In January 1999, The New York Times ran an article in its Arts and Leisure section entitled ''Female Directors Battle the Indie Boys Club,'' about the dearth of women film directors in Sundance. I wrote a letter to the editor that was published a few weeks later, in which I said the following: "Making films involves a kind of all-consuming passion. My own experience in being a film director...and a mother of three is that there are times when a woman really can't do both well. But at the end of my life, I'm certain I won't regret not having made a few more films knowing that I had been there
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From the squalor of Tijuana to the magnificent beaches of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 's Baja California Peninsula is an almost mythic place filled with contradictions. It's covered by deserts yet boasts grand, pine-covered mountain forests. Billionaires fly in to visit their beachfront villas while many people eke out a marginal existence. To some it's the last vestige of the Wild West. It's rough, seedy, dangerous and seductive. For 37 years Baja has enticed an ever-growing collection of little-known off-road racers, including motorsports champions Parnelli Jones and Robby Gordon, actors Steve
Werner Herzog knows when he's found the right subject for a film. But don't ask him to explain; he just knows, that's all. And he instantly knew he was destined to make his new documentary, Grizzly Man. It combines video footage shot by deceased grizzly-bear advocate Timothy Treadwell with recent interviews of his acquaintances and Herzog's own often-contentious commentary about his subject. It is tentatively scheduled for an August theatrical release via Lions Gate Films, followed by an airing on the Discovery Channel in fall 2006. Treadwell, a charismatic figure for his blond good looks and
Five films will receive $75,000 in grants.
As every freelance producer knows, work can be a real grab bag. Shows and shoots can range from the tawdry to the sublime, and the silly to the serious. And very occasionally, one finds oneself on a story that is drenched in drama, even history-making. The following, for me, was one of those rare moments. Christmas 2004. I'm in the final shooting stages of a show I'm producing for cable about natural disasters. I'd gone far and wide in search of places that are keenly threatened by natural disasters, including earthquakes, volcanoes and hurricanes. My crew and I had been to Istanbul, Turkey
We are SO excited to finally announce all of the nominees for our 28th annual IDA Documentary Awards ceremony, which will be held Friday, December 7, 2012 at the Director's Guild in Los Angeles. Our Executive Director Michael Lumpkin expressed his enthusiasm about this year's selections: "This year’s documentaries have once again shown us the power of the documentary art form," Lumpkin said. "The record number of submissions we received reflects the cultural relevance of documentary storytelling." The five films nominated in IDA’s Best Feature category include The Central Park Five (Ken Burns
Check out two of IDA's fiscally sponsored films that are creating meaningful social change. Sin by Silence, a film about domestic violence, made legislative history after Assemblywoman Fiona Ma attended a screening of the documentary in 2011. The result?
Here are a few deadlines to take note of in the next few weeks. Feel free to contact Amy Halpin or myself about this or any other grant opportunities you come across. October 31: The Frameline Completion Fund - grants to emerging and established filmmakers making projects about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their communities. New!: The Bertha BRITDOC Documentary Journalism Fund is an international film fund dedicated to supporting long form feature documentaries of a journalistic nature. Rolling deadline. November 5: Tribeca Film Institute Grants (TFI) - Latin America Media
A train flies across the screen. A broom sweeps debris from a pavement. A boy jumps into bed and huddles under the covers. Trains are often the opening credits "logo" for Jay Rosenblatt's Locomotive Films, but they and the other images recur in his films almost as signatures, hinting at returns to an obsession or a half-remembered dream. The train speeds us to new places but also to death, in an ordinary life of commuting or the final journey to a death camp. A broom erases traces of nature, incineration and destruction. A frightened adolescent seeks refuge in his bed, land of sleep and
Paula Apsell began her career with PBS in 1975 as a production assistant on a small science series called NOVA. Back then, men would typically be brought in as associate producer and women of comparable experience, as production assistants. Apsell started as a production assistant, although, at 30, she was older than many of the associate producers and already had experience as a producer in public radio. She consequently jumped to associate producer rather quickly, and when, on a fluke, she was given a chance to produce, she did so with acuity and success. Still, after finishing the project,