Dear Readers, Welcome to nature, or the world of nature and wildlife documentaries, a genre that has seen a surge in popularity on the international distribution circuit over the past several years. This issue affords you a glimpse at the perspectives of programmers and practitioners alike. Barry Clark, one of the more respected authorities on nature filmmaking, offers his insights into the state of the genre—where it is now and where it can and ought to go. Michael Rose talks to executives at three of the leading programmers of natural history docs—National Geographic, Discovery Channel and
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The Lacandon Jungle is located in the southeast of the State of Chiapas in Mexico. It was here, in 1994, that the EZLN, or Zapatista Army of National Liberation, launched a war—on land and on the Internet—against the government of the former PRI party that had ruled the country for more than 70 years. This movement has awakened the national conscience about the main problems of this country: extreme poverty and lack of opportunities for economic and social development, particularly among indigenous peoples. The corruption that grips this country like a cancer is in a great part responsible for
It was less than a year ago, in October 2000, when I last met with Erik Barnouw, and I treasure the image of his gracious intellect that I saw on that brilliant autumn day. On the common in Fair Haven, Vermont, in the home he shared with his wife Betty, Eric was relaxed, happy, aware, attentive and most importantly, full of information and enthusiasm for the project I brought to him. Betty, the vital pivot in the balance between Eric and the world in his later years was (and is) a supremely gifted woman. She somehow made everything work. We lunched heartily on a salad of her organic lettuces
It all started with the ancient Greeks. Not the scholarly concept of the roots of western civilization, but the first program of Empires, the PBS and Devillier Donegan Enterprises (DDE) co-production that premiered in February 2000 with The Ancient Greeks: Crucible of Civilization. The strand series now numbers five already in the can, with five in production or development, taking programming well into 2004. In reviewing many of these programs and how the producers chose to present ancient material, one must reconsider the academic concept of documentary vs. non-fiction filmmaking
Just as writers write for an audience, producers produce with the hope that as many people as possible will watch their shows. To this end, distributors facilitate the placement of documentaries in the domestic and international markets. But what are distributors looking for in an international marketplace whose needs are constantly changing and what would they advise the independent producer? We asked these questions, and several others, to Jan Rofekamp, the President and CEO of Films Transit, Charles Schuerhoff of CS Associates, Yvonne Body of Tapestry International and Richard Propper of
As a celebrated filmmaker once said, “The difference between watching a film on television and seeing it on a 40-foot movie screen is the difference between observation and inspiration.” Anyone who has seen a documentary on the big screen knows what a powerful and thought-provoking experience it can be. Unfortunately, most docs never have the opportunity to be seen in this manner, unless filmmakers pay for their own screenings. The reality is that there are just too many documentaries for the ever-shrinking marketplace of theatrical distribution, where advertising and print expenses are high
Over the past decade, film festivals have grown into a year-round festival industry, one that seems to have spread to every medium-sized US and foreign city. By the year 2000, when my film Good Kurds, Bad Kurds was released, there were hundreds of festivals with paid staffs and budgets underwritten by chambers of commerce, public and corporate grants and, as every indie producer knows, spiraling submission fees. Good Kurds, Bad Kurds didn't play at Cannes, Berlin, Sundance or Toronto, but the film's hearty reception at fine festivals like Vancouver, Sydney, Santa Barbara, Copenhagen, South
This report comes happily from the Cannes International Film Festival. Nothing I have ever seen explains the place of the documentary in film history—and why we all are so involved in the art form—than Martin Scorsese’s marvelous, four-hour documentary, Il Mio Viaggio in Italia (My Voyage in Italy), a two-part history of Italian cinema. This report focuses on Part I, which provides the most detailed explanation of the nexus between documentaries and fictional features. Scorsese narrates the film himself. His set-up for the film explains the overall concept better than I ever could: “This is
Dear Readers, In concert with IDA’s much-anticipated summertime event, we look back on the making of one of the great rock’n’roll docs, D.A. Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back, and how it has figured in Pennebaker’s illustrious career. We also go back in time, well before the 1960s, to the Roman Empire, the latest subject in Devillier Donegan Enterprises’ well-conceived strand series, Empires. Stephanie Mardesich profiles this and other episodes in this novel way of presenting and interpreting history. Once you’ve made your documentary, how do you get it seen? Well, we look into two areas—festivals
There is no question that Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia, her 1936 masterpiece of the Berlin Olympic Games, is the main reason I became a documentary filmmaker. She was the original storyteller, introducing innovative techniques that we all try to emulate today. Even with modern technology, which brings intimate beauty and drama to today’s filming of sporting events, what producers claim to be innovative only have to view Olympia to realize that it all began almost 70 years ago with Riefenstahl’s Olympic epic. One would think that, with Adolph Hitler and Joseph Goebbels as her bosses, Riefenstahl