Documentary

THE MACARTHUR FOUNDATION BYTES DOWN ON DIGITAL MEDIA

Jonathan Fanton, President of the MacArthur Foundation, has posted a “President’s Essay” in which he discusses the ways in which digital media is transforming both our lives as well as the working methodologies and granting practices of the Foundation. I recommend the essay, and particularly noteworthy is the section on media grantmaking, in which Fanton says the Foundation will now seek to fund projects that take advantage of the new distribution tools as well as those from new sources of information and that stimulate and include audience interaction. An excerpt: With these changes, the challenge of providing individuals with diverse […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 18, 2009
“CRIPS AND BLOODS: MADE IN AMERICA”

Stacy Peralta uses his knack for dissecting counter-cultures to highlight the two most violent gangs in America with Crips and Bloods: Made in America. Since his breakout Sundance hit Dogtown and Z-Boys, about the iconic skateboarders who revolutionized the sport (Peralta was one of the Z-Boys), Peralta has stayed in the alt-sport realm as his second doc, Riding Giants, looked at the history of surfing (it was also the opening film at 04’s Sundance). Now Peralta leaves his comfort zone to look at a world he’s not directly a part of. In telling the story of the Crips and Bloods, […]
by Jason Guerrasio on May 17, 2009
CANNES: MY NEIGHBOR, MY KILLER’s ANNE AGHION

Premiering in Cannes in Un Certain Regard, Anne Aghion‘s penetrating and transfixing documentary, My Neighbor, My Killer, is the culmination of a decade-long filmmaking quest to address one of the most difficult questions facing citizens, communities, tribes, religious groups and ethnic factions around the world today: “Could you forgive the people who slaughtered your family?” In 1994 hundreds of thousands of minority Tutsis were slaughtered by Rwanda’s Hutus, with villager killing fellow villager, cousin killing cousin. The Rwanda genocide has been well covered in the media, but less focused upon has been the Gacaca Tribunals, open air citizen hearings instituted […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 17, 2009
TREVOR GROTH APPOINTED SUNDANCE DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING

I’m a couple days late catching up with news on the blog, but congratulations to Trevor Groth, who was appointed this week as the Sundance Film Festival’s Director of Programming. He’s taking over the position from John Cooper, who, following Geoff Gilmore’s move to Tribeca, was appointed the festival’s director. From the press release: A 16-year veteran of the Festival, Groth had been a Senior Programmer handling both narrative and documentary feature selection and leading the Festival’s Short Film Section. In his new role Groth will head up the six person programming team that is responsible for curating the Festival’s […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 10, 2009
DOCUMENTARIANS GO TO WASHINGTON TO DEBATE THE DMCA

This past week the effect of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act on educators, documentary filmmakers and remix artists was debated during one of the Copyright Office’s tri-annual hearings. Several bloggers and participants have written about the hearings, and one, Gordon Quinn, is the subject of an article by Lindsay Muscato on the Gapers Block blog. Her article offers a good overview of the issue. Her lede: This week in Washington, Chicago filmmaker Gordon Quinn and other advocates prepare for the next battle for filmmakers’ right to quote from their culture. Mass-produced DVDs often encrypt films so that they can’t be […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 9, 2009
Kirby Dick, Outrage

POLICE MUGSHOTS OF POLITICIAN LARRY CRAIG AS FEATURED IN DIRECTOR KIRBY DICK’S OUTRAGE. COURTESY MAGNOLIA PICTURES. Whether his subjects have been small and personal or large and institutional, documentarian Kirby Dick has always dedicated himself to telling important and often provocative stories. Dick was born in Tucson, Arizona, in 1952, graduated from the Film and Video Program at the California Institute of the Arts and subsequently did postgraduate studies at the American Film Institute. He made his directorial debut in 1986 with Private Practices: The Story of a Sex Surrogate, but afterwards segued into television work, taking eleven years before […]
by Nick Dawson on May 8, 2009
WALKING AND TALKING WITH JIM JARMUSCH

Tied to this weekend’s opening of The Limits of Control, the FilmInFocus site (which, full disclosure, I co-edit) has posted quite a bit of content relating to writer/director Jim Jarmusch and the movie. Below is an excerpt from Lea Rinaldo’s documentary on the making of The Limits of Control. FilmInFocus will be posting sections of this piece, and, having seen the whole thing I can recommend it both as intriguing glimpse into Jarmusch and his production method as well as film in its own right. And, also, I interviewed Jarmusch about the movie’s striking score, which is compiled of tracks […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 3, 2009
IFP ANNOUNCES ENVISION, COLLABORATION WITH THE U.N.

The IFP is announcing today Envision, a two-day forum jointly produced by the IFP and the U.N. in which film and both live and virtual discussion will be used to address significant global issues. There will be 12 screenings, presentations and panel discussions, according to the press release, “rooted in the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.” The release goes on to say, “In our debut year, there will be a special focus on the MDG’s impact on women. The UN’s Millennium Development Goals are to: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 27, 2009
IFP ANNOUNCES DOC LINE UP FOR FILMMAKER LAB

The IFP has just released the ten projects selected for their Independent Filmmaker Lab, hosted by Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn. For five days this week the filmmaking teams will participate in workshops in which they receive advice on technical, creative, and post-production issues. There are two tiers of mentorship support: via the program’s Lab Leaders who lead each of the five-day-long intensive sessions, and workshop leaders who provide technical, creative and strategic support to help bring films to completion. The 2009 Documentary Lab leaders are producer Lori Cheatle (51 Birch Street) and producer Lesli Klainberg (Paul Monette: The Brink […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Apr 16, 2009
JEREMIAH ZAGAR’S IN A DREAM OPENS IN NYC

Opening today in New York at the Cinema Village is Jeremiah Zagar’s documentary In a Dream, which is a fascinating story of artistic obsession and its effects on an entire Philadelphia family. In our current issue, which is just coming off the newsstands, Lauren Wissot interviewed not only Zagar but his longtime producer Jeremy Yaches and their executive producers Pamela Tanner Boll and Geralyn White Dreyfous. Here is a brief excerpt: Filmmaker: I know that Jeremiah is a big fan of Errol Morris, and that definitely comes through in In a Dream. Are there other films or books or works […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 10, 2009

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