Board Member Tom Miller reports that One Bad Cat: The Reverend Albert Wagner Story, which he directed, produced, co-wrote and co-edited, premiered February 1 on Ovation TV, which will continue to show the documentary over the next three years. The film is about renowned Cleveland outsider artist Reverend Albert Wagner. Miraculously transformed by religion at age 50, Wagner was called by God to paint, and he used this gift to renounce a life of sin and inspire others. Still, controversy surrounds the Reverend's work, which at times provokes unexpected racial tension.

Alan Mondell and Cynthia Salzman Mondell are having a special screening of their film A Reason to Live at the Angelika Dallas on February 12, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Steve Blow, a columnist with The Dallas Morning News. The documentary, about teen and young adult depression and suicide, covers 12 personal stories told by the young people themselves and their families.

Dennis Przywara's documentary Jam is the story of the America Roller Derby League, a group of veteran roller derby stars who attempted a comeback in the late 1990s.  Hilarious, heartbreaking, inspiring and filled with characters you will never forget, Jam is an amazing story about the lengths people will go to achieve their dreams. It aired on the Sundance Channel, and a DVD release is planned for the end of February. www.jamthemovie.com.

Former IDA Executive Director Sandra Ruch has formed Cinelixir (www.cinelixir.com), a consultancy and production company, with Taylor Segrest, a contributing editor for Documentary magazine. In addition to consulting independent documentary filmmakers, Cinelixir is developing DocAngeles: The Los Angeles International Documentary Film Festival (www.docangeles.com), which will be launched in downtown Los Angeles in 2010. For further information, contact sandrajruch@gmail.com.

Co-directors Kate Burns and Sheila E. Schroeder recently signed a distribution deal with First Run Features to release their hour-long documentary, Sole Journey. The film tells an inspiring, true story of courageous families confronting the anti-LGBT rhetoric and political policy-making of the fundamentalist mega-organization Focus on the Family. The film features rarely seen archival footage of a 1957 broadcast featuring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and addresses the intersections of the civil rights struggles of African-Americans and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans. The film is set to be released just prior to a national marriage equality sit-in commemorating the passing of Proposition 8 in California that overturned the rights of gays and lesbians to be legally married. For more information on the film:  www.solejourneythemovie.com.

Thriving Archives is pleased to announce the release of The Footage Customer Survey: Non-Fiction Producers USA, a new study examining the attitudes and perceptions of footage customers from the documentary film/nonfiction program-making community in the United States. The Footage Customer Survey provides critical insights into what matters most to these footage customers; which footage companies are doing the best job of meeting their needs; and overall levels of customer satisfaction. Two-hundred forty-four participants completed the survey online between April and October 2008. Thriving Archives was founded by IDA Member David Seevers. www.thrivingarchives.com.

Cass Warner received the HBO Films Producer Award at the Savannah Film Festival. She says, "Good News!!!! What a feeling! In my excitement I managed to get certain words to come out of my mouth, expressing huge amounts of gratitude for the honor given me and my family's story, which I hope will inspire and encourage filmmakers to use film to ‘educate, entertain and enlighten.' I got the chance to fully acknowledge that our culture begins with artists who have the determination to make their dream and vision a reality."