Last week, a great to-do was made over the arrest of Fox, the documentary director of Gasland, who was trying to film a Washington, D.C., congressional hearing about the controversial gas extraction process called “fracking.” The arrest, which was dubbed “stunning,” “troubling,” and “shameful” in various outlets, was all over the Internet.

The story that was told was that Fox, an Academy Award-nominated director, was taken into custody by Capitol Hill police, thanks to Republicans who objected to his presence. Apparently, an ABC camera crew was also kicked out. The takeaway was that First Amendment rights were being restricted, hydraulic fracturing was being contested, and Fox, who is working on a sequel to Gasland, was in the middle of it all.

Good for him. Good for the cause. And good for his film, no doubt. But, let’s be clear, it was an bit of agitprop. I’m not one to advocate for Republicans or evil environment-spoiling conglomerates, but I want to put the whole incident in perspective. First, Fox had gone and got himself arrested just five months earlier, in D.C., when he took part in a sit-in with the likes of Daryl Hannah and author Naomi Klein, to protest a proposed tar sands oil pipeline. So, he’s versed in the utility of shock arrests. But few, if any outlets, seemed to pick up on that. Second, there apparently was no ABC crew present at the hearing, which diminishes the appearance that an iron grip of censorship was taking hold. The fact is that Fox had made requests to film the hearing, and was denied. This was widely reported, as well as the allegation that such a restriction was rare, so folks could choose if Fox was being unfairly gagged or if it was just House rules being tightly enforced. But you know what wasn’t so widely disperesed? C-SPAN was there to film the proceeding. It kind of takes the air out of the contention that there’s a Republican Third Reich at work here.

Again, I don’t want provide ammo for the right, but let’s face it: Fox’s arrest was a tactic, a good one at that, and it’s interesting to see that few, if any, outlets recognized that. They just rehashed the Reuters report, and Fox’s ensuing statement, without looking further into it.

I am not aware of many documentary directors getting arrested doing their work, so Fox might be a pioneer here. Michael Moore has certainly popularized the possibility, creating the dynamic of an adversarial documentary filmmaker duking it out with security forces. But although he has flirted with getting arrested, taunting security guys with his camera, I am not sure that he’s actually had cuffs clamped on him. (Ironically, there was an incident gleefully reported by Fox News about Moore’s bodyguard, who had been arrested for carrying an unlicensed firearm in 2005. Moore, of course, made the popular anti-gun film, Bowling for Columbine. This reported arrest was rehashed by zillions of outlets and, as far as I can tell, the connection to Moore wasn’t adequately established.)

Not surprisingly, you have to look to more repressive countries than ours to find serious incidents of documentary directors being thrown in the slammer. Last year, Iran arrested five documentary directors and one producer for providing “BBC Persian with information, films and secret reports to paint a black picture of Iran and Iranians.” They were put in Evin prison in Tehran, where according to Amnesty International Iran specialist Elise Auerbach there were reports that the filmmakers were treated “harshly,” including stints in solitary confinement and interrogations to make them confess to being agents of the United Kingdom.

“The Iranian government does this often to intimidate people,” Auerbach told me. “They were arrested because of their association with the BBC — they were not employed by BBC Persian but some films they had made were aired on BBC Persian. The Iranian government was particularly annoyed about a film called The Ayatollah’s Seal about the current supreme leader that was aired on BBC Persian just before the filmmakers were arrested.”

It took months, but eventually all of the filmmakers, including This is Not a Film co-director Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, were released on bail. They’re still facing charges.

I asked Auerbach if she thinks the directors will get back to making films. She didn’t know, but, she added, “the government has made it perfectly clear that those who have any association with Western media will be punished, which will surely deter people.”

With those Iranian filmmakers in mind, I say, go forth, Josh Fox! Use your power to shock the U.S. establishment, and make it shake. Find the fissures in the wall. And do so knowing that there are some doc directors who work in fear of the wall falling down on them.

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They certainly do so in spades at Sundance, doling out no less than thirteen documentary prizes, as it did over this weekend, which marked the end of the 2012 film festival. The U.S. jury — Fenton Bailey (Inside Deep Throat), Heather Croall (Sheffield Doc/Fest), Charles Ferguson (Inside Job), Tia Lessin (Trouble the Water, Michael Moore films) and Kim Roberts (Editor on Food, Inc., Waiting for Superman) — and World Cinema jury — Nick Fraser (“Storyville”), Clara Kim (Walker Art Center), and Jean-Marie Teno (Sacred Places, Clando) — were typically A-list, so there must also be a large measure of personal pride in being recognized by one’s esteemed peers.

The winner of the top award, the Grand Jury Prize, went to The House I Live In, directed by Eugene Jarecki, who won the same honor for his Why We Fight in 2005. Jarecki’s latest is a personal look into the war on drugs.

The U.S. Audience Award was won by Kirby Dick’s The Invisible War, a film about the epidemic of rape in the military. Both films deal with subjects that don’t necessarily ring 2012 — they each could have been made two decades ago, and for that reason, they deserve all the more attention because they address issues that have been festering in our society for too long.

In the World category, the top prizes went to The Law in These Parts, directed by Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, which won the Grand Jury, and Searching for Sugar Man, which nabbed the Audience Award. The Law in These Parts is about the legal system in occupied Palestinian territories — not exactly a subject that will put a lot of butts into theater seats, so the films needs all the publicity it can get. On the other hand, Sugar Man, about a 70s rock icon, won the same popularity contest as last year’s Senna, which did very well at the box office, so that’s a good sign.

In terms of prestige, the next best award is the Directing nod, and Lauren Greenfield won her first, for The Queen of Versailles, about a real estate empire under pressure during the recession. Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi won the directing prize in the World category, for 5 Broken Frames. Burnat, a Palestinian farmer-turned-filmmaker, who documents the conflict in his hometown, won over crowds with his humble acceptance speech.

Technical awards in documentary filmmaking are a delight to see. The importance of great editing and cinematography ought to be honored in documentaries. (Academy Award committee, take notice!) Those prizes went as follows: In the U.S. category, Chasing Ice’s Jeff Orlowski won Excellence in Cinematography while Enat Sidi won the Editing Award for Detropia. In the World section, Lars Skree won for cinematography for Putin’s Kiss and Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky won for editing Indie Game: The Movie.

And, in a sign to the world that this is not your grandpa’s film festival, organizers awarded some funky prizes, including a U.S. Special Jury Prize for Grace Under Pressure, to Macky Alston, for Love Free or Die. Malik Bendjelloul won the Celebration of the Artistic Sprit award for Searching for Sugar Man. And Alison Klayman won the Special Jury Prize for Spirit of Defiance for her Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry.

Appropriately enough, considering the award, during her accepting speech, Klayman asked the audience to extend their middle fingers at her while she took a photo, a very Weiwei thing to do, which she planned to send to the Chinese dissident artist, who lives in Beijing.

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Here are the nominees:

• Hell and Back Again (Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner)
• If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman)
• Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky)
• Pina (Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel)
• Undefeated (TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas)

First, let’s give props to Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman… and to POV! The film has the most important elements a great doc should have: a compelling lead character (Daniel McGowan, an activist serving hard time for his idealism) and a socially relevant cause (environmentalism).

Pina, to me, was not a surprise. Director Wenders is pushing the medium to new heights by making an artful documentary in 3-D. Paradise Lost 3 was also a very strong contender; it’s the summation of an incredible three-part series that has captivated a strong following, and had a real impact in essentially creating the campaign to exonerate the men known as the West Memphis 3.

Hell and Back Again also had so much going for it: Embedded in the war in Afghanistan, with stunning cinematography, the film covers the human toll as well as the epic nature of war. I suppose I should have seen Undefeated coming — It’s a heartfelt sports doc about a football team that makes good when no one believed it was possible. That, and with the power of Oscar-campaigner-savant Harvey Weinstein behind it, helps explain its rise to glory.

The biggest surprises are, actually, the omissions. Buck, a heartfelt and beautiful film about animals and people, also with connections to Hollywood; how could it not be picked? And then there was Project Nim, a fantastic film that did well at the box office and was considered, critically, one of the best movies of the year.

Like I said: Wow.

But as we tend to say year in and year out, it was a strong year for documentaries, and here’s the proof.

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As expected, documentary buzz was at a heightened pitch during the first busy weekend of the Sundance Film Festival. There was the opening night screening of The Queen of Versailles, plagued or propped up, depending on your perspective, by a lawsuit from its main subject.

And there was the big reveal about why West of Memphis producer Peter Jackson had seen a need for another West Memphis Three documentary. The film points the finger for the gruesome killing of three boys directly at one victim’s stepfather, a man who has not been charged with the crime.

But, more than anything, there was the hot business of selling documentaries to distributors, and on that score, there was one man at the center of it all: Josh Braun.

Before the festival even started, Me @ The Zoo, about Internet celebrity, was picked up by HBO Documentary Films. Other doc sales that quickly followed: Sony Pictures Classics bought Searching for Sugar Man, about a long-forgotten musician, and Magnolia acquired Versailles, which is about, and let’s be careful here, a real estate empire tainted by the recession.

The sales agent responsible for selling each of those three films was none other than Braun, who’s known for his doc know-how, business savvy and for just being an all-around nice guy — all of which makes him a very desirable agent for documentary directors. He’s worked on Oscar winners such as The Cove and Man on Wire, Super Size Me, Spellbound and the list goes on. He’s no slouch. And he’s started off this year’s Sundance with a bang.

There’s still plenty of festival to go, and, sure, the spoils may go to those who wait. Indeed, we’re still waiting to hear from superstar sales agent John Sloss and distributors like IFC, Village Roadshow and bigger players like The Weinstein Company, Focus Features and Fox Searchlight.

And there is plenty of good stuff out there for them to gobble up. Films such as rapper Ice-T’s The Art of Rap, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Detropia, and Eugene Jarecki’s The House I Live In are all up for grabs.

I’m sure we’ll be hearing from them soon, real soon. They may just be working out a deal in a Park City bathroom stall this very minute.

That’s not really the name of a movie. It’s just the latest conflict between the subjects of a documentary and its filmmakers. This one, premiering on Sundance’s prestigious opening night, involves Lauren Greenfield, the director of The Queen of Versailles, and David Siegel, who filed a lawsuit against Greenfield and Sundance for defamation, in particular protesting the description of his life in the Sundance promotional material as a “rags-to-riches-to-rags” story.

Still from The Queen of Versailles

Alas, increasingly, documentary releases have been marred by disputes. Michael Rappaport’s Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest, which premiered last year at Sundance, was released with a constant thorn in its side: The front man of the rap group that’s the subject of the film, Q-Tip, disowned the project. He refused to attend Sundance to support it, and criticized Rappaport. Also last year, Errol Morris’ Tabloid, about a sordid press scandal involving Joyce McKinney, became a multi-bout, McKinney-versus-Morris tour. McKinney filed suit against Morris, claiming she’d been tricked into being in the film. She showed up at numerous screenings and heckled the film from the audience.

In the Versailles case, Sundance described the film as such:

Jackie and David were triumphantly constructing the biggest house in America — a sprawling 90,000 square-foot palace inspired by Versailles — when their timeshare empire collapses and their house is foreclosed. Their rags-to-riches-to-rags story reveals the innate virtues and flaws of the American Dream.

According to Siegel, he asked Greenfield to make corrections to the description, asserting that his story wasn’t one of failure. Sundance made the following change:

Jackie and David were triumphantly constructing the biggest house in America — a sprawling, 90,000-square-foot palace inspired by Versailles — when their timeshare empire falters due to the economic crisis. Their rags-to-riches-to-rags story reveals the innate virtues and flaws of the American Dream.

Other than the word “collapses,” not much of a difference, right? That’s what Siegel thought, so he sued, saying that the statement is still false and defamatory. He pointed out in his suit that some 12,000 websites had reprinted this description, making the damage to his name widespread.

The longer description on Sundance’s website omits the last “to-rags.” It’s credited to “J.C.,” festival director John Cooper:

With the epic dimensions of a Shakespearean tragedy, The Queen of Versailles follows billionaires Jackie and David’s rags-to-riches story to uncover the innate virtues and flaws of the American dream. We open on the triumphant construction of the biggest house in America, a sprawling, 90,000-square-foot mansion inspired by Versailles. Since a booming time-share business built on the real-estate bubble is financing it, the economic crisis brings progress to a halt and seals the fate of its owners. We witness the impact of this turn of fortune over the next two years in a riveting film fraught with delusion, denial, and self-effacing humor.

Lauren Greenfield instinctively knows what questions to ask, when to ask them, and, more importantly, where to put her camera to mine this overflowing treasure of events. She constructs a series of glowing metaphors to concoct a fascinating character study of parents, children, pets, and household employees as their privileged existence turns upside down. The end result is a portrait of a couple who dared to dream big but lose, still maintaining their unique brand of humility. – J.C.

As a public representative of one of those 12,000 websites, I can speak directly to this case. In December, I posted the list of documentaries at Sundance 2012 using the festival’s description verbatim, then a list of the documentaries I’m most excited to see in 2012. Versailles was one of them, and I used the Sundance press release as the basis for describing the subjects as ending up “in ruin.” So, well, now we know there’s another side to that story.

Frank Evers, one of the producers of Versailles, and one of the people named in the suit, had emailed me before the suit was announced, and suggested I change my description. He indicated that mine wasn’t accurate, and that the subjects of his film were not “in ruin.” But stopping the spread of information is like putting your thumb in a dike that’s overflowing with 5 trillion gigabytes of data. It just ain’t gonna happen. (At least, not without spending a ton of money to suppress negative search engine results.)

Of course, everyone knows that controversy sells, and Versailles has received a heap of publicity it wouldn’t have had without the suit. The $75,000 in compensation mentioned in the lawsuit would be a recession-rate special for the equivalent in ad buys and publicity expenses.

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Still image from the documentary Silverlake Life: The View From Here (POV, 1993)

What’s happened with the fight against AIDS?

I ask that question as a follow-up to a recent post I wrote about the ten documentaries I am most looking forward to in 2012. One of them is Act-Up!, the story of the galvanizing activists who fought to raise awareness about AIDS. In honor of all those who have had to deal with the epidemic in one way or the other, I want to give props to some documentaries about AIDS. But, first, let’s take a quick look at answering my initial question (all numbers are culled from The New York Times).

There are 34 million people currently infected with the virus in the world, and that includes 1.2 million Americans (240,000 of whom are unaware). Recently, President Obama announced he wanted to set up programs to provide drug therapy to six million infected people by the end of 2013, which is up from about four million. What’s most troubling is that the epidemic has reached a plateau internationally, with 2.7 million new people being infected each year for the past five years. Asia and Eastern Europe are two of the regions where the numbers are increasing most.

For those who want to learn more about AIDS through documentaries, I’ve come up with a few places where you can start. First, I’d recommend FRONTLINE’s The Age of Aids, a comprehensive series from 2006, about the history and politics of AIDS which you can watch online. And for a more personal look, there’s 1993’s Silverlake Life: The View from Here, a video diary which aired on POV about living with AIDS.

And then thanks to Lee Mills at Screen Junkies, there’s an intriguing list of “the five best AIDS documentaries,” which includes The Lazarus Effect, The Origin of AIDS, The Other City, AIDS Inc., and House of Numbers: Anatomy of an Epidemic. SnagFilms also has a selection of mostly international AIDS docs, many of which were shot in Africa, that also can be viewed online for free.

That should get us started, if you want to use documentaries as a guide, on answering the question about what’s happened to the epidemic. Still, I look forward to Act-Up!, which, as it turns out, won’t be the first film about the pioneering activists. Fight Back, Fight AIDS: 15 Years of ACT UP, by director James Wentzy, came out in 2002.

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These films are either already on the horizon, way off the radar, or a figment of my imagination. Still, I hope to see each of them some day…

10. Shut Up and Play the Hits (Dylan Southern, Will Lovelace)
After hearing that this documentary about LCD Soundsystem front man James Murphy was being featured at Sundance, I started listening to the band. I’ve been hooked ever since. And then a friend told me he was at the show featured in the film, and that it was beyond belief. I’m looking forward to seeing the footage of the two days when the band had that final show at Madison Square Garden. The film premieres at Sundance 2012.

9. Act Up! The Movie (Scott Robbe)
This documentary about the AIDS activist group ACT UP strikes a chord for me, as a former 1980s lefty activist who used to always join the ACT UP contingent of any march. I can attest to the immense power and galvanizing force of the group. The AIDS crisis was the closest my generation came to combating a plague, and these were the people fighting on the frontlines. With Gus Van Sant executive producing, hopefully this film will be making a splash soon (Sundance, 2013, perhaps?). Still in production…

8. Training for the Apocalypse (Rob VanAlkemade)
It’s an intriguing premise: A documentary about survivalists and other doomsday preppers who try to live life as they make provisions for the end of the world. VanAlkemade has an interesting eye for the bizarre (see his What Would Jesus Buy?), which I can appreciate. Still in production…

7. The Queen of Versailles (Lauren Greenfield)
I’m always on the lookout for good films about our current economic crisis and this one is about a family that is constructing the biggest house in America. When their timeshare-fortune disappears, they end up in ruin. Sure, there’s a schadenfreude appeal to this, but let’s try to remain above that. The film is premiering at Sundance 2012.

6. Sole Survivor (Ky Dickens)
There’s something a little icky about a documentary about the sole survivors of catastrophic airplane crashes. The rubbernecking appeal bothers me. And yet, I can’t deny being fascinated by the subject of Dickens’ film, which focuses on George Lamson, who survived a 1985 crash when he was a teenager, and who reaches out to similar survivors of plane crashes. Check out Sole Survivor’s Kickstarter campaign. Still in production…

5. The Penn State Story (TBD)
I actually know of no documentary director working on the story of Jerry Sandusky, the Penn State coach accused of sexually assaulting boys. But this is such an incredible story — of a town, an institution, a community in crisis, boys victimized, the darker shadows of sports, and powerful men who didn’t do the right thing. Sandusky maintains his innocence. ESPN (or that new Sports Illustrated doc series) should get on this, pronto!

4. Untitled WikiLeaks Documentary (Alex Gibney)
Although Gibney appears to be spreading himself awfully thin these days, I’m always interested in what he’s going to set his incisive glare on. And the WikiLeaks story is so hard to get a handle on — I’m looking forward to seeing how he’ll tackle the issue. Gibney may focus on the leaker himself, Bradley Manning, more than organization head Julian Assange. Either way, it’s a cast of complex characters that’ll make for a great film. Still in production…

3. West of Memphis (Amy Berg)
Why the heck did Peter Jackson enlist Berg, director of the excellent Deliver Us from Evil, to make a documentary about the horrific murder of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas? Why would Jackson, who got wind of the case, thanks to the excellent Paradise Lost docs (directed by Bruce Sinofsky and Joe Berlinger), want another documentary made about the subject of the highly questionable conviction of their supposed killers? I’m dying to know. The film is premiering at Sundance 2012.

2. Chimpanzee (Alastair Fothergill, Mark Linfield)
Disneynature returns with another big-budget, beautifully shot documentary about animals being cute and/or in peril, this time focusing on chimps. I’ve really enjoyed the past films in the series, but this one is different: We’re not looking at the grand scale of Earth or Oceans — This film focuses on one particular chimp. And it’s going to thread a narrative arc around that chimp. Is this possible? Will it be offensive? Will it do justice to these amazing, intelligent creatures? The film hits theaters on April 20, 2012.

1. Salinger (Shane Salerno)
Close to two years ago, there was a report that Hollywood screenwriter Salerno had been working on a biopic for five years on J.D. Salinger, the reclusive author. The film is purported to delve into the author of The Catcher in the Rye’s creative process, his personal life and everything in between. Since then, there’ve been dribs and drabs of info, but never a formal release. What about 2012?

What are you looking forward to seeing in 2012? Something from the 2012 Sundance doc crop perhaps?

Robert Thurman speaks at a screening of Crazy Wisdom: The Life & Times of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche at the Rubin Museum in New York City

Some documentaries dig up answers, others leave us with questions. That’s why, from now on, I am going to insist that Robert Thurman, the well-known Buddhist scholar (and Uma’s dad), be there to accompany me to watch all future screenings of Buddhism-related films.

Thurman was invited to speak after a recent screening of the documentary, Crazy Wisdom, which, intentionally or not, lays bare the paradoxical nature of existence, leaving at least this viewer with some major head-scratching.

The film tells the remarkable story of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist lama who was a major force in introducing Tibetan Buddhism to the West. Along the way, he became a heavy drinker, slept with his students and toyed with paramilitary inclinations. Like I said: This is a movie that bathes in paradox.

The screening was at New York’s Rubin Museum, which is dedicated to the arts of the Himalayas. The documentary is also screening at select cities, and it will be returning to the Rubin in January because of high demand. (For more information about screenings, go to crazywisdomthemovie.com.)

Director Johanna Demetrakas (Editor of Calavera Highway, POV 2008) does a very good job interweaving archival video and photos with interviews of one-time followers of Rinpoche, and even some of his peers, including fellow guru Ram Dass.

The atrocity of China’s treatment of Tibet is the tragic beginning of the story. Rinpoche escaped with 300 other people, and only 13 survived the journey. His attempt to introduce Tibetan Buddhism to the West, first in Scotland, then in Vermont and Colorado, is fascinating. It seems like it could have been such a wonderful thing, the teaching of a beautiful religion and way of life to truth-seekers.

Alas, the whole thing strikes me as a boondoggle. On one side, you have a Tibetan lama who seems in over his head, uncomfortable in the West or his position as a spiritual leader — He just couldn’t manage it. He marries a 16-year-old girl, drinks and carouses with other women (and ends up crashing a car, which leaves him partially paralyzed). On the other hand, you have Westerners who go to him looking for answers, and they may have found some, but they also were clearly following their own projections of him.

And it’s Demetrakas’ task to present this story. I had this feeling that, as good as the film was, Demetrakas was letting Rinpoche off the hook. Although she shows him at his worst, there’s an overwhelming counter-narrative, which says that maybe Rinpoche was a true progenitor of the “crazy wisdom” concept — where by personifying the world’s evils he was revealing the truth of existence. It’s a term that helps rationalize anyone’s taboo-breaking behavior.

But when I saw the long shot of Rinpoche wearing aviator glasses and sparkling gold rings riding upright on a white horse, he looked a lot like Qaddafi. Maybe enlightenment is in the eye of the beholder, but I’m not buying it. One Buddhist teacher says in the film that the documentary itself “can’t frame him” and that he was more “fluid” than that, which is a good point.

But leave it to Thurman to put things back into perspective. Thurman spoke to the audience after the film, which he clearly liked, but, as he told me later, he was bothered by how it verged on being too “adulatory.” He basically called it like it was: Rinpoche fell victim to alcoholism.

When one young man took umbrage at Thurman’s critique of Rinpoche, claiming that the lama was showing us that it’s “OK to be a human being,” Thurman pulled off his gloves, giving the guy a lesson in tough teaching. He decried how Americans tend to insist that there’s a higher awareness than our own, and that we’re in danger of shutting ourselves off when we make a cult of someone like Rinpoche.

He quoted the Zen Buddhist Shunryu Suzuki, saying that “Everything is perfect, but there is a lot of room for improvement.” Thurman went on to imitate — some might say mock — Rinpoche’s stoned cadence, before admitting his own “addiction to sacrilege.”

It was a whirlwind performance of… crazy wisdom.

I’m holding back on writing more from my conversation with Thurman until 2012, when POV plans to air My Reincarnation, a documentary about a Buddhist teacher’s relationship to his son, who is considered a reincarnation of a spiritual master. It’s a film Thurman says he really enjoyed.

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Connected: An Autoblogography about
Love, Death & Technology

There’s an interesting documentary that was released in select theaters this fall called Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death & Technology. The film premiered at Sundance in 2011 and is directed by Tiffany Shlain, a public speaker, filmmaker and all-around new-media and social-change powerhouse — She founded the Webby Awards.

(For more information about upcoming screenings of Connected — and how you can host your own — you can visit connectedthefilm.com.)

I was struck by Shlain’s presence in Connected, a first-person essay about our new digital age and what we can do about the sense of alienation that we feel even while we’re so interdependent online.

First-person documentarians are a special breed. I mean, what really motivates them to go on camera in the first place? Michael Moore (Roger & Me) is the most obvious example. He’s a filmmaker who has strong opinions and who uses his on-camera persona to get his message across. You have to figure that there’s some ego involved there as well. The same goes for Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me). I’d put both of those guys in the same group, although I think Spurlock is driven more by an innate class-clown personality. Nick Broomfield (Kurt & Courtney, Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer) and Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man, Encounters at the End of the World) are two more good ones who have tenacious spirits (but who can both credit more than half of their first-person success on charming accents).

There is also the Alan Berliner (Wide Awake, Nobody’s Business, The Sweetest Sound), Doug Block (51 Birch Street) and Ross McElwee (Sherman’s March, Bright Leaves) brand of first-person filmmaker. These are cerebral guys who are trying to work out their personal issues on camera. (If you can make a filmmaking career out of your own neurosis, I say, “go for it!”)

The list of name-brand first-person docmakers so far is suspiciously stacked with men, despite there being so many woman documentary directors. This is not to say that there aren’t women who haven’t broken the mold and made affecting first-person docs — Agnès Varda (The Beaches of Agnès), Judith Helfand (Blue Vinyl, A Healthy Baby Girl), Amy Hardie (The Edge of Dreaming) and Pamela Yates (Granito) — but none has crossed over like one of their male counterparts.

To produce a Michael Moore-like “success,” will it take a woman with a trifecta of screen presence, ego and intelligence? Shlain has taken her shot. Here’s what I’d like to see: Ms. Tina Fey, how about making a doc?

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With this week’s announcement of the Documentary Premieres section of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, which kicks off January 19, we now know the full slate of documentaries that will be getting a good shot at more exposure, and potential distribution, in 2012. Something struck me about the festival’s earlier released list of Competition films, generally considered the films that need a larger boost to get recognition, but I wanted to wait until this second list came out before weighing in.

Check out the Documentary Premieres
announcement »

Now that it has, I can ask the question that’s on my mind: how does Sundance treat dramatic films differently from documentaries? I’m quite sure that the programmers would say that they simply choose the films that are most inspired, most engaging, and provide the best experience for the festival audience. But isn’t it interesting how the documentary competition films come from such an impressive and venerable array of filmmakers, while the dramatic category is more obviously filled with below-the-radar directors? I’m not going to bother you by listing all of the dramatic films in competition, but the filmmakers are pretty much unknowns, outside of a couple of sort-of-recognizable filmmakers, including veteran Ben Lewin, actor and budding director Todd Louiso, and Jonathan Kasdan, who happens to be producer Lawrence Kasdan’s son.

While the dramatic category is populated by filmmakers starving for attention, the documentary competition films include those directed by Oscar nominees (Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady; Sam Pollard; Susan Froemke), legends (Kirby Dick), A-listers (Eugene Jarecki) and near-A-listers (Lauren Greenfield). These directors alone have about a dozen previous Sundance award nominations or wins amongst them.

This is not a criticism of the selection, although it may rile up some documentary filmmakers who haven’t had similar previous success, and were not picked. I just think it’s interesting that Sundance, independent film and documentaries have evolved to a point where Sundance programmers are featuring truly anonymous directors in the dramatic category, while they are willing to allow more doc directors with clout (a contradiction of terms, perhaps) into the competition. This very well might not be intentional; maybe it’s just the crop of films submitted this year. What do you think?

Here’s the list of Sundance documentaries (all descriptions provided by Sundance):

U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry / United States, China (Director: Alison Klayman) — Renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has garnered international attention as much for his ambitious artwork as his political provocations and increasingly public clashes with the Chinese government.

The Atomic States of America / United States (Directors: Don Argott, Sheena M. Joyce) — In 2010, the United States announced construction of the first new nuclear power plant in more than 32 years. A year later, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Fukushima Power Plant in Japan sparking a fierce debate in the U.S. over the safety and viability of nuclear power.

Chasing Ice / United States (Director: Jeff Orlowski) — Science, spectacle and human passion mix in this stunningly cinematic portrait as National Geographic photographer James Balog captures time-lapse photography of glaciers over several years providing tangible visual evidence of climate change.

DETROPIA / United States (Directors: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady) — The woes of Detroit are emblematic of the collapse of the U.S. manufacturing base. This is the dramatic story of a city and its people who refuse to leave the building, even as the flames are rising.

ESCAPE FIRE: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare / United States (Directors: Matthew Heineman, Susan Froemke) — What can be done to save our broken medical system? Powerful forces are trying to maintain the status quo in a profit-driven medical industry, but a movement to bring innovative methods of prevention and healing is finally gaining ground – potentially saving the health of a nation.

Finding North / United States (Directors: Kristi Jacobson, Lori Silverbush) — A crisis of hunger looms in America and is not limited to the poverty stricken and uneducated. Can a return to policies of the 1970s save our future?

The House I Live In / United States (Director: Eugene Jarecki) — For over 40 years, the War on Drugs has accounted for 45 million arrests, made America the world’s largest jailer and damaged poor communities at home and abroad. Yet, drugs are cheaper, purer and more available today than ever. Where did we go wrong and what is the path toward healing?

How to Survive a Plague / United States (Director: David France) — The untold story of the intensive efforts that turned AIDS into a manageable condition – and the improbable group of (mostly HIV-positive) young men and women whose amazing resilience broke through a time of rampant death and political indifference.

The Invisible War / United States (Director: Kirby Dick) — An investigative and powerfully emotional examination of the epidemic of rape of soldiers within the U.S. military, the institutions that cover up its existence and the profound personal and social consequences that arise from it.

Marina Abramović The Artist is Present / United States (Director: Matthew Akers) — Marina Abramović prepares for a major retrospective of her work at The Museum of Modern Art in New York hoping to finally silence four decades of skeptics who proclaim: ‘But why is this art?’

ME at the ZOO / United States (Directors: Chris Moukarbel, Valerie Veatch) — With 270 million hits to date, Chris Crocker, an uncanny young video blogger from small town Tennessee, is considered the Internet’s first rebel folk hero and at the same time one of its most controversial personalities.

The Other Dream Team / Lithuania, United States (Director: Marius Markevicius) — The 1992 Lithuanian National Basketball Team went from the clutches of Communism to the Summer Olympics in Barcelona – a testament to the powerful role of sports as a catalyst for cultural identity.

The Queen of Versailles / United States (Director: Lauren Greenfield) — Jackie and David were triumphantly constructing the biggest house in America — a sprawling, 90,000-square-foot palace inspired by Versailles — when their timeshare empire falters due to the economic crisis. Their rags-to-riches-to-rags story reveals the innate virtues and flaws of the American Dream.

Slavery By Another Name / United States (Director: Sam Pollard) — As slavery came to an end with Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, a new system of involuntary servitude took its place with shocking force, brutalizing, terrorizing and ultimately circumscribing the lives of hundreds of thousands of African Americans well into the 20th century.

Love Free or Die / United States (Director: Macky Alston) — One man whose two defining passions are in conflict: An openly gay bishop refuses to leave the Church or the man he loves.

We’re Not Broke / United States (Directors: Karin Hayes, Victoria Bruce) — As American lawmakers slash budgets and lay off employees, leaving many people scrambling to survive, multibillion-dollar corporations are concealing colossal profits overseas to avoid paying U.S. income tax. Fed-up Americans are taking their frustration to the streets.

DOCUMENTARY PREMIERES

About Face / United States (Director: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders) — An exploration of beauty and aging through the stories of the original supermodels. Participants including Isabella Rossellini, Christie Brinkley, Beverly Johnson, Carmen Dell’Orefice, Paulina Porizkova, Jerry Hall and Christy Turlington weigh in on the fashion industry and how they reassess and redefine their own sense of beauty as their careers progress.

BONES BRIGADE: An Autobiography / United States (Director: Stacy Peralta) — When six teenage boys came together as a skateboarding team in the 1980s, they reinvented not only their chosen sport but themselves too – as they evolved from insecure outsiders to the most influential athletes in the field.

The D Word: Understanding Dyslexia / United States (Director: James Redford) — While following a Dyslexic high school senior struggling to achieve his dream of getting into a competitive college, The D Word exposes myths about Dyslexia and reveals cutting edge research to elucidate this widely misunderstood condition.

ETHEL / United States (Director: Rory Kennedy) — This intimate, surprising portrait of Ethel Kennedy provides an insider’s view of a political dynasty, including Ethel’s life with Robert F. Kennedy and the years following his death when she raised their eleven children on her own.

A Fierce Green Fire

A Fierce Green Fire / United States (Director: Mark Kitchell) — A definitive history of one of the most important movements of the 20th century, A Fierce Green Fire chronicles the environmental movement’s fascinating evolution from the 1960s to the present.

SOMETHING FROM NOTHING: THE ART OF RAP / United Kingdom (Director: Ice-T, Co-Director: Andy Baybutt) — Through conversations with Rap’s most influential artists — among them Chuck D, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Eminem, MC Lyte, Mos Def, and Kanye West — Ice-T explores the roots and history of Rap and reveals the creative process behind this now dominant art form.

Untitled Paul Simon Project / United States (Director: Joe Berlinger) — Paul Simon returns to South Africa to explore the incredible journey of his historic Graceland album, including the political backlash he sparked for allegedly breaking the UN cultural boycott of South Africa, designed to end Apartheid.

West of Memphis / United States (Director: Amy Berg) — Three teenage boys are incarcerated for the murders of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. 19 years later, new evidence calls into question the convictions and raises issues of judicial, prosecutorial and jury misconduct — showing that the first casualty of a corrupt justice system is the truth.

Park City at Midnight:

SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS / United Kingdom (Directors: Dylan Southern, Will Lovelace) — A documentary that follows LCD Soundsystem front man James Murphy over a crucial 48-hour period, from the day of their final gig at Madison Square Garden to the morning after, the official end of one of the best live bands in the world.

Get more documentary film news and features: Like POV on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @povdocs.

The Princeton Environmental Film Festival is back and this year’s impressive line-up brings a number of hard-hitting docs to central New Jersey.

The festival’s opening weekend (Thursday, January 26 – Sunday, January 29) drew more than 1400 people and films included: Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death & Technology (Tiffany Shlain), Hummingbirds: Magic in the Air (Jaime Bernanke), Queen of the Sun: What are the Bees Telling Us? (Taggart Siegel), Shellshocked: Saving Oysters to Save Ourselves (Emily Driscoll), Rescuing the Raritan (Eric Schultz), Revenge of the Electric Car (Chris Paine), Plan B: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (Marilyn and Hal Weiner), Food Stamped (Shira and Yoav Potash) and Overdrive: Istanbul in the New Millennium (Aslihan Unaldi).

The closing weekend of the film festival (Thursday, February 9 – Sunday, February 12, 2012) includes two POV films – 2012 Oscar®-nominated If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (POV 2011) and The City Dark, premiering on POV in 2012. Both screenings are followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker and are free and open to the public! Details are below.

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front by Marshall Curry & Co-director Sam Cullman

Princeton, NJ

If a Tree Falls
Friday, February 10, 2012, 7 PM

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Oscar®-nominated co-director Sam Cullman!

The City Dark by Ian Cheney

Princeton, NJ

The City Dark
Saturday, February 11, 2012, 7 PM

A Q&A with filmmaker Ian Cheney and Michael Lemonick, senior science writer for Climate Central, will follow the screening!

Save the dates, and check the site for a full festival line-up and any additions or changes to the schedule. Festival news & updates can also be found on the PEFF Facebook page.

The Princeton Environmental Film Festival is sponsored by the Princeton Public Library. All screenings and talks will be held in the Community Room on the 1st floor of the Library, 65 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, New Jersey.

Interested in hosting a free screening? It’s easy! Join our Community Network.

And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @POVengage for the most up-to-date news from Community Engagement and Education!

A Dictator in the Dock:

A culmination of decades of work by the victims and survivors of the Guatemalan genocide forced former Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt to appear in court Thursday for a hearing to decide whether there was enough evidence to take him to trial on charges of genocide.

The prosecution spent hours presenting overwhelming evidence in the form of military documents, exhumation reports and photos linking Ríos Montt directly to hundreds of deaths and disappearances. Surviving family members, Ixil Maya in traditional dress, crowded the standing-room-only courtroom in stunned silence. Some wept.

Outside the Justice Palace, in an open area now named Human Rights Plaza, hundreds more watched the proceedings on a huge screen.

The defense’s case asserted that Ríos Montt did not command his Army officers’ counterinsurgency campaign and should not be held responsible.

But after hours deliberating, the judge ruled to prosecute Ríos Montt on charges of genocide, and to place him under house arrest with a $65,000 bail set.

The crowd broke out in cheers and sent firecrackers into the air in loud celebration.

This is a huge victory for the victims and survivors of the Guatemalan genocide, human rights defenders and the lawyers’ efforts worldwide.

In an exclusive clip below from the 2012 POV film Granito: How to Nail a Dictator, director Pamela Yates plays an excerpt from her 1983 film When the Mountains Tremble, in which Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt makes a potentially damning claim.

Granito: How to Nail a Dictator will air later in 2012 on POV.

We’re thrilled about Marshall Curry & Sam Cullman’s Oscar-nomination for If a Tree Falls (POV 2011) and are looking forward to premiering Racing Dreams next month on February 23 – Marshall Curry’s latest film that chronicles a year in the life of three tweens who dream of becoming NASCAR drivers.

In the coming weeks we’ll be partnering with libraries, PBS stations and community groups to bring sneak-preview screenings of the film to communities across the country.

Don’t see your city on the list below? Interested in hosting a free screening? It’s easy! Join our Community Network.

Avalon, NJ

Racing Dreams
Thursday, February 9, 2011, 6:00 PM
The Avalon Free Public Library in NJ continues their POV screening series with a special pre-broadcast screening. Refreshments will be served! For more information, call the library at (609) 967-7155.

Nashville, TN

Racing Dreams
Wednesday, February 15, 2011, 8:30 PM
Racing Dreams is heading to Nashville as part of Liscomb Univerity’s HumanDocs Film Series. This screening is presented in partnership with the Nashville Film Festival and Nashville Public Television.

Auburn, AL

Racing Dreams
Thursday, February 16 2011, 7:00 PM
In partnership with the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities, The Gnu’s Room will be bringing Racing Dreams to Auburn. To find out more, call 334-821-5550.

Monroe Township, NJ

Racing Dreams
Saturday, February 18 2011, 1:00 PM
Come to a sneak-preview screening at Monroe Township Public Library. Free tickets available at the Welcome Desk. To find out more, call 732-521-5000!

Steamboat Springs, CO

Racing Dreams
Sunday, February 19 2011, 6:00 PM
The Bud Werner Memorial Library will host a free sneak preview screening. Before the film, enjoy a steaming latte or chai tea in their cafe located just inside the Yampa entry!

And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @POVengage for the most up-to-date news from Community Engagement and Education!

In January 2007, Rachel P. Salazar and Ruben P. Salazar were living 9,000 miles apart and completely unaware of each other’s existence. But when an email meant for Rachel accidentally went to Ruben, it wasn’t long before an ordinary mistake began to look like an extraordinary stroke of luck.

The Salazars’ story will also be featured in the new StoryCorps book to be released February 2, 2012, All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps.

New Energy Economy is dedicated to creating economic opportunity in New Mexico with less carbon pollution and more clean energy, and is grounded in principles of environmental justice.

We’re excited to launch our inaugural environmental film series — Getting Reel — to highlight some of the biggest contemporary environmental issues, from mountaintop removal to coal-burned electrical consumption.

This is not a series of tree-hugging fluff! Filmmakers come from unique angles and can express complex ideas that raise awareness around issues and responsibilities of civic activism.

The four-part series opened at 7PM last Thursday with a sold-out screening of The Last Mountain and will continue this Thursday, January 26 at 7PM with POV’s Oscar-nominated film If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front.

All screenings will be followed by a 30-minute moderated discussion where audience members will have the opportunity to exchange views and discuss possible action steps. Join us at the Center for Contemporary Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, in Santa Fe, NM. For more information, including the full series schedule, please visit New Energy Economy.

This series is a collaboration with Google and Bioneers.

Mariel Nanasi led the effort to establish New Mexico’s breakthrough carbon pollution reduction program, adopted in 2010. When Governor Martinez refused to publish the rule, New Energy Economy sued her and won in the New Mexico Supreme Court. Mariel is also a civil rights and criminal defense lawyer and serves on the Board of the Santa Fe Art Institute. Seeing an urgency behind a changing climate and wanting to create a healthy and sustainable future, Mariel has made a personal and professional commitment to climate leadership.

Biblioburro: The Donkey Library

Columbia, MO

Biblioburro: The Donkey Library
Wednesday, January 25, 2011, 6:30 PM

Come to a screening at the Daniel Boone Regional Library, hosted by Center Aisle Cinema. To find out more, call 573-443-3161.

Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music

Beaufort, SC

Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music
Thursday, January 26, 2011, 3:00 PM

Come to a screening at the Beaufort Library as part of a documentary series featuring music and musicians. The series is in celebration of “New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music”, a traveling Smithsonian exhibit featured at the library. For more information, call 843-470-6524.

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front

Santa Fe, NM

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Thursday, January 26 2011, 7:00 PM

Come to a screening of If a Tree Falls hosted by New Energy Economy as part of their Getting Reel Film Series & Discussion. To find out more, call 505-989-7262.

Interested in hosting a screening in your community? It’s easy! Join our Community Network.

And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @POVengage for the most up-to-date news from Community Engagement and Education!

As 2012 begins and the CEE team shares all we’ve learned in the past year the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) conference continues to top the list of things we were most excited about in 2011.

First off, it was pretty great to have the opportunity to present our educational resources with Independent Lens. Conference participants were eager (and, in many cases, VERY pleasantly surprised!) to hear about our series’ free resources, including video modules, lesson plans and POV’s free lending library. And we were just as excited to hear from THEM. Check out what one teacher had to say about POV & Independent Lens in the video above, taken by IL’s Annelise Wunderlich. Thanks, Annelise!

Along with presenting a workshop and booth at the conference, we also had the chance to see how many other great tools there are out there social studies teachers today. It was pretty mind-blowing, and so many of them are free! Here are two resources for teaching history in the digital age that particularly excited me -

Mission: U.S.

Mission U.S. In the Classroom

Mission U.S. is a multimedia project featuring free interactive adventure games set in different eras of U.S. history. The first game, Mission 1: “For Crown or Colony?,” puts the player in the shoes of Nat Wheeler, a 14-year-old printer’s apprentice in 1770 Boston. As Nat navigates the city and completes tasks, he encounters a spectrum of people living and working there when tensions mount before the Boston Massacre. Ultimately, the player determines Nat’s fate by deciding where his loyalties lie.

And I remember thinking Oregon Trail was cool.

The Web site that houses the game also includes classroom resources, activities and social networking opportunities for teachers and students.

At the conference we saw Mission U.S. demonstrated by the producers and funders of the game – Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Endowment for the Humanities, WNET (Thirteen) – and also heard from teachers who have successfully used the game in the classroom.

And even if you’re not a teacher I would still check it out. But be careful: the surprisingly nuanced and addictive world of Mission U.S. might keep you from Downton Abbey for a while.

#SSChat

This presentation was one of the best I’ve ever been to at any conference – ever. The energy and enthusiasm from both presenters and participants was through the roof. I think it’s only a matter of time before every Social Studies teacher in the country catches on to this.

The idea behind #SSChat is to connect social studies educators everywhere. It started July 6, 2010 after Ron Peck and Greg Kulowiec realized that while #edchat – the Twitter chat for educators – was a great conversation, it wasn’t focused on content that would help them where it mattered most–their social studies classroom. At the beginning of 2011 the chat began and it’s grown to include hundreds of social studies teachers sharing links, resources, lesson plans, examples of projects and student work. While #SSchat takes place as a synchronous discussion on Twitter Monday nights, people post to Twitter all week and tag their tweets with #SSchat as a method to share resources and prepare for the upcoming chat. Articles by HipHop Classroom, Herf Jones Nystrom and the New York Times have highlighted the chat in recent months.

In the NYTimes article, #SSchat co-founder Greg Kulowiec says, “The most memorable night for us was when the news of the death of Osama bin Laden broke. People were immediately on SSchat and we were sharing resources and ideas on how to bring this into our classrooms the next day.”

Join the conversation!

For updates from the Community Engagement and Education department at POV, check out @POVEngage on Twitter.

Omar & Pete

On Saturday, January 14, 2012, Civic Frame kicks off its 10-year-anniversary celebration with a free screening of Omar & Pete, Tod Lending’s documentary that follows two men who’ve been in and out of prison for 30 years and are now re-entering life in Baltimore City. Omar & Pete was broadcast on POV in September 2005.

The screening will be held at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore at 1 PM.

April Yvonne Garrett, founder of Civic Frame and Amplify Baltimore, is hosting the screening. Check out her interview on WYPR’s Maryland Morning with Tom Hall, where she discusses the program and 10 years of Civic Frame.

Garrett says she selected Omar & Pete as the first film in the series because some of the best work Civic Frame has done as an organization was in 2004 around the issue of re-entry and that the challenges facing former offenders have only become more pronounced since that time.

To compliment this screening, the first episode of season two of Amplify Baltimore focused on offender reentry in Baltimore. In the episode April interviews William “Pete” Duncan and Andre G. Fisher, LaTanya Scott Johnson, and Marshall Cullen, the ex-offender advocates who guided Pete’s ultimately successful reentry into society.

Check out the full episode below!

William “Pete” Duncan will join Garrett for the post-screening panel discussion with a host of other re-entry advocates, including Charles N. Curlett (attorney with Levin & Curlett, LLC), Andre G. Fisher (Druid Heights CDC), Michelle Kelly (Alternative Directions), Cameron Miles (Mentoring Male Teens in the Hood) and Howard Wicker (The Living Classrooms Foundation).

The Barber of Birmingham screens in NY, LA & SF

The Barber of Birmingham tells the story of Mr. James Armstrong, an African-American barber in Birmingham, Alabama, who experiences the fulfillment of an unimaginable dream: the election of the first African American president. As an outreach tool, the film provides an excellent springboard for discussion around questions of democracy and patriotism in the face of adversity.

Check out upcoming screenings in NY, LA and SF around MLK week, and join the conversation!

Museum of Tolerance New York

Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Time: 6 PM Reception, 7 PM Screening

Museum of Tolerance Los Angeles

Sunday, January 15, 2012
Time: 2:30 PM
Monday, January 16, 2012
Time: 1:00 PM

Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco

Monday, January 16, 2012
Time 3:30-5:00 PM

Interested in hosting a screening in your community? It’s easy! Join our Community Network.

And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @POVengage for the most up-to-date news from Community Engagement and Education!

Jennifer Fox (Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman, Love and Diane, An American Love Story) has been directing and producing films for more than 30 years, which makes her somewhat of a sage in the film world. Her most recent documentary is My Reincarnation, which tells the story of high Tibetan master Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche and his Italian born son’s stubborn reluctance to follow in his father’s footsteps.

For 20 years Fox followed Rinpoche and his son from Tibet to Italy. However, it wasn’t until Year 18 that major funds arrived to support the film.

After the documentary shooting was completed, Fox found out that one of the film’s producers was not able to raise his $100,000 commitment. Fox had already spent that money and was now in deep debt. So the director turned to her loyal team — Katherine Nolfi, Lisa Duva and associate producer Stefanie Diaz — for help. In February 2011, the quartet launched the My Reincarnation crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter, a web-based fundraising platform for creatives. Their original goal was set at $50,000 to raise by May. When spring rolled around however, Fox and her team had raised a record-breaking sum.

Interview/editing: Emily Thomas, Camera: Jade Courtney Edwards
]]> http://www.pbs.org/pov/blog/povdocs/2012/01/kickstarter-campaign-secrets-from-record-breaking-documentary-director-jennifer-fox/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/povdocs/~3/Hzpm5_nu8G0/ http://feeds.pbs.org/~r/pbs/pov-blog/~3/YzbU-En15DI/ Nikon's D800, a $3,000 camera with a full-frame sensor puts the company known for its lenses squarely in the DSLR video game. Canon beware! http://www.pbs.org/pov/blog/?p=2249 Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:45:54 +0000

The Nikon D800: Canon beware!

I’ve got a dozen Nikon lenses that I use on the Canons via Novoflex and Cinevate adapters, but Nikon has never promised a ton that would make me want to rejoin. But, what seems late in the game, Nikon is finally introducing models that may try to wrench away dominance from Canon.

Nikon announced changes last week, moving its D700 and D300s models to its “Old Products” page. Then, yesterday, Nikon brought out a new model, the D800, a 36-megapixel full-frame sensor that, at $3,000, puts Nikon squarely in the DSLR video game.

What makes the news interesting is that the new Nikon adds a fix to one of the biggest problems for HDSLRs: aliasing. While Mosaic Engineering created an anti-aliasing filter for the Canon 5D, Nikon has built in a dedicated filter with its D800. (Nikon also has the filter-less D800E, which is geared toward those more intent on shooting stills.) The new Nikon has other bells and whistles, such as better audio capabilities and dual-card slots for both CF and SD cards that might create more choice in that market.

Nikon has always been the missing player in the pro video market. Back when I worked for newspapers (years ago), still photographers had a near contempt for TV news shooters. Video work, the print people thought, was cheap, fleeting and artless, and usually performed by guys who couldn’t hack it as still photographers. That tribal attitude may have had something to do with Nikon staying far away from the video market even as Canon plunged in.

Nikon, and Leica too, have remained mostly true to still photography, even as most still photographers I know are getting more and more accustomed to crossing over to the video side. In that time, some editors I know have swapped out Nikons for Canons to add video capability. Still photographers at newspapers and magazines now make it part of their job (whether by choice or not) to create video for their publication’s website. Many of them, such as Pulitzer Prize winner Dave Leeson, have come to see the craft involved in making mini-documentaries.

So Nikon, with its flagship D4 and the new 800s, is changing with the times, and I wouldn’t think they can be discounted when putting their mind to a new area. I’d like to think they can continue to innovate and challenge in a way that pushes video technology forward. Should be interesting.

Get more documentary film news and features: Subscribe to POV’s documentary blog, like POV on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @povdocs.

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Production Still from the seminal documentary "Salesman" (POV 1990)

What strikes me as interesting is that no one organization takes documentary on an all-encompassing level. By this, I mean documentary in all of its media forms, including not only motion picture, but also photography, radio, and print. Convergence plays a role here as well. I also mean documentary as part of all types of production and communities: mainstream, educational, local, and online. Further, I mean a range of activities such as funding, preservation, education, awareness, support, production, distribution, exhibition, archives, and awards all under the auspices of one organization dedicated to the form.

Broadcast and cable media remain arguably the most visible institutions for documentary exhibition. While network schedules lean heavily on cheaply produced reality programming alongside their police procedurals and situation comedies, cable television fills its schedules with edutainment and prestige pieces. Companies such as Discovery Communications employ a formula that merges the informational components of the documentary form with more traditionally fiction-based aspects of narrative. This formula underpins much of the programming on channels owned by Discovery, such as TLC and Animal Planet. More prestige pieces appear on the subscription-based networks of Showtime and HBO. These documentaries come from a combination of in-house production with known directors (Spike Lee and Liz Garbus for HBO, for example) and from picking up well-received documentaries at various festivals.

One broadcast institution that remains different in terms of its relationship with documentary is PBS. In the original mid-1960s proposals for a public broadcasting system in the United States, ‘documentary’ is mentioned specifically as a form of programming needed on television. With its traditions of long-running documentary series, including “POV,” “FRONTLINE,” “Independent Lens,” and “NOVA,” PBS remains one of the key places to see (for free!) social and political documentaries.

Despite the box office successes of An Inconvenient Truth, March of the Penguins, and Fahrenheit 9/11, mainstream theatrical distributors remain cautious about picking up documentaries. Popular subjects or iconic directors might get the mainstream theatrical run, while many documentaries end up in art houses, smaller venues, and even educational settings. (That last statement is not a lament — the most important idea here is that people are getting to see them!)

In terms of theatrical production, many of the major media companies focus their in-house efforts on fiction-based productions, and they get their documentaries through pick-ups at festivals such as the recently ended Sundance, Hot Docs, and others. Outside of the majors, the relationships change somewhat, with some production groups focusing almost exclusively on documentary, such as Kartemquin, New Day Films, and Third World Newsreel. These organizations produce fewer titles, but they make titles that they stand behind in terms of subject and position.

Some U.S. organizations dedicated to film include documentary as part of their activities. The recent rules changes and the reactions they drew offer a hint of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ relationship with the form. The American Film Institute offers the Silverdocs film festival (sponsored by Discovery), but that organization is more popularly known for its “100 Years… 100 (fill in the blank here)” series. The “100 Years” lists feature thrills, laughs, starts, songs, and quotes, but no documentaries. Founded in 1978, The Sundance Institute focuses on independent film and documentary, and its annual festival brings both to Park City, Utah, each January.

Founded in 1982, the International Documentary Association is one of the more visible organizations that supports documentary production, exhibition, and celebration. Its major focuses include advocacy, filmmaker services, education, and public programs and events. The organization offers production training with master classes, it offers Oscar-qualifying exhibitions and other screenings, and it offers news and commentary through its website and magazine. The organization filled in a gap left by the AFI a few years ago by voting on the top 100 documentaries. These mentions only skim the surface of what this organization does for the current documentary community. The Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute is another not-for-profit organization that focuses exclusively on documentary film with an annual festival and educational opportunities.

Alongside the industry practices of production, distribution, and exhibition, another key question emerges: preservation. The National Film Registry identifies several titles for preservation each year, and many of the titles are narrative, with the occasional experimental and documentary piece. Some titles added to the registry include Antonia: Portrait of the Woman (1974), Dont Look Back (1967) Grey Gardens (1976), and Harlan County, USA (1976). HSDFI is working on building a documentary film library, which currently holds more than 17,000 titles. In addition, several universities, as well as several preservation organizations, include documentaries in their archives.

Suggest a Documentary for Preservation in the National Film Registry »

A handful of organizations focus on local documentary production. Appalshop, for example, addresses Appalachian culture with an eye toward improving life quality in the region. Others focus on cultural questions, such as the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.

Overall, these important and influential organizations address their activities toward documentary to various degrees and in a variety of ways. For some, documentary is central to its activities, such as with the IDA. For others, documentary is part of its activities such as with the AFI or AMPAS.

This survey of organizations and activities leads me to some of the key questions I have been grappling with as a scholar and fan of the form. Can one cultural institution be dedicated exclusively to the documentary form in all its varieties? Can one organization handle the enormous range of activities outlined throughout this post, not to replace the other organizations but to work in complement and support of them? Can this institution provide a central means for raising cultural awareness of the importance of the form? If so, what might it look like? Would it follow the model established by the National Film Board of Canada, or would it take a different path?

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Shukree Tilghman is the director of the Black History Month documentary More Than A Month.

Some time ago, the book reviewer Sarah Goldstein came up with a term for a type of book which the author sets on a particular mission, the definition being, “Books perpetrated by people who undertook an unusual project with the express purpose of writing about it.”

These types of books, which range from “Walden” to “Eat, Pray, Love,” presume that the author is proactively pursuing a story, and is part of it, rather than observing passively, and in a third-person role. Goldstein called such books “schtick lit“.

And since more and more documentaries are doing this as well, I’ll further coin a sub-genre of “schtick flicks.”

Schtick flicks as successful as Academy Award winners The Cove, Born Into Brothels and Bowling For Columbine have been a counterpoint to more traditional interview-based films, such as Inside Job and Man on Wire.

One documentary I’d put it in the schtick flick category is the entertaining More Than A Month, in which filmmaker Shukree Tilghman sets out to end Black History Month. The film will be seen on PBS in February during Black History Month.

Tilghman says the Byron Hurt documentary Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes influenced him to take on the issue as a cross-country vérité-style journey.

“I decided I could do something like that. The initial idea was not that I’d be in the movie. I would speak to people and other people would take over the story. Marco Williams (of Two Towns of Jasper and Banished, on which Tilghman was a producer) got involved as executive producer and said ‘This film is about you and this issue.’”

Tilghman, whose previous credits have included both documentary and reality television work, has always taken issue with placing black history in the “coldest, shortest month.” And when he saw Morgan Freeman talking about his disdain for Black History Month on “60 Minutes” in 2005, it drove him to do something about it. He drew inspiration from other first-person films — and not all documentaries.

“I thought of films like Sherman’s March, definitely Morgan Spurlock, definitely Michael Moore, and believe it or not, Annie Hall,” he says. The 1977 Woody Allen comedy had been a favorite on Tilghman’s in both the way Allen’s character spoke directly to the audience and also how the film used cut-away moments that might be called “re-creations,” but are more fanciful illustrations of the point, often comic in form.

“When you go to a lecture, people often start with a joke — I thought if we dealt with the issue too seriously and we had all talking heads, it wouldn’t be as good. The re-creations were where Annie Hall came in. I must have watched that film 12 times during pre-production. Because here was the opportunity to break out of the film for a second and either make a joke, or illuminate a point, and to entertain in a little way – to say, ‘Hey, you can laugh.’”

Some such moments that were written but never shot, and some that were shot and weren’t used. “Even some of the stuff that made it in, depending on the audience or the mood I’m in watching it, may be a forced joke. For example, some people may not get the Stanley Kubrick 2001 reference.”

The film took Tilghman to nine cities, and resulted in about 250 hours of footage. He shot with a Sony PMW-EX1 and a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, cameras that gave the film HD quality at a reasonable cost. The film, like so many documentaries, began modestly, but shooting the highest-possible quality for cost was important. Often, interviews were conducted on the street or in busy settings, rather than in a formal and controlled interview mode to give the film a feel of the tapestry of everyday life.

“We wanted it to feel like a journey, in which you’d been somewhere, both in terms of physical space and insights. We could have done this film as talking-head experts. It was intentional to not make it feel like that.”

More Than a Month premieres on PBS during Black History Month on February 16, 2012. For more information, visit the film’s official website.

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Though 44 years have elapsed between Frederick Wiseman’s first film, Titicut Follies, and his 40th, Crazy Horse, some things haven’t changed in the venerable filmmaker’s eyes.

Back in 1967, when Titicut Follies was first shown, viewers were outraged by scenes that showed inmates from the State Prison for the Criminally Insane in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, naked.

Frederick Wiseman

The documentary was banned for decades because Massachusetts’ Supreme Court ruled that it had violated inmate privacy. It was not seen again in public until its 1992 PBS broadcast.

Of course there’s an element of stripping down in all Wiseman’s films. We’re invited to be a fly on the wall while his subjects transition into natural and unselfconscious behavior. And without the usual talking heads, inter-titles and voiceovers that accompany too many documentaries, there are no distractions to follow Wiseman right along. He’s bared many subjects over the decades, including hospital workers (Hospital), high school students (High School, POV 2001), domestic abuse victims (Domestic Violence), and more recently, the members of a boxing gym (Boxing Gym).

In the case of the Crazy Horse, a club whose musical revue involves naked dancers, the fact that the girls are undressed is almost beside the point. It’s their costume, really, like those nurses, lawyers and ballet dancers of his other films. Of course, there is less focus on buttocks in those other films.

“I mean the whole thing about nudity I find really strange,” said Wiseman. “Everybody knows what men and women look like naked. It’s no surprise to anybody. You grow up seeing brothers and sisters. You might see your parents. Eventually you see your lovers. I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal.”

Crazy Horse is Frederick Wiseman's 40th film.

I wasn’t quite buying the whole cerebral approach, though. I watched the movie and I don’t care of you’re straight, gay, male or female, the movie is sexy. I found myself getting aroused on a number of occasions. What about the filmmaker? While he looked through his lens, did he get turned on at all?

“Oh, yeah,” said Wiseman. “Sometimes I actually found them more attractive in rehearsal than in the performance. Because in the rehearsal they aren’t wearing the makeup and the wigs. They looked more like attractive young women, whereas during the performance, sometimes their individuality was lost. So, I personally found them sexier in the rehearsals.”

Wiseman was recently lauded at the Cinema Eye Honors, an awards show for nonfiction filmmaking where he was given the Legend Award for Titicut Follies. The gala took place only days before the opening of the new film. I asked him about a remark he made during his acceptance speech where he expressed appreciation for the recognition.

I asked, “After all these years, does that recognition still mean a lot to you?” While I thought we had bonded over a conversation about Dionysian aesthetics, the filmmaker didn’t want his words misinterpreted.

“I meant that it was nice the film was recognized.”

Crazy Horse has begun a theatrical run at Film Forum in New York City, and it will start screening in other cities starting today. Check the film’s Facebook page for information on show times.

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Undefeated follows a Memphis, Tennessee, high school football team, the Manassas Tigers, as they rebound from last place under the tough love of coach Bill Courtney. It’s a classic come-from-behind story, and one you wouldn’t believe if it weren’t a documentary.

View a list of the 2011 Oscar documentary nominees »

But there are several other “Friday Night Lights” moments in the film, events that even filmmakers TJ Martin and Dan Lindsay couldn’t believe unfolded right before their eyes.

While both filmmakers claim a lot of it was the combination of gaining the trust of the team as well as just shooting a lot of footage, the film just seems to be the result of a lot of luck. From its being purchased by the Weinstein Company at its SXSW premiere in March 2011 to its Oscar nomination announced days ago, the film has been enjoying extraordinary success. The Oscar nomination is particularly amazing taking into account that an opening date hasn’t even been announced for the film.

Though they’ve had a number of very good breaks, filmmakers Martin and Lindsay remain humble. Lindsay had this to say about the Oscar announcement:

“The nomination is totally surreal. I mean, a year ago today we were crammed in our little editing space cutting Undefeated, a film we weren’t sure anyone would ever see. And now a year later we are headed to the Academy Awards. Crazy!”

Explore the United States of Documentaries »

The guys have kept their sense of humor throughout as well. When the VH1 website accidentally used a photo of former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the subject of two documentaries (Nick Broomfield’s You Betcha! and the similarly titled The Undefeated) Lindsay shared that he got a good laugh when someone tweeted, “My disappointment that BILL CUNNINGHAM was robbed of a nomination made worse by my thinking that UNDEFEATED was the Sarah Palin doc!”

The filmmakers told me how much they felt like the young men in their film. Martin recounted how it was as though the filmmakers has been transported back to their high school days, going to school every morning and attending classes. “And then that all of a sudden stops. So you felt like you lost a sense of your peers and your community. And that goes for the greater community too. I felt like we got close to the kids fairly early on. Then, once people saw that we were OK and were there for some time, they befriended us as well. Once we left, it was a real void in our own lives”

In the video clip below, the filmmakers tell me more about their “intimate approach” into the lives of high school students that turned into something more:

UPDATE: Undefeated has a theatrical release date: Friday, February 17, 2012, in New York and Los Angeles.

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• Oscar 2012: Best Feature Documentary Nominees List Includes ‘If a Tree Falls’
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We’re forgetting the brouhaha over how best to reform the Academy’s documentary nomination process for a moment so we can be excited about which documentaries were selected as official Oscar nominees. It’s especially exciting for us at POV, because Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman’s If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, which we aired in 2011, is one of the five.

Here’s the list, announced this morning (at 5:30 AM for those L.A. journalists the film industry loves!):

Nominees for Best Documentary Feature

Hell and Back Again
Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky

Pina
Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel

Undefeated
TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

And here’s the list of nominees for Documentary Short Subject, which includes Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin’s The Barber of Birmingham, a film you’ll see on POV later in 2012.

Nominees for Documentary Short Subject

The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin

God is the Bigger Elvis
Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson

Incident in New Baghdad
James Spione

Saving Face
Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom
Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Find out who wins Best Feature Documentary and Documentary Short Subject at the 84th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday, February 26, 2012.

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With Sundance 2012 bringing us the premiere this week of Ice-T’s Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap, and Rory Kennedy’s documentary about her also not un-famous mother Ethel,  I find myself with that vaguely sickening feeling that celebrities make documentaries because they are burnishing self-image, protecting or enhancing their brand, or sometimes doing a salvage job. Think Al Gore. Or Exit Through Gift Shop, 2010 Sundance pick that a) may not have been factually accurate, and b) did more to build the artist Banksy’s brand than all of his previous work, but, most terribly, c) probably inspired a string of maybe-not-so-true-true-story docs.

Ice-T's Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap

Documentary is likewise a marriage between art and something akin to the journalistic. But, and maybe it’s because of my own background in journalism, I lean toward the work of people who don’t make films about themselves, who explore a topic of consequence and who stay behind the camera.

I realize the horse left the barn two decades ago in the substantial form of Michael Moore. Seeing a filmmaker squarely in the frame was not new when Moore first appeared in Roger & Me, but it had never been done so successfully.  While that begat people like Morgan Spurlock vomiting McDonald’s out his car window, it also brought the curious Sketches of Frank Gehry, in which the famous architect was profiled by his famous friend, Sydney Pollack. The shots of the longtime feature-film director Pollack (a man with armies of film crews at his beck and call) shooting Gehry handheld, while himself being shot by a presumed film crew, stay with me.

Too many celebrity documentaries are marked by the filmmaker spending more time in front of the camera than behind it, rarely asking very involved questions, instead offering their mediations on a topic, and at times emitting a whiff of rank self-promotion. When I hear of Johnny Depp making a documentary about Keith Richards, I don’t expect any closure on questions left unanswered by Richards’ own generally forthcoming autobiography (although Keith may well repeat his assertions about Mick Jagger’s genitalia).

Beware documentaries that try too nakedly to lure star power. Tabloid fixture Lindsay Lohan signed on for a 2010 BBC documentary on child trafficking, delicately entitled Lindsay Lohan’s Indian Journey, a film that was pitched as Lohan “investigating” the topic. Who could take it seriously? The film was greeted with shock, and disastrous ratings. Lohan, apparently unscathed, was back partying in LA in no time.

Poster from Chris Rock's Good Hair

Second on my list may be William Shatner’s The Captains, a documentary about playing the captain on TV’s “Star Trek.” The New York Times‘ Mike Hale’s dutiful review of the film is far better than the film itself: “Much of the fun of watching The Captains is waiting to see just how shameless a huckster and self-promoter Mr. Shatner can be. You don’t have to wait long.”

Taking the bronze is a yet-to-be-completed Juliette Lewis documentary, which makes the podium based simply on headlines from September like this one: “Juliette Lewis preps rock documentary on herself.” Exactly! But the articles back in September say she was aiming this film at Sundance 2012, something that has not come to pass, for good or for ill.

And a dishonorable mention must be made for the Casey Affleck-Joaquin Phoenix disaster I’m Still Here, which they first said was true, until it got an awful response, and then they said wasn’t true. When the nonfiction part begins to fade from nonfiction film, I am given pause.

Documentary film has given stars, who might have spent their time trying to get attention in other ways, a new avenue. No one says documentaries have to be completely objective, but can Ethel do anything but forward the Kennedy legacy? Will Something from Nothing, with its roadmap title, tell anything but rags-to-riches stories that positions rap, and rappers, in a favorable light? Maybe we’ll be surprised.

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In an attempt to persuade (or dissuade, depending on who you ask) viewers to attend, Green’s frenemies have put together a collection of short ‘amateur’ films displaying their support/disdain for the event. It’s rare to be entertained by promotion of a documentary — you’ll remember the POV blog’s recap the Rooftop Films screening where Greene revealed his wrestling alter ego and entered a brutal wrestling match with the subjects.

Here are some of my favorites…

Former Alamo Drafthouse programmer Daniel Metz is the tamest of the bunch, subtly implying that anyone with (literally) half a brain would never attend an event like the premiere of a film like Fake It So Real.

Septien director and Hammer to Nail editor Michael Tully takes a different approach, completely dismantling Robert Greene’s filmmaking cred and referring to his films as “docu-wannabes.”

Filmwax founder (and POV blogger) Adam Schartoff throws us out of his studio, showcases his incredible strength and is indignant that we would even consider asking him to attend such an event.

Convento director Jarred Alterman does none of the above.

If you’re near New York City, you can find out more about the upcoming screenings and buy tickets here.

Are you a filmmaker taking a different approach to promoting your documentary? Let us know about it in the comments!

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• Director Enters Rooftop Brawl after Screening of Wrestling Doc ‘Fake It So Real’

Accepting the award for The Interrupters: Subject Ameena Matthews takes the mic, with award presenter Michael Moore, director Steve James and author/producer Alex Kotlowitz behind her. The Interrupters won Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Filmmaking and Direction, the night’s two top awards at the 5th Annual Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking.

On a rainy evening in Queens, New York, a group of documentary luminaries got together to celebrate the 2012 Cinema Eye Honors, a five-year-old awards show for nonfiction filmmaking. It was, indeed, a star-studded affair.

Walking in to the museum’s lobby last night, I was immediately blinded by the sheer docu-star power. Filling the lobby for the cocktail hour were such filmmaking icons as Albert Maysles, Frederick Wiseman, Michael Moore, Steve James, Bruce Sinofsky and Joe Berlinger, the latter two of the team behind the Paradise Lost trilogy.

Inside the Museum of the Movie Image for the 2012 Cinema Eye Honors

Shortly afterward, guests filed into the museum’s auditorium for the awards ceremony, the organization’s fifth. A.J. Schnack and Esther Robinson, Cinema Eye Honors co-chairs and the evening’s co-hosts, had a great chemistry. While Schnack’s goofy asides brought many laughs, it was Robinson who brought just the right amount of solemnity to the occasion.

The Interrupters filmmaker Steve James, who presented the Audience Choice prize to the Buck team and who also won for both Outstanding Achievement in Direction and Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking, exclaimed that tonight he didn’t care about the Oscars, referring to the absence of his film The Interrupters on the Oscar nominee shortlist. A look around the auditorium confirmed his feeling. A generation of amazing storytellers filled the seats including Alma Ha’rel (Bombay Beach), Marshall Curry (If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front), Asif Kapadia (Senna), Danfung Dennis (Hell and Back Again), Cindy Meehl (Buck) and many, many more. There is a strong sense of camaraderie among documentary filmmakers.

Other evening highlights included Frederick Wiseman accepting the Legend Award for his first film, Titicut Follies, as well as a touching acceptance speech by Tim Hetherington’s mother for her late son’s film, Diary which won Best Short. Another touching moment came when Jason Baldwin, one third of the West Memphis 3, brought his heroes, filmmakers Berlinger and Sinofsky up to the stage to accept a new “Hell, Yeah!” prize. Both Sinofsky and Berlinger were clearly moved.

Frederick Wiseman accepts the 2012 Cinema Eye Honors Legacy Award for his documentary Titicut Follies.

The full list of Cinema Eye Honors 2012 winners

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking

The Interrupters
Directed by Steve James
Produced by Alex Kotlowitz and Steve James
Presented by Michael Moore

Outstanding Achievement in Direction

Steve James
The Interrupters
Presented by Alex Gibney

Audience Choice Prize

Buck
Directed by Cindy Meehl
Presented by Robert Krulwich

Outstanding Achievement in Production

Gian-Piero Ringel and Wim Wenders
Pina
Presented by Peter Davis and Andrea Meditch

Outstanding Achievement in Editing

Gregers Sall and Chris King
Senna
Presented by Peter Davis and Andrea Meditch

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography

Danfung Dennis
Hell and Back Again
Presented by Kirsten Johnson and Darius Marder

Spotlight Award

The Tiniest Place
Directed by Tatiana Huezo Sánchez
Presented by Kirsten Johnson and Darius Marder

Heterodox Award

Beginners
Directed by Mike Mills
Presented by Kimberly Reed and Alrick Brown

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking

Diary
Directed by Tim Hetherington
Presented by Nanette Burstein and Josh Fox

Outstanding Achievement in an Original Music Score

John Kusiak
Tabloid
Presented by Nanette Burstein and Josh Fox

Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Animation

Rob Feng and Jeremy Landman
Tabloid
Presented by Jeff Malmberg and Chris Shellen

Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film

Clio Barnard
The Arbor
Presented by Jeff Malmberg and Chris Shellen

Hell Yeah Prize

Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
The Paradise Lost Trilogy
Presented by Jason Baldwin

Legacy Award

Titicut Follies
Directed by Frederick Wiseman
Presented by Steve James

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President John F. Kennedy seen in a still image from the documentary Crisis

Every year, the Librarian of Congress (yes, this is a real government job title) selects 25 “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” films to be added to the National Film Registry. The Registry was created in 1989 as part of the National Film Preservation Act, which sought to save significant American films.

In addition to Disney’s Bambi, Forrest Gump and Pixar pioneer Edwin Catmull’s early CGI work A Computer Animated Hand, the 2011 selection included documentaries, such as Robert Drew’s cinéma vérité landmark Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment.

Do you disagree with the selections so far? Do something about it! Starting this week, the Library of Congress is asking viewers like you to nominate films for the 2012 National Film Registry (they’ve even provided a huge list of films that aren’t in the registry).

We’re not saying you should necessarily nominate POV documentaries or films by alums (Michael Moore, Frederick Wiseman, the Maysles Brothers, and we could go on…), but if you feel so inclined, keep in mind that nominees must be at least 10 years old. The most recently produced documentary inducted into the National Film Registry was 1994′s Hoop Dreams (2005), Steve James’ acclaimed film about two high school basketball players in Chicago aiming for the NBA.

You can send up to 50 suggestions for preservation by emailing dross@loc.gov. Check out loc.gov for more information about the nomination process and the Film Registry.

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The proposed changes affect those submitting their works for consideration and those voting on them within the Academy. For those submitting, they must have had their titles reviewed in either The New York Times or the Los Angeles Times. The New York Times policy requires a review of every title that gets a one-week theatrical run in New York or Los Angeles, while this story claims the L.A. paper “already reviews nearly every film released on a commercial screen for a week in Los Angeles,” though without an attribution to an official source.

For those voting, the changes include moving away from committee-based nominations within the documentary branch of the Academy toward all 157 members screening submissions initially. Once the pool has been narrowed, the entire Academy membership gets the opportunity to vote on the winner through a screener. Previous rules required that voting members viewed the documentaries in theaters.

These requirements come on top of the Academy’s already existing theatrical run requirement, which states, “To be eligible for 84th Academy Awards consideration, a documentary feature must complete both a seven-day commercial run in a theater in Los Angeles County, and a seven-day commercial run in a theater in the Borough of Manhattan during the eligibility period.” Programs such as the International Documentary Association’s DocuWeeks Theatrical Documentary Showcase help makers with meeting this requirement. The program is not one of automatic inclusion: Titles appearing on the program must go through a screening committee.

The review requirement gets the most attention among critics of these changes, I suspect, in part, because it is out of the documentary maker’s hands whether a title gets reviewed or not. While both newspapers have rules that require films to be reviewed if shown theatrically for a week or more, those rules appear to offer little consolation. The rule does beg some questions, though. One, why force such a responsibility on newspaper reviewers? Shouldn’t the Academy do its own screening of the applications? Two, why only these two papers out of the many major metropolitan papers throughout the country? Why not permit a review from Roger Ebert at the Chicago Sun-Times? Or from The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, The Denver Post, or the Detroit Free Press? Chicago, Boston, North Carolina, and other parts of the country have vibrant documentary communities, so why not include those within the geographical reach as well? Documentary makers can appeal this requirement with the Academy, but for some this option offers little consolation.

Another question raised among those responding to the rules refers to reducing the number of the documentaries eligible for consideration. This question raises two points, particularly from the Academy’s perspective: the number of submissions and the types of submissions. Michael Cieply notes in The New York Times that the Academy considered 124 titles in 2011, an increase of 23 from the 101 in 2010. Those amounts and their subsequent increases create a quandary for those trying to view the submissions within a set period, though the new rules allow for year-round screenings, which might ease that load a bit.

The types of submissions become another question. Academy member Michael Moore raised the point in a Twitter exchange with me that some television documentary makers try to qualify for Oscar consideration through a process called “four-walling,” which refers to renting a theater to show a film. Larger-budget television productions potentially have the money for this practice, though some get theatrical screenings alongside television scheduling anyway, such as Martin Scorsese’s George Harrison: Living in the Material World. The Academy, though, wants to keep television productions out of consideration, ensuring the place of national, theatrical documentaries.

Critics raised concerns about how these rules affected documentaries working on smaller budgets. In a blog post, IDA Executive Director Michael Lumpkin writes, “Some [of the rules] seem to favor the well-funded films as well as the better-known filmmakers, but as with any new system the real test will be implementing these rules in 2012.” When I asked how these changes benefited documentary makers working on smaller budgets, Moore replied, “Letting everyone watch on screeners will mean more participation, more chance for smaller films.” That way, films such as The Interrupters would have had more fair consideration, as many felt the well-received Kartemquin title got snubbed for not even landing on the shortlist this year. Of course, doubts will remain until the rules become practice.

Moore strongly advocates for the changes, but other documentary makers such as Joe Berlinger (the Paradise Lost series, Brother’s Keeper) and Robert Greene (Kati With An I, Fake It So Real) offer more mixed reactions. Still others have weighed in with support and dismissal.

One key point to remember is that the documentary form has always had a weird relationship with the Academy. While the awards started in 1927, the Academy didn’t begin recognizing documentary with an award until 1942 with Churchill’s Island. That date might not be a coincidence, as World War II saw some Hollywood directors such as John Huston (The Maltese Falcon) and Frank Capra (It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) making documentaries about and for the war. Huston made Report from the Aleutians, The Battle of San Pietro, and Let There Be Light, while Capra was in charge of the the seven-part Why We Fight series. In general, though, the Academy strongly represents Hollywood, the old studios, and their “dream factory” image, while some powerful documentaries can shatter those dreams with the horrific, stark, and bleak realities they represent.

Another point to remember is that while the Academy emphasizes theatrical documentaries, documentaries appear in multiple other forms including not only moving images with television and video, but also still images, sound, and writing. Among makers working with moving images, though, not all possess the same goals outside wanting to get their works seen by audiences. Some seek specific audiences because they want to help, while others seek specific exhibition venues because they feel that’s where their audiences are. Some find the festival circuit, then going to video-on-demand and digital streaming, enough for their needs. In other words, not all seek Academy-level exposure.

Further, many of the award recognitions are medium-specific — the Oscar for film, for example, and the Emmy for television, for another example. With the increasing digital convergence, this medium-specificity is fast becoming (if not is already) a dated idea. Yet the Academy rules for documentary exhibition begin with requiring its showing on 16mm, 35mm, or 70mm film, and other, more complicated technical specifications refining these requirements further. With many makers opting for digital, this requirement means that for consideration and exhibition they must covert to the film medium, which is an expensive undertaking. At some point, this digital convergence will overtake medium-based production and exhibition, thus rendering this technical qualification obsolete.

Links cited:

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Schartoff: Having just gone through this process, do you have any words of wisdom to a filmmaker who is getting ready to launch a Kickstarter campaign?

Schauder: 1) Cut a strong trailer.

No longer than three minutes.

2) Get a team.

There’s no way you can do this on your own — It’s a full time job. (This is a good time to give a big shout-out to our fantastic interns-turned-outreach-professionals Stephanie Buhle and Kristen Cadacio! No way we could’ve done it without them.)

3) Line up some key supporters before the campaign.

In addition to our executive producer, Abby Disney, who’s been with us for a year now, we had the support of the fantastic Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Maz Jobrani (the funniest Iranian this side of the Atlantic) who regularly tweeted to his 100,000 (or however many) Facebook friends he has. We also had incredible support from friends, e.g., soccer moms and folks from our kids’ play-groups (Amanda, Marte, Will & Shryia, and many others — you rock!), as well as from family (Evie, Birgit, Banafshe!), and from some of our colleagues and fellow filmmakers who were extremely encouraging (Jim, Daria and many, many others). These people became our strongest ambassadors, and you need that.

4) Try to connect in some way with your supporters.

For example, we shared some of the things that were going on in our lives — when you’re married with two kids and you basically have a full family life parallel to your campaign, it’s hard not to. I think people really liked that, at least that’s the feedback I’ve gotten. They became a part of something bigger than just a film. They got to know us a bit. They started pulling for us. At some point we posted a video of our kids partying it up in our office after we found out we’d cracked 50K, our first goal. People got a real kick out of it and started sharing that in addition to the film’s trailer.

5) Plan a vacation in the middle of your campaign.

We went to the Bahamas Film Festival, not with this film yet, but to be on a jury — Fantastic way to take a load off! All you need is laptop and a Bahama Mama. It really takes the edge off the campaign trail.

Schartoff: How did you decide on the initial campaign goal of $50,000?

Schauder: Before we launched the campaign, one of the toughest things was to decide where to set our goal: Should it be what we actually would like to raise, for example, $100K, or should it be a more realistic, manageable number?

Some of our interns and others suggested going for $35,000 in the hopes of exceeding it with some days left in the campaign and then going for $50,000. Others — particularly our go-getter intern Steph Buhle — suggested going for $75,000. Based on other campaigns she’d researched and what they reached, she had the confidence that we could outdo them with our film. I have to give it to her for being so gutsy. Eventually we settled in the middle, at $50,000 – which is still a pretty daunting number when you start. In a 50-day campaign that means raising $1,000 per day. From where? WHO will give you that money each and every day?

But we had confidence that we could get to $50,000, and hopefully with a few days to spare in the campaign.

Schartoff: When did you make the decision to aim for $100,000 and what did you have to change once you set that new goal?

Schauder: Prior to the launch we had drafted language that explains to our backers why we’re now shifting the goal post. We prepared that language just in case we did in fact get the chance to surpass our goal.

What we did NOT expect was that we’d surpass it so soon — 10 days before our deadline. So then we said, let’s get to $75,000 asap and if we do it with two or three days left in the campaign, we might actually get a chance to go for $100,000. And we did.

Schartoff: How do you explain the success of the Kickstarter campaign?

Schauder: First and foremost, our supporters were incredible. They really made it happen for us. Once they were involved, they didn’t stop. They shared it all over the place, and once it got going it was like a snowball. People get excited, and everyone wants you to succeed. It’s a pretty mind-bending experience.

Of course we were extremely fortunate to get the kind of press coverage we got — most importantly the piece on CNN’s homepage which had 100,000+ hits. But we didn’t seek this out — they found us! People started asking us, “Who’s your publicist?” I said, “We don’t have a publicist — yet!” Bloggers all over the world just started writing about and promoting the film. For example, the editors of a German basketball site took it upon themselves to translate our Kickstarter info into German and present it to their fans. A guy from Australia kept checking the time difference with us so he could best time his e-blasts to his network. People just caught on to the excitement.

Secondly we had a pretty awesome team that worked together on outreach. We each targeted a different angle: sports, Iranians, basketball fans, doc fans, women’s rights groups, etc.

Basically once we hit $50,000, everything went almost exactly like we hoped, including some big pledges at opportune moments that kept motivating our supporters and instilling a belief that we could actually do this.

Schartoff: Is there anything you would have changed about how your team ran its campaign?

Schauder: When you reach your goal, and actually double it, there’s little to second guess.

I suppose there were a few things we didn’t need to do, that were perhaps not the best use of our time. The one thing we should’ve perhaps done differently is this: Instead of 50 days, we should’ve run the campaign for the maximum period allowed, which Kickstarter recently set at 60. (It used to be 90! Imagine what we would’ve done with 90 days!) Had everything clicked all of the time we might have even cracked $120,000. Who knows?

But really, considering this was a significantly shorter campaign than those of previous successful film campaigns, we did extremely well – especially when you look at how much money we ended up raising per day: $2,000!

Schartoff: How do you think your film’s subject matter plays into the success of your fundraising?

Schauder: Kevin (Sheppard, the film’s protagonist) and the Iranians he meets are just phenomenal film subjects. With those characters as assets we tried cutting a trailer that might hit this out of the park for us, and it looks like it did. I think it got over 20,000 online views.

One of our backers put it this way: You feel comfortable with Kevin and because of that, you allow him to take you on this journey in Iran. He’s one of the funniest, smartest and soulful people I’ve ever met, and the camera loves him. Can’t go wrong with these traits!

Schartoff: Did you break the news to Kevin? What was his reaction?

Schauder: We haven’t reached him yet, which is how it always is when something exciting is happening. A couple weeks ago, CNN wanted to put him on their “World Report,” but Kevin was MIA. I think he was celebrating Carnival (he lives in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Carnival is a much bigger deal there than CNN’s “World Report”). I told him, “Dude, you’ll be on CNN!” He said he needed to check out his friend’s band first. They did track him down eventually.

At our fundraiser party in Brooklyn last week, we screened the interview. The party became really quiet all of the sudden. I saw people literally holding their breath. The way he framed the film and its impact and potential to bring people together, and inform our diplomacy, it’s very powerful.

The Iran Job is smack in the middle of some of the most pressing social, cultural and political issues, and with this momentum we have the potential to connect people in such a way that it might change public perception and potentially influence policy.

The Iran Job follows the story of an American basketball player in Iran

Schauder: I’m going to quote one of our backers because I couldn’t say it any better: The power of visual storytelling and the paradigm shift created by both the democratization of distribution and funding (Kickstarter), along with social networking, have created a new set of possibilities for film as a vehicle for social activism AND entertainment.

In other words, as filmmakers, when you’ve got a strong project, you don’t need to be a slave to networks, festivals or other gatekeepers any more. Programmers and gatekeepers can have a somewhat antiquated vision of what audiences want to see, whereas Kickstarter is a kind of public referendum of what’s going to work with an audience, what they in fact WANT to see, and it’s difficult to ignore it. Kickstarter, when it goes well, can accomplish many of the same things, and probably more, than most festivals could. We never would have imagined getting this level of press attention before the film has even premiered! That said, we’ll now start working with a publicist.

We’ve now migrated our fundraising to the film’s website, theiranjob.com, which is important because we still need to raise more. Luckily there is now a lot of momentum and excitement around the film and plenty of people who’re interested in helping this film get the widest audience possible even after Kickstarter ended. They can now donate through the site and it’s actually 100% tax deductible now –something Kickstarter couldn’t offer.

Listen to Adam Schartoff’s conversation on BBOX Radio with The Iran Job filmmakers Till Schauder and Sara Nodjoumi for more on their fundraising campaign and the production of film.

Get more documentary film news and features: Subscribe to POV’s documentary blog, like POV on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @povdocs.

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I sometimes wonder not only if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences realizes it’s imposing 1930’s sensibilities on a 2012 world, but if in a sense it is pushing a Norma Desmondesque notion that, “I am big — It’s the pictures that got small.”

When it comes to documentaries, they did get small, and I think that’s wonderful. Small, numerous and meaningful – the antithesis of the studio system that created the Oscars as a self-congratulatory big-business exercise.

That silent-movie attitude about the way the Academy decides what’s good is appalling.

According to reporting Sunday by The New York Times, the Academy has decided, in its infinite wisdom, that it would only consider documentaries reviewed in one of the Two Timeses, The New York Times or the Los Angeles Times, as if those two newspapers are the ultimate arbiters of what’s good.

On one coast is a bankrupt newspaper whose owner may not survive. On the other is a city where acclaim is recognized as coming from a panoply of critics, such as the double Davids, Denby and Edelstein. In between is a vast middle of people with names like Chris Vognar, Lisa Kennedy and Roger Ebert, who might as well stop reviewing nonfiction.

The fact that The New York Times posted what I read as a somewhat chagrined article indicates it has taken a “What, me?” approach. Suddenly, A.O. Scott is the go-to guy. Scott politely called the rule change “flattering,” but his tone may have also been one of sadness.

If power becomes concentrated, and publicists rule the game, will documentarians, who are all essentially independent filmmakers, have the money to play?

Read: The 10 Most Powerful People in the Documentary World

Look at the numbers. According to the Times article, the Academy considered 124 movies in 2011. That’s it? 2.4 docs a week? What were they watching otherwise? “Desperate Housewives?”

I’d love it if the arbiters were documentary lovers who wanted to see many more than that on a weekly basis. Armchair Joe watches many more hours of football each week, and then he goes to work in the morning.

In its Saul Steinberg view of America, the Academy only thinks a documentary film is real if it plays in New York or Los Angeles – not Park City, not Austin, not Columbia, Missouri. Certainly not Toronto, or Sheffield, or Edinburgh.

There are stunning and meaningful documentaries being produced at an unprecedented rate, which is the most happy outcome of the digital age — amazing work by “outsiders” who lack the speed dial of the L.A. players but who know how to tell a damned good story. They use cheap camcorders and HDSLRs and other DIY tactics to tell sublime and gripping tales. And there have never been so many channels to distribute them, but the Academy has yet to fully support them. It continues to shun screeners for documentary consideration. Though there are hints this might be relaxed, according to its official rules, “the Academy remains firmly committed to the principal that motion pictures competing for Academy Awards should be seen and heard in a theatrical setting.”

You’d have to go back a few decades to see sense in this. Since it wasn’t practical to ship reels to Academy members, documentary producers made sure their films played in NYC or LA for a week so voters could pop in and see them. (Academy voters in those days only lived in New York or LA, but don’t get me going on that.)

The stated policy that The New York Times reviews every film released on a commercial screen for a week in New York or Los Angeles, and reviews some new releases screened by nonprofit groups like the Museum of Modern Art, presumes they always will. Unlikely. Shrinking news holes defy that, and make me wonder why two newspapers suddenly have such cachet.

Get more documentary film news and features: Subscribe to POV’s documentary blog, like POV on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @povdocs.

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Independent filmmaking has been a struggle between a tiny percentage of well-funded filmmakers using all the wealth at their disposal and the filmmaking 99 percenters using all the credit lines at their disposal. They may have talent and ambition, but little money. They string together projects from thin funding, or self-funding, or they use their documentary work as a loss leader that serves as a calling card for corporate gigs or work in advertising.

The Canon EOS 5D Mark II can be
credited with bringing high quality video
to documentarians with a modest budget.

But, it seems, every time the masses find a way into the game, the game changes.

The most significant change to documentary filmmaking in the last decade was the rise of programs, such as Apple’s Final Cut, that brought editing work out of the rented post-production facility and onto one’s desktop, then laptop. But right up there were the development of HDV — the so-called “poor man’s HD” — and the sudden arrival of Canon’s EOS 5D Mark II, which put in the hands of people of modest means a camera they could use to make serious films.

Before those products arrived, most people were shooting on Mini-DV cameras like the Canon XL1 and the Panasonic DVX100. Any viewer could tell the difference.

But as we enter 2012, the gap is widening, with the manufacturers themselves ramping back up to more-costly offerings. In the past year, the long-awaited arrival of big-sensor camcorders that would overtake video-shooting DSLRs came at a disappointingly hefty price. The Canon C300 ($20,000), Sony’s PMW-F3 ($14,000), and the new RED Scarlet-X ($18,000) have not created the answer, but rather a carrot-and-stick conundrum: How far you can stretch your budget for definably better results? All of these camcorders deliver better quality, but in my opinion not so much that it’s readily apparent to most viewers. In the end, the HDSLR was not obsoleted in 2011, and so 2012 begins with rumors of what’s next.

The 2012 product season, highlighted by Photokina and NAB, thrills the equipment freaks but leaves many holding their breath. What’s next that will obsolete the equipment you own, and that you’re still paying off? For what it’s worth:

• With the Canon EOS 1DX body announced already at $6,800 (and therefore implausible for most), the biggest talk is of a Canon EOS 5D Mark III, which rumors alternately say will and won’t have a huge leap in megapixels, and which will likely have far better audio capabilities and functions that are already in use by people who’ve downloaded the third-party Magic Lantern hack.
• The anticipated update to Canon’s EOS 7D is for upgraded megapixels and improved features such as higher ISO. We’ll see.
• A 3-D HDSLR? It seems that may be the way things go. And then add into that the new infatuation with using side-by-side cameras to create High Dynamic Range, and it seems those could work somehow.
• Sony may announce a full-frame DSLR, according to some sources. Nikon seems, as always, to lag.
• Magic Lantern is readying its “Unified Edition” for the Canon 5D, providing the features already in its 550D/T2i, 60D, 600D/T3i, 500D/T1i and 50D models. This free download vastly improves the ability of the camera, and the unified edition stretches it across all models except the apparently impenetrable 7D, which for that reason is falling out of favor with many DSLR filmmakers.

In short, the rumor mills are not looking at anything remarkably different for the lower-budget documentary filmmaker. And that’s good news in that everyone is not going to have to rush out to do an unwanted upgrade just to stay in the game. With HDSLR and even HDV documentaries having found their place in top festivals, broadcast and even Academy Award considerations, lower-budget filmmakers have not yet been priced out of the game.

“99 Percenter” Kurt Lancaster‘s take on that other 99 Percent, shot with a Canon 5D Mark II.

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Located on the edge of Zion National Park, the O.C. Tanner Amphitheater is one of DOCUTAH’s stunning screening settings. (Credit: Southern Utah International Documentary Film Festival) View the gallery.

While the big boys — Sundance, Tribeca, Cannes — receive acclaim for breaking new films and bringing out the stars, there are countless film festival gems hidden in small towns around America that deserve more attention from filmmakers and filmgoers.

Whether you’re looking for an alternative venue to premiere your first documentary or a scenic weekend getaway for watching a well-programmed slate, these lesser-known fests embody the passion and innovation of the A-listers, but with a little hometown hospitality.

View the gallery of small-town film festivals »

Population source: 2010 Census.

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Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley Jr. were released from prison in August after serving 18 years in prison for the 1993 murder of boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. “The West Memphis Three,” as they became known, entered a rarely used plea deal that labeled them guilty but allows them to claim innocence. Echols said they could do more to clear their names from the outside.

Filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky began raising doubt about their guilt in 1996′s Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, and their cause was picked up by celebrities including Johnny Depp, Metallica and the Dixie Chicks’ Natalie Maines.

A second film, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, was broadcast in 2000. The third film, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, was completed and screened at festivals in September, but its wider release was postponed to 2012 on the news.

Another documentary seeking the trio’s exoneration, West of Memphis, will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012. It’s directed by Deliver Us from Evil‘s Amy Berg and produced by WM3 supporter Peter Jackson.

The 2011 Documentary Year in Review Countdown…

#12: Online payments
Ford Foundation Funds Webified Documentaries

#11: Off-camera confrontation
Michael Moore Sues the Weinsteins over ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ Accounting

#10: A film by you
‘Life In A Day,’ a Documentary Culled from 80,000 Filmmakers, Premieres Online

#9: Cameraless documentary
‘Senna’ Breaks U.K. Box-Office Records

#8: Mobile device legend
Cinéma Vérité Pioneer Richard “Ricky” Leacock Dies

#7: Good karma
‘My Reincarnation’ Breaks Records on Kickstarter

#6: Seeing is beliebing
3-D Documentaries Hit Theaters

#5: Risks become real
Popcorn.js Brings HTML5 and Interactivity to Documentaries

#3: Mystery man
What if Banksy Wins an Oscar?

#2: Web threats
The Stop Online Privacy Act Catches the Web Off Guard

#1: Freedom fighters
The West Memphis 3, Subjects of the ‘Paradise Lost’ Documentary Series, Are Set Free

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• The 2011 Documentary Year in Review Countdown
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Congress caught the web off guard at the end of 2011 when it moved quickly to debate the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).

The legislation, if passed, would give the Department of Justice the power to shut down websites or internet service providers that facilitate copyright violation. That includes a few sites you may have heard of, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and countless others

Proponents of the legislation (including the Motion Picture Association of America and major media conglomerates) say it will protect creative professionals, while opponents say the bill will erode free-speech rights, cripple now-and-future digital distributors and otherwise stifle creativity, assuming the law is enforceable.

Hollywood has a lobbying edge over Silicon Valley, and the bill could reach a vote in early 2012.

(The video above overlays a pro-SOPA video by Viacom with anti-SOPA commentary. Below is Stephen Colbert’s take.)

The 2011 Documentary Year in Review Countdown…

#12: Online payments
Ford Foundation Funds Webified Documentaries

#11: Off-camera confrontation
Michael Moore Sues the Weinsteins over ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ Accounting

#10: A film by you
‘Life In A Day,’ a Documentary Culled from 80,000 Filmmakers, Premieres Online

#9: Cameraless documentary
‘Senna’ Breaks U.K. Box-Office Records

#8: Mobile device legend
Cinéma Vérité Pioneer Richard “Ricky” Leacock Dies

#7: Good karma
‘My Reincarnation’ Breaks Records on Kickstarter

#6: Seeing is beliebing
3-D Documentaries Hit Theaters

#5: Risks become real
Popcorn.js Brings HTML5 and Interactivity to Documentaries

#3: Mystery man
What if Banksy Wins an Oscar?

#2: Web threats
The Stop Online Piracy Act Catches the Web Off Guard

#1: Freedom fighters
The West Memphis 3, Subjects of the ‘Paradise Lost’ Documentary Series, Are Set Free

Read more posts like this one...

• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #10: ‘Life In A Day,’ a Documentary Culled from 80,000 Filmmakers, Premieres Online
• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #9: ‘Senna’ Breaks U.K. Box-Office Records
• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #3: What If Banksy Wins an Oscar?

Who is Banksy? And would he reveal himself if Exit Through the Gift Shop were to win the Oscar for Best Documentary?

His representatives said no, asking the Academy to allow the anonymous artist to accept the award without revealing his identity.

The Academy’s executive director replied, “If the film wins and five guys in monkey masks come to the stage all saying, ‘I’m Banksy,’ who the hell do we give it to?”

The film lost out to Inside Job, but in the run up to the Oscars, rumors spread that the mischievous artist was staking out in L.A. and decorating its streets with his signature brand of graffiti.

The 2011 Documentary Year in Review Countdown…

#12: Online payments
Ford Foundation Funds Webified Documentaries

#11: Off-camera confrontation
Michael Moore Sues the Weinsteins over ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ Accounting

#10: A film by you
‘Life In A Day,’ a Documentary Culled from 80,000 Filmmakers, Premieres Online

#9: Cameraless documentary
‘Senna’ Breaks U.K. Box-Office Records

#8: Mobile device legend
Cinéma Vérité Pioneer Richard “Ricky” Leacock Dies

#7: Good karma
‘My Reincarnation’ Breaks Records on Kickstarter

#6: Seeing is beliebing
3-D Documentaries Hit Theaters

#5: Risks become real
Popcorn.js Brings HTML5 and Interactivity to Documentaries

#3: Mystery man
What if Banksy Wins an Oscar?

#2: Web threats
The Stop Online Privacy Act Catches the Web Off Guard

#1: Freedom fighters
The West Memphis 3, Subjects of the ‘Paradise Lost’ Documentary Series, Are Set Free

Read more posts like this one...

• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #10: ‘Life In A Day,’ a Documentary Culled from 80,000 Filmmakers, Premieres Online
• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #9: ‘Senna’ Breaks U.K. Box-Office Records
• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #6: 3-D Documentaries Hit Theaters

Still image from NFB’s web documentary One Millionth Tower

Documentaries got a little more interactive this year with the release of programming tools that connect video to social media, news and other realtime data.

Popcorn.js 1.0 by Mozilla and WebGL powered Kat Cizek’s NFB web documentary One Millionth Tower while Zeega began working with public radio stations to create participatory location-based projects.

The tools are based on HTML5, not Flash, which is losing favor because of incompatibility with Apple devices.

The 2011 Documentary Year in Review Countdown…

#12: Online payments
Ford Foundation Funds Webified Documentaries

#11: Off-camera confrontation
Michael Moore Sues the Weinsteins over ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ Accounting

#10: A film by you
‘Life In A Day,’ a Documentary Culled from 80,000 Filmmakers, Premieres Online

#9: Cameraless documentary
‘Senna’ Breaks U.K. Box-Office Records

#8: Mobile device legend
Cinéma Vérité Pioneer Richard “Ricky” Leacock Dies

#7: Good karma
‘My Reincarnation’ Breaks Records on Kickstarter

#6: Seeing is beliebing
3-D Documentaries Hit Theaters

#5: Risks become real
Popcorn.js Brings HTML5 and Interactivity to Documentaries

#3: Mystery man
What if Banksy Wins an Oscar?

#2: Web threats
The Stop Online Privacy Act Catches the Web Off Guard

#1: Freedom fighters
The West Memphis 3, Subjects of the ‘Paradise Lost’ Documentary Series, Are Set Free

Read more posts like this one...

• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #6: 3-D Documentaries Hit Theaters
• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #12: Ford Foundation Funds Webified Documentaries
• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #10: ‘Life In A Day,’ a Documentary Culled from 80,000 Filmmakers, Premieres Online

Some would have called it a 3-D horror film.

Was it a “You ain’t heard nothing yet” moment for independent filmmaking auteurs?

Directors (and audiences) started to see the potential for 3-D documentary storytelling with the theatrical releases of Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Wim Wenders’s Pina and, yes, let’s include the hit concert documentary Justin Bieber: Never Say Never.

POV’s blog reviewed the state of another new filmmaking technology, 360-degree video, earlier this year.

The 2011 Documentary Year in Review Countdown…

#12: Online payments
Ford Foundation Funds Webified Documentaries

#11: Off-camera confrontation
Michael Moore Sues the Weinsteins over ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ Accounting

#10: A film by you
‘Life In A Day,’ a Documentary Culled from 80,000 Filmmakers, Premieres Online

#9: Cameraless documentary
‘Senna’ Breaks U.K. Box-Office Records

#8: Mobile device legend
Cinéma Vérité Pioneer Richard “Ricky” Leacock Dies

#7: Good karma
‘My Reincarnation’ Breaks Records on Kickstarter

#6: Seeing is beliebing
3-D Documentaries Hit Theaters

#5: Risks become real
Popcorn.js Brings HTML5 and Interactivity to Documentaries

#3: Mystery man
What if Banksy Wins an Oscar?

#2: Web threats
The Stop Online Privacy Act Catches the Web Off Guard

#1: Freedom fighters
The West Memphis 3, Subjects of the ‘Paradise Lost’ Documentary Series, Are Set Free

Read more posts like this one...

• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #12: Ford Foundation Funds Webified Documentaries
• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #10: ‘Life In A Day,’ a Documentary Culled from 80,000 Filmmakers, Premieres Online
• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #9: ‘Senna’ Breaks U.K. Box-Office Records

A screenshot of the My Reincarnation Kickstarter campaign page

Filmmaker Jennifer Fox (Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman, Love and Diane, An American Love Story) became a celebrity, not for her film, but for her marketing saavy.

Fox’s My Reincarnation, which tells the story of a Tibetan master and his son’s stubborn reluctance to follow in his father’s footsteps, raised more money on Kickstarter, per person, than any other project in the crowdfunding site’s history, and broke the record for fundraising for a finished film — $154,000.

Subscribe to POV’s blog, where Fox will be sharing some of her secrets next week!

The 2011 Documentary Year in Review Countdown…

#12: Online payments
Ford Foundation Funds Webified Documentaries

#11: Off-camera confrontation
Michael Moore Sues the Weinsteins over ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ Accounting

#10: A film by you
‘Life In A Day,’ a Documentary Culled from 80,000 Filmmakers, Premieres Online

#9: Cameraless documentary
‘Senna’ Breaks U.K. Box-Office Records

#8: Mobile device legend
Cinéma Vérité Pioneer Richard “Ricky” Leacock Dies

#7: Good karma
‘My Reincarnation’ Breaks Records on Kickstarter

#6: Seeing is beliebing
3-D Documentaries Hit Theaters

#5: Risks become real
Popcorn.js Brings HTML5 and Interactivity to Documentaries

#3: Mystery man
What if Banksy Wins an Oscar?

#2: Web threats
The Stop Online Privacy Act Catches the Web Off Guard

#1: Freedom fighters
The West Memphis 3, Subjects of the ‘Paradise Lost’ Documentary Series, Are Set Free

Read more posts like this one...

• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #9: ‘Senna’ Breaks U.K. Box-Office Records
• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #10: ‘Life In A Day,’ a Documentary Culled from 80,000 Filmmakers, Premieres Online
• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #8: Cinéma Vérité Pioneer Richard “Ricky” Leacock Dies

Richard “Ricky” Leacock, who’d first worked with Robert Flaherty (Nanook of the North) on Louisiana Story, provided the portable and unobtrusive filmmaking technology that freed filmmakers such as Robert Drew (Primary), D A Pennebaker (Dont Look Back) and the Maysles brothers (Salesman) to define a new genre of immediate, fly-on-the-wall documentaries.

And as a professor at the program he helped establish at MIT, Leacock mentored a new generation of filmmakers, including Ross McElwee (Sherman’s March) and Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding).

Leacock died in March at age 89.

The 2011 Documentary Year in Review Countdown…

#12: Online payments
Ford Foundation Funds Webified Documentaries

#11: Off-camera confrontation
Michael Moore Sues the Weinsteins over ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ Accounting

#10: A film by you
‘Life In A Day,’ a Documentary Culled from 80,000 Filmmakers, Premieres Online

#9: Cameraless documentary
‘Senna’ Breaks U.K. Box-Office Records

#8: Mobile device legend
Cinéma Vérité Pioneer Richard “Ricky” Leacock Dies

#7: Good karma
‘My Reincarnation’ Breaks Records on Kickstarter

#6: Seeing is beliebing
3-D Documentaries Hit Theaters

#5: Risks become real
Popcorn.js Brings HTML5 and Interactivity to Documentaries

#3: Mystery man
What if Banksy Wins an Oscar?

#2: Web threats
The Stop Online Privacy Act Catches the Web Off Guard

#1: Freedom fighters
The West Memphis 3, Subjects of the ‘Paradise Lost’ Documentary Series, Are Set Free

Read more posts like this one...

• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #10: ‘Life In A Day,’ a Documentary Culled from 80,000 Filmmakers, Premieres Online
• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #9: ‘Senna’ Breaks U.K. Box-Office Records
• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #11: Michael Moore Sues the Weinsteins over ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ Accounting

Life in a Day, which may be the largest crowdsourced work of art ever undertaken, premiered first at Sundance then online on YouTube in July. Filmmakers Kevin Macdonald and Ridley Scott oversaw the effort to sift through 4,500 hours of video chronicling a single day — July 24, 2010 — contributed by 80,000 filmmakers from around the world.

Other documentary projects have crowdsourced footage before, but none on this level. The complete film, which is free to watch online (and is above too!), has been viewed more than 3 million times.

The 2011 Documentary Year in Review Countdown…

#12: Online payments
Ford Foundation Funds Webified Documentaries

#11: Off-camera confrontation
Michael Moore Sues the Weinsteins over ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ Accounting

#10: A film by you
‘Life In A Day,’ a Documentary Culled from 80,000 Filmmakers, Premieres Online

#9: Cameraless documentary
‘Senna’ Breaks U.K. Box-Office Records

#8: Mobile device legend
Cinéma Vérité Pioneer Richard “Ricky” Leacock Dies

#7: Good karma
‘My Reincarnation’ Breaks Records on Kickstarter

#6: Seeing is beliebing
3-D Documentaries Hit Theaters

#5: Risks become real
Popcorn.js Brings HTML5 and Interactivity to Documentaries

#3: Mystery man
What if Banksy Wins an Oscar?

#2: Web threats
The Stop Online Privacy Act Catches the Web Off Guard

#1: Freedom fighters
The West Memphis 3, Subjects of the ‘Paradise Lost’ Documentary Series, Are Set Free

Read more posts like this one...

• The 2011 Documentary Year in Review Countdown
• Documentary Year in Review Countdown #11: Michael Moore Sues the Weinsteins over ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ Accounting
• ‘Patti Smith: Dream of Life’ Premieres at Sundance