All these wonderful things

The Monday Brief: VIDEOCRACY & OCTOBER COUNTRY Open Well, More Sundance Sales & Can Anything Stop THE COVE?

Happy President's Day and Happy Day After Valentines Day as the Sundance sales and THE COVE's onward march toward Oscar continues.  But first...

It was a good (if not mind-blowing) weekend at the box office for two of our favorite documentaries of 2009, both kicking off exclusive runs at New York's IFC Center. 

Erik Gandini's VIDEOCRACY, which premiered at Toronto and took the Jury Prize at Sheffield, opened with a 3-day take of $10,000, according to figures at indieWIRE.  While the film had mixed reviews (at least Manohla gets it, while most of the other reviews seem to be at a loss to explain what they've just watched), the Lorber Films release was the top doc (per screen) of the weekend.

Meanwhile Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher's OCTOBER COUNTRY, nominated for Best Doc at the Spirit Awards, winner of two Cinema Eye Honors and recipient of nearly unanimous positive notices, made $7,500 at the same theatre.  The film explands to Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon this week.

Last night, at the ACE awards (no, not the old Cable Ace awards, the American Cinema Editors), THE COVE continued its sweep of the 2010 documentary prizes.  While the film came up empty in the early going (including getting shut out of Best Doc nominations at the Gothams, Spirits and IDA Awards), the film began a December film critics' sweep that has carried well over into 2010.  Adding the Documentary Editing prize after awards from the Producers Guild and Directors Guild (not to mention three wins at Cinema Eye), it's pretty hard at this point not to expect the film to go the distance and win the Oscar.

Add to the awards bounty the fact that THE COVE continues to make news - announcing this week that a Japanese theatrical release had finally been secured - and a Oscar vote for that film suddenly becomes a vote for making real change.  Even though each of the other four nominees plays to the Academy's liberal heartstrings, none seems to offer the seemingly visceral chance to make a difference that THE COVE does.  Even the NY Times' Carpetbagger gets into the act:

"The filmmakers behind THE COVE have been open about their goal: not to win an Oscar – though they wouldn’t mind – but to stop the dolphin slaughter that the documentary depicts. They may have moved one step closer to that goal with the news that the Oscar-nominated film, which shows a secret dolphin-killing field in Taiji, Japan, will now be distributed in Japan...

"'To me the awards are the collateral in hopefully trying to create this awareness to stop what’s going on there,” [director Louie Psihoyos] said, though he did acknowledge that the Oscar nomination has made his next feature, about the effect of acidification on the oceans, easier to finance. “Career-wise, just having a nomination is an amazing achievement for everybody associated with the film,” he said. “But the real reason to try to win, for me, is that then you have 45 seconds to talk to the Japanese people. You have a platform.'"

My Documentary Decade

Dear Readers -

Apologies for dropping the ball here on the blog the past few weeks.  Between wrapping up shooting on my new film and prepping and planning for this year's Cinema Eye Honors, I've been procrastinating my return to somewhat regular blogging.

Here's a piece I started writing as I was en route to Branson, Missouri just after Christmas.  I'll be posting a couple more looks back at the year we just concluded in the coming days/weeks.  Pardon the delay.

_______________

There’s a story to what happened to me this decade and it starts in the spring of the year 2000.  I was then an Executive Producer at a production company that specialized in music videos, working with a bunch of talented filmmakers, routinely awarded budgets of $350K to make a 3 ½ minute clip that would – hopefully for the band, the label and their hangers-on – be awarded a coveted slot on the Carson Daly-hosted "Total Request Live".

The clips had to be of a certain high production value, the labels seemed to believe, or there would be no possibility of landing on the afternoon countdown show, one of the few venues remaining on MTV for music videos.  So the budgets, even for bands that you and I would never hear from again, had to be mid-six figures.  Or else said band might slip into the ether.

By the spring we’d surfed this wave for almost a year and I was starting to feel restless.  More and more of my own creative ideas were being poured into the work that was coming out of our company, but the execution of these ideas – and the ownership of same – fell, quite naturally, to the director. 

I remember sitting in the color correct of one particular video, a video whose concept I had proposed (and one that would later become such a hit on said MTV countdown program that it would help launch the band and the director’s career) and feeling like I had well and truly reached the end of my ability to stand in the shadows.

Simultaneously, there was a very real sense that the status quo in that industry could not sustain itself.  MTV was continually cutting back on the number of videos it was playing and the labels were under attack from digital downloads.  And how could labels keep spending that kind of money on bands with little hope of recouping the costs of such extravagant vanity videos?

Just prior to this – at the end of the previous decade – I started to direct my own projects – a friend’s music video here, a public service announcement there, and finally, a short film.  And by the end of the year 2000, there was a merger.

My short was out on the festival circuit.  I felt – for the first time – not like an Executive Producer (which was a job I loved and, if I do say so myself, was pretty good at) but like a filmmaker.  I remember flying to London to oversee the shoot a video in the fall of 2000 and writing “Filmmaker” on the occupation line of my landing card and being strangely, wonderfully proud of this new designation.

By that point I had already, mentally, turned my back on music videos.  For a decade I’d worked on more than 100 – respected indie bands and big pop artists – but now I was increasingly ready to go my own way.

And within three months, I’d be in New York shooting footage for what would become GIGANTIC, my first documentary feature.

The how and the why of GIGANTIC’s birth is less important than the fact that the arrival of this decade – one that has been castigated and bemoaned for its acts of terror, war, political combat and natural decay – signaled a significant shift in my life.

My documentary decade.

I couldn’t have known as I was running around New York with my Sony PD-150 following Johns Flansburgh and Linnell in the spring of 2001 what would happen in the decade that followed.

I could not have imagined KURT COBAIN ABOUT A SON or CONVENTION. 

I had no notion that I would start a blog (blog? What’s a blog?) or an award for nonfiction filmmaking.

I would never think that I’d end the decade in the Ozark Mountain town of Branson, Missouri celebrating the arrival of a new decade with a camera in my hand.

I never dreamed that I would take it all so seriously, so personally, so occasionally obsessively.

I fell into documentary almost by chance and – in some kind of Faustian bargain – documentary has run away with me.

About Friday Night (or Cinema Eye 2010)...

It's been a momentous start to 2010.

Over New Year's my partners and I wrapped the film that we've been shooting in Branson, Missouri for the past two+ years.

And once I got back to Los Angeles, I had a week of mostly nonstop preparations for this year's Cinema Eye Honors, followed by a return to New York and a few days of last minute details before Friday's ceremonies and celebrations.

[You can read about the event in reports by Eric Kohn at The Wrap, Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere, Brian Geldin at the Film Panel Notetaker and Matt Dentler on his blog, .  Ingrid Kopp has a bunch of pictures over at the Shooting People blog as does the Stranger Than Fiction blog.   indieWIRE has a full accounting of this year's winners.]

The night itself was pretty wonderful.  Following an afternoon of rehearsals, I walked out into the reception at the Times Center and nearly immediately spotted Barbara Kopple, Ross McElwee and Albert Maysles talking to one another.  Then I turned and saw nominees RJ Cutler (who would later win the Audience Choice Prize for THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE) and James Toback, presenters Ellen Kuras, Peter Davis, Amir Bar-Lev, Jason Kohn, Carl Deal & Tia Lessin.  And in the midst of it all, some of the folks who've made the films that made me so excited to be a nonfiction filmmaker in 2009 - Bill and Turner Ross, Darius Marder, Jessica Oreck, Michael Palmieri, Donal Mosher and Aron Gaudet (all with their debut films).

Forgive me if it sounds a bit like hyperbole, but the moment kind of took my breath away.

Later that night, standing in the midst of the afterparty, seeing the community of filmmakers, programmers, producers, distributors, writers, critics and friends all gathered together, more than one person waved their arm out at the crowd and said, "seeing that must feel pretty good."

And, yes, it truly did.  

I am happy to see that an idea has germinated and continues to grow into an event that I think we can all be proud of and take ownership of.  And I'm honored to see so many folks bring their own skills and talents to the table to make the event successful.

So kudos to the team at Indiepix - Sally Plourde, Arielle DiGiacomo, Matt Posorske, Jason Tyrrell, Paige Gregor, Nico Doldinger and Bob "Big Daddy" Alexander for their great production talents and amazing support.

And thanks to our Cinema Eye team - my terrific co-chair and co-host Esther Robinson; team leaders Andrea Meditch and Thom Powers; our partner-in-crime/production guru Nathan Truesdell and our stellar design team in Columbia, MO - Ryan Nelson, Ben Chlapek, Jonny Pez and Brock Williams; our musical director, Ion Furjanic; our pals at the Sheffield and Camden fests who threw two terrific parties to announce our nominations and then salute our nominees and to all of our other sponsors - HBO Documentary Films, Thompson LES Hotel, Danish Film Institute, Makers Mark and Leftfield Equipment Rentals - without whom the event wouldn't have been possible.

Finally, thanks for all who came out on Thursday and Friday - some of whom traveled cross-country and over oceans - and to all who have emailed or written or texted in the 48 hours since.  Your kindness and support to all of us is greatly appreciated.

It's you that makes the event work.  It's you that gives Cinema Eye meaning.

We're here because of the work that each of you does, and with your continued support and feedback and encouragement, we'll keep on doing it.

Things We Learned From Summer of Filmmaking

Ask me how I am and I’ll likely tell you that I’m exhausted.

But that rings incomplete at the moment.  Inappropriately nondescriptive.

Truth is I’m full up of emotion and experience.

Yes, my muscles ache, my sense of direction is off, my body crying for sleep despite coffee with two added shots of espresso.  But just past that is someone trying to make sense of what he has seen and lived and filmed over the past three months.

The filming we have done in Branson through the summer and the film that we have just wrapped in Denver have taught me much – about collaboration, about working with new technologies, about plunging ahead on leaps of faith. 

From a filmmaking perspective, we took our Branson model of working (small crew, Panasonic HVX200, P2 cards, always mobile) and applied it in Denver to another scale (8 filmmakers, 5 cameras, constantly passing cards, batteries and text messages amongst us as we ran from one location to another). 

Denver could not have happened without what we learned – or without the constant exercise of creative muscles that we put to use - earlier this summer in Branson.

It also could not have happened without a simple credo that has run through both films: “I’m down for whatever”.  It was the mantra of each person who joined in these efforts, whether they joined us from Columbia, New York, London, Dayton, Los Angeles or Denver.

But looking beyond the work, there’s something else that I’m left with as I return to Los Angeles.  It's a renewed appreciation for public service.

Whether in Branson, where Republicans outnumber Democrats by 2-to-1, or Denver where (at least for the past week) the opposite was true, I’m impressed and inspired by those who want to do something to make their communities, cities, states and nations better places. 

The cynicism that infects our political and social discourse, the sloppy, knee-jerk name calling and conspiracy theories, the constant questioning of motivation - not just of politicians but of all those who work in the public sphere – becomes all the more repugnant the closer you get to some of those who’ve dedicated their lives to service.

Yes, there is corruption and incompetence and, yes, there are very bad ideas.  There are things with which you surely disagree and you should stand and make your arguments.  This is not a call to stick your head in the sand or be passive in the face of those issues you hold dear.

But I remain hopeful for a new kind of dialogue, one in which both the right and the left debate their disagreements rather than launch lazy character attacks (and I ask this of myself as well as others). 

I’ve witnessed good deeds on both sides of the political divide this summer, people of good faith who work (often unheralded and sometimes unpaid) to address the best and worst of their communities.  Their ideas may be different, their methods may be at odds, but their reasons for serving are often the same. 

We’d do well to look past our own contemptuousness and hope for a different kind of conversation, a new (even if grudging) respect.

While not everything about this summer has been easy – being away from home and family at the top of the list of negative consequences – these are experiences that I will never forget.  My thanks to the collaborators and subjects who’ve been down for anything this summer. 

I’m a better filmmaker due to you and hopefully a better (certainly older) man as well.

There are days like today...

...where you find yourself off the beaten path and you walk into an unfamiliar place.  And you meet people that you'd otherwise never meet.  You'd see and hear things that you'd otherwise never see.  You are in a place that most will never encounter.  And one that you would certainly never experience if not for the fact that it's your job (and I use that word most loosely) to try to discover places like this. To take real people and real moments and make them part of something cinematic.

These are the days when you thank God that you're a documentary filmmaker.

Random LA Times Thoughts on the Plane Back to Branson

En route to my country home in Branson, MO, two things from today’s LA Times worth noting (you know how I love my hometown paper).

The first is a front page story on how filming of MTV’s reality series “The Hills” (to which current doc hit AMERICAN TEEN is oft-compared) is angering residents who happen to live near character Lauren’s Hollywood home.  Seems that the address (not surprisingly) popped up online and fans have been showing up at all hours looking for the show’s stars (not to mention the paparazzi and production vehicles that are crowding the area that residents claim, pretty laughably, used to be like “Mayberry”.

So after reporting the resident’s complaints about feeling exposed, what does the Times do?  They helpfully provide a map of the house’s location AND a photo of the front of the property.

As my brother said to me, “wow, dick move, LA Times.”

Meanwhile, over in the Calendar section (it bears repeating that the previous story was on the front page), tucked away in the back, Jan Stuart’s special for the Times review of David Gordon Green’s PINEAPPLE EXPRESS never mentions, that’s right, David Gordon Green.

Now, I get that Judd Apatow and Seth Rogan are the marquee names here, but can you really write a review of PINEAPPLE without talking about how the film is the big budget, mainstream debut of one the indie film world’s favorite sons?  Really?

And did I mention that he directed the film?  Wow, dick move, LA Times.

Why Haven't You Posted Lately? (and Other Tales of Branson, Missouri)

While I've rarely been a several-posts-a-day blogger (today is one of those exceptions that proves the rule), those of you who check in from time to time may have noticed a bit of a drop-off in our usual vaguely-comprehensive coverage of the world of nonfiction.  You may also have observed an occasional cryptic reference to reasons for our absence (or for why we're posting video of us tubing on Missouri's Table Rock Lake).

Balancing our own filmmaking efforts with our cockeyed coverage of the world of nonfiction is often a high-wire act, not least when being in production prevents us from being the regular chronicler of nonfiction that we have, in the implicit agreement between blogger and reader, vowed to be. 

So, the time has come to lift the veil on what's happening on the other side of our world.

For the past two months, I've been spending the majority of my time not in Los Angeles, but in Branson, Missouri, at work on a new nonfiction feature about the community that Bart Simpson once referred to as "Vegas if Ned Flanders ran it" and once famously dubbed "the live entertainment capitol of the world".

For the first time in my filmmaking career, I am co-directing with my good friend David Wilson, whom most of you know as the co-conspirator behind the popular and influential True/False Film Festival, but who I have known for years as an accomplished artist in his own right.  David and I have been talking for a whileabout working on a project together and he had long wanted to make a film about Branson, specifically about those who make their home in Branson - a town of 7,000 that draws more than 8 million visitors a year with its mix of music shows, outdoor recreation and self-described family friendly values (read:  patriotism and religious values worn proudly on sleeve).  We hope that our film - one that looks to the future of what Branson may soon become - is one that will challenge pre-conceived notions and we're incredibly grateful to everyone in the community that has opened their door to us, particularly our main subjects who are constantly putting up with our cameras and our questions and what may sometimes appear to be stalker-like behavior.

Although David and I fully intend to hog most, if not all, of the attention for ourselves, I am compelled to make note of the third leg of our unholy Trinity.  Nathan Truesdell, the extraordinary filmmaker behind this year's True/False trailers (arguably the best festival trailers one has seen in many years) - which were spotlighted nicely here by Ray Pride - is backing David and I up in regularly miraculous ways.   This is truly a 3-man (or more accurately 3-brother) band.  Expect to see and hear more of Nathan - particularly here on the blog - in the weeks and months to come.

And little of it would be possible without our Executive Producer Matthew Mills and all at Paxton Films/TV By Mills for their support, financial and otherwise.  And while I'm throwing out kudos, allow me to appreciate the wife and child for putting up with my extended absence and excited tales of theme parks, tubing adventures and Sunday brunches.

Our Branson project is a purposefully long term effort, one that will film through the next 12 months and will not likely raise its head until 2010.  This is what is called fair warning: there will likely be lapses in coverage in the months to come.  In return for your advance understanding, I will do my best to keep the self-promotion to a minimum.

Now, please enjoy a picture of a pancake.  It's not known whether it is the world's largest, but let's just say it is and call it a day.

With Apologies to Laura Poitras and James Longley

And with further explanation to come shortly.  In the meantime, happy 4th of July weekend to one and all.

Five Month Photo Spectacular

For much of the past 14 months I've been on the road with my film.  And with this past weekend's sojourn to my old Missouri stomping grounds, that traveling is now starting to draw to a close.  With that, I realized that there have been a whole flock of photos that I never got around to posting from the past five months on the road - including pictures from our Seattle premiere in May, our screening at the Atlantic Film Festival in Nova Scotia, our US theatrical premiere in New York as well as screenings in Philadelphia and the aforementioned Missouri.  So, with much (or little) fanfare, here's a recap of some of the past five months, starting with Seattle on June 2:

About A Son co-composer Steve Fisk and co-producer/author Michael Azerrad inside the W filmmaker lounge.

IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS director James Longley and legendary Seattle photographer Charles Peterson (and my About A Son co-conspirator) at the Barsuk Records-hosted after-party following our premiere.

Some of my crew at the after-party, including Eddie Adams (having a drink) and Ian Jennings (far right).  It was awesome to see everyone at the screening.

Moving on to St. Louis on July 22, when we did an advance screening at the Cinema St Louis Filmmakers Showcase:

Some of my pals from Edwardsville, Illinois join me for drinks after the screening at Blueberry Hill in the U-City Loop - Tree Ojeda, John Washburne, Nick Twesten and Julie Smith.

More Edwardsville friends - Mike and Stephanie Fedder.

Mark Bielik, Cliff Froehlich and Chris Clark, gurus of Cinema St Louis (and currently holding down the fort at the St Louis Film Festival) at Blueberry Hill.

Later that night, Nick Twesten man-handles my old pal Thad Summers as my newish pal Dave Johnson gets cell-photographic evidence.

Skip forward nearly two months to my short visit up to Nova Scotia for our screening at the Atlantic Film Festival on September 18:

Coming in by air...

...eating from the sea...

...dance party on the shore.

Center frame, the back of Norwood Cheek, my old friend and fine filmmaker who was in town to conduct a music video workshop with local filmmakers in Halifax.

My host in Halifax, Leigh Meldrum, and I at an afternoon reception.  I had a lot to live up to as Leigh previously had been squiring Mr. Al Maysles around the festival.  Methinks I paled in comparison.

Just a couple weeks later I was back on the east coast and in New York City for the premiere of my film at the IFC Center (where it's still playing, FYI, on the weekends).

My old New York pals David Levine and Sherise Lee before the premiere.

Balcony Releasing's Greg Kendall, legendary filmmaker Murray Lerner, Balcony's Connie White and Michael Azerrad at the NYC post-premiere party.

Filmmaker Sarie Horowitz (THREE OF HEARTS), the Flaherty Seminar's Mary Kerr and filmmaker Rachel Libert (BEYOND CONVICTION).

Writer/filmmaker Jonny Leahan, Holly Herrick of the Sarasota Film Festival and filmmaker Jennifer Venditti (BILLY THE KID).

Woodstock Film Fest programmer (and frequent indieWIRE contributor) Michael Lerman, filmmaker/blogger Michael Tully (SILVER JEW), filmmaker Paul Lovelace (BORN TO LOSE) and producer Jessica Wolfson (CRAZY SEXY CANCER and more) react to some post-party karaoke action.

This is our last dance.  This is ourselves...

Two nights later in Los Angeles:

Filmmaker Dave Mendel, About A Son producer Shirley Moyers, About A Son cinematographer Wyatt Troll, About A Son sound editor Kyle Schember, yours truly and filmmaker Gabe Fleming at the LA post-premiere party.

Three of my oldest and dearest friends, Diane Munoz, Kimm Birkicht and Robin "Goldie" Goldwasser at the LA reception.

Two weeks later, I was in Philadelphia...

...where I got to hang out with my pals Joey Sweeney and Ruth Carpenter.

Then back to Manhattan the next night for a performance by Who Shot Hollywood - four 11 to 13 year old boys from Massachusetts who sound a bit like Supergrass - at CMJ.

Lead singer & bass player Lucas Kendall.

Drummer & backing voicalist Dana Kendall.

Finally, earlier this week at the Moxie Cinema in Springfield, Missouri...

...where I got to spend some time with Moxie guru Dan Chilton and filmmaker/blogger David Lowery...

...Moxie co-guru Nicole Chilton and True/False Film Fest's David Wilson.

And with that I got back to Los Angeles (after a detour to Branson, MO, about which I hope to have more to say at a later date) for a week of catching up before I head this Wednesday to Denver for the fest there.  Whew.  I've exhausted myself.

But thanks, as always, to all the friends who hung out with me along this journey - from September of 2006 to the present.  You are swell.