Still in Motion

Films in Competition at Britdoc

One week from this Wednesday, the annual festival called Britdoc, fast becoming one of the premiere documentary festivals on the international scene, will welcome filmmakers, producers, commissioning editors, and other industry folk to Keble College at Oxford for its third iteration.  The themes this year are Comedy and Music, and they've announced their competition lineup, special guest appearances, and other programs.  I will be covering the festival this year and am very excited to attend.  (The fest's programmer, Maxyne Franklin, is also a member of the esteemed nominating committee for the Cinema Eye Honors.)  An initiative of the Channel 4 British Documentary Film Foundation, the Britdoc festival brings together filmmakers and funders in an intimate setting and, currently, stages the only international pitching forum in the UK.

In honor of the comedy theme, The Yes Men (one of the funniest and most brilliant duos to appear in  film, fiction or non- I've seen) will be showing a work-in-progress.  And as part of the special music program, the fest will be presenting Robert Flaherty's seminal Nanook of the North (this man has been a big part of my life this year!) with a live soundtrack from the Shine Synchro System.  This sounds just as cool as the screening I saw in L.A. a couple of years ago of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, accompanied by a score from Sparklehorse.

The ten British documentaries in the feature competition this year are:  Blood Trail by Richard Parry; Chosen by Brian Woods; Day After Peace by Jeremy Gilley; Heavy Load by Jerry Rothwell (we played this at the Brooklyn Fest, but no one came, alas; his Britdoc pitch from '06 where he found his American funding for this feature is actually in the film); Life After the Fall by Kasim Abid; Man On Wire by James Marsh (already a multiple-prize winner); Starstruck aka Son of Eurovision by Jamie J. Johnson; The End by Nicola Collins; Thriller in Manilla by John Dower (as a rabid boxing fan, I will not miss this); and the well-loved Young@Heart by Stephen Walker, which has already had a very successful theatrical run in the States. 

There will also be a Best of Fests strand where programmers from the major international fests bring a prize-winner, i.e., Trouble the Water from Sundance; Up the Yangtze from the IDFA; Heavy Metal in Baghdad from Berlin; Obscene from Toronto; and At the Death House Door from SXSW.  Lastly, there's the Fourdocs British Short Doc Competition featuring five stellar short-form nonfiction pieces:  The Solitary Life of Cranes by Eva Weber; My Name is Karl by Moritz Siebert; Made in Queens by Nicolas Randall; Valley of the Goats by Leon Dean; and Sanctuary by Lovejit K. Dhaliwal. 

And, an exciting side note for moi:  This week, I will have an opportunity to interview one of the most prolific and intelligent documentary filmmakers around, the UK's own Kim Longinotto.  Her voice is an important one to add to my growing canon of female doc voices, and I'm thrilled that I'll be able to speak to her in person while here in London.  Thank you to my lovely friend, Sandra W., from More4! 

More about Britdoc in the coming days. . .

Jennifer Fox's Flying on the Sundance Channel

Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman is airing on the Sundance Channel starting next Monday, May 5.  The 6-hour film is also available for purchase now on DVD.  The Los Angeles Times says, "Fox travels the globe to talk sex, marriage, babies, divorce, work, identity, oppression, socialization and abuse with her fascinating far-flung friends.  And their combined stories add up to something remarkable: a kaleidoscopic meditation on gender-as-destiny."

I love this film very much and, like a lot of women who have seen it, feel it speaks directly to me and my life.  I also got to sit and talk with Jen last summer right before her NYC theatrical run; you can read our wonderful conversation here.

The film has been screening all over the world, and next week the Sundance Channel will start airing it episodically (you will be hooked, no question).  Click here for the schedule.

Flying is also now available on DVD and it would make for an outstanding Mother's Day gift.  You can pre-order from Alive Mind today and receive a special 15% discount.  The coupon code is AFLYNPO15.

Part of the coda to this wonderful story is that Jennifer did, indeed, end up with the man of her dreams, even though, like a lot of us, she fought it every step of the way!  I saw them walking together hand-in-hand in Tribeca just the other day on their way to see a movie at the fest.

The Bad Boys of Nonfiction--and Their Enabler, the Original Silver Jew

A Message of Support from Joe Berlinger

Post-inaugural Cinema Eye Honors' comments and feedback have been, for the most part, extremely supportive and positive, with a real sense of excitement among the international nonfiction community.  Starting with a "thank you" message on my phone from Outstanding Nonfiction Feature presenter, Barbara Kopple, the next morning, to posts from attendees like Yance Ford and Jason Guerasio, the timbre of comments has been upbeat, imbued with a sense that we've started something that, it is hoped, will have a long and prosperous life.  (Pictured from left: Jared Goldman, Jason Kohn and Joey Frank, accepting for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature for their film Manda Bala (Send a Bullet).)

Thom Powers, co-chair of Cinema Eye, shared with me the following email, sent to him and AJ the next morning from filmmaker Joe Berlinger, the  presenter, with his filmmaking partner, Bruce Sinofsky, for the Outstanding Achievement in Direction (the recipient was Alex Gibney for his Taxi to the Dark Side).

I asked Joe if I could post his email in its entirety here, and he was kind enough to say, yes, go ahead.  So here it is:

Dear Thom and AJ,

As a long-standing member of the documentary community, I just wanted
to congratulate you guys on an amazing achievement with the Cinema
Eye Awards.

For years, I, too, have lamented the documentary-consuming public's
confusion of subject matter versus craft when evaluating the quality
of a nonfiction film.  In the narrative (fiction) feature world, a
poorly made film on an "important" subject would be rejected as
inferior; yet in the world of documentary evaluation, too often a
film is validated in terms of its subject matter instead of its craft.

We know this dilemma well.  In our own way, we tried to break the
mold with "Brother's Keeper" in 1992 by fusing traditional verite
filmmaking with a conscious attempt to emulate fictional narrative
techniques without compromising the "truthfulness" of the material
being presented.   At the time, we were highly criticized for
attempting this cinematic approach to nonfiction filmmaking,
including our use of a heightened visual mode; an emotionally driven
score and an editing style that followed classic narrative (fiction)
structure.  We were also taken to task for our choice of subject
matter and for purposely creating an ambiguous portrait that raised
more questions than it answered and allowing the viewer to come to
his or her own conclusion about the guilt or innocence of Delbert Ward.

Despite winning the Audience Award at the 1992 Sundance Film
Festival, distributors did not know what to make of our film (it was
also a very different theatrical landscape back then, with very few
documentaries getting theatrical exposure.)  So, we rolled up our
sleeves for a year and successfully distributed the film ourselves,
defying the naysayers by believing there was an audience for quality
nonfiction that unfolded on the big screen like narrative fiction.

The point I am trying to make is this:  as one of the early pioneers
of the current new wave of nonfiction theatrical filmmakers with two
decades of hindsight, last night's celebration of outstandingly-
crafted films and the recognition that there should be no rules for
conveying cinematic truth represented a real milestone in the
evolution of the perception of nonfiction films.

I was honored to have been a small part of the evening, and I wish
you the greatest success with this endeavor.

Joe Berlinger

An Elegant Way to Say It All

Tuesday night's ceremony at the IFC Center to celebrate the inaugural Cinema Eye Honors included an award for Outstanding Achievement in Graphics and Animation.  Congratulations, once again, to recipients Lewis Kofsky and Richard Winkler  of Curious Pictures for their work on Brett Morgen's Chicago 10.  You can see who the other nominees in this category were by clicking here.

Over at Media Rights, Shira Golding has written another excellent, extensive article, this time on Drawing Truth: Animation in Documentary.  Golding talks about the use of graphics and animation in several recent nonfiction films like Chicago 10, Judith Helfand and Daniel Gold's Blue Vinyl and Everything's Cool and Emily Hubley's feature-length directorial debut, The Toe Tactic, which just premiered at this year's South by Southwest Film Festival.  The film uses a combination of live action and animation to tell the story of a young woman's grief over her father's death.

Check out the article here.

A Magical Evening at the IFC Center

The fastest blogger in the west (even though he's still on the east coast), and founder and co-chair of the Cinema Eye Honors, AJ Schnack, has already posted the winners from last night's inaugural ceremony.

Last night was what passes for a star-studded evening in documentary and independent film at the IFC Center in the West Village.  The house was packed with nominees, special guests, presenters, filmmakers, distributors, festival programmers and nonfiction film fans.  We had nominees in from South America, Europe and South Africa and our presenter roster was absolutely stellar.  It was everything we wanted it to be--a real celebration.  With Karina Longworth twittering live from the event and a lead story off indieWIRE this morning, we were well-represented by our favorite press peeps, too.  I had such a wonderful time and am so proud of AJ and Thom--they were fantastic hosts and were supported and congratulated by every presenter and honor recipient that came up onto the stage.

Look for an edited version of the show appearing on AOL True Stories soon.  I'll continue to have updates on when the show will be broadcast.  Thank you to everyone who came out to help us launch the maiden voyage of Cinema Eye.  I feel so lucky to have been a part of it all.  Here's to a long life for the CEH!

Congratulations to Jason Kohn, Jared Goldman, Joey Frank, Heloisa Passos,  Doug Abel, Jenny Golden, Andy Grieve, Alex Gibney, Seth Kanegis, Tomas Radoor, Mikael Rieks, Curious Pictures, Pernille Rose Gronkjaer, Sigrid Dyekjaer, Jennifer Venditti and Seth Gordon, and to the rest of our incredible nominees.

Upcoming Season of STF Kicks Ass!

Thom Powers has managed to get an astounding line-up of presenters for the upcoming Cinema Eye Honors, so it doesn't surprise me that he's, once again, lined up a really stellar program for the next iteration of Stranger Than Fiction.

The series opens April 1 with Margaret Brown's wonderful Order of Myths.  I just saw this at True/False--you can read my review here.  Brown will be appearing in person for a Q&A.

Next up on the 8th is a sneak peek of Ondi Timoner's Join Us.  The director of Sundance's Grand Jury Prize winner, DIG!, will come with her new film about a cult recovery center.  This is the film's first NYC preview since its world premiere at last year's L.A. Film Festival.

On April 15 (yours truly's birthday and, also, alas, the dreaded Income Tax Day), there's Tracking Down Maggie: The Unofficial Biography of Margaret Thatcher.  If there's a filmmaker to do an "unofficial bio" of anyone, it would be Nick Broomfield--he'll be there for a Q&A, too.  The controversial Broomfield once again displays his relentless pursuit of an unwilling subject a la Kurt & Courtney and Heidi Fleiss Hollywood Madam.

April 22 is a TBA program and the following week on the 29th, director James Marsh will appear with The Burger and the King: The Life and Cuisine of Elvis Presley.  I will see anything Marsh makes--his Man On Wire, which I also saw at True/False, was absolutely the most gorgeous film I've seen, just brilliant.  It's coming to theaters this summer--do not miss it.  The Burger film is from '96 and explores the good ole' USA from Elvis' home, Graceland, to Las Vegas, Nevada through the perspective of the King's eating habits (!).

May 6 brings another TBA film and guest, and then on the 13th, the legendary Barbara Kopple (presenting our Outstanding Nonfiction Feature honor next Tuesday), brings a rarely seen film, My Generation, about the 1990s version of the Woodstock music festival.

May 20 is another TBA, followed by Jonathan Demme's The Agronomist on the 27th.  This 2003 film explores the courageous work done by Haitian radio journalist Jean Dominque with music by Wyclef Jean (whom I adore beyond belief) and Jerry "Wonder" Duplessis.  Demme will be accompanied by producers, Peter Saraf and David Wolff, and Michele Montes, Dominque's wife. 

Closing night on June 3 (summer already????!!!), Albert Maysles will appear in person with Showman from 1963 and Psychiatry in Russia from 1955.  These are two of the Maysles brothers' earliest and most rarely-seen works.  What a treat to be able to see them with the legendary filmmaker in attendance.

You'll probably want to get one of those little red cards for all this; most screenings are sure to sell out.

Cinema Eye Honors on the D-Word This Week

Check in here all this week to read more on the upcoming 1st Annual Cinema Eye Honors at the IFC Center next Tuesday, March 18.  Read the latest updates on presenters and nominees, and be sure to chime in on the conversation.  We'd love to dialogue with you and hear what you think.

The D-Word is an international online community of documentary professionals.  Thanks to Doug Block, Ben Kempas and John Burgan for hosting us!

TAXI TO THE DARKSIDE Theatrical Re-Release

Just got word from Sloane Klevin, editor of this year's Academy Award for Best Documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side, that the film is getting a post-Oscar win re-release in theaters.  Below is a list of theaters at which the film's playing for a limited run.  The film's director, Alex Gibney, also just received the True Vision Award at the True/False Film Festival last week and is a nominee for a Cinema Eye Honor for Outstanding Direction.  We also just got news that Gibney has agreed to present the Audience Choice honor at our ceremony at IFC Center on the 18th.  Click here to cast your vote!

Taxi to the Dark Side Screenings:

Laemmle Music Hall (Beverly Hills, CA)
Nickelodeon 4 Theaters (Santa Cruz, CA)
Elmwood Rialto Cinemas (Berkeley, CA)
Opera Plaza Cinema (San Francisco, CA)
Lark Theater (Larkspur, CA)
Neighborhood Flix (Denver, CO)
Mariemont 3 Theater (Cincinnati, OH)
Main Art Theater (Royal Oak, MI)
Cedar Lee Theaters (Cleveland Heights, OH)
The Avalon Theater (Washington, DC)
Quad Cinema (New York, NY)
Jacob Burns Film Center (Pleasantville, NY)
Cinemart Cinemas (Forest Hills, NY)
Coolidge Corner Theater (Brookline, MA)

Little Fest on the Prairie

Here I am, finally, in Columbia, MO, home to the True/False Film Festival hanging out with many friends and meeting new ones.  I love talking to new filmmakers--the excitement and the palpable sense of a new future unfolding for them is wonderful to see.   And this is a very sweet place to have a debut.

A real quick first post from here (third day already!) because the deal is that I still haven't mastered the art of full-court reportage/blogging while I'm attending festivals like stellar bloggers AJ Schnack and Karina Longworth.  I just really don't want to take the time to sit somewhere for a few hours and write when I can be seeing a film (never before seen) or talking to a filmmaker or hanging out at a local cafe talking about films with friends and colleagues.  Or eating corn poppers at Hot Chicks at midnight.

And I feel, too, that the films I see and the experiences I have deserve more than a rushed or perfunctory "review."  Things need time to percolate with me, anyway--drip, drip, drip, bubble, bubble. 

After an uneventful flight to Kansas City, Missouri on Thursday, I traveled a couple of hours across the state to Columbia, hopping on the filmmaker van with fellow New Yorkers, Ingrid Kopp and Jesse Epstein.  Ingrid is pulling post-screening filmmaker Q&A duties at one of the many splendid venues here (for the record, the still is from one of Ingrid's faves "Girls Rock!" playing here).

Jesse's last installment of her body image shorts, 34x25x36, is playing here in the Working Title program, as is first-time filmmaker, Stephen Hyde's Shika Shika. 

Must dash--will be able to share more when I can take a breath but I've already seen some amazing films.  Tons of people are here (this fest has grown tremendously since its debut five years ago) so need to get my spot in line for panels, screenings and other fun events.