Although the late Eric Rohmer was best known for his literary and philosophical inquiries into our mores and preoccupations through such cinematic cycles as Moral Tales, Comedies and Proverbs and Tales of the Four Seasons, he, like many of his cohorts in the Nouvelle Vague movement, plied his craft in documentary. According to IMDB, Rohmer made docs for television in the 1960s, profiling such figures as Victor Hugo, Pascal and Mallarmé.

Here's an excerpt from a short doc on the Lumiere Brothers, with Cinematheque founder Henri Langlois and filmmaker Jean Renoir weighing in.

And here’s a short about women students in the French universities system. Nestor Alemendros is the cinematographer.

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Redemption Stone - The Life And Times Of Tom Lewis will screen at the Slamdance Film Festival, one of just twelve documentary shorts to screen at the festival in the Documentary Short Film Competition.  The film chronicles the life of Tom Lewis, a storyteller of quiet power, who creates an after-school safe haven for children called The Fishing School. Redemption Stone was nominated as one of the Best Short Films at the IDA Awards in 2008. Congratulations to the filmmakers. Get more info at http://www.redemptionstone.net.

What are the best festivals for docs? Check out AJ Schnack's list and see which ones top his rather popular rundown. (via All These Wonderful Things)

There are re-orgs going on at the Discovery Channel. Oh, and over at National Geographic Films as well. Also, there's a new Film Editor at the LA Weekly.

Flixster is acquiring Rotten Tomatoes from IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corp, which will receive a minority stake in an all-stock deal.

Why are indie directors releasing films online? Time Magazine says it knows why. Oh, and The Independent claims to know the Five Tips for a Better Documentary.

How do you feel about corporate-sponsored docs? Some nearly tossed their cookies when weight-loss drug company Glaxo, the pharmaceutical giant behind Alli, made a movie about eating. (via The New York Times)

Opening:                    January 6
Venue:                        IFC Center/New York City
Film:                           Garbage Dreams
Dir./Prod:                   Mai Iskander
Distributor:                Wynne Films
http://www.garbagedreams.com/

Garbage Dreams follows three teenage boys born into the trash trade and growing up in the world's largest garbage village, on the outskirts of Cairo. It is the home to 60,000 Zaballeen-Arabic for "garbage people." Far ahead of any modern "Green" initiatives, the Zaballeen survive by recycling 80 percent of the garbage they collect. When their community is suddenly faced with the globalization of its trade, each of the teenage boys is forced to make choices that will impact his future and the survival of his community.

Opening:                    January 6
Venue:                        Film Forum/New York City
Film:                           Sweetgrass
Recordist:                   Lucien Castaing-Taylor
Producer:                   Ilisa Barbash
Distributor:                The Cinema Guild
http://sweetgrassthemovie.com/

An unsentimental elegy to the American West, Sweetgrass follows the last modern-day cowboys to lead their flocks of sheep up into Montana's breathtaking and often dangerous Absaroka-Beartooth mountains for summer pasture. This astonishingly beautiful yet unsparing film reveals a world in which nature and culture, animals and humans, vulnerability and violence are all intimately meshed.

Opening:                    January 8
Venue:                        IFC Center/New York City
Film:                           In Search of a Memory
Director:                     Petra Seeger
Distributor:                Icarus Films
http://icarusfilms.com/new2009/mem.html

Memory is everything. Without it we are nothing," says neuroscientist Eric Kandel, winner of the Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking research on the physiology of the brain's storage of memories. As he explains, memory is the glue that binds our mental life together and provides a sense of continuity in our lives.

In Search of Memory is a compelling blend of autobiography and history that recounts the life of one of the most important neuroscientists of the 20th century and illuminates scientific developments in our understanding of the brain's role in recording and preserving memory. In addition to archival footage and dramatic re-creations of Kandel's childhood experiences in Nazi-occupied Vienna and his formative years as an emigrant in New York, the film features discussions with Kandel, friends and family, as well as his public lectures in Vienna and New York, which explore both his professional and personal life, especially his emotional ties to Judaism.

Both through its personal journey into the memory of this amazingly spry and witty 79-year old, especially his traumatic experiences during the Holocaust, and a visit to his Columbia University laboratory, where Kandel and his colleagues demonstrate their experimental research, In Search of Memory examines how the brain stores memories, the difference between short-term and long-term memory, Alzheimer's and age-related memory loss, and structural modifications to the brain that enhance memory.

In revisiting the people, places and objects of Kandel's lifetime experiences, In Search of Memory reveals how everything we undergo changes the brain, even our genetic make-up, and can determine the focus of a life's work.

Opening:                    January 8
Venue:                        Roxie Cinema/San Francisco
Film:                           MINE
Director:                     Geralyn Pezanoski
Producer:                   Erin Essenmacher
Distributors:              Film Movement; iTunes
http://www.mine-the-movie.blogspot.com/

Hailed as "absorbing," "a must see," "Oscar material" and "the best movie at SXSW," MINE is a documentary about the essential bond between humans and animals, set against the backdrop of one of the worst natural disasters in modern US history: Hurricane Katrina. This gripping, character-driven story follows New Orleans residents as they attempt the daunting task of trying to reunite with their pets who have been adopted by families all over the country, and chronicles the custody battles that arise when two families love the same pet. Who determines the fate of the animals--and the people--involved? A compelling meditation on race, class and the power of compassion, MINE examines how we treat animals as an extension of how we view and treat each other.

Opening:                    January 8
Venue:                        Cinema Village/New York City
Film:                           Waiting for Armageddon
Directors:                   Franco Sacchi, Kate Davis, David Heilbroner
Distributor:              First Run Features
http://www.waitingforarmageddon.com/

America's 50-million strong Evangelical community is convinced that the world's future is foretold in Biblical prophecy--from the Rapture to the Battle of Armageddon. This astonishing documentary explores their world--in their homes, at conferences and on a wide-ranging tour of Israel. By interweaving Christian, Zionist, Jewish and critical perspectives along with telling archival materials, the filmmakers probe the politically powerful--and potentially explosive--alliance between Evangelical Christians and Israel...an alliance that may set the stage for what one prominent Evangelical leader calls "World War III."

Opening:                    January 29
Venue:                        Cinema Village/New York City
Film:                           The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Directors/Producers: Judith Ehrlich, Rick Goldsmith
Distributor:                First Run Features
http://www.mostdangerousman.org/

In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a leading Vietnam War strategist, concludes the war is based on decades of lies.  He leaks 7,000 pages of top-secret documents to The New York Times, a daring act of conscience that leads directly to Watergate, President Nixon's resignation and the end of the Vietnam War.

Opening:                    January 29
Venue:                        IFC Center/New York City
Film:                           Off and Running
Director/Producer:    Nicole Opper
Producer:                   Sharese Bullock
Distributor:                First Run Features
http://offandrunningthefilm.com/

With white Jewish lesbians for parents and two adopted brothers--one mixed-race and one Korean--Brooklyn teen Avery grew up in a unique and loving household. But when her curiosity about her African-American roots grows, she decides to contact her birth mother. This choice propels Avery into her own complicated exploration of race, identity and family that threatens to distance her from the parents she's always known. She begins staying away from home, starts skipping school and risks losing her shot at the college track career she had always dreamed of. But when Avery decides to pick up the pieces of her life and make sense of her identity, the results are inspiring. Off and Running follows Avery to the brink of adulthood, exploring the strength of family bonds and the lengths people must go to become themselves.

As we begin to look forward to the new crop of films for 2010, we pause for a moment to review the year that just was. We present to you THE 'T' LISTS...Top 10 lists from editor Tom White and associate editor Tamara Krinsky. Thanks to all the wonderful filmmakers who constantly provide the intriguing, inspiring stories which keep our job exciting.

 --Tom & Tamara 

Tamara Krinsky's Top 10 Docs of 2009

 In alphabetical order...

1. Anvil! The Story of Anvil: The unexpectedly inspirational story about never giving up on your dreams...as told through two rockin', soulful metal-heads.
2. Burma VJ: Reporting From a Closed Country - A doc that taught me about an important situation in the world of which I was ignorant. I saw it at Sundance, and for the rest of the year, it affected the way I thought about courage in reporting and current events.
3. Every Little Step:  I've been a musical theater whore since seeing Peter Pan at age 5; hearing the original recordings of Michael Bennett's sessions with the dancers that were used to create A Chorus Line was an incredible thrill.
4. Food, Inc.: I almost left it off the list because it's received so much attention elsewhere; however, a doc shouldn't be punished because it's popular. Plus, it made me think differently about every piece of food I put in my mouth.
5. Good Hair: Funny and informative, Chris Rock's doc answered all the questions I've always wanted to ask about African-American hair.
6. HBO's The Alzheimer's Project: A set of in-depth programs that delved into the emotional and scientific aspects of a disease affecting far too many people. Heart-breaking and hopeful at the same time.
7. The Cove: There were many wonderful films this year that dealt with environmental issues; what separates The Cove is its masterful storytelling - eco-doc meets action thriller.
8. The September Issue: A gorgeously shot doc in which I expected to learn about the mysterious Wintour; instead, I discovered the fascinating Grace Coddington and the heart of an artist.
9. Transcendent Man: Whether you think futurist/inventor Ray Kurzweil is a prophet or a crackpot, this film will give you much to think on about the intertwined future of technology and man.
10. We Live in Public: As a new media junkie, I loved this visit with a fascinating architect of Internet history. Plus, Ondi Timoner gets a special nod for her trail-blazing use of new media to promote the film.

As always, there are always a few docs that slip by me that perhaps would have ended up on my list. Still dying to see: Valentino, Garbage Dreams, Afghan Star, La Danse, Beaches of Agnes, Tyson, October Country and RIP: A Remix Manifesto. 

Tom White's Top Ten List of 2009

My top ten list is not necessarily in order of preference, or alphabetical, or in the order in which I saw the films. But it's a little of all of those, with the attempt to make segues from title to title. Think of this list as a non-linear one--more like a cloud, if you will.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil--Heavy metal is probably my least favorite genre of music (after easy listening, quiet storm, smooth jazz and country and western), but that didn't stop me from loving this film (although evidently it was a barrier for most AMPAS voters). This is an homage to the strivers and dreamers who fall short of their goals-but never succumb to that second act in life. Funny, poignant, heart-breaking and inspiring, Anvil the film transcended the potential for Spinal Tapian caricature of Anvil the band--although it didn't change my mind about heavy metal. But then again, imagine if Anvil were an easy listening act, like Air Supply or Bread? Now that would have been a challenge for Sacha Gervasi!

We Live in Public--Another Oscar snub. While the film captures the zeitgeist of the Aughts before it became the zeitgeist, at the heart of We Live in Public is a tragicomic figure in Josh Harris, one whose incorrigible hubris, casual cruelty, self-destructive genius and Jim Jonesian megalomania recalled Caligula, Richard III and Charles Foster Kane.

Winnebago Man--I was tempted to assign this as a two-for-one article with We Live in Public, but the writer convinced me otherwise. But still, Jack Rebney, the Winnebago Man in question, who gained his renown as the tempestuous pitchman from a 1986 video that spread like kudzu around the world-first in the analog days, then in the dial-up days of the Web, and now, in the super-charged, We Live in Public era of today-makes for an intriguing 21st century man. But filmmaker Ben Steinbauer set out to find the man behind the outtakes-and the man behind the worldwide celebrity. It isn't the journey, nor the destination, however, that makes this film. It's the process of making the documentary itself--of that strange, wily covenant between filmmaker and subject, the filmmaker and his film, and the filmmaker and his audience.

Big River Man--This film premieres on Discovery's Planet Green this month, and while the protagonist, Martin Strel, swims the grandest rivers in the world purportedly to raise awareness of environmental crises, Big River Man is not ostensibly an environmental doc. Strel is a Herzogian character-not a screaming banshee like Klaus Kinski, or a deluded grizzly man like Timothy Treadwell, but more of an existential cipher, who, while sharing those characters' obsessive compulsions to go one on one with nature, engages his quest with an odd stoicism. His traveling companions along the Amazon go nearly mad themselves, as the river takes on a mythical, mystical and at times monstrous aura. And yet, I found myself roaring with laughter along with the audience that packed the theater at the LA Film Festival. A hauntingly hilarious film.

The Solitary Life of Cranes--Full disclosure: I was once a construction worker in London, but I never got the chance to experience what life might be like up there alone in the cabin of a crane. Eva Weber gives me that experience--and more. Through the off-camera musings of the crane operators themselves and the fabulous cinematography, we get a sense of solitude, voyeurism, empowerment and mortality. And poetry. Another Oscar snub.

Must Read After My Death--The remarkable chronicle of a Post World War II suburban family--told entirely through audio recordings and home movies--has echoes of Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road and any number of John Cheever's stories in tracking the disillusionment and quiet desperation that inevitably accompanied the American Dream. Filmmaker Morgan Dews discovered this documentation of what happened to be the story of his grandparents, mother, aunts and uncles, and created a unique portrait.

The Cove--In the first quarter or so of the year, The Cove garnered a bevy of audience awards from festivals across the country and around the world, and at year's end, it's garnering the lion's share of kudos and accolades from critics. (And it's even on the Oscars Short List!) So why did it fall short of box office expectations? This is one of those rare films that succeed in conveying a strong message and telling a great story in a riveting, white-knuckle sort of way.

La Danse--As much as I dislike heavy metal, I have even less affection for classical ballet. But that doesn't matter here. Frederick Wiseman can mine the poetry and drama in most anything, including art forms that are innately poetic and dramatic, like...classical ballet. Here he and longtime cinematographer John Davey capture both the intricacies and mysteries of the creative process, in the rehearsal studios and in performance on stage, and the complexities and challenges of running a ballet company. It's observational cinema, yes, but with Wiseman, who manages to remain invisible even in a room full of mirrors, La Danse truly sees into the life of things.

El General--Filmmaker Natalia Almada's great-grandfather, Plutarco Elias Calles, was President of Mexico in the 1920s and ‘30s-and "El General" of the title. But this is not a history documentary, and although the audiotapes of Almada's grandmother telling the story of Calles serves the narrative, this is not a personal documentary either. But in utilizing those genres, along with the essay doc and the social issue doc, as touchstones, Almada creates a singular exploration of the intersections and contradictions between national history and personal memory.

Sweetgrass--Although this film played in a few festivals in 2009, and officially opens today (January 6) through The Cinema Guild, I will count this among the best films I saw in 2009-and it might end up on my 2010 list as well. Filmmakers Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Ilisa Barbash call themselves "recordists," and they take their time capturing what turns out to be one of the last sheep-herding expeditions for a family business in Montana. At once sprawling in its stunning vistas of the Great American West and intimate in capturing the trials and tribulations of sheep-herding, Sweetgrass transports us back to the 19th century, yet creates its own mythology of the American West in its visionary brand of observational cinema.

Honorable mentions:
The September Issue
Carmen Meets Borat
Loot
The Yes Men Fix the World
October Country

A federal court in Texas confirmed last month that the First Amendment protects filmmakers who use the trademarks or service marks of others in the title of a film, as long as the use describes the content of the film and does not indicate that the film is sponsored by or affiliated with the owners of the marks.

It happened in a case in which IDA filed an amicus brief in support of producers who had used the name "Rin Tin Tin," a valuable trademark, in the title of a film about the real Rin Tin Tin. Michael Donaldson, former President of the International Documentary Association (IDA), organized a united coalition of independent film organizations in support of the brief, gaining the assistance of Michael Morales, General Counsel for the IDA, and Susan Cleary, who signed the brief on behalf of the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA). Donaldson is also General Counsel of Film Independent and signed on their behalf.

An amicus brief is written by a non-partisan amicus curiae, or "friend of the court," who offers information on a point of law or some other aspect of the case to assist the court in deciding the matter before it. IDA argued on behalf of First Look Studios, the producers behind the film Finding Rin Tin Tin: The Adventure Continues. IDA told the court that filmmakers should be able to use trademarks in the title of their films if that's the best way to describe the content of the film.

In analyzing the film's use of "Rin Tin Tin," the court held that the use of the name in the title and body of the film constituted a "fair use" because it is not used in a trademark fashion--that is, as an identifier of the source of goods--and therefore was protected by the First Amendment. While the court did not rely on the IDA brief to make its decision, many of the First Amendment principles that the IDA argued in its brief were reflected in the court's 16-page decision.

Rin Tin Tin was a German Shepherd dog who became famous after he starred in several major motion pictures in the 1920s. Rin Tin Tin, Inc., a company focused on maintaining the "Rin Tin Tin" lineage, owns several "Rin Tin Tin" trademarks and came after the creators of Finding Rin Tin Tin, a fictional film based on the real-life story of Rin Tin Tin, after it was released on DVD in 2008.

The court noted that the use of the term "Rin Tin Tin" described the content of the film-- the historical story of the famous dog--rather than as a "source identifier," which would have created an improper insinuation of sponsorship by Rin Tin Tin, Inc., the trademark holder. 

The decision looks to be a great boon for filmmakers (especially documentarians) who find themselves in the relatively common situation in which the use of the trademark is really the best way to describe a film. In those situations, filmmakers shouldn't have to worry about overzealous trademark owners trying to shut down free speech.

For the complete Court ruling, click here.

IDA's own Meg Madison snapped some elegant black-and-white photos of the IDA Awards after-party that, in their elegance, gives one the impression that the party actually took place in a simpler time, before many of us were born; perhaps while Truman Capote was throwing his Black and White Ball on the East Coast, this alternative universe of revelers on the Left Coast was throwing its own fete, the true impact of which we wouldn't be feeling until some 40 years later! In the photo above are Anvil director Sacha Gervasi (middle) and Anvil star Steve 'Lips" Kudlow, along with a friend. Here are some more:

And for a link to the entire slide show, click here.

And prior to the IDA Awards, the good folks at Eastman Kodak hosted their annual IDA Awards Luncheon for the honorees and nominees, as well as IDA Board and staff. Many thanks to Michael Zakula and Candace Chatmon for their continued support of the IDA. Here are some pix from that event--in color this time around--courtesy of the indefatigable Meg Madison.

Irene Taylor Brodsky with Mai Iskander, director/producer/cinematographer/writer of the IDA/Humanitas Award winner, Garbage Dreams.

Pioneer Award honoree Nicolas Noxon (right) with Robert Kenner, director/producer of Feature Documentary Nominee Food, Inc.

The Feature Documentary Nominees--left to right: Klaas Bense, director/writer, Diary of a Times Square Thief; Robert Kenner, director/producer, Food, Inc.; Sacha Gervasi, director, Anvil! The Story of Anvil; Havana Marking, director/producer, Afghan Star. Not pictured: Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson, directors, Mugabe and the White African.

The 2nd $25,000 IDA/Pare Lorentz Finishing Fund grant was awarded to Summer Pasture, directed by Lynn True and Nelson Walker. An intimate glimpse into the experiences of a young Tibetan family struggling to reconcile their traditional way of life with a rapidly modernizing world, Summer Pasture was selected for the grant out of a total of 141 submissions. The film was one of three finalists chosen by the selection committee. The two other finalists were War Don Don directed by Rebecca Richman Cohen and Journey From Zanskar directed by Frederick Marx.  

Upon hearing about the grant, director Nelson Walker commented, "We have been working on Summer Pasture for the past 2 1/2 years, from filming in the mountains of Tibet to editing in a small basement office in Harlem. This project has been a real process of discovery and as we enter this critical final phase, we could not be more thrilled to have the support of the IDA-Pare Lorentz Finishing Fund. It's truly an honor to know that our film will help carry on the tradition of Pare Lorentz -- and thanks to the award we'll be able to meet the challenges of post-production and make our film the best it can be."

Award finalist Journey From Zanskar is the story of two Tibetan Buddhist monks who lead 17 poor children across the Himalayas to provide them with an education, and finalist War Don Don chronicles the story of the trial of Issa Sesay, a rebel commander of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), and a key player in the peace process, who now stands accused of crimes against humanity. 

The IDA/Pare Lorentz $25,000 Finishing Fund Grant is made possible by a generous grant from The New York Community Trust.

Slamdance, the scrappy, frisky counterpoint to Sundance, has announced its Shorts and Special Screenings competitions, along with its Feature competitions.

Notable among the special screenings is And Everything Is Going Fine, Steven Soderbergh's  long-awaited doc on Spaulding Gray, the late monologuist/performance artist who committed suicide in 2004. The Documentary Feature competition includes a profile of William S. Burroughs (William Burroughs: A Man Within), a look at Bolivian women wrestlers (Mamachas Del Ring) and a reunion of the greatest artists in the rocksteady genre from 1960s Jamaica (Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae)

The doc shorts in competition include DocuWeeks 09 participant point of entry (Dir.: Zeus Quijano Jr.), 2008 IDA Short Documentary Award nominee Redemption Stone - The Life and Times of Tom Lewis (Dir.: Tom Dziedzic), and a profile of an Aborigine artist (Not a Willing Participant; Dir.: Alex Barnes)

Here's the documentary lineup:

Special Screenings

I Am Comic (Dir.: Jordan Brady; US)--Stand-up comedians reveal the art and occupational hazards of their craft. With Sarah Silverman, Tommy Davidson, Carrot Top, Kathy Griffin, Carlos Mencia, Jeff Foxworthy and Phyllis Diller

And Everything Is Going Fine  (Dir.: Steven Soderbergh; US)--An intimate documentary about the life and work of the late performance artist Spaulding Gray.

Documentary Competition--Feature Length (All films are from the US unless otherwise noted)

American Jihadist (Dir.: Mark Claywell)--What makes a man willing to kill and die for his religion?

Biker Fox (Dir.: Jeremy Lamberton)--By taking the road less traveled, Biker Fox leads you to another dimension by "cogitating positive vibes to the cortex of your cerebellum" in this part documentary, part self-help testimonial.

Candyman (Dir.: Costa Botes)--Candyman is the story of the rise and fall of David Klein, the man who invented Jelly Belly jelly beans. With Weird Al Yankovich

General Orders No. 9 (Dir.: Robert Persons)--Take one last trip down the rabbit hole before it gets paved over. A history of the State of Georgia or Anywhere. Deer trail becomes Indian trail becomes county road becomes...

Mamachas Del Ring (Dir.: Betty M. Park)--Bolivian women wrestlers throw down in the ring in this documentary about what it really means to fight like a girl. Carmen Rosa the Champion is their passionate leader, and is faced with a brutal decision when she is forced to choose between her love of sport and love of her family.

Mind of a Demon: The Larry Linkogle Story (Dir.: Adam Barker)--The birth of freestyle motocross became the demise of the sport's most infamous legend. Narrated by Lemmy.

Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae (Dir.: Stascha Bader; Canada)--The singers and musicians of Jamaica's Golden Age of music, Rocksteady, come together after 40 years to record an album of their greatest hits, to perform together again at a reunion concert in Kingston, and to tell their story. With Rita Marley

William Burroughs: A Man Within (Dir.: Yony Leyser)--Leyser paints a tender portrait of the Beat author and American icon, whose works at once savaged conservative ideals, spawned vibrant countercultural movements and reconfigured 20th century culture. With David Cronenberg, Gus Van Sant, Peter Weller, Iggy Pop, Laurie Anderson.

Documentary Competition (all films are from the US unless otherwise noted):

point of entry (Dir.: Zeus Quijano Jr.)--An intimate look at modern immigration.

Bout that Bout (Dir.: Nico Sabenorio)--High school seniors in rural Florida come of age competing in an illegal after-school fight club.

Cease & Desist (Dir.: John Carluccio--Branding, addiction, sneaker culture and legal infringement are explored when artist/designer Ari Saal Forman mashes-ups the lively Newport cigarette brand into a cool Nike-like sneaker.

Close to Home (Dir.: Theo Rigby)--The story of a father broken from the murder of his son, and a daughter waiting for the father that she once had.

Finding D.Q.U. (Dir.: Christopher Newman)--In 2005 D-Q University, California's only tribal college, was shut down after a 35-year struggle, but its supporters fight to hold on to a dream that was never fully realized.

Not a Willing Participant (Dir.: Alex Barnes; Australia)--Aboriginal artist Vernon Ah Kee has been selected to represent Australia at the prestigious 53rd Venice Biennale of art. How will his important cultural work be perceived by the rest of the world?

Poinciana Sunrise (Dir.: Chuck Gomez)--The life and spirit of the "Queen of the Road", the only female member of The Highwaymen, a group of African-American Florida artists who created a beautiful and historic record of landscapes now lost to developers and modernization.

Q & A (Dir.: Tim & Mike Rauch)--Joshua Littman, an inquisitive 12-year-old with Asperger's Syndrome, interviews his mother Sarah about everything from cockroaches to her feelings about him as a son.

Redemption Stone - The Life and Times of Tom Lewis  (Dir.: Tom Dziedzic)--A spiritual vision inspires Tom Lewis, a storyteller of quiet power, to open a neighborhood safe haven called The Fishing School and to turn hardship into hope for the children in his community.

The Individualist (Dir.: Zoë Banks)--Tinkerer, musician, and inventor of the world's first solid-state heat engine, Ridgway Banks quietly solved the clean energy problem in his workshop 35 years ago, without fame, fortune or attention.

The Sundowner (Dir.: Steve Christolos)--An engineer becomes a man of the sea on his handcrafted fifty-three foot sailboat, with the incredible ambition to sail around the world.

Wahid's Mobile Bookstore (Dir.: Anjoo Khosia; US & India)--Nine-year-old Wahid makes a living selling pirated international bestsellers to customers stopping in their cars at traffic intersections in Mumbai, India.

Introduced by IDA Board President Eddie Schmidt as "the woman who holds the fate of your documentary career in her hands," Cara Mertes, director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and past executive producer of POV, held court for well over two-and-a-half intermissionless hours before a rapt audience for this the final Doc U of 2009. Among the attendees included Academy Award nominee Chuck Braverman; the venerable Marina Goldavskaya, the 2008 IDA Preservation and Scholarship Award honoree; Patricia Finneran, the New York-based senior consultant to the Documentary Film Program; and Kristin Feeley, manager of the Documentary Film program. Mertes noted that the Sundancers in the house had bypassed their own holiday party to attend this yuletide presentation.

Mertes discussed an early inspiration: Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven, which she saw growing up in Kansas, and was the prime spark in opening up cinematic possibilities for her. She showed Cut Piece, a short, rarely seen work by the Maysles Brothers, that captures a young Yoko Ono performing a conceptual art piece on stage at Carnegie Hall, in which she invites members of the audience to come up and cut off pieces of her clothing until she's nearly naked. I had seen the film before the 2007 WACK exhibit on feminist art from the 60s and 70s, and I was struck by the mastery of the cinematography, how the Maysles Brothers elegantly capture Yoko Ono the art piece, Yoko Ono the artist, and Yoko Ono the human being-and, as Schmidt pointed out at Doc U, Yoko Ono, the documentary subject. It was this kind of conceptual art, and the video art that people like Yvonne Rainier were doing, that drew Mertes to this form. "I loved the fringes in all its spaces," she noted.

Mertes evolved from directing to producing and executive producing, all the while studying the masters, citing Barbara Kopple's Harlan County USA, as a great example of dramatic storytelling with the framing of the faces and the crosscuts of looks. "The answers lie in the classic work," Mertes advised the audience. And from there she cued up the first ten minutes of The Times of Harvey Milk-another prime mover for her in her early days in 1980s New York. She programmed Independent Focus, a showcase for vanguard work that ran on WNET Thirteen on Sunday nights at 11:00. Gus Van Sant's Male Noche and Spike Lee's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads and Bill Viola's I Do Not Know What I Do Not Have were among the works she programmed. And when her boss, Mark Weiss, went on to launch POV in 1988, she continued to run the local version, showing Marlon Riggs' Tongues Untied prior to its culture wars-fanning national airing on POV in 1991, thereby joining Karen Finley, Tim Miller, John Fleck, Andres Serrano and Robert Mapplethorpe in the Far Right's Pantheon of Shame. "It was an era-defining piece," Mertes noted of Tongues Untied, Riggs' meditation on black gay identity. "Marlon Riggs made it for friends in San Francisco, and it destabilized PBS. PBS never recovered from the culture wars."

Between Independent Focus and POV, Mertes produced Signal to Noise, a documentary series about television and media literacy. With grants from ITVS and CPB, she commissioned 21 pieces from 17 artists. Although she didn't screen clips from that production, she did screen the promo piece for POV's 15th anniversary, which she oversaw during her seven-year tenure as executive producer, during which she also worked with filmmakers to develop websites and a community engagement program for each film that aired on the series. And one of her last acts there was providing the first funds for Robert Kenner's hit Food Inc. "Docs based on books tend to be successful," she noted, citing the ready-made audience for Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation and Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. Schlosser and Pollan both make extensive appearances in the film, and Schlosser is a co-producer. Sundance 2010 will be presenting Michael Winterbottom's Shock Doctrine, based on Naomi Klein's best-selling book of the same name.

As for Sundance--both the festival and the institute--"Everyone is informed and at the top of their game" with respect to programmatic decision-making. The Sundance staff has a deep knowledge about documentary-where the form has been, where it's going, who the key players are, etc., "We're looking for new voices that surprise us," she said, citing Adele Horne's The Tailenders , Eric Daniel Metzgar's The Chances of the World Changing and Marshall Curry's Street Fight as works that grabbed her in the first minute of viewing--the kind of works that "define the language and the topic on their own terms...You get the programmers curious about the choices you're making. There's a purpose to the work that's true to the story and its characters."

Mertes also screened experts from Sundance's Stories of Change initiative, funded by the Skoll Foundation, which pairs filmmakers with social entrepreneurs. One of the films, To Catch a Dollar, about Nobel Laureate Mohammed Yunus' efforts to replicate his microfinancing model in Queens, NY, filmmaker Gayle Ferrarro overhauled the entire narrative after taking her film to the Sundance Labs; Mertes showed clips from both versions-one from Yunus' POV, and the other from the POV of the Queens-based women who were beneficiaries of his entrepreneurship.

Mertes described the Labs as a "documentary village," with six advisors working with the filmmakers to "bring the film from good to great." She emphasized that there is a firewall between the Documentary Program and the festival and that there's no guarantee that a film coming out of the Labs or the funding program will be accepted into the festival-although nine docs from the program will be premiering at Sundance 2010. 

Taking questions from the audience, Mertes advised one filmmaker, "Don't be afraid to wait" until your film is ready to be submitted to Sundance, and that even if the film doesn't get in, "programmers talk to programmers " on the festival circuit and that your film might be right for SXSW or Tribeca. Responding to a question about what docs are not being made, she noted that she was not seeing enough experimental filmmaking, most likely because that's not where the funding is; foundations and individual like films that will have an impact. Mertes also cited the "tyranny of the character-driven film"--itself driven by broadcasters who are looking for millions of viewers. She cited Jessica Yu (Protagonist; Into the Realms of the Real) as a filmmaker who subverts the traditional storytelling strategy, with impressive results.

On Friday, Dec. 4 Anvil! The Story of Anvil and Australian film Salt took home the top honors at the 2009 International Documentary Association Documentary Awards. Read all about the evening, other winners and honorees right here.

Below are some great pics from the evening.

Filmmaker Mai Iskander won the IDA Humanitas Award for Garbage Dreams, which also screened at this year's IDA DocuWeeks showcase. "It was such a great experience to show the film at DocuWeeks," she said. "Everybody was so supportive and the venues were excellent and it was nice to have the theatrical showcase with such other great movies. Getting this award is such a great honor for me and the people profiled in the film."