We are thrilled to announce that Grammy-nominated comedian Tig Notaro will host the 2015 IDA Documentary Awards ceremony. The subject of Tig, the Netflix Original documentary chronicling her life after it famously fell apart, Notaro has recently teamed up with Diablo Cody, Nicole Holofcener and Louis CK on a semi-autobiographical pilot for Amazon. The comedian and writer also stars in her first HBO stand-up special, Boyish Girl Interrupted, which is out now. The IDA is also excited to announce that in an unprecedented move, the 2015 edition of the Awards will highlight six films in Best

We are excited to announce the 3rd Annual Documentary Screening Series will begin September 17 with a screening of Fox Searchlight's He Named Me Malala. A Q&A with the film’s director, Davis Guggenheim, moderated by Indiewire’s Editor in Chief, Dana Harris, will take place following the screening. Now in its third year, the IDA Documentary Screening Series brings a curated program of some of the year's most anticipated non-fiction films to an enthusiastic audience of documentary supporters, industry, guild, and IDA members. Screenings conclude with a filmmaker Q&A moderated by journalists and

With the premiere event in our new Conversation Series just one week away, we're getting excited about the stellar lineup of seasoned documentary filmmakers we've hand-picked to bring to the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood over the next few months. The Series, which kicks off on the evening of Tuesday, July 21 with Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering ( The Hunting Ground, The Invisible War), will be hosted by Ben Mankiewicz, whose turns on Turner Classic Movies and What the Flick?! have afforded him the opportunity to interact with the art and culture of movies on an almost daily basis. We wanted to

Just four days after the theatrical premiere of perhaps the most Gen X biodoc to ever grace the screens of your local multiplex, filmmaker Brett Morgen was still riding the high from Cobain: Montage of Heck's opening weekend success. So when Morgen told us he had the time to sit down with Sundance Film Festival's Trevor Groth to have a conversation about his career in front of members of the IDA community, we couldn't have been more thrilled. The filmmaker and Groth wove their way through Morgen's career, starting with his feature debut On the Ropes and moving through The Kid Stays in the

From last year's GETTING REAL conference to Sundance's recent "Bringing Truths to Light" panel to the upcoming "Based on a True Story: The Intersections of Documentary Film and Journalism" three-day event held in conjunction with True/False, the issue of doc filmmakers and journalism has never been hotter. Our own Doc U panel "The Filmmaker as Journalist," held in San Francisco last month, weighed in with a fiery discussion of its own to confront the artistic and personal challenges of working in both the documentary and journalism spaces. The panel featured highly-regarded filmmakers Andrés

Every Fall, we have the pleasure of hosting the IDA Screening Series, which brings some of the year's best documentary films to the IDA community and members of industry guilds and organizations. Films selected for the Series receive exclusive access to an audience of tastemakers and doc lovers during the important Awards campaigning season. Screenings conclude with a moderated Q&A with the filmmakers, which always produce a lively conversation and reveal extraordinary details about each film and the craft involved in bringing it to life. Back in 2014, the IDA was lucky enough to work with

As part of a new initiative to highlight critical issues in the documentary field and enhance filmmakers' professional development opportunities, IDA is presenting a series of four Doc U's in the Bay Area over the next four months. The kickoff topic in mid-January was "Getting Real About the Doc Career” featuring esteemed filmmaker Dawn Porter ( Gideon’s Army) moderating an all-filmmaker panel, including Kelly Duane de la Vega ( Better This World), Jennifer Maytorena Taylor ( New Muslim Cool), Amanda Micheli ( La Corona), Jesse Moss ( The Overnighters), and Nicole Opper ( Off and Running). The

We are excited to announce today that Carol Leifer will host the 30th Annual IDA Documentary Awards, to be held on Friday, December 5, 2014 in the Paramount Theater at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. Carol Leifer has starred in five of her own comedy specials that have aired on HBO, Showtime and Comedy Central and has written for the Oscars® telecast seven times. She is a four-time Emmy®-award nominee for her writing on Seinfeld, The Larry Sanders Show and Saturday Night Live. She also received the prestigious Writers Guild Award for her work on the number one comedy, Modern Family. She is

It seems lately like nonfiction series are popping up left and right on cable networks. This boom reflects networks’ increased desire for original content. But how can documentary filmmakers navigate new opportunities and get their projects slotted on cable schedules? For our June Doc U on cable and nonfiction series, we brought together a dynamic cast of cable movers and shakers to discuss what they look for in nonfiction offers, to give tips for filmmakers, and to present their side of the pitching table. Anne Thompson, of Indiewire’s ‘Thompson on Hollywood’ blog, moderated the discussion

What happens after you’ve finally finished that amazing film you worked on for years? You want to sell it, of course. You want to find a way to get it out there and earn what you know it’s worth. But where do you start? Who do you take it to? With Preferred Content's Managing Partner Kevin Iwashina at the helm, we brought together an expert panel including top sales agents Josh Braun of Submarine (US sales) and Annie Roney of ro*co (international sales), as well as David Magdael (publicist), to give you a few insider dos and don'ts for selling your documentary. DO find the right match