Among the nominees for the IFP Gotham Awards include Ralph Arlyk's Following Sean and Amy Berg's Deliver Us From Evil.

Composer Norman Arnold recently composed and conducted the score for the intense Iraq documentary, The War Tapes. The film, directed by Deborah Scranton and produced by Robert May (The Fog of War) and producer/editor Steve James (Hoop Dreams), has won awards for Best Documentary at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival and Best International Documentary at the 2006 BritDoc Festival. www.thewartapes.com.

Adrian Belic's latest film, Beyond the Call, recently screened at the Ojai Film Festival in Southern California. The film won the Human Rights Award at the Taos Film Festival in New Mexico and the Grand Jury Prize at the Telluride Mountain Film Festival in Colorado. Future festival screenings scheduled at print time include the Austin Film Festival, Hot Springs Film Festival, Denver Film Festival and Sedona Film Festival, among others. Described as an "Indiana Jones meets Mother Teresa adventure," the film follows the travels of three middle-aged men who travel the world delivering life-saving humanitarian aid directly into the hands of civilians and doctors. www.beyondthecallthemovie.com.

Pedro Carvajal's POPaganda made its Latin American premier in Mexico City in September. The film is a portrait of the life and work of artist/prankster Ron English. www.popaganda.com.

Karen Everett's Women in Love is now available on DVD at www.outcastfilms.com. An official selection of more than 40 film festivals around the world, the film is an uncensored look at Everett's sexually charged love life, drawing on her own experiences and those of her circle of lesbian, bisexual and polyamorous friends and lovers.

Doug Hawes-Davis reports that Caught in the Headlights, the new High Plains film about wildlife-automobile, is now available on DVD. www.highplainsfilms.com.

Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay recently recorded the narration for Freedom Dance, an animated documentary by Emmy-nominated producer Steven Fischer and Telly Award-winning animator Craig Herron, retelling the story of artist Edward Hilbert who, during his four months on the road to freedom with his newly wedded wife, kept a journal of cartoons detailing an adventurous escape from communist Hungary to the US during Hungary's bloody 1956 revolution against Soviet occupation. "What impressed me most about Mariska was how seriously she took the role," notes Fischer about the September 22nd recording session at Gramercy Post in New York City. "She prepared extensively and performed with energetic enthusiasm. For someone in her position to invest all of that into a low-budget movie says a lot for her personal character."

Director Dan Katzir's Yiddish Theater: A Love Story had its Los Angeles premiere at the FAIF (Foundation for the Advancement of Independent Films) Film Festival in October 2006. www.myspace.com/yiddishtheatrealovestory.

Kim Myeong-joon received a $20,000 prize for Best Korean Documentary at the Pusan International Film Festival for the film Our School.

Premier giant screen film producers MacGillivray Freeman Films started production in September on the company's first 3-D giant screen film production, Water Planet: Grand Canyon Adventure, a new film that will help raise awareness of water issues around the world. MacGillivray Freeman is producing the film with presenting sponsor Teva, an international outdoor footwear manufacturer, in association with Waterkeeper Alliance, a grassroots advocacy organization dedicated to protecting waterways from polluters. The organization was founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who appears in the film. MacGillivray Freeman Films will simultaneously release the film in Spring 2008 in two distinct versions, one for 3-D IMAX theaters and another for 2-D and IMAX^® Dome theaters. 

At Risk Films' Sarah Jo Marks reports that two of the films she represents, Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore? and Homemade Hillbilly Jam, screened around the country in fall 2006. www.atriskfilms.com.

John Mounier's Beyond Eyruv took Best Documentary honors at the Woodstock Film Festival.

Producer/director Jed Riffe's new film Waiting to Inhale, which examines the movement to legalize cannabis for medical use, played at the Oakland International Film Festival in September. www.WaitingToInhale.org.