Join moderator Karin Stellwagen (The Brooks Institute) for a discussion with Sarah Burns (The Central Park Five), Michael Donaldson (Partner, Donaldson + Callif) and David France (How to Survive a Plague) on the intricate balance between video journalism and documentary filmmaking.
Seminar
Join moderator Milton Tabbot (IFP) for a discussion with Rachel Gandin Mark (Program Administrator for the American Film Showcase at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts), Carlos Islam (United Nations Creative Community Outreach Initiative), and Anne Makepeace (writer, producer, and director) and learn how docs serve as delegates in the global community.
Join producer Eddie Schmidt (Beauty is Embarrassing, Troubadours) for a discussion with Randy and Fenton on the challenges of running a transatlantic production company, crossing genre boundaries, and managing the famous and infamous, while also hosting a cutting edge culture blog with over 300,000 hits per month.
What does it mean to document change? From violent revolution and the fight for basic human rights, to single projects that change a community in multiple ways, more and more documentary filmmakers are finding themselves at the epicenters of a rapidly evolving world.
IDA invites you for a discussion about the benefits and challenges in researching, procuring, and licensing archival footage for your film.
Join doc filmmakers who have traveled the globe and film commissioners whose job it is to make filming in their countries as straightforward as possible, as they discuss the logistics of overseas doc filmmaking.
With these shifting realities, as well as significant cuts in funding to PBS' nonfiction programming from the National Endowment for the Arts, what does the future hold for independent documentary films and public broadcasting? What can you do to impact the decisions and changes being made right now?

"Can I see your trailer?" A fundraising trailer can make or break your film. Stop the guess work of what works and what doesn't with this full-day workshop for producers, directors, writers and editors.
With the growing popularity of documentary film, many have admirably seized on the power of non-fiction storytelling to affect change around social and political issues. But in all the discussion about content and impact, have we forgotten to explore documentary as cinema, as art? In a lively conversation about how they mobilize aesthetic choices to generate meaning, filmmakers discuss stylistic strategies, creative inspirations, story structure, and the tension between form and content.
Join moderator Lisa Leeman (One Lucky Elephant, Crazy Wisdom: The Life and Times of Chogyam Trunga) as we look at case studies from filmmakers working in the field and hear from industry experts on the best practices of accounting and business management, with a focus on the impact and things to know when filing your taxes.