In one of the final documents of Michael Jackson's life will be made available to fans. Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment have unveiled details about the upcoming Michael Jackson film, This Is It. The movie will be released for a limited, two-week engagement worldwide on Wednesday, Oct. 28. Tickets go on sale in most cities beginning on Sunday, Sept. 27. (via The Wrap)

How many conspiracy theories can Oliver Stone fit into a ten-part doc? Find out when his Secret History of America comes to Showtime in 2010. He's working on it now. (via THR)

Do you dig the TV show Mad Men? See the real deal behind some of the most influential advertising visionaries of our time and their campaigns with Doug Pray's doc Art & Copy, opening today. Brush up with this interview on indieWIRE with Pray and our impressions of the film at Sundance.

The 34th Toronto International Film Festival had added five new documentaries to its existing program, which runs September 10-19, 2009. The festival has set a newly formed Doc Conference, a full day of panels “devoted to the specific challenges and opportunities for documentary financing, distribution and ethics”; and the returning Doc Roundtables, which “create a rare chance for filmmakers to meet with industry leaders for an informal networking session.” (via indieWIRE)

Did you hear the one about the mushrooms documentary released on a USB flash drive shaped like a mushroom? Now you just did. (It's Canadian filmmaker Ron Mann's new film, Know Your Mushrooms, by the way.) (via indieWIRE)

Oh, and here's the latest trailer for Michael Moore's upcoming film Capitalism: A Love Story (via www.michaelmoore.com).

 

The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program announced the latest round of projects to receive grants and creative support from the Sundance Documentary Fund.  Out of a record 900 applicants from 61 countries, 15 feature documentary films in either development or in production/post-production will receive awards.

The funded films reflect a range of themes: post-Soviet societies in transition, American criminal justice, the intersections between poverty and the environment, and celebrations of creativity and freedom of expression. "The films funded today reflect the Sundance Documentary Film Program's belief that documentary storytellers are 'first responders' exploring the current global realities we all face," said Cara Mertes, director of the Program, in a statement. "Documentary film is gaining momentum as an international language of cross-cultural awareness and understanding. These artists are at the forefront of the movement."

Grants are announced twice a year and submissions are judged on their excellence in storytelling, artistic treatment and innovation, global relevance and potential for social engagement. The film selection is juried by a panel of creative film professionals and human rights experts.

Development

Regarding Susan Sontag  (Dir.: Nancy Kates; US)
Regarding Susan Sontag follows the life and work of the late author, critic, director, and activist.

Strong Island (Dir.: Yance Ford; US)
Strong Island is a personal investigation into the violent death of the directors' brother and its devastating effect on her middle-class black family. 

Production/Post-Production

All That Glitters  (Dir.: Tomáš Kudrna; Czech Republic / Kyrgyzstan)
For villagers of a small town in Kyrgyzstan, the unexpected effects of a massive Canadian gold-mining operation complicate understandings of the fall of communism.

An American Promise (Dirs.: Michèle Stephenson, Joe Brewster; US)
In a 12-year study, two African-American boys come of age as they attend an elite prep school in New York City, from kindergarten to high school graduation.

Âs Nutayuneân--We Still Live Here (Working Title)  (Dir.: Anne Makepeace; US)
The Wampanoag nation of southeastern Massachusetts revives their native tongue, a language that was silenced for more than 100 years.

Budrus Has a Hammer (Dir.: Julia Bacha; US/Israel/Palestinian Territories)
A Palestinian leader unites Fatah, Hamas and Israelis in an unarmed movement to save his village from destruction. Success eludes them until his 15-year-old daughter jumps into the fray.

Cesar's Last Fast (Dir.: Richard Ray Perez; US)
The private sacrifice and spiritual conviction behind Cesar Estrada Chavez's fight for justice and dignity for America's farm workers is linked to a new generation of organizers leading the charge for farm worker's rights today.

Cinema Jenin  (Dirs.: Marcus Vetter, Alex Bakri; Palestinian Territories/Israel/Germany)
A Fellini-esque documentary comedy unfolds as locals launch an initiative to reopen the only cinema in the city of Jenin in the West Bank.

Cooked (Dir.: Judith Helfand; US)
Out of the most traumatic heat wave in US history--when over 730 poor, elderly and African-American Chicago residents died in a single July week in 1995--comes a story about the politics of crisis, the specter of global warming, the long-term disaster called poverty and an inspired plan to address all three at once.

Crime after Crime  (Dir.: Yoav Potash; US)
A behind-bars look at women in prison and the troubled intersection of law enforcement and domestic violence.

Enemies of the People  (Dirs.: Rob Lemkin, S. Thet; UK/Cambodia)
A young journalist whose family was killed by the Khmer Rouge spends a decade making friends with the men and women who directed and perpetrated the Killing Fields. He finally understands the reasons behind his country's tragedy, but the truth comes at a price.

High Tech, Low Life (Working Title) (Dir.: Stephen Maing (US/China)
A young former vegetable seller inspired by a search for truth and the potential for fame travels the countryside reporting his observations and discoveries and unexpectedly becomes one of China's first citizen reporters.

In a Town Called Oil City (Dirs.: Joe Wilson, Dean Hamer; US)
The announcement of the filmmaker's wedding to another man leads to a plea for help from a gay teen and a quest for change in the small Pennsylvania hometown he left long ago.

Russia's Pepsi Generation (Working Title) (Dir.: Robin Hessman; US/Russia)
Communism's crossover children adjust to their post-Soviet reality in Moscow today.

The Georgian Year  (Dir.: Nino Kirtadze; France/Georgia)
The Georgian Year takes an intimate look at a defining year for this young democracy, from the presidential elections in January 2008 to a state of chaos and war and the resulting aftermath. 

Reps from the Sundance Doc Institute travel to the UK next month for The Good Pitch UK, held September 7 and 8 at Amnesty International's East London Auditorium. The Good Pitch, launched in 2008 at BRITDOC to bring together social issue docs-in-progress with representatives from NGOs, foundations and the media to forege  alliances  around the films. The Good Pitch is a partnership between the Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation, the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and Working Films UK.

The following projects will be on the table at The Good Pitch UK:

After the Apocalypse (Dir.: Antony Butts)
A Very Dangerous Man (Dir.: Lesley Katon)
How to Re-Establish a Vodka Empire (Dir.: Dan Edelstyn)
Mass e Bhat (Dirs.: Hannan Majid, Richard York)
Casablanca Calling (Dir.: Rosa Rogers)
Moving to Mars (Dir.: Mat Whitecross)
Seventeen (Dir.: Morgan Matthews)
Town of Runners (Dir.: Jerry Rothwell)

Indiegogo.com, the website for film funding, promotion, and discovery, announced today a partnership with the Sausalito Film Festival (Aug. 21-23), to give select filmmakers from the IndieGoGo website an opportunity to showcase their work in front of a live festival audience.

The goal of the Tease and Screen event is to let filmmakers share their works while giving the audience an opportunity to take action, including contributing funds, joining the team, or spreading the word.

Five works-in-progress and one feature documentary were selected including:

Tease:

The Harvest (by Robin Romano, produced by Eva Longoria and the producers of War Dance) – A documentary about the children who work to feed America.
Eloquent Graffiti (by Zak Forsman) – A story about the inability of humans to connect in a meaningful way despite the increasing presence of social technologies designed to do exactly that.
Tapestries of Hope (by Michaelene Christini Risly, produced by Michelle Titus) - A documentary about two activists from two corners of the world taking on a government and an urban myth to protect young girls from rape and abuse.
As The Dust Settles (by Arin Crumley, produced by Mike Hedge) – A participatory film, collaboratively shot and edited about life-changing experiences, the Zeitgeist and Burning Man.
Time to Impact (by Tom Cappello, produced by Dan Abrams and Richard Krasney) – A documentary about Paterson, NJ. Is it possible to turn a city around in 365 days?

Screening:

Win or Lose: A Summer Camp Story (by Louis Lapat) - A character driven, personal documentary about the thrill of the win and the agony of defeat…at summer camp.

“The Tease and Screen gives filmmakers the opportunity to get the audience involved before the film is completed”, said Slava Rubin, Founder of IndieGoGo. “Like trailers in the movie theatre, the audience will get a sneak peek into five future films. But here they can take action onsite or at Indiegogo.com”.

The Sausalito Film Festival will host its inaugural event from Aug. 21-23 opening with a screening of No Impact Man and including 18 screenings in total.

“The Sausalito Film Festival’s mission is to bring world class films and new experiences to a festival audience in an amazing location” said Antonio Capretta, Founder, Sausalito Film Festival. “Partnering with IndieGoGo helps us bring a new festival experience to both the filmmakers and audience. We are excited to see what will happen next.”

Interested filmmakers can get their work featured in a future Tease and Screen event by showcasing their work on IndieGoGo and send a note to info@IndieGoGo.com

Ready for the lighter side of Werner Herzog?

Eh, it's not a side we see much of the Academy Award-nominated German film director, screenwriter, actor--and IDA Career Achievement Award winner. Unless, well, it's totally fake.

Like with the handful of videos popping up on the Funny or Die comedy website.

Get cooking with the Grizzly Man director himself with a two-parter that purports that "in an effort to fund his award-winning films, warrior/poet Werner Herzog agreed to host an American domestic TV show. It has never aired...until now. Obsessive filmmaker Werner Herzog takes us on a quest to the jungle in search of the perfect ingredient...and he may not make it back alive. With guest star Jim Jarmusch."

 

Not enough? How about Herzog's alleged encounter with auto mechanics that folds in some real-life stuff for a hilarious spoof. In this one, "the mythical German filmmaker dodges snipers' gunfire and saves a celebrity's life, all in a quest for the ecstatic truth of the automobile. With guest stars Joaquin Phoenix and Klaus Kinski."

The third annual Cinema Eye Honors, which salute the art and craft of nonfiction filmmaking, has moved from its post-Oscars/pre-Spring slot of the past two years, to January, thereby positioning the program in a prime calendar spot between the IDA Awards and the IFP Gotham Awards in December and the Sundance Film Festival and the Academy Awards nominations in January and February.  

The nominees for the Cinema Eye Honors will be announced in November at Sheffield Doc/Fest, along with the exact date in January of the awards show..

In addition, the Cinema Eye team expanded beyond founder/filmmaker AJ Schnack and chair Thom Powers, documentary programmer at the Toronto International Film Festival, to include filmmaker Esther Robinson (A Walk into the Sea), Rachel Rosen, the newly appointed director of programming at the San Francisco International Film Festival, and Andrea Meditch, executive producer of Man on Wire and Encounters at the End of the World.  Robinson, Rosen and Schnack will serve as chairs of the 2010 event, while Meditch will chair the Advisory Board and Powers, the nominations committee.

"While the first two years of Cinema Eye were largely about establishing and maintaining the awards event, we are now looking forward to the future of the organization and I'm incredibly excited to kick off year three with this outstanding team in place," Schnack said in a statement.

Rainbow Media has announced that Sundance Selects, a new transactional video-on-demand film offering, will launch on Wednesday, August 26th. Sundance Selects titles will be available on the on-demand platform of major cable operators, including Comcast, Cox and Cablevision. 

The service's first offering will be Passing Strange, Spike Lee's film of the musical of the same name. The musical was created by singer/songwriter Stew, with music co-written by his creative partner, Heidi Rodewald. Strange has Sundance woven through it's DNA, as the musical was developed in part at the Sundance Theater Lab and the Sundance Directors Lab, and Lee's film premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Sundance Selects will feature one premiere title a month on demand, with plans to increase the offering to two premiere titles each month. Docs in the line-up include Kief Davidson’s Kassim the Dream (November 4), Tom Thurman’s Nick Nolte: No Exit (December 16) and Chris Wiatt’s A Complete History of My Sexual Failures” (January 2010). 

Rainbow Media President and CEO Joshua Sapan said in a statement, “After purchasing the Sundance Channel last year, Rainbow has been exploring relevant and appropriate growth opportunities for the brand.  We are lucky to have the wisdom and taste of Robert Redford to guide us in the development of the service, and believe we share a vision of this as an exciting opportunity to bring unprecedented exposure and opportunity for this genre of films and filmmakers.”

 

DocuWeeks 2009 Week 3 kicked off with tons of great docs, multiple filmmaker Q&As and discussions and more. There's still time to be involved. Don't miss out, get the lowdown on the Week 3 docs and particpating filmmakers right here. Check out these cool shots, and see many more pictures from DocuWeeks 2009 at the IDA's Flickr Photostream.

  Director of Garbage Dreams Mai Iskander (center) and audience after screening at IDA DocuWeeks 2009. Photo by Josh Weiss (www.joshweissphoto.com) 

Christal Smith of The Huffington Post and Naisola Grimwood, (producer Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders) at a post-screening Q&A at IDA DocuWeeks 2009. Photo by Josh Weiss (www.joshweissphoto.com)

Mai Iskander (director, Garbage Dreams) and M.J. Brown (IDA) during a post-screening discussion at IDA's DocuWeeks 2009. Photo by Josh Weiss (www.joshweissphoto.com)

  Director of Garbage Dreams Mai Iskander (right) after screening at IDA DocuWeeks 2009. Photo by Josh Weiss (www.joshweissphoto.com)

The second week of the IDA's 13th Annual DocuWeeks showcase drew doc-lovers, filmmakers and more to the ArcLight in Los Angeles and IFC Center in New York. Here are some great pics and moments from Week 2. Check out all of the Week 2 news, Q&As, reviews and more right here. (Then get Week 3 info right here.)

Watch the crowd watch a screening at DocuWeeks 2009 at the ArchLight in Los Angeles. 

Blues guitarist Tyler Dow Bryant, director John Chester and rock photographer Robert M. Knight at the Rock Prophecies party at DocuWeeks 2009. Photo by René Lego.

Rock Prophecies line producer Thea Maichle hangs with a crowd after a screening at DocuWeeks 2009 at the ArchLight in Los Angeles.

Dan Sterman (director, Soundtrack for a Revolution) and Tamara Krinsky (Q&A leader) take part in a post-screening discussion at DocuWeeks 2009. Photo by Josh Weiss (www.joshweissphoto.com) 

Debra Anderson (director, Split Estate) film subjects Rick Roles and Dee Hoffmeister at DocuWeeks 2009. Photo by Josh Weiss (www.joshweissphoto.com) 

See many more pictures from DocuWeeks 2009 at the IDA's Flickr Photostream.