The IDA Membership is composed of directors, producers, composers, editors, writers, cinematographers, students and non-fiction 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/content producer Tamara Krinsky at krinskydoc@ca.rr.com. You MUST include your name and the words “Member News” in the subject line.  

Steven Engel is thrilled to share the news that he and his team won an Emmy Award for the NOVA airing of their film A Walk To Beautiful. He writes, "Thanks to many of you for watching the film at its initial small screenings, and then at the film festivals - first one then two then 30 and growing - then in theaters during our feature release, additional requested screenings across the country and internationally, and then on television when it was broadcast (in shorter form) on NOVA, and to those of you who supported our efforts in other important ways behind the scenes.  Winning the Emmy Award is a huge achievement particularly considering this was produced without major broadcaster support until late in the process and took four years to produce."  www.walktobeautiful.com

Filmmaker Michael Galinsky is currently working on two projects. In Donor 67, former sperm donor Galinsky searches for his offspring. For the past six years, he's been shooting the film Battle of Brooklyn, a documentary that chronicles the efforts of local community activists to stop a massive development that threatens to decimate their neighborhood. He and his team are in the process of a unique fundraising push for the remaining monies to finish the film and obtain matching funds.

Kartemquin Films celebrated the 15th Anniversary of their iconic documentary Hoop Dreams on November 4th at the Gene Siskel Film Center. The event was a benefit for the Kartemquin Films Development Fund, established to provide seed money for new documentary films that will act as catalysts for real social change.

KPI's latest special, 2012 Apocalypse, premiered on Discovery on November 8th, 2009. The program looks at what science has to say about the looming apocalypse foretold by doomsday fanatics.

Diving documentary Hobie's Heroes - 25th Anniversary Edition, by filmmakers Steven Montgomery,
Barbara Wolver and Tony Cucchiari, was awarded a jury prize at the First Beijing International FICTS Festival on September 15th. The five-day festival featured sports films from around the world and was part of Beijing International Sports Film Week. Hobie’s Heroes had been in danger of being lost when TVC Film Laboratories closed in New York City. A last-minute telephone call from saleswoman Rosanne Schaefer to filmmaker Steven Montgomery enabled the 16mm negative to be recovered from a warehouse. As a result, Hobie’s Heroes has been re-released and honored at international film festivals in China, Italy, India, Iran, Poland, and Serbia. www.hobiesheroes.com

Michael Uys and Lexy Lovell's The Good Soldier opens Wednesday, November 11th at the Village East Cinema in Manhattan. Additional screenings throughout November include San Francisco and Kansas City. For an article about The Good Soldier in today's e-zine, click here.