March is Women’s History Month so it makes sense to recognize the fact that the documentary industry is largely run by women. As I’ve discussed before, some of the most powerful people in docs are women (Cara Mertes, Sheila Nevins, Diane Weyermann, Ally Derks, Molly Thompson, etc.) and some of the most prominent doc directors
Continue reading this entry »
Independent journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the world of documentaries in his column, Doc Soup.You can follow Tom on Twitter @DocSoupMan.
Doc Soup: Do You Care What Happens at the Oscars?
Let’s be totally reductive for a moment, and say that there are two kinds of documentary-lovers: those who enjoy watching the Oscars and those who don’t. I am very much the former, and often when I bring up my interest in the Academy Awards, I am slapped around for my interest in such commercial puffery.
Continue reading this entry »Doc Soup: Oscar Nominated ’127 Hours’: Not a Documentary, But Close
It’s been said many times before — heck, I’ve said it more times than I could count — that truth is stranger than fiction. But that doesn’t mean that fiction can’t sometimes trump truth. Take, for example, the retelling of Aron Ralston’s (pictured, far right) true-life story of falling in a canyon in Utah and
Continue reading this entry »Doc Soup: Teens and the Impact of MTV’s ‘Teen Mom’
What impact do documentaries have on today’s youth? Do kids even know what a documentary is? These questions came to mind when I recently saw that the Sheffield Doc/Fest was asking for applicants for its Youth Jury for the UK event in June. Initially, I was skeptical. But, when you think about it, teens do
Continue reading this entry »Doc Soup: Thursday Nights at the Brooklyn Museum with POV Films
Ah, isn’t it nice when things work out for the best? Take, for example, POV’s new partnership with the Brooklyn Museum, which, last week, hosted a screening of POV’s 2010 film Good Fortune. It’s a natural fit, POV and the Brooklyn Museum, the two institutions share the same demographic. After all, most of New York’s
Continue reading this entry »Doc Soup: Talking with Director Marshall Curry About the Sundance Film Festival
For one week of the year, the genre that spends most of its time in the cultural margins moves to center stage. The Sundance Film Festival, which continues until this Saturday, places documentaries on a white hot pedestal, so I asked director Marshall Curry, whose POV film If a Tree Falls is premiering there, to
Continue reading this entry »Doc Soup: Chronicling Child Abduction in Documentary
The 2008 documentary, Dear Zachary, has a strange power over me. Certainly, its subject — an unhinged woman kills a man, gives birth to his baby, flees to Canada where the child’s grandparents fight for his custody, and then she kills herself and the baby — is terribly tragic. It haunts me still. And so
Continue reading this entry »The Critics: Documentary Distributors’ Best Friends
Do you know who a documentary distributor’s best friend is? The film critic, that’s who. Take a look at 2010′s ten best reviewed films of the year at rottentomatoes.com: Marwencol Waste Land GasLand Toy Story 3 How to Train Your Dragon Exit Through the Gift Shop The Social Network Inside Job Mugabe and the White
Continue reading this entry »Looking Forward to 2011
Another year is upon us so let’s look forward to 2011 for the most exciting and intriguing things that’ll be happening in the documentary world. Here are five that are on my radar: 5) The Launch of OWN The Oprah Winfrey Network means a whole new outlet for doc material but there’s even more here.
Continue reading this entry »‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’: Is it a Doc Or Not?
To paraphrase: If it walks like a doc and it quacks like a doc, then it must be a doc. . . Right? Exit Through the Gift Shop has been running roughshod with this notion, tripping on it, but nevertheless catapulting forward, ever since its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January. And after
Continue reading this entry »Upcoming Events
Granito: How to Nail a Dictator
May 30, 2012
5:30 pm
Portland, Maine
Join the Portland Public Library as they continue their Summer Documentary Film Series with Granito: How to Nail a Dictator. For more information, call 207-871-1700.
More info »