Essential Doc Reads is a weekly feature in which the IDA staff recommends recent pieces about the documentary form and its processes. Here we feature think pieces and important news items from around the Internet, and articles from the Documentary magazine archive. We hope you enjoy! At Indiewire, Kartemquin filmmakers Gordon Quinn and Rachel Dickson discuss how they discovered footage of Bernie Sanders getting arrested: Quinn: I was in the same graduating class as Bernie Sanders at the University of Chicago. A few months ago when a photo taken by Danny Lyon of our sit-in at the university
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Editor's note: Over the next few days, we at IDA will be introducing our community to the films that have been honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with an Oscar® nomination in the documentary category. You can see Last Day of Freedom on Saturday, February 27 at 6:25 p.m. at the Writers Guild of America Theater as part of DocuDay LA. Making a film about PTSD opens up many creative possibilities to render mental trauma in a cinematic fashion. For filmmakers Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman, animation served as the best medium to capture Bill Babbit telling the story of
OVERVIEW For a documentary filmmaker, being recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for an Oscar nomination in the Best Documentary Feature category is often the pinnacle moment in a career. Beyond the celebratory achievement, the acknowledgment can open up doors for funding and opportunities for next films and career opportunities. The formal recognition happens in three phases: It begins in December with the Academy's announcement of a shortlist—15 films that advance to a formal nomination for the Academy's Best Documentary Feature Award. Then, in mid-January, the final
Editor's note: Over the past few weeks, we at IDA will be introducing our community to the films that have been honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with an Oscar® nomination in the documentary category. You can see Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah on Saturday, February 27 at 11 a.m. at the Writers Guild of America Theater as part of DocuDay LA. Although Adam Benzine makes his filmmaking debut with Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah, he is no stranger to documentary. He was associate editor of RealScreen magazine for four years, and, prior to that, senior
Essential Doc Reads is a weekly feature in which the IDA staff recommends recent pieces about the documentary form and its processes. Here we feature think pieces and important news items from around the Internet, and articles from the Documentary magazine archive. We hope you enjoy! On Motherboard, filmmaker and Kartemquin founder Gordon Quinn argues that the Digital Millenium Copyright Act is still broken: The Copyright Office's decisions are never a sure bet, and free expression becomes the victim as a result. Just three years ago, for example, we argued for an exemption to circumvent
Editor's note: Over the next few weeks, we at IDA will be introducing our community to the films that have been honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with an Oscar® nomination in the documentary category. You can see A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness on Saturday, February 27 at 11 a.m. at the Writers Guild of America Theater as part of DocuDay LA. When Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy was nominated for the Academy Award in 2012 for her documentary short Saving Face (Daniel Junge also directed), the film made an immediate impact in getting her fellow Pakistanis to engage
The importance of telling what's happening on the ground and relaying these visuals back to the people with the power to make a difference and fund the response is so critical. Editor's note: Over the next few weeks, we at IDA will be introducing our community to the films that have been honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with an Oscar® nomination in the documentary category. You can see Body Team 12 on Saturday, February 27 at 11 a.m. at the Writers Guild of Theater in Beverly Hills as part of DocuDay LA. In 2014, when the Ebola virus outbreak began to spread across
In celebration of the feast of Saint Valentine, we wanted to shine a (heart)light on a handful of our favorite documentaries about love. Here are ten films we recommend watching while cuddled up with your sweetheart, or snuggled up alone on your couch on Valentine's day. Walk Run Cha-Cha (Laura Nix, 2019) Oscar-nominated and IDA fiscally-sponsored short, Walk Run Cha-Cha, tells the story of Paul and Millie Cao who reunited in California after the Vietnam War. Forty years later, they are rediscovering themselves on the dance floor. Watch it: New York Times Op-Docs Meet the Patels (Ravi Patel &
Essential Doc Reads is a weekly feature in which the IDA staff recommends recent pieces about the documentary form and its processes. Here we feature think pieces and important news items from around the Internet, and articles from the Documentary magazine archive. We hope you enjoy! On NPR's Code Switch, Monica Castillo wonders where the Sundance Film Festival fits into Hollywood's conversation about diversity: The increased attention on underrepresented filmmakers excites Sonita director Rokhsareh Ghaem. The Iranian director believes the digital revolution is behind the increase of female
"We are standing here to prove that Ukraine is a European country." Editor's note: Over the next few weeks, we at IDA will be introducing our community to the films that have been honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with an Oscar® nomination in the documentary category. You can see Winter on Fire on Saturday, February 27 at 10:30p at the Writers Guild of America Theater as part of DocuDay LA. Over the course of just 93 days in 2014, what began as peaceful student demonstrations in Ukraine morphed into a violent revolution. Filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky was on the