In one of Pare Lorentz’s defining films, The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936), Lorentz illustrated the impact of destructive agricultural practices with striking imagery and an artistry that moved audiences in a way that headlines did not. Its release pioneered the power of film to magnify injustice, spur national discourse and create change. More than 80 years later, the Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund continues his filmmaking legacy by supporting feature-length documentary films that reflect the spirit and nature of his work. The fund empowers filmmakers to use cinema for social justice and
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Letter to Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell CC: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Re: Replenishing PPP funds to support self-employed workers impacted by COVID-19 pandemic Today we are facing the greatest crisis to the freelance workforce in modern history. Freelancers — including self-employed, sole proprietors, and other independent workers — comprise over 57 million of America’s workforce and contribute an estimated $1 trillion to its GDP. Freelancers are among the hardest hit by COVID-19 closures. The signatories as a group represent and support freelancers in independent media who
While the planet's human population reels from the devastating impact of the COVID -19 crisis, many have become aware of their immediate natural environment responding to the sudden drop in activity. With social media and news articles discussing bluer skies, cleaner water and a resurgence in wildlife activity, among other phenomena, the possibility for slowing down climate change has been one of the more positive topics of discussion of late. At the same time, our optimism has to be tempered, since the amount of plastic waste generated has increased significantly, alongside the loosening of
Essential Doc Reads is our curated selection of recent features and important news items about the documentary form and its processes, from around the internet, as well as from the Documentary magazine archive. We hope you enjoy! Sundance Institute announced a $1M Artist Relief Fund on Friday, and the Los Angeles Times' Mark Olsen sat down with CEO/Executive Director Keri Putnam to discuss the specifics of this fund. I think that is one of the most important pieces of this actually. There are several pieces of it that are very different from what we typically do at Sundance. And I think that's
The New Virtual Normal: Covering a Film Festival During COVID-19 Covering CPH:DOX—the first spring fest to respond to COVID-19 by moving entirely online rather than cancel or postpone--remotely from several time zones away proved a surprising respite from the global coronavirus chaos. Not only was I able to tune in to fascinating virtual talks (see Edward Snowden) at all hours of the day, and discover nonfiction gems (via the online CPH:MARKET, the most abundantly stocked market I'd seen in weeks), but I was able to do it all from the comfort of home in my pajamas (and sans jet lag). Of course
Award-winning documentary filmmaker Gabor Kalman, one of the founding members of IDA and the creator of the IDA David L. Wolper Student Documentary Achievement Award, passed away on April 12. Gabor was a sweet, kind-hearted person, with a profound heart-wrenching story. Born in Hungary, he was ten years old when Hitler's troops marched into his country; Gabor was forced into hiding when his name turned up on the "Jaross List" of Jews from his village slated for "extermination." He survived the Holocaust and World War II, as well as the post-War Soviet occupation. A decade later, while a
Get to know some of IDA's Fiscally-sponsored projects that are available to stream from the comfort of your home, on widely available platforms! We hope you'll continue to support bold, brave and informative storytelling by exploring these titles on Amazon Prime. You can also donate to our current roster of fundraising projects at documentary.org/sponsored-projects. Behind the Bullet (Heidi Yewman) Behind the Bullet explores a side of gun violence that’s rarely talked about- the impact a shooting has on the shooter. The shooters tell the story of how the pull of a trigger changed them
Screen Time is your curated weekly guide to excellent documentaries and nonfiction programs that you can watch at home. To get to the bottom of the current mental health crisis in the US, psychiatrist/doc-maker Kenneth Paul Rosenberg chronicles the personal, poignant stories of those suffering from serious mental illness, including his own family, to shine a light on this epidemic and offer possible solutions. Bedlam, an IDA Fiscal Sponsorship Program project, premieres April 13 on Independent Lens and streams through April. As healthcare workers around the world weather the frontlines of this
Matt Holzman, a longtime mainstay at NPR’s flagship Southern California radio station KCRW, passed away on April 12 after a bout with stage-4 metastatic cancer. But beyond his prowess as a radio producer—he was the first producer of a KCRW show and he helped make such programs as The Business and Press Play the singular listening experiences they are—and his unflagging energy during pledge drives, he was a passionate advocate for the documentary form. His monthly Matt's Movies screenings—mostly docs—at the Writers Guild Theatre were celebrations. Food trucks would line up on Doheny, the craft
By Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar Editor’s Note: José María "Chato" Galante passed away on March 29, 2020, in Madrid, Spain, due to coronavirus, following treatment for lung cancer. Chato was a lifelong activist fighting for justice for victims of Spain's Franco dictatorship and was one of the protagonists in The Silence of Others , by Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar. In December 2018, Chato attended the IDA Documentary Awards in Los Angeles to receive the Pare Lorentz Award with Carracedo and Bahar. Here, the filmmakers share some of their remembrances. "Look for the big guy with