DOCUMENTARIES WITH A POINT OF VIEW
awards
Last week, P.O.V. received six nominations in the 29th Annual News and Documentary Emmy® Awards. The nominees were announced by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS). Michael Apted's 49 Up was nominated for Outstanding Interview; Ralph Arlyck's Following Sean received two nominations, for Best Documentary and for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Writing; and three P.O.V. films were nominated for Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story — Long Form: Libby, Montana; Made in L.A.; and Rain in a Dry Land.
PBS led the pack this year with 38 nominations, more than any other broadcast or cable network. The News and Documentary Emmy Awards will be presented on Monday, Sept. 22.
"P.O.V. celebrated its 20th season on PBS last year with a diverse slate of films by established and emerging filmmakers," said Simon Kilmurry, P.O.V.'s Executive Director. "From the struggles of refugees, immigrants and working Americans to stories of personal transformations, the nominated films introduce us to people whose lives, we hope, will enrich our own."
Read more about the nominated films after the jump.
We were excited to find out this morning that we've been nominated for a Webby Award! P.O.V.'s website was nominated in the Movies and Film category — winners will be announced on May 6 and honored at a ceremony in New York on June 10. In the meantime, if you'd like, you can show your support by voting for P.O.V. in the People's Voice Award Movies and Film category (registration required)! Check out our nominee page.
This is the third year in a row that P.O.V. has been nominated for a Webby. We've received a total of five nominations over the last five years, and in 2004, P.O.V.'s Borders | Environment won a Webby in the Broadband category.
During the 2007 season (for which we were nominated), we created a number of special features that we're very proud of for our film websites. Here are some of our favorites.
Anthony Giacchino's The Camden 28 recalled a 1971 raid on a draft board office by Catholic Left activists protesting the Vietnam War. The website for the film featured transcripts of two of the most powerful testimonies at the Camden 28 trial, from the mother of one of the accused and from historian Howard Zinn. The transcripts were previously unavailable on the Internet, and we were pleased to make these historical documents accessible to more people.
P.O.V.'s 49 Up website
For Michael Apted's 49 Up, the latest installment in a series of films that has profiled a group of English children every seven years, we created a photo gallery showing each participant growing older through the years. We also commissioned artists to create collages representing each of the seven years that the films were shot; the results were vivid and thought-provoking.
The Chances of the World Changing, by Eric Daniel Metzgar and Nell Carden Grey, dealt with the question of rescuing and preserving endangered animals through the story of one man, Richard Ogust, who shares his Manhattan loft with 1,200 turtles. For a special video for our Chances website, filmmaker Metzgar talked to George Amato, the director of conservation at the American Museum of Natural History, about the issues raised by the film. Metzgar and the film's composer also talked extensively about the technical and artistic issues involved in collaborating on a soundtrack in our Production Journal.
Lumo, by Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt, Nelson Walker III, co-directed by Louis Abelman and Lynn True, is the devastating and yet ultimately hopeful story of one young woman who was the victim of violent rape in the Congo. For our website for the film, we invited playwright and activist Eve Ensler, author of the Vagina Monologues to talk about the horrors of sexual violence and its aftermath in a special podcast interview.
Zach Nile and Banker White's Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars showcases a group of refugees fighting back with the only means they have — music. Since the film wrapped, the All Stars have become a force to be reckoned with in the music world, and for our website for the film, we teamed up with video-mixing website Eyespot.com to give fans and viewers the opportunity to mix and mash up footage from the film with the music of the All Stars to create their own music videos.
These are just some of the features we created for our film websites in the last year, and we couldn't have done all this, and much more, without the support of the filmmakers we work with!
Congratulations also to our fellow public television producers over at ITVS and Frontline World. ITVS was nominated in the Best Games category for their excellent "World Without Oil" alternate reality game, and Frontline World was lauded for their amazing online videos, with a slew of nominations for Best Documentary Series and Individual Episode, Best News & Politics Series and Individual Episode. We're thrilled to be in their company, and we'll keep our fingers crossed for the announcement on May 6. In the meantime, don't forget to vote for us in the People's Voice Category. We'd really appreciate it!
The documentary blogosphere weighs in with reactions to the inaugural Cinema Eye Awards held last week in New York City. Our own Yance Ford offered her reaction last week. The Reeler Blog's S.T. VanAirsdale summarizes the evening as well, calling it an evening "organized by friends for friends" and criticizing the awards for bowing to the establishment orbit. Mark Rosenberg at the Rooftop Films Blog praises the awards but also suggests improvements for future iterations of the awards, including creating an "Underexposed Award" for films that didn't get a theatrical release.
The trailer for Standard Operating Procedure, Errol Morris's much-anticipated documentary about Abu Ghraib, has been released. (via The Documentary Blog).
Cinematical reviews a number of documentaries from the recent SXSW film festival, including Some Assembly Required, about teams of middle school kids from around the country who compete in the National Toy Competition; Bama Girl, an examination of race through the Homecoming Queen competition at the University of Alabama; Intimidad, the story of a young, poor Mexican couple saving up money to buy a piece of property for themselves; and We Are Wizards, a look at Harry Potter fandom, and the "Wizard Rock" bands that have been formed by Harry Potter fans. For more reviews of SXSW films, visit Cinematical.
The Independent Blog writers were also at SXSW, and they wonder whether the films screened there will find a wider audience.
Yance Ford, P.O.V.'s series producer, attended the inaugural Cinema Eye Awards on March 18th. She writes in with some of her thoughts on what she liked and didn't like about the awards. For a complete list of winners, visit the website of the Cinema Eye Honors.
Gathered in decidedly more casual attire than the Academy Awards, the docuratti (the non-profit version of the gliterratti) celebrated the inaugural Cinema Eye Honors on Tuesday night at the IFC Center in NYC. Launched by filmmaker AJ Schnack and documentary programmer Thom Powers this past year, and sponsored by distributor Indie Pix, the Cinema Eye Honors were born out of frustration over many industry awards (like the Oscars) giving short shrift to documentary films that pushed the craft envelope.
Thom Powers strode to the podium to the Jackson Five to open the evening's festivities. He was followed shortly by AJ Schnack singing a brief song about Manda Bala, one of the nominated films, to the tune of Oklahoma by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Powers and Schnack, co-chairs of the Cinema Eye Honors, were ebullient as they welcomed many of documentary films' greatest names to the virgin outing of Cinema Eye. Working in partnership with the folks at Indie Pix and producer Pamela Cohn, Schnack and Powers pulled off a minor miracle (they planned the event in just a few months), and our congratulations go out to them.
The ceremony was energetic and punctuated by tributes to St. Claire Bourne and Tony Silver, documentary pioneers who died unexpectedly in recent months. The pre-ceremony gathering was jovial (and smartly lacked alcohol) as documentary folk from far and wide turned out in an enormous show of support for the new awards. The knowledge and experience in the IFC theater last night was incredible. Presenters included Sam Pollard, Barbara Koppel, Ross Kauffman, Molly Thompson, Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky, Marshall Curry, Alex Gibney and Alan Berliner; the groundbreaking documentaries represented by those names are astounding, never mind the rest of the audience.
For its first time out, Cinema Eye has done a tremendous service to the documentary community in the same do-it-yourself spirit that gets films made. I overheard the phrase "well, next year" often, and I'm sure that in the coming months, AJ, Thom and Indie Pix (with lots of input, no doubt) will improve upon their model for the 2009 Cinema Eye Awards. My personal suggestion would include a discussion about how films with a limited festival life that go straight to TV might be included in the awards. I'd also like to see the list of craft categories expanded to include composition, writing and sound. I know that these questions and others are on the minds of everyone at Cinema Eye, and I look forward to hearing and contributing to the coming conversations.
I know Thom Powers to be a thoughtful, passionate programmer and a great filmmaker in his own right. But his opening remarks included a remark that I found troubling. He said that "distributors don't get it, critics don't get it and the general public doesn't get it. We wanted to fill [this auditorium] with people who get it." I'll be the first to agree that independent documentary does not get the recognition it deserves, but I don't think that the problem is the fact that the general public doesn't "get it." The problem is that the general public doesn't get to see it. And as long as the documentary community prioritizes theatrical release and festival runs over broadcast, the public will continue to miss a large and dynamic body of work. I say this not just because P.O.V. is a broadcast outlet. I say this because when I looked around the IFC last night and saw the amazing collection of people in that theater, I wanted to ask everyone, what comes next? What do you do after tonight? How to you capture this energy and turn it into something sustainable?
More after the jump...
Every Friday, journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the state of the documentary world in his column, Tom Roston's Doc Soup..
Now that Sundance is over, I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on the Oscar nominees for Best Documentary:
No End In Sight
Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Operation Homecoming: Writing The Wartime Experience
Richard E. Robbins
Sicko
Michael Moore and Meghan O'Hara
Taxi To The Dark Side
Alex Gibney and Eva Orner
War/Dance
Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine
What a great list! I might be in the minority, but I'll start the chant: Three cheers for the Academy! Hip, hip, hooray! You've heard me griping about the underappreciated War/Dance and Operation Homecoming, so I feel this is much-needed vindication for both films... but only if people get to see them, right? I suppose it'll be helpful to market the DVDs, but I'd love to see these two back in theaters soon. So are there any plans for theatrical re-releases? Sadly, director Richard Robbins informs me that there is no such future for Homecoming. The film never landed a proper theatrical distributor and the movie is already out on DVD — so I'll shill for the home team and say you should buy it at the PBS website. And hopefully, this'll mean that Robbins gets some more clout to get his next film before a wider audience.
Read more after the jump....
The Sundance Film Festival Documentary Competition winners were announced on Saturday, January 26.
AMERICAN DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Documentary Grand Jury Prize
Trouble The Water
Directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal
Documentary Audience Award
Fields of Fuel
Directed by Josh Tickell
Documentary Directing Award
Nanette Burstein
American Teen
Excellence in Documentary Cinematography
Phillip Hunt and Steven Sebring
Patti Smith: Dream of Life
Documentary Editing Award
Joe Bini
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
Documentary Special Jury Prize
The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo
Directed by Lisa F. Jackson
American Documentary Competition Jury: Michelle Byrd, Heidi Ewing, Eugene Jarecki, Steven Okazaki and Annie Sundberg
WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
World Cinema Documentary Jury Prize
Man on Wire (UK)
Directed by James Marsh
World Cinema Documentary Audience Award
Man on Wire (UK)
Directed by James Marsh
World Cinema Documentary Directing Award
Nino Kirtadze
Durakovo: Village of Fools (France)
World Cinema Documentary Cinematography Award
Mahmoud al Massad
Recycle (Jordan)
World Cinema Documentary Editing Award
Irena Dol
The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins (New Zealand)
World Documentary Competition Jury: Amir Bar-Lev (US), Leena Pasanen (Finland/Denmark) and Ilda Santiago (Brazil)
SHORT FILMMAKING AWARDS — AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARIES
Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking
My Olympic Summer
Directed by Daniel Robin
(tied with Dramatic Short — Sikumi, Directed by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean)
Honorable Mention
La Corona (The Crown)
Directed by Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega
American and International Shorts Jury: Jon Bloom, Melonie Diaz and Jason Reitman
WATCHING
Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita Frontline looks at the stem cell research debate.
Comedian Mark Malkoff lived in an IKEA store for six days and six nights.
READING
Sundance 2008 Deals
Frequently updated list of films that have found distribution at Sundance (From Spout blog)
P.O.V. alum Alex Rivera (The Sixth Section, 2003) is one of Variety's 10 Directors to Watch.
Taxi To the Dark Side director Alex Gibney talks to The Reeler about his film, which looks at the U.S. military's use of torture.
Sundance shrinks from the web as online video explodes (from Wired)
Journalist and Doc Soup columnist Tom Roston is at Sundance this week, checking out all the doc-related happenings in Park City.
I'm writing this post while waiting on line for Morgan Spurlock's latest doc, the much anticipated Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? (Sample chatter from other people waiting in the queue: "I love Morgan." "Me too, but I was still thinking of going to eat at McDonald's before this.") Things have been busy here in Park City! I've been meaning to write about the past 36 hours of happenings, but they're piling up like a ten-foot snowdrift.
Here's a quick taste: I saw Anvil: The Story of Anvil by Sacha Gervasi, an incredibly funny and actually very deep documentary about the eponymous heavy metal band from Canada. It plays like This is Spinal Tap — but for real. I also saw Ellen Kuras's Neerakhoon (The Betrayal), about a Laotian family that emigrated to the U.S. Kuras' film is epic — the imagery and pacing reminded me of the work of Terrence Malick. (See pics from the premiere of Nerakhoon on Monday.) I also sent two emissaries to watch Flow: For the Love of Water by Irena Salima and asked them to report back to me. They said the film was a searing dissection of the business of water, and then they made me feel really bad about the bottle of water I was clutching in my hands.
Read more after the jump....
The Oscar nominations were announced this morning in Los Angeles. Here's the list for documentary film.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
NO END IN SIGHT
Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
OPERATION HOMECOMING: WRITING THE WARTIME EXPERIENCE
Richard E. Robbins
SICKO
Michael Moore and Meghan O'Hara
TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE
Alex Gibney and Eva Orner
WAR/DANCE
Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
FREEHELD
Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth
LA CORONA (THE CROWN)
Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega
SALIM BABA
Tim Sternberg and Francisco Bello
SARI'S MOTHER
James Longley
This is the second nomination for filmmakers Michael Moore (Bowling for Columbine — winner, 2002) and Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room — nominee, 2005), and the first Academy Award nomination for the rest of the documentary feature group.
Reaction to the nominations is trickling in from around the blogosphere. Most bloggers seem pretty happy with the list so far. IndieWire calls the doc line-up "a rather unsurprising group." Cinematical writer Kim Voyner predicts No End in Sight to win. Cinematical interviewed nominated filmmaker Alex Gibney a few weeks ago about Taxi to the Dark Side in San Francisco.
We'll post more good interviews from around the Web with nominees later today.
What are your thoughts on the nominee list and who do you think should win?
Every Friday, journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the state of the documentary world in his column, Tom Roston's Doc Soup.
Hey, so enough talk about 2007, the year that was (or wasn't, depending on your perspective): The 2008 documentary season really begins this week with the Sundance Film Festival, which kicked off yesterday. With no less than forty documentaries in the fest this year, it's a documentary-lovers dream. The only danger is to overindulge. I'm used to catching about 20 or so movies during the festival, but this will be the first time I am going to almost exclusively be watching docs. Not sure how that's going to feel, but I'll make sure to bring a lot of Kleenex. That said, when I consider the Sundance films I've already lined up to see, there's an impressively diverse range of subject matter, filmmakers, and tone. Here are just a few of the documentaries that I've got on my radar:
American Teen
Director Nanette Burstein, who co-directed 2002's The Kid Stays in the Picture with Brett Morgen, returns with this in-depth look at four Indiana high school kids. Apparently, this really gets deep into the life of teens, and I am willing to bet Burstein's film is going to be a much-needed antidote to the reality TV programming that gives us a very warped (and artificial) vision of kids today.
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
It's hard to ignore a doc about Thompson, the outrageous drug-addled journalist. It's even more difficult when you see that it's directed by Alex Gibney, the man responsible for the Oscar-nominated Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and this month's Taxi to the Dark Side. That's three films about three very different subjects. This film merges interviews, film clips, and readings and, like most things Gonzo, should be quite a ride.
Read more after the jump...
For two weeks each January, the film world turns its attention to Park City, Utah. The Sundance Film Festival, the largest independent film festival in the U.S., brings out the stars, the buyers and filmmakers from around the world. This year's festival will begin on Thursday, January 17.
For documentary filmmakers, having a film selected for the prestigious documentary competition or the world cinema documentary competition is an exciting opportunity to showcase their work to a film-loving audience. Here's a roundup of interviews with some of the documentary filmmakers at Sundance '08. Stayed tuned to the P.O.V. Blog for more coverage from Park City and exclusive interviews from the festival.
Read more after the jump...
The Writer's Guild of America (WGA) and the Directors Guild of America (DGA) recently announced the roster of nominees for their respective 2008 Awards.
In the category of Best Documentary Screenplay for the Writers Guild Awards, the nominees were:
Anthony Giacchino was nominated for a WGA Award for his work as the writer of The Camden 28.
The Camden 28, Written by Anthony Giacchino, First Run Features (P.O.V. 2007)
Nanking, Screenplay by Bill Guttentag & Dan Sturman & Elisabeth Bentley, Story by Bill Guttentag & Dan Sturman, THINKFilm
No End in Sight, Written by Charles Ferguson, Magnolia Pictures
The Rape of Europa, Written by Richard Berge, Nicole Newnham and Bonni Cohen, Menemsha Films
Sicko, Written by Michael Moore, Lionsgate/The Weinstein Company
Taxi To The Dark Side, Written by Alex Gibney, THINKFilm
In the category of Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary for the DGA Awards, the nominees were:
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, The War, Florentine Films
Alex Gibney, Taxi to the Dark Side, Jigsaw Productions
Asger Leth, Ghosts of Cite Soleil, Sony BMG Feature Films
Richard Robbins, Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, The Documentary Group
Barbet Schroder, Terror's Advocate, Magnolia Pictures
Congratulations to P.O.V.'s own Anthony Giacchino and all the other nominees. The winners of the WGA Awards will be announced on Saturday, February 9, 2008, and the winners of the DGA Awards will be announced on Saturday, January 26, 2008.
Every Friday, journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the state of the documentary world in his column, Tom Roston's Doc Soup.
Ah, the doc world never sleeps. There I was, slowly plotting my next blog post about the January 12 deadline for submitting Oscar nomination ballots: I was going to make an 11th hour pitch for Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, the fantastic doc based on writings by U.S. soldiers in Iraq by Richard Robbins. But along comes an exciting announcement: Doc filmmaker and blogger AJ Schnack and online indie film distributor IndiePix are creating a new nonfiction film award ceremony because, as Schnack says on his blog, "there should be awards for nonfiction that [recognize] the breadth of the genre and [include] the crafts of cinematography and editing and producing."
Awesome! It's about time. Documentaries have evolved so much that they ought to be recognized for what they are now — films. Indeed, the Oscar shortlist was a pretty uninspired one to pick from and...
But wait. Schnack and co. announced their shortlist and my little miracle baby, Operation Homecoming...isn't on the list. What the...?!?!
Read more after the jump...
