The Tribeca Film Festival, which takes place April 21 to May 2, has announced both the competition and non-competition films for its ninth edition. Among the 85 feature-length and 47 short films on the schedule, the fest has programmed 12 documentaries in the World Documentary Competition, two works-in-progress, six docs in the Encounters section, seven in the Discovery section and one in the Spotlight section. 

In addition, the recently announced Tribeca Film Tribeca Film initiative, a comprehensive distribution and marketing platform for independent film, will release seven titles, including two documentaries, for day-and-date VOD during the festival, then expanding to theatrical, home entertainment, airline, hotel, subscription and advertising-supported digital platforms. Tribeca Enterprises has formed partnerships with leading cable, satellite and telecom providers, including Comcast, Cablevision and Verizon FiOS to reach more than 40 million households. The titles will be available on a Tribeca-branded menu for a minimum of 60 days.

And for those of you who can't make that trek to Gotham, Tribeca Film Festival Virtual Tribeca Film Festival Virtual will run online April 23 to 30 and a limited number of premium pass-buyers will be able to watch a selection of full-length 2010 TFF features, which will screen day-and-date with each film's Festival premiere.  Pass-holders will also be able to view exclusive original content and 2010 TFF short films, as well as interact in real time with filmmakers, industry leaders and fellow film enthusiasts.

So, without further ado, here come the docs!

World Documentary Feature Competition

American Mystic, directed by Alex Mar. (USA)--World Premiere. Set against a vivid backdrop of American rural landscapes, Alex Mar's meditative documentary artfully weaves together the stories of three young Americans exploring alternative religion: a Wiccan in California mining country, a New Ager in upstate New York, and a Native American father and sundancer in South Dakota, all yearning for fulfilling spirituality in disparate but often strikingly similar ways.

The Arbor, directed by Clio Barnard. (UK)--World Premiere. Brilliantly blending the borders of narrative and documentary filmmaking, artist-cum-director Clio Barnard beautifully reconstructs the fascinating true story of troubled British playwright Andrea Dunbar and her tumultuous relationship with her daughter. Working from two years of audio interviews, Bernard uses classic documentary techniques, actors, theatrical performance, and Dunbar's own neighborhood to generate a unique cinematic feast while unraveling the truths of a dark family past.

Budrus, directed by Julia Bacha. (USA, Palestine, Israel)--North American Premiere. In one of the most conflicted parts of the world, a Palestinian family man unites rival parties Fatah and Hamas, Western activists, and even groups of progressive Israelis in a nonviolent crusade to save his village from being destroyed. Award-winning documentarian Julia Bacha (Encounter Point, TFF '06) captures with rawness and galvanizing intensity the power of ordinary people to peaceably fight for extraordinary changes.

Earth Made of Glass, directed by Deborah Scranton. (USA) --World Premiere. This powerful investigative documentary by the Oscar-nominated director of The War Tapes (best doc, TFF '06) skillfully weaves interviews with President Kagame of Rwanda and Jean-Pierre Sagahutu, a survivor of the horrific 1994 genocide. When a president and a citizen--bound together by a profound love of country and an unquenchable desire to see the truth revealed--fight to expose the truth behind a murder and France's hidden role in the Rwandan genocide, their stories will inspire and uplift.

Feathered Cocaine, directed by Thorkell Hardarsson and Örn Marino Arnarson. (Iceland) --World Premiere. Behind drugs, people and weapons, falcon smuggling has become the world's most mysterious and profitable illegal trade. Held in highest esteem by the wealthy elite throughout the Persian Gulf, the sporting birds have earned the label "feathered cocaine" as thieves race to ransack them from all parts of the world. This bold investigative documentary unspools the surprising links between the falcon trade and royal dynasties, the CIA and KGB, the oil industry and Al Qaeda....

Freetime Machos, directed by Mika Ronkainen. (Finland, Germany)--North American and TFF Virtual Premiere. Matti and Mikko play for Finland's worst amateur rugby team. Overworked and domesticated, the two men long for a space to revel in their masculinity and bond with other men. Following the two friends and their teammates on a quest to end the season with just a single win, award-winning writer/director Mika Ronkainen (Screaming Men) crafts a genuine and disarmingly funny love story of modern male friendship. Part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.

Into Eternity, directed by Michael Madsen. (Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Italy) --International Premiere. Three miles below the earth, the people of Finland are constructing an enormous tomb to lay to rest their share of humans' 300,000 tons of nuclear waste. To avoid disaster, it must remain untouched for at least 100,000 years. In this poetic, hauntingly beautiful, and thought-provoking doc, Danish filmmaker Michael Madsen ponders how to warn future civilizations that the buried treasure of our nuclear era--unlike the pyramids and great tombs of pharaohs--must never, ever be discovered.

Monica & David, directed by Alexandra Codina. (USA)--North American Premiere. Monica and David are in love. Truly, blissfully in love. They also happen to have Down syndrome. Alexandra Codina's affectionate and heartwarming documentary is an intimate, year-in-the-life portrait of two child-like spirits with adult desires. Supported (and, for more than 30 years, sheltered) by endlessly devoted mothers, Monica and David prepare for their fairy-tale wedding and face the realities of married life afterward.

Sons of Perdition, directed by Jennilyn Merten, Tyler Measom. (USA)--World Premiere. In the polygamist community cultivated by the notorious (and now incarcerated) "prophet" Warren Jeffs, women are a commodity, children are reared to be ignorant, and free thought is surrendered. For a group of teenage boys, the desire for autonomy means banishment from their homes and families. This fascinating documentary explores the heartbreaking losses and hopeful determination of these exiles as they struggle to make new lives in mainstream America.

Thieves by Law (Ganavim ba Hok), directed by Alexander Gentelev. (Israel, Germany, Spain)--World Premiere. In an unprecedented insider first look, Thieves by Law is a front-row invitation into the living rooms and offices of some of the most controversial and elite head honchos in the Russian mafia. Rising through the criminal ranks, the balance of what's legitimate versus what's illegal, and the meaning behind those tattoos made so famous by Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises... it's all out on the table.

The Two Escobars, directed by Jeff Zimbalist, Michael Zimbalist. (USA, Colombia) - World Premiere. Born in the same city in Colombia but not related, Andrés Escobar and Pablo Escobar shared a fanatical love of soccer. Andrés grew up to become one of Colombia's most beloved players, while Pablo became the most notorious drug baron of all time. While adeptly investigating the secret marriage of crime and sports, Michael Zimbalist and Jeff Zimbalist (Favela Rising, TFF '05) reveal the surprising connections between the murders of Andrés and Pablo. Part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.

The Woodmans, directed by C. Scott Willis. (USA, Italy, China)--World Premiere. The Woodmans are a family united in their belief that art-making is the highest form of expression and an essential way of life, but it's only photographer daughter Francesca who achieves worldwide acclaim--after a tragedy that would forever scar the family. With unrestricted access to all of Francesca's works and diaries, The Woodmans paints an incisive portrait of a family broken and then healed by its art. In English, Italian with English subtitles.

Works-in-Progress

Untitled Eliot Spitzer Film, directed by Alex Gibney (USA) --Work-in-Progress screening. Academy Award winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, TFF '07) takes an in-depth look at New York governor and "Sheriff of Wall Street" Eliot Spitzer, who many believed was on his way to becoming president. Then, shockingly, Spitzer's meteoric rise turned into a precipitous fall when he was caught seeing prostitutes. And as the Sheriff fell, so did the financial markets. With unique access to friends and enemies of the ex-governor, this documentary explores the hidden contours of this tale of hubris, sex and power.

The Western Front, directed and written by Zachary Iscol. (USA)--Work-in-Progress screening. In 2004, writer/director Zachary Iscol fought as a US Marine in Al Anbar, Iraq's most violent province. Five years later, Anbar has been transformed into one of the safest, but not because the insurgency was defeated. When Zach returns, he begins to confront the awful dilemmas he faced fighting an enemy that hid among civilians. Profoundly honest, this documentary explores these dilemmas from all sides to reveal a simple but surprising truth about the nature of war and peace.

Encounters

Climate of Change, directed by Brian Hill. (USA/UK)--North American Premiere. A group of 13-year-olds in India rally against the use of plastics. A renaissance man in Africa teaches villagers to harness solar power. Self-described "hillbillies" in Appalachia battle the big business behind strip-mining. Tilda Swinton beautifully narrates this rich and inspiring documentary--from the producers of An Inconvenient Truth--about a world of regular people taking action in the fight to save our environment. Executive produced by Participant Media and the Alliance for Climate Protection. A Tribeca Film release.

Last Play at Shea, directed by Paul Crowder and Jon Small (concert footage). (USA) -- World Premiere. The intersecting histories of a stadium, a team and a music legend are examined in a documentary that charts the ups and downs of the New York Mets and the life and career of Long Island native Billy Joel, the last performer to play Shea Stadium. Set to the soundtrack of Joel's final Shea concerts, Last Play interweaves personal Joel interviews with exclusive concert footage--featuring guests like Tony Bennett and Roger Daltrey. Part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.

My Trip to Al-Qaeda, directed by Alex Gibney. (USA)--World Premiere. Academy Award winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, TFF '07) collaborates with Lawrence Wright to bring Wright's titular one-man play to the screen. With equal parts Spalding Gray and An Inconvenient Truth, My Trip to Al Qaeda chronicles fundamentalist Islam's rise to power and explores Wright's struggle to maintain his objectivity as a journalist writing about Islamic terror.

RUSH: Beyond the Lighted Stage, directed by Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn. (Canada) --World Premiere. For fans and newcomers to the legendary Canadian band Rush, this is the music documentary to experience. Directors Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn embark on a comprehensive exploration of this extraordinary power trio, from their early days in Toronto through each of their landmark albums to the present day. Sit back and revel in the words, music, and wonder of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart.

Vidal Sassoon The Movie, directed by Craig Teper. (USA)--World Premiere. With the geometric, Bauhaus-inspired hairstyles he pioneered in the '60s and his "wash and wear" philosophy that liberated generations of women from the tyranny of the salon, Vidal Sassoon revolutionized the art of hairdressing. This fun, fast-paced documentary traces with visual gusto the life of a self-made man whose passion and perseverance took him from a Jewish orphanage in London to the absolute pinnacle of his craft.

Visionaries, directed by Chuck Workman. (USA)--World Premiere. Oscar-winning filmmaker Chuck Workman brings alive the vibrant history of the avant-garde cinema. Through interviews with filmmakers and critics including Jonas Mekas, Kenneth Anger, Su Friedrich and Amy Taubin, he reveals how this artistic movement highlights subjective vision, sensory experience and dreams over plot and storyline. Workman couples these conversations with a dazzling array of diverse extracts from experimental films that illuminate for the general audience a qualitatively different kind of moviegoing experience.

Discovery

Arias with a Twist: The Docufantasy, directed by Bobby Sheehan. (USA)--North American Premiere. A joyously uplifting celebration of the creative process and the inventive, outrageous downtown art scene of New York of the past 30 years, Arias with a Twist focuses its lens on the inspired collaboration between cabaret and drag artist Joey Arias and master puppeteer Basil Twist, whose groundbreaking 2008 show brought them some of the biggest success of their careers. Featuring never-before-seen footage of Andy Warhol, Jim Henson, Keith Haring, Grace Jones and Divine.

Gerrymandering, directed by Jeff Reichert. (USA)--World Premiere. This wake-up-call doc exposes the hidden history of our country's redistricting wars, mapping battles that take place out of public scrutiny but shape the electoral landscape of American politics for decades at time, posing a threat not just to Democrats and Republicans, but democracy as a whole. Featuring stories from nine states, Gerrymandering takes a hard look at the framework of our democracy and how it provides our politicians a perfectly legal way to control electoral outcomes.

Into the Cold, directed by Sebastian Copeland. (USA) - World and TFF Virtual Premiere. The absolute top of the earth is a place few try to reach on foot. Even fewer succeed. With the vast Arctic ice vanishing rapidly, photographer, extreme adventurer and environmental advocate Sebastian Copeland sets out to reach the North Pole on the centennial of Admiral Peary's reach in 1909. This inspiring documentary follows Copeland and his crew on their tumultuous two-month trek--not just through piercing cold and merciless terrain, but straight into the depths of the soul.

Just Like Us, directed by Ahmed Ahmed. (USA)--World Premiere. First-time director Ahmed Ahmed takes us on a hilarious tour from Dubai to Beirut, Riyadh to New York with a gaggle of other stand-up talent, including Maz Jobrani, Tom Papa, Ted Alexandro, Tommy Davidson and Omid Djalili (The Infidel). Along the way, taboos of culture and geopolitics are exploded, and a younger generation of both comedy talents and audiences is born.

Keep Surfing, directed by Björn Richie Lob. (Germany)--International Premiere. This kinetic and fast-paced documentary will put you right on the Eisbach in the heart of Munich, where river-surfing was invented 35 years ago. Stunningly shot with cameras literally on the surfboards, you can sense the exhilaration as they take to the water. With cameos by surfing legends like Nick Carroll and Kelly Slater, Keep Surfing will make you want to hit the waves!

No Woman, No Cry, directed by Christy Turlington Burns. (USA)--World Premiere. More than half a million women each year die from preventable complications during pregnancy or childbirth. In her gripping directorial debut, Christy Turlington Burns shares the powerful stories of pregnant women in four parts of the world, including a remote Maasai tribe in East Africa, a slum of Bangladesh, a post-abortion care ward in Guatemala, and a prenatal clinic in the United States.

The Other City, directed by Susan Koch. (USA)--World Premiere. There's a part of Washington, DC never seen by the tourists and ignored by the mass media. At least three percent of DC is HIV positive, a staggering rate higher than parts of Africa, but the city is also full of encouraging stories of grassroots movements to extend education, combat stigmas, and spread hope. TFF alum Susan Koch's (Kicking It, TFF '08) eye-opening documentary tells the unheard stories behind the growing epidemic in our nation's capital.

Spotlight

Joan Rivers--A Piece of Work, directed by Ricki Stern, Annie Sundberg. (USA) - New York Premiere. Joan Rivers is the undisputed queen of American comedy, and at 76 years old, with a career spanning five decades, she shows no sign of slowing down. Following Rivers over the course of a year, A Piece of Work reveals the fascinating combination of vulnerability and irreverence behind the public figure in this endlessly entertaining, quintessential profile of a New York icon.

So sooner had the last Oscars been given out when a plethora of announcements from all over the distro globe came out about new theatrical acquisitions and releases.  So, here's a recap:

Lorber Films has acquired the US rights to the all-time cinema classic David Holzman's Diary by Jim McBride. This landmark work from 1967 blends fiction and reality, and made a deep impression on an entire generation of filmmakers in the 1970s.  This staged documentary chronicles the character David Holzman's efforts to make a film about himself. The film was one of the first to be selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, with the criteria of being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

 "This film is timely right now because it is part of the very DNA of the YouTube generation," Richard Lorber said in a statement. "Jim McBride was the first to bring the immediacy and spontaneity."
Lorber Films will soon announce plans for the theatrical release of this refreshing and timeless work, but for now, in collaboration with the Stranger Than Fiction Documentary Film Series, David Holzman's Diary will be presented at a special one-night only screening of at the IFC Center in New York on Tuesday, March 16 at 8:00 p.m. L.M. Kit Carson, the man who played David Holzman, will be on hand for a post-screening Q&A.

And keeping in it in the Kino Lorber family, Winnebago Man, which premiered at SXSW 2009, was picked up by Kino International for a July premiere in New York City, with a summer and fall rollout to follow. The film, directed and produced by Ben Steinbauer and produced by Joel Heller and Malcolm Pullinger, tells the story of Jack Rebney (a.k.a. "the angriest man in the world"), who has delighted and fascinated millions of viewers with his hilariously foul-mouthed outtakes from an RV sales video--one of the first and most infamous underground videos to be passed hand-to-hand on VHS tapes, before YouTube turned it into a full-blown viral phenomenon. Filmmaker Ben Steinbauer takes on the seemingly impossible task of tracking down Rebney, who is more savvy, irascible, deep, weird and cool than you could possibly imagine. In short, he is a star. The film is a hilarious, smart and unexpectedly poignant look at one man's response to unintended Internet celebrity, and ultimately a story of how a so-called "humiliation" can become a beacon of light to many.

And back to Lorber Films, which seems to be on a shopping binge lately...The company acquired three more docs on the eve of their respective premieres at SXSW 2010. Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam, by Pakistani-Canadian director Omar Majeed, follows the progression of the Muslim Punk scene, from its imaginary inception in a novel written by a white convert named Michael Muhammad Knight to a full-blown, real-life scene of Muslim punk bands and their fans. Reel Injun, from Cree-Canadian filmmaker Neil Diamond, takes an entertaining and insightful look at the Hollywood Indian, exploring the portrayal of North American Natives through the history of cinema. And Sound of Insects, the European Film Academy Award-winning documentary from Swiss filmmaker Peter Liechti, is a film meditation based on the detailed notes left behind by a man who committed suicide through self-imposed starvation. All three docs will be released theatrically this year, with Reel Injun already scheduled for a June run at New York's Museum of Modern Art.  

Elsewhere in distro land, 45365, fresh from its Film Independent Spirit Award for its makers, Bill Ross and Turner Ross, makes its theatrical premiere through 7th Art Releasing this Friday, March 19 at The Downtown Independent in Los Angeles for a weeklong run, followed by gigs in Denver, Seattle, Chicago and New York City. The film, which premiered a year ago at SXSW, where it won the Jury Prize for Best Documentary, is an intimate vérité portrait of the Ross brothers' hometown of Sidney, Ohio (the zip code for which is the title of the film).

Finally, as reported in indieWIRE, Zeitgeist Films picked up two docs that screened at Sundance and are on the slate at SXSW: Laura Poitras' award-winning The Oath and Lixan Fan's Last Train Home, which picked up the Joris Ivins Award for Best Feature Documentary at IDFA.

The Oath tells the tale of two brothers-in-law, one who served as Osama bin-Laden's bodyguard, and the other who served as his driver, and their respective fates with respect to their associations with al Qaeda. Abu Jandal, the bodyguard, is a taxi driver in Yemen, and the film's charismatic and somewhat wily main character, while we meet Salim Hamdan, who had been imprisoned and put on trial in Guantamano, through his letters to Jandal.

Last Train Home follows one family over three years as they struggle in the face of a dieing rural economy, which has necessitated a mass migration of 130 million people to work in cities. These migrants go home once a year--Chinese New Year--and the wait for a ticket on the train is a nerve-wracking, often weeklong ordeal.

The Oath opens in May, and Last Train Home opens this summer.

Now we know what he was talking about.

The Oscar-winning crew discovered that popular Santa Monica sushi restaurant Hump, was serving whale. A sting operation involving tiny cameras, surveillance equipment and the whole bit revealed that the restaurant did serve Sei whale, which are endangered, to members of the OPS and several undercover federal agents

A New York Times piece reported that "armed with a search warrant, federal officials on Friday went searching for evidence from the restaurant, including marine mammal parts as well as various records and documents. The possession or sale of marine mammals is a violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and can lead to a year in prison and a fine of $20,000."

“We’re going to look into the allegations and try to determine what is true,” said Hump's lawyer, Gary Lincenberg, in the story. “Until we have done that, I don’t have any other comment.”

In other Cove news, residents of the town of Taiji, Japan featured in the movie weren't necessarily giving Psihoyos and Co. a standing ovation for his win, according to this Associated Press article, entitled "Japan dolphin hunt town shrugs off 'Cove' Oscar."

The town government went as far as issuing a news statement: "There are different food traditions within Japan and around the world," the statement read. "It is important to respect and understand regional food cultures, which are based on traditions with long histories."

Especially angry was Tetsuya Endo, an associate professor at Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, featured in the film. "I feel that they should have declined the award," he said in the story and is considering legal action.

Above Photo: Matt Petit/(c) AMPAS

Academy Award-winner Rob Epstein (The Times of Harvey Milk; Common Threads) opened the DOCS! event at the Academy's Goldwyn Theater Wednesday night by thanking the IDA for hosting the Oscar nominees in the doc categories for the past 27 years. And with that, the torch was passed to its rightful owner.

According to IDA Founder Linda Buzzell, in a piece she wrote for Documentary Magazine on the occasion of IDA's 20th anniversary, the Oscars Reception was one of IDA's first public events, spurred by the fact that Nigel Nobel, winner for the 1981 short Close Harmony, was totally snubbed by the press backstage, who preferred to talk to presenters Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss instead. In the quarter-century since then, the Documentary Short Subject category was on the endangered species list several times, but IDA led the charge to keep that category thriving. Early last decade, changes started to take root: The documentary category got its own branch, along with three governors, and its current roster now totals over 150 members; the rules for qualifying one's doc for Academy Award consideration went through several iterations, some controversial (the 14-city roll out, the two 35mm prints, etc.); and the Academy expanded its extra-Oscars programming to include more documentary screenings and events.

So it seemed a little counter-intuitive for IDA to host an Oscars event in the very building where the Oscars and most other AMPAS activities were planned. And so, AMPAS made its debut as host.

Two-time Academy Award-winner Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, U.S.A.; American Dream) took the stage to moderate two separate panels--one for the shorts, one for the features-after introducing clips from all the nominated films before the filmmakers mounted the stage.

Left to right: Elise Pearlstein (Food, Inc.); Barbara Kopple, Louis Psihoyos (The Cove), Rick Goldsmith (The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers), Judith Ehrlich (The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the POentagon Papers), Lise Lense-Moller (Burma VJ), Anders Ostergaard (Burma VJ), Rebacca Cammisa (Which Way Home), Robert Kenner (Food, Inc.). Photo: Matt Petit/(c) AMPAS

Most of the films were produced at great risk, often in dangerous places. Discussing the challenges of filming in a society like China, director Matthew O'Neill of China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province, which documents the aftermath of the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province and the actions of the parents of children who died in poorly constructed classrooms, said that the chaos surrounding the earthquake "enabled us to capture images of the protestors at a very early stage because the authorities weren't on their ball in terms of repression." But soon enough, the filmmakers were threatened with arrest, but by the time they were actually detained, they had shipped their footage out of the country. Anders Østergaard, of course, relied on flip cam footage from on-the-ground journalists to get the story that became Burma VJ. And when they started production in 2004, "There was nothing to film. People were too afraid to tell their stories" But now, according to producer Lise Lens-Mulkler, "Burmese are mostly optimistic about change; there are more citizen journalists." The Cove actually had a director of covert operations among its artistic personnel, according to director Louis Psihoyos, in his aim to expose the slaughter of dolphins in the coastal town of Taiji in Japan, for the eventual purpose of supplying mercury-laden dolphin meat to stores. But is film is not about bashing Japan, the filmmaker insisted. "The film is a love letter to Japan; it's about healthy eating."

As is Robert Kenner's Food Inc., for which he was often denied access to where he wanted to shoot. "We wanted to have a dialogue in the film, but corporations refused to be in the film," Kenner said. "But now the dialogue is happening." And while General Motors denied Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert (The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant) access to the plant and to the top brass, the filmmakers opted to focus on the workers anyway. "We wanted to show what it meant to work in a factory," Reichert said. And it wasn't easy getting the workers to agree at first, given the swarm of local and international reporters following the story. "The workers auditioned us," said Bognar "So we did something we never do: We showed them a rough cut of what we had shot so far." That worked, and not only did the filmmakers have their cast, but the workers agreed to shoot footage inside the plant.

Although the evening didn't call for questions from the audience, Kopple handled both panels with grace and geniality. "We want each other to succeed," she said of the nominees-and the documentary community in general. "I feel very privileged to be on stage with all of you." 

Over the last several years, there has been a lot of talk about how films are making use of the Internet for marketing and distribution. The Web 2.0 revolution has hit film festivals as well, changing the way they communicate with their patrons, support their filmmakers and sustain their brands. Savvy festivals have adjusted with technology, taking advantage of all the new tools the Web has to offer. Along the way, they've had to make calculated decisions about how to invest their limited financial and human resources.

The new media landscape presents many questions: Where does social networking fit into a festival's conversation with its audience? What should be the purpose of a festival's website? Should festivals blog? If so, what kind of voice should be used? How can a festival take advantage of the Internet to create a year-round presence for a once-a-year event? With so many online tools now available, how can they help festivals operate more efficiently? I spoke with representatives from several festivals to find out the answers to these and other questions about how fests and the 'net intersect.

South by Southwest Conference and Festival (SXSW)

SXSW has long distinguished itself as a leader in making use of online tools. In addition to its film section, the Austin-based festival programs an Interactive component. Chief technology officer Scott Wilcox has been with SXSW since 1996, and he's been pleasantly surprised by everyone's willingness to adapt to new technologies. When it comes to adding new features to its site, "We look at what the filmmakers are trying to accomplish, and how a potential new feature might help them do that," he explains. "We try to use new technologies to further exposure for the films. Also, we are constantly looking for new models."

Conference and Festival Producer Janet Pierson echoes this sentiment: "I don't believe I'll necessarily figure out what the new paradigm is, but I'd like SXSW to be the place where people figure that out. It helps that we're already in the conversation." She believes that SXSW is a place where filmmakers often lead the way, and feel comfortable testing out new technology solutions for marketing and distribution. 

Experimentation at SXSW has taken all forms. The festival started playing around with online video in 2000, posting several film trailers when there was barely enough bandwidth to support streaming. Despite the obstacles, it was obvious from the beginning that the trailers were a great way to help patrons deal with the challenge of figuring out what to see; in 2009, 165 films posted trailers online. Over the years, the festival has expanded its original production efforts to include videos of conference events, alumni news and fun "how-to" pieces about getting around the festival, among other offerings.

According to former SXSW producer Matt Dentler, SXSW was one of the first festivals to have a MySpace page. Over the years, their social networking efforts have grown to include Facebook and Twitter. Dentler believes that it's important to deliver information in a variety of ways because everyone listens or pays attention to different things. The key is that no matter which tool you're using, you must be authentic and personal in your execution.

The advantage of today's social networking tools is that they let the audience know that the event isn't just a big, nameless corporate entity. Twitter posts and Facebook updates are ways of showing that there are people behind the event who care deeply about making it successful. This is also helpful for filmmakers, who at times can feel like they are sending their film babies off into a black hole of programming. Knowing there are passionate cineastes screening around the clock puts a more human spin on the submission process.

Blogs are now a regular feature of festival websites, but when Dentler started blogging for indieWire in April 2004, he was one of the first festival directors to do so. It was tricky, he admits, as the blog was officially his own, not an official representation of SXSW. However, he was very aware that many people read it just because he programmed for the festival. "I think the filmmakers appreciated hearing festival news from the source rather than from press releases or official interviews," he notes. "The blog also became a way to get feedback about films. I made it interactive by doing things like asking questions about what people wanted to see."  

Interactivity has been a double-edged sword for festivals. On one hand, Twitter and Facebook give SXSW the ability to respond in real time to the community, fostering dialogue that strengthens the event and deepens people's affection for the brand. It allows festivals to listen in on the conversation about their event in a way that was never before possible. But that community can be a needy one; people expect answers immediately. Plus, whenever you put a public face on something, you open yourself up to criticism.

Managing that conversation internally can be a challenge as well. According to Wilcox, several people are responsible for SXSW's social media output, and staying on message with a group can be difficult. Social media is a moving target, and the interactive group at SXSW is constantly fine-tuning its activities and voice in the space based on the feedback they receive.

To make all this happen, SXSW has an internal tech team of about 10 people, whose specialties include development, database management, IT, customer and staff support, social media, Web editing, and network and server management. They work with third parties on application development, and often hire outside designers for projects.

This is the first year that the film division of SXSW is making use of the Panel Picker, a tool the Interactive Conference has been utilizing for the past couple of years. People submit ideas for festival panels, and the public then votes on what they'd like to see. The tool promotes cross-conversation among audience members and increases the year 'round reach of the event. Pierson says that though she was at first a bit nervous about losing the curatorial hand over the panels, there has been a fantastic turnout of ideas.

Also on deck for the 2010 edition of SXSW is a new version of My SXSW, a tool that will allow attendees to make and share their festival schedules. SXSW has co-developed My SXSW with the Social Collective, and planned features include profiles, messaging functionality, groups and tie-ins to Facebook and Twitter. The goal is to expand the experience of the festival both before and after the event. SXSW is also experimenting with several mobile initiatives to take advantage of the fact that nearly everyone now has the Internet in his or her pocket.

Sundance Film Festival

If there's any festival whose brand is safely established, it's Sundance. But that doesn't mean the festival is sitting on its laurels when it comes to new media. "As a 'Discovery Festival,' we try to stay on the cutting edge, and using cutting-edge technology is a big part of that," maintains programmer David Courier. "It's important to put our money where our mouth is and to stay current."

Sundance has more resources than most film festivals, but still has to be smart about how to use them. In his article "Ten Ways to Harness New Media," Joseph Beyer, associate director of Sundance Institute Online, writes, "Every technological tool in your kit should be chosen and used for the direct impact it'll have on one of your core objectives. Technology flash is less enduring than technology smarts."

At Sundance, this core objective revolves around connecting artists with audiences. Says Beyer, "We try desperately to be just a step ahead of what's happening so that we can address our filmmakers' needs with all the resources that Sundance has. We try to stay as relevant as possible. At the end of the day, that's our standard: relevancy to our filmmakers and to our audience. Then we're doing what [Sundance founder] Robert Redford hoped we would do all those years ago."

According to Beyer, Redford is actively involved in the conversation about new technology. It speaks to the actor/director's constant energy for reinvention, and his personal push to not be afraid of change. He urges the team at Sundance to constantly ask the question: "Are we doing what we're supposed to be doing right now, and if not, how can we change that?"

There have been a lot of changes over the years in the way that Sundance communicates with its patrons. Previously, the festival's prime vehicle was a daily newspaper that helped acquaint people with lesser-known areas of the festival such as New Frontiers, Documentaries and Panels. But at the end of the 2009 festival, it was clear that the print components very quickly became dated, so Sundance decided to put its energy into moving its communication tools into the digital realm. For the 2010 edition of the fest, they're working with B-Side to develop a robust online version of the festival guide. In addition to film descriptions, credits and screening times, the online guide will allow patrons to see what others are adding to their schedule and to share responses to films. It will be mobile-enabled, and users will be able to add events to their calendar programs.

Beyer is also very excited about Sundance's new iPhone application, which he describes as "almost as necessary as mittens; the whole festival at your fingertips." The goal of the application is to simultaneously simplify and enrich the festival experience. It includes practical information as well as bonus content such as short films from previous years and a history section that features old festival trailers, archival photography and lists of jurors and awards. On the eve of the festival, Beyer predicted the killer feature for the app would be What's On Now?, which uses GPS technology and a time stamp to inform users about what's happening at the festival closest to where they are--including nearby venues showing films that are about to start.

"We understand that Sundance has been frustrating," says Beyer. "At times there are an enormous amount of tickets still available for events, but there's a mythology that you have to know someone or buy an expensive pass in order to access them. The features on this app will break down that idea."

When it comes to social media, Sundance takes the general approach that it won't participate unless it has value for the audience. "If a person is saying something helpful, that's great," says Courier about festival bloggers. "But personally, I wouldn't want to do it just for the sake of having my stuff out there. I'm not actually sure we should be blogging for our festival; we put the work out there and let it speak for itself."

Speaking of the work, Twitter and Facebook have been helpful in amplifying the conversation about the projects that are shown and created at Sundance. These tools give the festival a year-round ability to tell people about release dates for films and innovative distribution strategies. Sundance's Twitter account, @sundancefest, is featured prominently on the festival website, and includes regular updates from director of programming Trevor Groth and festival director John Cooper.

"Use social media differently than you use your traditional media," Beyer advocates. "Take the time to see what kinds of information the users are looking for on those platforms, take the time to recognize the tonality of how they are communicating on those platforms and take the time to develop a different voice on those platforms."

There's a lot of pressure to use the latest, greatest online tool, and often, festivals feel a bit out of touch if they're not Tweeting every 30 seconds. Beyer suggests that before a festival takes on a new platform, those involved should ask, "What is it I want to accomplish by using a new tool like Twitter?" Perhaps it's a dialogue with the audience, or maybe it's the ability to listen to your patrons. But if you can't answer that basic question, Beyer advises letting yourself off the hook from the pressure of using new technology: "Know what objectives are important to you, and then use technology to achieve them, rather than letting technology lead your sense of ideas."

Another Sundance mission is supporting artists' long-term careers, not just the particular project they may have at the festival in a given year. New this year is an alumni association, informally referred to as the "Sundance Posse," which includes a Posse blog featuring contributions and updates from alums. Sundance has promoted it via social media, and eventually it will be integrated into www.sundance.org.

This summer, the festival will launch "The Source," which Beyer describes as akin to a Sundance IMDb.com. It will utilize materials from the Sundance archives, drawing upon the festival's rich history. Users will be able to chart the entire trajectory of someone's Sundance career. 

Sundance has an internal Web team to support all of its online endeavors. The team is split across two departments: Sundance Institute Online and Creative Services. Online manages all of Sundance's visible media properties, while Creative Services is responsible for producing content. The managing editor sets the tone for the site and social media activities, making sure that the festival voice remains unified and clear. Folks at the festival are constantly meeting vendors and businesses such as B-Side, Withoutabox and iTunes to stay on top of what's happening in the new media space. There's also an internal task force that focuses on how to use new technology tools to support filmmakers.

"We've developed our process over the years," Beyer explains. "It wasn't always so easy to be flexible and nimble. I'm very proud that it looks good and big, but behind the scenes, we all do a little bit of everything. We all love pop culture, and are fascinated by this time that we're in, so that really does translate."

Tribeca Film Festival

The Tribeca Film Festival's (TFF) site is unique in that it showcases not just events at the festival, but film happenings all around New York City. Says executive director Nancy Schafer, "Everything we do is to try to grow the audience for independent film. We use the site to have a conversation around films big and small. That reflects the Tribeca Film Festival because we want to show all kinds of films to all kinds of people."

In addition to the usual film guide, schedule information and trailers, the TFF site features several non-fest-centric blogs: Free Flick Fridays showcases feature films online that can be watched for free; The Price of a Movie blog lists cheap, fun things to do in New York City; and Super Shorts guides users to cool short films on the Web.

Kristin McCracken, director of Web content and operations, makes sure that the voice of Tribeca is reflected on the site. As with Sundance and SXSW, this means managing several different people. During the festival itself, many different staff members Tweet from their different posts at the event. This keeps things lively and, taken together, gives a comprehensive sense of the festival.

Schafer doesn't think that all festivals need a website that features year 'round, dynamic content. "Ours grew out of the fact that we were capturing so much content and having such a lively discussion in months leading up to festival, and we wanted to continue that conversation. As a festival director, I like that we're engaging the audience year 'round. It reflects strongly on us as a brand. We are always looking for more and more ways to connect with our audience."

The future of that connection definitely includes mobile. TFF did a mobile festival guide in 2009, and will do so again this year. Says Schafer, "As people like myself and others live our lives through our mobile devices, we have to be in that space because we have to be where consumers are."

Sponsors also want to be right in the pockets of consumers, and that perhaps is why Stolichnaya Vodka signed on to sponsor both years of the TFF mobile guide. Another benefit of new media tools is that they can open up new, targeted opportunities for sponsorship, something that all fests sorely need.

Ashland Independent Film Festival (Oregon)

For smaller festivals, online endeavors present an interesting paradox: On one hand, they can help streamline operations and provide free tools for grassroots marketing; on the other hand, many festivals don't have the staff or time to support such efforts.

At Ashland, systems manager Christi Wruck does everything from maintaining the festival's website to overseeing IT operations. One board member is the president/CEO of Project A, a Web solutions company, and the company helps create the festival's online presence. Volunteers from the community pitch in as well.

Ashland has an active Facebook page that is constantly updated with festival information, deadlines and the latest news about films that have played at the event. Programming director Joanne Feinberg says that when deciding which social media tools to use, Ashland has to balance the needs of its local audience with the festival's industry presence. Right now Facebook has been a much more effective tool than Twitter for staying in touch with patrons; the 2010 festival will conduct an audience survey to see what the audience is really paying attention to.

Ashland is currently working with Withoutabox on a new online submissions feature, which allows filmmakers to submit their work online, rather than sending in a DVD. "I was initially resistant to trying it because we had spent all of this time and effort perfecting our systems for screening films," Feinberg admits. "However, I'm finding that I really like the online submissions. It's great to be able to easily share information, and our screeners can watch films from any location. I've found the quality to be really good; I just make sure I have a high-quality set of headphones."

Feinberg and her staff spend less time and energy copying submission forms, and less money on postage. She definitely recommends the service for festivals interested in more sustainable operations.

Tamara Krinsky is associate editor of Documentary

Culminating an awards-laden year that began with the Audience Award at Sundance 2009, The Cove, directed by Louis Psihoyos and produced by Fisher Stevens and Paula DePre Pesman, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Stevens, accepting the honor, said, "We tried to make an entertaining film that also tried to enlighten everybody." And just as Stevens introduced Psihoyos as "the man who came up with the idea," Rick O'Barry, the man devoted to saving the dolphins, held up a sign, "Text...Dolphin," and the Academy denied the director the chance to speak, even though he had 15 seconds left. Look, AMPAS, I know that many honorees over the years have used the podium as a forum for getting a message out, but please: Don't deny a guy a once-in-a-lifetime chance to speak about this career-defining achievement; there was nothing about O'Barry's gesture that will incur the wrath of the FCC. If time was the issue--and it wasn't--how about cutting the John Hughes tribute? Was he really that much greater than the great individuals who passed last year?  Nonetheless, I do commend the Academy for showing longer-than-usual clips from the nominated feature docs.

See the acceptance speech by The Cove filmmakers at Oscar.com here.

Moving on, Music by Prudence, directed by Roger Ross Williams and produced by Elinor Burkett, received three rousing ovations at DocuDays on Saturday morning, with Prudence Mabhena herself in attendance. I later had the privilege of attending a party hosted by HBO, at which she performed with piano accompaniment. Those two events, in a way, foreshadowed the film's Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject. Accepting the award with Williams, Burkett said, "In a world in which most of us are told and tell ourselves that we can't, Liyana, the band behind this film, teaches us that we're wrong. Against all odds they did, so we can. So the bottom line is, to me, my role models and my heroes, Marvelous and Energy, Tapiwa, Goodwell, the whole rest of the band and especially Prudence."

I did notice that Burkett had muscled her way onto the podium--I had figured that it had taken a while longer to make her way down, and she was hurrying to meet the 45-second acceptance speech allotment. But following up observations from audience members that she had "pulled a Kanye,"-- in reviewing the acceptance speech drama, I noticed that she did say, "Can a man let a woman talk? Isn't that just the classic thing?..."-- Salon.com spoke to both Burkett and Williams, and apparently there have been considerable friction between the producer and director over creative differences-considerable enough to have resulted in a lawsuit, which has since been settled. Since the Academy only allows one person to speak, Williams was the designated guy.

See the controversial moment during the acceptance speech by the Music by Prudence filmmakers at Oscar.com here.

If there was a theme to 2010 DocuDays L.A.'s first night it was activism.

The two films which screened at the three-day, multi-city event focused on individuals who stood up for what they believed in, even if it meant facing off against a larger and seemingly-insurmountable foe. (See pictures from the night here and here on our Flickr pages.)

The first movie of the night, The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, tells the story of former war planner Daniel Ellsberg and how his decision to leak 7,000 pages of a top secret Pentagon report to the New York Times helped stop the Vietnam War. It was followed by The Cove, which follows Louie Psihoyos, renown dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry and a special ops team which infiltrates a cove near Taijii, Japan to expose an annual dolphin slaughter and Mercury poisoning to the Japanese people.

When taking the stage for post-screening Q&As, both sets of filmmakers were met with standing ovations.

Dangerous Man's co-director/producer Judith Ehrlich, who appeared with co-director/producer Rick Goldsmith and Daniel Ellsberg and his wife Patricia was clearly touched by the enthusiastic welcome and choked up when she acknowledged it.

Ellsberg, still very much an active activist, was asked about the similarities to America's involvement in Vietnam then and Iraqi and Afghanistan now. "We are rather easily manipulated into violence by our leaders," he said. But believes we have it in us to change. One way may be to have politicians watch the film, which champions those brave enough to risk all in the name of exposing the truth. "If it's seen by officials in Washington, it can encourage people to undertake the acts of truth telling what will end this longest war--'Vietnamistan.'"

Of course you'd have to get it to them. Joking that high-ranking officials don't read anything unless it's labeled Top Secret, Goldsmith said, "We just have to label the DVD 'Top Secret.'"

Even though his name is in the film's title, Ellsberg pointed out that he was one link in a very important chain and gave credit to the others who had the moral courage to follow his lead. "In making this film," said Goldsmith, "We learned that courage is contagious."

That quote can be applied to the story of The Cove as well. Because of his concern over the dolphin slaughter in Japan, Ric O'Barry enlisted Psihoyos and a team of experts to expose the secrets of the area. Appearing by himself last night, Psihoyos gave an update on how The Cove is enacting change.

The movie screened at the Tokyo Film Festival and now has distribution in Japan. The town of Taijii was mandated to get tested for Mercury poisoning--and found astoundingly high levels of it in the population. Just last week, the national government stopped the killing of dolphins in the cove depicted in the movie, which Psihoyos called a "qualified win" because the activity continues about a half-mile away. "But to me that's good news, he said."It's like Hitler has gone to his bunker."

Psihoyos called his film a "love letter" to the people of Japan. Because during the making of the film, Psihoyos, a Pescetarian, discovered that he had high levels of Mercury in his system. "I'm giving you information that your own government won't give you," he said.

Psihoyos explained that his next project will "bring across that realization that you know what we're not the only species on this planet that matters" and that while members of his Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS) have been in town for Oscars preparation, celebrations and activities, they've also secretly been using their talents working with federal agents at night for…something. "You have no idea," he said. "I would love to tell a story tonight that I realize I can't…but stay tuned to your papers in the next couple of days, it's going to be interesting."

Psihoyos gave a nod to The Most Dangerous Man in America and his other Oscar "competitors." "It's an amazing film, with a great social message. People try to talk about these films being competitors. I hang out at these dinners with the producers and directors and I don't feel competitive, I feel like collaborators. We're on the same team."

"I'm hoping that this movie is a form of activism," he continued. "Once people see it, then I would imagine that nobody in this audience is going to go to Sea World again. And you'll probably tell your friends to do the same thing. And maybe hopefully go home and Facebook to your friends and say that you saw this incredible movie go see it. That's a form of activism. It's not about us, it's about you guys."

"If this movie teaches anybody anything, I hope it's that one person can change the world and a few us of together can make a huge difference."

In a journey that began at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival with lots of acclaim but no distribution offers, the story of Anvil! The Story of Anvil reached a rousing crescendo last night with an Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary, capping an Awards Season that garnered a bevy of kudos, including an IDA Award in December.

"I think we're both going on, having spent these incredible few years together on this amazing journey," director Sacha Gervasi exclaimed backstage. "I feel a sense of completion. I wanted to make a movie I was proud of, with people I liked-I did that.  This band, when we were making the movie was, playing to 20, 30 people a night, and now they're regularly playing to 10s of thousands of people."

"It's the independent spirit of the band that was the face of this film," producer Rebecca Yeldham added. "Every time we got hit with an obstacle, they didn't give up and it was an inspiration."

Anvil had been overlooked on the Oscars Short List for Best Documentary, but Gervasi was philosophical about that. "Of course we didn't get an Oscars nomination--it's Anvil! In the documentary branch for the Oscars, the median age is the 60s and 70s; four minutes into this movie, Lipps takes out a marital aid and plays his guitar; I think maybe we lost it there. We're so thrilled with what happened here. It would've been lovely, it didn't happen. But this is the Independent Spirit Awards. This is the essence of what the band has lived and what the film has loved. This is an incredible honor."

Bill Ross and Turner Ross, makers of 45365, earned the Chaz & Roger Ebert Truer Than Fiction Award for an emerging documentary filmmaker. Film Independent, the LA-based nonprofit that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, had announced earlier in the week that the Eberts would sponsor the award, which includes an unrestricted $25,000 grant to "an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition."  The Spirit crowd paid loving tribute to the Eberts with a montage of clips from his Siskel & Ebert and Ebert & Roeper days.

45365, an essay documentary on nine months in the life of Sidney, Ohio (the zip code for which is the title of the film), won the Grand Jury Prize at SXSW, was honorable mentioin for the HBO Emerging Documentary Award at Full Frame and earned several Cinema Eye Honors nominations. The film has been screening at festivals and arthouse venues around the country and will have weeklong runs in Los Angeles this month and in New York City in June.

45365 and Anvil! The Story of Anvil will be screening Saturday, March 6, at 4:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., respectively, at the Writers Guild of America Theater in Beverly Hills, as part of DocuDays LA.

For more information on DocuDays LA, click here.

The International Documentary Association held a special awards week mixer last night at The Standard Hotel, Hollywood. Independent Spirit Award and Oscar nominated filmmakers, IDA members and staff mixed and mingled in the swanky setting.

Enjoying the night were the filmmakers behind More Than a Game, Which Way Home, The Cove, Rabbit a la Berlin, Music by Prudence, Burma VJ (most docs which can be seen at DocuDays™ 2010) and IDA Board Members, Marjan Safinia, Senain Keshgi, Bob Niemack, Eddie Schmidt, Adam Chapnick, Steve Reich, Gilda Brasch and more!

See great pictures from the night below and then check out more on our Flickr site from photographers Josh Weiss here and and Amina Horozic here.

International Documentary Association March 2010 Mixer. Photo by Amina Horozic (www.hyperorange.com)

International Documentary Association March 2010 Mixer. Photo by Amina Horozic (www.hyperorange.com)

International Documentary Association March 2010 Mixer. Photo by Josh Weiss (www.joshweissphoto.com)

International Documentary Association March 2010 Mixer. Photo by Amina Horozic (www.hyperorange.com)

International Documentary Association March 2010 Mixer. Photo by Josh Weiss (www.joshweissphoto.com)