The IDA Membership is composed of directors, producers, composers,editors, writers, cinematographers, students and nonfictionenthusiasts, among others. Members News is the place to find out abouttheir accomplishments and activities.

If you are an IDA Member and would like your news to be featured in theMembers News column, please send your blurb (150 words max) toDocumentary associate editor/content producer Tamara Krinsky at tamara@documentary.org. You MUST include your name and the words “MemberNews” in the subject line. 

Chelo Alvarez-Stehle was invited, along with trafficking survivor Virginia, to attend Women in the World: Stories and Solutions Summit, which was held in New York from March 12-14. The distinguished gathering of 300 women activists, survivors andentrepreneurs from around the world was organized by Tina Brown of The DailyBeast. Segments of Alvarez-Stehle's three documentaries on trafficking: Tin Girls, Sold in America and Sands of Silence (in progress), were selected to screen. The event was opened by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and included a performance by Meryl Streep. Alvarez-Stehle describes some of the highlights of the trip: "We met Obama's Human Trafficking Ambassador-At-Large Luis C. deBaca, who offered to help our project with Silicon Valley investors. Survivor Virginia had the time of her life. Not only did she meet Meryl Streep in person, but the trip allowed her to fulfill her dream of visiting the Statue of Liberty and paying a heartfelt homage to freedom." Later this month, Alvarez-Stehle will be travelling to Boston to participate in the CPB/PBS 2010 Producers Academy. The one-week intensive workshop is a breeding ground for PBS Producers.

It's a busy June for Center for Social Media director Pat Aufderheide. She'll be delivering the keynote on June 27 at the American Library Association's annual conference in Washington, DC, where she'll be speaking on documentary film in the digital era. Additionally, Aufderheide is being honored with the Communication Research as an Agent of Change Award at the annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) in June. The award recognizes her work on fair use practice for communities of makers and researchers, which has had a "demonstrable impact on practice outside the academy." This past May, Aufderheide and documentary filmmaker Gordon Quinn hosted a panel on fair use as part of an Independent Film Project workshop for filmmakers. They covered how the Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use has helped documentary filmmakers, how fair use can be applied in a digital environment, and how fiction filmmakers can apply the basic fair use principles to their own work. Also in May, she led a discussion at the Maryland Film Festival on what independent film can learn from the independent music business.

Robert Bahar and Almudena Carracedo have the following joyous news to report: "We're thrilled to share news of the birth of our daughter, Alba! Alba Bahar-Carracedo was born on April 28, 2010, weighing 8 lbs 2 ounces and measuring 21 1/4 inches long. It is an incredible, exciting time and we are happy to say that everyone is doing well and that we've enjoyed our first few weeks as a family."

Adrian Belic of Wadi Rum Productions (Genghis Blues, Beyond the Call) is working on the company's next documentary project, Happy, a journey around the world exploring the power and mystery of happiness. For the past four years,Adrian and his brother Roko have traveled to over 14 different countries and all over the US, interviewing the leading scientists and happiness experts. For more on the progress of the film: www.thehappymovie.com.

Harrod Blank has been on tour with his IDA-sponsored film Automorphosis for the last year, beginning with the film's play in January 2009 at the Santa Barbara Film Festival. The doc looks into the minds and hearts of a delightful collection of eccentrics, visionaries and just plain folks who have transformed their autos into artworks. As part of his grassroots distribution plan, he has been literally driving the film in an art car to film festivals, art festivals and various other venues. Up  next: theatrical gigs in Seattle and Portland in June, with a hopeful stop in Los Angeles in August. 

Producer Amber Edwards' A Place Out of Time - The Bordentown School, aired May 24 on PBS. Directedby award-winning filmmaker Dave Davidson and co-produced by Edwards,the film chronicles the birth, growth and decline of The BordentownSchool, the last all-Black, publicly funded, co-educational boardingschool north of the Mason-Dixon Line. An incubator for Black pride andintellect, the school taught values, discipline and life skills to generationsof Black children from 1866 to 1955.

Robin Hessman, director/producer/cinematographer of My Perestroika, tells us the film has been doing really well. "After Sundance, the project went to New Directors/New Films; Full Frame, where we won the Filmmaker Award; Hot Docs; and now Silverdocs, where we're in competition. Other festivals are on the horizon in Europe in the fall." She's currently working on the P.O.V. cut down of the film for next year with editor Garret Savage. www.myperestroika.com

Kartemquin Films has updates on several projects. The DVD for Typeface was released May 28. The initial limited-edition run features a letter-pressed poster designed by Hamilton Wood Type Museum Artisitic Director Bill Moran, a number of extra scenes and a gallery of beautiful art created by fans inspired by the film. Kartemquin recently filmed the nine-minute Sacred Transformations, directed by Justine Nagan and edited by Leslie Simmer. The film, shot in a single night inside on the South Side of Chicago, follows Erik Spruth as he helps people to transform tattoos that no longer represent who they are into new works of art. Sacred Transformations has been accepted into the  "Fear No Film" program at the 2010 Utah Arts Festival.
ESPN Films selected No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson as the showcase film for 2010 Primetime Emmy consideration of its widely praised 30 for 30 series. Director Steve James traveled to Los Angeles to present a special screening for Emmy voters. The film has been touring festivals across the country, inspiring audiences to engage in conversation about racial conflict. Kartemquin Films reports this description of a post-screening discussion: "And there we were, a group of 100+, black and white and diverse in countless other ways (but unified in our interest in a film and a filmmaker) talking about race--REALLY talking about it--agreeing and disagreeing, pushing on points, relenting, listening and maybe even (at least for a moment, at least partially) understanding."

Joan Meyerson wrote the 2010 National Memorial Day Concert,which aired live from the steps of the US Capitol on  May 30 on PBS. The concert honors the men and women who serve our country, the veterans who sacrificed for us, and the families who stand by them.This year's event featured Joe Mantegna, Gary Sinise, Blythe Danner,Dennis Haysbert, Lionel Ritchie, Kelli O'Hara, Brad Paisley, YolandaAdams and the National Symphony Orchestra.