Still in Motion

TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE To Air on HBO

Academy Award and Cinema Eye Honor recipient Alex Gibney's searing and important film airs on HBO on Monday.

In the year following 9/11, the Bush Administration's promise to root out terrorists abroad took a perverse, unsettling turn, with the U.S. military embarking on a policy of humiliation and deprivation designed to get political prisoners to talk. The appallingly inhumane tactics used by military prison guards in Abu Ghraib, Bagram and Guantanamo Bay flaunted the Geneva Conventions, while killing untold numbers of prisoners, including innocent people like Dilawar, a young Afghan taxi driver whose only "crime" was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This film portrays America's loss of dignity in its zeal to win the "War on Terrorism."  Taxi to the Dark Side premieres Monday, September 29 at 9:00 pm EST.  Don't miss it.

Reelisor.com

As regular readers of this blog know, I think one of the best things any filmmaker can do for him/herself is to seek out co-production money and partnerships from abroad to help finance and fund an independent project.  In that spirit, I wanted to report the latest news from the good folks at BRITDOC.

They've partnered, along with many others, with the Discovery Campus to promote DC's brand-new online initiative called Reelisor.  Discovery Campus is one of the leading documentary training initiatives in Europe dedicated to international co-productions for a large audience.  And it's free to join.

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If you have new projects and are looking for broadcasters and additional money, or you have recent films already broadcasting, or you're interested in financing new projects, here's where you can find out more about Reelisor.  Discovery Campus is very well connected with all relevant European training institutions, film schools, major documentary festivals, markets and national documentary associations.

Supported by the MEDIA Program, and together with its partners BRITDOC, the European Documentary Network, Sunny Side of the Doc, IDF (Institute of Documentary Film, Prague), The D-Word, ZeLIG, DOK Leipzig, dragon forum and Documentor, Discovery Campus has now launched this new online cooperation platform.

Reelisor is a navigator for existing platforms and websites. It offers guidance and information throughout the year and its mission is to encourage training, education and the exchange of knowledge within the international film market, connecting documentary film professionals, commissioning editors, festivals, markets and other active initiatives.  Go on and be an international playboy.

Flaherty Monthly Screening Series

The Robert Flaherty Film Seminar is launching a new monthly series here in New York, the first one taking place on Monday, October 13 at Anthology Film Archives in the East Village, bringing the innovative and thought-provoking works that screen at the Flaherty Seminar to larger audiences.  The screenings, featuring discussions with the filmmakers, will be on the second Monday of every month and will showcase films and videos from the 2008 Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, The Age of Migration, which took place in June, curated by Chi-hui Yang, director of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.

Monday's program will  present the work of Oliver Husain (pictured) with the prolific (and funny-as-hell) filmmaker/artist in person.  Husain is a German-Indian artist currently based in Toronto, who uses visual media to explore ideas of geography, migration, and globalization. His award-winning short films range from documentary to live-action composite to Bollywood dance sequences to most anything you can, and can't, imagine. He carefully crafts worlds that are somewhat familiar, but are also vaguely bizarre, visually captivating, and fantastically delightful.  Six of his works will be shown in the program that begins at 7:30.  You can click here to purchase tickets.

A Film to See Before You Vote (or Don't Vote)

Doug Pray's Big Rig.  Just when you think you can't muster even a drop of patriotic feeling for your native land, you see a film like this with subjects like these and that feeling musters itself.  If you cast your vote for anyone, it should be for these people.  Visit Mike Cane's site to see the trailer.

At the Edge of the World

Thom Powers opened his '09 Fall STF season last night with a film called At the Edge of the World.  Dazzling and cinematic, with lithe and fluid shooting in the wildest of circumstances, the film is a testament to the sheer tenacity and lunacy a small group of human beings can display, especially in close quarters.  It makes for a rich tapestry of emotions in the viewer since the cameramen are going through the same thing their subjects are, while simultaneously recording everything, up close and personal.  These are the "pirates" we come to know and love/hate as they play their game of Battleship! writ large, ramming one another's vessels and chucking tear gas bombs onto the deck one minute, and asking if everyone on the attacked ship was okay and did they need anything, the next.  Hilarious chaos, offset by heart-melting cheers and laughter when these same characters spot a penguin or a dolphin or a whale cavorting in the near distance--the very creatures they are there to protect with their own lives.  And the more bumblingly they do it, the more you're moved by the whole crazy thing.

As we've seen in many another caper film, the small band of merry troublemakers accept the onus, willingly and passionately, of being the self-appointed police force of the sea, showing up the guys who are supposed to be doing it.  Not only are they not aided physically by anyone, but when they attempt to make a "citizen's arrest" on the Japanese research vessel (whaling ship) they've been pursuing, all the countries that purportedly support the treaty that protects the whale sanctuary ignore them.  I'm sorry, I thought the whole purpose of setting up a sanctuary was so that the creatures living in it wouldn't have to worry about being harpooned and slaughtered so they can be served up in a sushi bar in Tokyo.  After the scientists finish with their "research," of course.

Director Dan Stone's story doesn't shy away from the messy bits of being a young anarchist let loose on the Antarctic Ocean.  The hefty centerpiece of all this is embodied by a modern-day Captain Ahab (except he hunts the hunters, not the prey) named Paul Watson (pictured with his ship and media center, the Farley Mowat, photo courtesy of The New Yorker) .  A few filmmakers were quite hungry to film his story, especially after The New Yorker did an extensive piece on him called "Neptune's Navy" by Raffi Khatchadourian in November of '07.  You can read it here.

But the Stones (Dan and his brother and producer, Craig Stone) got there first with, apparently, pretty deep pockets, deeper than most nonfiction filmmakers have these days, anyway.  But passion is as passion does so, gentlemen, bless you for making an important and riveting nonfiction story with your money.  It was well-spent.  In one of the oddest Q&As I've ever witnessed, Dan Stone did say that he thought it was absolute bullshit that the "documentary is dead," as some hyperbolic headlines read these days when other news is slow and the world likes to beat up on the little guy.  I hope the film gets the theatrical exhibition it deserves.

Next week, STF will feature What Remains: The Life and Work of Sally Mann by Steven Cantor (who will be in the house) with filmmaker Hugo Perez as stand-in host for Powers who will return the week after just in time to celebrate his birthday with a screening of Blood Trail, a flick I saw at Britdoc this summer before its debut at Toronto.  It's fabulous; come out and see it and meet the film's director, Richard Parry, and his subject, the heroic Robert King.

This weekend closes out the bachelor portion of Thom's life as he and his betrothed tie the knot in Toronto this weekend.  Congrats Thom and Rafaela--mazel tov.

A Blog from WWII

Rome-based friend, Rosana Del Buono, has launched a really wonderful project called "Diary of an Italian Deportee."  Transcribed directly from her grandfather's diaries, Del Buono provides flawless English translations to his story echoing from September 23, 1943 (today's date) and continuing through his harrowing experiences as a laborer in Germany during the war.

She says, "This is the transcription and translation of a real diary written by Oreste Maina, a man who, during WWII, was torn from his family and small town in southern Italy and taken to Germany as a deportee along with many other Italians. This chapter of WWII’s history remains relatively unknown: many Italian men were deported to Germany for forced labor and spent several years there.  Some made it back; some did not. This diary recounts the day-to-day experience in Germany and the hopes and fears of one deportee, my grandfather.

"This online project builds a bridge between the concept of modern-day blogging and the original diary written by my grandfather. Beginning on September 23rd 2008, the entries from his diary will be published on this blog on the exact day they were written many years ago."  Click here to read the first entry.

Woodstock, STF, DocuClub and More

The IFP's Independent Film Week wrapped up its 30th iteration last Friday with a flourish of quite positive reviews and feedback from many of the attendees.  I'm about to chat with IFP's executive director, Michelle Byrd, to get her thoughts for the event's wrap-up piece in the next issue of FILMMAKER Magazine on this ever-changing and fluid event that attempts, better than most organizations of its kind, to keep up with the ever-changing and fluid business of making independent film projects.  You can go to the magazine's blog to read more about last week's event.  (Pictured: Michelle Byrd, Christian Gaines and Geoff Gilmore at the "State of Film Festivals" panel.)

One of last week's dozens of after-school social events included the launch party for the Woodstock Film Festival's ninth year.  Founded by filmmakers Meira Blaustein and Laurent Rejto, the festival takes place in the lovely artistic colony of Woodstock, a couple of hours north of the city.  I'm planning on attending again this year, concentrating, natch, on the nonfiction fare on offer.  If you're a local, you should attend this wonderful event--intimate setting, top-notch programming and friendly, friendly, friendly.  It's the perfect place to be at the beginning of the fall season.

Some highlights of this year's film program include the world premiere of Giancarlo Esposito's Gospel Hill, the US premiere of Gavin Oconnor's Pride and Glory, a centerpiece screening of Abdellatif Kechiche's La Graine et le Mulet, the US premiere of Dan Stone's At the Edge of the World (a still from the film pictured below), world premieres of Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon's Johnny Cash's America, Wendy Key's Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight and Hannes Rossacher's Sunshine Superman: The Journey of Donovan, and several strong programs of fiction and nonfiction shorts.

Panels include "Music in Film" moderated by Doreen Ringer-Ross; "Show Me the Money" moderated by Tribeca Film Institute's Brian Newman; "Amazing Women in Film" with Maggie Renzi, Rita Taggart and Barbara Kopple; "Contemporary Trends in Indie Film" and "The Documentary Story Today" with Heidi Ewing, Kief Davidson, Ellen Kuras, Ron Mann, Brett Morgen, Morgan Spurlock and Michael Tucker.  Among many other special events, screenings and musical performances, there will be a conversation with the brilliant James Schamus, this year's Honorary Trailblazer recipient.

This week in the city: tomorrow Thom Powers launches the Fall '09 session of Stranger Than Fiction (there's a great interview with him with Arts Engine recorded during this year's Toronto fest that you can read here).  First up will be the above-mentioned At the Edge of the World, fresh from its world premiere in Toronto.  On Wednesday, join moderator Ingrid Kopp at this month's DocuClub where Jon Cofinas will show his first feature-length documentary, Committed (watch the trailer here).  On Thursday, treat of all treats, the new Maysles Cinema in Harlem will be showing Salesman (1968), and yes, Al will be there for a discussion and Q&A after the film.  Click here for this month's program information.

ITVS Community Cinema Season

There's a really great slate of films set to screen over the next several months at some of L.A.'s nicest cinemas, courtesy of ITVS.  Here's the lineup:

September 30 @ The Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood
CHICAGO 10 by Brett Morgan combines bold original animation with extraordinary archival footage, CHICAGO 10 explores the buildup to, and unraveling, of the 1969 Chicago Conspiracy Trial, where history played out as both tragedy and farce.

October 28 @ The Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood
LIONESS by Meg McLagan and Daria Sommers looks at war through the eyes of women and the U.S. military policy that bans them from combat.

November 18 @ The Aero Theatre, Santa Monica
I.O.U.S.A. by Patrick Creadon and Christine O’Malley is about the growing national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens.

December 16 @ The Aero Theatre, Santa Monica
HELVETICA by Gary Hustwit is about typography, graphic design and global visual culture that records a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.  (You're reading Helvetica right now!)

January 20 @ The Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood
TULIA, TEXAS by Cassandra Herrman and Kelly Whalen is the story of a small town’s search for justice and the price Americans pay for the nation’s war on drugs.

February 24 @ The Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood
ARUSI PERSIAN WEDDING by Marjan Tehrani chronicles the return to Iran of the Iranian- American filmmaker’s brother as he travels with his American wife to have a traditional Persian wedding and explore his lost heritage.

March 31 @ The Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood
TAKING ROOT by Lisa Merton and Alan Dater tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement.

April 28 @ The Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood
MADE IN AMERICA by Stacy Peralta examines the causes and nature of Los Angeles’ epidemic gang violence, laying out the history and talking directly to former and current members of the Crips and the Bloods.

May 26 @ The Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood
ASK NOT by Johnny Symons is a rare and compelling exploration of the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

To learn more about the schedule in your own city, click here.

Back in the Saddle

Yikes!  My last blog post was the 26th of last month.  Did ya miss me? 

What?  You didn't realize I'd been gone?  Hahaha.

Fall is gearing up and the long, hot, boring month of August is finally over.  Had some not-so-nice setbacks recently and much time wondering how I'm going to stay in this crazy town that seems to want to kick me out of its bed.  Nuh uh--stuck with me a while longer, I'm afraid.  Besides, where the hell else would I go?

So lots on tap coming up: a new gig that's sure to be loads of fun (more on that soon); Thom Powers just announced the fall semester of Stranger Than Fiction, now with its very own web site (bought my pass yesterday); IFP's Independent Film Week starts Sunday and goes through the week at its new digs in Chelsea at the Fashion Institute of Technology (I will, once again, be blogging from the market and writing a wrap-up of the week for Filmmaker Magazine's blog and publication, respectively); and, next Wednesday, Rooftop Films will be presenting segments from projects currently going through both the IFP Narrative and Doc Labs, presented in partnership with the Independent Feature Project and IndieGoGo at Solar One along the East River at 23rd Street.  It's free and there's complimentary beer and you get a sneak peek at a ton of new and exciting projects; what more could you possibly ask for?  Click here for details.

It's also time to gear up for all the great fall domestic and international film festivals starting with the 46th iteration of The New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center.  Then, I will be heading up to Woodstock at the beginning of next month to cover that wonderful event again and to enjoy the incredible scenery up there along with the hundreds of "leafers" that come up to gawk at nature's beauty before the long, cold winter sets in.  I also am in the midst of plans to attend the Cinema Vérité International Documentary Film Festival in Tehran, Iran.  The second edition will be held on October 15 - 19.  I'll keep you posted on that.

So as insane as the next little bit will be (oh, I'm moving to a new place, too), I will try and keep up with it all and leave behind the slacker daze of summer.