We got some great feedback from our Doc U on the Road stops in New York and Washington, DC.
We wanted to share some of your comments with our big IDA community. If you’ve never been to a Doc U in your area before, we sure hope you can make it to the next one!
“Tremendous impact. These seminars are invaluable. Typically only available at specialized conferences that are expensive.”
“I was appreciative that we could attend such an event in DC rather than just reading about them in LA or NYC. It's important to reach beyond the LA area. It helps expand the community of members and potential members and anyone interested in documentaries.”
“The range and professionalism of the speakers was excellent. The topic was germane across the documentary filmmaking board…Very impressive.”
“...an engaging and inspiring event. I came away from it with a lot of concrete tips and ideas for developing a strategic outreach plan and building collaborative partnerships with organizations that can help increase the reach and impact of my documentary.”
“It's all about relationships and this Doc U event made it easy for me to build relationships.”
“The event provided the perfect context by which to connect with like-minded filmmakers. It was inspiring to see, hear and engage with filmmakers who have blazed trails. A perfect evening!”
“Thank you... Thank you...Thank you. I hope you do more in DC!”
Doc U
is the International Documentary Association's series of educational
seminars and workshops for aspiring and experienced documentary filmmakers. Taught by artists and industry experts, participants receive vital training and insight on various
topics including: fundraising, distribution, licensing, marketing, and business tactics.
Doc U on the Road
Made possible by a grant from
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Back in early November, we sent out a request for your help as we were preparing to submit comments requesting that the exemption be renewed to allow all filmmakers to obtain the clips they need to tell their stories under the protection of the law.
With your help and support, we submitted these comments for consideration of appending the DMCA’s current restrictions for accessing footage on Thursday, December 1. We're making the full report available for you to browse and share with fellow filmmakers, complete with moving statements from important influencers in the film world like IDA Board President Eddie Schmidt.
Documentary film is critical to our culture and our democracy. When the DVD became the default media format of our time, the ability of filmmakers to make fair use of copyrighted video clips became compromised. Because “ripping” a DVD requires bypassing the DVD’s “technological protection measure”, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act made the act of “ripping” a DVD illegal even in situations where the doctrine of fair use permits filmmakers to use the material on the DVDs without permission.
Arguing for a reconsideration of the current DMCA ruling for “ripping” DVDs, Eddie Schmidt said the following:
“The current DMCA exemption is hugely necessary for filmmakers, but it is already outdated. In order to keep pace with a rapidly changing industry, the exemption must cover the media outlets that are actually available in order to keep fair use truly fair. So we ask that the exemption extend to Blu-Ray discs as well as to means of digital transmission (on-demand cable TV, streaming, download).”
Please take the time to skim the official comments submitted to the United States Copyright Office and share with all your filmmaker friends. We need to remember how important fair use is for not just documentary but for all filmmaking practices. Let’s ensure this DMCA exemption is extended for everyone!
"When I was tackling the big issue, I could have gotten lost in it. But I realized I have to tell the most compelling, engaging story I can to get people to watch.
"It has to be about the story first."
- Roger Ross Williams, Academy Award-Winning Filmmaker
Doc U's most recent panel was held in one of Brooklyn's artsiest neighborhoods down by the river, DUMBO, courtesy of hosting partner and award-winning PBS documentary program POV. POV opened up their new screening room to the public for the first time ever to host a lively conversation about how documentary film can best advocate for social change.
Opening remarks from POV's Executive Director Simon Kilmurry and IDA's Executive Director Michael Lumpkin highlighted that this panel in Brooklyn was the culmination of a long-standing partnership.
Moderator Robert Bahar, writer-producer responsible for the landmark film on immigration issues Made in LA, began by asking the audience: How do films change the world?
Audience members began with broad answers-"bring awareness," "inspire people," "connect with viewers"-but also gave more concrete answers-"Put pressure on government," "change perceptions," "change policies, laws and institutions."
The goals of the evening's conversation, as laid out by Bahar, were to establish:
- What are realistic goals for how a film can make change?
- What makes an effective campaign?
- What is the capacity of a campaign?
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams took to the microphone first to set the stage for a clip of his 2010 short film Music by Prudence. The film tells the inspiring story of Zimbabwean singer/songwriter Prudence Mabhena, who was born with a severe disability in a country where physical disabilities are seen as a curse and the afflicted are often disowned by their families.
"I didn't set out to make a film that would change the world," said Williams. But that's exactly what ended up happening when the film was picked up by HBO and then shortlisted and nominated for an Academy Award.
When people who had watched the Academy Awards began contacting him wanting to know how they could engage more with the issues, Williams realized he needed an actual campaign. Fledgling Fund made this possible. Williams partnered with Human Rights Watch to bring the subject of his film to the US and give her media training to become an effective advocate for the issues that were important to her. The UN, the World Bank, and UNICEF signed on as partners.
Williams believes the biggest impact the film and its campaign had was in Zimbabwe. When Prudence arrived back in her country, hundreds of journalists were on hand for her return. Her father was there, crying and apologizing for abandoning her. She made a speech about the wasted potential of disabled children strengthened by her media training. The two major newspapers in the country had editorials taking the position that Zimbabwe had to change the way disabled people were treated.
Rachel Libert followed with a clip from her film Semper Fi: Always Faithful. The film follows a retired marine looking for the cause of his young daughter's death who discovers the cover up of one of the largest water contamination incidents in history of the US. The film follows his transformation from a drill instructor to an activist.
Libert and her team drew in environmental organizations as partners, primarily through the movement in the US for regulation of toxic chemicals. "We thought the film had a narrow but important niche," Libery said. But for partners, they saw an opportunity to cross boundaries through the film, to access the military community they'd never had access to before.
The film's most recent activist role has been on Capitol Hill, where there's pending legislation to provide healthcare for people exposed to chemicals in camp Lejeune. In June, Libert's team was invited to screen the film a week before a key vote in the Senate on the legislation. The following week the legislation passed unanimously. Libert stated, "We can't take full credit for that but it was nice to be part of that movement."
Moderator Robert Bahar took the opportunity to screen a newly revised clip from his 2007 film Made in LA-a clip created two full years later to be part of a campaign to influence the debate on immigration. The piece was picked up by bloggers covering immigration and faith communities who hadn't necessarily taken a position. As part of the screening campaign, more than 600 faith-based screenings took place around the country.
Diana Barrett next spoke about her journey from academic to founder of the Fledgling Fund, where chosen films have garnered six Emmy awards and six Academy awards in just six years.
Barrett shared a list of 10 key issues around successful outreach, including building outreach into the early stages of the budget, connecting with effective partners, and creating unique engagement tools.
Cynthia Lopez, Executive Vice President and Co-Executive Producer of POV, went back to the origins of the program to contextualize how the role of documentary film in social change movements has evolved. In 1998, POV's core mission was to use documentaries as a centerpiece to build public attention around social issues. The model was known as high-impact TV, envisioned as a multiple interaction structure as opposed to a one-way broadcast.
Today, POV focuses on three components: digital strategies, communications and marketing strategies, and audience engagement and outreach. Lopez screened a clip of the very successful documentary Food, Inc. She believes the secret to success was that the filmmaker's goals were very specific-to pump up the volume on the issue of food manufacturing in the US and to discuss food safety.
With a stellar line up of panelists, there was limited time for questions at the end. Questions ranged from understanding overseas audiences (it's a challenge) to specifics about how funders work with filmmakers to create campaigns together (it's a long-term relationship).
The turnout was inspiring on a chilly night, and the audience and panelists enjoyed a reception at POV's airy new space in DUMBO. Thanks to all who helped make this stop on our tour a great success!
Doc U is the International Documentary Association's series of educational seminars and workshops for aspiring and experienced documentary filmmakers. Taught by artists and industry experts, participants receive vital training and insight on various topics including: fundraising, distribution, licensing, marketing, and business tactics.
Doc U on the Road: Brooklyn, NY
In Association with:
Made possible by a grant from
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
"It’s one thing to make a film; it’s another thing for a film to matter.”- Nina Seavey, Director of the Documentary Center at George Washington University
Thanks to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Doc U made its first stop on the road in our nation’s capitol last Monday, December 5 at West End Cinema. Answering the question Can Your Doc Really Change the World?, this thorough panel included representatives from every aspect of inspirational storytelling. If anyone left unsure of some great examples of change-making campaigns from the world of non-fiction storytelling, we’re convinced they weren’t taking good notes.
After opening statements from IDA’s Executive Director Michael Lumpkin, Director of the Documentary Center at George Washington University Nina Seavey took the stage to introduce the panelists for the night’s event.
These panelists certainly covered the breadth of advocacy work, starting with Robert West’s catalytic organization Working Films. "Filmmakers make extraordinary sacrifices to tell their stories," West began, and the best way to ensure a rewarding return is to pair those storytellers with activists, advocates, educators and policymakers on the ground. This is precisely what Working Films does for filmmakers: relies on the power of the story to engage and move an audience while looking outside of the filmmaking world for a little help. His example was inspired by the film Including Samuel: with a little help from the filmmaker, Working Films helped organize a youth summit which eventually spawned I Am Norm, a campaign to celebrate differences among individuals.
This campaign eventually went viral, extending the life of the film while creating awareness for an important issue outside the world of one family’s story. "Collaboration between any filmmaker and a set of NGOs is what makes this happen," West explained. "We realized this idea of having one film carry the world is hugely impractical and not likely to happen." But a little collaboration can go a long way.
The panel then focused on the work of Ronit Avni, a filmmakers who also runs Just Vision, a nonprofit organization dedicated to telling the stories that you don’t hear on the nightly news of Palestinian and Israeli citizens engaged in nonviolence and conflict resolution work. Her goal is to tell these and other really powerful stories through documentary films. In her daily work, she sees so many documentary filmmakers who are documenting human rights violations but had not strategy, no clear vision for how to relay that to the public. That’s where her projects Budrus and Encounter Point prove to be shining examples.
Next, Adam Segal spoke about how to get your voice heard. His publicity agency The 2050 Group, based in DC, focuses specifically on issue-related work. Primarily behind the scenes, Segal has been working with filmmakers and films over the past 6 years to help raise the profile and help change the narrative in the national, state-wide and local media.
"Any informed filmmaker can become a leading national expert on the issues that the film focuses on," Segal emphasized. "It’s not that a filmmaker can overnight learn the skills of a doctor. Through the process of development and research, they can take on those corporate mouthpieces and take them on as co-equals in the national media. That’s what makes me the most proud to be a publicist. We take our relationships, experiences, knowledge of policy and apply that to the publicity work that we do."
One such film, The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier for the Civil Rights Movement, was featured in DocuWeeks 2011 and is currently on the 2012 Oscar Shortlist in the Best Short category.
Next, Angelica Das answered the question of how to get your great content out to the public as she spoke of her experience at the Center for Social Media. And no, we’re not talking about Facebook here—we’re talking about socially engaged media that can be used to investigate strategies and create campaigns. Believing that socially-engaged storytelling shout be strategic from the start, the Center for Social Media looks at audience feedback and the incorporation of emerging technologies. Probably her most important takeaway was to constantly reevaluate any campaign, much like software engineers constantly alter their design to better cater to users.
In the end, we’re really left to ponder whether we want to be advocates or filmmakers. It may be asking a lot, but the general consensus from the panel was that both are certainly possible.
Thanks to those of you who made it out to Doc U on the Road: Can Your Doc Really Change the World? Our next stop is in Brooklyn, NY on Monday, December 12, were a whole new group of influencers will tackle this very same topic.
Doc U is the International Documentary Association's series of educational seminars and workshops for aspiring and experienced documentary filmmakers. Taught by artists and industry experts, participants receive vital training and insight on various topics including: fundraising, distribution, licensing, marketing, and business tactics.
Doc U on the Road: Washington, DC
In Association with:
Those of us who live in Los Angeles have probably started seeing “For Your Consideration” posters and advertisements everywhere, reminding us that Oscars is just around the corner. Indeed, the season for buzzing and arguing about Shortlists of potential contenders is finally upon us. And with so many great docs this year, it’s truly difficult to say who might land one of those available Best Documentary Short and Best Documentary Feature statues. So while you’re all busy speculating about who might win and regretting missing that 2-week run of that anticipated doc last Spring, the IDA has the perfect way to assuage your concerns: DocuDay 2012!
That’s right - the IDA’s all-day, back-to-back screenings of this year’s Oscar-nominated documentary films is back at the Writers Guild of America Theater in Beverly Hills, CA on Saturday, February 25. And even though the official nominees in each category won’t be announced until Tuesday, January 24, all-access passes to this event are currently on sale. Not only will you get to see some of the most honored and celebrated films of the year, you’ll also get the chance to meet the filmmakers and mingle with fellow documentary lovers and members of the IDA community.
Join IDA as a member today to save 25% on your all-access pass to this exclusive look at the best documentary films of the year.
For those of you in New York, be sure to save the date for our East Coast edition, scheduled to take place at The Paley Center for Media on Saturday, February 25 and Sunday, February 26.
Interested in becoming a sponsor? Download our sponsorship package to learn more!
After a torrential downpour that left the Cinefamily scrambling to clean up water damage, the original Doc U: Directing for the Documentary: The Interview that was scheduled to take place in November was ultimately canceled. But our committed panelists (and then some!) are back for a second chance on Monday, December 19. Same time, same location.
Errol Morris didn’t create the Interrotron for nothing.
Documentary directors wear many hats, from research to writing to fundraising. However, perhaps none is more crucial, or nuanced, than the role of interviewer. To create a successful interview, directors must develop and draw on their relationship with the subject, while simultaneously maintaining an objective perspective on how the story and the film is developing.
In so many words, what we’re trying to say is this: interviewing is an art.
On Monday, November 21, we will present a special Doc U conversation Directing for Documentary: The Interview at The Cinefamily on Fairfax. The panel will be moderated by director/producer/writer Lisa Leeman (One Lucky Elephant; Crazy Wisdom: The Life and Times of Chogyam Trunga), in a conversation with directors Kirby Dick (Outrage, This Film is Not Yet Rated), Ondi Timoner (Dig!, We Live in Public), and David Weissman (The Cockettes, We Were Here) as they discuss the art and craft of the successful documentary interview.
Purchase tickets now!
Doc U is the International Documentary Association's series of educational seminars and workshops for aspiring and experienced documentary filmmakers. Taught by artists and industry experts, participants receive vital training and insight on various topics including: fundraising, distribution, licensing, marketing, and business tactics.
Special support provided by:
The lobby of the DGA Theater began to fill up as soon as the doors opened around 6:30pm. The red carpet was swarming with all the big names in documentary – aside from the night’s nominees and honorees, we spotted several big names in the world of non-fiction, including Kirby Dick, Mel Stuart, Michael Donaldson, Betsy McLane, and Ondi Timoner. Displayed above the heads of the attendees were banners featuring our Platinum Sponsors ESPN Films and Ménage à Trois.
As guests took their seats in the spacious DGA Theater, they were greeted by the tunes being turned out by Lucy Walker, the Academy Award-nominated filmmaker who brought her DJ skills from her film school days just for the occasion. Her beats continued throughout the ceremony, with special songs selected for each winner and honoree.
Upon entering the theater, guests were also left to wonder what was happening on stage. Before the ceremony began, the audience saw a tent pitched in front of an enlarged image of the famous Hollywood sign. Once the ceremony began, we learned that the hosts were hiding out in the tent, ready to attend an “Occupy Hollywood” demonstration, complete with a protest sign, a banjo, and a potentially threatening police officer.
After emerging from the tent, Eddie asked “Okay, I’m confused. Are we the 99% or the 1%?” After Tiffany reassured him that “We tell the stories of the 99%,” Josh countered with “Yeah, but we only make 1% of the money.”
This banter between the three hosts continued for the rest of the program, the three stopping to reflect on the more poignant moments brought through in the themes of the films being honored over the course of the evening.
The serious nature of some portions of the evening, of course, didn’t stop the hosts from honoring the Creative Achievement Award winners through a banjo performance from Josh and an interpretive dance from Eddie. The winners included Il Castello for Best Cinematography, Senna for Best Editing, and Better This World for Best Music.
Our fearless leader Michael Lumpkin – or as Eddie referred to him, “the heart and soul of the IDA” – took the stage at one point during the night to thank all of our sponsors and partners who make the dreams of the IDA into reality. He also gave a loving shout out to the caterers of the night’s event, Homegirl Café, whose treats and snacks kept the after-party going until we left the lobby kicking and screaming.
Each year, the IDA recognizes the achievements of a filmmaker who has made a significant impact at the beginning of his or her career in documentary film. A newcomer to the filmmaking world, Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Filmmaker Award winner Danfung Dennis was confident as he took the stage to give thanks to all the people who encouraged him tackle the hours and hours of footage he brought back from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He noted that without their encouragement, this footage might still be hidden away on countless hard drives.
IDA’s Career Achievement Award was presented to Les Blank by his friend and sometimes subject Werner Herzog. This award is given to a filmmaker who has made a major impact on the documentary genre through a long and distinguished body of work. For over 40 years, Les Blank has created films about the lives and music of passionate people who live at the periphery of American society. In previous years, IDA has bestowed its Career Achievement Award on documentary luminaries such as Sheila Nevins, Michael Apted, Ken Burns, Albert Maysles, Haskell Wexler, Michael Moore, Errol Morris, and last year’s recipient, Barbara Kopple.
Accepting the Award, the legendary Blank, one of America’s most original documentarians, reminisced on being scared out of his wits while in the jungle with Herzog making Burden of Dreams.
Also announced in the ceremony was the Best Short Award, which honored the inspirational Poster Girl. Directed by Sara Nesson (pictured above), Poster Girl is the story of Iraqi veteran Robynn Murray on her journey to reclaim her humanity after facing the brutalities of war. Accepting the award with Sara Nesson was the film’s producer Mitchell Block.
Longtime Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzman took the stage with an interpreter to accept the Best Feature Award for his film Nostalgia for the Light. Set in the Atacama Desert, the driest place on Earth at almost 10,000 feet above sea level, Guzman's masterpiece was honored for melding the celestial quest of astronomers searching the most distant and oldest galaxies with the earthly one of women, surviving relatives of the disappeared, searching even after 25 years for the remains of their loved ones.
In one of the more memorable speeches of the evening, Guzman ended his acceptance speech with the following:
"A country without documentaries is like a family without a photo album."
All of us at the IDA would like to take another opportunity to say thanks to our very generous sponsors for supporting the documentary film community: ESPN Films, Menage a Trois Wines, ABCNews Videosource, Documentary Channel, Authentic Entertainment, ITVS, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, POV, Kodak, Stella Artois, Chainsaw, The Standard, DGA, VeeV and Indie Printing. Thank you sponsors for supporting the documentary film community!
For a full list of the 2011 winners and honorees, head over to the Awards page.
A division of Homeboy Industries, Homegirl Café is a social enterprise that assists at-risk and formerly gang-involved young women and men to become contributing members of the Los Angeles community. Through training in restaurant service and culinary arts, Homegirl Café aims to empower young people to redirect their lives, giving them hope for their future.
We're happy to once again be working with the great organization.
Meet the IDA Documentary Awards Nominees: Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion of 'The Redemption of General Butt Naked'
By KJ Relth
Editor's Note: Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion’s The Redemption of General Butt Naked has been nominated in the Best Feature category at this year's IDA Documentary Awards, to be held at the Directors Guild in Los Angeles on Friday, December 2. Below is an interview we conducted with the filmmakers in November in recognition of the film’s nomination.
Synopsis: The Redemption of General Butt Naked follows Joshua Milton Blahyi--aka General Butt Naked--a brutal African warlord who has renounced his violent past and reinvented himself as a Christian evangelist. Today, Blahyi travels the nation of Liberia as a preacher, seeking out those he once victimized in search of an uncertain forgiveness. Filmmakers Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion track his often troubling path up-close, finding both the genuine and disconcerting in Blahyi’s efforts, and raising questions about the limits of faith and forgiveness in the absence of justice.
IDA: How did you get started in documentary filmmaking?
Eric Strauss & Daniele Anastasion: Before becoming filmmakers, we each pursued interests in anthropology and international development. Later, we each came to see documentary storytelling as a way to creatively engage with similar themes. We both met and worked together years later at National Geographic, and quickly realized that we were drawn to the same kinds of stories.
IDA: What inspired you to make Redemption?
ES & DA: We met and developed our working relationship while producing a documentary for National Geographic Television about life inside a maximum security prison. The piece chronicled the lives of two gang members who were attempting to leave their criminal pasts behind.
During this time, we both recognized a mutual fascination with stories that deal with the perpetrators of crimes---what leads people to make flawed choices and how they live with their mistakes. We wanted to make a film that challenged audiences to examine their own ideas about the nature of evil, justice, forgiveness and reconciliation. We were drawn to Joshua Blahyi’s story because his claim of transformation tests those questions in a big way.
IDA: What were some of the obstacles and challenges in making this film? How did you overcome them?
ES & DA: Creatively speaking, the greatest obstacle we faced was Joshua Blahyi himself.
It’s extremely rare for a perpetrator like Blahyi to be so candid about his past and to let filmmakers follow him for so many years. Getting to know Blahyi was an intense and emotionally difficult experience. The fact that he can at times be likeable, yet also responsible for the deaths of countless people, is something that’s hard to reconcile.
Ultimately, we chose to tell the story in a way that reflected our own struggles and questions. Over the years, a few people encouraged us to give a clear answer as to whether Blahyi’s transformation was genuine. But that wouldn’t have been true to our experience. Our opinions of Blahyi were constantly shifting, and sometimes we didn’t even agree with each other’s assessment. There was so much complexity in what we witnessed that it became difficult to distill it down to a simple message. We wanted audiences to confront this complexity as well.
We made this film to raise questions, but we don’t pretend to know how to answer them.
IDA: What kind of cameras did you use for this film?
ES & DA: The Redemption of General Butt Naked was filmed over a five-year period. During that time, the technology available to us changed significantly. Our crew made five separate trips to shoot in Liberia and Ghana, using three different cameras. We began production shooting on a Panasonic HVX200, or P2, then moved to a Sony XDCAM EX1, and finally completed principle photography in 2010 using a Panasonic HDX900.
IDA: How did your vision for the film change over the course of the process from pre- to post-production?
ES & DA: In many ways our vision--and the themes and ideas we hoped to question--have remained the same since we first discovered Blahyi’s story.
When we started shooting, we hoped to be finished after one year of following his story. However, we ran into funding challenges that made it difficult for us to return to Liberia as quickly as we had hoped.
One year stretched into multiple trips over five years. During that time, the narrative of the film was shaped by some very unexpected events: Blahyi’s decision to appear before Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), his exile to Ghana after the TRC’s final report, the disillusionment of his friends and family, and his return to Liberia in an attempt to reconcile with his past and present failures. Had we been able to raise enough funds to complete principle photography right from the start, we would not have captured these events over the long term.
IDA: As you've screened Redemption, how have audiences reacted to the film? What has been the most surprising or expected about their reactions?
ES & DA: Our screenings and audience reactions have been intense. We have always anticipated--and hoped for--a spirited debate about Blahyi, and the range of visceral reactions has not disappointed us. After one screening in Toronto, a local university student told us that he “kind of hated” us for making the film, for asking him to occupy such an uncomfortable emotional space. Then he engaged us for the next half-hour with extremely thought-provoking questions.
For many months, we labored with our editor Jeremy Siefer to set a tone in the film that neither affirmed nor denied Blahyi’s transformation, or his attempts at reconciliation. We wanted to present all of the contradictions and complexity that we experienced and allow viewers to arrive at their own conclusions.
What’s perhaps most surprising is when the occasional audience member doesn’t recognize the ambiguity, and instead thinks we’ve made a definitive case for or against Blahyi.
IDA: What documentary films or documentary filmmakers have served as inspirations for you?
ES & DA: Intimate, documentary character portraits like Bennett Miller’s The Cruise, Errol Morris’ Mr. Death, and Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man were all powerful sources of inspiration, as was Ari Folman’s Waltz With Bashir, which helped to inform our thinking on the aftermath of war and how those involved with violence cope on a psychological level.
With support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Working Films announces Reel Aging: Real Change, an initiative that will tie compelling documentary films and transmedia projects that explore aging to ongoing policy work and grassroots campaigns supporting older populations globally.
This four-day residency will include eight to ten media teams who, after three days of meetings to sharpen their strategies, will present their projects to NGOs, funders, government agencies, activists, and policy makers. These regional, national, and global leaders in the field of aging will listen to proposals by the resident media teams, hoping in the end to find a film or media project that fits well with their on-the-ground efforts.
Hosted in Washington, DC in collaboration with the Center for Social Media at American University, this assembling should kick off a collaborative campaign between the media makers and the global NGOs and policy makers.
Sound like something for you? Working Films is seeking applications from media makers whose projects explore the aging experience. Your project may be in at any stage of production or distribution.
Applications are due by January 6, 2012.
Not something for you, but maybe know a friend or colleague who might be interested? Please send a link to this piece to friends and colleagues and share on Facebook and Twitter.