Myth #1. Filmmakers who tackle exposés of human rights abuses, or illuminate social issues, are not artists. We are. We give equal weight to being artists as well as human rights defenders. We know that as we get better and better as artists, we create wider audiences with far greater impact. Because we aren’t just developing a narrative story arc, we are developing ideas across the length and breadth of the documentary film. It’s the interplay of the two that creates dramatic tension. The power and beauty of cinema are our artistic and political tools. Our canvas is global; our palette, the

When filmmakers convene this fall at the GETTING REAL Documentary Film Conference, presented by IDA and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, conference producer Allison Berg hopes attendees discover valuable information through the roundtables, sessions, working groups, talks and salons planned for the three-day event. But even more than filmmakers finding solutions, she hopes they find each other. "It's about getting people together," Berg says. "From the new voices we have in the field who feel they may not have had a voice, to the more established who see what the landscape is and

An interview with IDA's Michael Lumpkin and Ken Jacobson

Dawn Porter had a couple of careers before she landed in documentary filmmaking-where she feels most at home. She was an attorney for BakerHostetler, where she learned the true meaning of rigorous thought and how to pay attention to detail. But she felt she was missing out on creative opportunities in that world, so she moved on to work in television, for ABC News and A&E Television Networks. There, her creativity flourished a bit more, and she was also able to learn a lot about the business of making media. "I learned that it doesn't matter if you have the most brilliant project in the world