Los Angeles audiences will get the opportunity to view the rarely seen On the Road with Duke Ellington when the IDA presents the legendary Robert Drew documentary under the stars at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre August 6. In addition to the screening of the film in a newly restored print. courtesy of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Academy Film Archive, the evening will also include a live performance of Ellington's music and a tribute to filmmaker Drew. On the Road with Duke Ellington first aired on NBC in 1968 as part of The Bell Telephone Hour, a venerable series devoted
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Dear IDA Members: Summer is a great time to enjoy the outdoors. And what could be better than spending a warm summer evening under the stars? Watching a great documentary about a great music legend under the stars and in the company of the filmmaker! IDA has partnered with The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy Film Archive to present a newly restored print of an important documentary film as part of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission "Summer Nights at the Ford." The Ford, a 1,200-seat open-air amphitheatre set dramatically in Cahuenga Canyon just across ftom the Hollywood
As a documentary filmmaker and a surfer, I have always looked at sports and the pursuit of physical excellence as the perfect metaphor for freedom and human expression in nature, a theme that has consistently worked its way into almost all of my films. As a young kid growing up in Corona Del Mar, California in the late 1950s and '60s, my two biggest loves were surfing and the movies. At the time, it seemed only natural for me to pick up an 8mm camera so I could film the local action and entertain my surfing buddies. The challenge was getting the camera as close to the action as possible in
" l have learned over the course of the past 50 years that if I tell a story on film honestly and with conviction...I can move mountains." -Warren Miller There is but one icon in the world of adventure sports filmmaking. And in my attempt to shed light on the visionary that pioneered this genre of non-fiction I have realized one thing...Warren Miller Entertainment (WME) stands as the model of modern enterprise. Tucked away in the foothills of Boulder, Colorado lies a company whose humble beginnings are anything but recognizable. As you walk through its offices your mind lapses into subtle
Turn on a television and you inevitably find images of athletics. The sport changes, depending on the season and the continent. But the fascination for bodies in motion, exercising and competing against each other, endures. It has endured since the prehistory of cinema. One of the key predecessors of motion picture cameras was designed explicitly to study an athletic event—albeit one featuring horses rather than humans. As early as 1878, Eadweard Muybridge developed prototypical film technology in order to discover whether at any point running horses lift all four hooves off the ground at the
It was 6:30 a.m. I knew because I threw my alarm clock across the room trying to squeeze an extra two minutes before the morning wake-up call. Before I could think, I rushed out to my car, lacking that all-too-crucial first cup of coffee. I picked up my partner, Jeffrey Lerner, who I am sure got the few extra minutes of rest I craved. Our mission this early Sunday morning was both simple and complex. First, we had to catch our plane to New Orleans—and without leaving the car in short term parking. Second. and more importantly, we had to pull out all the right stops, bust a few moves, call in a
Not only is the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival emerging as a hot venue on the festival circuit, but its slate of documentaries has captured the attention of audiences and critics alike. Acclaimed films like Colors Straight Up, The Cruise, Better Living through Circuitry and The Lifestyle made their debuts here, and the Audience Award for Best Feature has gone to documentaries three out of the past four years. "As far as documentaries go, that's the strangest part of LAIFF," says programming director Thomas Ethan Harris. "Here we are in Hollywood, a narrative town, yet when people look
The IDA's move to the Los Angeles Center Studios has been long and hard for both board and staff, but we are very excited to make this quantum leap. We will miss our good friends at the Production Center, who have been more than generous in providing a home for IDA from the first moment the idea of an association was voiced by Linda Buzzell. There is too much history, too many fond memories of IDA in the Production Center to recount them all here. We do have to thank a special few of our colleagues there who kept the Association going through its ups and downs at that location since its
For the past three years Marina Goldovskaya, renowned documentarian and professor at the UCLA School of Film and Television, has organized—in association with the IDA—a forum for documentary-makers called The Documentary Salon Series. This program has shown documentaries from around the world to both the public and students. Historically, artists and great thinkers have met for hundreds of years in salons to share ideas and discuss their new works. The salons of Europe were particularly well-known for the brilliant minds that participated and helped each other in their artistic efforts
While on a worldwide trek, I suddenly came up with the idea that I wanted to start producing documentaries when I returned home to Germany in September 2000. After New Zealand, the USA was the next country on my list; more precisely, Hollywood. I was sure that there I could get an internship and gain knowledge aboul creating documentaries. After applying to several organizations, I received word from back home in Germany that a letter from an organization called the International Documentary Association had arrived for me. My sister read it to me over the phone. Merely a week afier I had a