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Halfway Thru 2010, THE OATH Leads in Honors, OCEANS Leads in Cash

We're more than six months into 2010, a year that is proving remarkably rich for documentary film, with a strong list of titles vying for festival (and future critics') laurels and for box office success.  We unveiled our 2010 Nonfiction Honor Roll in May (it's now updated to include more recent festivals like Silverdocs, LAFF and Edinburgh) and today we kick off the 2010 Nonfiction Feature Box Office.  [The latter is called a Top 20, but since it's still early as far as the theatrical year goes, we've currently just got the top 10.]

Laura Poitras' THE OATH still commands the Honor Roll, with 7 awards from top festivals, including a Best Documentary win at Edinburgh.  Jeff Malmberg's MARWENCOL is a close 2nd with 6 prizes, including the Cinematic Vision Award at AFI Silverdocs and the Documentary Grand Jury prize at Seattle.  Other films with awards from multiple festivals include BUDRUS, ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE, A FILM UNFINISHED. FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE, GASLAND, LAST TRAIN HOME, MY PERESTROIKA, PRESUMED GUILTY, RESTREPO, STEAM OF LIFE, THUNDER SOUL, WAR DON DON and Lucy Walker's Audience Award favorite WASTE LAND.

In theatres, Disneynature's release of OCEANS still leads the year, with nearly $20M in box office, followed by BABIES with nearly $7.5M, EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP (about to cross the $3M threshold) and JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK, currently at $2.3M.  Both RESTREPO and Oliver Stone's SOUTH OF THE BORDER have shown solid numbers in thus far limited release.  Frederick Wiseman's LA DANSE was a surprise box office hit released in late 2009.

Appeals Court Rules Berlinger Must Turn Over Some Footage, Limits Original Ruling; Berlinger "Extremely Pleased"

In a bit of a split decision that was anticipated by court watchers yesterday, the US Appeals Court just handed down its order that filmmaker Joe Berlinger must turn over select portions of raw footage from his documentary CRUDE to Chevron.

The decision is a brushback to the broad order issued in May by US District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, that ordered Berlinger to turn over the entirety of his raw footage.  The appeals court said that only segments of the raw footage directly related to a lawsuit against Chevron need to be turned over.  Chevron has argued that the footage will show fraud on the part of an expert witness who testified in the case.

Moments ago, Berlinger sent us the following statement about today's ruling:

"Since the court issued its Order without yet a corresponding legal opinion, I must reserve my full analysis of the results until the three-judge panel's opinion is rendered.  However, I can say that we are extremely pleased with today's results.  The appeals court has substantially limited Judge Kaplan's overbroad order, which was the main thrust of our appeal.  Furthermore, the court has expressly prohibited Chevron from using any footage we do turn over in their public relations campaigns, a goal that was extremely important to me.  I am gratified that by adhering to the basic standards of the journalist's privilege articulated in the previous precedent setting case Gonzalez vs. NBC, the appeals court for the Second Circuit has affirmed that documentary filmmakers are no different than any other journalists deserving First Amendment protection.  I am deeply grateful for the tremendous outpouring of support that the artistic, media and journalist communities have shown towards this case in the past three months.  It was precisely this support that gave me and my legal team at Frankfurt, Kurnit, Klein & Selz the strength to stand up for these very important foundations of American democracy."

In its ruling, the appeals court gave the following stipulations regarding the turning over of footage:

1) Berlinger shall promptly turn over to the petitioners copies of all footage that does not appear in publicly released versions of Crude showing: (a) counsel for the plaintiffs in the case of Maria Aguinda y Otros v. Chevron Corp.; (b) private or court-appointed experts in that proceeding; or (c) current or former officials of the Government of Ecuador.

2) Material produced under this order shall be used by the petitioners solely for litigation, arbitration, or submission to official bodies, either local or international.

3) Berlinger’s reasonable expenses of sorting and duplication of footage, incurred in complying with this order, are to be reimbursed by Chevron.

4) Any disputes related to the performance of this order shall be directed to the district court for resolution.

Rebecca Cammisa's WHICH WAY HOME Leads 2010 News & Doc Emmys as HBO Dominates

HBO Documentary Films' WHICH WAY HOME, which netted its director, Rebecca Cammisa, both an Oscar and an Indie Spirit Award nomination earlier this year, leads the 2010 News & Documentary Emmy nods this morning, with 4 nominations, the most for any individual program.  Irene Taylor Brodsky's THE FINAL INCH, also Oscar nommed (last year in the Documentary Short category) and delivered via HBO, scored three nominations.  No other individual program netted more than two nominations.

HBO dominated the nominations, announced this morning, netting 19 for its HBO Documentary Films unit, the most for any program or strand.  PBS received the most nominations overall, with 37, although no program/strand scored more than 4 nods.  CBS finished in 2nd place by network, with CBS' venerable news magazine 60 Minutes nominated for 16 awards.

If last week's Primetime Emmy nominations are a bit strange, what with feature nonfiction sharing nominations with reality television, the News & Docs Emmys have their own peculiarities, including the shelf life of some of the nominees.  Films announced today include last year's OUTRAGE, FIXER and the aforementioned WHICH WAY HOME as well as a golden oldie like 2007's WAR DANCE, nominated in two categories.

Bold-faced names include Barbara Kopple (nommed for her WOODSTOCK: NOW AND THEN), Stacy Peralta (CRIPS & BLOODS: MADE IN AMERICA), Tia Lessin & Carl Deam (twice-nominated for TROUBLE THE WATER) and Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato (nominated for their producing work on THE LAST BEEKEEPER).

A full list of nominees can be found at the NATAS website.  We've got the major documentary categories after the jump.

HBO's Barack Doc BY THE PEOPLE Tops Features in Running for 2010 Primetime Emmys

The wild and wacky Primetime Emmy documentary nods are back upon us, with their eclectic mix of true television documentaries, acquired nonfiction feature films (some of which premiered at festivals 2+ years ago) and episodes of nonfiction series, all vying for trophies that will be handed out at the Creative Arts Emmys in September.

Of the true feature docs, Amy Rice and Alicia Sams behind-the-scenes look at the 2008 presidential campaign, BY THE PEOPLE: THE ELECTION OF BARACK OBAMA - which was picked up during production by HBO - led all comers, netting three nominations: for Outstanding Nonfiction Special, Direction and Editing. 

For most features, however, namely festival favorites from 2008 (THE BETRAYAL, PATTI SMITH: DREAM OF LIFE, PRESSURE COOKER) and 2009 (SERGIO), a single nomination would have to suffice.  All four of those films will vie for the Emmy for Exception Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking, up against Sundance Channel's BRICK CITY and PBS' MY LAI.

In most of the tech categories, the true features were mostly knocked out by episodes of Discovery Channel's Life and Deadliest Catch, CBS's The Amazing Race and History Channel's America: The Story of Us.

Still, the list of Emmy nominees is heavy on bold-faced names (or as bold-faced as we get in the doc world), with Sheila Nevins, Nancy Abraham, Cara Mertes, Simon Kilmurry, Sam Pollard, Ellen Kuras, John Battsek, Julie Goldman, Morgan Spurlock (nominated for his Simpsons documentary for Fox) and Ken Burns (nommed for his National Parks series, though notably not for his direction).

A full list of doc-centric nominees after the jump, not a Glee cast member among them...

Michael Moore Elected to Academy's Board of Governors for Doc Branch

Academy Award winner Michael Moore has joined fellow Oscar winners Rob Epstein and Lynne Littman on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Board of Governors, representing the Documentary Branch, it was announced Wednesday by AMPAS.

The election of Moore to represent the documentary branch marks something of a milestone for the Academy - after all, it was Moore's 2003 win for BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE that marked a major turning point for the docu branch.  A rules change made just prior to the year of COLUMBINE's victory made certain that a film needed to have a theatrical release (although just what constituted a "theatrical release" has remained an issue ever since).  It was a rule change brought about by years of Academy mis-steps on popular, critically-acclaimed and genre-defining nonfiction features, including, not incidentally, Moore's own ROGER AND ME.

Moore's election is also noteworthy because his future in nonfiction filmmaking seems - at least by his account - unclear.  Doing press for CAPITALISM, Moore suggested that the film might be his last documentary.  Conversely, Moore has been active in creating new opportunities for other documentary filmmakers - from his Traverse City Film Festival to his calls for theaters to set aside one night a week for documentaries.

Sundance 2011: Jeff Deutchman, Ridley Scott and the "History-Making" Doc That Isn't Making History

There's been a bizarre bit of news developing in the past couple of days, as a powerhouse team - the Sundance Institute, YouTube, Ridley Scott and Oscar winning documentary filmmaker Kevin Macdonald - is emploring people to join in what they describe as "the first-ever user-generated film shot in a single day".

The organizers of LIFE IN A DAY are seeking folks from all over the world to shoot footage of their lives on Saturday, July 24.  Then, according to the film's YouTube site:

"The most compelling and distinctive footage will be edited into an experimental documentary film, produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Kevin Macdonald.

The film will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011 and will be available right hear on YouTube.  If your footage makes it into the finished film, you'll be credited as a co-director and you could be one of 20 contributors brought ot Sundance to celebrate with Kevin Macdonald."

Hey, it sounds groovy and all, and congrats on one of the earliest Sundance selection notices of all time.  But just one problem - it's not "the first-ever user-generated film shot in a single day", as Variety reported yesterday and as an email from the Sundance Institute trumpets today.

Hat tip to Christopher Campbell, who flagged this for us yesterday with his tweet:

"Someone tell Ridley Scott that @jeffdeutchman already made a user-generated documentary feature shot in one day."

Indeed, Jeff Deutchman debuted his user-generated, shot-in-one-day feature documentary, 11/4/08, at SXSW this year and it's gone on to have quite a life on the festival circuit and is now playing select dates around the US.

As Campbell later tweeted:

"Noticed that 11/4/08 is screening in Indianapolis on July 24. @jeffdeutchman should film at the event and then submit it to Life in a Day"

Now, Deutchman may or may not have made "the first-ever user-generated film shot in a single day" - it's the first I've heard of, but who knows what's been out there in the ether" - but LIFE IN A DAY certainly can't claim that title.  It may be historic in other ways (there's that July announcement for a film screening at Sundance again), but Scott & Sundance & YouTube should give credit where credit is due.

Deutchman beat them to the punch.

Update: Numerous folks have weighed in on other "shot-in-one-day" documentaries that feature some variation on a similar theme.  In particular, Movieline's S.T. VanAirsdale notes 140, a film that premiered at the 2010 Newport Beach Film Festival, that seems pretty much directly on the same page as what Scott & Co. are hyping, although it limited its user-generated material to 140 seconds, a reference to the number of characters allowed in a tweet.

Also, on this topic, Christopher Campbell writes further at Cinematical.  And USA Today's Susan Wloszczyna (who comments below, arguing that 11/4/08 doesn't fit her idea of "user-generated" since Deutchman recruited some of his footage) talks to Kevin Macdonald about the film project.