After reading Mike Jones’ Variety post on Wednesday about his amusing shuttle ride experience, I couldn’t help but hope that my arrival at Sundance would yield similar results. Turns out I didn’t even have to wait until I got into my shuttle for my Sundance moments to begin.

Straight off the plane, the baggage carousel came to a dead stop. Despite several rabble rousers who tried to spread rumors of a labor strike (haven’t we had enough of those?), turns out it was just a mechanical glitch. Whilst waiting for the bags to emerge from the dungeon of Salt Lake City International Airport, I bonded with my fellow passengers, a good sampling of Sundance attendees.

Passenger A: A studio exec whose pet project is a nascent documentary festival.
Passenger B: A vendor who inadvertently insulted the producer she sat next to on the plane when she told him she didn’t like ANYTHING about his previous film.
Passenger C: A post-production supervisor who was tagging along with A and B for several days of fun and movies. When he learned I was at the festival covering the non-fiction films, he confided that he actually goes to the theater and pays to see docs. Love that!

Stepped outside into a gorgeous, sunny day with a fantastic view of the mountains. Crisp and chill, but not a complete shock to my thin-blooded LA body.

The airport shuttle ride itself did not disappoint. I had a wonderful reunion with Deliver Us From Evil producer Frank Donner, whom I met at Sundance two years ago when I interviewed him the morning he found out his film had been nominated for an Oscar. He told me about Amy Berg’s latest project (writer/director, Deliver Us From Evil), a film about Benazir Bhutto. Donner himself has several projects in the works.

I like getting to Sundance on Thursday afternoon before the massive crowds hit on Friday. Gives me a chance to get settled in before the madness begins. Of course, this year many are predicting a muted Sundance, which in my mind might not be so bad. A return to focusing on filmmaking? Fewer long lines at parties? Less traffic? Sounds pretty OK to me. We’ll see if it actually happens...stay tuned...

IDA friend AJ Schnack pointed out that Ari Folman's Waltz with Bashir becmase the first nonfiction film to ever win a Golden Globe when it took home the statuette for Best Foreign Language Film last night.

Bashir is also a 2008 IDA Documentary Award winner (in the Feature Documentary category), on the Cinema Eye Honors Feature Film Shortlist, has taken home more than a few other awards already and is a strong Oscar contender.

Check out Documentary magazine's feature on Waltz with Bashir here.

Congrats to Ari Folman and the rest of his team.

The European Documentary Network has expanded their well-known documentary funding book The EDN TV-Guide into The EDN Financing Guide. The financing guide provides documentary professionals with the information needed to navigate in the evolving landscape of documentary production, where new approaches to funding and distribution become increasingly important. The new guide will include information on funds, VDD platforms, distributors and sales agents as well as broadcasters.

It's an essential tool for documentary filmmakers, producers, distributors and program sellers looking for financing, co-financing and sales of their projects and finished films.

You can buy the EDN Financing Guide 2009 for 100 Euro + postage.

If you join EDN you will receive a copy of the EDN Financing Guide 2009 as well as access to search our online database on European broadcasters

For more information about the guide and the organization, go to www.edn.dk.

 

IDA's second free membership mixer was off and running on January 7 at Carbon in Culver City, with free suds courtesy of Heineken, choice spins from DJ's Mike D'Angelo and Dollar Short, and great conversation with a wide spectrum of the documentary community. The event was a live-wire welcome mat for our spiffy new Executive Director, Michael Lumpkin, who was personable enough to actually greet several members right at the door! Spotted amongst the packed-like-sardines crowd were DP extraordinaire Shana Hagan; Documentary magazine Editor Thomas White; filmmaker and Man About Town Michael Rose; editor Miranda Yousef; Sundance's Win-sie Tow; Board Members Steve Reich, Moises Velez, LaurieAnn Schag, Pi Ware and Gilda Brasch; and many other talented members, both veteran and brand new.

I personally was invigorated by meeting so many cool filmmakers with fascinating projects in various stages of pre, prod and post, and came away feeling psyched to pull together the community to just plain hang and have fun (and hoping that we, as an organization, can also help). Major kudos to Maria Arzola, Manager of Membership Services, her committee (the aforementioned Mr. Velez and Board Member Beth Bird), and our dedicated staff, many of whom were in attendance, including Controller Meg Madison, Program & Events Manager Peggy Ellithorpe, Webmaster and Technical Director Mark Dischler, and Executive Administrative Assistant MJ Brown. (Fiscal Sponsorship Manager Amy Halpin was there in spirit!)

Up next: Open your Trapper Keepers, there will be a mixer just for students in February.

All photos by Juan Ruvalcaba. See more pictures on the IDA Flickr Photostream.

I.O.U.S.A., the prescient, timely and perhaps timeless doc from Patrick Creadon about the national debt crisis that has, in part, led to the economic turmoil we find ourselves in, is making its television debut Saturday, January 10 and Sunday, January 11, on CNN.

The film, which premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, also screened at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions last summer, and has earned considerable acclaim from critics and audiences alike.

The broadcast will be hosted by Ali Velshi and Christine Romans, co-anchors of CNN's Your $$$$$, the network's weekend business roundtable program. Throughout the broadcast, Velshi and Romans will engage a distinguished group of panelists including Pete Peterson, chairman of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and former US Commerce Secretary; Dave Walker, president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and former US Comptroller General; Alice Rivlin, noted economist and former director of the Office of Management and Budget; and Bill Bradley, a managing director of Allen & Company and former U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential candidate in discussions about issues raised in the film and their ties to current economic events.

I.O.U.S.A. uses candid interviews, archival footage and economic data to tell the story of America's mounting debts. Interview subjects include noted investor Warren Buffett, former Federal Reserve Chairmen Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker, former US Treasury Secretaries Paul O'Neill and Robert Rubin Rivlin, Walker, and Concord Coalition Executive Director Bob Bixby. The conclusion of the film offers suggestions for how best to recreate a fiscally sound nation for future generations. I.O.U.S.A. was directed by Patrick Creadon ("Wordplay") and distributed in the United States by Roadside Attractions ("Super Size Me"). Michael Kane is the executive producer of the program for CNN.

This exclusive televised event will air on CNN/U.S. on Saturday, January 10 at 2:00 p.m. EST and on Sunday, January 11 at 3:00 p.m. EST.

The Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking announced that 15 feature films have been named to the 2009 Cinema Eye Shortlist.

They are:

American Teen
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters At The End Of The World
The English Surgeon
Forbidden Lies
In A Dream
Man On Wire
My Winnipeg
The Order Of Myths
Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired
Standard Operating Procedure
Stranded, I've Come From A Plane That Crashed On The Mountains
Trouble The Water
Up The Yangtze
Waltz With Bashir

Now in its second year, the Cinema Eye Honors honors nonfiction films and filmmakers, recognizing the breadth of the genre and including the crafts of cinematography, editing, producing, directing, etc. Final nominations will be announced January 19, 2009 in Park City, Utah. The Honors will be presented March 29, 2009 in New York City.

“These fifteen films represent every facet of nonfiction filmmaking, from classic cinema verite to films that employ animation, actors and narrative storytelling in often groundbreaking ways,” said Cinema Eye Honors co-chair AJ Schnack. “This shortlist is a terrific kickoff for this year's awards.”

Keep up to date with the awards on AJ Schnack's blog.

What's the difference between hockey mom and a pit bull? A hockey mom bites back at the media and SNL comediennes.

As part of conservative filmmaker John Ziegler's documentary-in-progress Media Malpractice...How Obama Got Elected he sat down with former Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin in her Wasilla home for a little chat about such hot topics as her much talked-about interview with Katie Couric, that silly Tina Fey and how the chatter about her family made "the mama grizzly rises up in me."

Check it out, straight from the grizzly's mouth:

Find out more at www.howobamagotelected.com.

What do you think of Palin's comments? Comment away.

 

New Board Officers, Board Members Also Announced

LOS ANGELES, January 5, 2009 - Independent film veteran Michael Lumpkin has been chosen by the Board of Directors of the International Documentary Association to lead the organization as its new Executive Director. Lumpkin begins work in IDA's Los Angeles headquarters today.

Lumpkin is an experienced executive leader with over 20 years at the helm of Frameline, an international media arts organization that presents the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, operates Frameline Distribution, and runs other important programs providing funding and training to filmmakers. He brings to IDA an outstanding track record of innovative programming, successful fundraising, effective financial and operational management and strong community support, and maintains valuable alliances with members of the film, philanthropic and business communities. Michael was also co-producer of the landmark documentary THE CELLULOID CLOSET, and has served on international festival juries including the Berlin International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival.

"I am honored to be joining the world's leading organization dedicated to non-fiction film," said Lumpkin, "and look forward to working closely with IDA's Board, staff, members and trustees to expand the organization's support of documentary filmmakers around the world. With the growing significance of social issue media and the rapidly changing landscape of the independent film world, IDA will continue to play a key role in increasing the appreciation and relevance of documentary film in all its forms."

According to IDA's outgoing Interim Executive Director, filmmaker Eddie Schmidt, "Michael is the stellar result of an extensive search, and we are thrilled that he will take us into the future."

Schmidt, who ran the organization for the past six months, will continue a leadership role at IDA, working with Lumpkin as the newly elected President of the Board of Directors. Schmidt follows outgoing President diane estelle Vicari, who served the organization for the past three years. Other new IDA officers include Thomas Rigler as Vice-President, Sara Hutchison as Treasurer, Elise Pearlstein as Secretary, and Nancy Willen and Bob Niemack as Members-At-Large.

IDA also announced the election of six new board members, among them Gilda Brasch, Adam Chapnick, Senain Kheshgi, Laurie Ann Schag, Marjan Safinia, and Pi Ware. They round out the group which includes Beth Bird, Brian Gerber, Lynne Littman, Thomas G. Miller, Steven Reich, David Tenzer, diane estelle Vicari, Moises Velez, and Susan West.

The International Documentary Association is a nonprofit, public interest organization dedicated to supporting and promoting the art of documentary film, founded in 1982. The organization publishes a quarterly magazine, Documentary, and its programs include the DocuWeek Theatrical Showcase, the annual IDA Documentary Awards, and its upcoming Documentary Nominees Reception for the Academy Awards.

For more information about IDA, visit www.documentary.org or call 213-534-3600.

Media Contact: Amy Grey/Ashley Mariner
Dish Communications
(818) 508-1000
amyg@dishcommunications.com / ashleym@dishcommunications.com

In the continuing afterglow of the 2008 IDA Awards, we discovered that history was made that night: By winning the Best Short Documentary Award for her and Isabel Vega's La Corona, Amanda Micheli became the first IDA/David L. Wolper Student Documentary Achievement Award recipient in the history of the IDA Awards to "graduate" by winning a higher-level award. The Harvard alum earned the Wolper Award in 1996 for her film Just for the Ride.

"I was up at this podium back in 1996 with my student film, Just for the Ride," Micheli said in her acceptance speech. "And there are countless people in this room, both then and now, that have inspired and enabled my work over the last 12 years, and I'm truly grateful for this community and its support."

 

 

I followed up a week later about what the Wolper Award meant to her. "Back then, I didn't even know what the IDA was," she admits. "But as soon as I arrived and saw the company I was in, I was blown away, and quite honestly, I was somewhat intimidated by the pressure of expectation. As I gulped champagne, people asked with urgency, "What are you working on next??" --a question that still challenges me to this day at these kind of events.

"I'm a serial monogamist with my films," she continues. "And like many filmmakers, I am wary of talking about new projects before they are ‘in the can.' But the mere idea that people wanted to see what I was up to next was exciting, and I'd like to think that I rose to the challenge, and will continue to do so on my own timeline. Because my student film was a first-person, vérité project made with short ends and a volunteer crew over a span of many years, it was daunting to try to transform that model into a viable career. But over the years I've come to accept the insanity of it all, and have been lucky enough to have had gainful employment as a DP and producer on other filmmakers' projects while I explore my own work, which has been a real pleasure, even if it is a balancing act."

And as for the Short Documentary Award? "As I said that night, it's an honor to be recognized by such an incredible group of filmmakers, and I feel as privileged as ever to call the IDA membership my peers."