Authors — Tom White
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The Price of Passion: Addressing the Mental Health of Documentary Filmmakers
Sustainability and scarcity of opportunity have been predominant challenges of a documentary career since the early days of the form, but sustaining mental health has been a significant one as well. Launched in 2021 by a group of documentary filmmakers and mental-health professionals, DocuMentality evolved out of a series of revelatory presentations and conversations–first at IDA’s Getting Real conference in 2018, then a year later, over the course of a two-week online discussion entitled Mental Health and the Documentary Business, hosted by long-running global forum The D-Word. This past May, the DocuMentality team released its first report: The Price of […]
by Tom White on Nov 5, 2024 -
“…With the Giddy Feel of a College Reunion”: The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Returns
In the spirit of springtime renewal, the Durham, North Carolina-based Full Frame Documentary Film Festival returned to in-person mode for the first time since 2019. And while Full Frame presented virtual versions from 2020 through 2022, the festival was canceled altogether last year, due in large part to fiscal struggles undermining its parent, the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. An April 2023 report in Duke’s The Chronicle indicated that the university would undertake a review of the Center. Members of the festival’s Advisory Committee circulated a petition on social media, helping to assure the festival’s return and, a […]
by Tom White on Apr 18, 2024 -
Marathon Training: The Documentary Awards Season Grind
By the time you read this, awards season, that annual ritual of accolades and extroversion, will be full throttle. Mounting and sustaining a campaign is often prohibitive, both as a budgetary line item and as an all-consuming occupation. Contenders live in the air and in hotels, go where their team sends them, agree to hundreds of interviews and participate in just as many Q&As and roundtables. But on the upside, an awards campaign is an opportunity to build a worldwide network of friends and contemporaries. Filmmaker reached out to former Academy Award nominees in the Feature Documentary category to share […]
by Tom White on Sep 20, 2023
