The idea of truth is problematic on many different levels. What we "see" depends on our perspective. What we understand is based on information we gather after it is processed through our predetermined biases. Truth in a court of law is one thing, and truth in the court of public opinion is another. In the world of documentary, these two truths often meet somewhere in the middle. We rely on documentaries to deliver "truth" to us. We want to know what a filmmaker thinks and we want to feel settled in a cocoon of conclusive truth when we leave the theater. Unfortunately, reality doesn't always
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Nina Gilden Seavey, founder/director of The Documentary Center at George Washington University Editor's Note: Documentary magazine has devoted many issues over many years to education, whether at the undergraduate level, the graduate level, or the wide-open world of lifelong learning. Education is a core pillar of IDA's mission to serve the documentary community; as we've solidified our Doc U program over the years-both in our home turf in Los Angeles, and through Doc U Online, which is available to IDA members around the world, we also brought on Ken Jacobson to be our first full-time
Remember the days when the annual Realscreen Summit was an intimate little event with 500 or so of your best friends? Well, those days are long gone. The latest Realscreen, held at the end of January in Washington, DC, attracted more than 2,550 participants. This edition, the 16th, took over the entire Washington Hilton, and was sold out—even during a "polar vortex." What does this mean for documentary filmmakers? Surprisingly, there was some good news, and good discussions about documentary filmmaking. New outlets, such as Esquire, Pivot and Al Jazeera America, were there along with the usual
The 30th edition of Sundance Film Festival opened on the day of the Academy Award nominations, and, perhaps to tie the two occasions together, four out of the five documentary feature nominees— Twenty Feet from Stardom, Cutie and the Boxer, Dirty Wars and The Square—had premiered at Sundance the year before, while two of the snubbed titles- Blackfish and Stories We Tell—also figured in the Sundance 2013 mix. For much of the past 30 years, and certainly over the past decade, the road from Sundance to the Oscars has for many documentary makers formed a grail-to-grail arc. Not to hyperventilate
'CaveDigger' screens March 1 at 1:10 p.m. as part of IDA's DocuDay.
We're happy to announce a new showcase for exceptional international documentary film! Supported by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, The Art of Documentary will screen three award-winning international documentaries at The Landmark Theater in West LA. This screening series showcases films that each represent masterful filmmaking craft and a unique and artistic approach to nonfiction storytelling. Recognized by film festivals renowned for showcasing significant filmic achievement, the films in this series each unite compelling real-life stories with exemplary filmmaking technique to
Heading to Finland voluntarily in the middle of winter might seem a crazy move, but if your destination is the DocPoint—Helsinki Documentary Film Festival, you've got a good case for sanity. Now in its third year, the festival is capitalizing on the country's devotion to the documentary genre, and the home-grown talent that has made much of Europe sit up and take notice. I first became interested in Finnish documentaries several years ago after catching Susanna Helke and Virpi Suutari's The Idle Ones, a visually stunning feature documentary that succeeded in making the aimless lives of a group
On Simon Pummell's 'Bodysong'
On 'Super Size Me' and 'The Corporation'
James Lebrecht. Photo: B. Doug Jensen Whether you are a seasoned documentary filmmaker or in the throes of your first film, your project can rise or fall on the sound of your film. There are many things you can do to improve your chances of getting a great sound mix. What follows is my advice from the standpoint of experience as a sound designer and mixer. Record the Best Sound You Can The fast-paced, tight-budgeted world of documentary filmmaking is not the best breeding ground for capturing great audio. The lack of a good sound recording can make it impossible to use an otherwise wonderful