Arthouse, which picked up the North American theatrical and DVD rights, will release Kuntsler in mid-2009, and the film will air on PBS' P.O.V. in 2010.
Art & Copy, of which Arthouse acquired both North American and worldwide rights, is also slated for a 2009 release in both theaters and on DVD. For Tamara Krinsky's review of Art & Copy, click here.
Elsewhere in the acquisitions area, Visit Films, the New York-based sales and production company, picked up worldwide rights to NC Heikin's Kimjongilia, which tells the stories of survivors of North Korean leader Kim Jong II's prison camps.
Every three years, the U.S. Copyright Office conducts a rulemaking process to assess whether the DMCA's ban on circumvention interferes with noninfringing uses of copyrighted materials. If the Copyright Office finds a substantial adverse effect on noninfringing uses of certain types of works, it grants a three-year exemption from DMCA liability for that class of works.
The USC Intellectual Property & Technology Law Clinic at USC Law School and Michael Donaldson are working with Kartemquin Films, IDA, Arthur Dong, and Robert Bahar to seek an exemption that would make it clear that documentary filmmakers can access CSS-protected material on DVDs for fair use purposes or if the material is in the public domain. Earlier this month, a request for such an exemption was submitted to the Copyright Office, which can be viewed on the Copyright Office's website at http://www.copyright.gov/1201/2008/comments/kartemquin-ida.pdf.
We would like your support in gathering real-world examples that will help illustrate any adverse effect that the prohibition against copying material from a DVD is having on documentary filmmakers. What we would like in this regard are:
(i) examples of how you’ve been unable to use material from DVDs for fair use purposes (or public domain material) due to CSS, or have had to use severely degraded analog versions of noninfringing material due to CSS, and the effect that had on your documentary; and
(ii) stories about any problems you have had getting your documentary approved for air on PBS or similar broadcasting networks because you used degraded analog versions of material that did not meet the technical standards set forth by the broadcaster; and
(iii) stories about what you would do with noninfringing material in your documentary films if you could obtain protected material from DVDs without fear of breaking the law.
We are looking forward to hearing about your experiences. Please send your stories, as well as any questions or comments, to Ashlee Lin at alin@law.usc.edu or Christopher Perez at cperez@law.usc.edu by Friday, January 30.
Thank you for your help on this important issue!
Entertainment attorney Michael C. Donaldson, Esq. (Donaldson & Hart), is a former IDA Board President and served on the Legal Advisory Board for the Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use.
As anyone who is reading this article knows, the Recording Industry Association of America launched a scorched-earth policy of suing anyone and everyone who downloaded music from the Internet and shared it with friends through one or another file-sharing schemes. To many of us, this seemed like the most absurd strategy that any industry anywhere ever adopted. In fact, in the first edition of Clearance and Copyright, I predicted that the record companies would never be so foolish as to launch such a program.
Well, launch it they did. Beyond anything I ever imagined possible. The program went beyond shooting yourself in the foot, which is usually pictured as an accidental pistol shot. Instead, they took out a howitzer and intentionally demolished both of their own feet and the feet of the latest batch of their potential customers who where entering the marketplace. And it did not do a bit of good, or at least did not do enough good (for the record companies) to make it worthwhile to continue, even from the record companies’ distorted perspective.
Five years and some 35,000 lawsuits later, it is over. They think it worked. And on some levels it might have. This crazy litigation put my chosen field of law into the public consciousness like no other. Sales of my book were boosted by the awareness that was piqued by the record companies. The reality is that the sales of records and CDs continued to decline, peer-to-peer file sharing continued to rise, and the entire world was thinking that the record companies were foolish, short-sighted, and backward looking. But sales of digital music tracks soared past the one-billion mark in 2008 and RIAA gives credit for that rise to their lawsuit program. Some of us think that would have happened anyway if the big record labels had woken up a bit sooner to the inevitability of the changes brought to the industry by the Internet.
Record companies need to embrace the future. They thought they were doing just that when they went online to sell their records. But records, even CDs, are soon to be a thing of the past. “Record Companies”? “Labels”? Those words will be as quaint as the phrase “horse and buggy” in the not-too-distant future. When the horseless carriage arrived, folks who made buggies either went out of business or started making horseless carriages. The record companies moved more slowly, which is understandable given their size (four companies sold 95 percent of the records in America.) Large organizations always react more slowly than agile individuals.
So the record companies thought they were modern and sleek and “with it” when they used the Internet for advertising and promotion and even sales of their old-fashioned CDs. They didn’t realize that the Internet completely changed the way the commercial world would operate in the future. A band could develop its own following online. It could create music, distribute it far and wide, and enjoy a growing group of fans without ever leaving their garage. Amazing.
The new music companies will never manufacture a record or a CD. There won’t be anything to put a label on. Control of the music business will move to talented marketing and management companies that know how to bring music to the masses – over the Internet, in person, over the airwaves. They will make money from all the streams of income available. And the splits will be fair to artists because the artists themselves could do all of this if they didn’t spend much time creating their music. And that is the good news. It no longer takes a pile of capital and personal connections with radio stations and venues to create success for a talented group of kids with a great new sound. It takes the Internet and Internet marketing savvy. And that is why performing artists in the future will be in an even more competitive world, but the playing field will be flatter. Artists will participate more fully. And music will be more universally available at prices we can all afford.
Entertainment attorney Michael C. Donaldson, Esq. (Donaldson & Hart), is a former IDA Board President and served on the Legal Advisory Board for the Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use.
"What a week. We began with the celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. King in Atlanta, where we screened the film at the King Center with the film's stars, Kimberly and Scott Roberts. Then, the Obamas moved into the White House. Now this. Wow!
"We were at Sundance, one year after the film premiered here, when we got the news that Trouble the Water was nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category. Kimberly and Scott were in New Orleans and we were all on the phone together when the announcement hit the internet.
"In a year with so many amazing films, from filmmakers we so admire, we are thrilled and honored by this recognition and hope it will translate into desperately needed attention for the gulf coast and communities throughout the country that are fighting for their survival."
Congratulations to all of the nominess. Celebrate all of this year's great films at the IDA's 27th Annual Nominees Reception, Wednesday, February 18, hosted by Lily Tomlin. Get program and ticketing info here!
What irked me most about When You're Strange is its abundance of factual inaccuracies, particularly in DiCillo's ham-fisted attempt (he wrote and delivered the narration) to yoke the artistic and commercial success of The Doors to the cultural zeitgeist of the era. One jaw-dropper: According to DiCillo, the Vietnam War ended in 1972, some three years before it actually did; in addition, the Kent State massacre occurred after Jimi Hendrix died, when it actually happened five months before; the youth, peace and love movement that partly defined the Sixties came to a symbolic end not at Altamont, which is never mentioned in the film, but at the Isle of Wight Festival, where fans tried to crash the concert by tearing down a fence (The Horror!); the demise of The Doors ushered in more insipid music from the likes of the Monkees, who had actually broken up-and gone off the air-- long before The Doors had.
Although DiCillo was given a treasure trove of footage--rehearsals, concerts, home movies--from the surviving members of The Doors, he constantly muddles the chronology of the narrative (although, to his credit, he eschews the shopworn talking heads device). In one scene, it's 1969, and The Doors are struggling to make their album The Soft Parade, amid Morrison's alcoholic binges and increasingly erratic behavior, then it's 1967, when Morrison is arrested in New Haven , Conn., after taunting the police on stage. Later in the film, we see The Doors performing at the aforementioned Isle of Wight concert in 1970, which prompts DiCillo to revisit 1968, since, ooops! he forgot to mention what happened that year!
When you have as unreliable a narrator as DiCillo, the accusations of reenactment are beside the point. But he strode to the stage for the post-screening Q&A, seemingly in a dither about the charges, and showed his annoyance at an audience member who questioned the validity of the Morrison film. Earlier, he asked the audience, "Was there inaccuracy in what you saw?" Well, I kinda like facts, and I consider it my job to check them. Maybe David Byrne was right when he sang, "Facts just twist the truth around," but I like to think that facts lend a bit of truthiness to the process.
Every three years, the U.S. Copyright Office conducts a rulemaking process to assess whether the DMCA's ban on circumvention interferes with noninfringing uses of copyrighted materials. If the Copyright Office finds a substantial adverse effect on noninfringing uses of certain types of works, it grants a three-year exemption from DMCA liability for that class of works.
I and the Intellectual Property Clinic at USC Law School filed a request with the Copyright Office for an exemption that would make it clear that documentary filmmakers can access CSS-protected material on DVDs for fair use purposes or if the material is in the public domain without any charge. We are representing several individual documentary filmmakers, The International Documentary Association and Film Independent. Several other film organizations are considering joining this next phase. Our request was filed in early November, 2008.
According to the rules relating to such requests, we have until February 2, 2009, to file some more paperwork in support of the request. We plan to add stories and examples to enliven and enrich the legal request we filed. We are looking for real-world examples that will help illustrate any adverse effect the prohibition is having on documentary filmmakers. If you would like to help, you can provide:
1. Examples of how you've been unable to use material from DVDs for fair use purposes (or public domain material) due to CSS;
2. Examples of having to use severely degraded analog versions of noninfringing material due to CSS and the effect that had on your documentary; and
3. Stories about what you would do with noninfringing material in your documentary films if you could obtain protected material from DVDs without fear of breaking the law.
All responses and any questions you have can be e-mailed to Ashlee Lin at alin@law.usc.edu or Christopher Perez at cperez@law.usc.edu. You should send me a copy at info@michaelcdonaldson.com. We will put your stories in proper form to join other stories. Let us know if you want to submit your story with your name or without your name attached to it. You can read the entire request on the U.S. Copyright Office website at http://www.copyright.gov/1201/2008/ (see Document 11B). But watch it. It is 22 pages long. Thank you in advance for your assistance!
Below is the draft language of our proposed "class of works," which defines which materials would be eligible for the exemption and the conditions under which the exemption would be available.
Audiovisual works in the form of Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs) not generally available commercially to the public in a digital form not protected by Content Scrambling System technology when a documentary filmmaker, who is a member of an organization of filmmakers or enrolled in a film program at an accredited university, is accessing material for a use for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research in a specific documentary film that has been commenced and has progressed to the rough cut stage, where the material is in the public domain or will be used in compliance with the doctrine of fair use as defined by federal case law and 17 U.S.C. § 107.
Entertainment attorney Michael C. Donaldson, Esq. (Donaldson & Hart), is a former IDA Board President and served on the Legal Advisory Board for the Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use.
Another clear, balmy, shiny Park City day...another day of the Cold From Hell. I’ve never been sick up at Sundance before, and bottom line, it bites.
I dragged myself out of bed to go see an 8:30am screening of Sergio at the Yarrow. Directed by Greg Barker, the film is the story of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN’s charismatic ambassador to Iraq. Handsome and charismatic, his life story brings up the age old question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Following the film, I returned to my condo for a nap and then headed out to interview Barker. I’ll be posting a more in-depth look at his film over the next couple of weeks.
After Barker's interview, I popped into the New Frontiers section for a quick look around - lots of cool stuff happening in there and I'm going to try to get back later in the week. Then I mingled for a moment with filmmakers at the Press & Filmmaker reception, where I met Havana Marking, the director of Afghan Star. A fellow strawberry blonde, she and I engaged in a moment of red-head bonding while I congratulated her on her film. It's one of the few on my list that I'm probably not going to get a chance to see at the fest. While I was at Sergio that a.m., my condo-mate had gone to see Afghan Star and came back raving about it.
Next stop: the IDA party. Gorgeous house, great food, wonderful people. For more, read Eddie Schmidt’s round up of the party, complete with pics. After the IDA shin-dig, we headed over to the HBO Documentary Films dinner. As always, the HBO folk threw a classy event, with fantastic food and the crème de la crème of the doc world in attendance. HBO has many reasons to celebrate this Sundance, with a number of films playing the festival, including U.S. documentary competition films Boy Interrupted, Good Hair, Sergio, and Shouting Fire: Stories From the Edge of Free Speech; world documentary competition films Rough Aunties and the recently acquired Burma VJ; and the documentary short I Knew It Was You.
Following the dinner, I headed down to the Temple Theatre for the premiere of Good Hair, produced by Chris Rock. It was my first time at the new venue. On the plus side, the Temple is a great theater - good sound, right size, comfy seats - all of which make for a pleasant viewing experience. On the negative side, despite the fact that it’s technically in Park City, the Temple is geographically undesirable. And like a great boyfriend who lives on the other side of the country, no matter how cute he is, at the end of the day the relationship's just not going to work. The Temple is outside of the main drag, so if you’re trying to pack in multiple screenings, you’re more likely to choose films at venues that are closer to one another.
A lot of the docs are premiering at the Temple, and to me it kind of felt like they’d been ghettoed outside of the main fest. Sundance has always been a strong supporter of non-fiction, making sure to put the docs on par with the narrative features, so I hope they look into whether or not having so many docs at the Temple affects overall attendance.
Luckily, none of that seemed to matter tonight, and the Good Hair screening was packed. Rock, executive producer Nelson George and several subjects of the film including actresses Nia Long and Tracie Thoms were in the house. The 95 min doc about African American hair culture had the audience laughing out loud, while at the same time providing insights into the global aspects of the hair business. I’ll be speaking with Rock later this week, so more to come on the film.
Chris Rock surrounded by fans after the screening of Good Hair
Good Hair subjects actresses Sarah Jones & Tracie Thoms
came to the premiere to support the film
Paul Marchand was busy this year:
he was the editor & camera op on Good Hair
and the DP and Add. Editor on Big River Man.
There were many fun parties on the agenda for the evening, but the only party I was going to was the one back at my condo with my drinking buddies NyQuil and TheraFlu. Keeping fingers crossed that tomorrow I'll feel like a normal human being again.
In the meantime, I'll leave you with this little snippet of Chris Rock that I captured with my camera at the Good Hair Q&A following the screening. He's responding to a question about why his film explored both the humorous and serious aspects of business and culture of African American hair. [NOTE TO READERS: This clip is DEFINITELY more about the audio than the video...it's just a li'l clip of video shot from my still camera).
I continued my media-doc themed day on Saturday afternoon at the A&E IndieFilms/Actual Reality party for The September Issue, followed by a screening of the film. R.J. Cutler’s documentary is an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at the production of the September issue of Vogue magazine, the largest issue in the magazine's history.
THE PARTY
Met up with IDA Board President Eddie Schmidt at the party, which was held in a groovy lounge space at the Village at the Yard. I worked at Cutler’s company, Actual Reality Productions, many moons ago as an associate editor on series such as The Residents, so the party turned into a bit of an ARP mini-reunion for me. It was fantastic to see my old comrades such as Eliza Hindmarch (producer, The September Issue) and Mary Lisio (co-producer, The September Issue) involved with such a high profile project.
Hindmarch, Lisio and A&E IndieFilms' Molly Thompson (executive producer, The September Issue) had just come from the noon public screening of the film, which was a complete mob scene due to the fact that Ms. Wintour was there in person. Apparently, she was quite candid during the Q&A about the fact that she did NOT agree with Cutler about some of the choices he made with the film. Luckily, Cutler had negotiated final cut as part of his deal.
PARK CITY TRANSPO SURVIVAL
One thing I’ve definitely learned this fest is that whenever possible, walk instead of shuttle. Initially I was a bit leery of walking down Kearns Blvd. in the dark to get from the party to the screening at the Yarrow (just to be clear – I wasn’t worried about being attacked – just about face-planting on the ice). The lovely locals at the party coat check who advised me were correct, though – walking was a heck of a lot faster than attempting to find a shuttle going in the right direction.
THE SCREENING
Full disclosure: The September Issue was one of the docs I’d been most looking forward to seeing at Sundance, and not just because of my previous ARP history. While I don’t normally consider myself a girly-girl, for some reason whenever The Devil Wears Prada shows up on cable, I find myself powerless to change the channel. I’ve also become somewhat addicted to Tyra Banks’ fierceness on America’s Next Top Model. I'm not proud of these things. But sometimes ya' gotta just give in to the pretty. So a doc about Anna Wintour, the legendary editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine for the past 20 years? Sign me up!
I’d been hearing good things about the film all day, and the screening did not disappoint, although the documentary was different than I expected (I intentionally did not read the production notes beforehand). I thought I was going to see a hard-hitting expose on Wintour, but instead, the true ‘star’ of the film is creative director Grace Coddington, who has worked beside Wintour throughout her tenure at Vogue. The relationship between creator and curator makes for rich subject matter.
Apparently, Coddington originally wasn’t thrilled about being on-camera. Her first words to Cutler and his crew were, “Get away from me.” But the former model-turned-stylist eventually opens up, revealing her creative process and frustrations with the issue as her spreads are edited down. I loved seeing how she put together a fashion shoot inspired by the 1920’s, how her research and vision translated into the actual photos. She’s a true artist, and for some reason, I found it comforting to know that behind the pages of the glossy, hi-falutin' magazine, there is the beating heart of a real, warm human being attempting to make her vision a reality.
Wintour is a much tougher nut to crack. She is fascinating to watch – the bob, the cute upturned nose, the eyes that can communicate a death sentence with a glance...that is, when she deigns to take off her dark glasses. I’m sure these comments have just killed my chances of ever being a Vogue cover girl...I have a feeling Ms. Wintour does not take kindly to the word "cute" being applied to her.
Throughout the film, small moments add up to give the audience a sense of what might drive the editor-in-chief. Despite being hailed by her colleagues as "the Pope of the Church that is Vogue” and "the Madonna of the fashion world," those closest to Wintour don’t seem quite as impressed. Her daughter declares that she doesn’t want to work at Vogue because she thinks one shouldn’t take fashion too seriously, and Wintour says that she believes her politically and socially involved siblings are “amused” by what she does.
The September Issue reminds us why shows like Project Runway and my aforementioned addiction, The Devil Wears Prada, are so popular – it’s fun to watch pretty people, charismatic personalities and gorgeous clothing. It's rude to stare at models on the street, so the chance to do so uninterruped for 90 minutes is a treat. The doc was shot by the Emmy-nominated cinematographer Bob Richman (DP, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, My Architect: A Son’s Journey), who does a great job of capturing the glamour of the fashion world.
One of my favorite sections of the film is when the Vogue team goes to Europe to do the couture and cover shoots. There are beautiful shots of Grace wandering around Paris, talking about the fact that she was advised early in her career to always look up and out at the world around her for inspiration. Likewise, Cutler and his team have done a great job of observing the world they set out to document and finding the real stories within it, rather than imposing a pre-determined idea of Vogue and its creators onto their film.
During the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, Eddie Schmidt, the IDA President, Board of Directors and Documentary magazine editors Tamara Krinsky and Tom White braved the snow, the screenings and the celebrities to bring fresh reports from the filmmaking frontlines.
The day-by-day rundown is below or just peek at our News section to see them all. Plus, check out the coverage of our coverage.
Sundance Dispatch: Saturday, January 24
Sundance Jury & Audience Award Winners Announced (we've even included a few trailers for ya')
Sundance Dispatch: Thursday, January 22
How are docs doing at Sundance? Here's a mid-point report.
Sundance Dispatch: Wednesday, January 21
Schmidt at Sundance: The Day the Deals Stood Still
White at Sundance: Day 2: Slamming The Doors Movie
Random Sundance News:
The resession hits Sundance! Boom again! Oh, but stuff still sells!
AJ Schnack calls out Robert Redford.
Scott Weinberg at Cinematical loves him some Zooey Deschanel.
The official Sundance site has tons of great stuff, including this interview with Bobcat Goldthwait, the writer-director of the World’s Greatest Dad.
Sundance Dispatch: Tuesday, January 20
White at Sundance: Day One, History
Krinsky at Sundance: Inauguration Joy in Park City
Sundance Dispatch: Monday, January 19
Schmidt at Sundance: Fire, A Laugh and Slamdance
Sundance Dispatch: Sunday, January 18
IDA Sundance house party brings good people, good conversation and prosciutto-wrapped asparagus.
The New York Times' Carpetbagger blog showed up to the party. Check it out.
Sundance Dispatch: Saturday, January 17
Schmidt at Sundance: Live docs, Jack White and more!
Krinsky at Sundance: Art & Copy & a Cold
Krinsky at Sundance: Burma VJ, Part I
Krinsky at Sundance: The September Issue
Sundance Dispatch: Friday, January 16
Krinsky at Sundance: Spike Lee, Vitamin Water & PBS/ITVS Party Pics
Krinsky at Sundance: Dirt! Director Gene Rosow
Schmidt at Sundance: Paparazzi (Yes!), Amy Poehler (No!)
Sundance Dispatch: Thursday, January 15
Krinsky at Sundance: Arriving in Park City
For the inside look at the festival, read our interview with Geoffrey Gilmore, the longtime Director of the Sundance Film Festival and CaraMertes of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program.
Then check out these other links:
The Hollywood Reporter has a full competition lineup list for 2009.
Film.com is breaking down the six films to look for.
PBS's P.O.V. Blog has a countdown to the fest.
Of course, you can get video, a full movie list and more on the Sundance site.