Dear IDA Members: Congratulations to this year's Oscar Nominees in the Documentary Short and Documentary Feature Categories. This year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences revised its nomination process for the Documentary categories and from everything I hear, the changes have been met with popular approval from the field. Chaired by Oscar-winning documentarian and long-time IDA member Arnold Schwartzman, the Academy's Documentary Committee announced the following nominees: Best Documentary Short Eyewitness, directed by Bert Van Bork, reveals the horror of Auschwitz some five decades
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Nominees: Best Documentary Feature One Day in September (*Winner) Produced by Arthur Cohn and John Battsck Directed by Kevin MacDonald Executive Producer: Lillian Birnbaum Cinematography by Alwin Kulcher and Neve Cunningham Edited by Justine Wright Narration by Michael Douglas An Arthur Cohn Production, 91 min Few events have brought home to the world the realities of modern terrorism quite so dramatically as the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich by a Palestinian group known as the Black September. The global media, there to cover the great sporting symbol of
Documentary filmmakers, in their attempt to grab and hold viewer attention in a competitive environment, sometimes resort to sensationalizing their topic. The ocean floor! Snowboarding! Heart bypass operations! Errol Morris does it another way. Morris' projects get star billing at film festivals, and he is regularly included in "best filmmaker" categories. In fact, Morris was inducted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by members outraged at the institution's failure to honor his work. Like the sensationalists, Morris reveals to us the weird, the bizarre, the horrifying and
IDA 2000 is off and running with smooth transitions, active programming and worldwide visibility! As the annual election ballots rolled in from you and your colleagues in 50 countries, we say adieu to two dedicated volunteers. Lynne Littman and Joan Sekler have retired from the IDA board after years of active and enthusiastic service. Joan, as many of you know continues to work tirelessly promoting independent documentaries and working actively with new media coalitions. Lynne, who has directed more clip shows for our annual Awards and Oscar receptions than we dare count, will continue her
Filmmaker Wim Wenders is one of Germany's leading directors, and is often regarded as the leader of the New German Cinema, which flourished in the seventies and early eighties. A winner of the Palme d'Or, Wenders continues to takes risks, moving between feature films with A-list actors and low-budget documentaries. His credits include Paris, Texas; Wings of Desire, Far Away; So Close; The End of Violence, and Buena Vista Social Club. Wenders is great lover of American music and culture, and his films have been influenced by American road pictures. Wenders latest picture is The Million Dollar
For the Best Achievement in Documentary Features One Day in September Arthur Cohn and Kevin Macdonalddouble-dagger Buena Vista Social Club Wim Wenders and Ulrich Felsberg Genghis Blues Roko Belic and Adrian Belic On the Ropes Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen Speaking in Strings Paola di Florio and Lilibet Foster For the Best Achievement in Documentary Short Subjects King Gimp Susan Hannah Hadary and William A. Whiteforddouble-dagger Eyewitness Bert Van Bork The Wildest Show in the South: The Angola Prison Rodeo Simeon Soffer and Jonathan Stack
For as long as I can remember, I've been fascinated by the history of The Friars Club—the legendary showbiz haven where some of the biggest icons of 20th century entertainment have gathered to let it all hang out. In its heyday, it was a home-away-from-home for giants such as Frank Sinatra, Jack Benny, George Burns, Johnny Carson and Dean Martin. The Friars Club is best known for its irreverent celebrity roasts. Milton Berle captured the spirit when he quipped, "Having a roast at The Friars Club is like hemorrhoids: Sooner or later every asshole gets one!" When I moved to Los Angeles in 1994
Voyeurism, communism, anti-Semitism, racism, ethnic conflict, drug addiction-are these tabloid headlines or topics of recent Canadian documentaries? Canada's National Film Board courts controversy with its latest docs. The NFBC is alive and kicking at 60, with much to celebrate, having successfully weathered '90s reorganization and downsizing without compromising its outstanding documentary tradition and its commitment to Canadian artists and issues. Leading the NFB's list of prize contenders in the year 2000 are two documentaries made by first-time directors. Through a Blue Lens is a gripping
For three decades, George Stoney has been teaching documentary film production and studies at New York University; his former students have included such filmmakers and producers as Jim Brown ( The Weavers, 1982), Judith Helfand ( Uprising of ’34, 1995) and Jackie Glover, former director of programming at HBO. Stoney, the 1998 IDA Preservation and Scholarship recipient, was honored last October with a weekend-long tribute entitled “George Stoney and the NYU Documentary Experience.” At 83, Stoney is also admired for his irrepressible energy, enthusiasm and generosity. On the opening evening of
"Embrace the terror"..."Kill your babies"..."Edit the final scene first"... These are some of the edicts that were uttered at the 2005 IFP (Independent Feature Project) Market in New York City, the annual media industry conference of screenings, panels, special events, awards and, of course, parties. Sixty documentaries were shown at the Spotlight on Documentaries works-in-progress section, plus 10 doc shorts and 25 documentary features. The 27-year-old event has evolved into a program aimed at connecting industry attendees with filmmakers who are in earlier stages of production. Sandwiched in