Documentary

Bill Haney, The Price Of Sugar

FATHER CHRISTOPHER HARTLEY (CENTER) IN BILL HANEY’S THE PRICE OF SUGAR. COURTESY MITROPOULOS FILMS. William M. Haney III — or Bill Haney to you and me — is one of those people who one suspects would be successful at almost anything he chose to turn his hand to. He started his first business while still an undergrad at Harvard, and made $15m when he sold his stock in the company, aged just 26. He then moved on to invest in two environmental companies and then a software company, continuing his success with all three. He first became interested in film […]
by Nick Dawson on Sep 28, 2007
GAYLOR GOES TO THE SOURCE

Here’s a Google link to a conversation that Scott Kirsner from CinemaTech had during the IFP Filmmaker Confernece with Brett Gaylor, a Montreal-based filmmaker who is exploring new modes of collaboration for documentary filmmaking. I’m also embedding below, but if you go to the Google page you can download the 12-minute piece in a format suitable for playing on your iPod or PSP.
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 22, 2007
FREE FAIR USE DISCUSSION

Tomorrow, Friday, is the final day of the IFP Filmmaker Conference, and it’s both free and open to the general public. From 9:00AM until 10:30AM panelists will discuss issues surrounding fair use in documentary film, the limits of, benefits from, and restrictions around E&O insurance, and specific issues that have arisen in various docs having to do with fair use. It’s at the Puck Building in New York at Houston and Lafayette. Anybody working in documentary film today has to know about these issues. Here’s the schedule: FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 21st – FAIR USE IN DOCUMENTARY FILM FAIR USE 101 9:00 […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 20, 2007
Winter Chill

In 2005 indie director Larry Fessenden was troubled by the state of the world—specifically, by our leaders’ callow response to the threat of global warming. So he did what he does best: He made a horror movie. The Last Winter, about a skeleton crew of oil-dredge workers afflicted by madness and other disturbing phenomena in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, revisits some of the tropes in Fessenden’s spooky 2001 feature Wendigo, including a fearsome, shape-shifting deer-spirit. The film was overlooked when it premiered at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival, later acquired by IFC First Take (releases September 19), and recently […]
by Damon Smith on Sep 18, 2007
THINGS TO DO IN DENVER

One of my favorite websites, Boing Boing, has just undertaken a re-design. The site is a lot cleaner and easier on the eyes now, all the better to scope out eccentric pieces like this article in the Denver Westword News about the historical end date of the Mayan calendar, Freemason conspiracy theory, the New World Order… and the Denver airport? It’s all knitted together by a filmmaker — producer Nick Weidner, who, with his partner Sharron Rose, made 2012: The Odyssey. Westword’s Jared Jacang Maher, who writes about Weidner’s appearance on KHOW’s Coast to Coast, explains: Weidner, a filmmaker and […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 1, 2007
SOFT VOICES

For all the talk this past week about mumblecore — what it is and how these films are similar — it should also be noted how different the aesthetics of its various directors are. A case in point is this week’s opening at the IFC Center, Quiet City, directed by Aaron Katz, which boasts some of the trademarks of the genre — 20-something protagonists, a focus on transitory lifestates, relationship issues, an extreme naturalism — but which also has its own very distinct sensibility that’s quite different from some of the genre’s other filmmakers. As its title suggests, the film […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 29, 2007
Still Goin’: In Conversation With John Voight

September Dawn has been attracting controversy ever since it began shooting last year. The film, directed and co-written by Christopher Cain (Young Guns), tells the story of the events surrounding the Mountain Meadows Massacre when, on the morning of September 11, 1857, a wagon train of over 100 Westward-bound Christian settlers were brutally slain by Mormon militia. The incident has continued to be a historical talking point as the Mormons accused of the murders were disguised as Native Americans and have always denied any culpability in the matter. However a wealth of documentation backs up the claims against the Mormons, […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Aug 24, 2007
IFP DOC ROUGH CUT LAB CALL FOR ENTRY

IFP Documentary Rough Cut Lab – November 6 – 9, 2007, NYC The IFP Documentary Rough Cut Lab is a national program connecting mentors and projects before they are submitted to festivals. The Lab aims to identify 10 high quality independently produced documentaries each year that can benefit from the support and expertise of experienced film professionals. The key creative teams of these projects receive feedback from a range of professionals in editing, scoring, post delivery, outreach, marketing and publicity, sales representation and festival strategy. The 2007 Documentary Lab Leaders: the documentary production team of Arts Engine, Inc.: (Election Day, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 17, 2007
SIERRA LEONE’S “REFUGEE ALL STARS”

The uplifting documentary, Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, follows a talented group of Sierra Leonean musicians who cope with the decade-long civil war ragging in their country by forming a band and touring to the neighboring camps to help their fellow West Africans forget their problems. Directed by Zach Niles and Banker White (and executive produced by Ice Cube), the doc was well received on the fest circuit and was awarded the Documentary Award at the AFI Fest. And last June it aired on PBS’ P.O.V. Through the doc the filmmakers follow the band, who have a Western-influenced R&B/Reggae style […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Aug 13, 2007
2007 Fast Track

Currently in its fifth year, Fast Track, a joint program of the Los Angeles Film Festival and Filmmaker magazine, was created to promote the careers of talented filmmakers over the course of a year, while spreading the word about their newest projects. The filmmakers chosen are alumni of the LAFF as well as alumni of Film Independent’s Talent Development Programs: the Filmmaker Labs, Project: Involve, and the grants awarded at the Spirit Awards. Here are the Fast Track filmmakers of 2007 and their upcoming projects. Robbie Pickering You know you’re in for some trouble when your dutiful Christian wife discovers […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Aug 6, 2007

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