With tax deadlines just around the corner, we were sure that our documentary filmmaking community had a lot of questions about the business behind their art. On Wednesday, March 21, we invited everyone in the Los Angeles area to join us at the Cinefamily for an informed discussion on the business behind documentary filmmaking. Everyone came with burning questions they hoped to have answered: What are the various options available to filmmakers to be set up in the business of making documentaries? What business model works best for you and your filmmaking? How can you decide? And what are the implications come tax time?
Chris Perez (Associate, Donaldson + Callif), Jeffrey Schwarz (President & CEO, Automat Pictures), Lee Storey (Smile 'Til It Hurts: The Up with People Story, and Michael Garelick (CEO / President, Garelick Business Management Inc.) fielded all these questions and more from moderator Lisa Leeman (One Lucky Elephant, Crazy Wisdom: The Life and Times of Chogyam Trungaand) and the eager members of the audience.
As many of these issues were details never before considered by some emerging and first-time filmmakers, there were questions from the audience throughout the panel for clarification. Chris Perez started off the panel by talking about the importance of forming a limited liability company (LLC) to separate one's personal finances from the funds dedicated to (and hopefully coming in!) from a film project. The importance of this, Perez stated, is the need to "create a distance between ourselves and our projects." It's also important to have a good reason for setting up an LLC. The worst thing would be to have the IRS come in and say, "This LLC is a sham, there's nothing behind it!"
Perez and the panel spoke to how LLCs require fewer corporate formalities than other business structures, for example an S-corp or other corporation. Let's say you go into business with a partner: you decide to contribute $10,000, and your friend wants to kick in $40,000, but upfront you make the agreement that you will do 90% of the work. With an LLC, you can create the flexible business model the way that you feel is appropriate, making the whole endeavor much less corporate.
Lee Storey probably had the most personal moments of the evening when she told her story about making her first documentary feature Smile 'Til It Hurts: The Up With People Story. Before diving headfirst into filmmaking, Storey had been a practicing attorney in the area of water rights, which shouldn't have been any sort of deterrent against her passion: to make a film inspired by her late husband, who she learned was a part of the Up with People movement before they got married. Apparently, she was wrong: the IRS said that "attorneys can not also be filmmakers." After working for five years on her project, the IRS began trying to claim that her endeavor in filmmaking was more of a "hobby" than a viable career or money-making endeavor.
Tax accountant Michael Garelick spoke about his own ideas on whether or not to start an LLC. Did you know that LLCs have an added gross tax that no one talks about. To exist in the state of California, your annual license under the LLC is $800. Michael concluded by stating that LLCs are dangerous because—especially in California—you can get sued for anything.
In Lee's case, she believes she did all the right things—set up an LLC, kept her personal and business funds separate, kept meticulous records, pitched at film festivals, and secured sales agents and eventual foreign distribution. But when Storey admitted to enjoying certain aspects of being a doc filmmaker, the IRS took issue and labeled her project a hobby, calling into question the business deductions related to making her doc. Even more disturbing is that when Storey went to trial in February of last year to argue her case, the U.S. Tax Court in Arizona raised broader implications for documentary filmmakers, i.e. if at its heart the primary purpose of documentary filmmaking is to "educate and expose," can it ever really be considered a profit-making endeavor by the IRS?
When Lee finally went to trail with her case, the IDA, Film Independent, Women Make Films and others including Academy Award-winning directors joined with the law firm Donaldson & Callif. Donaldson filed an amicus brief on her behalf, strongly encouraging the judge to recognize that documentary filmmaking is indeed undertaken as a profit making venture. Storey's case stands out, not only for the tremendous significance the judge's ruling will have for documentary filmmaking as a whole, but because Lee's experience could be that of any filmmaker's: she set out to do "all the right things" when producing her doc. She knew to ask questions; she hired accountants, CPAs, and her own attorneys; she formed Storeyvision LLC and even secured a bank loan, collateralized against the anticipated future profits of the film. Even after all that, the IRS still wants to call it a hobby. The takeaway here? Check your business structure and strategy against the Nine Ways Independent Filmmakers Can Fight the IRS. And make sure to be seen and photographed with your Docu Vest as a testament to your desire to sell your film!
In the end, the four panelists reminded everyone that the IRS does have the right to audit you at any time. Keep your documents in order, your business and personal accounts separate, and the phone number of a good accountant handy just in case!
It seemed like everyone in the audience had many questions after the panelists were done speaking. People wanted clarification on whether grant funds are taxed as income (they are), whether or not to have a business plan ahead of time (the answer: most definitely YES), and how to prove that your project, endeavor, or film is for-profit when the weak economy has shrunk license fees and made the tough doc sales market, even tougher!
After a night that left most of our heads spinning, we want to thank all of our panelists, our moderator Lisa Leeman, and all of the people who showed up to ask their questions and share their experiences for their participation in this event. The IDA makes available to you the following resources to help answer any of your questions about the business behind documentary filmmaking.
RESOURCES
Articles
Nine Ways Independent Filmmakers Can Fight the IRS
FDL Movie Night: 'Smile 'Til it Hurts: The Up with People Story'
Michael Moore owes the IRS a lot of money (if you believe this judge)
Documentary Filmmakers vs. the IRS
Why Filmmaking Cannot Be a Hobby
Books
The American Bar Association's Legal Guide to Independent Filmmaking
Michael C. Donaldson & Lisa A Calliff
Clearance & Copyright, 3rd Edition
Michael C. Donaldson
Fearless Negotiating
Michael C. Donaldson
Dealmaking in the Film & Television Industry, 3rd Edition
Mark Litwak
Each year, DocuWeeks™ presents short and feature length documentaries to appreciative audiences in theatrical runs designed to qualify the films for consideration for the Academy Awards®. As IDA's most popular event, DocuWeeks™ attracts documentary filmmakers and nonfiction film enthusiasts in New York City and Los Angeles. Becoming a DocuWeeks™ sponsor provides your brand maximum exposure.
During the 15th installation of this program, we presented seventeen feature films and seven shorts from sixteen different countries in theatrical runs which were designed to qualify the films for consideration for The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ annual Oscar® Awards. Our goal with the program is to give documentary fans a chance to catch some of the best documentary films of the year.
In 2011, DocuWeeks™ was presented with the help support of presenting sponsors Current and AT&T U-verse; as well as HBO Documentary Films, FotoKem, NBCUniversal Archives, Chainsaw, Consulate of Canada, Menage a Trois Wines, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, The Standard Hotel, Stella Artois, FilmFest App, LA Weekly, Village Voice, and The Nation.
Want to learn more about becoming a sponsor? Download the Sponsorship Package.
During our 30 year history as an organization, the IDA has always strived to support non-fiction public media and independent broadcasting. It is for this reason that we stand with Kartemquin Films and other leaders in the independent film community in their statement regarding PBS’s recent decision to move its exemplary series for independent documentaries, Independent Lens and POV, from their long-established slots on Tuesday night to Thursday night, a slot reserved for local programming.
The following is an open letter to PBS from Kartemquin Films in opposition to PBS’s decision regarding the two leading series that feature independent documentaries. The IDA community joins Kartemquin in their stance. We encourage all independent filmmakers and fans of public media to join us as signatories by commenting below or tweeting #PBSNeedsIndies to us on Twitter.
As independent filmmakers, as participants in the evolution of public broadcasting, as viewers and as citizens, we protest PBS’ decision to move the two premier strands of independent documentaries, Independent Lens and POV, from their established home on Tuesday nights to Thursday, a night on which local stations program locally-selected material.
We saw the change in the programming to Thursday night and were concerned about the effect it would have on the ratings. As filmmakers, we are acutely aware of the importance of program placement in a broadcast schedule. With the publishing of the March 12, 2012 article by Dru Sefton in Current magazine, we have now seen documented the dramatic effects of this shift, and that our fears were realized. We cannot wait any longer to signal our concern.
PBS's programming decision has, effectively, moved these two award-winning series off the main schedule, by leaving it up to stations to program them on their own, on perhaps the most competitive night of the TV week. Both series have carved out a trusted relationship with audiences on Tuesday nights. PBS' John Wilson has acknowledged that Thursday, a local-programming night, is a "no-fly zone" for PBS programs. Asking stations to drop programming among the most popular with their members is unreasonable.
Public television is not just a popularity contest, or a ratings game. Taxpayers support public broadcasting because democracy needs more than commercial media’s business models can provide. PBS’ programming decision makes a statement about PBS' commitment to the mission of public broadcasting. We note the definition in the recently-revised and reissued Code of Editorial Integrity for Local Public Media Organizations:
"Our purposes are to support a strong civil society, increase cultural access and knowledge, extend public education, and strengthen community life through electronic media and related community activities."
These are the stations that PBS serves. These are the stations that are well-served by well-crafted, well-told stories about underrepresented topics, meeting needs of underserved audiences in innovative ways. These are the stations that benefit from community activities related to the strands, such as ITVS's Community Cinema and LINCS programs. These are the stations that benefit from IL and POV's constant technological innovation and experiment in engagement. And these are the stations that need to cultivate younger and more diverse audiences, the kind that can be attracted by the innovative, diverse films in these series.
Films such as Where Soldiers Come From, Heather Courtney's film about Michigan reservists’ journey to Iraq and back; Chris Paine's Revenge of the Electric Car, about a crucial energy issue; Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock, which revives the memory of the civil rights activist, and was directed by Sharon La Cruise; and Connie Field's Have You Heard from Johannesburg?, about the history of apartheid, serve important functions at a local and national level, reaching underserved audiences, providing both perspectives and information unavailable in the marketplace, and doing so with expert craft. They serve a critical function in the public broadcasting ecology. They serve the democratic mission of public broadcasting.
We recognize the importance of public broadcasting. We have been able to reach national audiences with significant work, and we have seen meaningful democratic engagement as a result. For instance, when In the Family showed on POV, with a multiplatform campaign, legislation was pending on genetic non-discrimination. The broadcast fostered productive conversations across the nation about the consequences of that discrimination in people’s lives. The showing of Lioness on Independent Lens fostered a broad public discussion of the rights of women veterans who had experienced combat, and was instrumental in the passage of legislation, named for the film, winning these veterans the right to Veterans Administration benefits. The showing of Farmingville on POV fostered deeper, more complex and thoughtful public discussions, both online and in person, on the effect of immigration on local communities. We are deeply concerned that PBS' poorly-considered decision could jeopardize both the meeting of public broadcasting’s mission and also stifle the innovation that is crucial to the future of public broadcasting.
Independent Filmmakers: Kartemquin and the IDA would like you to please join us in signing the above, and please share with us your stories of how a public television broadcast provided benefits to the public at PBSNeedsIndies@kartemquin.com, #PBSNeedsIndies, or in the comments below. After you comment, please retweet our post to show your support.
For an updated list of all who have signed the letter thus far, please refer to Kartemquin's website.
THANK YOU
CENTRAL SAN PEDRO NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL!
The Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council has provided the IDA with a generous $3,000 grant to help support the Docs Rock program in the 2011-2012 school year.
Docs Rock is a two-semester program taught at San Pedro High School that introduces high school students to the world of documentary filmmaking.
The Council announced that they are "pleased to support the Docs Rock program..." They were "impressed, not only with the unique quality of the program but also the improved graduation rate as an outcome."
Docs Rock engages students in their educational studies, exposes them to the art form of documentary filmmaking, and prepares them for college and employment, by developing critical life skills, such as: analytical, oral and communication, team building, time management, leadership and organizational.
For more information about the Docs Rock program, click here.
The new date for the next Doc U is WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21.
Bring your questions to The Cinefamliy on Wednesday, March 21 (moved from Tuesday, March 20) and join moderator Lisa Leeman (One Lucky Elephant, Crazy Wisdom: The Life and Times of Chogyam Trunga) as she discusses the ins and outs of accounting, business management, and tax reporting, with Chris Perez Associate at the law firm of Donaldson & Callif, Jeffrey Schwarz of Automat Pictures, and Lee Storey (Smile 'Til It Hurts: The Up With People Story).
Documentary filmmakers come in all stripes and from all walks of life, and often the only shared quality is a passion for their subjects and a desire to get the story told. Underlying these disparate characteristics however, are fundamental aspects of how all documentary business models must operate. What are the various options available to filmmakers, to be set up in the business of making documentaries? What business model works best for you and your filmmaking? How can you decide? And what are the implications come tax time?
Documentary filmmakers come in all stripes and from all walks of life, and often the only shared quality is a passion for their subjects and a desire to get the story told. Underlying these disparate characteristics however, are fundamental aspects of how all documentary business models must operate. What are the various options available to filmmakers, to be set up in the business of making documentaries? What business model works best for you and your filmmaking? How can you decide? And what are the implications come tax time?
Bring your questions to The Cinefamliy on Wednesday, March 21 (new date), and join moderator Lisa Leeman (One Lucky Elephant, Crazy Wisdom: The Life and Times of Chogyam Trunga) as she discusses the ins and outs of accounting, business management, and tax reporting, with Chris Perez Associate at the law firm of Donaldson & Callif, Jeffrey Schwarz of Automat Pictures, and Lee Storey (Smile 'Til It Hurts: The Up With People Story).
The Documentary Channel and the IDA have reteamed to create a special Doctalk show from the IDA’s 27th Annual Documentary Awards. This year, the awards show was hosted by Eddie Schmidt, Tiffany Shlain and Josh Fox. This special Doctalk show features exclusive interviews with the nominated feature and short subject filmmakers, along with red carpet and awards show footage.
The IDA awarded its prestigious 2011 Career Achievement Award to legendary filmmaker Les Blank, which was presented by Werner Herzog. The Pare Lorentz award went to Bill Haney for The Last Mountain, and the Jacqueline Donnet emerging filmmaker award went to Danfung Dennis for the riveting Hell and Back Again.
Feature documentary nominees include Nostalgia For the Light, How to Die in Oregon, and Better This World, and Short Subject nominees include Broken Doors, Minka, and Poster Girl.
This Doctalk special airs on Friday, March 16th at 8pm ET and re-airs at 11pm ET (5pm and 8pm Pacific).
Watch the Documentary Channel on Dish Network 197 and Directv 267.
Don't get the Documentary Channel? Go to http://www.documentarychannel.com/getdoc for easy links to contact your cable provider and demand DOC.
Just one day before the glitz and glamor of the star-studded Oscar ceremony, the WGA Theater in Beverly Hills hosted DocuDay, the IDA's all-day event boasting back-to-back screenings of all documentaries nominated for Oscar – both the features and the shorts. The first screening, Shorts Program 1, started at 9am to a packed house. That's what we love about documentary film lovers—they don't mind driving across town to see the year's best non-fiction works, even at 9 in the morning!
The first screening featured Incident in New Baghdad, God is the Bigger Elvis, and The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, three documentary shorts that rely on contemporary and archival footage to tell the stories of a US Army Specialist with PTSD who now speaks out against the wars in the Middle East, a former movie star who left Hollywood to become a Benedictine nun, and the cherry blossom as a symbol for hope in post-disaster Japan, respectively.
The teams from each of the three films were well represented, with the producer, director, associate producer, and editor from The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, the director and subject of Incident, and the director, producer, associate producer, and editor from Elvis, all onstage to discuss their films. Both shorts programs definitely saw more female participants onstage for the Q&As, with all the feature filmmakers being men. IDA's Web Producer Katharine Relth asked the filmmakers what inspired them to tell their stories and what kind of cameras they shot on before opening the conversation to eager members of the audience.
One of DocuDay's wonderful sponsors, Zagat set up a lounge in the lobby of the WGA Theater to support the next edition of their 2013 Zagat Survey. This survey is a business based on a simple premise—that the shared opinions of thousands of avid consumers with real experiences are inherently more accurate than the opinions of just one or two critics. To kick off their 2013 Los Angeles / So. California Restaurants Survey, they gave DocuDay attendees the opportunity to win a year of movies including a year subscription to NetFlix and $300 to Arclight Theaters just for sharing their thoughts on restaurants in Los Angeles.
The next film screened was Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, a feature film by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky. The third and final film of the series, these three projects have played a crucial role in keeping the case in the public eye and in helping the defendants to be released from prison. At the Q&A, which was moderated by IDA's Treasurer Laurie Ann Schag, Berlinger and Sinofsky discussed the genesis of the project and the development of the three films, which was helped along tremendously by HBO. The two mentioned that they didn't think this film could have been made today—subjects and families would have been much too savvy. And with the current 24-hour news cycle and the prominence of reality TV and viral video, the filmmakers probably couldn't be more accurate.
Homegirl Café provided delicious snacks to hungry movie-watchers in between screenings. Our favorite was the turkey sandwich with dulce de mango and chipotle salsa. A division of Homeboy Industries, Homegirl Café is a social enterprise that assists at-risk and formerly gang-involved young women and men to become contributing members of the Los Angeles community. Through training in restaurant service and culinary arts, Homegirl Café aims to empower young people to redirect their lives, giving them hope for their future.
Featured in the afternoon was If A Tree Falls, a remarkable story about the rise and fall of an Earth Liberation Front (ELF) cell which focuses on the transformation and radicalization of one of its members. In December 2005, Daniel McGowan was arrested by US Federal agents in a nationwide sweep of radical environmentalists involved with the ELF—a group the FBI once called America's "number one domestic terrorism threat." Part coming-of-age tale, part cops-and-robbers thriller, the film interweaves a vérité chronicle of Daniel on house arrest as he faces life in prison, with a recounting of the events that led to his involvement with the group.
At the Q&A following their film, director Marshall Curry mentioned that when the film first come out it was viewed mostly as a quaint, historical documentary showcasing a social movement long buried by time. But as the events of the Occupy movement started breaking out across the US, audience members and critics began to see the parallels, and the film took on a whole new life. Curry called his film "a cautionary tale" for both activists and law enforcement officials alike.
From his embed with US Marines Echo Company in Afghanistan, photojournalist and filmmaker Danfung Dennis reveals the devastating impact a Taliban machine-gun bullet has on the life of 25-year-old Sergeant Nathan Harris in Hell and Back Again. The film seamlessly transitions from stunning war reportage to an intimate, visceral portrait of one man's personal struggle at home in North Carolina, where Harris confronts the physical and emotional difficulties of re-adjusting to civilian life with the love and support of his wife, Ashley.
Nathan Harris arrived at the Q&A with Dennis and his wife Ashley, who all received a standing ovation at the end of the film. Most of the audience's questions were for Nathan, who was humble and in good spirits as he discussed his experiences getting injured, and watching the film with his wife for the first time.
As one of the sponsors of the event, Canon representatives were on site showcasing their newest development, the Canon Cinema EOS System. This new camera system, "built from the ground up for the serious filmmaker [...] is inspired by and created for the industry." To completely understand everyone filmmaker's wants and needs, Canon consulted hundreds of people in the business to create this innovative new system, which they proudly showcased to DocuDay LA attendees in the lobby of the WGA Theater for the entirety of the event. The table was absolutey jam-packed with people between each and every screening, who were able to sample the new technology and test out some of the cutting-edge cameras.
The second shorts program of the day featured Saving Face and The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement, two films that stir deep emotions and inspire social change for all watching. Saving Face tells the stories of two acid-attack survivors: Zakia and Rukhsana, their arduous attempts to bring their assailants to justice, and the charitable work of London-based, Pakistani-born plastic surgeon Dr. Mohammad Jawad, who strives to help these women put this horrific act behind them and move on with their lives. Barber of Birmingham tells the story of Mr. James Armstrong, a rank-and-file "Foot Soldier" and proud proprietor of Armstrong's Barbershop, a cultural and political hub in Birmingham, Alabama, since 1955. On the eve of the election of the first African-American president, Mr. Armstrong, the barber of Birmingham, sees his unimaginable dream come true.
Oscar® and Emmy®-nominated filmmaker Daniel Junge and Emmy®-winning Pakistani director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy appeared onstage with Dr. Jawad to discuss their project and the work that can be done to ensure that this issue continues to have a voice. (Saving Face would eventually go on to win the Oscar® for Best Documentary Short at the next night's ceremony.)
The final director in attendance for a post-screening Q&A with "the legend" Wim Wenders, sat with IDA Board President Marjan Safinia to discuss his 3-D film Pina. A DocuDay first, every member of the audience was handed an exclusive pair of 3D glasses with which to view the film, which was absolutely stunning from every seat in the WGA Theater.
Marjan asked Wenders about the inspiration behind this film, which he said was over 20 years in the making. A personal friend of Pina Bausch's, the filmmaker never quite knew how to capture the choreographer's extraordinary pieces on screen to give them the same effect that they had in person. After Pina's death in 2008, Wenders went to a screening that answered all his problems, where he saw a film shot on a 3D camera. The technology wasn't very expensive, he said, and with the help of everyone in the company and some of his students, he was able to complete the film within a few years time.
For Undefeated, the final film of the evening, the lobby was absolutely packed with people waiting to get in to see this final film of the night. Although DocuDay didn't see filmmakers T.J. Martin and Daniel Lindsay in attendance, the film went on to receive the Oscar® for Best Documentary Feature the next night.
From 7:30 in the morning to the shut-down of the theater that night, our fearless volunteers were there to make the day possible by helping with ticket sales, seating, and general event coordination. From the bottom of our hearts, we say THANK YOU for your time and dedication!
Special thanks again to our sponsors Canon, Zagat, and C&S Insurance, and congratulations to all the nominees and newly-announced winners! This day wouldn't have been possible without your loving and generous support.
Take a look on any film-related website, blog, or events listing over the last month and one thing is clear: It is most decidedly Awards season! With the narrative feature category broadened in recent years to include more Best Picture candidates than ever, you can bet that millions upon millions were glued to their screens on Sunday evening to catch the best (and worst!) dressed on the runway to see whether or not they won their office Oscar pool. We have one over here at the IDA offices, and you can bet there were some upsets this morning!
Each year, the IDA tries to shed some light on the most discussed award in all of Hollywood by bringing together a panel of experts to talk All Things Oscar: what it takes to win, how much it costs to enter, how to create a successful ad campaign, and what winning will mean for one's future. This year, however, the excitement that usually builds before the Academy’s big event was overshadowed by some recent news that could significantly change how, and if, many documentary filmmakers make a run for the gold statuette.
Back in January, the New York Times broke a story about the new rules that would apply to the batch of documentary feature films attempting to qualify for an Academy Award nomination in the 2012 cycle. This opened up an ongoing discussion in the blogosphere and on our Facebook page on the impact of these new rules on the documentary community at large. Together with the Board of Directors, IDA’s Executive Director Michael Lumpkin released a statement regarding the rules change that attempted to take a stance on this new information without jumping to any conclusions.
It was in the wake of these events that IDA Board President Marjan Safinia agreed to moderate a panel that would give experts and supporters in the documentary community a chance to discuss these changes and determine how they would effect filmmakers attempting to qualify for Oscar down the road. Safinia was joined by Dana Harris (Indiewire), James Moll (Executive Committee member of the Documentary Branch at AMPAS), Steve Pond (TheWrap.com), and Dustin Smith (Roadside Attractions) to help break down the new rules into identifiable terms and decipherable language. On Monday, February 20, this prestigious group gathered at Cinefamily @ the Silent Movie Theatre in front of a visibly-shaken crown of documentarians to attempt answer some questions and hopefully shed some light onto the significance of the Academy's recently-leaked information.
Fresh off a plane from Montana’s Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Michael Lumpkin introduced the panel and reiterated IDA’s stance on the Academy’s new rules. While we applaud the Academy for striving toward transparency, Lumpkin stated, everyone there wanted clarification on how these new rules impact not just the documentary community at large, but also programs like DocuWeeks that have a strong history of helping smaller films to qualify for the coveted little gold man.
Marjan got the ball rolling by asking just why that one gold statue is so important. Oscar-, Emmy-, and Grammy-winning filmmaker James Moll answered that it is just so great to be recognized by your peers. For him, winning an Oscar was a dream-come true. And now that he’s part of the Academy's Documentary Branch, he wants to make that process much easier and more democratic for everyone involved. Dana Harris, Editor-in-chief of Indiewire, noted that the peak for traffic on her website for the entire year is right before and during the Oscar ceremony. However, in her eyes receiving the coveted award gives you little more than bragging rights. Certified Oscarologist Steve Pond mentioned that much like Kim Kardashian is famous for being famous, the Oscar is important for being important. He did admit, however, that the hype has really gotten crazy during the last decade. Dustin Smith noted that part of the appeal of the Academy Awards is certainly the fact that we get to see movie stars right there in our living room, with new players up for distinguished recognition every single year.
After not much longer, Marjan jumped right into what would be the crux of the conversation for the next hour and a half: turning almost directly to James Moll, IDA’s Board President wanted to know some of the reasons for the rule change. James noted that after many years of being under-served by the rest of the voting members of the Academy, documentaries fought hard to become their own branch. Now that they have more control over who gets shortlisted and nominated in their category, they wanted to create new rules (which, by the way, they do almost every year) to give the filmmaker the benefit of the doubt. Instead of having to wait until the end of the year to watch every film submitted for consideration, the films they receive will now be spread throughout the year, and each member will get to see each and every film. He and the documentary branch believe that this will increase the quality of the films shortlisted and eventually nominated.
Dana Harris jumped in to ask what the impetus for the rule change was: is the Academy trying to preserve something by making changes? What is the academy really trying to do with these new rules? Marjan piggybacked by asking why the Academy is making everything so difficult: "The spirit of the rule change makes sense," she said, "but aren't we going to still only get big names?"
The issue that continued to come up was the new rule that a film has to be reviewed by either the New York Times or the Los Angeles Times in order to qualify. Dana Harris called this particular portion of the new rules a "red herring" that is distracting from some of the more important details. The policy of the New York Times is to review every film that gets at least a one-week run in New York City, which would mean only films that have a "legitimate"—and this word was used a lot—run in a theater would get attention, even if that attention was a two-paragraph review online. Even so, if a film plays for one week and for some reason doesn’t get a Times write up, a filmmaker can go through an appeals process with the Academy to prove that their film does indeed qualify.
This prompted a lot of back-and-forth among the panelists, and even a few outbursts from the audience. The lack of clarity of these rules have a lot of people up in arms—even Michael Lumpkin jumped in to ask James to explain something that was unclear concerning the future of IDA's beloved DocuWeeks program. (There's still no clear answer, unfortunately.)
The panel may have come to a conclusion with more questions raised than were answered, but it can be said that a lot of rage and fury that attendees felt before the panel had been at least partially assuaged. Only time will tell how these new rules affect small and big-name filmmakers alike, but one thing is for sure: James Moll proved a great sport for taking the brunt of the audience’s passionate questions and comments. Kudos to him for not losing his cool!
All photos ©2011 Humberto Mendes, IDA
Above photo: Todd Wawrychuk / ©A.M.P.A.S.
Looking resplendent in his Oscar-friendly garb of t-shirt, jeans and baseball cap, Michael Moore bounded onto the stage of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' Samuel Goldwyn Theater Wednesday night to commandeer the sold-out DOCS! program. Now in its third year of saluting the Oscar-nominated films and filmmakers in the documentary categories, DOCS! had its genesis in IDA's long-running Oscar Nominees Reception.
Moore opened with a keynote address, of sorts, about the power of documentaries "It's important to tell true stories," he said. "The public wants the truth, and they've been lied to." He also talked about the new rules for qualifying documentaries for Academy Award consideration, in the spirit of the theatrical experience, citing the soon-to-be-opened Bloor Hot Docs Cinema in Toronto, which will showcase documentaries year-round, as a model to be replicated. "It's our art," he stressed. "These are films you should see with your fellow Americans; they should be something to be experienced collectively."
And with that, he introduced the nominees in the Documentary Short Subject category for a panel discussion. Moore pointed out the empty chair on stage was in honor of Gail Dolgin, the director/producer, with Robin Fryday, of The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement. Dolgin had passed away of breast cancer in October 2010, before the film was completed, and the film's subject, James Armstrong, had passed in November 2009.
Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson were on hand for God Is the Bigger Elvis, which Moore cited as "the one comedy in the group." Moore himself had actually considered the priesthood in his post-college years; "Now, I'm a recovering Catholic," he admitted. Anderson noted that the nuns of the Benedictine Abbey in the film "were extremely generous" with respect to questions about contraception and abortion. "These nuns are quite modern." Cammisa, whose mother had been a nun for ten years, discussed the difference between "spiritual" and "religious" as contrasting means of engagement with the modern world.
On the eve of former soldier Bradley Manning's trial for leaking video footage of a July 2007 attack on Reuters journalists and Iraqi civilians by US helicopters to WikiLeaks, James Spione discussed his film Incident in New Baghdad, which includes that footage in its entirety, as a pretext for profiling one soldier, US Army Specialist Ethan McCord, who was on the ground that day. "This film is about taking an international incident and bringing it to ground level, showing the personal trauma because of it," Spione asserted. "It's a film about empathy; war strips that away."
Daniel Junge sought out Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy to team up with him in her native Pakistan to make Saving Face, about Pakistani women who have survived acid attacks—often at the hands of their husbands, who invariably avoid punishment—and about individuals who are striving to make changes in this dreadful condition. The filmmakers spent four months in the edit room, and determined that the short form was the more potent one for both telling the story and trying to find redemption and hope.
As in the case with so many documentary films, what you end up with doesn't always square with your original intentions. Such was the case with Lucy Walker's The Tsumani and the Cherry Blossom; she had planned to screen her film Countdown to Zero in Japan, then make a short "visual haiku" about the cherry blossom season, when the earthquake hit-followed in short, devastating order by the tsumani and the nuclear disaster. She decided to go to Japan, with cinematographer Aaron Phillips, and amid the severe trauma—no power, water or transportation for a week—they engaged an American translator there and found survivors to tell their stories, as the cherry blossom season began.
Discussing the short form itself, the panel agreed that "short is the new long." "Shorts don't go longer than they should," Anderson agreed," while some features are too long."
In the subsequent panel of filmmakers from the nominated documentary features, Wim Wenders extolled the virtues of 3D—his format of choice for Pina—suggesting it as the "secret weapon" for keeping documentaries in theaters. "3D is the future of the documentary language," he asserted, citing digital, then HD as the precursors. While 3D technology may not have served Danfung Dennis in the battlefields of Afghanistan when making Hell and Back Again, he too helped create a new cinematic experience with the camera equipment he developed for his film. "Hell and Back Again and Pina would not have been made three years ago," noted Dan Lindsay, director/producer of Undefeated.
For most of the features half of the evening, Moore kept the conversational topic on the challenge of getting documentaries into theaters (albeit with a veiled dig at IDA's DocuWeeks, and no mention of DocuDay). Sam Cullman of If a Tree Falls lauded Moore for helping to make documentaries more popular, given the impressive number of $1 million box office grossers in the past decade. Moore countered that he may raised unreasonable expectations among distributors and exhibitors for all documentaries. He also noted that Sony Pictures Classics, which has distributed such successes as Riding Giants, The Fog of War and last year's Oscar winner, Inside Job, was talking about backing off from documentaries altogether.
Wenders reiterated, "We should be more adventurous in our language," while Joe Berlinger of Paradise Lost 3 felt filmmakers should be "expanding the definition of what is the cinematic experience."
"It's the Lord's work that we do," Moore concluded the evening. "Let's do all we can for this art."