This developing story was updated on June 13, 2009.

The tale of Bananas!* has just gone, well, bananas. The truthfulness of the doc, which follows crusading lawyer Juan Dominguez as he represents Nicaraguan banana plantation workers who say they were poisoned by pesticides used by Dole Food Co. Inc. on its farms, has come into question, spurring a debate and reactions from the filmmakers.

The controversy has turned the June 20 and June 23 screenings of Bananas!* at the Los Angeles Film Festival into a case study examining what happens when a story continues to evolve after filming.

The issue ignited on June 8, when the Los Angeles Business Journal reported the following accusation of Fredrik Gertten's film:

A judge found that the supposedly heroic lawyer actually took part in a massive fraud against Dole, the Westlake Village food giant. The judge said the supposed victims weren't sterile and had never even worked on Dole's banana farms.

The filmmakers of Bananas!* are standing by their product. Bananas!* co-producer Bart Simpson contacted the IDA saying that the above statement is false and that Judge Chaney's actual statement can be found in court documents posted on the movie's website. Check page 172 of the document for this:

"I don't have any opinion as to whether or not there was any wrongdoing by any of the defendants. We'll never know….

…We'll never know if anybody in Nicaragua was actually injured or harmed by the alleged wrongful conduct of the defendants, and people will never have the opportunity to learn, since this fraud is so pervasive and extensive that it has forever contaminated even our own ability to ever know the truth."

Furthermore, on a letter posted on the movie's website entitled "BANANAS!* under fire - an update," they go on to state that "no one from Dole, Dole’s lawyers--Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP--or the Los Angeles Business Journal have actually seen the film. Their comments are based on pure speculation."

In a letter to the documentary filmmaking community, the filmmakers are working to clarify the issue and point out the increasingly harsh actions by Dole against the film (the letter is printed below this article in its entirety).

The film follows a landmark court case--Tellez et. al. v. Dole Food Company Inc. et. al.--where a group of Nicaraguan banana workers, with the help of attorney Juan Dominguez, sues Dole Food for using a banned pesticide in their Nicaraguan plantations….

… In January, 2008, a full jury found Dole Food guilty of causing harms to the workers, and of acting with malicious intent. They awarded damages to the workers, and Dole is now appealing the verdict. Despite this appeal, during the trial the CEO of Dole Food admitted on the stand that he continued to use the aforementioned pesticide in his Nicaraguan plantations, after it was banned in the US.

Dominguez had many other, similar cases in line following the Tellez case. Dole accused Dominguez of fraud, and the presiding Judge, Victoria Chaney, sided with Dole and threw out all remaining cases, finding plaintiff and plaintiff attorney misconduct and fraud. At this point the Tellez decision stands, and case is still under appeal by Dole. However according to Judge Chaney, these recent developments have called the validity of certain aspects of the Tellez case into question. As those of you who have done courtroom documentaries can attest, court cases can keep developing years after the verdict. Regardless of the final outcome, the film is an accurate representation of the case over a period of time, and our broadcasters and all our other partners support the film 100%.

Dominguez is currently fighting all charges of fraud against him and the L.A. Business Journal reports that a hearing is scheduled for June 17, when Chaney will decide whether Dominguez's alleged involvement in the fraud calls for monetary sanctions. However this shakes out, one winner in all of this is LAFF. We're sure the screenings will be quite the ticket. An update from their site says:

In his most recent film, Fredrik Gertten chronicles the case of Nicaraguan banana laborers, represented by L.A. attorney Juan Dominguez, against the companies that they claim poisoned them with pesticides. Between the film's completion and its screening at this year's Festival, critical new elements of the case have come to light.

What happens when a story continues to evolve after the shooting stops? This case study and screening will explore the relationship between documentary filmmaking, objective and subjective point of view, as well as the rights and responsibilities of activist filmmaking.

Get more info about LAFF and the Bananas!* screenings the Los Angeles Film Festival website.
Get info and news about Bananas!* and updates on this story at the movie's website.
Follow Fredrik Gertten on Twitter here.
Check out the Bananas!* Facebook page here.

Dear colleagues, We have been working on the feature documentary BANANAS!* since 2006, and we are slated to launch the film at the Los Angeles Film Festival, held June 18-28 this year.

The film follows a landmark court case--Tellez et. al. v. Dole Food Company Inc. et. al.--where a group of Nicaraguan banana workers, with the help of attorney Juan Dominguez, sues Dole Food for using a banned pesticide in their Nicaraguan plantations. Prolonged exposure to this pesticide was known to cause sterility in human males. It was the first time that agricultural workers from the developing world gave testimony against a US-based multinational in a US court.

In January, 2008, a full jury found Dole Food guilty of causing harms to the workers, and of acting with malicious intent. They awarded damages to the workers, and Dole is now appealing the verdict. Despite this appeal, during the trial the CEO of Dole Food admitted on the stand that he continued to use the aforementioned pesticide in his Nicaraguan plantations, after it was banned in the US.

Dominguez had many other, similar cases in line following the Tellez case. Dole accused Dominguez of fraud, and the presiding Judge, Victoria Chaney, sided with Dole and threw out all remaining cases, finding plaintiff and plaintiff attorney misconduct and fraud. At this point the Tellez decision stands, and case is still under appeal by Dole. However according to Judge Chaney, these recent developments have called the validity of certain aspects of the Tellez case into question. As those of you who have done courtroom documentaries can attest, court cases can keep developing years after the verdict. Regardless of the final outcome, the film is an accurate representation of the case over a period of time, and our broadcasters and all our other partners support the film 100%.

To date, neither Dole or Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP have actually seen our film. They are basing their comments on a three-minute trailer and information posted on our website.

On May 8, the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, who represented Dole in court, attempted to get Judge Chaney to stop the film from being screened at the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival. The Judge stated to those present: “Just so we are clear, I am not in any way going to make, and I will not consider, any request for prior restraint on free speech. Okay? So, don't ask me to go try and contact the film company. I don't have jurisdiction over them. But even if I did, don’t ask me for it.”

As they were unsuccessful with Judge Chaney, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP sent us a letter demanding we "cease and desist" from plans to screen the film at the Festival. The first such letter sent to us, on May 8 of this year, was copied to all the corporate sponsors of the LA Film Festival, but was not copied to the LA Film Festival itself. A copy of this letter and related letters are on our website under the "Resources"section.

Dole's team is now moving on to yet another strategy and have contacted the Swedish Consulate in LA and the Swedish Ambassador to the US in Washington, asking them to help stop the film. To date they have only succeeded in getting the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) to pull out of "co-hosting" the film's opening night at the Festival. However, a lawyer from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher serves on the board of directors of the LAFLA. Again, all this is without Dole or Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher having actually seen the film.

Out of respect to the LA Film Festival, we did not publicize any of these actions until now. However with days to go before our premiere, we are spreading the word.

We are considering all our options given Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's actions.

As we move forward, we hope you as our allies in the international documentary community will throw your support behind us. Dole and their counsel's interference with us, ITVS, the Festival, and their sponsors represent a serious threat to independent documentary production.

Please join our mailing list for breaking news and join our facebook group by the “F” link on that same page.

Things will begin to move rapidly, and we will keep you updated as they come.

In thanks and solidarity,
Fredrik Gertten
Margarete Jangård
Lise-Lens Moller
Bart Simpson
BANANAS!*

In a wide-ranging conversation between filmmaker Ross Kauffman and IDA Board member Marjan Safinia, attendees at the IDA's second 2009 Doc U session at the Eastman Kodak screening room in Hollywood Thursday night were treated to a cook’s tour of a filmmaking career, from the artistic side to the business side.

Kauffman, who won an Academy Award with co-director Zana Briski for the 2004 film Born into Brothels, fell into filmmaking via the written word—namely, The Elements of Screenwriting by Irwin R. Blacker, which he read as a diversion from his marketing major at University of Rhode Island—a diversion that led to more and more books, and by the time he graduated he had an idea of where he wanted to start looking, and he eventually landed jobs in the editing room. “I love the process of editing, and I learned from some really great people,” he recalled.” I learned how to put a story together.”

But after nine years of editing, and some attempts at cinematography, however, Kauffman admitted that he had been ready to quit filmmaking altogether. Then one day, photographer Zana Briski, who had been shooting in Calcutta, India, asked him to make a film about her efforts to teach impoverished children who had been born into brothels. He was reluctant at first—even after she gave him a camera for his birthday. He agreed to check out her footage. “I put the tape in my Sony PD100, and within 20 minutes I was—it sounds dramatic, but the truth is, when you know you’re going to do a film, you know you’re going to do a film. About a month later I was in Calcutta shooting.”

After a total of four years of filming and editing, as well as pitching and developing the film at the IFP Market and the Sundance Producers and Composers Lab, he and Briski had secured a deal with HBO. “I had edited a couple of films at HBO, so I knew the structure of it,” Kauffman reflected. “I had had a relationship with Lisa Heller based on our time at the Sundance Composers Lab and the Producers Conference.” About two years before the film came out, he showed some footage at the IFP Market to another HBO rep. “Get to these people early,” he advised the Doc U audience. “Show them a trailer, show them a couple of scenes, get them to know about the project. It’s almost like you’re having them become part of the process. If you have a three-minute trailer, they’ll invest that time. Once I had an hour-and-45-minute rough cut, [HBO] had known about it for a long time.”

But, he advised “You can’t just show anyone a rough cut; they have to know what they’re watching.” He admitted that he had refrained from showing Heller his two-and-a-half hour rough cut, despite her wanting to see it. “The materials has to speak for itself,” he explained, “and you have to be intelligent about how to present that material. I wasn’t going to show her a two-and-a-half hour rough cut, but I did show her an hour and 45 minute cut. I think it’s really smart to position yourself in terms of trailers and scenes that you’re going to show people. You need to know your buyers.”

But Kauffman also stressed the importance of timing and luck. He related the fact that a project that he’s working now, about war photographers, that he’s had difficulty selling. “People have war fatigue right now,” he admitted, “and it’s really difficult to sell a project like that.”

With Born into Brothels, he had the fortune of securing HBO’s support prior to getting into Sundance—and convincing HBO to let them take the film to festivals and, through THINK Film, to theaters. Starting with Sundance, he and Brinski also produced a travelling exhibit of the photos of the children in the film, with the proceeds from the sale going to Kids with Cameras, the nonprofit they had set up. “We didn’t know that that was going to be a great marketing tool that was going to get people into the theater, but we did know this was a two-way street-- not only was the audience able to do something after the movie, but the kids got something out of it and the film got something out of it. The film kept on growing because of the photo exhibition.”

“What documentary filmmakers can do is come at it from really wanting to help, or really wanting to do it for the right reasons,” Kauffman advised. “I’m not saying that you have to be altruistic, but the best way to serve your film and serve the people in your film is really concentrate on how to actually achieve those goals in terms of helping people other than the film.”

Born into Brothels, like Senain Kheshgi and Geeta Patel’s Project Kashmir, which Kauffman shot, was co-directing effort—which has advantages and disadvantages. “This is an overwhelming task for just one person,” Kauffman pointed out. “It’s a conscious thing of dividing up the responsibilities, then it switches and goes back and forth in a semi-seamless and not too destructive way.”

But, he admitted, “Having a co-director is a bitch.” Both Kauffman and Marjan Safinia advised to know one another’s different skill sets and figure out how you complement one another. Also, have a strong editor and producer who can function as a mediator whom you can trust, leave your egos outside the working room, and keep your eyes focused on what’s best for the film.”

Kauffman relishes the collaborative process in all his work—including his role as executive producer on Jeremiah Zagar’s In a Dream, and as co-producer and co-director with Zagar, Kheshgi, Geralyn Dreyfous and others on a three-minute piece called Wait for Me.

And although his early work as an editor served as a springboard for branching out into directing and cinematography, he tries to keep those sensibilities separate. “As a cinematographer, one of the most important things is to just be in the moment and point your camera towards what you feel is interesting,” he explained. “As an editor it’s always about choices. With cinematography, I learned this by listening to Al Maysles in his commentary for Gimme Shelter: He said he didn’t edit because he has ADD, and the only time he didn’t have that sense of craziness was when he looked behind the camera; all he had to do was reveal. When I’m behind the camera, I’m really in deep; when I’m in the editing room, my brain is flying around. I try not to let my editing inform my camerawork.”

Kauffman has a plethora of projects on his plate that has taken him to everywhere from Africa to Northern Calfornia. And he’ll return to India to shoot a film for Kheshgi on surrogate mothers. And Born into Brothels remains a persistent part of his life, as Kids with Cameras, the aforementioned nonprofit, is looking to raise $400,000 to build a house for children from Calcutta’s Red Light District.For more information, click here: http://kids-with-cameras.org/home/.

See a video of our May 14 Doc U Seminar: An Evening With Robert Greenwal here. 

Basil Tsiokos is Programming Associate, Documentary Features for the Sundance Film Festival just posted an entertaining piece on indieWIRE about dishing doc advice via Twitter (as 1basil1). (He also screens for POV, has been a guest curator for the Jacob Burns Film Center, and regularly watches hundreds a film a year through programming or at film festivals. He was previously the Artistic Director for NewFest for 12 years. So he knows what he's talking about.)

While screening documentary submissions, he types out Tweets under the heading "Dear Documentary Filmmakers:" with 140-character or less nuggets of info--offering funny, curmudgeonly and also instructive tidbits.

The article put some of his avorites under categories such as Talking Heads, Narration and Subtitles vs Dubbing. A sampling:

Dear Documentary Filmmakers: Please use subtitles instead of dubbing foreign languages with fake accents and emphatic "acting." Please…

Dear Documentary Filmmakers: Having ponderous voiceover narration = bad idea. Having it delivered by inarticulate children = worse idea.

Dear Documentary Filmmakers: Picking the right subjects to follow is so important. The ones in the film I’m watching are the right ones.

He makes sure to point out that the opinions "are not presented with malice, and are, of course, entirely subjective." Think Tsiokos knows what he's talking about? Then get following…

Made a film festival favorite that never reached its full audience...or never got distributed at all? Want to put the power of the web behind a premiere? For documentarians in any of those categories, SnagFAST now offers the fastest way to get from a festival to a global audience.

SnagFAST is the new, expedited, online submissions process from SnagFilms, a digital distribution company nearing its first anniversary--and an ally of the IDA. SnagFilms has put its library of more than 700 award-winning titles--from some of the greatest names in documentary films--in front of a huge audience: 800 million pageviews since launch, on nearly 23,000 web pages, including those of The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, nearly all of the AOL channels, and Politico, hundreds of blogs, and thousands of social network pages like Facebook. SnagFilms splits half of the in-video advertising it receives with the respective filmmakers.

SnagFAST is the new "Festival-Approved Submissions Tool" that lets you to submit films for expedited review and distribution by SnagFilms. If your film has been selected by one of over 100 top film festivals from around the globe, SnagFilms will fast-track its distribution on its web platform. Since SnagFilms supports and respects the curatorial experience of leading film festivals, your festival acceptance qualifies you for digital distribution. SnagFast is a simple online tool, and in 3 easy steps your film can join SnagFilms' top caliber library which includes SuperSize Me, Hoop Dreams, Nanking, to name a few. We invite you to take advantage of this opportunity and go straight from festival to the web with SnagFast. Click here to get started: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/submissions

Traditional distribution can be glacially paced, if you can secure it at all. SnagFAST makes the move from festival to the global audience fast and easy.

This news item is brought to you by a special partnership between the IDA and indieWIRE and SnagFilms.

by Peter Knegt 

Sundance Institute announced the selection of 12 Documentary Film Fellows representing six projects to participate in the 6th Documentary Film Edit and Story Laboratory, set to run June 21-28 in Sundance, Utah. The Lab convenes filmmakers in the process of making feature-length independent documentaries for “an intensive week of creative feedback in a supportive community setting.” Films this year include stories of life in Post-Soviet societies such as Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Romania, to the role of the United States in areas such as Afghanistan and Yemen.

“The annual Doc Edit and Story Labs are central to our Program’s support for creative nonfiction filmmakers and commitment to the art form,” said Cara Mertes, Director of the Sundance Documentary Film Program, in a statement. “Creative Advisors and Fellows reflect a wealth of talent, with artists crossing from Fellow to Advisor and back again depending on their current projects. Either role makes a significant contribution to the field of long-form documentary story telling.”

The lab offers an “intensive artist-to-artist collaborative experience where quality nonfiction storytelling is engaged with rigor and candor.” Each artist is encouraged to explore story structure, narrative arc, character development, artistic elements and more.

An international group of Directing and Editing Fellows was selected from projects which have received previous support from the Sundance Documentary Film Program. The 2009 Documentary Edit and Story Lab Fellows in alphabetical order are: Erin Casper (Editing Fellow), Michelle Chang (Editing Fellow), Keiko Deguchi (Editing Fellow), Carol Dysinger (Directing Fellow), Gayle Ferraro (Directing Fellow), Michal Gabor (Editing Fellow), Robin Hessman (Directing Fellow), Toma Kudrna (Directing Fellow), Mona Nicoar (Directing Fellow), Jonathan Oppenheim (Editing Fellow), Laura Poitras (Directing Fellow), Garret Savage (Editing Fellow).

These Fellows will be joined by six Creative Advisors, including Directors and Editors, to jointly engage in the creative process. Editors: Kate Amend (Academy Award-winner Into the Arms of Strangers and The Long Way Home), Joe Bini (Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, Grizzly Man) Richard Hankin (Home Front, Capturing the Friedmans) and Mary Lampson (Harlan County, A Lion in the House), Directors: Greg Barker (Sergio, Ghosts of Rwanda) and Jennifer Fox (Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman, Beirut: The Last Home Movie).

The films selected for the 2009 Sundance Institute Documentary Editing and Story Lab are (with descriptions provide by the institute):

All That Glitters (Czech Republic / Kyrgyzstan) Situated at the a crossroads of global interests, Kyrgyzstan reflects the political rivalry between Russian and America influence, reveals the religious rivalry between Christianity and Islam, and lies between the economic predominance of China and Russia. All That Glitters examines how strange capitalism and democracy can be when introduced to a former Soviet country, one where people never before given autonomy are suddenly expected to make their own financial and political decisions.

Camp Victory, Afghanistan (U.S. / Afghanistan) U.S. National Guardsmen are stationed in Herat, Afghanistan with the Afghan officers they have been sent to train. Together they are charged to bring the 207th Corps of the nascent Afghan National Army into an institution capable of providing security, stability, and a civilian government to a tattered, volatile nation. The Americans came, not to fight, but to teach. Camp Victory is the story of things that keep them apart, and the one unlikely friendship that makes it all seem possible.

Muhammad Yunus Banks On America (U.S.) This film journeys with Dr. Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate and the architect of microfinance, as he continues building opportunities for the poor world-wide and as close to home as in Queens, New York through Grameen micro credit, his original social business.

Our School (Romania) The descendants of former slaves, Romanian Roma (“Gypsies”) continue to live in poverty, at the edges of society. Over the course of several school years, Roma children struggle to break the barriers of segregation in a small Transylvanian town. Our School documents one of the first integration efforts following a European Court of Human Rights judgment similar to Brown v. Board of Education in the United States.

Release (U.S. / Yemen) Filmed in Yemen, Release is a family drama about two men whose fateful encounter in 1996 set them on a course of events that would lead to Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, 9/11, Guantanamo Bay, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Release is the second documentary (after My Country, My Country) in a trilogy titled The New American Century about America post 9/11.

Russia’s Pepsi Generation (working title) (US/UK) Russia’s Pepsi Generation tells the story of the last generation of Soviet children brought up behind the Iron Curtain. Just coming of age when the USSR collapsed, they witnessed the world of their childhood crumble and change beyond recognition. Told through the lives of a married couple and their childhood friends, the film interweaves their memories of the past and their lives in contemporary Moscow to reveal how Communism’s crossover children are adjusting to their post-Soviet reality.

This news item is brought to you by a special partnership between the IDA and indieWIRE and SnagFilms.

Most recently Byrd co-founded with the United Nations, Envision, a documentary film forum to address global issues. “I informed the board of my decision to depart last November so that I could openly have meetings about my next professional journey and spend a solid year working with the board and staff to ensure a positive and smooth transition,” said Byrd in a prepared statement. “This is a community and an organization about which I care deeply and all of us are working collaboratively to ensure that a leadership change won’t place any unnecessary stress on the organization. I have great faith in our Deputy Directors, Amy Dotson in programming and membership, and Mitch Micich in finance and operations, and their ability to aid in a smooth transition.” Byrd is presently in discussions on her next move, one that will build upon her relationships in the media space and unify her interest in global issues and technology.

“Michelle has done as much as any individual to advance the cause of independent filmmaking in New York,” said Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, IFP Board Chairman, in a statement “All of us at IFP will miss her immensely, but we also acknowledge that this is an opportunity for a new infusion of leadership, energy and direction, and we are excited to begin the search and open a new chapter in IFP’s long history at the center of independent film.”

Ovation TV has acquired an hour-long documentary special Heath Ledger: A Tribute to air on the cable channel in August. The story about the late Oscar-winning actor will air as part of a week-long programming event called Live Fast, Die Young, which will also present specials on Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Marilyn Monroe and more. (via The Hollywood Reporter)

Spanish broadcast network V-me will premiere Ricky Martin's documentary on human trafficking on July 10. Vivir en Libertad: Lucha Contra la Trata de Personas is a 30-minute documentary, co-produced between the Inter-American Development Bank and the Ricky Martin Foundation. The doc was made as part of the Call and Live! project, the first anti-trafficking regional campaign in the Americas. For more information go to www.rickymartinfoundation.org.

KCET, the Friends of the Los Angeles River and students from the Los Angeles Leadership Academy have created an amazing website of video and audio portraits of the Los Angeles River. The site allows users to experience the 52-mile stretch land and meet those who are helping it flow back into our public life and popular imagination. (via KCET)

The 10th anniversary of the Maui Film Festival, which runs June 17-21 in Kahului, Hawaii, will open with foreign-language Oscar winner Departures and Dana Brown's documentary Highwater. The fest will also honor Willie Nelson with its Maverick Award. The award will be presented June 19 at the world premiere of Turk Pipkin's documentary One Piece at a Time, a film about solutions to global problems, with music from Ben Harper and Jack Johnson and appearances by Nelson, among others. (via The Hollywood Reporter)

Plus, don't forget to pick up your tickets for our next installment of our 2009 Doc U Seminar Series: An Evening with Ross Kauffman, the Academy Award-winning director behind Born into Brothels, taking place on June 11 at the Kodak Screening Room in Hollywood, CA. Get tickets and information here. 

Kassim The Dream, the IDA Award-nominated documentary from Kief Davidson, opens today in New York. The film tells the story of world champion boxer Kassim "The Dream" Ouman--born in Uganda, kidnapped by the rebel army and trained to be a child soldier at the age of 6. When the rebels took over the government, Kassim became an army soldier who was forced to commit many horrific atrocities, making him both a victim and perpetrator. He soon discovered the army's boxing team and realized the sport was his ticket to freedom. After 12 years of warfare, Kassim defected from Africa and arrived in the United States. Homeless and culture-shocked, he quickly rose through the boxing ranks and became World Junior Middleweight Champion.

For an interview with Davidson held in conjunction with the IDA Award nomination, click here.

Despite the best efforts by the documentary community to save it, the Documentary Institute at the University of Florida was recently eliminated. The institute had generated a petition in April that generated over 1,100 signatures, but neither that achievement nor a second consecutive Student Emmy Award was enough to sway the guardians of the ivory tower. According to Gainesville.com, the University of Florida itself recently announced a total of over $30 million in budget cuts and 58 layoffs for the coming academic year.

"As you probably know, Florida has had its share of budget problems--including severe cuts to higher education," says Churchill Roberts, co-director of the institute, which operated out of the university's College of Journalism and Education. "We had the misfortune of having a new dean [Dr. John W. Wright] who didn't value documentary and decided it wasn't central to the mission of the college. He was quoted as saying it was too expensive."  

Dean Wright had cut the institute's $200,000 in 2008, which, according to Churchill, had paid for "assistantships, documentary thesis projects, travel, equipment, and seed money for faculty projects." The institute survived the next year on grants and gifts, as well as royalties from the sale of its films, which include Negroes with Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power, Freedom Never Dies: The Legacy of Harry T. Moore, Giving Up the Canal, Campaign for Cuba and Last Days of the Revolution.

But no sooner had the axe fallen when three universities expressed interest in taking over the program, and one, which will be announced officially at a later date, went a step further and offered positions to Roberts' colleagues, Sandra Dickson, Cynthia Hill and Cara Pilson. The Documentary Institute will officially move to that soon-to-be-disclosed university in 2010.

As for Roberts,."I'll remain here to administer our grants. We just received an NEA grant which doesn't become effective until July 1 and we have a $200,000 pledge from the Jerome A. Yavitz Charitable Foundation, which is being paid over time."

The exodus involves at least 20 staffers and is from the top down, including Festival Director Britta Erickson and Artistic Director Brit Withey and co-founder Ron Henderson.

IndieWIRE reports:

"A dramatic mass exodus is underway at the Denver Film Society, organizer of the three decade old Denver International Film Festival. Longtime veterans of the organization, including Festival Director Britta Erickson and Artistic Director Brit Withey, as well as esteemed co-founder Ron Henderson, have resigned in Denver. And now they are being followed out the door by some seventeen other people at the Film Society and the festival. The move marks a striking mutiny currently taking place at the leading Colorado film institution."

AJ Schnack offers insight to the situation, backing up the theory that the departures are the result of tension under the leadership of new DFS executive director Burleigh “Bo” Smith. He writes:

"There has been unease over the leadership of Smith since late last year, particularly in an organization as tightly bound as the DFS had been throughout Henderson's leadership and in his passing the torch to Withey and Erickson in 2007."

Developing...

Read the entire indieWIRE article (and see a list of people leaving the Denver festival and Film Society) here.
Read AJ Schnack entire piece here.