Editor's Note: Robert Drew's A President to Remember: In the Company of John F.Kennedy airs January 20--the 50th anniversary of JFK's inuaguration--on HBO. What follows in an article about the film that appeared in the Fall 2008 issue of Documentary.

Can a documentary film about a 1960s US Presidency be relevant in today's election year? It depends on who's telling the story and how it's told.

Robert Drew felt that documentaries of his day, especially in broadcasting, were mostly illustrated lectures and/or boring, opinionated commentary. He was convinced, from his experience as a photo editor for Life magazine in the 1950s, that there was a more exciting and revealing way to capture history with moving pictures--candid pictures that would reveal what historical figures did, felt and expressed as they made earth-shaking decisions and lived with the consequences. 

To try out his new ideas, he needed equipment that would allow a filmmaker to capture image and sound without significantly altering or disrupting the natural flow of events. And access to a significant historical figure would help.

Drew got his access in 1960, in the person of a young US senator running for the Democratic nomination for President, John F. Kennedy. With soon-to-be-legendary filmmaking talent on board--Richard Leacock, DA Pennebaker, Al Maysles--and using existing 16mm technology they had jerry-rigged and invented, Drew Associates produced the one-hour film Primary, and with it introduced one of the earliest examples of the Direct Cinema or Cinema Vérité style of documentary filmmaking.

Drew maintains that he had been impressed by candidate Kennedy's "spirit, his daring and his command of the English language." And when Kennedy won the presidency, Drew approached him about documenting his tenure in the White House, which would mean granting Drew Associates unprecedented access to Kennedy and his administration, thereby creating a "new kind of history...a history that could not be told in print--one perceived through direct observation of key characters in action," Drew explains. "Kennedy's idea, as he put it to me, was, ‘What if I could look back and see what happened in the White House during the 24 hours before Roosevelt declared war on Japan?'"

So, with that agreement, Drew and his team set out to record history as it happened. "He allowed me and my cameras to range with unprecedented freedom through his administration," Drew recalls. "Looking back, what continues to impress me is the steadfastness and balance he showed in matters of war and peace." 

A President to Remember: In the Company of John F. Kennedy, which premiered at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, is a composition drawn from the four films Drew Associates made about Kennedy--Primary (1960), Adventures on the New Frontier (1961), Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963) and Faces of November (1964)--as well as other archival footage from the Kennedy era. A President to Remember was directed by Drew and produced by his wife, Anne Drew.

The film begins with the Wisconsin primary race between Kennedy and Hubert H. Humphrey. Drew's team traveled with the candidates, filming them at bleak campaign dinners, in crowded meeting halls, smoky hotel rooms and local diners, and at radio and TV studios, as they try to make themselves known to the "man on the street."

The film continues with scenes from Kennedy's election, inauguration and the early days of his administration--including the failed invasion of Cuba and the landmark trip to Berlin. We then reach the point in the film that demonstrates what both Drew and Kennedy were after in their historical collaboration.

This section of the work, excerpted from Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment, depicts a moment in the civil rights movement when Alabama Governor George Wallace defied the federal government's court order to integrate the University of Alabama. We watch the tense conference in the Oval Office between the president and his advisors, the discussion of strategy and the development of a plan, the phone calls involving the plan's execution, the confrontation itself, and the denouement, highlighted by Kennedy's inspiring speech to the nation that evening.

Here is the heart of what Kennedy and Drew were after: a president and his cabinet--including his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy--making decisions that will clearly affect the future of the country. This is truly a new kind of history in images and sound. 

But then, all too quickly, we arrive at the moment of his assassination. We see him standing with his back to us, framed by a window in the Oval Office. We hear a gunshot on the sound track. The screen fades to black.

The images that follow are from Faces of November, Drew's elegiac 12-minute film of President Kennedy's funeral that he made for ABC-TV. The film won prizes at the 1964 Venice Film Festival in both the Theatrical and Television categories, but it never aired because the length was not convenient for the network.

Drew was compelled to repurpose his work in this presidential election year because he believed it would be timely and relevant to look back at "another president, from another time...I felt that the difference between our current president and JFK's example was so dramatic and could be so revealing that it called for a film that would allow contrasting of the two. In the 44 years since JFK's death, generations have grown up, many of them less than inspired by presidential example, that could well be reminded of past American presidential leadership."

The film's Tribeca Film Festival premiere received banner reviews, as critics deemed it "powerful" and "startling." Drew is currently is discussion with various television outlets about a fall broadcast, but plans have not been firmed up at press time.

Ron Sutton is Professor Emeritus in the Visual Media Department of the School of Communication at American University.

FOCAL Awards--Nominees
Best Use of Footage in Factual Productions
102 Minutes that Changed America (Siskel Jacobs Productions; History/USA)
British Style Genius (BBC/UK)
Menzies and Churchill at War (Dir.: Steve Jodrell; Prod.: John Moore; Screen Australia/ Australia)
Nation on Film: British Transport Films (BBC Television English Regions/UK)
The Day The Troubles Began (Prod.: Michael Fanning; Below The Radar/UK)
The Lost World of Tibet (Dir.: Emma Hindley; BBC/UK)
The Night James Brown Saved Boston (Dir./Prod.: David Leaf; David Leaf Productions/ USA)
The Unseen Alistair Cooke (Exec. Prod.: Rebecca Eaton; BBC Bristol Factual/UK)

Best Use of Footage in an Arts, Music or Drama Production -
Arena: The Agony and the Ecstacy of Phil Spector (Dir./Prod.: Vikram Jayanti; Vixpix / BBC Arena/UK)
Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (Dir.: Bestor Cram; Northern Light Productions/USA)
O, Thou Transcendent (Dir.: Tony Palmer; Isolde Films/UK)
The Thirties in Colour (BBC Vision - Factual - Arts/UK)

Best Use of Wildlife and Natural History Stock Footage
Arena: The Whale in the Museum (Lone Star Productions/UK)
Clever Monkeys (Wtr./Editor: Mark Fletcher; BBC NHU (UK)
Sam & Mark's Guide to Dodging Disaster (CBBC; BBC Natural History Unit/UK)

Best Use of Sports Footage
Black Power Salute (Tigerlily Films Ltd./UK)
Graham Hill - Driven (Dir.: Mark Craig; Mark Stewart Productions/UK)
Thriller in Manila (Dir./Prod.: John Dower; Darlow Smithson Productions/UK)

Best Use of Footage in a Feature -Length Production
Man on Wire (Dir.: James Marsh; Icon Film Distribution/UK)
Of Time and the City (Dir.: Terence Davies; Hurricane Films Ltd/UK)
The Memories of Angels (Dir.: Luc Bourdon; National Film Board of Canada/Canada)

Best Use of Footage on Non-television Platforms
CBC/Radio-Canada Digital Archives (website-- http://archives.cbc.ca;
CBC/La société Radio-Canada/Canada)
The Battle of the Somme (DVD release; Imperial War Museum/Strike Force Entertainment/UK)
The Four Tops: Reach Out (DVD release; Dir./Prod.: Joe Lauro; Historic Music Archive, Inc./USA)
WildFilmHistory (website-- http://www.wildfilmhistory.org/; Wildscreen/UK)

German Film Awards--Nominees
Best Documentary:
Lenin kam nur bis Ludenscheid (Dir.: Andre Schafer)
NoBody's Perfect (Dir.: Niko von Glasow)

2) Festivals

Miami International Film Festival
Dox Competiton
Miami Dade College Grand Jury Prize: Shakespeare and Victor Hugo's Intimacies (Intimidades de Shakespeare y Victor Hugo) (Dir.: Yulene Olaizola; Mexico)
Special Jury Mention--for its poetic qualities: The Inheritors (Los Herederos) (Dir.: Eugenio Polgovsky; Mexico)
Special Jury Mention--for the courage of the subject matter: Mental (Seishin) (Dir.: Kazuhiro Soda; Japan/USA)
Special Jury Mention--for cinematography: 16memories (16memorias) (Dir.: Camilo Botero Jaramillo; Colombia)
Audience Award: 16memories (16memorias) (Dir.: Camilo Botero Jaramillo; Colombia)

Sofia Film Festival
Best Documentary: Rene (Dir.: Helene Trestikova)

2009 SXSW Film Festival
Feature Jury Award, Documentary Feature: 45365 (Dirs.: Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross)
Honorable Mention: The Way We Get By (Dir.: Aron Gaudet)
Audience Award, Documentary Feature: MINE (Dir.: Geralyn Pezanoski)
Emerging Visions--Audience Award: Motherland (Dir.: Jennifer Steinman)
Wholphin Short Film Award: Sister Wife (Dir.: Jill Orschel)

As reported in Rooz, prior to his arrest, Ehsani had been working on a documentary about Iranian music for the Asia Society and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, both based in New York City, as part of a cultural exchange program arranged in concert with Iran’s Cultural Heritage ‎Organization and Iran Tourism Organization; the screening was to have taken place last October in New York. Earlier in 2008, Ehsani had introduced a group of Iranian documentary makers to a cultural program of the Washington, DC-based Meridian Centre, a nonprofit institution dedicated to public diplomacy and global engagement. But despite the official nature of these visits and exchanges, they constitute the basis of the charges that have been brought against Ehsani and, according to ‎Iran’s intelligence officials, has played a role in what Iranian officials ‎characterize as being efforts for a “soft coup” against the regime.‎

According to the International Documentary FilmFestival Amsterdam (IDFA) website, Ehsani is also a member of the Iranian Documentary Filmmakers Society, and studied English literature at the University of Tabriz. He made his first film, Ball, in 1993, and has since made several award-winning documentaries, including The Lovers; The Victims and AIDS in Iran. In 2007, he received support for Opium in Iran from IDFA’s Jan Vrijman Fund.

Ehsani’s documentaries deal with critical social issues in Iran. AIDS in Iran and Striking the Strings of the Harp examine illicit drug use in his country, and have also been used as evidence in his legal file by the government.

According to the report in Rooz, Ehsani is one of four individuals who have been detained under the same allegations. The others include Arash Alaei, former director of the International Institute for Education and Research on Pulmonary Disease and Tuberculosis; his brother Kamyar Alaei, Ph.D. candidate in health sciences and a Harvard University graduate; and Sylvia Hartounian, a reproductive specialist. Sources in Iran claim that all four detainees are subjected to heavy physical and psychological abuse, and the treatment of Ehsani is believed to be particularly harsh because he made a guest appearance on the radio program Voice of America.

By Robert Bahar and Almudena Carracedo

Over five years, our documentary Made in L.A., which tells the story of three Latina immigrants fighting for better working conditions in Los Angeles garment factories, grew from a short educational video into a feature doc that would premiere on the PBS primetime series P.O.V. and win an Emmy. Hundreds of educational and community screenings followed the broadcast, and we are now entering our second year of outreach and community engagement.

But Made in L.A.'s journey began in the living rooms and gardens of its "core audience." Individuals with a passion for social justice, fair trade, women's issues, labor and immigrants' rights reached out to their communities and made this journey possible. Throughout the subsequent production, post-production and distribution processes, our audience's support has been crucial to making Made in L.A. a success.

In this article, we explore how we combined traditional funding and distribution with more innovative, niche-oriented approaches built on a strong relationship with our core audience. As we have taken the film to communities around the world, we will also explore how we have succeeded in maintaining a "double bottom line"--engaging communities with the message of the film while generating enough revenue to sustain our continued work on the project.

Grassroots Beginnings

Made in L.A. began when Almudena Carracedo read a newspaper article about sweatshops in Los Angeles. It talked about deplorable conditions faced by immigrants working in some downtown garment factories: long hours, sub-minimum wage (or no pay) and unsafe and unsanitary conditions. Shocked that this was happening in the US, she set out to make a short educational video that would expose these issues, and would take about five months to complete--or so she thought!

She approached Los Angeles' Garment Worker Center, then newly opened, and started spending time there, sometimes filming, often just talking with workers. Speaking in her native Spanish, being a woman and working alone, she gradually established trust. The workers had just launched a boycott campaign, and there was much to film. The five months that she had planned to devote to the project passed quickly.

But Almudena did create a ten-minute educational video for the organization, which showed the piece at all of its classroom presentations and whenever new workers came to the Center. With four years of work still ahead, Made in L.A. was already serving its audience and advocates, and making an impact.

As the workers' campaign dragged on, Almudena began to focus on three women, and she was amazed to observe their growing sense of self-confidence and empowerment. A real film was unfolding, and she was capturing the subtleties of a transformative journey. But she knew that it would take more than just one person to bring the project to fruition, so Robert Bahar came on board; together we restructured the film and began to think seriously about fundraising for the first time.

Community Fundraising

Initially, we were declined by major funders, but we did raise money from small foundations dedicated either to supporting emerging filmmakers or to the issues in the film. Clearly, while the film had not yet attracted larger institutional funders, it appealed to our core audience in an emotional, powerful way. With our passion for the project and with the support of the Garment Worker Center and the national coalition Sweatshop Watch, we began to inquire about who might be willing to host fundraising events. One contact led to another, and, like a tree branching out, we got to know many people who believed in the importance of completing the film. In a series of five fundraising house parties, graciously hosted by these community members, we reached thousands of people, and were able to raise more than 10 percent of our ultimate budget-enough to cover our modest expenses during the first four years of production. (For details on how we created these house parties, we've written a brief guide called "Reach Out! Planning a Fundraising House Party in Your Community." A free download is available here.

In addition to successfully yielding funds, these house parties served a number of additional purposes. Instead of our being locked away writing grant proposals or struggling to re-edit a scene, the events gave us a forum to connect with hundreds of our audience members, and we listened carefully to their compliments and criticisms. The moral support was also essential: In one case, a woman came up to us in tears, saying "You must complete this film!" Such moments were powerful reminders of why we had started making the film in the first place, and of why our struggle to complete the film was worthwhile!

We kept track of everyone we met, and the network of supporters that emerged from these events would lay the groundwork for our successful outreach and distribution campaign--and for building a real community around Made in L.A.

Seeking Out Completion Funding

While grassroots funding supported our shooting process, we knew that we'd need significant finishing funds to be able to stop working on other jobs and begin editing. So, with the crucial moral and financial support from our core audience, we began to position the film for bigger funders.

The long journey of securing completion funding could easily be the subject of another article. Suffice it to say, we took Made in L.A. to the 2004 IFP Market and had the opportunity to meet with public television series, major cable networks and foreign broadcasters. While there was much enthusiasm and interest, no one was ready to jump on board. As we listened to their feedback, we saw that the film still faced challenges in crossing over beyond its core audience. That winter, we began to work to make the film feel urgent and relevant to wider audiences while maintaining our core audience's connection to the material. We made the film more personal, we studied and shaped each character's arc, and we worked even harder to tell the "big story" and "the issues" through the specific stories of our three protagonists. As the film finally found its voice, almost a year later, we were able to secure completion funding from ITVS, P.O.V. (through its "Diverse Voices Project") and the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund.

It's worth mentioning that we had contemplated giving up on getting funding more than once. It's such a delicate balance to determine whether you should be cutting trailers and writing grant proposals, or should simply use that time to make the film without funding. In retrospect, we're glad that we didn't give up on pursuing funding. Not only did it allow us to complete the film properly, but the process pushed us to make an important leap in developing the film.

Festival Premiere

After an intense and creative year of editing, we completed Made in L.A. in June 2007. The P.O.V. broadcast was scheduled for Labor Day, so this gave us a narrow US festival window. Luckily, we were invited for a world premiere screening at Silverdocs, and a West Coast premiere one week later at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Both events were tremendously successful, with two packed screenings at Silverdocs and nearly 600 people in attendance in LA! We attribute much of this success to the effort we made to reach out to the core audience that had been supporting the film through the five-and-a-half years of production. Through e-mails, bilingual flyers, extensive coverage in Spanish-language media and support from partner organizations, we reached far and wide. As a result, one of our Silverdocs screenings featured a contingent of immigrant workers from the worker center Casa De Maryland. In LA, day laborers came from more than two hours away to see the film, and a huge number of progressive organizations were represented at the event.

P.O.V. Broadcast

As our national broadcast approached, P.O.V.'s Communications and Community Engagement teams worked tirelessly to get press, catalyze community screenings and develop resources around the film. At the same time, the San Francisco-based Active Voice brought national partners on board, planned additional screenings and convened a braintrust of Washington-based organizations to discuss how best to frame Made in L.A., and how the film might fit into policy discussions around low-wage work and immigration.

With support from Latino Public Broadcasting, P.O.V. organized a satellite media tour featuring us and Lupe Hernandez, one of the women in the film. The tour garnered coverage on news programs across the country, including Fox News' Fox and Friends, Univision's Primer Impacto, CNN en Español, Telemundo and MSNBC, in addition to countless interviews on local and national radio.

At the same time, we waited with trepidation for our first reviews. We were confident that our core audience would embrace the film, but how would the mainstream press respond to it cinematically? And would the film communicate the issues? So it was with joy that we read The New York Times review: "Labor protest is not dead. Nor is it futile, according to Made in L.A., an excellent documentary...about basic human dignity."

Making an Impact: Long-Term Community Engagement

As we emerged from the whirlwind of the broadcast, and in the midst of international festival premieres and a huge number of events in the United States, we began to strategize about what our outreach would look like and how we would sustain ourselves during the effort.

Our first step was to release the DVD ourselves on our website (www.madeinla.com) and publicize it to our core audience through our e-mail list and partnerships with relevant organizations, and at screening events. Since then, self-distributing to home video and community groups has provided a small, steady revenue stream.

At the same time, there was great demand among educators, and we knew that we wouldn't be able to serve this market on our own. Instead, California Newsreel, a leading educational distributor with a specialized collection on Economic Globalization, took on the educational rights. Our self-distribution and their distribution efforts have complemented each other, and this has provided another important revenue stream.

With home video, community and educational distribution in place, we began to devote ourselves to community engagement. Our first year focused on community and university screening events, where we used Made in L.A. as a vehicle to raise awareness, increase public engagement, encourage coalition-building and catalyze action. Whenever possible, we'd follow each screening with a panel discussion that would introduce the audience to local organizations that could connect the film to what was happening in their own communities. For example, at an event at Yale University, we held a bilingual screening and panel discussion where organizers from the local group Unidad Latina en Acción explained how students could get involved supporting immigrant workers organizing in local restaurants. Several additional screenings have followed by local groups in New Haven, and the film has been incorporated into the work of local activists.

In addition to individual screening events, we have organized week-long screening tours in Northern California, New England and the Pacific Northwest, doing up to two campus and community events each day. The Northern California and New England tours were built around invitations that we'd received from various universities and groups, while the Pacific Northwest tour was a unique partnership with Sweatfree Communities, a national coalition that works to convince institutional purchasers to adopt "sweatfree" purchasing policies. Together, we used film screenings and appearances in six different cities to raise awareness about their campaigns. Less than a month after one of our Oregon screenings, the local city council passed a "Sweatfree" resolution!

The past year of screenings exemplifies the "double bottom line" approach. In addition to accomplishing our mission, the screening fees, honoraria and travel support from universities and local groups have provided an additional revenue stream and have been crucial to sustaining our efforts. Perhaps most importantly, they have also enabled us to bring the film to communities that aren't able to provide financial support but that vitally need the film.

Looking Ahead

In our second year of outreach, we are focusing on several core audiences that emerged during the first year, including youth organizers and the campus, civic and faith-based communities where the film is most likely to help catalyze change. We are also working to empower groups to incorporate the film into their work, and we have created "Screening Kits" that include DVDs, posters, postcards and online tools that make it easy to plan and promote one's own Made in L.A. events. We've designed the kits to be inexpensive, and we include enough extra DVDs in each kit to sell at the screening so that the kit can pay for itself. We hope that this approach will prove to be a sustainable model for us as social-issue filmmakers, and for grassroots groups that will use the film!

So, a year and a half after we finished our film, we're still working hard engaging audiences. We are living proof of the filmmaking adage: "When you finish your film, that's when the work begins!"

Robert Bahar and Almudena Carracedo are the producers of the Emmy Award-winning  documentary Made in L.A. For more information, visit www.madeinla.com and www.madeinla.com/blog.

Film Independent has announced that Rebecca Yeldham will assume directorship of the Los Angeles Film Festival, succeeding Richard Raddon, who resigned in November amid controversy over his support of the California-based Proposition 8 initiative, which effectively banned same-sex marriage. Rachel Rosen, the festival's director of programming, and Sean McManus, Film Independent's senior director, had been serving as interim co-directors since Raddon's departure.

Yeldham brings significant experience as a programmer, producer and production and acquisition executive. The Australian native, who had been serving on Film Independent's executive board, is currently developing, with Walter Salles, a film adapatation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, and is in post-production on the documentary Searching for the Road. Yeldham also produced Sacha Gervasi's Anvil!: The Story of Anvil.

Prior to becoming an independent producer, Yeldham served as senior vice president of production at FilmFour, where she headed up the US production wing. From 1997 to 2001, she was the senior programmer of the Sundance Film Festival and associate director of the Sundance Institute's International Programs. From 1990 to 1994, Yeldham served as director of acquisitions and business affairs for Fox/Lorber and Associates,

"Rebecca has a wide range of experience in the industry and she's an inspiring leader; her many talents make her a natural fit for the Los Angeles Film Festival," said Dawn Hudson, executive director of Film Independent, in a statement. "She has been intimately involved in the building of this festival and the organization over the last nine years as a Film Independent Board member. Rebecca shares our vision of expanding the festival within Los Angeles and the global film community by introducing audiences to unique filmmakers and their films."

"Dawn and her team have done an amazing job growing the Los Angeles Film Festival over the last few years," said Yeldham. "In these times, there is such a desire to come together and celebrate our unique city, community and industry, to bridge differences and champion great filmmaking and film-going experiences. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to join this dynamic team and lead the charge in taking this festival to the next level."      

The Los Angeles Film Festival runs June 18 to June 28 in Westwood Village. With an expected audience of more than 100,000, the festival will screen more than 175 narrative features, documentaries, shorts, and music videos, alongside gala premieres, panels and seminars, free outdoor screenings, Family Day and live musical performances.

The 2009 Creative Handbook--a great Southern California production resource guide--is now available free of charge to IDA members.

All you need to do to receive your free copy is to drop a note on your letterhead to the Creative Handbook people and include the following information:

-How the Creative Handbook is useful in your daily job responsibilities

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Your copy will be sent to you via USPS. Please remember to include a street address for prompt delivery.

There are two ways to order your book.

Mail your letter:
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Pass this offer to a friend and they'll send them a book, absolutely free as well.

Get more information about the Creative Handbook at www.creativehandbook.com.

John Cooper, a 20-year veteran of the Sundance Institute and Film Festival, was appointed Director of the festival, succeeding Geoffrey Gilmore, now Chief Creative Officer at Tribeca Enterprises. Cooper, whose appointment was widely expected in indie circles, previously served as Director, Creative Development for the Sundance Institute and Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival. Under his new title, he will serve as the festival's artistic director,  leading the festival's programming and strategic growth, as well as overseeing activities such as content production, online initiatives and key national and international partnerships.

Cooper joined the institute in 1989, and has played a vital role in encouraging the development of the "New Frontier on Main" strand of the festival, enhacing Sundance's presence through its website, and instigating the distribution of short films through through strategic relationships with iTunes, Netflix and Xbox 360 platforms. In addition to programming the popular Sundance at BAM series, since 2005 Cooper has spearheaded The Sundance Institute Art House Project, a national initiative of 18 art-houses from across the country designed to connect regional audiences to the Sundance's films and filmmakers.

"This is a tremendous opportunity not just for me but for the entire programming team," Cooper said in a statement. "Our industry is at a crossroads: Innovative technology and global accessibility are making filmmaking wildly creative while, at the same time, traditional funding and distribution models are being challenged. Never has our festival been more relevant. I am honored to accept this position and ready to get to work on shaping the festival of the future."

"When we established the festival, it was always with two goals in mind: supporting new artists and inspiring new audiences," Robert Redford, Sundance Institute President and Founder, added, in the statement. "Cooper has never lost sight of these goals. He brings to the position an infectious enthusiasm as well as a deep understanding of the Sundance brand and culture. Forward thinking, he is a natural choice of succession to lead the festival into the 21st century."

The Tribeca Film Festival, which runs April 22 to May 3, just announced its lineup. The highlights of the World Documentary Feature Competition include world premieres from Kirby Dick, Marshall Curry and Liz Mermin, and North American premieres from Jose Padhila and Yoav Shamir, while the Discovery strand includes a doc about CBGB's, the legendary and lamentedly departed New York City venue for punk aesthetes.

Here's the World Documentary Feature Competition lineup:

The Burning Season (Dir.: Cathy Henkel; Australia--International Premiere)

Defamation (Hashmatsa) (Dir.: Yoav Shamir; Denmark, Austria, USA, Israel--North American Premiere)

Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi (Dir.: Ian Olds; USA--North American Premiere)

Garapa (Dir.: José Padilha; Brazil--North American Premiere)

Only When I Dance (Dir.: Beadie Finzi; Brazil, UK--World Premiere)

Outrage (Dir.: Kirby Dick; USA--World Premiere)

Partly Private (Dir.: Danae Elon; Canada--World Premiere)

Racing Dreams (Dir.: Marshall Curry; USA--World Premiere)

Shadow Billionaire (Dir.: Alexis Manya Spraic; USA--World Premiere)

Team Qatar (Dir.: Liz Mermin; UK--World Premiere)

Transcendent Man (Dir.: Barry Ptolemy; USA--World Premiere)

Yodok Stories (Dir.: Andrzej Fidyk; Norway, Poland--North American Premiere)

American Casino (Dir.: Leslie Cockburn; USA--World Premiere)

Burning Down the House: The Story of CBGB (Dir.: Mandy Stein; USA--World Premiere) 

Con Artist (Dir.: Michael Sladek; USA--World Premiere)

Off and Running (Dir.: Nicole Opper, written by Avery Klein-Cloud and Opper; USA-World Premiere) 

P-Star Rising (Dir.: Gabriel Noble; USA-World Premiere)

Playground (Dir.: Libby Spears; USA-World Premiere)

Which Way Home (Dir.: Rebecca Cammisa; USA-World Premiere)

For more information, go to http://www.tribecafilm.com/.

Ten of Tyson's most well-known opponents are interviewed in the film, with Von Kaiser, Soda Popinski, Don Flamenco, King Hippo, and others reminiscing about the boxer's career.

As reported in Variety, The Cove, the Sundance Audience Award-winner from Louie Psihoyas, will hit theaters in the US this summer, courtesy of Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions; The doc, a thriller/adventure story of sorts, follows filmmaker Psihoyas, dolphin trainer/activist Richard O'Barry and a band of enterprising seafarers as they aim to expose the capture and slaughter of dolphins in a cove off the coast of Japan. Participant Media has also signed on to develop an outreach/awareness campaign, focused on the issues raised in the film. UK-based Works International and Quickfire Films Fund acquired all other territories.

Oscilloscope Laboratories acquired US theatrical distribution rights to another Sundance Award-winner, Anders Østergaard's Burma VJ, which comes to theaters this spring, followed by a DVD release in 2010. Dogwoolf will handle theatrical and DVD distribution of the film in the UK. The film, which documents an intrepid group of Burmese journalists who use tiny cameras and cell phones to document the 2007 crackdown in their country, will also air on HBO. Burma VJ won a documentary editing award at Sundance, as well as two prizes at IDFA.

As reported in indieWIRE, Theater of War, John Walter's behind-the-scenes look at playwright Tony Kushner's adaptation and production of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage, was acquired by Alive Mind, the documentary distribution arm of Lorber HT Digital. Alive Mind will handle theatrical and DVD distribution rights in North America, with bookings at such specialty venues as the Coolidge in Boston, the Walker in Minneapolis, the Wexner Center in Columbus, Ohio, slated for April and May.