Sponsored by the IDA, the "Digital Documentarian: DIY All the Way" panel at the Digital Hollywood conference in Santa Monica on May 3 considered several timely subjects: how the availability of digital cameras has impacted production; the use of the Internet in promotion and distribution; and how subjects, even as serious as mountaintop removal coal mining, can be made accessible to audiences via online initiatives like Second Life.
Although it was not possible to cover all aspects of the impact of digital technology on documentary filmmaking, after clips from each filmmaker, the forum raised some ideas and participants posed some questions. Adam Chapnick, IDA Board Vice President and CEO of Distribber, moderated the panel, which included the following filmmakers: Christoph Baaden (Hood to Coast, a sports film that covers the world's largest relay running race); Keven McAlester (The Dungeon Masters; You're Gonna Miss Me); Sally Rubin, who has created a companion interactive game in Second Life to her film Deep Down that further exposes the realities of mountaintop removal; Jason Spingarn-Koff, whose documentary Life 2.0, about people immersed in Second Life virtual reality, was shot partly in the virtual world, and partly in real life; Adam Del Deo (Every Little Step); Scott Hamilton Kennedy (The Garden), now in post-production on Fame High; and Christopher Quinn (God Grew Tired of Us), who is the process of opening a documentary theater in Los Angeles.
For Christophe Baaden, the key to getting Hood to Coast made was understanding the core audience for the film. "Before we started filming, we talked to distributors, specifically about the sports hook," Baaden said. "We were able to raise money because of the large built-in audience." He credits other doc filmmakers for sharing information on DVD, rental and theatrical numbers for other sports films to show the market potential of Hood to Coast to investors.
Adam Del Deo also stressed the importance of using whatever camera is available (you can't always afford HD) to capture those vérité moments that are so important. "Don't be paranoid about technology," he stressed. "Just capture it; the look can be fixed at end of process."
Jason Spingarn-Koff espoused the contrarian's viewpoint: While digital cameras provide a low bar to entry, he has no illusions that digital filmmaking is cheap; he couldn't make money while making his film, which took three years to make.
Sally Rubin explained how pitching and then creating a Second Life component allowed her team to make their film. "It's not enough to just have a good idea and a compelling story," she contended. "We wanted to make a film that would get made and have people see it; we came up with a gimmick and a way to connect with the story in Kentucky." Funder ITVS loved the idea and provided funding; the filmmakers then leveraged for additional funding and an upcoming PBS national broadcast. "We had to think well beyond cinema vérité: how to get the story out there and impact people," Rubin noted.
Keven McAlester agreed that while it is much easier these days to make a film because of digital technology, the bar has been raised. "In terms of technology, it's forced filmmakers to consider creativity and imagination when making films," he pointed out. Scott Kennedy countered that his film The Garden was almost completely a vérité film (it did have some Adobe After Effects). "As filmmakers, you don't want style to outweigh substance," he cautioned. "Story has to work with technology."
Because of his own experience with theatrical distribution and finding that docs are low on the totem pole in the theatrical world, Christopher Quinn is working on launching a documentary theater in Los Angeles. He is currently investigating theaters and expects to open within the year. "It's a reaction to selling a film: distributors are running the game," he maintained. "It's now about packaging the deal: roll films out quickly to take advantage of press, and the theatrical window is often by-passed." He also wants to have a place for the doc community that is not just online. But the panelists were quick to mention websites that did support doc filmmakers including http://www.d-word.com, http://www.doculink.org/ and https://shootingpeople.org.
The second documentary-specific panel of the day, "Crowd Funding, Alternative Distribution, Community Building and Social Marketing," was moderated ably by David Straus, CEO of Withoutabox. Participating and giving a glimpse of how documentary filmmakers can utilize Internet tools to build awareness, raise funds and promote and distribute their films were: Danae Ringelmann, co-founder, IndieGoGo, an online funding platform for indie filmmakers; David Gale, senior vice president for new media at MTV, an in-house incubator for new programming ideas; Sara Pollack, entertainment marketing manager for YouTube's Screening Room; Christian Gaines, director of festivals at Withoutabox; and Laura Beatty, vice president of marketing and distribution at Brave New Films.
Straus asked audience members if they were filmmakers or distributors. To those who answered as filmmakers, he admonished, "The first step in getting your film out is to identify yourself as a distributor." Filmmakers already have many tools to get their documentaries out. Here's a sampling of advice from the panelists on how to start that process:
Laura Beatty: "Look at a Facebook fan equally as an e-mail address. Message what you're doing as filmmakers to fans. Get a following based on what you're doing. Once you start the process of filmmaking, start messaging."
Sara Pollack: "Although YouTube is used most commonly as a platform for short films, we are now experimenting with feature films in an ad-supported model. With VOD [launched in January 2010] and a heavily curated sponsorship section, there are now a variety of ways to monetize on YouTube. All films and filmmakers should be on Facebook, then immediately share when you post to YouTube. Think of uploading a film, like a film's [traditional theatrical] opening weekend."
Danae Ringelmann: "Marketing is actually free now on the Internet. Use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to get out into world; it is imperative as filmmakers to put on your marketer hat. Use the Internet to engage audiences earlier; start building a following early [by posting clips]. You don't have to give your entire film away, but production is the new promotion and a way to build buzz."
David Gale: "Whether you're big media or just starting, you still have to get an audience interested in what you're doing. You have to look at your film as an immersive experience; consider new platforms like the one-million-selling iPad. [Gale used MTV's Five Dollar Cover on the Memphis music scene as an example.] As filmmakers, you have to start to think outside of linear space--how to explore content, what information you want to convey."
Christian Gaines: "I've see film festivals change a lot: they are now experimenting with new forms of distribution as it relates to their brand. Formerly, there was a big focus on being first and only, with premieres. Now, with the advent of non-linear, that's not as important to film festivals these days. With VOD, iTunes, Amazon, Netflix, and pay as you go, compared to renting and buying DVDs, this is all a new world for documentaries and specialty films, and in its early stages. My advice: Learn everything about this space, which will give you a competitive edge."
Danae Ringelmann: "Get your [distribution] windows ready to go at same time; your ability to make money is in the robustness of your Fans, Friends and Followers. Audience-building and marketing is now the filmmakers' job. And you must outreach to organizations, bloggers, influencers, all those people who are going to get you to your fan base."
Christian Gaines: "Consider IMDB.com as a marketing engine and information site. Filmmakers need to take a film's title page seriously and add photos and videos."
And a post-session comment from filmmaker Lyn Goldfarb: "The session was really valuable in making filmmakers aware of the change in distribution and marketing around us and what we can do. There's a sea change in awareness that filmmakers have to come to grips with: the marriage of us as content producers and technology, all beyond broadcast and theatrical."
Kathy A. McDonald is a writer based in Los Angeles.
Babies, which documents the first year in the life of four babies around the world, pulled in an impressive $2,161,460 at the box office over Mother's Day weekend. As previously reported, Focus Features, which is distributing the Thomas Balmès film, spearheaded a hefty marketing campaign involving ten partners on board to get the word out
Of course, success breeds jealousy, and the California State Labor Commission is investigating whether inclusion of one of the babies, Hattie, a San Franciscan, may have violated child labor laws; for more, check this report on Moviefone.com.
Babies is actually the second doc to break the $1M mark in 2010; Oceans, the DisneyNature doc from Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzard, has now grossed $16,131,584, earning a number seven spot on the highest grossing docs of all time, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.
Exit Through the Gift Shop, the doc-or-faux-doc from Banksy, is knocking at the $1M door at $932,497, and rounding out the top five grossers of 2010 are the Oscar-nominated The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, at $423,411, and Frederick Wiseman's La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet, which was actually released in late 2009, but is still playing in theaters around the country. The film has grossed $339,790.
And what do these five docs have in common? A French connection: Balmès, Perrin and Cluzard all hail from France, as does Theirry Guetta, the unwitting subject/Baedeker of Exit Through the Gift Shop. La Danse is self-explanatory, and the Pentagon Papers addressed America's involvement in Vietnam, a former French colony. And what does this all mean? Je ne sais pas. Probablement rien.
As reported the The New York Times, a federal judge in Manhattan on Thursday ruled favor of Chevron in its bid to subpoena footage from filmmaker Joe Berlinger's 2009 documentary Crude, which chronicles a lawsuit filed by Ecuadorian residents against Chevron over the oil company's involvement in the contamination of the local water supply. Chevron is seeking 600 hours of footage from the film in an effort to shore up their case in the long-running lawsuit. Lawyers for Berlinger are arguing on First Amendment grounds that his material is protected by journalistic privilege.
In an interview with Jennifer Merin of About.com that took place prior to his going to court this past week, Berlinger said, "Our opposition has nothing to do with Chevron's position regarding issues raised in the lawsuit depicted in the film, but rather represents our concern about this as an unnecessary breach of our First Amendment rights--not only as they pertain to Crude, but also with long term implications for investigative documentary filmmaking, which represents a singularly important form of in-depth reporting in the contemporary media forum."
The summer is almost here, and with it, a healthy diet of docs to counterbalance the high-fructose smorgasbord of blockbusters. Among the higher profile films include Thomas Balmès' Babies, which, as we reported, has considerable marketing muscle behind it. Casino Jack and the United States of Money, the latest from the ever-prolific Alex Gibney, should shock and awe theater-goers about who really runs Washington and where the filthy lucre really goes. Also out this month: Laura Poitras' The Oath, about two men-a taxi driver in Yemen who was Osama bin Laden's bodyguard, and his brother-in-law, a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay-as they reflect on their respective fates in a post-9/11 world. Two festival hits, Michael Paul Stephenson's Best Worst Movie and Marshall Curry's Racing Dreams also highlight the May releases. Finally, the Tribeca Film Institute's distribution initiative, Tribeca Film, gets under way on the heels of the Tribeca Film Festival, with The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia and Climate of Change, both screening at Tribeca Cinemas.
Opening: May 5
Venue: Tribeca Cinemas/New York City
Film: The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia
Dir.: Julien Nitzberg
Prod.: Storm Taylor
Distributor: Tribeca Film
http://www.tribecafilm.com/tribecafilm/Wild_and_Wonderful_Whites_of_West_Virginia.html
Shoot-outs, robberies, gas huffing, drug dealing, pill popping, murders, and tap dancing--what do these all have in common? These are just a few of the parts of being a member of the Wild and Wonderful White Family. The legendary family is as known for their wild, excessive criminal ways as they are for their famous mountain dancing members, including Jesco White, the star of director Julien Nitzberg' s cult classic documentary Dancing Outlaw. Exploring both the comic and tragic sides of life on the other side of the law, this stylish, fast-paced family portrait exposes the powerful forces of corruption, poverty, and West Virginia's environmentally and culturally devastating coal-mining culture that helped shape the White family, a dying breed of outlaws preserving a dying form of dance.
Opening: May 7
Film: Babies
Dir.: Thomas Balmès
Prods.: Alain Chabat, Amandine Billot, Christine Rouxel
Distributor: Focus Features
http://www.filminfocus.co /focusfeatures/film/babies/
The adventure of a lifetime begins...
Directed by award-winning filmmaker Thomas Balmès, from an original idea by producer Alain Chabat, Babies simultaneously follows four babies around the world, from birth to first steps. The children are, respectively, in order of on-screen introduction: Ponijao, who lives with her family near Opuwo, Namibia; Bayarjargal, who resides with his family in Mongolia, near Bayanchandmani; Mari, who lives with her family in Tokyo, Japan; and Hattie, who resides with her family in the United States, in San Francisco.
Re-defining the nonfiction art form, Babies joyfully captures on film the earliest stages of the journey of humanity that are at once unique and universal to us all.
Opening: May 7
Film: Casino Jack and the United States of Money
Dir./Prod./Wtr.: Alex Gibney
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
http://www.participantmedia.com/social_action/casino_jack/campaign.php
http://www.takepart.com/casinojack
Alex Gibney, who brought us the Academy Award-winning Taxi to the Dark Side and the Academy Award-nominated Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, now focuses his attention on the story of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. From Indian casinos and Chinese sweatshops to Russian spies and a mob-style killing in Miami, Casino Jack and the United States of Money is at once a colorful tale of international intrigue and a story of the corrupting role that money plays in our political process. By following ongoing criminal investigations--including the indictments of federal officials, staffers and congressmen--and inquiries into the day-to-day business of favor-trading in our nation's capitol, the film shines a light on the way that politicians' desperate need to get elected-- and the millions of dollars it costs-- may be undermining the basic principles of American democracy.
Opening: May 7
Venue: Anthology Film Archive/New York City
Film: DDR/DDR
Dir./Prod./Wtr.: Amie Siegel
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/schedule/search/film/?id=9826
DDR/DDR, the latest feature by Amie Siegel, is a multi-layered and disarmingly beautiful essay on the German Democratic Republic and its dissolution, which left many of its former citizens adrift in their newfound freedom. Featured at the 2008 Whitney Biennial, the film weaves together mundane Stasi surveillance footage, interviews with psychoanalysts, East German "Indian hobbyists" and lolling shots of derelict state radio stations into an extended and self-conscious assemblage to meditate on history, memory and the shared technologies of state control and art.
Opening: May 7
Venue: Quad Cinema/New York City
Film: Floored
Dir.: James Allen Smith
http://flooredthemovie.com/community/
A world that's more riot than profession, the trading floors of Chicago are a place where gambling your family's mortgage is all in a day's work. Now, when markets are unhinged, Floored offers a unique window to this lesser-known world of finance. Traders may not have degrees, but they've got guts, and penchant for excess. But like many aspects of our economy, technology is changing their business, and these eccentric pit denizens aren't the type to take kindly to new tricks.
Computerized trading may take the emotion out of the job, but it may also take these old-timers out; they are dinosaurs in a young man's game.
At a time when millions have lost fortunes in the fickle stock market and fear abounds about the faltering financial system, Floored is a gripping, honest look behind the curtain of the trading floor that few have ever seen.
Opening: May 7
Film: The Lottery
Dir.: Madeleine Sackler
http://thelotteryfilm.com/
In a country where 58 percent of African-American 4th graders are functionally illiterate, The Lottery uncovers the failures of the traditional public school system and reveals that hundreds of thousands of parents attempt to flee the system every year. The Lottery follows four of these families from Harlem and the Bronx who have entered their children in a charter school lottery. Out of thousands of hopefuls, only a small minority will win the chance of a better future.
Directed by Madeleine Sackler and shot by award-winning cinematographer Wolfgang Held, The Lottery uncovers a ferocious debate surrounding the education reform movement. Interviews with politicians and educators explain not only the crisis in public education, but also why it is fixable. A call to action to avert a catastrophe in the education of American children, The Lottery makes the case that any child can succeed.
Opening: May 7
Venue: IFC Center/New York City
Film: The Oath
Dir.: Laura Poitras
Distributor: Zeitgeist Films
http://www.theoathmovie.com/
The Oath tells the story of Abu Jandal, Osama bin Laden's former bodyguard, and Salim Hamdan, a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay Prison and the first man to face the controversial military tribunals. Filmed in Yemen and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, The Oath is a family drama about two men whose fateful encounter in 1996 set them on a journey that would lead to Osama bin Laden, 9/11, Guantanamo Bay Prison, and the US Supreme Court. The film begins as Salim Hamdan is set to face war crime charges at Guantanamo, and Abu Jandal is a free man and drives a taxi in Yemen.
We enter the story in a taxicab in Yemen. Here we meet Abu Jandal, the film's central protagonist, as he transports passengers through the chaotic streets of Yemen's capital city, Sana'a. Salim Hamdan is the film's "ghost" protagonist. He was arrested in Afghanistan shortly after 9/11 and taken to Guantanamo. His seven-year captivity at Guantanamo is narrated through his prison letters.
Opening: May 12
Venue: Film Forum/New York City
Film: Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
Dir./Prod./Wtr.: Jessica Oreck
Distributor: Argot Pictures
http://beetlequeen.com/
Working backwards through history, Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo explores the mystery of the development of Japan's love affair with bugs. Using insects like an anthropologist's toolkit, the film uncovers Japanese philosophies that will shift Westerners' perspectives on nature, beauty, life, and even the seemingly mundane realities of their day-to-day routines.
Opening: May 12
Venue: Tribeca Cinemas/New York City
Film: Climate of Change
Dir.: Brian Hill
Prod.: Katie Bailiff
Distributor: Tribeca Film
http://www.tribecafilm.com/tribecafilm/Climate_of_Change.html
Driving Climate of Change is the beautiful narration written by British poet Simon Armitage and mellifluously voiced by Tilda Swinton. "We are the renters of this world, not its masters," reminds Pooshkar, a precocious 13-year-old member of a youth environmental defense group in India. He and his fellow voraciously energetic students actively rally against the use of plastics. In Africa, a renaissance man teaches citizens to harness solar power to cook food. In Papua New Guinea, villagers practice sustainable logging to save their rainforests. A woman in London uses her PR savvy to start a successful environmental communications firm. Self-described "hillbillies" in Appalachia battle the big business behind strip mining. In this rich and inspiring documentary, director Brian Hill takes us around the world to find the ordinary people taking action in the fight to save our environment. Hill and his cinematographers create a real sense of ambiance in each of the countries and communities they visit. Conversations with West Virginians are punctuated by footage of mountaintops surrounding their homes being dynamited; Papua New Guineans talk among the giant trees being decimated by commercial logging. A visit to the Global Seed Vault built in the Norwegian permafrost in Svalbard, Norway is particularly ethereal.
Opening: May 14
Venue: Village East Cinema/New York City
Film: Best Worst Movie
Dir./Prod: Michael Paul Stephenson
Prods.: Lindsey Rowles Stephenson, Brad Klopman
Distributor: Area 23A
http://bestworstmovie.com/
Best Worst Movie is the acclaimed feature-length documentary that takes us on an off-beat journey into the undisputed worst movie in cinematic history: Troll 2.
In 1989, when an Italian filmmaker and unwitting Utah actors shot the ultra-low budget horror film, Troll 2, they had no idea that 20 years later they would be celebrated worldwide for their legendary ineptitude.
Two decades later, the film's now-grown-up child star (Michael Paul Stephenson) unravels the improbable, heartfelt story of the Alabama dentist-turned-cult movie icon and the Italian filmmaker who come to terms with this genuine, internationally revered cinematic failure. Best Worst Movie is story of one of cinema's greatest tragedies... or triumph's -Troll 2. The result is a hilarious and tender off-beat journey and a genuine homage to lovers of bad movies and the people that create them.
Opening: May 21
Venue: Cinema Village/New York City
Film: After the Cup: Sons of Sakhnin United
Dir.: Christopher Browne
Prod./Co-Dir.: Alec Browne
http://www.afterthecup.com/
There are over 1.4 million Arabs who are citizens of Israel, facing the challenge of living in a Jewish state while maintaining their Arabic heritage. In Israel, soccer is king, and Bnei Sakhnin has become the first team from an Arab town to win the prestigious Israeli Cup--and represent Israel in European competition. Fielding Arab, Jewish and foreign-born players, owned by an Arab, and coached by a Jew, Bnei Sakhnin's success has begun to represent a symbol of coexistence, a potential bridge between Arabs and Jews in Israel. But as Bnei Sakhnin begins its first season after their unexpected win, they know it may well be their first and last in the limelight. As the ideals born in the heady days and weeks following their cup win collide with the realities of a long season competing against the more talented and better funded teams, Bnei Sakhnin must fight to survive in Israel's premier league. These challenges, and the weight of impossible expectations that have come with their sudden success, threaten to crush the team and all of the hope and goodwill that its historic victory inspired. After the Cup tells the story of a soccer team that couldn't create a new Middle East, but showed the world what one could look like.
Opening: May 21
Film: Racing Dreams
Dir./Prod.: Marshall Curry
Prod.: Bristol Baughan
Distributor: Hanover House
http://www.racingdreamsfilm.com/
Racing Dreams is the award-winning coming-of-age story about three kids who dream of one day racing in NASCAR.
Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Marshall Curry takes us into the lives of Annabeth (11 years old), Josh (12), and Brandon (13) as they compete for the championship in the World Karting Association's National Series, widely considered the Little League for professional racing.
Clocking speeds of up to 70 mph, these young drivers race their way through the year-long National Series that spawned many of NASCAR's top drivers. And at the same time, they navigate the treacherous road between childhood and young adulthood.
In intimate moments of young love and family struggle, this exciting and often humorous story has been fondly described as "part Catcher in the Rye, part Talledega Nights."
Opening: May 28
Venue: Cinema Village/New York City
Film: Picasso & Braque Go to the Movies
Dir.: Arne Glimcher
Prods.: Martin Scorsese, Robert Greenhut
Distributor: Arthouse Films
http://www.arthousefilmsonline.com/2009/02/picasso-braque.html
Produced by Martin Scorsese and Robert Greenhut and directed by Arne Glimcher, Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies is a cinematic tour through the effects of the technological revolution, specifically the invention of aviation, the creation of cinema and their interdependent influence on artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. With narration by Scorsese, and interviews with art scholars and artists including Chuck Close, Julian Schnabel and Eric Fischl, the film looks at the collision between film and art at the turn of the 20th Century and helps us to realize cinema's continuing influence on the art of our time.
Join IDA members, IDA staff and board members! Connect with the documentary community, share your projects, meet new friends, and build your professional network. It all starts at 6 p.m.
See photos from past IDA mixers here, here, here and right here.
RSVP here and get all of the details you need, including parking, Metro information and more.
Film Independent, the Los Angeles-based nonprofit media arts organization and producer of the Los Angeles Film Festival, announced its lineup today. The 16th edition of the festival runs June 17 to 27. Documentaries are amply represented at LAFF, with several world premieres among the nine docs in competition. The International Showcase includes Sundance winners The Red Chapel (Dir.: Mads Brugger) and Space Tourists (Dir.: Christian Frei); Jeff Malmberg's Marwencal and Amir Bar-Lev's The Tillman Story highlight the Summer Screenings strand; and free Community Screenings include Josh Fox's Gasland, Jennifer Arnold's A Small Act and Michael P. Nash's Climate Refugees.
The festival will also present selections from Ambulante, the Mexico-based traveling documentary film festival.
Here are the documentaries of the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival:
Documentary Competition:
Camera, Camera (Dir.: Malcolm Murray)--World Premiere
Circo (Dir.: Aaron Schock; USA/Mexico)--World Premiere
One Lucky Elephant, (Dir.: Lisa Leeman)--World Premiere
Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone (Dirs.: Lev Anderson, Chris Metzler) - World Premiere
Farewell (Dir.: Ditteke Mensink; Netherlands)--US Premiere
Life with Murder (Dir.: John Kastner; Canada)--US Premiere
Make Believe (Dir.: J. Clay Tweel)--World Premiere
Vlast (Dir.: Cathryn Collins)
Where Are You Taking Me?(Dir.: Kimi Takesue)--North American Premiere
International Showcase:
Disco & Atomic War (Dirs.: Jaak Kilmi, Kiur Aarma; Estonia/Finland)
The Red Chapel (Dir.: Mads Brugger; Denmark)
Secrets of the Tribe (Dir.: José Padilha; England/Brazil)
Space Tourists (Dir.: Christian Frei; Switzerland)
Summer Screenings:
Ain't In It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm (Dir.: Jacob Hatley)
Cane Toads: The Conquest (Dir.: Mark Lewis; Australia/US)
Kings of Pastry (Dirs.: DA Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus)
Marwencol (Dir.: Jeff Malmberg)
The Tillman Story (Dir.: Amir Bar-Lev (The Weinstein Company)
Outdoor Screenings at the Ford Amphitheatre:
The People vs. George Lucas (Dir.: Alexandre O. Philippe)
Thunder Soul (Dir.: Mark Landsman )
Selections from the Ambulante Film Festival:
One Day Less (Dir.: Dariela Ludlow; Mexico)
Presumed Guilty (Dirs.: Roberto Hernández, Geoffrey Smith; Mexico)
The Toledo Report (Dirs.: Albino Álvarez Gomez; Mexico)
Community Screenings:
Climate Refugees (Dir.: Michael P. Nash)
Gasland (Dir.: Josh Fox)
A Small Act (Dir.: Jennifer Arnold)
Special Screenings:
Utopia in Four Movements (Dirs.: David Cerf, Sam Green)
Monica & David, which explores the marriage of two adults with Down syndrome and the family who strives to support their needs, earned the Best Documentary Feature award at the Tribeca Film Festival in a ceremony at the W Union Square in New York City. The film, directed by Monica's cousin, Alexandra Codina, was praised by the jury for taking "an incredibly intimate situation and beautifully translates it in a way that makes you think about your own life. It's a clear and observant look at a family and the purity of love, fueled by an organic sense of the sadness, joy and everyday humor that fill this epic journey that is life."
Julia Bacha's Budrus, about a Palestinian community organizer who brings together members of Fatah and Hamas, as well as Israeli supporters to save their village from destruction, earned a Special Jury Mention. The jury deemed the film "a journey that stretches beyond borders to provide hope."
The Best New Documentary Filmmaker honor went to Clio Barnard, maker of The Arbor, about a housing project in Northern England, where playwright Andrea Dunbar grew up. Barnard has taken a bold step in rendering both the memory of the place and the memory of the late playwright, conducting audio interviews with those who knew Dunbar, then filming actors lip-synching the interviews, and staging scenes from Dunbar's plays on the street where she lived. The jury commented, "Imagination is a word you don't often associate with documentary filmmaking, but this director bends the boundaries of the form, beautifully crafting an innovative and detailed film wherein great storytelling is paramount."
The Best New York Documentary went to The Woodmans, by C. Scott Willis, about a family of artists beset with tragedy when their daughter Francesca, a well-regarded photographer, took her life at age 22. Travis Senger's White Lines & The Fever: The Death of DJ Junebug took Best Documentary Short honors, while Out of Infamy: Michi Nishiura Weglyn, by Nancy Kapitanoff and Sharon Yamato earned a Special Jury Mention. Of White Lines, which also won an award at SXSW, the jury said, "We chose a film that we feel effectively showed the evolution of hip-hop through its captivating visuals, riveting interviews and exciting exploration of the music and the culture behind the phenomenon."
America The Story of Us premiered April 25 on History to a record-breaking audience of 5.7 million-the highest rated program ever for the channel, according to an item in Worldscreen.com. This was the first of six two-hour segments that will air on successive Sundays through May 30.
"American history is a journey we all share and participate in," says Nancy Dubuc, president and general manager of History. "This documentary is a story about people with innovative ideas who helped to build the country from the ground up with ingenuity and determination."
The documentary series was produced by Nutopia. Executive producer Jane Root, founder and CEO of Nutopia, brought an eclectic background to this incredibly ambitious project. She was president of Discovery Channel from 2004 until 2007, and prior to that was controller at BBC2 for five years.
"The seed for this project was planted about 18 months ago when Michael Jackson [senior advisor at IAC New York] and David McKillop had a conversation about American history during an informal dinner meeting," Root says. "Michael is one of our board members and David is a producer for the History channel. We began production around a year ago.
"It was enormous task summarizing 400 years of history into 12 one-hour segments," Root continues. "You think you know history before you begin a project like this, and then you discover that you don't know as much as you thought you did."
The creative team includes show runner Ben Goold, and Dubuc, McKillop and Julian Hobbs, executive producers for History. The historical consultants on the project are two Pulitzer Prize-winning authors of books about American history, Professors Daniel Walker Howe and David M. Kennedy, as well as novelist/historian Kevin Baker.
"The scale was ambitious on lots of different fronts," Root explains. "Hundreds of people were involved. It's about the history of America, but we wanted it to be relevant for today's audiences. America has been through an enormous amount of change during the past 18 months. This is a time when many people are interested in history."
The content includes dramatic re-enactments, some 360 computer-generated images, archival film, an narration by Liev Schreiber and what Root describes as a chorus of 58 voices of Americans from all walks of life sharing their memories and insights. The short list includes former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, conservative pundit Ann Coulter, Reverend Al Sharpton, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
"There were no scripts," Root says. "Some on them spoke for hours. Colin Powell came in, sat down, and the first thing he said was that the great thing about America is the diversity of its people. The co-founder of Wikipedia [Jimmy Wales] spoke about how Silicon Valley was a little like the Gold Rush and oil prospecting."
The 12 episodes cover 400 years of American history, from the arrival of the first English explorers to Jamestown in 1607 to the 2008 election of Barack Obama-who introduced the first episode. In between, episodes cover the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War, the westward expansion, the Industrial Revolution, the Civil War, the economic booms and busts, the two World Wars, the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War, Watergate and the digital revolution.
In conjunction with America The Story of Us, History has developed its most ambitious educational outreach program to date. The channel is offering free DVDs of the series to public and chartered elementary and high schools and certified colleges in the United States. The deadline for requests is July 1. For an application, click here. History partnered with the Library of Congress Educational Resources to develop materials in conjunction with the DVD distribution. In addition, History is collaborating with the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities to launch the Student Video Challenge, for middle school, high school and college students. Applicants will be asked to create a multimedia or video presentation, connecting their own stories to the larger story of American history. The winner will receive a $25,000 scholarship. History has also developed a Teacher Contest for Innovation in History Education, which also has a $25,000 prize in the form of grants and resources. For more on the America The Story of Us Educational Initiative, click here.
Bob Fisher has been writing about documentary and narrative filmmaking for nearly 40 years, mainly focusing on cinematography and preservation.
On Monday, April 26, reply comments were submitted to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) concerning preservation of the open Internet and the broadband industry. The comments were submitted for the International Documentary Association, Film Independent, University Film & Video Association, Independent Filmmaker Project, IFP / Chicago, IFP Minnesota and National Association for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC).
The comments were prepared by Jack Lerner, Annie Aboulian and Daniel Senter of the USC Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic, under the guidance of attorney and former IDA Board President, Michael Donaldson.
The following is a summary of the reply comment filed with the FCC. A PDF of the complete 59-page document can be downloaded here:
SUMMARY
The Internet must remain open if there is to be a future for independent and documentary film. In recent years, the open architecture of the Internet has revolutionized independent and documentary film: it has fostered the development of new and innovative promotion and distribution channels, provided unprecedented access to rich source material, and made self-distribution of independent and documentary film feasible for the first time ever. To preserve the Internet as the preeminent platform for independent and documentary films, and the diverse, creative and often marginalized voices they bring to light, the Commission must promulgate clear and meaningful open Internet rules. As written, however, the proposed rules contain significant flaws that will undermine this objective and erect the same barriers to entry online that afflict documentary and independent filmmakers offline.
Before Internet distribution and promotion were possible, documentary and independent filmmakers had few available channels by which to share their films with the public. A small number of theaters, a few television channels, and the independent film festival circuit presented a very limited number of distribution and consumption outlets for documentary and independent film. In recent years, these opportunities were further limited by vertical integration and consolidation between and among studios, broadcast networks and cable channels. The Internet has lowered or removed many of these barriers to entry, and filmmakers have been able to extend the reach and run of their films in ways never before possible.
This sea change for documentary and independent film is critical to the preservation of free speech, investigative reporting and in-depth analysis, especially at a time when the traditional news industry is in decline and traditional media sources continue to consolidate and vertically integrate. Whether through an entertaining, character-driven narrative about the human condition, or through an investigation into corporate or political malfeasance, documentary and independent films reveal hidden truths, provide windows into our diverse experiences and cultural identities, and inspire the type of civic engagement and dialogue that is critical to democracy. If documentary and independent film is to continue to have this role, we must preserve the openness of the Internet.
We strongly support the goals that the Commission has articulated for this rulemaking and the adoption of the six proposed rules set forth in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). We are concerned, however, that the Commission might exclude a broad and virtually undefined class of "managed services" from the open Internet rules and that it would impose an overly broad "reasonable network management" exception, both of which would undermine the very openness that it seeks to preserve and that has been so critical to the Internet's success.
Furthermore, we are concerned that the proposed transparency rule does not require Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to disclose their network management practices, and we urge the Commission to establish a discrete complaint procedure that is user-friendly, meaningful and efficient. If these provisions are not modified, documentary and independent filmmakers will again face an uneven playing field, and in the long run, the public will have far less access to documentary and independent film. We therefore offer four recommendations to remedy these deficiencies and to strengthen and clarify the rules proposed by the Commission.
First, we urge the Commission not to exclude a broad and undefined class of "managed services" from the purview of this rulemaking. To leave this category of services undefined is a recipe for misuse and abuse, and opens the door to the virtual elimination of competition online. To begin with, it is not clear that a pressing need exists for an exclusion of any kind, because the current best-effort delivery system has worked adequately thus far. Before the Commission establishes such an exclusion, it should wait until more research has been conducted to determine if further regulation is needed. More importantly, a vague or loosely defined exclusion would enable ISPs to institute a pay-for-priority regime in which content and applications from those with deep pockets would get a pass to a fast lane, while films and other content produced with little or no money for marketing and distribution would be relegated to the slow lanes. If a class of "managed services" is to be excluded from this rulemaking, the Commission should at the very least make clear that any such class must be defined based on the function of the services (e.g. video, teleconferencing, etc.), and not on who is paying for them. Finally, the Commission should require that managed services programs must be reviewed and monitored by the Commission on a case-by-case basis.
Second, the exception for "reasonable network management" (RNM) as written would severely undermine the six open Internet principles. The proposed exception would allow ISPs to ignore any of the rules promulgated here in order to "prevent the transfer of unlawful content; or prevent the unlawful transfer of content"-even though no adequate technology exists that can reliably determine at the ISP level whether content is lawful. Any rule that permits ISPs to install filtering or any other technology designed to ferret out infringing content under the guise of reasonable network management would inevitably cause significant amounts of lawful content, such as fair use material, to be blocked or slowed down. Worse, such technology is vulnerable to manipulation and may allow ISPs to engage in a range of non-neutral or anti-competitive activities under the banner of "reasonable network management." As copyright holders ourselves, we care deeply about the protection of copyrighted work--but this is the wrong way to go about it. We recommend that this exception be focused on technical efforts to promote network efficiency, and that the standard for what constitutes "reasonable" in the RNM definition turn on whether the activity is narrowly tailored to address a critically important interest.
Third, the Commission's proposed transparency rule should be made more robust by setting forth minimum standards for adequate transparency. We propose that ISPs be required to provide clear, comprehensive and easy-to-understand disclosure of any network management activity that may interfere with a user's service so that documentary filmmakers, independent filmmakers and others can quickly and easily determine whether or not transmission of their films has been throttled, slowed or blocked. Furthermore, we urge the Commission to remove the term "subject to reasonable network management" from the proposed transparency rule because that language would allow ISPs to avoid disclosing important information in a wide range of circumstances in the name of network management.
Fourth, the Commission should establish a complaint process that is user-friendly, meaningful and efficient. We recommend that the complaint procedure be simple and accessible via the websites of both the Commission and the ISPs, and it should apply uniformly to all broadband Internet providers. If a party making a complaint can make a reasonable showing of a violation, we propose that the burden should then shift to the ISP to demonstrate that its practice qualifies as reasonable network management. Finally, we suggest that the process require the Commission to respond to complaints within a set timeframe.
We understand that the Commission is reviewing its jurisdictional authority over matters related to this rulemaking in light of the recent Comcast Corporation v. Federal Communications Commission decision. The Commission is the appropriate agency to ensure that the Internet remains free and open, and we submit this Reply Comment under the assumption that the Commission either already has, or will be granted, the authority to conduct this rulemaking.
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"I found DocuWeeks to be a superb forum; great screens, wonderful audiences, and a fantastic team behind it all." --Mark Hopkins, director of Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders
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