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Josh is the publisher of Documentary Films .Net.

Number of posts: 223
Web site: http://www.documentaryfilms.net
 
Mar
08
    

SXSW is starting this weekend, and documentary news will quickly be dominated by the now established film part of this festival. Here are a few resources to find out what is going on and what films will likely get a lot of coverage.

Go right to the source for speeches and film screenings information at the SXSW Film page.

Documentaries about entertainment personalities will certainly dominate much of the film news coming out of Austin.  A Willie Nelson documentary directed by Billy Bob Thornton will be shown, and Conan O’Brien’s tour documentary will premiere. But don’t forget about some of the smaller films.

A good spotlight on some of the Documentary Shorts that will be shown at SXSW.  Many films are mention but the highlights include: Frank Fairfield, My Big Red Purse and Library of Dust.

If you are looking for just films in general,  check out this list of possible hits.

If you are fortunate enough to be going to SXSW, have a great time.  The rest of us will be watching from afar; awaiting the day when these documentaries are distributed to a wider audience.


 
Mar
08
    

One of our writers are has been working on an informative social media blog, that we wanted to point you to if you have an interesting in social media.  The site is LLSocial.com and it also features a social media podcast that offers news and interviews.

As a note to our long time fans of the Documentary Films. Net site.  We are working to get more reviews and information on the site.  If you have ideas for content or format changes, let us know.  We want to provide relevant information, but outside time constraints on our writers and editors has had much of the content come to a stop, and we apologize for that.


 
Mar
08
    

Despite producer controvery and strong competition from Food, Inc,  The Cove won the Oscar for best documentary.

Reaction to the win:

“The Cove” is the unsurprising winner for best documentary, beating out the other socially conscious picture “Food, Inc.” More controversial: One of the winners holds up a save-the-dolphins text-message number onstage, which seems like a pretty clear infraction of the academy’s no-promotion rules for the podium, even if it is a promotion for a good cause. @LA Times

An Oscar win by “The Cove,” a documentary chronicling bloody dolphin hunting in a Japanese fishing town, could give the film the critical audience its makers wanted to reach: ordinary moviegoers in Japan.

News that the movie won the Academy Award for best feature documentary was greeted with surprise in Japan because many Japanese hadn’t heard of it. The U.S. film, directed by former National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos, hasn’t been shown in commercial theaters in Japan except for a single viewing during the Tokyo International Film Festival in October.

Japanese theaters have stayed away from it because of protests from the town of Taiji, a fishing town of 3,800 people in Western Japan that bills itself as the “birthplace of Japan’s commercial whaling.” The town’s officials requested the film’s Japanese distributor drop it, saying it was shot without permission of its people and constituted libel. @Wall Street Journal

“The Cove” edges out “Food, Inc.” Both films will be useful to aliens in explaining why our species deserved to go extinct. @tildology


 
Feb
10
    

Beverly Hills, CA — Nominee credits for Best Documentary Feature nominee “The Cove” have been determined by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Documentary Branch Executive Committee. Credits are as follows:

“The Cove” – Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens

Academy rules for the documentary feature category state that a maximum of two persons may be designated as nominees, one of whom must be the credited director, and the other of whom must have a producer or director credit. Psihoyos is the film’s director, Stevens has a producer credit.


 
Feb
02
    

Best documentary feature
“Burma VJ”
A Magic Hour Films Production
Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller

“The Cove”
An Oceanic Preservation Society Production
Nominees to be determined

“Food, Inc.”
A Robert Kenner Films Production
Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein

“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers”
A Kovno Communications Production
Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith

“Which Way Home”
A Mr. Mudd Production
Rebecca Cammisa



 
Dec
03
    

U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
This year’s 16 films were selected from 862 submissions. Each film is a world premiere.

Bhutto (Directors: Jessica Hernandez and Johnny O’Hara; Screenwriter: Johnny O’Hara)—A riveting journey through the life and work of recently assassinated Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistani prime minister and a polarizing figure in the Muslim world. World Premiere

CASINO JACK & The United States of Money (Director: Alex Gibney)—A probing investigation into the lies, greed and corruption surrounding D.C. super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his cronies. World Premiere

Family Affair (Director: Chico Colvard)—An uncompromising documentary that examines resilience, survival and the capacity to accommodate a parent’s past crimes in order to satisfy the longing for family. World Premiere

Freedom Riders (Director: Stanley Nelson)—The story behind a courageous band of civil rights activists called the Freedom Riders who in 1961 creatively challenged segregation in the American South. World Premiere
Gas Land (Director: Josh Fox)—A cross-country odyssey uncovers toxic streams, dying livestock, flammable sinks and weakening health among rural citizens on the front lines of the natural gas drilling craze. World Premiere

I’m Pat _______ Tillman (Director: Amir Bar-Lev)—The story of professional football star and decorated U.S. soldier Pat Tillman, whose family takes on the U.S. government when their beloved son dies in a “friendly fire” incident in Afghanistan in 2004. World Premiere

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (Director: Tamra Davis)—The story of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose work defined, electrified and challenged an era, and whose untimely death at age 27 has made him a cultural icon. World Premiere

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (Directors: Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg)—A rare, brutally honest glimpse into the comedic process and private dramas of legendary comedian and pop icon Joan Rivers as she fights tooth and nail to keep her American dream alive. World Premiere

Lucky (Director: Jeffrey Blitz)—The story of what happens when ordinary people hit the lottery jackpot.
World Premiere

My Perestroika (Director: Robin Hessman)—Intimately tracking the lives of five Muscovites who came of age just as the USSR collapsed and are adjusting to their post-Soviet reality, My Perestroika maps the contours of a nation in profound transition. World Premiere

The Oath (Director: Laura Poitras)— Filmed in Yemen, The Oath tells the story of two men whose fateful encounter in 1996 set them on a course of events that led them to Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, 9/11, Guantanamo, and the U.S. Supreme Court. World Premiere

Restrepo (Directors: Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington)—Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington’s year dug in with the Second Platoon in one of Afghanistan’s most strategically crucial valleys reveals extraordinary insight into the surreal combination of back breaking labor, deadly firefights, and camaraderie as the soldiers painfully push back the Taliban. World Premiere

A Small Act (Director: Jennifer Arnold)—A young Kenyan’s life changes dramatically when his education is sponsored by a Swedish stranger. Years later, he founds his own scholarship program to replicate the kindness he once received. World Premiere
Smash His Camera (Director: Leon Gast)—Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis sued him, and Marlon Brando broke his jaw. The story of notorious, reviled paparazzo Ron Galella opens a Pandora’s Box of issues from right to privacy, freedom of the press and the ever-growing vortex of celebrity worship. World Premiere

12th & Delaware (Directors: Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing)—The abortion battle continues to rage in unexpected ways on an unassuming corner in America. World Premiere

Waiting for Superman (Director: Davis Guggenheim)—Waiting for Superman examines the crisis of public education in the United States through multiple interlocking stories—from a handful of students and their families whose futures hang in the balance, to the educators and reformers trying to find real and lasting solutions within a dysfunctional system. World Premiere


 
Oct
05
    

 
Nov
18
    

Read reviews of several of the documentaries still in the running for the Oscar.

“At the Death House Door” REVIEW
“The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)”
“Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh”
“Encounters at the End of the World”
“Fuel”
“The Garden”
“Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts”
“I.O.U.S.A.”
“In a Dream”
“Made in America”
“Man on Wire” REVIEW
“Pray the Devil Back to Hell”
“Standard Operating Procedure” REVIEW
“They Killed Sister Dorothy”
“Trouble the Water”


 
Jul
17
    

The IFC has a great opportunity for individuals with documentaries ideas.  If you have a good concept for a documentary and want to get funding for it or get it seen by decision makers, you need to check out the IFC The Back to Basics Documentary Challenge.

You are only required to submit three minutes of video with your idea for the film, but the deadline is fast approaching (August 3, 2008), so you need to get organized quickly.

IFC is looking for a short documentary or a documentary trailer. It must be a non-fiction with the subject matter of your choosing. Please note, for this contest, IFC is only accepting documentary concepts. Film submissions will be judged on the filmmakers ability to portray their unique point of view with their chosen subject matter as well as the film’s overall creative and technical production merits.

Two cash prizes are being offered: 1st prize is $7500, Runner-up prize is $2500.

To get signed up and upload submissions, visit www.ifc.com/backtobasics 

Documentary Films .Net receives emails frequently from individuals with ideas for a film, but no idea how to take the next step.  This is the next step.  Use your video to pitch the idea you have always had.

Go to the IFC challenge webiste here www.ifc.com/backtobasics.  Opportunities to just pitch ideas are very limited.  This challenge is your opportunity.


 
Jun
15
    

By Joshua Davis
June 15, 2008

The scene is high school students looking unusually confident and serious.  Young people any instructor would be happy to have in a classroom setting.  Some jargon is used, but most viewers will see nothing out of the ordinary.  Then the speeches begin, and all hell breaks lose.  These kids are speaking at speeds so fast that very little is understood.  If you were in the room with them, you would have little reason to stay longer than a few minutes.  Something must be wrong.  Are the judges going to leave the room in disgust? Certainly this can not be normal; did these kids take an overdose of an often prescribed drug to address ADD?   Weird. Alien. Pointless. Why?

This is the opening of the movie Resolved. Up until this point it would seem obvious that debates should be easy to film.  In national politics, they are often televised and have served as a way to document key parts of political history.  But after jolting the viewer with the opening, the narrator explains that the highest level of high school policy debate started to take a turn in the 1960s to what is called “spread” (SPeed-READing).  Spread involves speaking rapidly in order to get out as many arguments as possible.  One debater started speaking faster and others just kept increasing their pace until nearly all debaters at the highest level were speaking at a rate of 300 to 400 words-per-minute.  The speed at which the debaters speak does not make for comfortable observation.  The film explains that since spread became the norm, only those who have participated in or coached debate can now effectively follow the debates.

Despite this potentially barrier, the filmmakers were still able to create a compelling film that is well balanced between explaining the competition that is debate and how the lives of the debaters affect their approach to the activity and its potentially exclusive nature.   Read the rest of this entry »


 
May
27
    

The Documentary Films .Net site has never been casually used to help raise funds for charity.  However in the last year members of our staff have have had the pleasure of meeting a great couple who are both dealing with cancer while raising their young son.  At the moment, neither of their cancers are life threatening, but they and millions of others struggle with cancer’s affects every day.  Both are involved in the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life event, so the publishers of the site felt it would be an event worthy of bringing to the attention of our readers.

Josh Davis, this site’s publisher will be walking at the Lawrence, Kansas Relay For Life held at the Free State High School track.  The event will be held overnight starting in the evening on June 13th.  Teammates will be walking throughout the night to raise awareness and funds to fight cancer.

If you are interested in donating, you can do it online via credit card directly to the American Cancer Society.  Donations can be accompanied by a note honoring someone you know who has been touched by cancer.

A link to my event webpage is provided below.

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeHighPlainsDivision?pg=personal&fr_id=5537&fr_id=5537&px=6458351

Any donation no matter how small is appreciated.


 
Nov
29
    

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

These films represent a broad section of new documentaries by American independent filmmakers. From examinations of the American political system and the country’s use of natural resources to explorations of cultural development and intimate portraits of legendary artists, these films represent a thematic and artistic variety. This year’s 16 films were selected from a record 953 submissions. Each film is a world premiere.

The films screening in Documentary Competition are:

AN AMERICAN SOLDIER (Director and Screenwriter: Edet Belzberg)—Uncle Sam really wants you! A compelling exploration of army recruitment in the United States told through the story of Louisiana Sergeant, First Class Clay Usie, one of the most successful recruiters in the history of the U.S. Army. World Premiere

AMERICAN TEEN (Director and Screenwriter: Nanette Burstein)— This irreverent cinema vérité chronicles four seniors at an Indiana high school and yields a surprising snapshot of Midwestern life. World Premiere

BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER* (Director: Christopher Bell; Screenwriters: Christopher Bell, Alexander Buono, Tamsin Rawady)—A filmmaker explores America’s win-at-all-cost culture by examining his two brothers’ steroids use…and his own. World Premiere

FIELDS OF FUEL (Director and Screenwriter: Josh Tickell)— America is addicted to oil and it is time for an intervention. Enter Josh Tickell, a man with a plan and a Veggie Van, who is taking on big oil, big government, and big soy to find solutions in places few people have looked. World Premiere

FLOW: FOR LOVE OF WATER (Director: Irena Salina)— Water is the very essence of life, sustaining every being on the planet. FLOW confronts the disturbing reality that our crucial resource is dwindling and greed just may be the cause. World Premiere

GONZO: THE LIFE AND WORK OF DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON (Director: Alex Gibney)—Fueled by a raging libido, Wild Turkey, and superhuman doses of drugs, Thompson was a true “free lance,” goring sacred cows with impunity, hilarity, and a steel-eyed conviction for writing wrongs. Focusing on the good doctor’s heyday, 1965 to 1975, the film includes clips of never-before-seen (nor heard) home movies, audiotapes, and passages from unpublished manuscripts. World Premiere

THE GREATEST SILENCE: RAPE IN THE CONGO (Director and Screenwriter: Lisa F. Jackson)— Jackson travels to remote villages in the war zones of the Congo to meet rape survivors, providing a piercing, intimate look into the struggle of their lives. World Premiere

I.O.U.S.A. (Director: Patrick Creadon)—Few are aware that America may be on the brink of a financial meltdown. I.O.U.S.A. explores the country’s shocking current fiscal condition and ways to avoid a national economic disaster. World Premiere

NERAKHOON (THE BETRAYAL) (Director: Ellen Kuras; Co-Director: Thavisouk Phrasavath; Screenwriters: Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath)— The epic story of a family forced to emigrate from Laos after the chaos of the secret air war waged by the U.S. during the Vietnam War. Kuras has spent the last 23 years chronicling the family’s extraordinary journey in this deeply personal, poetic, and emotional film. World Premiere

THE ORDER OF MYTHS (Director: Margaret Brown) — In 2007 Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras is celebrated…and complicated. Following a cast of characters, parades, and parties across an enduring color line, we see that beneath the surface of pageantry lies something else altogether. World Premiere

PATTI SMITH: DREAM OF LIFE (Director and Screenwriter: Steven Sebring)— An intimate portrait of music icon Patti Smith that mirrors the essence of the artist herself. World Premiere

ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED (Director: Marina Zenovich; Screenwriters: Marina Zenovich, Joe Bini, P.G. Morgan)— Marina Zenovich’s new documentary examines the public scandal and private tragedy which led to legendary director Roman Polanski’s sudden flight from the United States. World Premiere

SECRECY (Directors: Peter Galison, Robb Moss)— Amidst the American hunger for instantaneous news and up-to-date “facts,” this unflinching film uncovers the vast, invisible world of government secrecy. World Premiere

SLINGSHOT HIP HOP (Director: Jackie Reem Salloum)—The voice of a new generation rocks and rhymes as Palestinian rappers form alternative voices of resistance within the Israeli-Palestinian struggle. World Premiere

TRACES OF THE TRADE: A STORY FROM THE DEEP NORTH (Director: Katrina Browne; C0-Directors: Alla Kovgan, Jude Ray; Screenwriters: Katrina Browne, Alla Kovgan)—History finally gets rewritten as descendants of the largest slave-trading family in early America face their past, and present, as they explore their violent heritage across oceans and continents. World Premiere

TROUBLE THE WATER (Directors: Tia Lessin, Carl Deal)— An aspiring rap artist and her streetwise husband, armed with a video camera, show what survival is all about when they are trapped in New Orleans by deadly floodwaters, and seize a chance for a new beginning. World Premiere


 
Nov
12
    

By Eddie Glenn
November 12, 2006

It’s not hard to understand why some viewers of “Okie Noodling” might think it more akin to reality TV than film documentation.

Every time I watch director Bradley Beesley’s 2001 documentary in the company of non-Okies, I hear comments like, “This can’t be real!,” and “There’s no way!” Of course, I have to forgive their skepticism, because what they’re watching really doesn’t seem to make sense. Why would grown men stick their hands under ledges and rocks in murky water, wriggle their fingers to entice an already-paranoid catfish, wait for that special moment when the fish clamps down on said fingers/bait, grab a handful of fish innards, and pull?

There are, after all, much less painful methods of catching a catfish. But noodlers, as simple as they may appear to some viewers of this film, aren’t completely stupid. They know about Zebco, Trilene, stinkbait, trotlines, and all that other paraphernalia used by their less adventurous catfish-catching brethren. They just don’t give a flying rat’s ass about that stuff.

They’re not mere fishermen.

They’re noodlers, and the two are no more similar than professional bull-riders and the kids on the mechanical pony out in front of Wal-Mart.

(There’s an Okie analogy for ya.)

Noodling, or hand-fishing, is prohibited in most states. But in Oklahoma (where my grandfather and great-uncles kept the family fed during the Great Depression on noodled catfish) it’s a legal means of landing only one species of catfish – the channel cat. Noodling season usually coincides with the month of June, but it can spill over into July if the weather’s a little off. That’s when the female catfish have laid their eggs, taken a well-deserved post-partum vacation, and left the fellas to guard the eggs. Then along come the fingers of a noodler, threatening the spawn-shack, and the fight is on. The catfish attacks, and both parties to the contention attempt to pull one another into less-than-hospitable environs. The process, as the videography in Beesley’s film illustrates very well, is downright atavistic, with lots of heavy breathing, grunting, occasional yelling, and, of course, splashing. The language, the glimpses of noodlers’ everyday lives, and the interviews of Okie non-noodlers (the comments by the significant others of noodlers is absolutely priceless! I was laughing so hard, I had to go back over it a couple of times), make “Okie Noodling” a documentary of culture as much as sport.

The denouement of the film – the first-ever Okie noodling competition – is downright heartbreaking, as these heavily accented, beer-swilling, red-necked, fish-baby-killing good ol’ boys (but they’re kin, and I still love ‘em!) actually show a vulnerable side that anyone, noodler or no, who’s ever dived down deep and come up short can understand.

Little pockets of folk culture like the noodling scene of southern Oklahoma exist all over the United States, but they rarely get fair treatment by film documentarians. Beesley’s “Okie Noodling” presents the sport — as bare, basic, and honest as its participants — without any judgment, and offers up a great soundtrack by fellow-Okies the Flaming Lips to boot. The interview of Lips lead signer Wayne Coyne on the DVD version is a must-see, as his explanation of the inspiration for the tunes will leave one wondering, “Just how sexual can wrestling with a catfish really be?”


 
May
19
    

Fox News: ” Filmmaker Michael Moore’s brilliant and uplifting new documentary, “Sicko,” deals with the failings of the U.S. health care system, both real and perceived. But this time around, the controversial documentarian seems to be letting the subject matter do the talking, and in the process shows a new maturity.”

Hollywood Elsewhere: “I have to say that I went into this documentary with limited expectations, but I came out teary-eyed.””It’s not just an eye-opener, in short, but a movie that opens your emotional pores.” Read the rest of this entry »



 
May
13
    

“My mother was my entire life. I had no father to speak of and she and I were so close it was difficult to tell where one of us ended and the other began. But we were always running from her demons, both real and imagined. All the while it was my job to love and protect her as much as I could, but it was never enough. When I was 19 she threatened to kill me and I had to leave. I was gone for five years. Manhattan, Kansas is the story of our reunion.”

– Tara Wray

15 minute clip from the film


 
Apr
15
    

goddoesntbelieve.jpg

Victory Bible Church
Massachusetts Street
Lawrence, KS

wideshot.jpg


 
Apr
03
    

(March 23, 2007) Now in its 41st year, the BAC International Film and Video Festival (May 5 – 12, 2007) screens 58 films over 6 days at 4 venues with three feature narratives having their World or New York premieres at the festival. Keeping with Brooklyn Arts Council’s tradition of showcasing a wide variety of high quality films directed by emerging artists from around the world, this year includes 8 award winning short documentaries, 15 short narratives, 8 animation and 5 experimental pieces, plus 6 innovative installation videos by filmmakers from Brooklyn to China to Botswana. 11 films shot and directed by youth filmmakers will also be screened.

This year’s festival kicks off on Saturday, May 5 from 2 – 5 pm at the Brooklyn Museum with “Brooklyn Filmmakers,” a screening of shorts and feature works. This year Brooklyn Arts Council partners with the Brooklyn Museum in conjunction with the museum’s new Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art by curating Pharaohs, Queens and Goddesses, a wonderful selection of films that deal with Global Feminism that screens on Saturday, May 5, 2007 from 6:30 – 10:30pm during Brooklyn Museum’s acclaimed Target First Saturday series.

We’ve expanded our ability to meet and support the ever increasing number of films shot, produced, directed and serviced by Brooklyn artists with additional collaborations. New initiatives allow screenwriters, for example, to benefit from our “Story Structure and Creative Explorations” professional development seminar and to compete for prizes generously donated by Writers Boot Camp. Filmmakers can enjoy wider, more diverse audiences at the Target First Saturday screening at the Brooklyn Museum, and network with each other at our closing party at Bar Sepia, on Friday, May 11th. The “Independent Filmmakers” screening, also at the Brooklyn Museum, showcases Independent talent from as far as the Chech Republic, while the “New Visionaries” screening at Long Island University focuses on fresh, new films by local and international college students. Sony Wonder hosts our seventh “Youth Shorts” screening at the Sony Wonder Technology Lab in Manhattan on Thursday, May 10. And on Friday, May 11 the festival features provocative new films during the “After Hours” screening at the Brooklyn Museum. We wrap up our festival week with the Sixth Annual Women of African Descent Film Festival, hosted by the Brooklyn chapter of the Links at Long Island University, which showcases films directed or produced by women of the African Diaspora.

BACKGROUND

Each year, Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC) hosts the International Film and Video Festival to give film and video artists an opportunity to show their work to critics, the media and an enthusiastic New York audience. In operation since 1966, the festival is the longest running event of its kind in Brooklyn.  For some young filmmakers, the BAC Film Festival is an important first step in launching a successful career. In 2002, a recent college graduate named Ryan Fleck screened a short film at the BAC Film Festival. Ryan went on to write and direct the critically-acclaimed feature Half Nelson, which won the New York Film Critic’s Best First Feature Award, among others. Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea), directed by Javier Fesser, was shown in our festival last year and was recently nominated for an Academy Award in the “Best Live Action Short Film” category.


 
Mar
22
    

UPDATE: The Bridge will be released to DVD on June 12, 2007. 

The Golden Gate Bridge, with its views of the San Francisco Bay and skyline, is an American icon and a major tourist destination. But it is also the site of more suicides than any other place in the world. The question of why this particular bridge is such a magnet for suicides (along with the broader issue of suicide, and mental illness in general) is explored in Eric Steele’s debut documentary, which he began to work on after reading Tad Friend’s New Yorker article on the subject. Every day during 2004, Steele set up his cameras and filmed the Golden Gate Bridge during daylight hours. Day after day, he and his crew observed thousands of people crossing the bridge on foot from San Francisco to Marin County and back. They filmed everyone from tourists to bicyclists, but ever so often a person would climb over one small part of the bridge’s mile-long railing and let go. However, while the camera can record the act of suicide, it cannot tell us what leads a person to such an extreme action or what thoughts run through someone’s mind during those last moments. In an attempt to uncover some of these mysteries, Steele crossed the country in order to interview friends and families of the jumpers he captured on film, on-scene witnesses to various jumps, and even a jump survivor. These testimonials elevate the jumpers in the film from nameless statistics to human beings whose lives have inexorably led them to a tragically decisive moment on the Golden Gate Bridge. Like the bridge itself, this film is beautiful, powerful, and possesses an underlying darkness.

–David Wonk, Programmer for Tribeca Film Festival

From January through December 2004, Steel used 10-to-12-person crews to train his cameras day and night on this landmark — using both close-up lenses and wide angle shots to see the full expanse of the bridge.

By the time he finished, he had taped 23 of the 24 suicides that occurred that year. Now he has released a documentary called “The Bridge” that shows some of the jumps. The film has produced both praise and condemnation for his choices.

ABC News Story

Trailer

UPDATE:  Read Bryan Newbury’s review of The Bridge.


 
Mar
15
    

UPDATE: See announced 2007 date below.
When: November 10-18, 2007
Where: Guía de Isora, Tenerife Island, Canary Islands
What: Newer documentary festival that fccuses on documentaries shot in the South and developing countries.  Festival includes five main sections: Official Competition Section, Parallel Sections, DOCUSUR Market, Workshops, and Civilization forum.
Website: http://www.docusur.es/


 
Mar
15
    

The feature-length documentary film ADDICTION is the centerpiece of the Addiction project. Bringing together the nation’s leading experts with award- winning filmmakers, it consists of nine separate segments, including: “Saturday Night in a Dallas ER,” by Jon Alpert; “A Mother’s Desperation,” by Susan Froemke and Albert Maysles; “The Science of Relapse,” by Eugene Jarecki and Susan Froemke; “The Adolescent Addict,” by Kate Davis and David Heilbroner; “Brain Imaging,” by Liz Garbus and Rory Kennedy; “Opiate Addiction: A New Medication,” by D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus; “Topiramate: A Clinical Trial for Alcoholism,” by Alan and Susan Raymond; “Steamfitters Local Union 638,” by Barbara Kopple; and “Insurance Woes,” by Susan Froemke. ADDICTION is produced by John Hoffman and Susan Froemke; executive produced by Sheila Nevins.
http://www.hbo.com/addiction/


 
Mar
15
    

When: November 8-18, 2007
Where: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
What: The Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM) was founded in 1998 by documentary filmmakers who wanted to give documentary film a showcase that would encourage the emergence of new ways of looking at the world.  An annual event with an international scope, the RIDM is now in its 10th year. Each edition offers some one hundred films from the four corners of the world, with a focus on films that stand out for their unique vision and artistic merit. Recognizing that documentary film truly is a privileged means for understanding the challenges facing our society and our planet, the program is organized around themes – social, political and environmental, and features workshops and events, that engage audiences, film professionals and partners in conversation and debate. In numerous workshops and the RIDM Forum, industry people can also share ideas on the creative process involved in documentary making, and discuss political and artistic concerns.
Website: www.ridm.qc.ca


 
Mar
15
    

When:  April 21 & 22, 2007
Where: Tishman Auditorium, TheNew School, 66 West 12 Street, New York, NY 10011.
What: The theme of the festival is the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). To be considered, a film must reflect one or more of the MDGs. The Festival is open to all filmmakers from or contracted by United Nations offices, funds, programmes, and agencies, and to the general public. THE CALL FOR ENTRIES IS NOW CLOSED. Film finalists will be announced on March 12, 2007, and listed on the Festival Web site shortly thereafter. Winners will be announced at the Festival. In addition to the film screenings and award presentations, there will be workshops and panel discussions featuring the filmmakers, and invited representatives from the United Nations, The New School, MCAINY, and, for the first time, The Mount Sinai Hospital and School of Medicine, which will lend its expertise to those discussions that center on global health.
Website: www.storiesfromthefield.org


 
Feb
25
    

An Inconvenient Truth (Paramount Classics and Participant Productions)
A Lawrence Bender/Laurie David Production
Davis Guggenheim

The Blood of Yingzhou District
A Thomas Lennon Films Production
Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon