For most of his career as a filmmaker, Alex Gibney has been deeply interested in tracking the path of corruption through the stories of the men who have fallen victim to its dark promises. With his latest film We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks, Gibney seems less interested in profiling the murky morals of one corrupt individual and more intent on delving deep into the origin story of the biggest security breach in US history. Gibney's film profiles not just Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's swift rise from small-time hacker to nationally-recognized celebrity, but also the smaller names and events oft forgotten from this story. Through footage licensed from news outlets and borrowed from an Australian filmmaker and journalist who spent time with Assange, Gibney's revelatory film explores the grey motives behind Wikileaks's founder, calling into question the supposed high-minded principles of the organization's mission.   

We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks screened on Thursday, October 24 in Los Angeles as a part of the IDA Documentary Screening Series. Gibney sat down with KCRW's Matt Holzman to discuss whether he regrets having to position Julian at the center of his film, especially when Assange's ideology might prove to be more interesting than the man himself.

Watch below:

You can watch more moments from this Q&A at our IDA Screening Series playlist on our YouTube channel.

Learn more about the other docs set to play in the IDA Documentary Screening Series

Whose is that powerful female voice behind Mick Jagger on The Rolling Stones' 1969 hit "Gimme Shelter"? Who was that woman dancing and crooning on stage behind Tina Turner? Who exactly is that talent behind the talent?

Documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville found himself asking these same questions. After doing research into what he found to be a lacuna in music history, Neville conducted preliminary interviews with some of the hardest working performers in show business today. What came out of his research and interviews was Twenty Feet From Stardom, a film that has gone on to be the highest grossing documentary film of 2013. Through interviews, intimate studio sessions and incredible performance footage, Neville's doc delves straight into the soul and the heart of the singers that make all our favorite songs just that much richer.

Twenty Feet from Stardom screened on Wednesday, October 23 in Los Angeles as a part of the IDA Documentary Screening Series. Filmmaker Morgan Neville and film subject Merry Clayton spoke with Indiewire Editor-in-Chief Dana Harris about why there hasn't been a film before about backup singers.

Watch below:

Heather Winters had already been a producer on several documentary films, including the critically-acclaimed Super Size Me and Sundance winner Anywhere, but hadn't quite thought about directing her first feature yet. When working as co-writer and producer on Class Act Winters met Grammy-winning songwriter Desmond Child, who welcomed her into his home and began to tell her the remarkable story of his family. Knowing that Desmond and his husband Curtis had spent significant effort filming the most important moments in their lives—including the birth of their twin sons via surrogate mother Andrea Whittaker—Winters and editor Lennon Nersesian began the process of extracting a story from the hundreds of home movies created by the Child family. What started as the history of one family evolved into a story about universal love and the importance of every family, no matter who your parents might be.

TWO: The Story of Roman & Nyro screened on Thursday, October 17 in Los Angeles as a part of the IDA Documentary Screening Series. Filmmaker Heather Winters, editor Lennon Nersesian and film subjects Desmond Child, Curtis Shaw Child, Angela Whittaker, Roman Shaw Child and Nyro Shaw Child spoke with KCRW's Matt Holzman about what audience reactions have been to the film as its gone around the festival circuit.

Watch below:

You can watch more moments from this Q&A at our IDA Screening Series playlist on our YouTube channel.

Learn more about the other docs set to play in the IDA Documentary Screening Series

We are pleased to finally announce all of the nominees for our 29th annual IDA Documentary Awards ceremony, which will be held Friday, December 6, 2013 at the Director's Guild in Los Angeles. "With over 400 submissions from around the world, this year’s Awards represent a thriving global documentary community," said IDA Executive Director Michael Lumpkin. "Collectively these incredible stories expand our understanding of our shared human experience and foster an informed, compassionate and connected world."

The five films nominated in IDA's Best Feature category include The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer), Blackfish (Gabriela Cowperthwaite), Let the Fire Burn (Jason Osder), The Square (Jehane Noujaim), and Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley).

The five nominated films in the Best Short category are The Education of Mohammad Hussein (Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady), The Flogsta Roar, Nine to Ninety (Alicia Dwyer), Slomo (Josh Izenberg), and Vultures of Tibet (Russell O. Bush).

Winners in the Best Feature and Best Short categories are selected by IDA's membership. Screening committees of industry professionals based in New York City, Washington, DC, the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles determine other award categories.

The IDA Creative Recognition Awards honor excellence in cinematography, composing, editing, and writing in documentary feature films. The recipients of these awards represent the highest achievements in their respective crafts, and highlight the importance of their work in compelling documentary storytelling. Pablo's Winter (cinematography by Julian Schwanitz) will be recognized with the award for Best Cinematography; Let the Fire Burn (edited by Nels Bangerter) will receive the Best Editing award; Narco Cultura (original music by Jeremy Turner) will be presented with the Best Music award; and How To Make Money Selling Drugs (written by Matthew Cooke) will receive the Best Writing award.

To see the nominees in the Best Continuing Series, Best Limited Series, the HUMANITAS Documentary Award, the David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award, and the ABCNEWS VIDEOSOURCE Award, please visit the Awards page.

In addition to recognizing the year’s best in documentary filmmaking and nonfiction programming, the 2013 IDA Documentary Awards will be honoring director, producer and writer Alex Gibney with the organization’s Career Achievement Award. Producer Geralyn Dreyfous will receive the Amicus Award, which acknowledges friends of the documentary genre who have contributed significantly to our industry, and Laura Poitras will receive IDA's Courage Under Fire Award in recognition of "conspicuous bravery in the pursuit of truth."

Each year IDA also recognizes the achievements of a filmmaker who has made a significant impact at the beginning of his or her career in documentary film. This year IDA will honor Zachary Heinzerling, the producer, director and cinematographer of one of the year’s most-acclaimed films Cutie and the Boxer, with the 2013 Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award. The Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Filmmaker Award includes a $5,000 cash award from the Estate of Jacqueline Donnet. As of 2013, the recipient also receives a donation of post-production services valued at $50,000, made possible by Modern Video Film and Red Fire Films.

The 29th Annual IDA Documentary Awards will take place on Friday, December 6th at the DGA Theater, 7920 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, starting at 8pm. The Awards presentation will be followed by the IDA Documentary Awards After-Party, the year’s most exciting documentary celebration, in the DGA Grand Lobby.

For more information, tickets and sponsorship opportunities for the 2013 IDA Documentary Awards, please visit www.documentary.org/awards.

Second-time filmmaker Shola Lynch, having just finished her first project about Brooklyn-based Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm's 1972 presidential bid, did not want to make her next film about "another black woman." But political activist Angela Davis was simply too rich of a subject for Lynch to pass up. After acquiring an exclusive contract that allowed Lynch access to Mr. Davis's story and the people in Angela's life, the process of constructing a second feature-length documentary was underway. Free Angela and All Political Prisoners took Lynch eight years to complete, but what came out of that long process is an emotional, political crime drama "with a love story at the center," a story that offers a detailed look into Angela Davis's life as a political activist and the activities that lead to her 1971 court case. Through rare verité footage, exclusive photographs, and never-before-seen courtroom sketches, Lynch weaves a narrative out of Angela's crucial political activism in her young life.

Free Angela and All Political Prisoners screened on Tuesday, October 15 in Los Angeles as a part of the IDA Documentary Screening Series. Filmmaker Shola Lynch spoke with Indiewire's Dana Harris about why she was willing to risk being pigeonholed for the sake of a good story.

Watch below:

You can watch more moments from this Q&A at our IDA Screening Series playlist on our YouTube channel.

Learn more about the other docs set to play in the IDA Documentary Screening Series.

T3Media, Inc. and Discovery Communications Announce Expanded Short-Form Footage Licensing Deal

Discovery Communications Iconic 25-Year Archive of High Quality HD Stock Footage Will Now Reach Larger Production Community via T3Media Global Library

T3Media (formerly Thought Equity Motion), a leading provider of cloud-based video management and licensing services and generous sponsor of the International Documentary Association, announced an expanded agreement with Discovery Communications, the world’s number one nonfiction media company, to operate DiscoveryAccess.com, which houses more than 25 years of stock footage from Discovery’s 28 entertainment networks and multiplatform media brands, and distribute the footage via T3Media’s expansive library.

Starting in November 2013, more than 100,000 clips from Discovery’s high quality, raw video archive will be available for the production community to license via www.t3licensing.com. Additionally, T3Media will handle all sales, operations and fulfillment for Discovery Communication’s online footage e-commerce site, DiscoveryAccess.com. With sales offices in New York, Denver, Los Angeles, Toronto, London, Tokyo and Sydney, and a global network of sub distributors, T3Media is ideally positioned to provide access and value for the Discovery networks stock footage archive.

"Discovery owns an unparalleled 25-year library of some of the world's most iconic digital content," said Jocelyn Shearer, Vice President Footage Sales, Discovery Communications.  "We're looking forward to leveraging T3Media’s position as the industry’s leading provider of footage libraries and licensing services, to ensure these assets are even more valuable to our production clients.”

“We are thrilled to expand Discovery’s stock footage business and bring content from the world's leading non-fiction media brand into our library,” said Kevin Schaff, CEO & Founder of T3Media. “The Discovery collection will be an asset for TV and film producers, documentarians and agency creatives looking for unique HD footage from Discovery’s renowned entertainment networks and multi-platform media brands.”

Launched in 2011, DiscoveryAccess.com allowed the production community to utilize production footage for the first time ever via an easy to use, self-service site including high quality, stock footage from various productions on Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet and more.  T3Media has served as the technology vendor for the site during the past two years, providing clip processing, website development, digital file fulfillment and storage services.  The transition of DiscoveryAccess.com to T3Media’s portfolio is the next step in making Discovery Communication’s licensed footage business more efficient and accessible to a wider client base.

For press inquiries, contact: ahagstrom@t3media.com or 720.382.2890 or jennifer_marburg@discovery.com or 240.662.3225.

After spending a few years embedded in the Afghan press corps, investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill knew that his privileged and protected position was causing him to miss out on the real stories in the war on terror. Deciding to unembed and push himself into a grey area, he understood that he would learn more about the human side of the war -- things that were hidden in plain sight. Through a narrative that unfurls much like a hard-boiled detective procedural, Richard Rowley's Dirty Wars uses one family’s tragedy to dig deeper into the motives behind this nebulous war that is quickly spinning out of control.

Dirty Wars screened on Tuesday, October 8 in Los Angeles as a part of the IDA Documentary Screening Series. Filmmaker Richard Rowley spoke with The Nation's Jon Wiener about taking Jeremy Scahill—a man typically comfortable in the background—and making him the star of his documentary.

You can watch more moments from this Q&A at our IDA Screening Series playlist on our YouTube channel.

Learn more about the other docs set to play in the IDA Documentary Screening Series.

Kevin Pearce was a strong hopeful for the 2010 Olympic US Snowboarding Team when a slight miscalculation in his cab double cork trick left him facedown on a halfpipe in Park City, Utah. The massive blow to the area above his left eye rendered him unconscious, causing the onsite medics to order an airlift to the nearby University of Utah Medical Center. After weeks in critical care and the revelation that he had sustained a traumatic brain injury, Kevin began the lifelong process of rehabilitation and recovery with his loving, supportive family by his side. The latest project from two-time Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Lucy Walker, The Crash Reel excavates and chronicles the buildup to this injury, the incident itself, and Kevin’s continued efforts toward recovery.

The Crash Reel screened on Monday, September 30 in Los Angeles as a part of the IDA Documentary Screening Series. KCRW’s Matt Holzman sat down with Lucy Walker, Kevin Pearce, and his brother Adam after the screening to discuss what made her fall in love with the family, working with over 200 archival sources, and using this project to discuss important issues.

You can watch more moments from this Q&A at our IDA Screening Series playlist on our YouTube channel.

Learn more about the other docs set to play in the IDA Documentary Screening Series.

Six feature-length documentary films have been selected to receive a total of $95,000 from the IDA Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund this year.

The Pare Lorentz Documentary fund was created with support from The New York Community trust to honor the legacy of legendary American documentary filmmaker Pare Lorentz by making grants to documentary projects that shed light on critical issues in the United States and focus on Pare Lorentz’s central concerns—the appropriate use of the natural environment, justice for all and the illumination of pressing social problems.

This year the fund received over 250 applications from 28 US states and 13 countries. The six documentaries receiving production support focus on a variety of critical issues and were chosen for their artful storytelling, strong visual style, and high production values, as well as their reflection of the spirit and nature of Pare Lorentz’s work.

For the first time since the fund was launched in 2010, two of the grantees telling these all American stories hail from outside of the US.

The Punch, from German team André Hörmann, Ingmar Trost and Thomas Bergmann, tells the story of a relationship between a father and his son, a talented amateur boxer, striving for a better life in a tough Chicago neighborhood residents refer to as “Murdertown”.

Switzerland native Nick Brandestini travelled to Northern Alaska to shoot a portrait of five Native Alaskan teenagers growing up in Barrow - the northernmost community in the United States with Children of the Arctic. As their climate and culture undergo profound changes, these teens strive to balance being modern American kids and the inheritors of an endangered way of life.

Teenagers facing challenges are also featured in two other projects to receive grants this year. Check It, from filmmakers Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer, peers into the lives of a group of gay and transgender youth from a tough inner-city Washington DC neighborhood who form an unlikely gang in order to fight back against the daily dangers and indignities they face. The documentary will offer an intimate portrait of 5 childhood friends as they attempt to claw themselves out of poverty and gang life through an unlikely avenue – fashion. While, Rich Hill, from filmmakers Tracy Droz Tragos and Andrew Droz Palermo offers an affecting and intimate look at a year in the lives of three teenage boys growing up in the rural Missouri town of Rich Hill where they face heartbreaking choices, find comfort in family bonds and dream of a future of possibility.

My Country, No More, from filmmakers Rita Amal Baghdadi and Jeremiah Hammerling, also explores contemporary issues facing rural America with an artful and lyrical look at the clash resulting when the economy and the environment are placed at odds in a small Western North Dakota farming community where people struggle to maintain their way of life amidst the recent oil boom.

And finally, grantee (T)ERROR, from Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe explores the ethics of the role of informants in US anti-terror investigations through a surprising and revealing story which shows us, for the first time, an active FBI counter-terrorism sting operation, from both the perspective of a government informant and the suspect that he has been assigned to monitor.

“With powerful imagery, artful storytelling and incredibly intimate access, this year’s grantees offer a unique glimpse into lives and communities that many would never have a chance to see were it not for the unique ability of documentary film to take us to places we’ve never been and expand our understanding of the human experience.” Said IDA Executive Director, Michael Lumpkin. “I can’t think of a better tribute to Pare Lorentz’s legacy than supporting the vital work of these documentary filmmakers–telling stories that illuminate some of the most important issues facing our country today.”

The Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund has now made grants of almost $250,000 to 15 films. Previous grantees include As Goes Janesville, Citizen Koch, After Tiller, The New Black and Remote Area Medical.

More information about filmmaker Pare Lorentz, the Pare Lorenz Documentary fund or this years grantees, please visit www.documentary.org/parelorentz

In what is sure to be remembered as this decade's An Inconvenient Truth, Jacob Kornbluth's documentary feature debut Inequality for All tackles the increasingly unbalanced distribution of wealth among America's workers. Developed from the concepts of leading political economist and former Clinton labor secretary Robert Reich, the film uses Reich's wealth and poverty course at UC Berkeley as the through line by which the history of income inequality is simplified, explained, and exposed.

Inequality for All screened on Thursday, September 26 in Los Angeles to kick off the IDA Documentary Screening Series. IndieWire Editor-in-Chief Dana Harris sat down with Kornbluth and Reich after the screening to discuss maintaining that light tone, their goals for the project, and how they got everyday people to talk about their vulnerable financial situation.

You can watch more moments from this Q&A at our IDA Screening Series playlist on our YouTube channel.

Learn more about the other docs set to play in the IDA Documentary Screening Series.