Get doc insight from those who know with Capturing Reality: The Art of Documentary. The film features over 30 filmmakers from 14 countries (Albert Maysles, Errol Morris, Werner Herzog, more) sharing their passion for documentary and talking about the artistic and ethical choices they make. The movie is making the rounds on the festival circuit, but you can purchase the DVD that comes with hours of bonus interviews. The film's extraordinary website also features tons (really, tons) of well-organized clips from filmmakers talking about the craft and a downloadable educational guide. (via Capturing Reality site)

Lowry Digital has completed the initial phase of the restoration of footage sent back to Earth from Apollo 11, including man's first steps on the moon, as part of the 40th anniversary celebrations of the mission this month. NASA commissioned Lowry Digital to restore roughly two-and-a-half hours of material that astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin captured during their 1969 expedition. The preliminary restoration includes highlight sequences such as Armstrong's famous descent of the ladder and the planting of the American flag. The overall restoration is ongoing, and images will continue to be refined, with a planned completion in September. (via NASA's website)

Operation Homefront has teamed up with The Way We Get By, a documentary about three senior citizens who serve as airport troop greeters (see the trailer here), to give children of military families school supplies. In the spirit of service, the producers of the movie are encouraging attendees to donate new school supplies to Operation Homefront's Backpack Brigade program. Backpack Brigade distributes backpacks full of school supplies to military children of all ages who need a little help preparing for the school year. Items can be dropped off at each screening of the movie or to any Operation Homefront chapter. (via The Way We Get By site)

Think things are tough now? Try the '30s on for size. PBS's American Experience will premiere The 1930s, a five-part mini-series that examines America's response to the unprecedented economic crisis, high unemployment, and environmental catastrophe that threatened the nation during one of history's most tumultuous decades. See a preview video here. (via PBS)

The Sundance Institute will receive a $5 million grant for its Documentary Film Program to help raise awareness on human rights, the Open Society Institute announced. "Films can play a powerful role in inspiring action on human rights, justice, accountability, and other open society issues,” said Aryeh Neier, president of the Open Society Institute. "The Sundance Institute’s work helps filmmakers shed light on the most pressing challenges of our time." As a dollar-for-dollar matching grant, Sundance Institute aims to raise $10 million over the next five years to support documentaries on significant, contemporary issues. (via Open Society Institute)

Conquest of the Useless: Reflections from the Making of Fitzcarraldo is IDA Award Winner Werner Herzog's diary which recounts the two-year shoot in the jungles of Peru to make the film. Originally published in German in 2004, it's now available in English. Check out this article in The Guardian about it and an excerpt in the NY Times. Then grab it on Amazon.

Despite cross-town competition from Outfest, a hearty crowd gathered at the E. 3^rd Steakhouse in downtown LA last night for IDA's fourth mixer of the year. Fueled by a steady stream of microbrews, with nary a steak consumed, IDA Members, Board members and staffers swapped insights and ideas about where and how to get their work out there, and what docs are currently shifting the terrain. Spotted among the mixers were Board members Senain Kheshgi, Laurie Ann Schag, Gilda Brasch and Moises Velez, as well as Executive Director Michael Lumpkin, Membership Manager Maria Arzola and Webmaster Mark Dischler. Also stoking the conversations were former mPRm and Warner Independent Pictures reps Laura Kim and James Lewis, as well as editor Lisa Day.

Up next on the social calendar: the 2009 DocuWeeks kickoff party-Thursday, July 30. Stay tuned!

A new member getting answers about how to find fellow member profiles.

Kate from Videosymphony meeting the people they are supporting: the documentary community.

A new member who had just written a complimentary email about an article in the magazine happily surprised to be able to meet and speak with the editor. (Thanks Tom!)

Our lovely and wonderful board members representing: Gilda, LaurieAnn and Senain holding court and mixing. (I still owe Senain a drink. Sorry.)

And plenty of good conversation and more connecting. I got an email last night from a happy new member thanking the IDA: "Thanks again for hosting this shindig--good times! intelligent people! lack of pretension! Whew! Looking forward to another one of these as well as DocuWeeks -- Wendi"

Board members got shout outs. (could you hear that Mr. Chapnick?) Cards exchanged. Twitter names proudly displayed and followed on site. Strangers made lunch meeting plans, people were excited about DocuWeeks, and apparently there was even a love connection by the end of the night. Yes, all the talk about digital distribution and grant writing can put one in the mood.

Thanks to the Board members who were able to make it, and thanks to all of you who will join us in the future.

Our esteemed ED Michael was in the house but I didn't get to buy him a drink either. Also there, Mark, Tom (taking pictures, writing notes), Mario and Susana (our interns rock), and of course Maria spearheading this low key but cool and consistent evening.

Saludos,
Moises Velez

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired earned five Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy nominations, the most nods for the nonfiction categories, while This American Life garnered four. Polanksi's director/producer, Marina Zenovich, took honors in directing and shared writing kudos with Joe Bini and P.G. Morgan. Other multiple honorees include HBO's The Alzheimer's Project (three) and Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch (three).

The Creative Arts Emmys will be handed out September 12 in Los Angeles, while the Primetime Emmys take place September 20, also in Los Angeles. For more information, click here. For a complete list of all the nominations in all categories, click here.

Outstanding Children's Nonfiction Program

Grandpa, Do You Know Who I Am? with Maria Shriver (HBO; HBO Documentary Films and the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health in association with the Alzheimer's Association, Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, Geoffrey Beene Gives Back Alzheimer's Initiative, and Planet Grande Pictures)
Executive Producers: Sheila Nevins, Maria Shriver
Supervising Producer: Veronica Brady
Producers: Eamon Harrington, John Watkin
Series Producer: John Hoffman

Nick News With Linda Ellerbee Coming Home: When Parents Return from War (Nickelodeon ; Nickelodeon in association with Lucky Duck Productions)
Executive Producers: Linda Ellerbee, Rolfe Tessem
Supervising Producer: Wally Berger
Producers: Mark Lyons, Martin Toub

Outstanding Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations-- Laos (Travel Channel; Zero Point Zero Production, Inc.
Cameras: Todd Liebler, Zach Zamboni

Deadliest Catch: Stay Focused Or Die (Discovery Channel; Original Productions, LLC in association with Discovery Channel)
Cinematography Team

Expedition Africa: Episode 101 (HISTORY; Mark Burnett Productions for History
Cinematography Team

This American Life: John Smith (Showtime; Showtime Presents in association with Chicago Public Radio, Killer Films, Inc., Left/Right, Inc.)
Director of Photography: Adam Beckman

Whale Wars: Nothing's Ideal (Animal Planet; RIVR Media in association with Animal Planet)
Director of Photography: Robert C. Case

Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming

Project Runway: Finale (Part 1) (Bravo; Magical Elves for The Weinstein Company, Full Picture, Bravo)
Director: Paul Starkman

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (HBO; Milwood Pictures, Graceful Pictures, BBC, Antidote Films in association with HBO Documentary Films and ThinkFilm)
Director: Marina Zenovich

The Amazing Race: Don't Let A Cheese Hit Me (CBS ;World Race Productions Inc.)
Director: Bertram van Munster

This American Life: John Smith (Showtime; Showtime Presents in association with Chicago Public Radio, Killer Films, Inc., Left/Right, Inc.)
Directors: Christopher Wilcha, Adam Beckman

Top Chef: The Last Supper (Bravo; Magical Elves, Bravo)
Director: Steve Hrynewicz

Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking

Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery (HBO; HBO Documentary Films)
Executive Producer: Sheila Nevins
Supervising Producer: Jacqueline Glover
Producers: Jon Alpert, Matthew O'Neill

The Memory Loss Tapes (HBO; HBO Documentary Films and the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health in association with the Alzheimer's Association, Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, Geoffrey Beene Gives Back Alzheimer's Initiative, and Sceneworks)
Executive Producers: Sheila Nevins, Maria Shriver
Series Producer: John Hoffman
Producers: Shari Cookson, Nick Doob

Outstanding Nonfiction Series

American Experience (PBS; A David Grubin Productions film for American Experience)
Executive Producers: Mark Samels, Nick Fraser
Series Producer: Susan Bellows
Producer: David Grubin

American Masters (PBS; Thirteen/WNET American Masters)
Executive Producer: Susan Lacy
Series Producer: Prudence Glass
Supervising Producer: Julie Sacks
Producer: Judy Kinberg

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (Travel Channel; Zero Point Zero Production, Inc.)
Executive Producers: Myleeta Aga, Christopher Collins, Lydia Tenaglia Producer: Paul Cabana

Biography (BIO • Triple Threat Television for the BIO Channel)
Executive Producers: Gary Cohen, Peter Tarshis
Producer: Eliza Kurtz

Deadliest Catch (Discovery Channel; Original Productions, LLC in association with Discovery Channel)
Executive Producers: Thom Beers, Jeff Conroy, Paul Gasek, Tracy Rudolph
Co-Executive Producer: Matt Renner
Supervising Producer: Ethan Prochnik

This American Life (Showtime • Showtime Presents in association with Chicago Public Radio, Killer Films, Inc., Left/Right, Inc)
This American Life Producing Team

Outstanding Nonfiction Special

102 Minutes That Changed America (HISTORY; Produced by Siskel/Jacobs Productions for History)
Executive Producers: Greg Jacobs, Jon Siskel, Susan Werbe
Producer: Nicole Rittenmeyer

Farrah's Story (NBC; Sweetened by Risk LLC)
Executive Producers: Alexandra Gleysteen, Craig Nevius, Farrah Fawcett
Producers: Robert Dean, Alana Stewart

Michael J. Fox: Adventures of an Incurable Optimist (ABC; Lincoln Square Production in association with ABC Entertainment)
Executive Producers: Michael J. Fox, Nelle Fortenberry, Rudy Bednar

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (HBO; Milwood Pictures, Graceful Pictures, BBC, Antidote Films in association with HBO Documentary Films and ThinkFilm)
Executive Producers: Steven Soderbergh, Randy Wooten
Producers: Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Lila Yacoub, Marina Zenovich

The Alzheimer's Project: Momentum in Science (Parts 1 & 2) (HBO; HBO Documentary Films and the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health in association with the Alzheimer's Association, Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, Geoffrey Beene Gives Back Alzheimer's Initiative)
Executive Producers: Sheila Nevins, Maria Shriver
Series Producer: John Hoffman
Producers: John Hoffman, Susan Froemke

Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming

102 Minutes That Changed America (HISTORY; Produced by Siskel/Jacobs Productions for History)
Editor: Seth Skundrick

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations--Laos (Travel Channel; Zero Point Zero Production, Inc.)
Editor: Jesse Fisher

Deadliest Catch: Stay Focused or Die (Discovery Channel; Original Productions, LLC in association with Discovery Channel)
Supervising Editor: Kelly Coskran
Editor: Josh Earl

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (HBO; Milwood Pictures, Graceful Pictures, BBC, Antidote Films in association with HBO Documentary Films and ThinkFilm)
Editor: Joe Bini

This American Life: John Smith (Showtime; Showtime Presents in association with Chicago Public Radio, Killer Films, Inc., Left/Right, Inc)
Editor: Joe Beshenkovsky

Outstanding Sound Editing for Nonfiction Programming (Single Or Multi-Camera)

102 Minutes That Changed America (HISTORY; Produced by Siskel/Jacobs Productions for History)
Sound Designer: Seth Skundrick

American Masters: Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts (PBS; Thirteen/WNET American Masters)
Sound Supervisor: Stephen R. Smith

China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province (HBO; HBO Documentary Films)
Sound Editor: Branka Mrkic-Tana

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (HBO; Milwood Pictures, Graceful Pictures, BBC, Antidote Films in association with HBO Documentary Films and ThinkFilm)
Sound Editor: D.D. Stenehjem

The Amazing Race • Don't Let A Cheese Hit Me (CBS; World Race Productions Inc.)
Sound Editors: Eric Goldfarb, Julian Gomez, Andrew Kozar, Paul Nielsen, Jacob Parsons
Music Editor: Rick Livingstone

Outstanding Special Class - Short-format Nonfiction Programs

Jay Leno's Garage (jaylenosgarage.com; NBC.com)
Producers: Jay Leno, Helga Pollock, Robert Anglo

Writer's Draft (Fox Movie Channel; A Fox Movie Channel production in association with Polaris Productions, Inc.)
Producer: Kenny Rhodes ;

Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming

American Experience: The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer (PBS; A David Grubin Productions film for American Experience)
Writer: David Grubin

American Masters: Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About (PBS; Thirteen/WNET American Masters)
Writer: Amanda Vaill

Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business Of America • When I'm Bad, I'm Better--The Groundbreakers (PBS; A co-production of Ghost Light Films and Thirteen/WNET New York in association with Rhino Entertainment and BBC)
Writers: Michael Kantor, Laurence Maslon

Penn & Teller: Bullshit!--New Age Medicine (Showtime; Showtime Presents in association with Penn & Teller, A Division of Buggs and Rudy Discount Corporation, Star Price Productions, The Wolper Organization)
Writers: Penn Jillette, Teller, Star Price, Rich Nathanson, Michael Goudeau, David Wechter, Cliff Schoenberg, Sheryl Zohn

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (HBO; Milwood Pictures, Graceful Pictures, BBC, Antidote Films in association with HBO Documentary Films and ThinkFilm)
Writers: Joe Bini, P.G. Morgan, Marina Zenovich

 

by Peter Knegt

Filmmaker magazine has announced the results of its annual survey of the “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” Published by IFP, the nation’s largest and oldest organization of independent filmmakers, Filmmaker has been doing the survey for eleven years. It will be featured in the Summer 2009 issue, which is online now, and available on newsstands at the end of the month. It showcases 25 up-and-comers poised to shape the next generation of independent film.

“This year’s crop of 25 New Faces consists, as always, of new film artists whose work we feel passionately about but also, in this year of change, people who are redefining the notion of a career in film,” said Filmmaker‘s Editor-in-Chief Scott Macaulay. “There are filmmakers who have embraced DIY strategies for both the production and distribution of their work, directors bouncing between documentary and fiction, and those for whom the online space is vital to their artistic identities. And, of course, there are a few contrarians, those whose resistance to all of these things is their own way of defining themselves!”

Of the 290 on the list over the past 11 years, nearly 90% have been filmmakers, including Craig Brewer (“Hustle & Flow”), Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (“Half Nelson”), Barry Jenkins (“Medicine for Melancholy”), Miranda July (“Me and You and Everyone We Know”), Joshua Safdie (“The Pleasure of Being Robbed”) and Peter Sollett (“Raising Victor Vargas”). Notable actors noted in the survey in the early days of their careers have included Ryan Gosling (“The Believer”), Ellen Page (“Hard Candy”), Peter Sarsgaard (“Another Day in Paradise”) and Hilary Swank (“Boys Don’t Cry”).

Filmmaker’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2009 are:

Andrew T. Betzer, director of this year’s Cannes Director’s Fortnight entry, “John Wayne Hated Horses.”

Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal, writer-directors of the upcoming “Stranger Things.”

Derek Cianfrance, writer-director of upcoming “Blue Valentine,” starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams.

Destin Daniel Cretton, winner of the Jury Prize at Sundance for his short, “Short Term 12.”

Lena Dunham, director of the semi-autobiographical “Creative Nonfiction,” which screened at SXSW.

Morgan Jon Fox, writer-director of “OMG/HaHaHa,” will be out on DVD this fall.

Steph Green, a commercial, music video, and narrative fiction director whose short, “Boy,” was nominated for an Academy Award.

Paula Huidobro, director of photography on Damian Harris’s “Gardens of the Night,” Joy Gohring’s short “18,” and Leland Orser’s upcoming “Morning.”

Frankie Latina director of underground spy movie epic, “Modus Operandi,” which debuted at CineVegas.

Jody Lee Lipes, director of photography on “Afterschool,” and director of upcoming doc “Brock Enright: Good Times Will Never Be The Same.”

Lost Zombies, who won two Web awards at SXSW for LostZombies.com, a site that is crowdsourcing the production of what is billed as “the first community-generated zombie documentary.”

Tina Mabry, writer-director of Slamdance-premiering debut, “Mississippi Damned.”

Rooney Mara, an actress featured in Miguel Arteta’s “Youth in Revolt,” Adam Salkey’s “Dare,” and James Strouse’s “The Winning Season,” as well as the new remake of “Nightmare on Elm Street.”

Geoff Marslett, Austin-based animator currently in post-production on his debut feature, “Mars.”

Paola Mendoza, co-director and writer of “Entre nos,” which premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

Jeff Mizushima, winner of the Filmmaker to Watch award at CineVegas for his debut feature, “Etienne!”

Asiel Norton, director of first feature “Redland,” which premiered at CineVegas.

Ian Olds, director of doc, “Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi,” which showed at Rotterdam, and premiered at Tribeca.

Nicole Opper, a Philadelphia-based documentarian whose “Off and Running” screened at Tribeca, New Fest and Frameline.

Jessica Oreck, director of science documentary “Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo,” which premiered at SXSW.

Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher, directors of “October Country,” which won Best Documentary at Silver Docs.

David and Ian Purchase, Toronto-based directors whose $500 short film based on the Half Life video game was viewed 2.7 million times on YouTube.

Nat Sanders, editor of both Barry Jenkins’ “Medicine for Melancholy” and Lynn Shelton’s “Humpday.”

Sebastian Silva, director of the Sundance World Cinema Grand Jury Prize winning “The Maid.”

Bradford Young, director of photography on “Mississippi Damned” and “Entre nos.”

Check out full profiles of each here.

This news item is brought to you by a special partnership between the IDA and indieWIRE and SnagFilms.

Here, believe it or not, is an abbreviated list of the News & Documentary Emmy Awards nominations, which come out of the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences; tyou can find out about the nods for the Prime Time Emmy Awards, under the auspices of the Los Angeles-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, click here.

PBS led the way with 41 News & Docs nominations, followed by CBS, with 23; ABC, 13; National Geographic Channel, 12; and HBO/Cinemax., 12. For a complete list of all the nominations, click here.

OUTSTANDING CONTINUING COVERAGE OF A NEWS STORY‑‑LONG FORM

ABC News Special : China Inside Out )
Executive Producer: Tom Yellin
Senior Producer: Kayce Jennings
Producer: Gabrielle Tenenbaum
Reporter: Bob Woodruff

FRONTLINE: Bush's War (PBS)
Executive Producer: David Fanning
Producer/Director: Michael Kirk
Producer/Reporter: Jim Gilmore
Co‑Producer: Mike Wiser

FRONTLINE The War Briefing (PBS)
Executive Producer: David Fanning
Producer: Marcela Gaviria
Co‑Producer: Will Cohen
Correspondent: Martin Smith

Wide Angle: Birth of a Surgeon (PBS)
Executive Producer: Pamela Hogan
Senior Producer: Nina Chaudry
Producer: Loui Bernal
Co‑Executive Producer: Moises Naim
Producer/Director: Helen Fitzwilliam

National Geographic Explorer: Gorilla Murders (National Geographic Channel)
Executive Producer: Jonathan Halperin
Senior Producer: Robert Zakin
Series Producer: Max Salomon
Producer/Director: Michael Davie

P.O.V.: The Ballad of Esequiel Hernandez (PBS)
Director: Kieran Fitzgerald
Producer: Brendan Fitzgerald
Executive Producers: Peter Gilbert, Michael Fitzgerald
Executive Director: Patricia Boero
Executive Producer for POV/American Documentary Inc.: Simon Kilmurry

OUTSTANDING INFORMATIONAL PROGRAMMING ‑- LONG FORM

FRONTLINE : Growing Up Online (PBS)
Executive Producer: David Fanning
Producer/Directors: Rachael Dretzin, John Maggio

HBO Documentary Films: Resolved (HBO)
Executive Producers: Sarah Clark, Mark Iola Clark, Lisa Kraus, Peter Kraus, Sheila Nevins, Marc Stanley, Wendy Stanley, Andy Waters, Liz Waters
Senior Producer: Nancy Abraham
Producer/Director: Greg Whiteley

HBO Documentary Films: The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo (HBO)
Executive Producers: Diana Barrett, Sheila Nevins
Supervising Producer: Nancy Abraham
Producer/Director: Lisa Jackson

Independent Lens: Hard Road Home (PBS)
Executive Producer: Sally Jo Fifer
Producer: Selina Lewis Davidson
Director: Macky Alston

NOVA: A Walk to Beautiful(PBS)
Executive Producer / Producer: Steve Engel
Senior Executive Producer: Paula Apsell
Senior Series Producer: Melanie Wallace Producer/Director: Mary Olive Smith
Co‑Producer: Allison Shigo
Director: Amy Bucher

P.O.V. In The Family (PBS)
Director/Producer: Joanna Rudnick
Executive Producers: Sally Jo Fifer, Simon Kilmurry, Gordon Quinn
Co‑Producer: Beth Iams

OUTSTANDING HISTORICAL PROGRAMMING ‑-LONG FORM

Cinemax Reel Life: Nanking(HBO)
Producer/Director: Bill Guttentag
Producers: Michael Jacobs, Ted Leonsis
Co‑Producer: Violet Du Feng
Director: Dan Sturman

Documenting the Face of America: Roy Stryker and the FSA/OWI Photographers (PBS)
Producer: Jeanine Butler
Co‑Producers: Catherine Butler, Alastair Reill

Koppel on Discovery: The Last Lynching (Discovery Channel)
Executive Producer: Tom Bettag
Senior Producer: Hallye Galbraith
Producers: James Blue, Steve Cain, Lete Childs, Peter Demchuck, Bob Fahringer, Guy Federico, Jay LaMonica, Elissa Rubin, Alissa Shapiro
Anchor/Correspondent: Ted Koppel

MSNBC Films: Witness to Jonestown (MSNBC)
Executive Producers: Benjamin Ringe, Knute Walker
Senior Executive Producer: Scott Hooker
Senior Producers: Daniel Bregman, Vicki Sufian
Producer: Stephen Stept
Vice President ‑ Long Form Programming: Michael Rubin

P.O.V. :The Judge and the General(PBS)
Director/Producer: Patricio Lanfranco
Executive Producers: Sally Jo Fifer, Simon Kilmurry, Richard Pearce Producer/Director: Elizabeth Farnsworth
Executive Director: Patricia Boero

The Rape of Europa (PBS)
Producer/Directors: Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen, Nicole Newnham

OUTSTANDING ARTS & CULTURE PROGRAMMING

60 Minutes: Alec Baldwin (PBS)
Executive Producer: Jeff Fager
Senior Broadcast Producer: Bill Owens
Executive Editor: Patti Hassler
Producers: Deirdre Naphin Curran, Katy Textor
Correspondent: Morley Safer

ABC News 20/20: Drama High (ABC)
Executive Producer: David Sloan
Senior Broadcast Producer: Jessica Velmans
Producers: Bram Harris, Muriel Pearson

Cinemax Reel Life: Salim Baba (HBO)
Producers: Francisco Bello, Raja Dey, Scott Mosier
Director: Tim Sternberg

HBO Documentary Films: The Art of Failure: Chuck Connelly Not For Sale (HBO)
Executive Producers: Diana Holtzberg, Sheila Nevins
Supervising Producer: Sara Bernstein
Producer/Director: Jeff Stimmel

In The Footsteps of Marco Polo (PBS)
Executive Producers: Tom Casciato, Josh Nathan, Stephen Segaller, Lisa Taylor‑Belliveau
Senior Producer: Eva Anisko
Producer/Directors: Denis Belliveau, Francis O'Donnell
Producer: Emir Lewis

P.O.V.: Belarusian Waltz (PBS)
Executive Producers: Sally Jo Fifer, Miroslaw Grubek, Therese Jebsen, Simon Kilmurry, Jan Ramstad, Krzysztof Talczewski
Producer: Torstein Grude
Director: Andrezj Fidyk

OUTSTANDING SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND NATURE PROGRAMMING

EVOLVE: Eyes (History Channel)
Executive Producers: Charles Nordlander, Beth Hoppe
Series Producers: Jonathan Grupper, Neil Laird
Producers: Stephanie Angelides, Kurt Tondorf

National Geographic Channel Presents: Five Years on Mars(National Geographic Channel)
Executive Producer: Howard Swartz
Producer/Director: Mark Davis
Senior Vice President, Production: Michael Cascio

NOVA : Ape Genius (PBS)
Executive Producer: John Bredar
Senior Executive Producer: Paula Apsell
Senior Series Producer: Melanie Wallace
Supervising Producer: James Donald
Producer/Director: John Rubin

NOVA: Secrets of the Parthenon (PBS)
Senior Executive Producer: Paula Apsell
Senior Series Producer: Melanie Wallace
Producer: Gary Glassman

Secrets of the Dead: Doping for Gold (PBS)
Executive Producers: Phil Craig, Sally Jo Fifer, Jared Lipworth
Producer/Director: Alison Rooper

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Cinemax Reel Life: Nanking(HBO)
Producer/Director: Bill Guttentag
Producers: Michael Jacobs, Ted Leonsis
Co‑Producer: Violet Du Feng
Director: Dan Sturman

HBO Documentary Films: China's Stolen Children (HBO)
Executive Producers: Sheila Nevins, Kevin Sutcliffe
Supervising Producers: Nancy Abraham, Mark Roberts
Producers: Kate Blewett, Brian Woods
Director: Jezza Neumann

HBO Documentary Films: Taxi to the Dark Side (HBO
Executive Producers: Sidney Blumenthal, Don Glascoff, Robert Johnson, Jedd Wider, Todd Wider
Producer/Director: Alex Gibney
Producers: Eva Orner, Susannah Shipman
Co‑Producers: Blair Foster, Sloane Klevin

National Geographic Explorer: Gorilla Murders (National Geographic Channel)
Executive Producer: Jonathan Halperin
Senior Producer: Robert Zakin
Series Producer: Max Salomon
Producer/Director: Michael Davie

The Devil Came on Horseback (National Geographic Channel)
Producers: Gretchen Wallace, Jane Wells
Directors: Ricki Stern, Annie Sundberg

P.O.V.: Inheritance (PBS)
Executive Producers: Simon Kilmurry, Chris Malachowsky, Ryan Malachowsky
Producer/Director: James Moll
Producer: Christopher Pavlick

NEW APPROACHES TO NEWS & DOCUMENTARY PROGRAMMING: DOCUMENTARIES

The Boys of Christ Child House (Freep.com/Detroit Free Press)
Producer/Senior Videographer: Brian Kaufman
Lead Photojournalist: Kathleen Galligan
Photojournalist: Regina Boone
Executive Producer: Kathy Kieliszewski
Reporter: Robin Erb
Video Executive Producer: Craig Porter
Managing Editor, Digital Media: Nancy Andrews
Web Producer: James Thomas

FRONTLINE :Bush's War Timeline (pbs.org/frontlline)
Executive Producer: David Fanning
Producer/Director: Michael Kirk
Co‑Producer: Mike Wiser
Web Producer: Andrew Ott, Sarah Moughty
Editorial Director: Marrie Campbell
Director of New Media & Technology: Sam Bailey

Intended Consequences (Mediastorm.org)
Executive Producer: Brian Storm
Producers: Pamela Chen, Xiaoming Jia, Tim Klimowicz, Bob Sacha, Chad Stevens
Reporters: Jules Shell, Jonathan Torgovnik

NEW APPROACHES TO NEWS & DOCUMENTARY PROGRAMMING: ARTS, LIFESTYLE & CULTURE

Hope: Living and Loving with HIV in Jamaica (Livehopelove.com)
Executive Producer: Jon Sawyer
Co‑Producers: Nathalie Applewhite, Stephen Sapienza
Correspondent: Kwame Dawes
Videojournalist: Doug Gritzmacher
Photoojournalist: Joshua Cogan
Interactive Producer: Josh Goldblum

P.O.V. : Ars Magna (PBS)
Producer: Sean Roach
Director: Cory Kelley

Tate Liverpool: The One That Spoke To Me (tate.org)
Producer: Martin Percy

Tate Modern : Tate Street Art (Tate.org)
Producer: Martin Percy

Vanguard : Lost In Democracy (Current TV)
Producer: Mike Shen
Producer/Correspondent: Christof Putzel

OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: WRITING

Bill Moyers Journal: Essays ‑ Gilded Age, It Was Oil, Memorial Day (PBS)
Writers: Bill Moyers, Michael Winship

HBO Documentary Films: The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo (HBO)
Writer: Lisa Jackson

MSNBC Films: Witness to Jonestown (MSNBC)
Writer: Stephen Stept

Take One Step: The Truth About Cancer (PBS)
Writer: Linda Garmon

OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: RESEARCH

Cinemax Reel Life: Nanking(HBO)
Researchers: Marina Brodskaya, Violet Du Feng, Joann Jacobs, Zachary Leonsis, Dylan Nelson, Wan‑Shun Shih, Katie Strand, Izumi Tanaka, Makiko Waka

D‑Day: The True Story of Omaha Beach (Smithsonian Channel)
Researchers: Georgina Leslie, Simon Trew

HBO Documentary Films: Taxi to the Dark Side (HBO
Researchers: Salimah El Amin, Blair Foster

NOVA : Ape Genius (PBS)
Researcher: John Rubin, Jonathan Sacks

P.O.V./American Documentary : Traces of the Trade (PBS)
Researchers: Jennifer Anderson, Catherine Benedict, Katrina Browne, Beth Sternheimer

The Rape of Europa (PBS)
Researchers: Sergei Beck, Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen, Linda Davis‑Garkow, Elena Franchi, Alexander Kandaurov, Andrzej Lewandowski, Nicholas Lynn, Monica Nagele‑Dreher, Nicole Newnham, Sabine Ranft, Bonni Rowan, Camille Servan‑Schreiber

OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: CINEMATOGRAPHY‑‑NATURE DOCUMENTARIES

NATURE:Crash: A Tale of Two Species(PBS)
Camerapersons: Michael Male, Chris Szwedo, Andrew Young

NATURE:White Falcon, White Wolf (PBS)
Camerapersons: Ian McCarthy, Mark Smit

Wild China: Heart of the Dragon (Travel Channel)
Camerapersons:John Aitchison, Mike Lemmon, Justin Maguire, Gavin Newman

OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: CINEMATOGRAPHY

FRONTLINE: The War Briefing
Cameraperson: Timothy Grucza

Koppel on Discovery: The People's Republic of Capitalism (Discovery Channel) Director of Photography: Robert Goldsborough

National Geographic Explorer: Gorilla Murders (National Geographic Channel)
Cinematographer: Erin Harvey

P.O.V.: Up the Yangtze (PBS)
Director of Photography: Wang Shi Qing

OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: EDITING

The Devil Came on Horseback (National Geographic Channel)
Editor: Joey Grossfield

HBO Documentary Films: Resolved (HBO) Editors: Brad Barber, Tom Runquist, Greg Whiteley

National Geographic Explorer: Gorilla Murders (National Geographic Channel)
Editors: Christine Jameson‑Henry, Max Salomon, Salvatore Vecchio

P.O.V.: Soldiers of Conscience (PBS)
Editors: Gary Weimberg , Josh Peterson

Wild China: Shangri-La (Travel Channel)
Editors: Andy Netley, Steve Olive

OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: MUSIC & SOUND

The Devil Came on Horseback (National Geographic Channel)
Composer: Paul Brill
Sound Mixer: Tom Efinger
Sound Designer: Rusty Dunn
Sound Editor: Brad Bergbom

Superpride (National Geographic Channel)
Composers: Mac Squier, Lenny Williams

When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions-Landing the Eagle (Discovery Channel)
Composer: Richard Blair-Oliphant
Sound Designer: Peter Baldock
Dubbing Mixer: Cliff Jones
Conductor/Orchestration: Ben Wallfisch
Additional Music: Jody Jenkins
Music Recording Engineer: Geoff Foster
Post Production Supervisor: Richard Lloyd
Music Supervisor: Hilary Skewes
Supervising Music Editor: Richard Todman
Music Editor: Peter Clarke

Wild China: Heart of the Dragon (Travel Channel)
Composer: Barnaby Taylor

Even during these financially troubled times for their industry, there's one thing magazines will also continue to do: make lists.

The aging hipsters over at Paste Magazine have put together what they're calling "The Definitive All-Time Top 10 Rock 'N' Roll Documentaries List." And we think it's pretty solid.

Please note, this is not a list of concert films (thus, no The Last Waltz or Stop Making Sense). These are those films that walk the delicate line of great storytelling, insight and good old-fashioned jamming.

The "Top 10" is cranked up to 11, with, naturally This is Spinal Tap. From the piece:

What else could make it to number 11 on our top 10 list? This is satire at its best, as"the world's loudest band" tours the country with outrageous songs, even more outrageous leather pants, and amps that go just a little bit higher. Christopher Guest plays the misguided lead guitarist, Nigel Tufnel, and his biting comedic timing carries the film. It’s a must-see for music fans of any genre.

Want to see the real 1-10? Check it out right here.

In the latest chapter in the Bananas*! Saga, Dole Food Company filed suit against director Fredrik Gertten, producer Margarete Jangard and production company WG Film, alleging defamation. According to Variety, Dole Food will seek permanent injunction against Gertten to prevent him from screening his film again. In the suit, Dole attorney Theodore Boutrous Jr. writes "To screen, promote, and profit from this film, despite the fact that its entire premise has been adjudicated a fraud ... is the epitome of reckless and irresponsible conduct."

Firing right back at Dole Food, Gertten's attorney, Richard J. Lee, issued a statement that says, in part: "My clients and I believe that this suit is without merit and represents the latest in a continued line of intimidating harassment by a multinational corporation aimed squarely at a small, independent film and its filmmakers." The letter is posted in its entirety, as is the defamation suit, on the Bananas*! website.

For more about Bananas*! screenings and discussions at the Los Angeles Film Festival, click to the LAFF report in Documentary magazine here and in indieWIRE's "Cinema Daily" column here.

 

FilmBuff, a new video-on-demand channel curated by New York indie sales outfit Cinetic, launched last  week. The channel will offer 10-15 first run films and classics per month, with the goal of attracting and widening the audience for new titles, those that have fallen through the cracks, and older films that complement a current trend. Amongst the launch titles is Rob Epstein's 1984 documentary The Times of Harvey Milk.  (via Variety)


Brian Newman has announced his departure from his position as CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute. In a post on his blog Springboard Media, Newman says that he's extremely proud of leading National Video Resources to becoming Renew Media, and then  shepherding the merger of the latter with Tribeca Film Institute (TFI).
      Newman has not yet announced his future plans. He says on his blog, "As many of you know, I have quite an entrepreneurial spirit and want to now explore other opportunities. I will be launching a consulting business focusing on business development projects in the entertainment and cultural industries as well as helping filmmakers, artists and organizations to distribute content and connect with audiences through innovative uses of new technology."
You can follow Newman on Twitter @bnewman01.

George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Pictures are in final negotiations to sign an exclusive two-year theatrical development and production deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment. This means Clooney will be leaving his home at Warner Bros. after almost 20 years of being associated with the studio.
     And why does this matter to you, dear documentarians? Because Clooney has six films currently in development, including one based on the documentary Our Brand Is Crisis. Rachel Boynton's film about American spin doctors plying their branding skills to the presidential election in Bolivia was a 2005 IDA Award Winner. (via The New York Times and DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com)

Michael Moore doesn't usually come to mind when thinking about romantic comedies, but perhaps all that is about to change with the release of his upcoming recession-themed doc. Taking its cue from the torrid love stories of cinema past, Capitalism: A Love Story will premiere in the U.S. on Oct. 2.
"It will be the perfect date movie," said the filmmaker in a statement. "It's got it all - lust, passion, romance and 14,000 jobs being eliminated every day. It's a forbidden love, one that dare not speak its name. Heck, let's just say it: it's capitalism."
The film's U.S. release falls a year and a day after the U.S. government announced its Wall Street bailout. Overture Films will release the project domestically, with Paramount Vintage handling international distribution. For more on Moore, go to his website www.michaelmoore.com.

 

Academy Award-winner Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Taxi to the Dark Side) is currently working on a documentary about Lance Armstrong, which is being produced by Sony Pictures Entertainment. The piece is focused on Armstrong's comeback, and was championed at the studio by Columbia Pictures President Matt Tolmach, an avid cyclist.  The $3.5 million dollar film will most likely be finished later next year. (via the Los Angeles Times).
Gibney just set up a Twitter feed (@BaLueBolivar) where he's posting production updates from the Tour de France.


According to a piece by John Miga, John Kerry wants to become a movie producer. The Massachusetts Senator has put in a request to the Federal Election Commission to use $300,000 from his campaign funds to invest in a documentary about injured Iraq war veterans. The film, tentatively titled Keeping Faith, is to be directed and produced by George Butler (Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry, Pumping Iron). (via Google News)

I spent the Tuesday and Wednesday of this past week at NATPE's LATV Fest, which aimed to offer "Real Tools, Real Access, Real Pitches...for Real Producers." Between the panels, lobby chit-chat and lunchtime networking, there was much spirited debate about making money from online content, current trends in reality and scripted programming, and how to avoid falling on your ass in a pitch meeting.

I spent the majority of my time jumping back and forth between the digital and reality TV tracks, as there are a large number of documentarians who work in the latter to pay the bills. I'll be writing a comprehensive piece about the non-fiction perspective on the event for IDA's August e-zine, but I wanted to immediately post a practical nuts-and-bolts piece about a great session I attended on Wednesday called "Google Power Tools: Become a Power Ninja." I thought I was going to a session on search engine optimization (SEO), where I'd learn some tips and tricks about how to make it easier for people to find my work online.  The session turned out to be the exact opposite – it was a tutorial on how to use Google more effectively to find what I might be looking for.

Now, the idea of taking a class on how to use Google seems, well, ridiculous. I've been using Google for years. You type in what you're looking for, get a bunch of links and then click away until you find what you need. But as speaker Dmitry Shapiro, Founder and CEO of Veoh Networks, Inc. pointed out, with the growth of the Internet and the large number of results that queries now return, one can lose hours sifting through to find the most useful, relevant information.

For independent filmmakers, time is money. Documentarians usually don't have large research staffs, yet there's a ton of work to be done online, including researching topics, locating  subjects and fact-checking the information in projects. Therefore, I wanted to share some of the tips Shapiro passed along about using Google operators, a.k.a. Google commands, to help make this process more efficient, and therefore more economical.

Some of these tips are quite basic, but I'll start at the beginning and build from there. I'll use a few practical examples to help put the tips in context. If these intrigue you and you want to learn more, you can check out the Weekend University class Shapiro teaches on the subject. Google also has an online cheat sheet with a list of some of the commands. If you have other tips to suggest, we'd love to hear them – please add them in the comments section.

Refining your search
Let's say you're doing a documentary on presidential elections, and you want to find material on Barack Obama. You should use quotes around the whole search term.
Enter: "Barack Obama"
Number of search results: 82,800,000

Now let's say you want to focus just on the presidential candidates, regardless of their running mates. So in the case of the recent election, you want to find all the results for Obama that don't mention Joe Biden. The minus sign will omit things from your search.
Enter: "barack obama"-"joe biden"
Number of search results: 80,300,00

There are a ton of sites out there that mention Obama. If you want more vetted information, perhaps you want to just check official government sites. You can specify the kind of site you're looking for with the site command. This operator will give you government sites and mentions of .gov sites that include Barack Obama (but not Joe Biden).
Enter: "barack obama"-"joe biden" site:gov
Number of search results: 70,300

You can make the type of site you're looking for as specific as you'd like. If you want to limit the search to congressional sites:
Enter: "barack obama"-"joe biden" site:congress.gov
Number of search results: 373

You can also narrow your search by the type of file you're looking for. Google indexes all kinds of documents, not just web pages. For example, you might want to find power point presentations about Obama as part of your research.
Enter: "barack obama" filetype:ppt
Number of search results: 2,670

Relevance
In addition to narrowing your search, you'll save time by making sure the results you get are those that are potentially the most relevant.  If someone names a particular URL or document with the search term you're looking for, that's a good indication that it is actually focused on your keyword.

Let's say you're doing a documentary on the Catholic Church's attitude towards homosexuality. If you put "Vatican" in as your keyword, Google returns 70,200,000 results. These range from those more pertinent, such as the official site of the Vatican and the Catholic Encyclopedia's entry for the Vatican, and those that are less so, such as sites selling Vatican souvenirs. To find your keyword in the title:
-Enter: Intitle:Vatican
Number of search results: 943,000
To find your keyword in the URL:
-Enter: inURL:Vatican
Number of search results: 963,000

If you want to search for more than one word contained in a title or URL, you can use the allintitle or allinURL operators. For example:
-Enter: allintitle: Vatican homosexual
Number of search results: 267
-Enter: allinURL: Vatican homosexual
Number of search results: 97

Practical applications
Sometimes when researching, you're not sure what search term will be most effective. If you're doing an environmental film about the state of the oceans, there may be very useful sites out there that reference the sea, marine, atlantic, etc . The tilde ~ operator does a synonym search.
-Enter: ~ocean.
Number of search results: 1,170,000,000

This particular search brought up a variety of helpful sites, along with things like the Atlantic Theater Company and Oceanic Airlines. To narrow your search, you might want to refine your search a bit. The following search will bring up all the sites that contain fish and ocean, or their synonyms.
Enter: ~ocean ~fish
Number of search results: 187,000,000

Quite a few of these are travel services that offer help in arranging fishing trips, information that's not useful for your documentary. By omitting the keyword 'travel', you'll be able to get rid of a number of the sites that are focused on fishing tours.
Enter: ~ocean ~fish -travel
Number of search results: 121,000,000

You might also want to try to eliminate some of the seafood restaurants from the search results.
Enter: ~ocean ~fish -travel -restaurant
Number of search results: 107,000,000

If you're trying to find equipment for sale, you can get quite specific with your search by using a combination of operators. For example, let's say you want to find a Panasonic HVX-200 for sale for between $3000-$4000. You can use [#]…[#] to indicate a range of numbers.
Enter: site:ebay.com Panasonic HVX-200 $3000...$4000
Number of search results: 147

When you get to the marketing stage of your film and need to find all the blogs and sites that have given you fabulous reviews, use the link operator to find the pages that link to your own film site.
Enter: link:www.weliveinpublicthemovie.com
**Additional tip: If you land on a page and the link isn't immediately obvious, as is often the case with blog pages that contain multiple entries, use your browser's "find" function to locate the link.


Other Useful Tools
Shapiro turned us on to a few other useful tools on Google. You can use all of the operators above with these sections of Google as well.  

Scholar.google.com has information that is generally more vetted than Joe Blogger's information, such as papers, theses, abstracts and articles from academic publishers, professional societies, universities and other scholarly organizations.

Books.google.com searches over 7 million books. You can put in a word or phrase, and it'll return results for the publications that include it. When you click on the link, the word or phrase will actually be highlighted on the page. It's a useful way to find sources for research, as well as quotes about a subject that you might want to use on cards or in press materials. For example, you might search the following for the above-mentioned doc on the oceans:
Enter: "value of our oceans"
Number of search results: 25

Google Blog Search (blogsearch.google.com) finds blogs that are talking about your film, which can be very helpful when trying to build a grassroots campaign. It's a good way to get a sense of the informal chatter occurring online about your subject or your film.