How Les Blank’s passion for the rich depth of American music—and a bad hand at cards—launches a deeply artistic filmmaking style resembling the very spirit of the music.... I grew up in Tampa, Florida in a white, upper-middle class home and distinctly remember the first live music I ever experienced. It was a neighbor practicing on his trombone. I became transfixed and transported by the deep rich tones of the horn and the beauty of the shiny silver instrument. I later took up playing trumpet in school and was the bugler for the daily raising and lowering ceremonies of the American flag. But
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Pinocchio started it all for me, in 1940, when I was four years old. It happened at the Tampa Theater, one of the grand old Depression-era movie palaces thankfully preserved still today, with all of its ornate and excessive decor, in Tampa, Florida. (It was built by the same wizard who created the fabulous Fox Theater in Atlanta and another great one, also still functioning, in Miami.) It has twinkling stars in the ceiling and clouds that float by. Plus lots of bare-breasted women with long flowing tresses seemingly everywhere I looked. One held the water fountain out for me to drink from
Michael Apted would be the first to admit that his career trajectory is somewhat enigmatic. While most filmmakers can easily become pigeonholed in the entertainment world, Apted has managed to build a career out of many genres, including television, documentary, features and music films. He has won a British Academy Award and even a Grammy. Yet despite his massive filmography, he seems to be best known to the public for the UP series. This groundbreaking series documents the lives of 14 British school children beginning at age seven in 1963, and adds a new installment every seven years. It
Richard Fiocca is an Emmy nominated composer who has created and scored music for IMAX, ShowTime, PBS, HBO, ABC, NBC, CBS—just to name a few. His most recent work may be heard on the newly released Discovery Pictures large format documentary film Wildfire: Feel the Heat. How did you create the music for Wildfire: Feel the Heat? The music for Wildfire was created over a three-month period, with about one month devoted to writing and demo-ing the score on synths, a month and a half to orchestrate the music and have the parts copied, and about two weeks to record, mix and layback to picture. This
Dear IDA Community: In this 15th year of the IDA Distinguished Documentary Achievement Awards, Eastman Kodak continues as our founding sponsor and the awards remain true to their heritage. When first conceived by a committee chaired by Harrison Engle, the IDA Awards addressed our mandate to bring attention and recognition to the best documentary work produced each year. Multiple unranked awards were given that first year, thus avoiding a "winner takes all" scenario and allowing us to celebrate the diversity of work in the documentary genre. While IDA Award categories have grown and changed to
Michael Apted is an original. While most of his contemporaries choose one genre, Apted often toils in both simultaneously and can be found shooting a narrative feature while editing a documentary, and vice versa. He is that rare filmmaker who has successfully and consistently crossed back and forth between the fiction and nonfiction worlds throughout his career. In 1962, Granada Television hired Apted as a researcher. He had just graduated from Cambridge University, where he studied law and history—not film. He joined the London-based studio and selected a cross-section of English children
IDA/Pare Lorentz Award WHERE THE SKY MEETS THE LAND Producer/Director: Frank Muller In the barren, mountainous region of the Central Asian Republic up to 3,000 meters above sea level lies the country of Kigistan—where the sky meets the land. Here the local tribe people undertake their ancient battle for survival against the wolves, the elements and a new enemy—a modern, massive, Canadian-owned gold mine. IDA/David L. Wolper Student Documentary Achievement Award A LITTLE BIT OF FREEDOM University of Manchester, England Producer/Director/Cinematographer: Lorna Kirk A Little Bit of Freedom is a
Well, it’s official. The introduction of the term docusoap to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary is proof that the genre is now fully entrenched in British culture. Not like any one in the UK was in any doubt no less than 65 documentary soap operas have appeared on the major British channels in the past four years. For the uninitiated, here’s the docusoap recipe: Take an industry, preferably one steeped in customer service such as an airport, hotel or ski resort. (Could also choose colorful geographic location at home or abroad). Find a range of people at organization/location who enjoy
"The New York International Independent Film and Video Festival is an excellent launching pad for new documentaries," says Stuart Alson, executive director. "Unlike most festivals that do not show documentaries, or, insist on film prints, this festival really caters to the independent documentary filmmaker.” The festival, now in its 7th year, is considered one of the largest, independent grassroots film markets in the nation. In order to accommodate the enormous volume of submissions, the fest recently split into three annual markets and film festivals which take place in September, May and
Any successful documentary maker will tell you that it’s much easier have a brilliant idea, than it is to get a brilliant idea produced—particularly for television. Despite the growing number of exceptional nonfiction outlets, it can difficult to find just the right niche for your show. How can filmmakers discern what the people with the checkbooks really want? The answer should be obvious to any documentary producer: Just ask. We posed this question to highly placed television executives from HBO, A&E, DISCOVERY,TLC and NOVA in an effort to determine exactly what they do want to see in terms