A selection of films from DOCNZ festival 2006 printed onto canvas Okay, enough already with the sheep jokes. Yes, it is true--in New Zealand there really are more sheep than people. Recently, a couple of enterprising local filmmakers decided to take the joke one step further and made Black Sheep, a horror movie about killer sheep that go on a murderous rampage. The film became an instant hit and has scored legions of fans around the world. While New Zealand fiction filmmakers look inward for inspiration, buoyed by the international success of such films as Whale Rider and The Piano
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A friend of mine once said that America's symbol, the eagle, is a fierce creature with razor-sharp claws, a ferocious beak and a giant wingspan that allows the eagle to soar high and swoop down on its prey. Yet the brain that controls this awesome power is no bigger than a pea. It's not hard to see how this disproportion of brain and brawn in America's symbol manifests itself in the George W. Bush White House. While Karl Rove has been called "Bush's Brain," the rest of the team has earned a reputation for incompetence that rivals Mack Sennett's Keystone Kops. Unlike those benign bunglers, the
Over the next week, we at IDA will be introducing our community to the filmmakers whose work will be represented in the DocuWeek TM Theatrical Documentary Showcase, August 17-23. We asked the filmmakers to share the stories behind their films-the inspirations, the challenges and obstacles, the goals and objectives, the reactions to their films so far. So, to continue this series of conversations, here are Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, directors of Nanking . Synopsis: A powerful reminder of the heartbreaking toll war takes on the innocent, Nanking tells the story of the Japanese invasion of
From Errol Morris' The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara by David D'Arcy With his film The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara, an interview with the agonized former Vietnam War whiz that won an Oscar in 2004, Errol Morris revolutionized the American documentary. This would be a grand pronouncement, and an even grander achievement, if Morris hadn't already re-invented the documentary in the US on at least two previous occasions. Morris was making small documentaries in the 1980s until one of those films broke the mold. The Thin Blue Line
From Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me #11 Super Size Me (2004) Super Size Me is one man's journey into the world of weight gain, health problems and fast food. It's an examination of the American way of life and how we are eating ourselves to death. Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock hit the road and interviewed experts in 20 US cities. From surgeons general to gym teachers, cooks to kids, lawmakers to legislators, these authorities shared their research, opinions and "gut feelings" of our ever-expanding girth. Finally, Spurlock embarked on a unique experiment in which he personally documents the
In conjunction with IDA's 25th anniversary celebration, here are the 25 best docs, as voted on by the IDA membership.
As part of IDA's 25th Anniversary celebration, writers David Ehrenstein and Bill Reed dusted off a piece they had written about 'Roger & Me' for Documentary magazine in 1990, and reworked it for the November-December 2007 issue.
As part of IDA's 25th Anniversary celebration, film critic Claudia Puig writes about Davis Guggenheim's 'An Inconvenient Truth,' which ended up in the #6 slot in IDA's Top 25, as chosen by the IDA membership.
From Wazhmah Osman and Kelly Dolak's Postcards from Tora Bora. Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival Tribeca Film Festival has issues--from high ticket prices, to a program that is so expansive it is difficult to navigate, to major competition for attention in the city that never sleeps. But in addition to the problems, there were also precious moments and strong documentaries that launched at this year's festival. I asked some of the filmmakers who participated to share thoughts on what stood out for them during their experience in New York. Postcards from Tora Bora, by Wazhmah Osman and Kelly