By Susan Margolin and Jon Reiss During IDA's Getting Real 2016 conference back in September, we held a panel called "So Your Film Didn't Get Into Sundance (and Even If It Did): Navigating the New Distribution Landscape." As the title suggests, the panel aimed to address the problem of finding a distributor, and/or determining a path to self-distribution. In this ever-complicated media landscape, with disruptors everywhere, and the challenge of breaking through the noise an increasingly difficult proposition, we sought to bring some clarity and guidance to filmmakers whose films weren't being
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In October 2010, I attended a screening of Primary at the Paley Center in New York, followed by a conversation with filmmakers Robert Drew, Richard Leacock, Al Maysles and DA Pennebaker. For a young filmmaker who had never set foot inside a film school, this was one of those moments when your view of the world shifts. Seeing this pioneering film––the prototype for the modern-day documentary––with those four luminaries was an almost spiritual experience. That day, I felt the full power and possibility of vérité filmmaking, of experiencing reality as it occurs, unscripted and unplanned. Primary
For the past several years, America has witnessed almost daily incidents of unarmed black men and women being killed by the police—and these incidents have been documented by both citizens and the police themselves. The situation has fueled anger, fear and anxiety in the black community, and beyond it; organizations like Black Lives Matter, in addition to the mothers and families of slain victims and other advocacy groups, are taking action and fighting back. WNET, with the support of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, takes on this issue with The Talk: Race in America, a two-hour
Fact Box: Duration of Program: 2 years Degree Offered: MFA in Documentary Filmmaking Components of Program: First year: fundamentals ofcomplete documentary production process from concept to distribution. Second year, collaborate (in teams of three) on production of thesis documentary project (target length 25 minutes) under mentorship of accomplished doc filmmakers. Students will present proposal for feature version of thesis film. Dodge provides $4,000 toward budget. Chapman University's Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts is located in Orange, California—less than an
Dear Readers, Since The Election lurched half of America into a maelstrom of dread and anxiety, we in the documentary community have been retrenching and thinking about what we can be doing better and how we can forge our collective creative might into a force for good. At the podium at the IDA Awards in December—and in her column in this issue—Board President Marj Safinia stressed the need to "to do what we do best and bridge differences with reflections of shared humanity. It is harder to hate the Other when you know them, so let's hold up a mirror and show America both her sides." As we go
Dear Community, I had prepared a different column for you, but post election, everything is different. This nation is as divided as it can be. We've long talked about two Americas, but now half of us are waking up in that stark reality. It seems the others feel they have been living it for years. These Americas are made up of radically different experiences, media and Facebook feeds, each in a distortive echo chamber, with scant substantive dialogue or sense of shared truth. Disconnection and a steady stream of uncontested lies have brought us to this moment. So what now? To move forward, we
Essential Doc Reads is a weekly feature in which the IDA staff recommends recent pieces about the documentary form and its processes. Here we feature think pieces and important news items from around the Internet, and articles from the Documentary magazine archive. We hope you enjoy! At The New York Times, Brooks Barnes reports that climate change is the main theme of Sundance 2017. As the pre-eminent showcase for American independent film, Sundance sets the pace for what art house audiences will be watching for the coming year. Mr. Cooper and Mr. Groth said that they decided over the summer
Essential Doc Reads is a weekly feature in which the IDA staff recommends recent pieces about the documentary form and its processes. Here we feature think pieces and important news items from around the Internet, and articles from the Documentary magazine archive. We hope you enjoy! At Filmmaker, AMPAS board of governors member Roger Ross Williams opens up about the documentary shortlist process. "Naturally, films that appear at top festivals get more attention and press. The doc branch consists of working filmmakers and industry professionals, so they see films at festivals or hear about
Editor's Note: Some of the greatest documentaries of all time would be inconceivable without their protagonists to drive the stories and keep us viewers enthralled. From the Beales to the Friedmans, from Bob Dylan to Bob Flanagan, these real-life people were transformed, through the dynamic collaborative processes with their respective filmmakers, into indelible and engaging characters of cinema. And it's thanks to the access and intimacy that these protagonists granted to the filmmakers that these films were made in the first place. So when writer Lauren Wissot proposed a column in which she
Right smack-dab in the middle of Awards Season - two months after the Toronto/Telluride/Venice triumvirate and two months before the Academy Awards nominees announcement - the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences stages its annual Governors Awards; call it "the lifetime achievement awards for those whose careers merited an Oscar or two, but who somehow fell through the cracks." While the Governors Awards may lack the global cachet and frenzy that define the Academy Awards, this ceremony, staged at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood last November, more than