Independent journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the world of documentaries in his column, Doc Soup. You can also follow Tom on Twitter @DocSoupMan.
Movie posters have always been a hip form of art; the unique images designed for movies such as Anatomy of a Murder, Vertigo and Last Temptation of Christ are as much works of art themselves as they are stunning sales pitches for the movies they were made for. (Mea culpa; throughout my teen years, I slept under a poster for Subway — no, not the sandwich chain — because I thought it was the epitome of cool.)
Posters for documentaries are no less compelling. In fact, they have the higher calling of the double bottom line: not just selling the film, but also maintaining a similar political-social agenda. And so it is with great respect and admiration that I have put together what I consider the ten best documentary movie posters. (And, wouldn't you know it, there's a doc movie poster contest for the upcoming Full Frame festival. Submissions are due February 15th.
View a slideshow of documentary movie posters after the jump...
This week, the documentary world mourns the passing of a beloved editor, we look forward to the Oscars and look back at Sundance, and we take a peek at Patti Smith's new memoir.
Documentary editor Karen Schmeer was killed in a hit-and-run accident in New York City last week. Filmmaker Errol Morris, who worked with Karen on The Fog of War and Fast, Cheap and Out of Control, broke the devastating news on his Twitter. The New York Times gives the details on the incident, a reporter from OregonLive pulls up a 1997 article about Karen's work on Fast, Cheap and Out of Control in rememberance (Karen grew up in Oregon), commenters on All These Wonderful Things share memories of Karen, and POV's Yance Ford and filmmakers Shari Robertson and Michael Camerinipenned tributes to her. Our thoughts are with Karen's colleagues, friends and family.
POV's series producer Yance Ford remembers editor Karen Schmeer, who was killed in a hit-and-run accident on January 29, 2010.
How do you begin to make sense out of insanity? How do you reconcile the normality of last week with this week — when the world has turned on its head? That's what a sudden death feels like. When the death is compounded by tragic circumstance and youth, it becomes that much more difficult to comprehend. When Karen Schmeer was killed last Friday night, most of the documentary community was focused on Sundance 2010 as it was winding down. Like many, I learned of Karen's death when filmmaker Laura Poitras mentioned her passing while accepting the Sundance Cinematography Award for The Oath.
About Food, Inc.: How much do we know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets and serve to our families? Though our food appears the same as ever — a tomato still looks like a tomato — it has been radically transformed. In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner and investigative authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) lift the veil on our U.S. food industry, revealing surprising facts about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we may go from here. The film airs on POV on April 21st.
About The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers: In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a leading Vietnam War strategist, concludes that America's role in the war is based on decades of lies. He leaks 7,000 pages of top-secret documents to The New York Times, a daring act of conscience that leads directly to Watergate, President Nixon's resignation and the end of the Vietnam War. Ellsberg and a who's-who of Vietnam-era movers and shakers give a riveting account of those world-changing events in The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers by award-winning filmmakers Judith Ehrlich (The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It) and Rick Goldsmith (Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press). The Most Dangerous Man in America will air on POV during our 2010 season.
The other Best Doc nominees are The Cove, Which Way Home and Burma VJ, co-directed by POV alum Anders Østergaard. Congratulations and good luck to all the filmmakers! The Oscars take place on March 7, 2010.
POV's Associate Producer Andrew Catauro writes in with a report from Docedge '10, the Asian Documentary Forum.
Just a couple of weeks ago, the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute hosted the 7th edition of Docedge, an international documentary workshop in Kolkata, India. I was invited to sit on a panel with 12 international broadcasters and commissioning editors while a group of documentary filmmakers from across Asia pitched their in-the-works projects. With support from IDFA's Jan Vrijman Fund, Docedge gives filmmakers access to unique tutoring sessions for several days before the pitching forum, helping to improve the delivery of their final pitches. This year's tutors included Nick Ware of AsterMedia, filmmakers Audrius Stonys of Lithuania and Phil Cox of the U.K., Rudy Buttignol, executive director of British Columbia's Knowledge Network, and Claas Danielsen, director of Dok Leipzig — the world's longest-running festival for documentary and animation.
The main theater at Docedge '10, Asian Documentary Forum.
Independent journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the world of documentaries in his column, Doc Soup. You can also follow Tom on Twitter @DocSoupMan.
In documentaries, as in life, there's usually a difference between what really happened, how people perceive what happened, and how that event gets filtered through memory, stories and the media. If you're still with me, here's the point: This is all the more apropos to the Sundance Film Festival. I didn't go this year, so I got glimpses and snippets from reading reports like Yance's, or seeing Facebook updates from excited filmmakers. Here's my filter:
This year's Sundance was as much a grand celebration of documentaries as it always has been. (It's good to see is that the documentary category clearly survived the transition of Festival heads, from Geoff Gilmore to John Cooper.) Not only did docs capture the biz buzz by offering up the first major acquisition, Waiting for Superman, they also provided the biggest underground buzz with Exit through the Gift Shop. Davis Guggenheim's Superman, a film about public education, was snatched up by Paramount before the festival even began. And Gift Shop wasn't even on the screening lists until about a week before the fest; the doc, about British street artist Banksy, took a guerilla approach to self-promotion, just like its subject, and was one of the most talked-about films at the festival.
Filmmaker Anthony Giacchino's film,The Camden 28, featured historian Howard Zinn. Upon hearing about Howard Zinn's death last week, Anthony sent in this tribute to "the People's Historian."
Just last Saturday, I emailed Howard Zinn to tell him I was going to attend a performance of his wonderful play, Marx in Soho, outside Philadelphia. I had planned on following up with him this week...
Like most people, I first encountered Howard through his writing. For me, however, it wasn't A People's History, but rather, a short piece in which he criticized the movie Mississippi Burning for portraying J. Edgar Hoover's FBI as heroic warriors for civil rights (I'm not sure if this is exactly what I read — it probably is — but click here to read "The Federal Bureau of Intimidation.") I could feel my mind turning — I don't know any other way to describe it — as I read Howard's words. His personal perspective, his contextualization of events, and his cutting humor just blew me away.
Remembering Howard Zinn from Anthony Giacchino on Vimeo. This video of Howard Zinn is raw footage from a reunion put together for The Camden 28. Howard Zinn testified at the C28's trial on April 26, 1973 and was kind enough to make his way to Camden again on May 4, 2002 to recount that testimony. Sponsored by the "Historical Society of the US District Court for the Southern District of New Jersey," it all happened in the very same courtroom the trial took place. Camden 28 defendant Cookie Ridolfi asked Howard to testify during their trial and she led the questioning again in 2002. You'll also hear a detached voice on a speaker talking about Howard's testimony — that's David Hinden, who was on the prosecution team. Hinden was unable to come to Camden that day, so he participated by phone. Historian Steve Gillon moderated the event.
POV's series producer Yance Ford is at the Sundance Film Festival. She has been blogging and twittering from Park City this week.
I'm back from Sundance, wrinkled from the red-eye and in full possession of a Sundance sore throat. Right now it's snowing in New York, and if you squint hard, Gotham looks a little like Park City, Utah, did all week. My Sundance 2010 wrapped with two fantastic panels, and a reception for the Sundance Institute/Skoll Foundation Partnership.
Skoll and the Sundance Institute came together to support the development and production of documentaries that examine "social entrepreneurs" and the work they do to affect change in their communities. The first film to come of this partnership is Gayle Ferraro's To Catch a Dollar: Muhammad Yunus Banks on America. Featuring Dr. Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace prize and a pioneer of micro-financing, To Catch a Dollar chronicles the first year of Grammen America in its first U.S. location (in Queens, New York) and the women who receive loans from the organization. If you're still in Park City, make time to catch this inspiring film.
I hinted at the Web 3.0 panel in a previous post, but now that I'm back, it deserves more thorough coverage:
POV's series producer Yance Ford is at the Sundance Film Festival. She has been blogging and twittering from Park City this week.
My Perestroika by Robin Hessman chronicles the stories of five Moscow schoolmates who were brought up behind the Iron Curtain and now live in post-Soviet Russia. After a fantastic screening in Park City, Robin and the Meyerson family, who are featured in the film, answered questions from the audience.
Come to a screening of In the Family and follow filmmaker Joanna Rudnick after she tests positive for the "breast cancer gene" at age 27. For more information, visit POV's Local Events calendar.
Independent journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the world of documentaries in his column, Doc Soup. You can also follow Tom on Twitter @DocSoupMan. 
Documentary editor Karen Schmeer was killed in a hit-and-run accident in New York City last week. Filmmaker Errol Morris, who worked with Karen on The Fog of War and Fast, Cheap and Out of Control, broke the devastating news on 
Nominations for the 2010 Academy Awards were announced this morning in Los Angeles, and we were thrilled to hear that two upcoming POV films, 
How much do we know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets and serve to our families? Though our food appears the same as ever — a tomato still looks like a tomato — it has been radically transformed. In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner and investigative authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) lift the veil on our U.S. food industry, revealing surprising facts about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we may go from here. The film airs on POV on April 21st.
POV's Associate Producer Andrew Catauro writes in with a report from Docedge '10, the Asian Documentary Forum.
