Landmark Theatres screened Adrian Belics' Beyond the Call in Chicago on November 24 and in San Francisco on December 1, 2006. At press time, further distribution was to be determined by the opening weekend success in each city. www.myspace.com/beyondthecall.

The Short List for the Academy Awards in the Documentary Features and Short Subjects categories included films from the following IDA members: Amy Berg (Deliver Us From Evil), Chuck Braverman (A Revolving Door-Marilyn Braverman, dir.), Patricia Foulkrod (The Ground Truth), Thomas Lennon (The Blood of the Yingzhou District-Ruby Yang, dir.), Laura Poitras (My Country, My Country), Frank Popper (Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?-Matt Coen, Mike Kime, prods.) and Ricki Stern (The Trials of Darryl Hunt-Annie Sundberg, dir./prod.).

Joe Berlinger (Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) directed the second season of Sundance Channel's Iconoclasts. The six-part series is comprised of hour-long programs featuring two leading innovators from different fields who come together to discuss their passions and creative processes. Season Two premiered on October 26 with an episode about Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and surfing legend Laird Hamilton.

Congratulations to the following IDA members for Film Independent's Spirit Awards: Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert for A Lion in the House; Laura Poitras for My Country, My Country; and Ricki Stern, for The Trials of Darryl Hunt (Annie Sundberg, dir.). And kudos as well to Adele Horn (The Tailenders) and Eric Daniel Metzgar (The Chances of the World Changing) for being nominated for the $50,000 Axium Truer Than Fiction Award.

P.O.V.'s website won five awards in the first W³ competition, presented by the International Academy of Visual Arts. The awards honor outstanding websites, Web marketing and Web advertising. P.O.V. won a Gold Award in the Politics category for the site devoted to the Academy Award-nominated documentary Street Fight by Marshall Curry.

Director David de Hilster is currently working on the feature-length documentary Einstein Wrong: The Miracle Year. The film documents the quest of a mother and her son as they enter the underworld of physics to take on relativity and the icon of 20th century physics. De Hilster is documenting his filmmaking odyssey via weekly blog entries at www.einsteinwrong.com. 

Discovery Communications has named NBC Universal chief David Zaslav president and CEO, replacing Judith McHale, who previously announced plans to retire at the end of 2006. Zaslav is expected to join Discovery in early 2007.

The following IDA members will have new works premiering at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival: Charles Ferguson--No End in Sight; Rory Kennedy--Ghosts of Abu Ghraib; Brett Morgen--Chicago 10; Steven Okazaki--White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Dan Sturman--Nanking (Bill Guttentag, dir.).

Films Transit has redesigned its website. Improvements include more synopses and award information for Films Transit's films, advanced search tools, company information and more. Plans in the works include credits, information about co-production and pre-sale partners, and film clips. www.filmstransit.com.

Lyn Goldfarb's latest short documentary film will be featured at the J. Paul Getty Museum through March 4, 2007, as part of the "Holy Image, Hallowed Ground: Icons from Sinai" exhibition. The Getty Museum commissioned the film as an integral part of the exhibition, which opened on November 14, 2006. The ten-minute film is a portrait of the rituals and life at St. Catherine's Monastery in Sinai, Egypt, the world's oldest, continuously operating Christian monastery and the largest repository of Christian icons in the world.

William Greaves received a 2006 Leo Award, which recognizes excellence in the field of independent media, from the International Films Seminars/The Flaherty. The awards are named in honor of Leo Dratfield (1918-1986), a pioneer of independent and non-theatrical film distribution, and are presented to individuals or organizations who most exemplify Dratfield's commitment and spirit, combined with a sustained ability to introduce innovative approaches in independent media.

Executive producer Vincent Kralyevich's Megastructures: Science of Brick premiered on the National Geographic Channel on Thursday, November 2.

Michael Toubassi's High and Dry, a feature film exploring Tuscon, Arizona's music scene, made its Chicago premiere at the Gene Siskel Film Center in December 2006. www.highanddrymovie.com.