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Articles by Tom White

Fast Foreword, The Editor's Column, Winter 2023
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Screen Time: Week of December 12, 2022
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Julia Reichert, a white woman with short grey hair, glasses, and a striped shirt, participates in an on-stage conversation, presented in 2019 by IDA.. Photo: Laura Ahmed
Julia Reichert, 1946-2022: A Filmmaker with the Heart and Soul of an Organizer
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A group of trans women and crossdressing men gathering in Upstate New York in the 1960s. From Sébastien Lifshitz’s “Casa Susanna”. Photo courtesy of TIFF.
The Docs at TIFF 2022: Uncovering, Unveiling, Discovering
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Fast Foreword, The Editor's Column, Fall 2022
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A red overlay on a mirrored image of David Bowie singing into a mic, from ‘Moonage Daydream.’ Photo courtesy of NEON.
'Moonage Daydream': Brett Morgen Presents The David Bowie Experience
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'Family Pictures USA' artist Thomas Allen Harris, left, a Black man with glasses and a blue button-down shirt, displays family photographs belonging to North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green, a Black woman with copper-colored curly hair. round glasses and a black dress, and her cousin, Sterling Michael Holt., a Black man with white hair and white mustache, glasses, waring a green sweater and holding a family photograph. Harris' 'Family Pictures USA' project co-creates a living and growing famil
Co-Creation As a Democratic Act: A Conversation with Katerina Cizek and Thomas Allen Harris
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Fast Foreword, The Editor's Column, Summer 2022
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Kristal Bush, right, a Black woman with large earrings, and her nephew, Nyvae Scott, a Black teenager. Image from Lisa Riordan Seville and Zara Katz’s ‘A Woman on the Outside.’ Photo courtesy of the flmmakers
The Feedback: Lisa Riordan Seville and Zara Katz's 'A Woman on the Outside'
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An Asian man, wearing a protective hood and mask, holds his newborn baby. From Yung Chang's 'Wuhan Wuhan." Courtesy of Stars Collective Films Entertainment Group, Inc.
Screen Time: Week of July 11, 2022
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​A woman wearing a hat and glasses, with shoulder-length hair, stands on a street and holds a sign that reads "LA Jails are the largest mental health institutions in the country." From Kenneth Paul Rosenberg’s 'Bedlam.' Courtesy of 'Independent Lens.'
Screen Time: Week of May 16, 2022
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Fast Foreword: The Editor's Column, Spring 2022
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The late Brent Renaud, wearing a protective helmet and bulletproof vest, films on a rooftop. Photo courtesy of of Jeff Newton
Remembering Brent Renaud: A Reluctant Hero of Humanity
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Fast Foreword: The Editor's Column, Winter 2022
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A Ukrainian family of five sits in their living room watching a film that they made about life during wartime. From Iryna Tsilyk’s 'The Earth Is Blue as an Orange'. Courtesy of the filmmaker.
Screen Time: Week of February 28, 2022
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Lourdes Portillo, a Latinx woman with white hair, glasses and a black top, accepting the IDA Career Achievement Award in 2017; Portillo is the only filmmaker to have earned IDA Documentary Award in four different decades. Photo: Susan Yin
Where Are They Now? IDA Documentary Award Winners
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A group of Trump supporters storm the US Capitol Building on January 6, 2022. From The New York Times Visual Investigations’ 'Days of Rage. 'Courtesy of The New York Times
Essential Doc Reads: Week of January 10, 2022
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Cast members of the Broadway musical 'Company' recording their album. From DA Pennebaker's ‘Original Cast Album: “Company"’. Courtesy of the Criterion Collection
Screen Time: Week of December 6, 2021
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Fast Foreword: The Editor's Column, Fall 2021
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Dianne Weyermann speaking at a podium at the 2016 IDA Documentary Awards. She is wearing black and has her hair untied.
Documentary's Most Passionate Advocate: Diane Weyermann Remembered
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paid fellowship for writers from underserved & underrepresented communities
2021 Open Call for Documentary Magazine Editorial Fellows
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Fast Foreword: The Editor's Column, Summer 2021
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Richard "Rick" Ray Perez is a brown skinned-toned man, wearing a dark blue blazer, behind a patterned orange wall.
New IDA Executive Director Rick Perez Assesses the Global Documentary Narrative
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A young Black girl in shorts and a t-shirt runs along the seashore. Tai Sheppard in ‘Sisters on Track’ (directors: Corinne van der Borch, Tone Grøttjord-Glenne). Courtesy of Netflix
Screen Time: Week of June 20, 2021
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Fast Foreword: The Editor's Column, Spring 2021
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Actor Chadwick Boseman, a Black man wearing a striped shirt, patterned tie, grey vest and pants, sits at a piano, his back to the keyboard
Screen Time: Week of April 26, 2021
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A deep-sea diver, wearing goggles and a wet suit and holding a camera, examines an octopus on the bed of the ocean.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of April 19, 2021
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The late Beth Bird sits in a restaurant, smiling; she has short blond hair, and is wearing a blue jacket over a black shirt.
In Memoriam: Beth Bird - Filmmaker, Former IDA Board Member
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A group of 19th century Seminole tribespeople, wearing long-sleeved tunics and armed with bows & arrows, guard their dwelling.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of April 12, 2021
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2 far-right extremists, dressed in flannel shirts, bullet-proof vests and baseball caps, outside the US Capitol on January 6.
Screen Time: Week of April 12, 2021
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The IDFA festival director, mic in hand and wearing a black jacket, addresses the audience in front of a blue curtain.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of April 5, 2021
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An activist, holding a microphone and wearing a black blazer over a blue shirt, addresses a protest in Brooklyn, New York.
Screen Time: Week of April 5, 2021
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PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger at a podium, wearing a white blazer over a black blouse with the PBS logo behind her.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of March 29, 2021
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The photo depicts a Black woman standing over an open casket, her right arm raised in praise; she wears a protective face mask, as well as a dark suit.
Screen Time: Week of March 29, 2021
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A rally for justice for Vincent Chin. His mother is speaking behind a podium.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of March 22, 2021
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The image shows a close-up profile of a government official, sitting at a desk with his colleagues, examining documents. He has dark hair and glasses and is wearing a white shirt and a dark tie.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of March 15, 2021
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A woman from the film swings on a swing in the middle of a playground; her head is upside-down as she faces the camera.
Screen Time: Week of March 15, 2021
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At right, A reporter from an India-based digital platform is kneeling while interviewing an Indian woman who is seated at left, in her living space with her family. The reporter is filming with a smartphone in her right hand , nd is wearing an emerald green sari
Essential Doc Reads: Week of March 8, 2021
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Justice Ginsburg is pictured here at a press conference, in front of a bank of microphones, and she is wearing a red-and-white striped shirt.
Screen Time: Week of March 8, 2021
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Dylan is a white woman, with red hair, in her early 30s; she is sitting at a desk next to a window, and she is looking at a photo album.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of March 1, 2021
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A mother and her daughter embrace in the glare of sunlight.
Screen Time: Week of March 1, 2021
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KIMBERLÉ CRENSHAW, Professor, UCLA and Columbia Schools of Law. She is an African-American woman, wearing a red blouse under a navy blue blazer; she is seated against a blue backdrop.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of February 22, 2021
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Ellis Haizlip, sits in the middle of the set of his variety show 'SOUL' surrounded by members of the '70s funk band Mandrill, some members of whom are holding their instruments.
Screen Time: Week of February 22
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This image depicts time travel through the evolution of racial violence in the US. Against the backdrop of a dark sky, speckled with stars, is a shack that serves as a portal for time travel, and above the house floats an apparation of a slave.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of February 15, 2021
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Pop star Britney Spears, subject the recnt documentary 'Framing Britney Spears," is pictured performing on stage, wearing an emerald green sequin outfit, singing into a wireless headset, clutching a brown railing, against a mesh, emerald green patterned backdrop.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of February 8, 2021
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Nina Simone is sitting on the floor with her right arm propping her up. She is wearing a maxi knit dress, large decorative necklace.
Screen Time: Week of February 8, 2021
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Fast Foreword: The Editor's Column
Fast Foreword: The Editor's Column, Winter 2021
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A couple is staring lovinly at each other
Essential Doc Reads: Week of January 11, 2021
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Michael Apted, speaking at an IDA Screening Series showing of his final film, '63-UP.' Photo: Laura Ahmed
Essential Doc Reads: Week of January 3, 2021
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From Michael Apted's 'The UP Series.' Courtesy of First Run Features
Screen Time: Week of January 11, 2021
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