On Tuesday, January 17, Marjan Safinia was elected as IDA's new Board President. The other officers were re-elected to their current positions: Adam Chapnick as Vice-President, Moises Velez as Secretary, and Laurie Ann Schag as Treasurer.

Marjan Safinia is an Iranian documentary filmmaker. Her feature debut, Seeds, premiered as the Opening Night Film at SilverDocs and played at over 50 international film festivals. The film was broadcast in the US, UK, New Zealand, Jamaica and across the Arab world. Her first film, But You Speak Such Good English (UK), premiered at the prestigious Sheffield International Documentary Festival and played at over 20 festivals internationally, including the Margaret Mead Documentary Festival in New York, the acclaimed “Women in Iranian Film” festival at the Barbican Centre in London and the Asia Society in New York. Marjan is one of four co-hosts of The D-Word, the premiere online community for documentary professionals and was a Filmmaking Fellow for Jehane Noujaim’s global Pangea Day. She is based in Los Angeles where she frequently consults with filmmakers and produces work through her company, The Department of Expansion.

Marjan had this to say after her election to Board President this week:

"Over the last three years the IDA has done tremendous work under the leadership of Michael Lumpkin, Eddie Schmidt and our fantastic Board of Directors. I am so honored and excited to be taking over the reins from Eddie at this juncture. IDA today is more stable, more relevant and more active than it has ever been, and we continue to build on that stability with a growing vision for the future. I am particularly proud of the work we have done around Advocacy issues over the last three years, protecting and defending the rights of filmmakers to pursue their craft across borders.

It is no small feat that the IDA continues to flourish in the most challenging economic environment, where we have seen many similar organizations close their doors. This is because the services, education and community that we provide are invaluable for the documentary filmmaking community. Together with our exceptional Board of Directors, I am looking forward to honoring the 30 years of IDA that have come before us, and strengthening our foundations for another 30 years in our future."

Also at the Board meeting this week, Eddie Schmidt ended his three-year term as President and did not run for another three-year term as a Board member. Eddie sent this statement upon his exit from IDA’s Board of Directors:

"It's been an absolute privilege to 'give back' to my fellow filmmakers while serving as Board President of IDA these last three years. I'm especially proud of the advocacy efforts we achieved and the strong and vibrant community we've built up. And I feel confident stepping away knowing that Marj Safinia, with her boundless dedication and keen eye toward documentary issues and the specifics of the international stage, will take the organization to yet another level. It should be acknowledged that neither of us could possibly be as effective in our roles without the tremendous stewardship of IDA's Executive Director Michael Lumpkin, who makes us all want to be better docu-citizens."

Also not returning for another term were Sara Hutchison and Steven Reich.

There’s not much to do in Missoula, Montana, during the winter, especially in the dead of February. During the coldest months, you can imagine most residents would like to do nothing more than avoid the cold until spring comes around. Cue the perfect reason to stay inside all day: the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. Now in its 9th year, this 10-day festival dedicated to nonfiction has become a destination for documentary filmmakers to share their projects with the world.

We wanted to learn more about this great festival and the people behind it. After speaking with Big Sky Festival Director and Programmer Michael Steinberg, we learned what the programmers expect from their submissions, how a sidebar can reflect a contemporary worldview, and why he loves films that stretch the form into new realms.

IDA: How did you find yourself in the Festival Director's seat?

Michael Steinberg: I've been involved with Big Sky for years. I actually had a film in the first festival. I was once a resident out here, a lowly little filmmaker living in Missoula. I left town, made a film and thought, "I wonder if I can get into Big Sky?" I submitted a film and they accepted it. Subsequently, the next few films I made ended up playing Big Sky. The relationship with the then-directors grew: I was asked to be a judge one year and did some programming for them.

When the position opened up I was contacted by some folks on the board who expressed an interest because my background in programming with the Webster Film Series in St. Louis made a real good fit: they really wanted to have a director/programmer. There's so much crossover between directing the festival and what gets programmed. Content often dictates the direction of the event. It made sense. And I wanted to move back to Missoula and so did my wife and my kiddos. It just was an absolute perfect fit.

The capacity crowd at Yo La Tengo's performance of The Sounds of Science at the 2011 Big Sky Documentary ilm Festival. Photo:  Patrick Record)

IDA: With Big Sky now in its ninth year, can you tell me a bit about the evolution of the Festival?

MS: You know, films really don't play in Missoula, Montana. There's a nice art house here and you get a lot of mainstream art [films], but a lot of documentaries, particularly nine years ago, were just not coming to Missoula. That was the intent of the [Big Sky] founders: to bring these films that never play here. It had this kind of necessity about it: We gotta bring this stuff that the rest of the world gets, or that at least San Francisco, New York and LA get. That was the impetuous for its founding.

That first year, I think there were maybe 50 films, it lasted for seven days, and it was just an immediate success. The community just totally got it and was obviously very hungry for something like the festival. That first year there were probably 3,000, 4,000 people. Now we're up to 12,000 people, and we've stretched to 10 days. Last year we had 145 films; we anticipate probably the same number this year.

Over the years, the industry relationships have grown really strong. So it's the evolution from "The community is here for us" to "The community is totally down for it and the industry is starting to really take notice and get involved."

IDA: When it comes time for submissions, what kind of films does your team of programmers like to see in their inbox?

MS: What we like to see are beautifully made, cinematic documentaries with strong characters and beautiful stories. That's what everyone wants to see. It might be the roughest, most gritty cinema vérité approach, and still be, of course, extremely beautiful. Or it could be polished 7D high-def scenics. Those are different versions of beauty. But what I mean is films that are just really, really well done and cinematic. We want to present those films.

If you take a look at our theater, which is sort of this miniature Castro, you understand we want to show beautiful films up on this beautiful screen in this great old theater. That's what we're looking for. I don't know any other way around explaining that except that you always know it when you see it.

IDA: Let's say someone from the future came and looked at the 2012 Big Sky program to get a glimpse of what life was like that year. Would they see any over-arching worldviews in the selections for this year's festival?

MS: They would. Starting, I think, in the third year of the festival, we began sidebar programming. Last year we did a sidebar about writing and literacy. And this year, our special focus is music. We'll have 30 or 40 music-related films, from concert and performance films to tour films about artists and the musical process, its effect on human life and how it forms our identity and culture.

In some sense I think [our sidebars] are all windows into our culture as a kind of global culture. If someone from the future looked at our programming they could say, "Oh, here is that human tendency to try and make sense of the world we live in." It ultimately becomes a representation of the time. We've also had a great history with retrospective programming: taking a particular artist and showing a large body of their work. or all of their work, for that matter. That also puts this form of documentary into a context.

IDA: What kind of stories were you expecting to see submitted this year but didn't quite find enough of?

MS: I actually thought there would be more films about the economy, and I'm a little surprised that there aren't. I mean, there have been plenty of films that sort of deal with that. There's a tendency sometimes for films to want to just tackle it [and try to make it] the end-all film about the failing economy [or] the absolute film about why you should legalize pot. And those films fail, in my opinion, by and large.

However, here's an example of a film that's totally about an issue and succeeds beyond expectations because of the people and the stories that are at the center of it, and that's How to Die in Oregon. It's not a polemic about Right to Die, it's not a polemic about the failures of the health care industry or our government. It's none of those things, although all of those issues and all of those opinions come about through characters and through the telling of a particular set of stories around these certain characters.

Given our climate, with Occupy [Wall Street] and how much the news is focused on the economy, headed into an election year, I expected to see more stuff that was expressing that. I'm not done; we're still in the open call. I've personally watched about 350 films and we have close to 1,000 again this year, and I'll probably watch another 200 before all's said and done. I guess I expected to see more films that tackled that in better ways, but that's always my hope.

 IDA: Have you seen any films in recent years that have done a really good job of blurring that line between documentary and traditional narrative films? 

MS: Frankly, I think the other side of things, where a film stretches the boundaries of what nonfiction is to be stands out more. You can go back to Zelig or David Holzman's Diary for a film that's taking documentary aesthetics and telling a story with it.

IDA: That's really popular in television right now.

MS: It's super popular. It's not that I have no respect for that form; I think it's kind of great. What's been interesting me in the nonfiction form is where the boundaries get broken down in the other direction.

Exit Through the Gift Shop [...] sat with me for so long and I enjoyed so much the intent of that film--and even the execution and everything. I love that a prankster got his hands on the documentary form and did something really, really expansive with it. A filmmaker that I've always kind of admired is Caveh Zahedi, whose films are a kind of personal version of that. He's really polarizing, but I've always kind of admired his audacity. I Am a Sex Addict, for example, [he made] just to sort of rattle the form. I like it when it gets shaken up.

I'm ready to be really impressed by some fresh approach by some filmmaker who really says, "I'm going to take documentary form and do this to it!" There was a short film that was screened last year that was entirely re-creations called Summer Snapshot by Ian McCluskey. There's another shaking up of it. In the ‘80s when Errol Morris made Thin Blue Line, [there was] the whole question of "Can you use reeinactment?" And then of course it's immediately co-opted for crime shows on TV, so America's Most Wanted is basically a weekly version of Thin Blue Line. Where [Summer Snapshot] is manipulative in a great way is that it leans on what our sense of nostalgia is and our sense of what memory is and that there is an aesthetic, like kodochrome, that represents the idea of memory.

IDA: If there was one thing you could tell a documentary filmmaker who wanted to submit one of their films to your festival, what would that be?

MS: I would say, Love your film before you let it go. This isn't a race. I know it's an expensive prospect and there's the hope of finding somebody once the damn thing is done and you want to get it out to the world, but you should love your film before you let go of it. Most films have claw marks all over them. It's kind of the opposite for some people where their friends are begging them to stop making that film, but you really should love what you've made before you let it out into the world.

If filmmakers trust themselves and they recognize that as competitive as the film world is, it's not a competition to get your film done. It should be a labor of love. It should be the only thing you really want to do in the world. It should come down to having a complete and undeniable passion for doing that thing.

The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival runs February 17-26, 2012. The full program can be downloaded here.

Katharine Relth is the Web Producer at the International Documentary Association. She has previously written about film for TribecaFilm.com. 

C&S Insurance, a leading international insurance broker, has signed on as sponsors of DocuDay. C&S Insurance covers all types of productions in all forms of media including: Documentaries, Fact Based Entertainment, Episodic TV, Corporate, Educational, Commercials, Music Videos, Feature Films, Internet Production, Streaming and related production services such as post production, studios and equipment, rental houses and facilities.

DocuDay is the IDA’s all-day, back-to-back screenings of this year’s Oscar-nominated documentary films. DocuDay returns to the Writers Guild of America Theater in Beverly Hills, CA on Saturday, February 25. Not only will attendees get to see some of the most honored and celebrated films of the year, they also get the chance to meet the filmmakers and mingle with fellow documentary lovers and members of the IDA community. We're proud and excited to have C&S Insurance backing our important program.

For more information on C&S, please visit www.csins.com. To buy your passes for DocuDay 2012, visit the event's ticketing page.

Thought Equity Motion (TEM), the world's most comprehensive resource for news, archival, nature & sports content, has signed on with the IDA’s Doc U public program as an official sponsor of the monthly event. The company's diverse global footage collections provide documentarians with contrasting world views and enhanced storytelling capabilities. On top of becoming a Doc U sponsor, TEM has also become a major donor at the Trustee level.

Doc U is the International Documentary Association’s series of educational seminars and workshops for everyone from aspiring to experienced non-fiction filmmakers. Taught by artists and industry experts, participants receive vital training and insight on various topics such as fundraising, distribution, licensing, marketing and business tactics. Doc U is made possible through the generous donations of many individual IDA members and a great group of like-minded sponsors.

Thought Equity Motion joins the likes of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, IMAX, HBO Archives, and other stellar organizations to bring Doc U to Los Angeles on a monthly basis. We want to thank all of our sponsors who have made Doc U possible over the last year, and for those who will join us to make it even better in 2012.

To become an IDA donor and/or event sponsor, please contact Cindy Chyr, Development Director at cindy@documentary.org.

Dear Friend of IDA,

The International Documentary Association applauds the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for striving to make their selection process for documentary films more transparent and democratic. As an organization that has been presenting awards to documentary films for 27 years, IDA has frequently reevaluated its awards criteria and selection process for the same reasons and made a number of changes over the last three years in hopes of creating the most thorough and inclusive procedure possible to effectively recognize the art of nonfiction storytelling.

Since news of the Academy’s changes broke on Sunday, many online discussions have referenced IDA’s DocuWeeks program as a way documentary filmmakers can qualify their films for an Academy Award. A number of things said and inferred about DocuWeeks need to be corrected:

• For the past 15 years DocuWeeks has screened documentary features and shorts in theatrical runs, qualifying these films for Academy Award consideration and adapting its program yearly to revised Academy rules. Each year, we follow the Academy’s rules to the letter and present films in theatrical runs precisely as defined by the Academy. In 15 years, 186 films have qualified for Academy consideration through DocuWeeks.


• DocuWeeks is presented by IDA as a valuable service to the international documentary filmmaking community. This is reflected in the number of entries received to the program each year. DocuWeeks is a curated program. Films cannot participate in DocuWeeks by just paying a fee. In 2011 86 feature documentaries were submitted to IDA for consideration. Of those, 17 features were selected to be part of the program. Selection is made through a 12-person screening committee watching and discussing entries over a six-week period. Our films are thoughtfully considered and chosen to represent the best of the submissions across a diverse range of films.


• In 2011 the cost to participate in DocuWeeks as a feature was between $14,000 and $20,000, depending on format and running time. This fee covered the costs of the theatrical runs in both New York and Los Angeles as well as the paid advertising in designated print publications as required by the Academy. These fees are comparable to what a filmmaker would spend for a four-wall run to qualify or a service deal with a traditional distributor for qualifying. Many films participating in DocuWeeks choose to spend additional funds on publicists, travel, additional advertising, etc. Our films play in mainstream theaters in Los Angeles and New York, and are not hidden screenings for the purposes of qualification alone. We actively court press for our filmmakers, and celebrate their films with events and discussions during the duration of the program.


• Since 1997, 17 documentaries qualified through DocuWeeks have been nominated for the Oscar® and 7 have won the coveted award. These 7 represent over 25% of the Oscars® presented to documentaries over the past twelve years. DocuWeeks-qualified films that have received the Oscar® include Smile Pinki (2008), Taxi To The Dark Side (2007), The Blood of Yingzhou District (2006), Born into Brothels (2004), Chernobyl Heart (2003), The Personals (1998) and The Last Days (1998).

Nonetheless, it appears the landscape for documentaries vying for the Oscar will be significantly changed by the new rules proposed by the Academy.  Some seem to favor the well-funded films as well as the better-known filmmakers, but as with any new system the real test will be implementing these rules in 2012. In the meantime, 2012 will also see the celebration of the 28th Annual International Documentary Awards, focused exclusively on the documentary form, and rewarding many exceptional films and filmmakers, some of who would qualify for Academy consideration alongside many who would not. It is our goal to find and recognize the very best in the documentary form worldwide, and we pride ourselves on the number of international films that are nominated and recognized by the IDA each year. Documentaries are not a branch of what we do, they are all that we do.

We are also reaching out to the documentary film community and asking for your response to the Academy’s recent announcement. If this decision affects you in any way, please tweet at us or leave your thoughts on these new rules in the comments via the comments link above. We’re interested in hearing your opinions on this recent development.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ONGOING SUPPORT,

Michael Lumpkin
Executive Director

Editor's Note: Louder Than a Bomb airs January 5 on OWN. Here is an interview with filmmakers Greg Jacobs and Jon Siskel, when their film appeared in the 2010 DocuWeeks ^TM Theatrical Documentary Showcase.

Over the next month, we at IDA will be introducing our community to the filmmakers whose work is represented in the DocuWeeks ^TM Theatrical Documentary Showcase, which runs from July 30 through August 19 in New York City and Los Angeles. We asked the filmmakers to share the stories behind their films--the inspirations, the challenges and obstacles, the goals and objectives, the reactions to their films so far.

So, to continue this series of conversations, here are Greg Jacobs and Jon Siskel, directors/producers of Louder Than a Bomb.

Synopsis: Louder Than a Bomb tells the story of four Chicago high school poetry teams as they prepare for and compete in the world's largest youth slam. By turns hopeful and heartbreaking, the film captures the tempestuous lives of these unforgettable kids, exploring the ways writing shapes their world, and vice versa. Louder Than a Bomb is about language as a joyful release, irrepressibly talented teenagers obsessed with making words dance, and the communities they create along the way. While the topics they tackle are often deeply personal, what they put into their poems, and what they get out of them, is universal: the defining work of finding one's voice.

IDA: How did you get started in documentary filmmaking?

Greg Jacobs and Jon Siskel: We both started out in the late '90s, making television documentaries for two different Chicago companies. Between us, we've worked on more than 200 shows, for networks like History, Discovery, A&E and National Geographic, and our last show--102 Minutes That Changed America--won three Primetime Emmys, including Outstanding Nonfiction Special.
So when we started Louder Than a Bomb, which is our first feature documentary, we figured it'd be no different from the work we'd been doing for the previous decade. Of course, we found out the hard way that TV docs and feature docs involve very different muscles, and much of the last three years has been spent unlearning old habits and learning new ones.

IDA: What inspired you to make Louder Than a Bomb?

GJ & JS: Driving by the Metro, a legendary Chicago rock club, on a Saturday night in March 2005, and seeing "Louder Than a Bomb High School Poetry Slam Finals" on the marquee, with a line of kids of all shapes, sizes and colors stretching down the block. It's unusual enough to see such a radically diverse group of kids on the north side of Chicago, but for poetry? And on a Saturday night!? It definitely seemed like a world worth exploring.
As filmmakers--and realists--we're always looking for reasons not to keep going with a project. Those reasons never materialized with LTAB. Every team we visited, every practice we attended, every event we went to seemed to confirm that there was something special about these kids and this community. And the better we got to know the specific kids we followed, the more inspired we became, until at certain point, a interesting project became an inevitable one.

IDA: What were some of the challenges and obstacles in making this film, and how did you overcome them?

GJ & JS: Other than fundraising? 
The main challenge was a narrative one. Essentially, we had one great team story (the saga of the Steinmenauts), and three great character profiles (Nate, Nova and Adam). It probably would've been much easier to pick one direction or the other, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to lose any of the kids.
It took us two years to get the balance right, and our incredibly talented and eternally patient editor, John Farbrother, may still prefer the nine-hour cut. But in the end, the decision to keep all four stories turned out to be a crucial one. The film is very much about community, and each of the stories reflects something vital about the power of the community Louder Than a Bomb creates. 

IDA:  How did your vision for the film change over the course of the pre-production, production and post-production processes?

GJ & JS: Well, we certainly couldn't have planned for the ending. And we envisioned a more significant role for graphics, which turned out not to be necessary. But by and large, what's onscreen is a pretty accurate representation of what we had set out to do from the start: Make an entertaining film; capture the spirit of the event; and tell the kids' stories with enough richness and complexity that when people leave the theater, they remember the characters by name, and not by type.

IDA:  As you've screened Louder Than a Bomb--whether on the festival circuit, or in screening rooms, or in living rooms--how have audiences reacted to the film? What has been most surprising or unexpected about their reactions?

GJ & JS: Because we do TV documentaries, we never get to see our audience. So sitting (or pacing) in a darkened theater, watching our work with a group of strangers and trying to gauge their reactions, is a new and nerve-wracking experience for us. But in that experience, two things have really stood out.
First, there's the participatory nature of the audience's response to the film as they're watching it. It usually starts with someone clapping, almost involuntarily, after one of the kids' early performances. Once that happens, the ice is broken, and the rest of the audience realizes they can react, too. By the second half of the film, people are cheering after each piece, and the line between the audience in the theater and the audiences in the film pretty much dissolves.
The second surprising thing has been the intensity of the audience's reaction to the film. On a number of occasions, people have approached us after a screening, started telling us about how the movie made them cry, and then started crying just talking about it. Age, race, class--it really hasn't mattered. People in general just seem amazed, energized and inspired by the kids in the film--which is incredibly gratifying, because we feel lucky to know them, and we want everyone else to meet them as well.

IDA: What docs or docmakers have served as inspirations for you?

GJ & JS: Obviously, as Chicagoans, Hoop Dreams is a big inspiration, and we're really grateful to the folks at Kartemquin, who have been supportive of the film all along. And while we're not about to compare our film to that one, we have found that it really helps people understand the film when we tell them, "Louder Than a Bomb is about poetry slam the same way Hoop Dreams is about basketball."
Other inspirations include some of the really entertaining subculture/competition films of the last decade--Murderball, Spellbound, Mad Hot Ballroom, King of Kong, etc.--as well as Errol Morris and Albert Maysles. Then again, at this point, we're pretty much inspired by anyone who manages to get a feature documentary funded, made and distributed.

Louder Than a Bomb will be screening July 30 through August 5 at the IFC Center in New York City, and August 6 through 12 at the Arclight Hollywood in Los Angeles.

To download the DocuWeeks^TM program, click here.

To purchase tickets for Louder Than a Bomb in Los Angeles, click here.

To purchase tickets for Louder Than a Bomb in New York, click here.

I'm not a journalist. I don't have a catalogue of questions. I come in and I don't have any questions at all. You have to assess the situation instantly. You have to find the right tone instantly because you have fifty minutes and that's that.

–Werner Herzog

For the final Doc U seminar of 2011, members of the documentary community gathered on Monday, December 19 at Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater for a conversation on the art of the interview. The theater was decked out for the holidays, making us all thankful to be inside a toasty movie house instead of waiting in long lines at department stores. With the house close to capacity, everyone hunkered down for a serious and in-depth conversation on how best to get a subject to say what they mean in a way that works for a story.

Moderated by director/producer/writer Lisa Leeman (One Lucky Elephant; Crazy Wisdom: The Life and Times of Chogyam Trunga), the panel consisted of 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) discussing their varied experiences conducting interviews for their documentary projects.

Lisa got the ball rolling by asking if anyone had their own unique philosophies about interviewing. The biggest takeaway from the panelist's responses was the importance of making this interaction a conversation. Having a series of questions with no flow or exchange won't get you anywhere—as Ondi said, "Let them feel your humanity." Most of the panelists were pretty against the idea of pre-interviewing, with David insisting that it "kills the freshness" of someone's recollection of a story.

Each director on the panel had their own amazing stories to tell, most of them involving either unintentional or planned deception—that is, deception "of sorts." Kirby insisted that "interviews in a bar are a great idea," seemingly due to the inevitable loosening up that follows alcohol consumption. Ondi had to hide her project's true nature to get an interview with a cult leader. When an interview subject refused to tell her traumatic story of being attacked by an elephant, Lisa's invitation to have the husband tell the story ultimately ended in the woman opening up to the cameras.

The clips each director brought with them provided perfect examples of the techniques each director gave name to. Ondi's clip from Join Us showed formally-involved cult members opening up to Ondi's camera, making this interview moment seem as natural as it would without the camera's presence. She then waltzes right into the cult leader's home, allowing him to tell his story without any preplanned intentions of her own. Kirby's clip from This Film is Not Yet Rated depicted a less-conventional interview style - an animated reenactment of a phone interview Kirby had with the head of the MPAA, which due to California law could not be recorded without her express permission. David's love for talking heads—and the fact that he keeps his camera right next to his face when he's interviewing—made his subject vulnerable yet relatable in his clip from the upcoming We Were Here.

The Q&A with the audience ended with a particularly pointed question about the ethics behind obtaining an interview from someone. How far is too far?, one audience member asked. "Each filmmaker has to determine their own ethics," David answered. "Thinking about the ethics is absolutely essential. It's central to what we do."

After the panel had wrapped up the Q&A, the guests and panelists met on the outside patio to continue the conversation over wine and treats. The chilly night was warmed by the inspiration everyone felt after the stimulating panel, and there was certainly a lot to digest.

Thanks to everyone who made Monday night a huge success. We'll see you at our next Doc U in late January!

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:

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

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Made possible by a grant from
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences