Back in June of this year, AFI DOCS was in full swing with not just its film festival but also its filmmaker conference, a two-day event hosting a series of conversations and panels focused specifically on the documentary field. Co-presented by the IDA, the sessions and talks at the AFI DOCS Filmmaker Conference provided a unique opportunity for professional development, as well as a way to forge a path in shaping the future of the documentary field. One particular panel, titled "The Filmmaker as Journalist – Managing Risk in Investigative Documentary Work," asked specific questions about the
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Ravi Patel is in search of a bride. But he's not your average guy, going online or to a bar for the quest. Ravi is Indian-American, and his parents are heavily invested in him finding his soulmate. When Ravi turned 29, Vasant and Champa Patel took action: The family travelled to India to find their son a wife. That Ravi happens to be the brother of documentarian Geeta Patel ( Project Kashmir) meant the birth of the capriciously funny Meet the Patels, which documents Ravi's search for true love—inspired, in part, by his parents' long-lasting marriage. The film has won awards at festivals and
We are excited to announce the 3rd Annual Documentary Screening Series will begin September 17 with a screening of Fox Searchlight's He Named Me Malala. A Q&A with the film’s director, Davis Guggenheim, moderated by Indiewire’s Editor in Chief, Dana Harris, will take place following the screening. Now in its third year, the IDA Documentary Screening Series brings a curated program of some of the year's most anticipated non-fiction films to an enthusiastic audience of documentary supporters, industry, guild, and IDA members. Screenings conclude with a filmmaker Q&A moderated by journalists and
Set against the backdrop of a country trying to find its footing amidst the still-burning embers of the 1960s' demand for racial equality, Stanley Nelson's new historical documentary about the Black Panthers may feel more contemporary than audiences might expect. The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution weaves an insider's tale about the rise of the Black Panthers movement in response to police brutality targeted at African-Americans in Oakland, the cult of personality surrounding its major figures, and the FBI's retaliation against a bold group of young people demanding change. Nelson
This past year saw the release of multiple critically-acclaimed documentaries centered on some of the most influential artists of the past century, including Marlon Brando ( Listen To Me Marlon), Kurt Cobain ( Montage of Heck), Nina Simone ( What Happened, Miss Simone?) and Amy Winehouse (Amy). The involvement of the subject's estate or family in the creation of these films ranged from Kurt Cobain's daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, as executive producer for Brett Morgen's Montage of Heck, to Mitch Winehouse speaking out about his initial cooperation with (and later disavowal of) Asif Kapadia's
We might not consider it much, but the documentary form has always been ripe for parody. Look as far back as Rob Reiner's seminal This Is Spinal Tap (1984) or the weekly riffs on real-life events appearing in countless Saturday Night Live sketches for proof that spoofing docs is nothing new. Even shows as widely popular as Parks and Recreation take a page from the reality television-style confessional format to such successful effect that the convention has become all but invisible. But never has an entire style of filmmaking been so lovingly lampooned as in IFC's new series Documentary Now
(T)ERROR is a jaw-dropping film. From the first frame, it is hard to believe what you are seeing on the screen. That feeling does not diminish as the film continues; it intensifies. I was first introduced to (T)ERROR as a work-in-progress when it was awarded the Garrett Scott Documentary Development Grant at the 2013 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Documentary programmer Thom Powers, one of the administrators of the grant, introduced the sample. After it played, he said, "I'm going to ask the first, obvious, question: WTF?" This euphemistic acronym is perhaps the only reasonable response
Flood of Images: Media, Memory, and Hurricane KatrinaBy Bernie CookPublished by University of Texas Press, 2015 So much was lost in the rising floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina, but perhaps the greatest sacrifice made by the residents of that afflicted arena was their human dignity. Their nobility as a people was slowly and painfully stolen, not only by the vagaries of nature but by the twists and turns and convoluted interpretations of events as reported on television to the outside world. What do we, those of us who were not directly affected, actually remember of this catastrophic event? How
Dear IDA Community, As this edition of Documentary magazine is reaching all of you, we at IDA are excited to be revving up for the next leg of the organization's evolution under the leadership of our new executive director, Simon Kilmurry. From the beginning, we knew that we were looking for someone with impressive knowledge and passion for documentary, as well as proven expertise in running a nonprofit organization. In Simon, we found our dream hire. Simon joins IDA after an illustrious 16-year tenure at POV—the long-running PBS showcase of independent documentaries—where he served as
Dear Readers, Over the past 15 years or so, our community has witnessed an extraordinary growth in utilizing the documentary as a vital tool for social justice, change and impact. The documentary form has always proved its mettle in doing this, and we can thank such analog-era players as New Day Films, Barbara Trent and Arthur Dong for finding ways to get their work to the right audiences. Spurred by the digital revolution, key stakeholders—filmmakers, funders, nonprofit managers, critics, educators—have developed more sophisticated ways to create an evolving outreach infrastructure. Nowadays