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"The idea of OneWorldTV.net is to have a place where filmmakers and non-filmmakers alike can come to share stories—whether that's contributing stories or viewing stories that others have contributed." -Alyce Myatt Multimedia Editor OneWorld TV.net If you have dial-up capabilities, if you have a digital camera, if you have a laptop, and soon, if you have a camera phone, you can be part of OneWorld TV. No zip code, no language barriers, no censorship. What is OWTV? OneWorld TV is a public space on the Internet for individuals and organizations, media makers and non-professionals, to get their

It's been over a year since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a new set of rules for qualifying documentary features and shorts for Oscar consideration, and everyone in the documentary world, from filmmakers to distributors to foreign buyers, has something to say about it. "I think the intentions behind the new rules are good," says Jay Rosenblatt, who sits on the academy's documentary committee and whose short film I Used To Be a Filmmaker was short-listed for Academy Award nomination consideration. "I think it's still difficult for filmmakers to abide by them. But the

It's difficult to get too far along in a discussion about British documentaries without Kim Longinotto's name coming up. Over the last 20 years she has built a unique body of work, and is much admired in the UK for her integrity, compassion and, above all, her memorably compelling films. Her documentaries succeed in telling unique personal stories at the same time that they show the universality of womanhood: how woman everywhere, no matter how different their circumstances, have the same types of hopes, fears and aspirations. A graduate of the prestigious National Film School in London

Digital distribution is everywhere, but what's really happening and who are the voices you should be paying attention to? The definitive panel on digital distribution that will deliver answers in crystal clear high definition: 1) Peter Broderick, President of Paradigm Consulting, knows the ins-and-outs of distribution strategies and techniques like nobody's business... and as our moderator, will ensure that all the bases are covered. 2) Chris Horton, Director of Sundance #ArtistServices, is leading the charge within Sundance on digital distribution. He consults with Sundance filmmakers

In Hart Perry's Valley of Tears, a Raymondville, Texas, school superintendent grabs the camera lens and wrenches it toward the ground. "Get that goddamn camera off me, Hart," he says, and really, could a documentary filmmaker ask for a better on-camera testimonial? Of the 22 feature documentaries shown at the Mill Valley (California) Film Festival in October, Perry's film demonstrated the most persistent commitment, rivaled only by Carles Bosch and Josep Maria Domènech's seven-year odyssey through the lives of Cuban refugees, Balseros. Perry, who was memorably menaced by a gun-wielding thug

The Yamagata (Japan) International Documentary Film Festival, held every other year since 1989, has earned a reputation in Europe as a must-go-to festival. This year's festival (October 10-16) offered a dense program of more than 200 entries. Since its beginning, the Yamagata festival has made efforts to screen documentaries made by Asian filmmakers, and the New Asian Currents section has become a wide-open window into documentary filmmaking from this part of the world. One of the highlights from this section was the five-minute long A Short Journey by Thai director Keng Dern Tang. The film

Innovation and excellence demand more than talent, which in itself is an uncommon attribute. They require that extraordinary intellectual or creative power called genius. Unfortunately, our consumer culture, heavily addicted to hyperbole, readily applies the epithet to individuals who may well be exceptional—but how many are truly extraordinary? Among the worthy minority, we have this year's recipient of IDA's Career Achievement Award: the renowned writer, producer and presenter of television's finest natural history programs—Sir David Attenborough. Like many artists before him, Attenborough

Neither a production company nor a distributor, Working Films, the North Carolina-based nonprofit, brings media activists, educators, community groups and other social organizations together to increase the social, political and cultural impact of specific issue documentaries. For Working Films, a great film is "working" only if audience members leave the screening to write their state representatives for hate crime legislation, boycott toxic products, or examine personal feelings about race, religion, abortion or human sexuality. Media educator Robert West and award-winning documentarian

'The System with Joe Berlinger' premieres May 18 on Al Jazeera America

In 1988, Amnesty International organized a concert tour to mark the 40th anniversary of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. One of the musicians, Peter Gabriel, happened to have brought a new technological marvel with him on tour. He was using a personal video camera to record his experiences. "It was on that tour that he met isolated human rights defenders and began thinking of how they could use video to bridge that gap and bring their causes to a wider audience," recalls Gillian Caldwell, executive director of Witness. A few years later, America was riveted by a few