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Changes in the media and the culture have brought about greater use of home movies in documentary today. We witness: a rise in appreciation of independent artistic expression by media artists who originate on small gauge and an increase in advocacy for them and the home moviemaker; the co-optation of artists' expression by the mainstream media—anyone who loves experimental cinema can testify to the continuous referencing, plagiarism, appropriation or excoriation of artists' work in commercial music videos and advertisements; the desire for greater diversity in representation—today's producers

Talking with Toni Treadway recently, about her article to appear in this issue, really got my mind stirring. Toni's a thinker, a wanderer, who likes to probe the implication of something rather than be content with mere information. Such folks are stimulating, refreshing, challenging. "What about funding?" she asked, as though I might have the answer. "I mean, with PBS and NEA under fire, what 's the implication of turning over funding to organizations that don't want to pay for the kind of serious research that a good documentary needs?" Certainly we're already seeing a marked drop in per

You know what? It is the 8mm movie that will save us. Blind as we are, it will take us a few more years to see it, but some people see it already.... They see the beauty of the sunsets taken by a Bronx woman when she passed through the Arizona desert; travelogue footage, awkward footage that will suddenly sing with an unexpected rapture; the Brooklyn Bridge footage... the Orchard Street footage—time is laying a veil of poverty over them. Jonas Mekas, April 18, 1963 The big screen or mainstream media has created a center outside of which persevere other forms of filmic art and expression

Now in its 19th year, the Asian American International Film Festival took place July 19-28 at the Alliance Française, a New York City cultural landmark. Produced annually by Asian Cinevision, a national not-for-profit media arts center headquartered in New York's Chinatown, the AAI FF screens new films by or about Asians and Asian­ Americans. Programs later tour to Miami, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Honolulu, other cities. Of AAIFF's fifty titles, a significant minority were documentaries. The Gate of Heavenly Peace (88 min.), by Richard Gordon and Carma Hinton, about the Tiananmen massacre

Two of Chicago's international film fests—the 30 year-old Chicago International Film Festival and the 16 year-old Chicago Lesbian & Gay International Film festival—pre­sented their annual ration of documentaries last fall. Although neither festival signals any discernible curatorial vision in its documentary picks, both consistently screen a notable spectrum of titles. Second only to the older San Francisco fest, the 10-day Chicago Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival is run by Chicago Filmmakers, a non-profit cinematheque and co-op. Executive director Brenda Webb spotted one striking

This year, there were 1,597 documentary professionals from 34 countries attending the seventh issue of Sunny Side of the Doc. The growing number of participants (1,420 in 1995) might suggest that documentary is doing well; yet, comments from independent filmmakers and producers suggest some mixed feelings about the state of creativity, independence—and above all—qual­ity. In France, 739 hours of documentary were produced in 1995, compared to 389 the previous year; still, filmmakers worry that documentary production is driven by the targeted needs of the TV channels and, in the process, losing

"Amazing." A fitting adjective for the unfolding of the 1996 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in mid-October. From one documentarian: "You don't understand what it feels like not to be pushed off into some sidebar event. At this fes­tival, we're honored for our commitment to the documentary form. It's amazing." And from an audience member: "I've never been so moved or so challenged." For residents of Arkansas and for others who travel from around the country to this national park setting, the event is a bold invitation to celebrate glimpses of lives and cultures in sharp contrast to this

Dear IDA Members, I've recently returned from the Independent Feature Film Market (IFFM), which I attended with my documentary Breaking Up. Since many filmmakers, both novice and veteran, call me throughout the year to ask if it's worth their time and money to attend certain markets and festivals, perhaps a short report on the IFFM, and markets/conferences in general, is in order. The first day, I sat through three thoughtfully prepared orientation panels. One panelist told the audience that she attended the market alone one year. At the end of each of the first two days, she went home and

BREATHING LESSONS: THE LIFE AND WORK OF MARK O'BRIEN Produced, directed and written by Jessica Yu Director of Photography: Shana Hagan Music Composed by Sandra Tsing Loh Edited by Jessica Yu Sponsored by the International Documentary Association Distributed by Inscrutable Films 35 min. BREATHING LESSONS explores the unique world of Mark O'Brien, the poet-journalist who has lived for four decades paralyzed in an iron lung. Incorporating the vivid imagery of O'Brien's poetry and his candid, wry and often profound reflections of work, sex, death and God, this provocative documentary asks: What is

Increasingly becoming one of Europe's more closely watched inter­national docu­mentary festival, France's Vue Sur le Doc and its companion market Sunny Side of the Doc convened June 17-22 in a converted 19th Century chateau set high on rocky cliffs overlooking Marseille's majestic old harbor. For the first time since its inception in 1989, the festival and market were housed at the same location. Strategies for achieving successful international co-production was the dominant theme of this seventh edition of the annual event. The festival and market screenings focus exclusively on non-fiction