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Doc News Shorts: Feb. 19, 2010

By IDA Editorial Staff


The Cove director Louie Psihoyos blogs about the adventure in getting his Oscar-nominated doc out to the world at The Wrap. Find out about the film's comparisons to Avatar (yes, that Avatar), how it's inspired Quentin Tarrantino to think about making a doc and more.

Strand Releasing has acquired all U.S. rights to Picture Me, a documentary by Ole Schell and Sara Ziff about the glitzy world of high fashion modeling, from photo shoots with celebrated photographers to runway shows in New York, Milan, and Paris. New York-based Paladin acquired Angela Ismailos' doc Great Directors, which celebrates films and filmmaking by interviewing ten of the world's most acclaimed living directors. The documentary had its world premiere at the 2009 Venice Film Festival.

Make some time for these must-reads: The profile of film critic Roger Ebert in Esquire is simply amazing. Then slum it for a bit and find out how reality TV has changed all of us over the last decade in a great Time magazine piece.

Hot Docs launched its new Doc Library at www.hotdocslibrary.ca. Featuring hundreds of Canadian films and videos, the Doc Library offers free access to homegrown documentary work, with full-length features by some of the country's leading non-fiction filmmakers.

Geeks rejoice! Rumors are that Joss Whedon and Morgan Spurlock are teaming up to make a documentary about the superfans who attend the annual comic book/geekfest Comic-Con in San Diego, CA every year. Word on the street is that they're casting for it now.

Presidents, new and old, are always good subjects for docs. Filmmaker Jeff Deutchman has tried to capture the hope, experience and emotions wrapped up in the last presidential election with his doc 11/4/08, shot cinema verite-style by his friends from around the globe. And he hopes to get more footage from everyone with a special website project which will kick off after the premiere.