As independent documentary filmmakers go, I am a lucky man. Consider, for example, my latest project for the European TV Channel ZDF/ARTE: I was dispatched to Hawaii for a month and a half to report on that quintessential Polynesian icon, the Aloha shirt. Not surprisingly, when I told friends about my assignment, several of them offered to "assist" with the documentary. I learned that Mark Twain had embarked on a similar mission in 1866. The Sacramento Union underwrote his journey to the islands, expecting him to pen "Letters from Hawaii " in return. "I went to Maui to stay for a week, and
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Documentary filmmaker's project is upheld as a money-making endeavor.
Dear Readers, Welcome to Awards Season 2011-12, that frenzied marathon to the mid-winter finish line, whose players include the Academy Awards, Gotham Awards, Spirit Awards, Camera Eye Honors, a bevy of critics honors and guild awards and ,of course, the IDA Documentary Awards. The 27th edition of the IDA Documentary Awards introduces a number of changes. This year, IDA members vote on the finalists in the feature and shorts categories, and we will announce all the winners, with the exception of the Pare Lorentz Award winner--Bill Haney's The Last Mountain--at the Awards Show. This year also
When cities recover from hard financial times, creative souls are often pushed to the peripheries. It should come as no surprise that the young upstarts of the New York City documentary world tend to live in the Borough of Brooklyn. What is a surprise is that Brooklyn has no organizations with the galvanizing might of an AIVF, FVA, IDA, IFP or DCTV. Instead the borough houses something of a diaspora, with small groups of filmmakers connected through less established organizations. The flight from Manhattan took place in the mid-1990s, in convergence with the increased availability of low-cost
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The Creative Recognition Awards honor creative achievement in documentary filmmaking.
This award recognizes films that demonstrate exemplary filmmaking while focusing on the appropriate use of the natural environment, justice for all and the illumination of pressing social problems. The Last MountainDirector: Bill HaneyProducers: Clara Bingham, Eric Grunebaum, Bill HaneyExecutive Producers: Tim Disney, Sarah Johnson Redlich, Tim RockwoodCinematographers: Jerry Risius, Stephen McCarthyWriters: Bill Haney, Peter RhodesEditor: Peter RhodesComposer: Claudio RagazziUncommon Productions, Dada Films, New Video The fight for the last great mountain in America's heartland pits a mining
September means back to school, and MTVN's Logo and the Sundance Channel are no exception. TransGeneration, which premieres September 20 on the Sundance Channel, follows the daily lives of four college students who are going through a gender transition. The series will air on Logo in the beginning of 2006. Filmed over the course of the 2004-05 school year, the eight-part series delves into four students' challenges with academic and campus life as they move forward with their commitment to gender reassignment. The diversity of the film's four subjects is notable. They include Gabbi, a very
As Los Angeles is synonymous in our minds with the film industry, New York, although with less fanfare, is the predominant center of cable--and, arguably the hub for documentary programming. With the exception of such major networks as Discovery Channel, National Geographic and CNN, most cable networks that produce or acquire documentaries are headquartered in or around New York City. Think about it: There's HBO, one of the first cable networks and the leader in documentary programming, Bravo, The History Channel, A&E Network, IFC, Sundance Channel, CourtTV, MTV Networks, Trio and the list
> Nancy Wilkman, who served as editor of Documentary magazine (then called International Documentary) for 16 issues through the early 1990s, passed away on April 3 at age 72.. She had struggled with cancer. In addition to her work with the magazine, Wilkman carved out a distinguished career in journalism, communications and, over the past 30 years, in collaboration with her husband, former IDA Board President Jon Wilkman, documentary filmmaking. She served as writer, producer and/or story editor on nearly all of Wilkman Productions' television programs, which aired on PBS, HBO, A&E and The