By GRACE LEE, Chris Pérez, Amir Shahkhalili AND Marcia Smith Dear IDA Community, We are taking this opportunity to introduce ourselves to you as the new Executive Committee of the IDA Board of Directors. In the spirit of greater transparency, we want to use this space to keep in regular contact about IDA and its future. IDA is grappling with an existential crisis. Over the last year, we have experienced internal conflicts and multiple transitions at the staff, executive and board level, including sadly, a number of resignations. These internal changes came fast and furious, with little
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IDA announces two new senior staff members, Abby Sun and Keisha Knight, who will serve as Director of Artist Programs and Director of IDA Funds and Enterprise Program as well as Louise Rosen, a senior consultant to the organization.
We at IDA feel the full, devastating weight of the tragic death of Brent Renaud. On March 13, he was killed by Russian troops while making a documentary in Ukraine; his was the first reported death of a foreign journalist covering the 2022 war. In expressing his condolences, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky noted, "We are thankful to Brent for his professionalism and commitment to the values of compassion, ethics and justice." Renaud was a fighter for truth and humanity, and he went to the most foreboding places to seek out stories, ask the hard questions and show the rest of the world
Michelle Materre was a filmmaker, programmer, distributor and professor. But most of all, she was a trailblazer, someone who had dedicated her life to breaking down hurdles to make roads for those who came after her. Artists of color found in her a tireless advocate and a forever inspiration. As each of these tributes reveal, Materre’s kindness brought people together in ways that inspired them to create more art. Her passionate championing of films made by filmmakers who identify as women, especially Black women, will always remain a road map. Her formidable yet comforting presence was and
Tsanavi Spoonhunter was born and raised in Payahuunadü—the homelands of her Paiute people in central California—and is a proud citizen of the Northern Arapaho Tribe. Her ancestry and upbringing in Indian Country have strongly informed her storytelling and artistic vision. Spoonhunter’s short films have screened on Alaska Airlines, at the National Museum of the American Indian, The Redford Center, art museums and PBS affiliates. She serves as director and producer on her first feature-length film titled Holder of the Sky (2023). The film has received support from SFFilm, IDA’s Enterprise
Essential Doc Reads is our curated selection of recent features and important news items about the documentary form and its processes, from around the internet, as well as from the Documentary magazine archive. We hope you enjoy! Hyperallergic’s Dan Schindel attended The Museum of the Moving Image’s annual First Look Festival, and spoke with filmmaker Charlie Shackleton, whose virtual reality performance piece As Mine Exactly premiered at the festival. The material evolved in response to showing it to people. I had endless material, thousands of childhood photographs and videos and things I’d
It's that time of year again when brackets are set and bets are made. March Madness is the peak of the college basketball season here in the US and is one the highest profile college sports leagues in the country. To celebrate this season, here are eight documentaries streaming online that celebrate all things basketball, in the US and beyond! Benji (Coodie and Chilke, 2012) There are so many ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries on basketball and choosing only a few is difficult, but this documentary stands out as a must-watch. Benji tells the story of 17-year-old Ben Wilson, who showed promise in the
IDA is proud to announce an exciting new partnership with Rev as our official accessibility partner! Rev provides an array of services for documentary filmmakers including captions, transcripts, and global-language subtitles, so filmmakers get the most value from their audio and video content and can reach the widest possible audience. With this partnership, IDA Doc Maker members and above will receive a one-time discount of 10% on Rev’s services*. To learn more about IDA membership, how to sign up and take advantage of this benefit, visit our membership page. FAQ Who is eligible?* Any IDA
Screen Time is your curated weekly guide to excellent documentaries and nonfiction programs that you can watch at home. It’s been a heartbreaking week for the documentary world, as we suffered the loss of two of our most esteemed colleagues. Brent Renaud—the Peabody-winning journalist, documentary filmmaker, and photojournalist—was in Ukraine’s Irpin city, documenting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when he was killed by Russian forces. Along with his brother, Craig Renaud, Brent made several documentaries that documented racism, war, America’s addiction crisis, creative processes of artists
Essential Doc Reads is our curated selection of recent features and important news items about the documentary form and its processes, from around the internet, as well as from the Documentary magazine archive. We hope you enjoy! Over at Variety, Peter Debruge writes about Sam Green’s 32 Sounds, which he describes as "a rare and rewarding sonic journey with the potential to enrich our lives." Green designed 32 Sounds as a participatory documentary. Sometimes that means closing your eyes or trying to visualize something that isn’t there, but mostly, it just entails actively focusing on whatever