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! From the Sundance Institute blog, editor Kate Amend discusses her art and craft: I don't think anyone grows up wanting to be an editor. When I was a kid the options for women were housewife, teacher, and nurse. But I always fantasized that I would do something in the arts. I wanted to be a singer or an actress –
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"The more people see of me, the more they'll realize that all I'm good for is making music." 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 Amy on Saturday, February 27 at the Writers Guild of America Theater as a part of DocuDay. On September 21, 2015, the IDA screened filmmaker Asia Kapadia's shattering and affecting Amy as a part of the IDA Documentary Screening Series. Now an Oscar-nominee about the
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! The New York Times covers filmmaker's Laura Poitras's upcoming exhibit at the Whitney Museum: Nothing is what it seems in the exhibition by Ms. Poitras, the crusading journalist and filmmaker made famous (or notorious) by her association with the former government contractor Edward J. Snowden. Mr. Snowden's
Back in the fall of 2014, the IDA held the first Getting Real Documentary Film Conference. We had no idea of the impact it would make in the field nor the depth of conversations it would spur. The conference aimed, of course, to gather filmmakers, industry professionals, academics, and students who could confront the critical issues facing the documentary community. The three-day conference, held in Los Angeles in partnership with The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, succeeded in building a sense of community and pushed the conversation forward on key issues within the field. This
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! IndieWire features a conversation with Sundance's Tabitha Jackson on why she wants audiences to look at documentary in a very new way: Take for example how Jackson discusses documentarian Margaret Brown — who was chosen by Jackson for Sundance's new fellowship that singles out filmmakers taking an innovative
Moana With Sound, 1926/1980, B&W, 98 min.by Robert J. Flaherty, Frances Hubbard Flaherty and Monica FlahertyReleased by Kino Classics, 2015DVD Includes Special Features: Moana With Sound: A Short History, 39 minutes; About the Restoration, 12 minutes; Flaherty and Film: Moana, 1960, 17-minute interview with Frances Flaherty by Robert Gardner; Flaherty Family Home Movies, 5 minutes; Twenty-Four Dollar Island, 1925, 10-minute experimental "city symphony" by Robert Flaherty; Filmed commentaries by historians Enrico Camporesi and Bruce Posner; Promo Trailer, 2015 Robert Flaherty was initially an
In 1996, I abandoned my nascent political career in Washington, DC, and set out for New York City to pursue a life and career in documentary film. It was an impulsive and possibly reckless decision. But I was in thrall of the possibilities, and desperate to ditch my blue blazer and striped tie for the artistic frontier. I was travelling north on I-95, my possessions crammed into a U-Haul, to work for a filmmaker I had met just a few months earlier. Her name was Christine Choy, and she had come to DC to screen her landmark documentary Who Killed Vincent Chin?, which she'd made with Renee Tajima
Tom Oyer is currently in his seventh season working as Awards Manager at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, where he manages all aspects of the documentary and short film categories. In his brief tenure on the job, Oyer has become an expert on all things nonfiction. Meaning, he's the one to call if you have a question about AMPAS documentary rules, qualifying requirements, submissions, voting, membership and outreach. In addition to the Documentary Feature and Documentary Short Subject categories, Oyer directly handles the Live Action Short Film, Animated Short Film and Makeup
The allocation of funds is tricky for documentary filmmakers, but it's particularly difficult to determine what monies should be set aside to promote a film. If the filmmaker is also the producer—or the producers are individuals, as opposed to a corporate entity—hiring a PR agency to pitch the concepts and themes of the film to the media and opinion-makers, can be a difficult and expensive decision to make. A successful public relations strategy that works across media platforms can have significant professional implications for the filmmaker, but there are caveats and contingencies that may
The days get shorter, the air gets crisper, the foliage turns red, screeners and invitations start pouring in, and your inbox is jammed with "For Your Consideration" e-mails. Awards Season has arrived. This year, a staggering 124 documentary feature films were submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Oscar consideration. In early December, this number was winnowed down to a short list of 15. As if making a documentary were not hard enough, upon reaching completion and release, filmmakers have to rely on a separate skill set to promote their work and rise above the fray