POV Blog

Doc Soup: Ten Best Documentary Film Posters

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:18:46 -0500

Independent journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the world of documentaries in his column, Doc Soup. You can also follow Tom on Twitter @DocSoupMan.

Movie posters have always been a hip form of art; the unique images designed for movies such as Anatomy of a Murder, Vertigo and Last Temptation of Christ are as much works of art themselves as they are stunning sales pitches for the movies they were made for. (Mea culpa; throughout my teen years, I slept under a poster for Subway — no, not the sandwich chain — because I thought it was the epitome of cool.)

Posters for documentaries are no less compelling. In fact, they have the higher calling of the double bottom line: not just selling the film, but also maintaining a similar political-social agenda. And so it is with great respect and admiration that I have put together what I consider the ten best documentary movie posters. (And, wouldn't you know it, there's a doc movie poster contest for the upcoming Full Frame festival. Submissions are due February 15th.

View a slideshow of documentary movie posters after the jump...

Weekly Roundup: Mourning Karen Schmeer, Oscar Nominations, Sundance Wrap-up and More

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:01:56 -0500

This week, the documentary world mourns the passing of a beloved editor, we look forward to the Oscars and look back at Sundance, and we take a peek at Patti Smith's new memoir.

Documentary editor Karen Schmeer was killed in a hit-and-run accident in New York City last week. Filmmaker Errol Morris, who worked with Karen on The Fog of War and Fast, Cheap and Out of Control, broke the devastating news on his Twitter. The New York Times gives the details on the incident, a reporter from OregonLive pulls up a 1997 article about Karen's work on Fast, Cheap and Out of Control in rememberance (Karen grew up in Oregon), commenters on All These Wonderful Things share memories of Karen, and POV's Yance Ford and filmmakers Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini penned tributes to her. Our thoughts are with Karen's colleagues, friends and family.

Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday, and we were thrilled to learn that two upcoming POV films (Food, Inc. and The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers) were nominated for best documentary. AJ Schnack has a roundup of the nominees' reactions and the LA Times' The Envelope says that all five of the contenders deal with serious, even "dire" subjects. The Oscars air on Sunday, March 7th.

Read more after the jump...

Remembering Karen Schmeer

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:13:04 -0500

POV's series producer Yance Ford remembers editor Karen Schmeer, who was killed in a hit-and-run accident on January 29, 2010.

How do you begin to make sense out of insanity? How do you reconcile the normality of last week with this week — when the world has turned on its head? That's what a sudden death feels like. When the death is compounded by tragic circumstance and youth, it becomes that much more difficult to comprehend. When Karen Schmeer was killed last Friday night, most of the documentary community was focused on Sundance 2010 as it was winding down. Like many, I learned of Karen's death when filmmaker Laura Poitras mentioned her passing while accepting the Sundance Cinematography Award for The Oath.

Karen Schmeer. Photo by Garret Savage, via AJ Schnack of All These Wonderful Things.

Read more after the jump...

Oscar Noms for POV Films "Food, Inc." and "The Most Dangerous Man in America"

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:21:32 -0500

Nominations for the 2010 Academy Awards were announced this morning in Los Angeles, and we were thrilled to hear that two upcoming POV films, Food, Inc. and The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, were nominated for Best Documentary Feature.

About Food, Inc.:
How much do we know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets and serve to our families? Though our food appears the same as ever — a tomato still looks like a tomato — it has been radically transformed. In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner and investigative authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) lift the veil on our U.S. food industry, revealing surprising facts about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we may go from here. The film airs on POV on April 21st.

About The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers:
In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a leading Vietnam War strategist, concludes that America's role in the war is based on decades of lies. He leaks 7,000 pages of top-secret documents to The New York Times, a daring act of conscience that leads directly to Watergate, President Nixon's resignation and the end of the Vietnam War. Ellsberg and a who's-who of Vietnam-era movers and shakers give a riveting account of those world-changing events in The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers by award-winning filmmakers Judith Ehrlich (The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It) and Rick Goldsmith (Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press). The Most Dangerous Man in America will air on POV during our 2010 season.

The other Best Doc nominees are The Cove, Which Way Home and Burma VJ, co-directed by POV alum Anders Østergaard. Congratulations and good luck to all the filmmakers! The Oscars take place on March 7, 2010.

Related Links:

Docs in India: the Asian Documentary Forum

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:48:27 -0500

POV's Associate Producer Andrew Catauro writes in with a report from Docedge '10, the Asian Documentary Forum.

Just a couple of weeks ago, the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute hosted the 7th edition of Docedge, an international documentary workshop in Kolkata, India. I was invited to sit on a panel with 12 international broadcasters and commissioning editors while a group of documentary filmmakers from across Asia pitched their in-the-works projects. With support from IDFA's Jan Vrijman Fund, Docedge gives filmmakers access to unique tutoring sessions for several days before the pitching forum, helping to improve the delivery of their final pitches. This year's tutors included Nick Ware of AsterMedia, filmmakers Audrius Stonys of Lithuania and Phil Cox of the U.K., Rudy Buttignol, executive director of British Columbia's Knowledge Network, and Claas Danielsen, director of Dok Leipzig — the world's longest-running festival for documentary and animation.

The main theater at Docedge '10, Asian Documentary Forum.

Read more after the jump...

Doc Soup: Which Sundance Docs Will Live Beyond Park City?

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:05:26 -0500

Independent journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the world of documentaries in his column, Doc Soup. You can also follow Tom on Twitter @DocSoupMan.

In documentaries, as in life, there's usually a difference between what really happened, how people perceive what happened, and how that event gets filtered through memory, stories and the media. If you're still with me, here's the point: This is all the more apropos to the Sundance Film Festival. I didn't go this year, so I got glimpses and snippets from reading reports like Yance's, or seeing Facebook updates from excited filmmakers. Here's my filter:

This year's Sundance was as much a grand celebration of documentaries as it always has been. (It's good to see is that the documentary category clearly survived the transition of Festival heads, from Geoff Gilmore to John Cooper.) Not only did docs capture the biz buzz by offering up the first major acquisition, Waiting for Superman, they also provided the biggest underground buzz with Exit through the Gift Shop. Davis Guggenheim's Superman, a film about public education, was snatched up by Paramount before the festival even began. And Gift Shop wasn't even on the screening lists until about a week before the fest; the doc, about British street artist Banksy, took a guerilla approach to self-promotion, just like its subject, and was one of the most talked-about films at the festival.

Read more after the jump...

Remembering Howard Zinn

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:22:25 -0500

Filmmaker Anthony Giacchino's film, The Camden 28, featured historian Howard Zinn. Upon hearing about Howard Zinn's death last week, Anthony sent in this tribute to "the People's Historian."

Just last Saturday, I emailed Howard Zinn to tell him I was going to attend a performance of his wonderful play, Marx in Soho, outside Philadelphia. I had planned on following up with him this week...

Like most people, I first encountered Howard through his writing. For me, however, it wasn't A People's History, but rather, a short piece in which he criticized the movie Mississippi Burning for portraying J. Edgar Hoover's FBI as heroic warriors for civil rights (I'm not sure if this is exactly what I read — it probably is — but click here to read "The Federal Bureau of Intimidation.") I could feel my mind turning — I don't know any other way to describe it — as I read Howard's words. His personal perspective, his contextualization of events, and his cutting humor just blew me away.

Remembering Howard Zinn from Anthony Giacchino on Vimeo. This video of Howard Zinn is raw footage from a reunion put together for The Camden 28. Howard Zinn testified at the C28's trial on April 26, 1973 and was kind enough to make his way to Camden again on May 4, 2002 to recount that testimony. Sponsored by the "Historical Society of the US District Court for the Southern District of New Jersey," it all happened in the very same courtroom the trial took place. Camden 28 defendant Cookie Ridolfi asked Howard to testify during their trial and she led the questioning again in 2002. You'll also hear a detached voice on a speaker talking about Howard's testimony — that's David Hinden, who was on the prosecution team. Hinden was unable to come to Camden that day, so he participated by phone. Historian Steve Gillon moderated the event.

Read more about Howard Zinn after the jump...

Weekly Roundup: Sundance, Howard Zinn and New Muslim Cool

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:37:30 -0500

This week, we focus on the Sundance Film Festival, mourned Howard Zinn and get an update from New Muslim Cool.

Much of the doc world was in Utah this week for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. POV's own Yance Ford blogged up a storm, bringing us video of a Q&A after a screening of My Perestroika, updates and gossip from Park City, and much more. IndieWire also has excellent coverage of the festival, including blurbs and reviews of almost all the films shown, a profile of Last Train Home (POV 2011) filmmaker Lixin Fan and a summary of the distribution forum. New York Magazine was impressed with the doc lineup at Sundance, while Variety says the diverse lineup featured "a lineup of nonfiction directors who've made enough movies to fill six seasons of 'POV.'" Over on his blog, AJ Schnack rounds up reviews of all the docs at the festival.

Read more after the jump...

Sundance 2010: Wrapping Up

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:19:26 -0500

POV's series producer Yance Ford is at the Sundance Film Festival. She has been blogging and twittering from Park City this week.

I'm back from Sundance, wrinkled from the red-eye and in full possession of a Sundance sore throat. Right now it's snowing in New York, and if you squint hard, Gotham looks a little like Park City, Utah, did all week. My Sundance 2010 wrapped with two fantastic panels, and a reception for the Sundance Institute/Skoll Foundation Partnership.

Skoll and the Sundance Institute came together to support the development and production of documentaries that examine "social entrepreneurs" and the work they do to affect change in their communities. The first film to come of this partnership is Gayle Ferraro's To Catch a Dollar: Muhammad Yunus Banks on America. Featuring Dr. Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace prize and a pioneer of micro-financing, To Catch a Dollar chronicles the first year of Grammen America in its first U.S. location (in Queens, New York) and the women who receive loans from the organization. If you're still in Park City, make time to catch this inspiring film.

I hinted at the Web 3.0 panel in a previous post, but now that I'm back, it deserves more thorough coverage:

Read more after the jump...

Sundance Video: Q&A With Filmmaker Robin Hessman and the Subjects of "My Perestroika"

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:51:43 -0500

POV's series producer Yance Ford is at the Sundance Film Festival. She has been blogging and twittering from Park City this week.

My Perestroika by Robin Hessman chronicles the stories of five Moscow schoolmates who were brought up behind the Iron Curtain and now live in post-Soviet Russia. After a fantastic screening in Park City, Robin and the Meyerson family, who are featured in the film, answered questions from the audience.

Watch My Perestroika on POV this summer!

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Sundance Update: Meetings, Screenings, Panels and Parties in Park City

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:29:24 -0500

POV's series producer Yance Ford is at the Sundance Film Festival. She's blogging and twittering from Park City throughout the week.

Well, the infamous Sundance wall reared up and smacked me on Tuesday. Keeping up with the meetings, screenings, panels and parties here in Park City is an exhausting (though fun) job, but once in awhile you know you've got a glazed-over look on your face that means you need to go home or take a nap. I took a nap, thank you, and feel pumped for my final day at SFF 2010!

Tuesday was a busy day for documentary filmmakers, both the ones supported by the Sundance Documentary Fund (SDF), and the filmmakers attending the festival looking for face time with some of the industry's biggest funders. I'm not sure how the SDF staff handles a slew of grantees as well as a throng of other filmmakers vying for space at the table, but they did so with aplomb. The staff of the Doc Fund, Kristin Feely, Lesli Klainberg, Win-Sie Tow, Dyana Winkler, Patricia Finneran and Cara Mertes, have carved out homes for doc makers &mdash at the filmmaker lodge, various panels, grantee breakfasts, as well as funder meetings and round tables. When SDF says "Welcome to the Sundance family," they mean it, and the grantees I've spoken to here have really appreciated it.

Read more after the jump...

Sundance Update: Finding Some Calm in the Middle of Snow and Chaos

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:45:04 -0500

POV's series producer Yance Ford is at the Sundance Film Festival. She'll be blogging and twittering from Park City throughout the week.

Good morning from Park City! It's early here and folks are gearing up for another day of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

Wondering what the weather (and weather forecaster) is like here in Park City? Take a look. This weather lady says: lots of snow falling on Park City!

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Meanwhile, New Frontier on main offered come calm in the middle of the chaos that is Sundance with a video installation by artist Pipilotti Rist. Check it out.

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NYC Event: "Off and Running" at the IFC This Friday

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:31:23 -0500

If you're in New York City, please join us at the IFC Center for the opening night of Off and Running by Nicole Opper at 8:05 p.m. on Friday, January 29th. POV is proud to co-host the event with DocuClub and Tribeca All Access, which will feature a Q & A moderated by Terry Lawler of New York Women in Film and Television and an after-party at Su Casa.

Buy tickets online: http://www.ifccenter.com/films/off-and-running/

The film will be at the IFC from January 29-February 4.

With white Jewish lesbians for parents and two adopted brothers — one mixed-race and one Korean — Brooklyn teen Avery grew up in a unique and loving household. But when her curiosity about her African-American roots grows, she decides to contact her birth mother. This choice propels Avery into her own complicated exploration of race, identity, and family that threatens to distance her from the parents she's always known. She begins staying away from home, starts skipping school, and risks losing her shot at the college track career she had always dreamed of. But when Avery decides to pick up the pieces of her life and make sense of her identity, the results are inspiring. Off and Running follows Avery to the brink of adulthood, exploring the strength of family bonds and the lengths people must go to become themselves

If you're not in New York, check the First Run Features site to find out if it will be screened in a theater near you.

The film will have have its broadcast premiere on POV in 2010.

Sundance Update: Names, Films, and Gossip Girls

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:59:03 -0500

POV's series producer Yance Ford is at the Sundance Film Festival. She'll be blogging and twittering from Park City throughout the week.

Day four of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival kicked off with a 9 a.m. screening of The Oath by Laura Poitras, followed by the premiere of My Perestroika by Robin Hessman. Both films are playing at the fab (and not that far, people!) Temple Theater. Poitras' premiere on Friday night was followed by a great review in Variety by journalist Robert Koehler.

David Smallman, Laura Poitras, and former CIA agent Valerie Plame after a screening of Poitras's The Oath.

Keep reading and see more pictures after the jump...

Watch "The Way We Get By" on PBS Video and Win a CD of the Soundtrack

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:56:08 -0500

If you missed The Way We Get By when it was originally broadcast in November, and didn't have a chance to watch it while it was streaming on the PBS Video Portal, here's your chance — we're offering the full film again. The film will be available until February 1, 2010, and we need you to help us spread the word! As an added bonus, we've got a copy of the soundtrack, with original music composed by Zack Martin to give away to a lucky viewer.

You can enter to win the CD between now and 9 pm EST on Sunday, January 31, 2010 in one of the three following ways:

Twitter: Follow povdocs on Twitter, and spread the word about the film. Use the hashtag #wegetby, and link to the video: http://bit.ly/1xzaw3

Facebook: Become a fan of POV on Facebook, and share a link to the film in your status update. Then, write a note on our wall to let us know that you've done it.

Comment: Leave a comment on POV's The Way We Get By homepage about the film and let us know what you thought of the film. Make sure you tell us that you want to win the CD, and leave your email address in the field so we can contact you!

Remember, you must enter before 9 pm on January 31, 2010! Winners will be chosen from a random number generator, and will be announced during the first week of February. Good luck!

Doc Soup: "Collapse" - Are We Doomed?

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:50:10 -0500

Independent journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the world of documentaries in his column, Doc Soup. You can also follow Tom on Twitter @DocSoupMan.

We're doomed! I'm not even talking about that mess up in Massachusetts. I'm talking big-time, end-of-civilization, DOOMED. That, at least, is the message delivered by Collapse, a documentary that came out last year, directed by Chris Smith (The Yes Men, American Movie). The film got limited attention, and can now be see on movies-on-demand on a TV near you, as well as at a few theaters across the country. But like all great prophecies that have gone unheeded, this one is worth checking out. I recently caught up with the film, which is primarily an interview with Michael Ruppert, a former LAPD cop who seriously casts in doubt a world that believes in constant growth with infinite resources.

I found Ruppert fascinating, but then again, I'm a sucker for this sort of thing. (I'd like to see them sell the film as a box set with the post-apocalyptic The Road.) I should say that Ruppert does hold out some hope for those people with good hunting-and-gathering skills. The rest of us can forget it. I asked the director and his subject a few questions:

Doc Soup: How did making this film impact your own personal sense of the future of humanity? Are we doomed?

Chris Smith: It really depends on the day. There are times where things seem really bad, then there are other days where you think this can't really happen, that we will adapt to challenging situations as we have in the past. Ultimately I am an optimist and like to believe we won't let things get to the point Mike outlines in the film, that human ingenuity will prevail.

Read more after the jump...

Greetings from Sundance 2010

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:00:05 -0500

POV's series producer Yance Ford is at the Sundance Film Festival. She'll be blogging and twittering from Park City throughout the week.

I've been looking forward to Sundance 2010 ... never mind that my own procrastination and late-night laundry nearly wrecked my travel plans. But as a wise and witty producer pointed out to me this morning, I'm fortunate enough to have clothes to pack and a home to return to, and in the end I made it onto Jet Blue flight 87.

If, like me, you're flying off to Sundance Land, where the real world is light years away, don't forget to make a donation to your organization of choice to support relief efforts in Haiti. (And of course, give to the relief effort even if you're not coming to Sundance.) It took me two minutes to donate via text message. Read more about ways to give.

So I'm writing this blog post on the flight. Along with 200 or so other industry folks, I'm at 34K feet, and headed to the snowy slopes of Park City, UT. The associate producer of Memories of Overdevelopment, Yukiko Niigata, is seated next to me. (The first two screenings of that film have sold out already — exciting stuff.) Journalist Amy Goodman is also on board my flight. She is serving on panel organized by the Sundance doc fund titled Saving Democracy, which takes place on Wednesday, January 27, at 1:30 p.m. at the Filmmaker Lodge. Moderated by Michael Ratner (President, Center for Constitutional Rights), the panel features Goodman, filmmakers Alex Gibney (Casino Jack and The United States of Money) and POV alum Laura Poitras (The Oath). It should be a fascinating and provocative discussion, given the recent Supreme Court decision on corporate and union spending in political campaigns. I can't wait to hear what all the panelists have to say about the Supreme Court, democracy and implications for documentary film and the folks who make them.

Read more after the jump...

Journalism Lives! Or Does It?

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:00:12 -0500

"Journalism is not dead!" was the defiant cry from Thursday night's Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards. Columbia Journalism School Dean Nicholas Lemann exhorted the "connected crowd" to turn off their phones and go off the grid for an hour to celebrate the journalistic achievements of their colleagues.

The awards, presented as they have been since 1968 at Columbia University, highlighted local investigative pieces like corrupt double-dipping judges, or pill-pushing doctors, pieces on the effects of the economy on children or of the Iraq war on soldiers (See the full list of 2010 winners).

PBS and duPont-Columbia Awards host Gwen Ifill stands with The Judge and the General crew as they receive their baton.

The judges also honored POV's The Judge and the General by Elizabeth Farnsworth and Patricio Lanfranco:

"In this superb documentary, Farnsworth and Lanfranco follow one man's transformation as he investigates human rights violations in Chile from the Pinochet era. The man, Juan Guzmán, is a conservative judge who ultimately challenges General Augusto Pinochet's immunity and prosecutes him."

In accepting the award, Farnsworth called POV and ITVS "a beacon" for journalists and documentarians, and Patricio Lanfranco cautioned the audience about the recent rise of the right wing in Santiago.

Read more and watch video interviews from the ceremony after the jump...

Weekly Roundup: Cinema Eye, Sundance and More

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:22:54 -0500

This week, we take a look back at the Cinema Eye Honors, a look ahead to the Sundance Film Festival and give POV fans a second look at The Way We Get By.

The Cinema Eye Honors took place last Friday, and by all accounts, it was a brilliant evening! Doc Soup Man Tom Roston wrote about the "glittering docerati" there, and POV intern Alice tells us about playing Mad Libs with Albert Maysles. From elsewhere on the Web, filmmaker and Cinema Eye organizer AJ Schnack had a wonderful night. The Stranger Than Fiction blog has pictures from the festivities. Though Hammer to Nail's Michael Tully appreciated the awards, he didn't quite agree with the choice of winners. Meanwhile, the Backrow Manifesto reports on the feeling of community at the awards and the IFC blog rounds up the winners.

We've got some great news for fans of the POV 2009 film, The Way We Get By! Because the film was POV's most watched film online, we'll be streaming it again — for one week only! You'll be able to watch The Way We Get By from January 25 through February 1. Bookmark the Watch page on POV's The Way We Get By site and check back to see the full stream Monday morning. The Way We Get By filmmakers Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly will also be presenting a case study of their film at the New York Foundation for the Arts soon. The film was a highly successful example of how to creatively finance market and distribute a film. Aside from the strengths of the film itself, much of this success hinges on thewaywegetbymovie.com, a website that effectively builds audiences, raises awareness and makes money. Find out how to sign up for the workshop.

Read more abut Sundance, Daniel Ellsberg and The Good Pitch after the jump...

A POV Intern Plays Mad Libs with Albert Maysles at the Cinema Eye Honors

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:04:09 -0500

POV intern Alice Rhee is a sophomore at Oberlin College. This January, Alice is watching lots of documentaries and working with POV's Interactive department on POV's Web presence. She reports back from last week's Cinema Eye Honors ceremony.

Can you find a more fascinating group of people than documentary filmmakers? They are socially conscious, inspiring and can infuse meaning into the mundane through the alchemy of film. To top it all off, they're also hilarious, which I found out when I attended the Cinema Eye Honors last week.

I'm spending my winter break from Oberlin College interning at POV. Documentary filmmaking is my current passion: it combines my interests in storytelling and cinema. I love a great opportunity to see the world through someone else's eyes, and the documentaries I've seen at POV have made lasting impressions.

One of the perks of interning at POV has been the chance to attend this year's Cinema Eye Honors ceremony at the Times Center. It was a thrilling opportunity to join the filmmaking crowd for an evening of laughter and celebration. Walking home through Times Square that night, all I could see around me were possible stories to record: the world was filled with visual poetry.

Read more after the jump...

Doc Soup: The Glittering Docerati at the Cinema Eye Honors

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:05:08 -0500

Independent journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the world of documentaries in his column, Doc Soup. You can also follow Tom on Twitter @DocSoupMan.

So, how about those Golden Globes! What, who cares? That's right — all of you doc lovers know that the real big night in documentary film wasn't in L.A. on Sunday (the Hollywood Foreign Press doesn't even have a nonfiction filmmaking category) — it was last Friday, when the third annual Cinema Eye Honors took place at New York City's Times Center. And I have to admit I'd never thought I'd see the day, but I actually attended a doc event where I felt I underdressed. The doc community was in fine form, with skinny guys in skinny suits and expensive glasses, and women on some serious, if teetering, heels.

Read more about the Cinema Eye Honors Ceremony after the jump.

Weekly Roundup: Awards Report, Sundance and Haunting Slideshow from Iraq

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:00:54 -0500

This week, POV is racking up the awards and getting ready for Sundance. Read on for more news, a smattering of links and a giveaway!

It's been a great week for POV filmmakers. Three POV filmmakers have been nominated for the DGA Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentaries (Geoffrey Smith for The English Surgeon, Robert Kenner for Food, Inc. and Agnès Varda for The Beaches of Agnes). Read more about the details of the DGA nominations and more acclaim for POV films in a post from earlier this week!

This morning we got news that The Judge and the General by Elizabeth Farnsworth and Patricio Lanfranco, which aired on POV in 2008, has won an Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award for broadcast journalism. The honorees will be presented with duPont Batons at a ceremony on Jan. 21, 2010 at Columbia University. Congratulations to the filmmakers!

Read about Sundance and other news after the jump...

Oscar Watch: Filmmaker Robert Kenner Talks "Food, Inc."

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:33:10 -0500

Over on the Thompson on Hollywood blog today, there is a three-part video interview with filmmaker Robert Kenner about his goals for Food, Inc., the difficulties he encountered in making the film, and his hope that the film will "make all of us think about it because that's what's going to change the system."

Check out part one below and parts two and three on the IndieWire blog network.

Food, Inc. airs on POV on April 21st, 2010.

Find more videos like this on AnneCam

Related Content

Michael Pollan's (and Michelle Obama's) Food Rules

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:43:43 -0500

In anticipation of the upcoming POV broadcast of Robert Kenner's Food, Inc. on April 21, 2010, we'll be following food policy and other related news in the coming weeks and months as we work on features for the POV website for Food, Inc..

As we noted in a post last week announcing our upcoming PBS broadcast of Food, Inc., contributor Michael Pollan has been featured on the Daily Show and other media outlets promoting his new book, Food Rules.

Food Rules: An Eater's Manual is Pollan's seventh book and the third in a series of food-related books that includes The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food, An Eater's Manifesto, which won the 2009 James Beard Award. In compiling his list of 64 simple rules, Pollan told the New York Times' Well blog that he "consulted folklorists, anthropologists, doctors, nurses, nutritionists and dietitians 'as well as a large number of mothers and grandmothers.'" He also asked readers of the Well blog to submit their own rules back in the spring of 2009, and compiled his favorite responses in this interactive.

Read more about the book, including the first lady's "response" after the jump...

Three POV Filmmakers Garner DGA Nominations

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:36:58 -0500

This just in . . . Three POV filmmakers have been nominated for DGA Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentaries for the year 2009! We are thrilled for Geoffrey Smith, who directed last season's The English Surgeon, and two filmmakers who are part of our upcoming 2010 season: Robert Kenner for Food, Inc. (which will be part of the PBS Press Tour in Pasadena on January 16) and Agnès Varda for The Beaches of Agnes. This is the first DGA nomination for all three directors. The winners will be announced at the 62nd Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Jan. 30 in Los Angeles.

And we have even more good news about Food, Inc.: editor Kim Roberts has received a nomination for Best Edited Documentary in the American Cinema Editors' 60th Annual ACE Eddie Awards. The winners will be announced Feb. 14 in a ceremony in Los Angeles.

These three films have also made it to several critics' top picks for 2009, including The Beaches of Agnes and The English Surgeon in Manohla Dargis' New York Times favorites of 2009. Betsy Sharkey writes in the Los Angeles Times that The Beaches of Agnes "proved a masterwork from French New Wave auteur, Agnès Varda, who, at 79, turned the camera on herself and found new ways to deconstruct her subject as well as film itself," and calls humanitarian neurosurgeon Henry Marsh, subject of The English Surgeon, "a central character every bit as engaging as any fiction could conjure up." The Documentary Blog puts The English Surgeon at No. 4 of their 50 best docs of the decade. Scott Mendelson of the Huffington Post calls Food, Inc. a "humorous and often terrifying look into the industrialized food industry," and says it is the year's best documentary. And Steve Persall of the St. Petersburg Times puts Food, Inc. on his list, too.

That's a lot of good news in one day. Note to POV filmmakers: Keep those tuxes and evening gowns handy!

Related Content

Video: Watch Food, Inc. trailer

Doc Soup: "Avatar" and Its Documentary Roots (and bonus giveaway!)

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:45:51 -0500

Independent journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the world of documentaries in his column, Doc Soup. You can also follow Tom on Twitter @DocSoupMan.

Avatar is the biggest thing to come out of Hollywood since The Matrix. No, scratch that — since Star Wars. No, no, no, actually — since Gone With the Wind.

I know that I'm not the first to herald the paradigmatic shift that James Cameron's epic sci-fi fantasy represents for its groundbreaking innovations in stereoscopic 3-D filmmaking. And you may well ask, why should we doc lovers care? But let's give credit where credit is due for Avatar: to documentary filmmaking.

Nonfiction films have provided the foundation from which Avatar has sprung. The press has made a big fuss over the fact that Cameron hasn't made a feature since 1997's Titanic, and just skim over what he's been doing in the interim. So what has he been doing? Making documentary films — directing three and producing an additional five of them — that have proven to be the training ground for the technology used — and even the ultimate look — for Avatar. In his Ghosts of the Abyss and Aliens of the Deep, Cameron developed the 3D camera techniques that have changed the movie-going experience forever. (If I'm sounding like I'm proselytizing, it's because I am. I have the passion of a convert: I was deeply cynical about the annoying effects of 3D after seeing several kid movies with my daughter over the past year. Watching Avatar changed all that.)

Read more — and learn how to win a copy of these DVDs — after the jump....

The International Documentary Challenge Registration Now Open

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:30:47 -0500

Now in its 5th year, The International Documentary Challenge returns to the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto. This year's challenge takes place March 4 - 8, 2010 with registration now open.

The Doc Challenge is a fun and innovative competition that will push your documentary skills to the limit. If you're new to the idea, it's very simple: Filmmakers from around the world are assigned a genre (character study, music, 1st person, etc.) and a theme (such as "Change".) Participants then have five days to develop, produce and edit a 4 to 7 minute non-fiction film. The result is an exhilarating five days for the filmmakers and fun for the audiences at Hot Docs, and beyond.

Important Dates
Registration opens: January 7, 2010
Early Registration ($99) Deadline: February 1, 2010
Final Registration ($125) Deadline: March 3, 2010
Doc Challenge: March 4 - 8, 2010
Hot Docs: April 29 - May 9, 2010

Space is limited — only the first 300 teams to register will be accepted.

Once again, three major awards (with cash prizes) will be presented: the POV Award (check out last year's winner), the DER Award and the Best Film Award. After the premiere, there are additional theatrical screenings in major cities, possible television exposure and a DVD release of the best films.The 2010 Presenting Partners include Hot Docs, American Documentary/POV, Documentary Educational Resources and Typecast Releasing. Supporting partners include the International Documentary Association, the Documentary Organization of Canada, DocuMentors, the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Dokufest, Docs In Progress and the 48 Hour Film Project.

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Weekly Roundup

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:55:46 -0500

This week, we catch up with Rocky from Bronx Princess, get ready for the Cinema Eye Awards, read through lots of year-end and decade-end lists of best docs and more.

CNN's "Inside Africa" aired a segment on Bronx Princess (POV 2009) and talked to protagonist Rocky Otoo and her mother, Auntie Yaa. The film follows Rocky as she graduates high school and starts college. Today, Rocky is a junior, and in this interview, she reflects on the film, and on what she has learned about her Ghanian roots and traditions since then.

The Reckoning (POV 2009) filmmakers Paco de Onís and Pamela Yates will be the keynote speakers at the Making Your Media Matter conference this year. The conference will take place from February 11-12 at American University. You can register for the conference now.

Read more after the jump...

"Food, Inc." Broadcast Scheduled for April 21, 2010

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 08:30:13 -0500

We're excited to announce that the POV/PBS broadcast of the Academy Award shortlisted film, Food, Inc., has been set for Wednesday, April 21 at 9 PM on most PBS stations. You can check listings on your local PBS station closer to the date, but if you don't want to miss this broadcast be sure to sign up for a reminder on our TV Schedule page.

In Food, Inc., producer-director Robert Kenner and investigative authors Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan lift the veil on the U.S. food industry. You'll never look at dinner the same way. Learn more about Food, Inc. »

Read more and watch a video clip after the jump....

Patti Smith: A Perfect Storm

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:34:56 -0500

The Patti Smith celebrations continue!

Last week was the POV broadcast of Steven Sebring's Patti Smith: Dream of Life, as well as her New Year's concerts in New York City. Last night saw the opening of "Objects of Life" at the Robert Miller Gallery in Manhattan's Chelsea Art District, on West 26th Street. The show features the work of Patti Smith and Steven Sebring, who, in addition to being a filmmaker, is an acclaimed fashion photographer. As the exhibition's title suggests, on display were objects from Dream of Life, including photography, works on paper, installations and selected objects. There's also a small room dedicated to photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and his relationship with Patti Smith. The style and themes in the exhibit also closely follow the film, sharing the same organic playfulness and intimacy.

The opening was crowded and festive. As with all openings, there was as much interest in the attendees as there was in the art. Other filmmakers were there, including Albert Maysles. Patti Smith's friend, playwright Sam Shepard, was also in attendance.

Read more and watch a video after the jump...

Patti Smith / Steven Sebring Exhibit Opens at Robert Miller Gallery Tonight in New York City

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:25:58 -0500

In addition to last week's documentary film, Patti Smith: Dream of Life, filmmaker Steven Sebring and musician/poet/photographer Patti Smith have also collaborated on a photography exhibit entitled "Objects of Life" opening tonight at the Robert Miller Gallery in New York City. For those of you in New York who may have missed our broadcast last week, the exhibit runs through February 6, 2010 and the film will be shown as part of the exhibit, with an extra segment shot in the gallery.

Additionally, Patti Smith's new book, Just Kids, a never-before-seen glimpse at her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe during the epochal days of New York City and the Chelsea Hotel in the 1960s and '70s, will launch on January 19, during the run of the show.

There's a great interview with filmmaker/photographer Steven Sebring at the VMAN blog in which he talks about the exhibit and the difference he experienced in telling stories using still and moving images. Here's a snippet:

...So those actual pieces that she talks about [in the film], her childhood dress, Robert [Mapplethorpe]'s urn, little things like that--a tambourine--I felt they had such incredible stories. People that view this stuff in the film, they're seeing the story, or they're seeing it visually. For me, I was actually able to touch it, look at it closely, just really get another vibe, where you can see the dust, you can see everything. And you know, what I do is take pictures. And I wanted to do these still lives of them, sort of very Irving Penn, very back-lit, document style. Read more »

Read more after the jump...

A Busy Week for Patti Smith

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:02:19 -0500

Patti Smith's got a lot going on in the coming weeks and months: sold-out Bowery Ballroom concerts; "Objects of Life" show with Steven Sebring at the Robert Miller Gallery; new book, Just Kids (pictured, right); poetry reading with Sam Shepard at the 92nd Street Y and of course, POV's Patti Smith: Dream of Life, which airs tomorrow on her birthday, Wednesday, December 30 at 9 PM (check local listings). You can hear Patti talking about her many projects with Senior Correspondent Jeffrey Brown on the PBS NewsHour Art Beat blog. Then on Wednesday, December 30, catch Steven and Patti on NPR's "Talk of the Nation," which should be fascinating. (Find a station and airtimes here: http://www.npr.org/templates/stations/schedule/index.php?prgId=5.)

Happy New Year, everyone, and happy birthday, Patti!

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Win the Companion Book to Patti Smith: Dream of Life!

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:41:21 -0500

In honor of the broadcast of Patti Smith: Dream of Life and Patti's birthday, we're giving away 10 copies of the companion book!

The book Patti Smith: Dream of Life is filled with more than 400 pages of evocative photographs, and beautifully published by Rizzoli press. Elle magazine says: "Coffee-table books, by definition, aren't meant to be page-turners. Except for this month's Patti Smith: Dream of Life, which isn't so much a glossy centerpiece as it is an addictive pictorial of the godmother of punk's life as a poet, activist, mother, style icon, and all-around kick-ass front woman." Read more about the book at Amazon.

Find out how you can win after the jump...

"Patti Smith: Dream of Life" Review Roundup

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 11:38:13 -0500

Wednesday night's POV broadcast of Patti Smith: Dream of Life (9 pm most PBS stations, check local listings) has been generating a lot of critical acclaim in the press and online. Sign On San Diego's Remote Possibilities blog names it a "TV Pick of the Week" and part of a "Genius Blowout" when coupled with tonight's American Masters biography of Louisa May Alcott. Union Tribune staff writer Karla Peterson gushes that together the stories of these "groundbreaking women" represent "oodles of joy."

The New York Times' Manohlia Dargis reviewed Dream of Life back in August 2008 when it opened at New York City's Film Forum. She wrote: "Created over a heroic 11 years . . . a lovely . . . first feature. . . . Mr. Sebring creates a structure for the film in which past and present seem to flow effortlessly and ceaselessly into each other."

Toronto Globe and Mail film reviewer Liam Lacey says the film "paints a portrait of a defiantly creative life." Salon's Andrew O'Hehir writes this "dazzling, dizzying documentary" is "frequently beautiful and intermittently haunting and could be called a meditation on aging and mortality, an intimate study of a peculiar variety of fame and a portrait of a genuinely remarkable person."

Patti Smith appeared this past weekend on NPR's Studio 360. Host Kurt Anderson remarked "if there is one person who embodies rock and roll in its purest form, it is Patti Smith." Listen to the broadcast and special extended cut of their interview on the Studio 360 website.

And don't forget to add your own review to the mix at the POV website. We'll compile a list of of our favorite viewer reviews later this week. Tell us what you think of the film and what Patti Smith means to you.

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Doc Soup: Docs of 2009: The Year in Review

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:51:06 -0500

Independent journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the world of documentaries in his column, Doc Soup.

As another year comes to a close, we have another opportunity to look back at what was. It is also, of course, the end of a decade, which is even more tempting to reflect upon — but let's keep our eye on the recent past for a moment here.

Just take a look at the documentaries that were most watched in the theaters this year: it's an interesting reflection of how diverse nonfiction filmmaking is these days. Does the number one nonfiction film of the year, Michael Jackson's This Is It, have anything in common with the number four doc, Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story? Not really, but MJ has company with the number three film, Jonas Brothers: The 3D. There were also a couple of sports films (X Games 3D: The Movie and More than a Game) and a big-budget nature doc (Earth) toward the top of the list.

And then there were the various docs that I think many here feel more interest in: the social issue and cultural narrative nonfiction films. It was a good year for fashionistas, with two really great films (The September Issue and Valentino: The Last Emperor) hitting it pretty big. But environmental-lifestyle issues seemed to be the hot subject this year, with Food, Inc., the number 5 film, being probably the most buzzed-about doc this year. There was also The Cove, the film about the dolphin slaughter in Japan.

Read more after the jump...

Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program Announces Fall 2009 Grants

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:44:40 -0500

The Sundance Institute announced yesterday that they are awarding grants to 23 nonfiction film projects that will receive financial and creative support from the Sundance Documentary Film Program (DFP). One of the projects is directed by POV alum, Bernardo Ruiz, who co-produced Alex Rivera's The Sixth Section (POV 2003) and worked on the first installment of our online-only series POV's Borders in 2002.

Ruiz is the founder of SubCine, an artist-run and artist-owned collective of Latino film and video makers, and the New York-based production company Quiet Pictures. His project is entitled Gardens of Paradise and is described as "a series of interconnected stories illuminate the challenges facing the residents of Mexicali, a Mexican border city." (You can hear Ruiz talk about the project on Art on Air with Will Corwin in a May 2009 interview via this streaming MP3 file.)

Former DFP grantees include a number of POV filmmakers including Eric Metzgar, Jennifer Maytorena Taylor (New Muslim Cool), Ido Haar (9 Star Hotel), Laura Poitras (My Country, My Country) and Natalia Almada for her film, El General, which is premiering on POV in 2010. Last week, Almada received the IDA's 2009 Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Filmmaker Award.

Congratulations to Almada and Ruiz on their award and grant!

Find out about the other 22 grantees at the Sundance Institute website.

Lynn True: Documentary Filmmaker and Sports Fan

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:06:53 -0500

We've long admired The New York Times' "One in Eight Million" Web series that incorporates photo slideshows of regular New Yorkers with audio interviews. This past week we were excited to see a slideshow about one of POV's alums! Lynn True is a documentary filmmaker and the editor and co-director of POV's 2008 film Lumo, which related the moving story of the recovery of Lumo Sinai, a 20-year-old Congolese woman who was raped by marauding soldiers. According to The New York Times, Lynn has followed the New York Giants since her college days, "partly to relieve the pressure of her work as a documentary filmmaker."

Congratulations to Lynn on a cool feature and on being one in eight million!

Doc Soup: Docs Will Not Die

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:25:54 -0500

Independent journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the world of documentaries in his column, Doc Soup.

I recently read that actor/fallen star Lindsay Lohan was in India to make a documentary. "What the...?" I thought. But after initially thinking of this as a sign of the coming doc apocalypse, I've begun to see that it's quite the opposite.

Amidst all this talk about how old media is dying — how newspapers, books, and magazines are getting shut down, reduced and replaced, and after all the hand-wringing in Hollywood about diminishing profits (while revenue is soaring, which is odd) — there's not been as much talk about the documentary world deflating. And this is a reason to be cheerful: as reality television creates more and more new outlets for docs, it is increasingly clear that nonfiction filmmaking is thriving.

Coming Next: Patti Smith: Dream of Life

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:14:09 -0500

On December 30th, POV is thrilled to present Patti Smith: Dream of Life by Steven Sebring. The film, shot over 11 years, is a unique collaboration between the legendary rocker, poet and artist, and renowned fashion photographer Sebring. Following Smith's personal reflections over a decade, the film explores her many art forms and the friends and poets who inspired her — William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Robert Mapplethorpe and Michael Stipe. She emerges as a crucial, contemporary link between the Beats, punks and today's music.

Watch a preview of the film:

Or read an interview with Patti about how she became an artist, what happens when she performs on stage, her relationships to the dead and her artistic process.

Don't forget to tune in on December 30th!

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Patti Smith: A Perfect Storm

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Lynn True: Documentary Filmmaker and Sports Fan

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Coming Next: Patti Smith: Dream of Life