Communication Workers of America Local 9003 (CWA) and International Documentary Association (IDA) are proud to announce that we have reached a tentative agreement on our groundbreaking Collective Bargaining Agreement for Documentary Workers United (DWU). We are aiming to ratify our 2-year contract in the next 45 days.
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Secure in its June slot, and without the gravitational balance of the Tribeca Film Institute’s artist support and funding programs, Tribeca Festival’s traditional coziness with corporate sponsors has proliferated in recent years (and surely must also be pandemic-related). The film selections mostly reflect this unfortunate industry-wide trend. But between the celebrity- and music-driven biodocs that stuff Tribeca’s lineup, the festival also boasts stateside premieres of hotly anticipated creative documentaries, exciting debuts from independent filmmakers, and one of the best-curated film festival immersive sections in the world. For this recommendations list, we pulled together a mix of nonfiction projects that we’re anticipating will become the festival’s discoveries.
A chance conversation with a friend in London about how we missed attending documentary film festivals resulted—some weeks and intensive planning later—in my visiting a completely new country for me: Switzerland, to attend the celebrated Visions du Réel festival, which takes place annually in Nyon, a charming town just outside of Geneva. Celebrating its 54th edition, Visions du Réel’s maturity as a festival was evident everywhere, from the ubiquitous branding throughout the town to the packed venues, which featured a healthy combination of locals and visiting filmmakers. Most people we met had
We who live in the Washington DC area have access to the world’s largest rights-free collections of film and photos, and they are usually available to view within minutes. With ongoing library digitization projects and searchable databases, you may assume that you, sitting at your computers around the world, also have access to this material for your documentary films. The secret is the institutions that hold them don’t tell you that only a tiny fraction of these treasures are available online. After more than 30 years of working with these collections and hundreds of archival research credits
We are excited to announce a new partnership with Front Row Insurance Brokers to provide IDA members with Producer’s Errors and Omissions (E&O) Insurance Program. This program is designed to provide coverage for our members’ specific documentary needs at preferential rates. The program can offer discounted premiums compared to the market due to Front Row’s relationships, expertise, and years of experience insuring documentaries. Front Row staff are eager and ready to assist IDA members and to work with IDA members to obtain the best coverage at the best price for productions with budgets of
Heather Tanning, Senior Manager of Regional Marketing, is a 20-year veteran of intellectual property licensing at Getty Images, a preeminent global visual content creator and marketplace. Heather held positions at Getty Images in the research and licensing divisions prior to leading the film and TV production licensing strategy, which led to the creation of a dedicated licensing team for film and TV content creators devoted to strengthening Getty Images’ relationship with the documentary community. Heather is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in film and television
Mia Stewart’s upcoming 15-plus-years-in-the-making documentary, Searching for Onoda, deflates the heroic myth of Japanese holdout soldier Hiroo Onoda and tells the other side of the story. Both Arthur Harari’s 2021 Cannes-premiering narrative feature, 'Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle,' and Werner Herzog's debut 2022 novel, 'The Twilight World,' perpetuate the old myth.
My name is Zaferhan “Zaf” Yumru (he/she/they), and I am the Director of Communications at IDA. Greetings to all IDA members, including those who joined us recently, welcome!
The new documentary by Italian directors Valentina Cicogna and Mattia Colombo, Pure Unknown, has its North American premiere at Hot Docs this week after bowing at Visions du Réel in Nyon. The co-directors follow Dr. Cristina Cattaneo, a forensic pathologist and anthropologist, founder, and director of LABANOF, the Laboratory of Anthropology and Forensic Odontology at the University of Milan.
During Ranell Shubert’s first eight-year span on staff at IDA, she has had the opportunity to work across many departments, giving her a unique perspective of the Association as a whole. From IDA Awards coordinator and coordinating education programs to overseeing the awards competition and education department, Ranell was also an integral part of the organizing team with Getting Real from its beginnings in 2014 and was the lead programmer for GR 2018. Ranell has since returned to IDA as the Nonfiction Access Initiative (NAI) Funds Program manager. IDA developed NAI to serve our mission of