Transcription of Michele Stephenson's Keynote address from Getting Real '18.
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Raising money for a film often feels like a Sysyphean task, constantly pushing a boulder up a hill. But as documentaries have become more popular among audiences (both at the cinema and on streaming platforms), nonfiction now appears more commercially viable than in the past. Equity finance, also referred to as hard money (as opposed to grants, which are soft money), has become increasingly a component in many documentaries. But at times, there are hidden perils of finding generous investors, as filmmakers sometimes enter unsuspectingly into Faustian pacts out of sheer desperation. As long as
Nestled at the foot of the Great Smokies and the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, Winston-Salem is home to Wake Forest University. The school’s motto, Pro Humanitate, is often translated as “we do what we do for the sake of humanity.” Launched in early 2010 by Sandy Dickson and Mary Dalton, Wake Forest’s Documentary Film Program takes this motto to heart, with many of its instructors’ and students’ nonfiction films tending to focus on issues of social justice throughout the world. Teleconferencing from a converted cotton mill at the school’s Brookstown Campus—the Documentary Film
In a highly engaging new text, Open Space New Media Documentary: A Toolkit for Theory and Practice, authors Patricia R. Zimmerman and Helen De Michiel investigate emerging spaces in the new media documentary landscape. In simple terms, open space new media documentary describes a range of multi-disciplinary creative and political work that unites people, places and technologies. Projects emerging from this space use a range of techniques—including analog, digital and embodied forms—that are grounded in principles of co-creation, collaboration and community. It is perhaps easiest to understand
Dear Readers, Being the producer on a documentary necessitates a myriad of roles—as an artistic co-conspirator, yes, but in the right brain/left brain fluxus, the producer is the left brain, the one who takes the lead in building and maintaining the administrative/managerial infrastructure to keep the production process running; the one who watches the budget, raises the money, negotiates the deals, maps out the festival, distribution, marketing, impact, marketing and awards-season strategies; navigates the legal shoals…and so much more. In this issue, we salute the producer, with a series of
I was late arriving to the 2015 True/False Film Festival and lamenting missing all the screenings I’d planned to see that night. However, after a long day of slow travel, I got lucky enough to find a movie starting moments after my arrival. Such is the serendipitous magic of film festivals that this film, Nosotras Ellas, has refused to leave my mind ever since. Nosotras Ellas beautifully explores the relationships among three generations of women in the same family—the young cousins and siblings (including the filmmaker, Julia Pesce), the mothers and aunts, and the grandmothers—through the
The 2019 Sundance Film Festival officially kicks off today in Park City, Utah. This year, we’re proud to tout that four IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund grantees, two IDA fiscally-sponsored projects and eight IDA member films will be showcased in the U.S. Documentary Competition and Documentary Premieres programs. While 45 percent of the festival’s films are directed by women, all four of our Enterprise grantees are created by women. If you are one of the 125,000 weathering the Utah winter, be the first to relish these films on the big screen. Don’t forget to look out for the IDA team who will
Over the last several years, as sustainability has become a hot topic in the documentary community, we have seen the issue unfold in a number of ways: surveys of filmmakers and industry have been disseminated and dissected, numerous convenings have been held, a national report has been issued by the National Endowment for the Arts and IDA, and various organizing efforts have sprung up (most notably the Documentary Producers Alliance). So far, however, there has not been much focus on the production companies and nonprofit organizations that filmmakers have created to structure the documentary
Legal FAQ: When production of a documentary is just getting off the ground, filmmakers have an opportunity to memorialize the terms of relationships with investors, employees for hire, and co-producers, among others. Not taking the time and trouble to do so can make life difficult later.
Dear Documentary Community, The IDA Documentary Awards, held each December, always feel like the closing of a cycle—a moment to reflect on the past year and a time to look back at the remarkable work done by documentary makers rightly celebrated, regardless of who wins the awards. The Awards salute both the impact of longtime makers and supporters and the emergence of new voices. The year we honored the great legacy and ongoing canon of a filmmaker who truly embodies the moniker “independent filmmaker.” Julia Reichert, whose films with partners Jim Klein and Steve Bognar, from the 1970s to