Two years ago, radio artist Ira Glass observed, “Documentary is like soccer and world music: a phenomenon perpetually waiting to happen. People are always talking about how documentary is about to be ‘the next big thing.’” Maybe that's a good place to be, because in a sense, there will always be the faithful who await its imminent arrival. One of the best vehicles to usher in this impending documentary wave has been the Independent Television Service (ITVS), which this year celebrates 10 years of innovative and challenging programming for public television. Born from the foment of independent
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Like most filmmakers, Thomas Repp, BVK, has heard the rhetoric comparing the pros and cons of originating on film and the new HD 24P video system. In an effort to find out for himself, Repp decided to make a short film comparing an ARRI 435 film camera and a Sony HD F-900 24P camera in real world situations. “I never had a problem switching between film and video,” says Repp, who has compiled an impressive body of documentary work on German and French TV. “I’ve worked in just about every format, so I was enthusiastic when I heard about the 24P HD camera.” Repp was interested in technical
For some documentary filmmakers, the words “motion control” conjure up vague images. A more sophisticated way of shooting stills, perhaps; something more polished and precise than having a camera person tack a few up on a wall to haphazardly zoom and pan away. But what exactly is it? There seem to be as many definitions for motion control as there are practitioners—“Doing moves on still pictures”…“Using a computer to define camera motion in a repeatable fashion”…“A visual dance”… My latest documentary film project, Women in News, is going to need an artful way of dealing with a lot of archival
The 2001 Sundance Film Festival was homecoming, alumni weekend and orientation all rolled into one. The annual wintertime happening feted some of the greatest legends of the doc—Albert Maysles, D.A. Pennebaker, William Greaves, George Butler—most of whom had been making films longer than the mean age of the festival attendees and participants. The festival also hosted a number of Sundance alums like Kenneth Carlson ( Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick, 1996; Go, Tigers!, 2001), Kirby Dick ( Sick: The Life and Times of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist, 1997; Chain Camera, 2001); Barbara Hammer ( Tender
Building on the success of 2000, the Sundance Film Festival again proved its commitment to the documentary by offering an expanded 2001 version of “House of Docs.” In a new, bigger, friendlier Main Street location -- and with a schedule running January 19-27 -- response from attendees was justifiably enthusiastic. Under the very capable leadership of Sundance Director of the Documentary Film Program, Nicole Guillemet, and her associate Meredith Lavit, documentary professionals debated, networked, questioned, drank coffee and nursed their sniffles in an environment that offered precious shelter
In 1973 a group of black ministers commissioned me to make a documentary about the Black church experience. Let The Church Say Amen! follows a young African American minister who enters a seminary to avoid serving in Vietnam, but becomes a devoted cleric, traveling to churches throughout the South and in Chicago to evaluate which setting best appeals to him. The film looks at segments of the African-American religious experience from an inside viewpoint, while exploring the universal situation of a young man trying to find his role in life. The documentary fulfilled my desire to make a
Back in the 20th century, filmmakers had to cut on film by hand or the equally arduous off-line tape method. In the early ’90s, several non-linear editing systems appeared, such as the Media 100 and Lightworks. But it was the arrival of the user-friendly Avid that captured the imagination of editors everywhere, allowing them to digitize their footage onto a computer hard drive and manipulate the material faster and with infinite possibilities. Now, in the new millennium and the current digital frontier, there’s a new kid on the block—Final Cut Pro—and documentary filmmakers are taking notice
Over the past seven years, Slamdance Film Festival has evolved from scruffy upstart, taking on Sundance, the eminence grise of Park City, with a DIY alternative in 1995, to a wiser, but still mischievous older brother, having spurred a bevy of alternaDances—Slumdance, NoDance, TromaDance, DigiDance, Slamdunk, et al—that have pitched their tents in the tony Utah resort town every January. And for Peter Baxter, Slamdance’s founder and artistic director, that’s just fine. “Generally speaking, we’re very supportive of any film festivals in Park City or anywhere, for that matter, that are
As the plane descended, I could see New York, Paris and Monte Carlo framed in the same window. It was Las Vegas—dazzling lights, towering skyscraper facades and, for one week, home to television’s foremost dealmakers. NATPE 2001 (held January 22-25), the largest television market in the United States, was holding court. Savvy television producers, new media pioneers and first-time exhibitors from all over the world converged on Vegas to pitch new television product, create co-production deals with the studios and majors, and attract television broadcasters to stylized kiosks to sell, sell
The IDA has been going through lots of changes and the positive manifestations are just beginning to emerge. The IDA party for the Oscar® nominees drew the biggest attendance ever; corporate sponsorships were also up. As a result, not only did we have a great time, but we made money on the event. All of this was due to the hard work of our new managing director, Melissa Disharoon; the event’s committee headed by Rick Trank and Ann Hassett; Lynne Littman, who put together the clips and script; and a whole host of other volunteers who made the evening sparkle. We have retained the firm of Double