[PBS CEO Paula Kerger]: “My point to them is that we, as public television, don’t have the resources to try to understand what they’re thinking,” said Kerger, who won big points with reporters for her forthright comments. “I can’t tell you, as I stand here today, that I have a clear understanding” of whether PBS stations could face fines for airing the Burns documentary — with language intact — before 10 p.m.

“When you look at the indecency rulings as they have transpired, I don’t see a clear path. Right now, it’s a moving target.”

The context for the concern is that KCSM, the San Mateo-based public TV station, is facing a $15,000 fine from the FCC for a repeat showing of an episode of Martin Scorsese’s “The Blues” that included a smattering of blue language. The FCC acted even though it got just one complaint and “The Blues” was shown all across the country without issue.

Full Mercury News story by Charlie McCollum

When: July 14-August 6, 2006
Where: Johannesburg and Capetown, South Afrca
What: One of the fastest growing documentary festivals.  Documentaries from around the world are showcased with a focus on South African and African films.
Website: http://www.encounters.co.za

When: July 26-28, 2006
Where: Keble College, Oxford, United Kingdom
What:  First annual festival.  British attempt at a must attend documentary film festival to allow for a meeting place of the British documentary community and introduction to the rest of the world.  In its first year 20 films will be screened.
Website: https://www.britdoc.org/festival/mission.php

Read the rest of this entry »

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By Gregg Goldstein

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Magnolia Pictures has nabbed North American rights to “Jesus Camp,” a documentary about a retreat for born-again Christian children.

The project revolves around three youngsters who attend the Rev. Becky Fischer’s “Kids on Fire” summer camp in Devil’s Lake, N.D. It details their training to “take back America for Christ” and hone “prophetic gifts” in a mission as political as it is religious. The film was directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. Read the rest of this entry »

The PBS documentarian Ken Burns has been working for six years on The War, a soldier’s-eye view of World War II, and those who have seen parts of the 14-plus hours say they are replete with salty language appropriate to discussions of the horrors of war.

What viewers will see and hear when the series is broadcast in September 2007 is an open question.

A new Public Broadcasting Service policy that went into effect immediately when it was issued May 31 requires producers whose shows are broadcast before 10 p.m. to adhere to tough editing requirements when it comes to coarse language, to comply with tightened rulings on broadcast indecency by the Federal Communications Commission.

Full New York Times Story

Telefest is more than a festival for television. The goal of Telefest is simple – the revolution of television. Telefest is as diverse as the programming currently on network and cable TV, with 15 categories encompassing drama, comedy, reality, soaps, documentaries, films, music videos, stand up comedy, how-to shows, political shows, animation, commercials, teleplays and more. Read the rest of this entry »

When: August 18-24, 2006
Where: Hollywood, California
What: Smaller event that feels like multiple screenings more than a full festival.  Put on by the International Documentary Association.
Website: http://www.documentary.org/programs/index_06.php

I am obsessed with Flogging Molly.  I was not yesterday.  I had heard of the traditionally Irish-influenced punk rockers prior to watching the film, Whiskey on a Sunday, this morning but had never heard their music.  Now I type as fast as I can, eager to run out to the record store and grab all their records.  Ordering online won’t be fast enough.  After that I need to check local concert listings and camp out wherever they’re coming next.

Whiskey on a Sunday, directed, shot and edited by Jim Dziura, who, as far as I can tell, has only done supporting camera work of a handful of documentaries, flows extremely well, picking up at an undefined date in the midst of the band’s tour, and deftly weaves in and out of tour, studio and interview footage with all band members and effectively (and free of narration) tells the band’s story, both as group and as individual members.  Read the rest of this entry »

Few creatures receive the perennial good press enjoyed by penguins. In popularity as stuffed toys they’re probably right behind teddy bears, dogs, cats, and horses; and cartoonists from Oliphant to Berke Breathed have found them ideal as commentators.

So perhaps it should not have been any great surprise that the documentary crowd pleaser of 2005 turned out to be a nature film, distributed by Warner Independent Pictures and funded by National Geographic, “as told by Morgan Freeman” and “based upon the story by Luc Jacquet”—whatever that means—that stars emperor penguins. What is surprising is how little we really knew about them, as well as how gorgeous the severely limited palette of Antarctica proved to be for the cameras. Read the rest of this entry »

When: November 8-12, 2006
Where: American Museum of Natural History, New York City, New York
What: The Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival is the longest-running showcase for international documentaries in the United States, encompassing a broad spectrum of work, from indigenous community media to experimental nonfiction. The festival involves forums for discussion with filmmakers and speakers. The festival was founded by the American Museum of Natural History in 1977, in honor of pioneering anthropologist Margaret Mead on her seventy-fifth birthday and her fiftieth year at the Museum.
Website: http://www.amnh.org/programs/mead/

When: October 30-November 5, 2006
Where: Sheffield, United Kingdom/
What: Where the UK factual film industry goes to network and do business.  Beyond the commericial element, 75 films are going to be screened.  This is one of the largest doc festivals in the world, and extends it reach by offering a tour of select films at other times in the year.
Website: http://www.sidf.co.uk/

Read the rest of this entry »

When: January 2007
Where: Helsinki, Finland
What: DocPoint is the largest documentary film festival in the Nordic countries. In Finland, it is the only one dedicated solely to documentary films. Every year, the festival offers both a national and an international selection of the best brand new movies, celebrated classics, and a special selection of documentary films for children. In addition, a wide range of seminars, lectures and workshops is organised.
Website: http://www.docpoint.info/

When: September 7-10, 2006
Where: Sydney, Australia
What: First held in October 1998, queerDOC has subsequently become established as an important event on the Australian and international gay and lesbian film festival calendar. queerDOC remains the world’s only documentary film festival focusing on queer (gay, lesbian transgender, transsexual, intersex etc) documentary films. As such it has a worldwide reputation and has access to the best of queer documentaries from around the world.
Website: http://www.queerscreen.com.au/

When: April 12-15, 2007
Where: Carolina Theatre – Durham, North Carolina
What: One of the largest and best attended documentary film festivals in the United States.  Over 100 documentary films screened.  Festival offers panel discussions, semiars, and Q&A sessions.
Website: http://www.fullframefest.org

I once asked Fleiss what she liked about the sex business. “I don’t like anything about the sex business,” she said, “but it’s all I know how to do.” For doing what she knows how to do and otherwise, she has a motto: “Maximize and capitalize.” One of the ways she’s been maximizing and capitalizing lately involves HBO. See, Fleiss filed for bankruptcy a few years back. She told me the government got every penny of her madam money, that those secret Swiss bank accounts weren’t all that secret once Uncle Sam got involved. Originally, for her stud farm, she’d planned on getting investors, but then she changed her mind. “I’m Heidi Fleiss,” she said. “I don’t need investors.”

Nope, but she needed HBO. She needed them because they agreed to pay her for the rights to make a documentary about her attempt to open a stud farm. Rumors were they’d put up a hundred grand. “No,” she said, “it’s a little more than that.” But they’d paid up-front, and Fleiss said she was sinking the money into her new establishment. What interested me was that Time Warner owns HBO, which meant that one way or another, Time Warner was helping to pay for the nation’s first stud farm. I called HBO to confirm this, and while they would admit to making a documentary about the stud farm (it will air next fall), they wouldn’t discuss finances.

Click for the full article in LA Weekly.

From a letter sent out to supporters:

Back in February, I asked if people would send me letters describing their experiences with our health care system. I received over 19,000 of them. It was truly overwhelming as we literally took a month and read them all. To read about the misery people are put through on a daily basis by our profit-based system was both moving and revolting. That’s all I will say right now.

We’ve spent the better part of this year shooting our next movie, “Sicko.” As we’ve done with our other films, we don’t discuss them while we are making them. If people ask, we tell them “Sicko” is “a comedy about 45 million people with no health care in the richest country on earth.”

But like my other movies, what we start with (General Motors, guns, 9/11) is not always what we end with. Along the way, we discover new roads to go down, roads that often surprise us and lead us to new ideas — and challenge us to reconsider the ones we began with. That, I can say with certainty, is happening now as we shoot “Sicko.” I don’t think the country needs a movie that tells you that HMOs and the pharmaceutical companies suck. Everybody knows that. I’d like to show you some things you don’t know. So stay tuned for where this movie has led me. I think you might enjoy it.

At this point, we’ve shot about 75% of “Sicko” and will soon begin putting it together. It will be released in theaters sometime in 2007.

“Blood Of Eden”, a new feature film documentary written and directed by Ziad Hamzeh, has begun principal photography in Washington, DC and Damascus, Syria. Conjuring up the visual feeling of the classic battle scenes and majestic beauty of Arabia that was masterfully created by David Lean in “Lawrence Of Arabia”, “Blood Of Eden” follows, explores and experiences the lives of extraordinary Arab women as they raise the stakes in the fight against religious fanaticism, societal barriers, political domination and archaic traditions all aimed to curtail the freedom of Arab women. Read the rest of this entry »

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“Punto de Vista”, the Navarra International Documentary Film Festival, is now inviting submissions for the next edition of the festival which will take place 23th February – 3rd March 2007, in Pamplona (Spain). Read the rest of this entry »

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