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Over the past few years, I've reported in these pages about the possibilities for documentarians in the developments of cyberspace (see my last piece, I.D., July-August 1997). What's interested me is the technology being developed to bring sound and image in combo to surfers of the Internet, most specifically making documentaries available to anyone who stumbles onto them. The road to this has been slow, with the speed of moderns and phone line capacities quickly being eclipsed by fiber optics and other methods to bring information to users on an almost instantaneous response basis. In my last

"Berlin is changing," reflected Ulrich Gregor, Co-Director of Berlin 's Inter­nationale Filmfestspiele, also Director of the International Forum of New Cinema. After forty-nine years at the same location , the event in February 2000 will move to the much heralded new area Potsdamer Platz, for decades the locale of the infamous Berlin Wall. "Potsdamer Platz is the key to the new city," says Gregor. "Previously it marked the border between east and west; now it is neither east nor west, but the new center. So it's very important for our festival to have a presence there." Amidst all the hoopla

The DoubleTake Documentary Film Festival, held April 8-11 in Durham, North Carolina, managed in its second year to present the documentary in a humanist tradition. Associated with the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, it has grown a lot since the inaugural weekend event a year ago. It's a day longer, with more submissions (now up to about 300), and double the number of festival passes (now 450). Major documentary filmmakers, including D.A. Pennebaker, Albert Maysles, Lee Grant and George Stoney, along with many other producers, sat on panels, spoke after films and mixed at

Cinema du Reel was founded in 1978, just about the same time as the opening of the world's premiere art museum, Centre Georges Pompidou, where the film festival takes place (this year, 5-14 March). Dedicated to promoting documentary cinema's ethnographic and sociological impact (what is called "visual anthropology"), the 1999 Cinema du Reel was marked by a strong European presence, and a considerable num ber of woman filmmakers. Suzette Glenadel, the festival's General Delegate, viewed at least a thousand films from which 21 were chosen for the French section and 29 for the international

It's about the buzz. It's about the seminars and the Internet. It's about the co-production possibilities, and the blues and Cajun food. But most of all, it's sales and contacts for further sales. Sales and pre-sales, the bottom line for a producer attending NATPE '99 (held in New Orleans last January 25-29). The focus here, though, is the independent documentary producer, someone with 1) an innovative idea for a documentary, 2) a program or series of obvious quality, and 3) an understanding of how your work is viable for the commissioning editors you will meet. With those ingredients in place

You're dozing late on a Monday evening in Britain, as a BBC2 film airs its final credits. Suddenly, image shifts and a Welshman is talking to the camera, so excited at the prospect of holding his grandson for the first time that he can barely speak. In the next shot, his big moment comes, and you can feel your heartstrings tightening. Before you know it, the program is over, and a nightly news wrap-up begins. In less than the space of a commercial break, you've become an intimate observer of an unforgettable moment in a stranger's life. Welcome to Video Nation Shorts, a regular feature on

I'm evangelist for documentary," intones Bill Kurtis with I an aw-shucks twinkle in his eye. The 58 year-old, five-nights-a-week cable host presents 150 hours of Arms & Entertainment Channel Documentaries yearly. With a five year talent service contract, Kurtis is the flagship face upfront and the avuncular voice over the largest share of nonfiction tare in television today. "We want to be the place for contemporary documentary with a highly identifiable brand which stands out in the spectrum of television programming—we benefit from the sameness of entertainment product," says Kurtis, taking

A co-production of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Jewish Museum, the New York Jewish Film Festival this year took place in January. Screenings occurred primarily in the Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center, with a few additional screenings at the Jewish Museum. There were eleven fiction films, mostly features, and fourteen documentaries—twenty-five titles, from ten nations, a mixed bag of world premieres, U.S. premieres and New York firstimers. Many of the directors were present in New York. Several titles are already set for commercial distribution. Granted, our mandate herein is

Everyone would like to avoid litigation and the time, expense and stress it entails. This article specifies 23 points to assist filmmakers in avoiding or minimizing lawsuits, or at least maximizing their position if litigation is unavoidable. 1. Get Contracts in Writing. Although most oral contracts are enforceable, their existence is more difficult to prove in court. Written contracts help avoid misunderstandings and force the parties to clarify potential disagreements. Some of the problems associated with alleged oral agreements were recently addressed in the Frank Duxv. Jean-Claude Van

Nominated for Best Documentary Feature DANCEMAKER Executive Producer: Walter Scheuer, with the Four Oaks Foundation Produced by Jeny Kupfer and Matthew Diamond Directed by Matthew Diamond Director of Photography, Tom Hurwitz Edited by Pam Wise Distributed by Artistic License 98 min. Dancemaker is the tale of the extraordinary, peculiarly American phenomenon, the Paul Taylor Dance Company. Hailed as "the world's greatest living choreographer," Taylor's life is traced from solitary child to star dancer to master choreographer. Interviews with current and past members of the company offer