Documentary
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“Trusting the Subject as a Collaborator:” Jillian Schlesinger on Maidentrip
You may have heard of Laura Dekker, the Dutch wunderkind who announced at the ripe old age of 13 that she planned to sail around the world, by herself. Despite initial intervention attempts by her home government, Ms. Dekker set off from Gibraltar in August of 2010, in her 38-footer by the name of “Guppy,” and arrived in Sint Maarten 16 months later, fully intact. Much like her subject, Jillian Schlesinger did not go the safe route in her first full-length voyage as a filmmaker. A project four years in the making, with no opportunities for reshoots or reenactments, Schlesinger’s […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 17, 2014 -
2014 MacArthur Grants Announced
In our imminent Winter 2014 issue, Joy Dietrich penned a helpful piece on grant writing for documentarians, in which she surveyed recipients of Cinereach, Creative Capital, Sundance, MacArthur, ITVS and Tribeca funding. Fortuitous timing then that MacArthur released its 2014 grants this morning to the tune of $2 million for 18 different documentary projects. The films tackle such disparate hot button issues as immigration, health care, carbon trading, elderly care and the drug trade. Keeping up with the times, there’s even an interactive web platform designed around global youth communities. Said MacArthur President Robert Gallucci, “This year’s documentaries illuminate serious issues […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 15, 2014 -
Kevin Pearce and Lucy Walker Talk The Crash Reel
I’ve been to many documentary screenings, and even to some attended by the films’ subjects. But seeing The Crash Reel with its subject, Kevin Pearce, present was one of the most riveting movie screening experiences I’ve ever had. If you haven’t read about or seen the movie, The Crash Reel follows champion snowboarder Kevin Pearce through a debilitating accident, his recovery and then his slow coming to grips with the fact that he can’t go back to competitive snowboarding. On the face of it, this may sound unappealing, but The Crash Reel is no 60 Minutes bedside weepy. Instead, it […]
by Michael Murie on Jan 8, 2014 -
Trailer Watch: Mitt
A couple weeks back, Netflix announced that it had acquired another “original” documentary, due for a world premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival: Mitt. Filmmaker Greg Whiteley tracked presidential hopeful Mitt Romney from Christmas 2006 up until the night of his concession speech in November 2012. With unprecedented access, Whiteley was with the Romney family through all of the campaign trail ups and downs, to provide what should be a unique and honest window into the mind of Mitt. The film will be available for viewing on Netflix beginning January 24, 2014.
by Sarah Salovaara on Dec 18, 2013 -
“It’s Not Enough To Have a Good Story with a Video Camera in the Vicinity”: Lucy Walker on The Crash Reel
Depicting professional snowboarder Kevin Pearce’s rise to the top of his sport and then his struggle to recover from a monster wipe-out and traumatic brain injury, Lucy Walker’s The Crash Reel is riveting, emotional, sobering and enraging. It tells a very human story as the endearing Pearce struggles to not only physically recover from his injuries but, at such a young age, to invent a new identity for himself and his future. At the same time, the film is a provocative, well-researched takedown of the extreme sports industry, which markets vicarious danger for energy-drink consumers and sneaker-wearers at the expense […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 14, 2013 -
Documentary Shortlist Announced for 2013 Academy Awards
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced the shortlist of 15 films from the five nominees for Best Documentary will be chosen. That announcement comes on January 16, but until then we can pore over a pretty strong list, featuring Gotham winner The Act of Killing plus new films from such vets as Alex Gibney, Alan Berliner, Lucy Walker and Jehane Noujaim plus crowd favorites from newcomers such as Zachary Heinzerling (Cutie and the Boxer) and Gabriela Cowperthwaite (Blackfish). There are also inevitably a number of notable absentees, such as Lana Wilson and Martha Shane’s After Tiller, […]
by Nick Dawson on Dec 3, 2013 -
Gael García Bernal on Documentaries
“Let’s go back to the time when there was VHS,” says Gael García Bernal at the RIDM (Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal or the Montreal International Documentary Festival). “In those days to see a documentary in Mexico your friend would buy a movie in New York or Amsterdam or wherever [and] they would come up to you and say, ‘If you want to see this…’” Inevitably, a documentary fell into the young García Bernal’s hands. “I don’t remember which one it was, but I remember feeling there was something beyond an investigation, that it had a bigger scope, a […]
by Allan Tong on Nov 27, 2013 -
Landon Van Soest Crowdfunding for Artificial Retina Documentary Light Darkness Light
Landon Van Soest, a founder of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, is nearing the end of a Crimso campaign to fund his latest documentary Light Darkness Light, an intimate portrait of a candidate for artificial retina implants. Plotting the move from blindness to sight both narratively and visually, Light Darkness Light promises to be a revelatory examination of science and human nature. Filmmaker spoke with Van Soest about his technical plans, and how this documentary could serve legions of would-be patients in the future. Light Darkness Light‘s campaign ends in two days, on Thanksgiving, so please consider donating sooner rather than later. Filmmaker: Before we get to the film, I wanted to ask about the […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Nov 26, 2013 -
On Missing 99% of What You Need: Lucy Walker’s Advice to Documentary Filmmakers
The following is an extract from Jessica Edwards‘ book Tell Me Something, which collects together advice on non-fiction filmmaking from 50 of the world’s most prominent documentarians, in which two-time Oscar nominee Lucy Wakler shares her wisdom. Tell Me Something is also available as an e-book. This piece of advice has been my lifeline, my mantra, my toehold on sanity and encouragement, the bandage for when I am kicking myself so hard I can’t stand up. It was told to me by Barbara Kopple, the legendary two-time Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker. One of my greatest strokes of luck in life was that she came to […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Nov 25, 2013 -
MIT Open Documentary Lab Launches _docubase
As a consumer of new media – to say nothing of its makers – how does one go about keeping abreast of the emerging form’s constant developments? MIT Open Documentary Lab hopes to keep interested parties up to speed with _docubase, a new project that was launched yesterday at IDFA. A curated platform, _docubase will maintain an open dialogue on the “new documentary,” the fledging form that draws from interactive and community-created fact-based storytelling. “No longer must we look back at those unconstrained moments of creativity from a nostalgia-tinged distance,” reads the _docubase manifesto, referring to the unchecked and experimental early years […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Nov 25, 2013
