GRANT DEADLINES ROY W. DEAN FILM GRANTSThe Roy W. Dean Grant funds short films, documentaries, and independent features that are budgeted under $500,000. They must be films that are unique and make a contribution to society. They fund compelling stories about little known subjects, historical films, and films that touch hearts, with a focus on films that bring important information to light, as well as films about little known people when there is a good story. Deadline: September 30, 2015 BERTHA BRITDOC CONNECT FUNDThe fund is looking to support smart, strategic outreach campaigns for
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While the percentage of documentaries by women that were screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) fell short of 50 percent this year, the numbers are getting closer. Perhaps the outcries from Manohla Dargis in The New York Times and many others are paying off. TIFF Docs showed a number of extraordinary films directed by or starring women—or both. The most remarkable film in the TIFF Docs section was, in this writer's opinion, by performance artist/composer Laurie Anderson. TIFF's estimable doc programmer Thom Powers compares Anderson's film to Chris Marker's Sans Soleil—high
On our first shoot with Mark Landis, the prolific art forger and main subject of Art and Craft, we rode along with him on an errand to Hobby Lobby for art supplies. We'd just spoken with and filmed Landis in his apartment for hours, but when he keyed the ignition of his late mother's red Cadillac, we immediately saw him in a startling new light. Big Band jazz, the confident and iconic soundtrack of his parents' generation, filled the car, and the music fit like a glove. The moment was immediately cinematic, the kind that seizes your attention, affects creative choices moving forward, and
Editor’s Note: On October 21 at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Los Angeles, IDA will present Davis Guggenheim in conversation with Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz. The two will explore his wide-ranging body of work that includes culturally significant and brilliantly crafted films. Learn more and purchase tickets. Hollywood almost got its hands on Malala Yousafzai. The Pakistani teenager's story has just the right ingredients for a studio venture: resilient and resourceful child, struggle, political violence, activism and an uplifting ending. But luckily, producers Walter Parkes and
Back in June of this year, AFI DOCS was in full swing with not just its film festival but also its filmmaker conference, a two-day event hosting a series of conversations and panels focused specifically on the documentary field. Co-presented by the IDA, the sessions and talks at the AFI DOCS Filmmaker Conference provided a unique opportunity for professional development, as well as a way to forge a path in shaping the future of the documentary field. One particular panel, titled "The Filmmaker as Journalist – Managing Risk in Investigative Documentary Work," asked specific questions about the
Ravi Patel is in search of a bride. But he's not your average guy, going online or to a bar for the quest. Ravi is Indian-American, and his parents are heavily invested in him finding his soulmate. When Ravi turned 29, Vasant and Champa Patel took action: The family travelled to India to find their son a wife. That Ravi happens to be the brother of documentarian Geeta Patel ( Project Kashmir) meant the birth of the capriciously funny Meet the Patels, which documents Ravi's search for true love—inspired, in part, by his parents' long-lasting marriage. The film has won awards at festivals and
We are excited to announce the 3rd Annual Documentary Screening Series will begin September 17 with a screening of Fox Searchlight's He Named Me Malala. A Q&A with the film’s director, Davis Guggenheim, moderated by Indiewire’s Editor in Chief, Dana Harris, will take place following the screening. Now in its third year, the IDA Documentary Screening Series brings a curated program of some of the year's most anticipated non-fiction films to an enthusiastic audience of documentary supporters, industry, guild, and IDA members. Screenings conclude with a filmmaker Q&A moderated by journalists and
Set against the backdrop of a country trying to find its footing amidst the still-burning embers of the 1960s' demand for racial equality, Stanley Nelson's new historical documentary about the Black Panthers may feel more contemporary than audiences might expect. The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution weaves an insider's tale about the rise of the Black Panthers movement in response to police brutality targeted at African-Americans in Oakland, the cult of personality surrounding its major figures, and the FBI's retaliation against a bold group of young people demanding change. Nelson
This past year saw the release of multiple critically-acclaimed documentaries centered on some of the most influential artists of the past century, including Marlon Brando ( Listen To Me Marlon), Kurt Cobain ( Montage of Heck), Nina Simone ( What Happened, Miss Simone?) and Amy Winehouse (Amy). The involvement of the subject's estate or family in the creation of these films ranged from Kurt Cobain's daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, as executive producer for Brett Morgen's Montage of Heck, to Mitch Winehouse speaking out about his initial cooperation with (and later disavowal of) Asif Kapadia's
We might not consider it much, but the documentary form has always been ripe for parody. Look as far back as Rob Reiner's seminal This Is Spinal Tap (1984) or the weekly riffs on real-life events appearing in countless Saturday Night Live sketches for proof that spoofing docs is nothing new. Even shows as widely popular as Parks and Recreation take a page from the reality television-style confessional format to such successful effect that the convention has become all but invisible. But never has an entire style of filmmaking been so lovingly lampooned as in IFC's new series Documentary Now