All these wonderful things

The Great Lost Opportunity of Current's 50 Docs List

Our long national nightmare is finally over.

Current TV, the still-finding-its-identity network co-founded by Al Gore and newish home to left wing commentator Keith Olbermann, concludes its 5-week documentary film countdown - "50 Docs to See Before You Die" - tonight with the naming of its top 10 choices.

Revealed yesterday by the NY Times' Mike Hale, the top choice of the show's expert panel is Steve James' 1994 classic HOOP DREAMS, with Errol Morris' THE THIN BLUE LINE and Michael Moore's ROGER & ME coming in 2nd and 3rd.  The latter two films had previously been identified by the show as the demarcation of the beginning of the current "golden age" of documentary filmmaking on which the "50 Docs" list would focus.

It's this take on the modern age of documentary that seems to have brought the list and the series the most criticism: the late '80s cutoff forms a handy but ultimately confusing way for the series to eliminate any of the classic films by the Maysles, Robert Drew, Fred Wiseman, early Pennebaker, KOYAANISQATSI, HEARTS AND MINDS, HARLAN COUNTY, SHERMAN'S MARCH and any number of other influential works from contention. 

Despite the fact that the Times' Hale notes the "modern documentary" angle and bemoans the focus on "a relentless preference for the story-based or issue-based films that people now seem to think define the documentary field", commenters on the story still wrestle with the series/list's artificial construct - where is WOODSTOCK? THE LAST WALTZ? 7 UP? THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK? SHOAH?  The fact that potential viewers are still confused or find the current (get it) focus impractical suggests a basic problem with the premise.

Still, these are lists and lists are supposed to be fun, right?  Get past the confusion and the Times' comment section is filled with people's righteous indigation that their modern favorites have been overlooked.  Or those who argue that something should be higher on the list or lower or not on the list at all.

So if it gets people talking about documentaries, then who's to quibble, right?

Allow us.

Nearly 200 Top Doc Makers Sign Open Letter of Support for Joe Berlinger

In the aftermath of a judge's ruling that may force filmmaker Joe Berlinger to hand over the outtakes from CRUDE to energy giant Chevron, nearly 200 top documentary filmmakers have signed "an open letter of support", protesting the breadth of the decision by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to allow Chevron to subpeona all of Berlinger's raw footage.

Noting that "it is understood that First Amendment protection of the journalist's privilege is never absolute", the letter goes on to note that "(t)ypically, if such privilege is successfully rebutted in court, a turn-over order demanding a document or other thing is issued..."

"Therefore, it is astounding to us that Judge Kaplan demanded that all of the footage shot during the production of the film be handed over to the attorneys of Chevron, given that the privilege exists primarily to protect against the wholesale exposure of press files to litigant scrutiny...

At the heart of journalism lies the trust between the interviewer and his or her subject.  Individuals who agree to be interviewed by the news media are often putting themselves at great risk, especially in the case of television news and documentary film where the subject's identity and voice are presented in the final report.  If witnesses sense that their entire interviews will be scrutinized by attorneys and examined in courtrooms they will undoubtedly speak less freely.  This ruling surely will have a crippling effect on the work of investigative journalists everywhere, should it stand."

Spearheaded by filmmaker Patrick Creadon and editor Doug Blush (who worked together on WORDPLAY and I.O.U.S.A.), the letter has been signed by a veritable who's who of the documentary community, including at least 20 Oscar winners (among them: Michael Moore, Alex Gibney, Rob Epstein, Barbara Kopple, Peter Davis, Davis Guggenheim, Freida Lee Mock, James Marsh, Louie Psihoyos, Ross Kauffman, Kevin Macdonald, Jessica Yu, Cynthia Wade, Mark Harris, Steven Okazaki and Leon Gast), and even more Oscar nominees (including DA Pennebaker, Morgan Spurlock, Laura Poitras, Kirby Dick, Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, Jeff Blitz, James Longley, Tia Lessin, Carl Deal, Ellen Kuras, Robert Kenner, Julia Reichert, Steven Bognar, Scott Kennedy, Hupert Sauper, Liz Garbus and Amy Berg) as well as dozens of the community's top filmmakers (Kim Longinotto, Jehane Noujaim, Chris Hegedus, R.J. Cutler, Nick Broomfield, Haskell Wexler, Steve James, Peter Gilbert, Ken Burns, Lucy Walker, Doug Pray and Amir Bar-Lev, among them).

[Full disclosure: I am also a signer on the letter.]

Work began on the letter on Saturday when Creadon reached out to a handful of filmmakers calling for a united community response in support of Berlinger.  A first draft on the letter was completed Sunday, with the IDA joining the effort and working with Creadon and others to finesse the language regarding the case's complex legal issues.  IDA President Eddie Schmidt took the letter to his Board of Directors, which decided to sign the letter en masse to make a statement on behalf of the organization. 

"Advocacy is an area where an organization like IDA can make a difference - and we should try to lead as much as we can," Schmidt told me.  "It seemed important to come out early and instrumentally, and luckily, we have a forward-thinking Board of Directors and an Executive Director who believe in making a stand."

Schmidt said that he was amazed at the support the letter garnered within the community in just a few short days.  "Those names say it all: who can argue with the greatest cinematic arguers of our time?"

In an email exchange, Creadon wrote about his reaction to the news as it broke last Thursday:

"I read the story in the New York Times Saturday morning and was stunned when I realized Joe was likely going to have to turn over all of his footage.  What many outside of our community do not realize is that of all the challenges facing documentary filmmakers, it's often the legal hurdles that prove to be most difficult.  And of course legal difficulties usually lead to big legal bills -- a particularly acute kind of pain that doesn't just hurt the individual but can often hurt that person's family and livelihood."

And earlier today, Blush described the chain of events that unfolded after the judge's decision was announced:

"I've worked on several films with critical interview confidentiality issues, and when I first saw the story Thursday, I was profoundly shaken by its implications.  Patrick called on Friday, and he was on fire.  He proposed bringing together doc community filmmakers around a statement of support, and wrote a first draft.  Since then, with many great suggestions and the incredible tidal wave of signatures, the statement is out there and Joe knows he's not alone in this.  My gratitude goes out to Eddie, the IDA, and this amazing global group of artists, and I believe this can be a first step to amend and increase the vital legal protections for our work."

The full text of the letter after the jump.

Filmmakers and others in the documentary community are invited to add their names to this open letter in the comments section of this post.

Academy Invites Rachel Grady, James Marsh, Scott Kennedy, Doug Pray and More to Join

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced their new list of invitees to join the Documentary Branch - and whereas in past years the invite list topped out at three or four, this year the Academy has invited seven to join, including two of last year's winners - James Marsh (MAN ON WIRE) and Megan Mylan (SMILE PINKI).

Also welcomed: William Gazecki (nominated for WACO: THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT in 1997), Rachel Grady (nominated for JESUS CAMP in 2007; co-director Heidi Ewing was previously invited to join), Rory Kennedy (director of GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB and executive producer of the Oscar nominated STREET FIGHT), Scott Hamilton Kennedy (nominated for THE GARDEN last year) and Doug Pray (director of HYPE!, SCRATCH and this year's ART & COPY).

Who Are the Most Important Documentary Directors?

Over at the Doculink listserv, there's been an ongoing discussion the past couple weeks about "the top 20 documentary filmmakers".  Part of the discussion has been - define top 20.  Is it top 20 of all time?  Top 20 currently active?  Most influential? 

But what began as pondering a list for 20, instead became a free-for-all, with folks there throwing out names of esteemed filmmakers until the total list numbered more than 150.  Now some of these were more than a bit nonsensical (what to make of someone proposing a filmmaker whose debut film is just now, unremarkably, hitting film festivals), and a few others were makers of single great films.  Others were documentary stalwarts as series producers, editors or cinematographers.

What follows, after the jump, is a curation of Doculink's original list.  For our standards, we're choosing the terminology "most important" - which could mean influential, indicative of a movement or an era, or that they created masterpieces of the form.  We've removed the one hit wonders and we've created an addendum list for noteworthy filmmakers who are in the early stages of their nonfiction careers.  And we've added a few folks who seemed particularly conspicuous in their absence.

Despite what feels like an exhaustive process, we're certain that we've yet to include some essential filmmakers.  So, let's take this list as a starting point.  Who do you think are the most important documentary filmmakers?  Who should be on the list?  Who is an emerging voice that should be included?  Is there anyone who shouldn't be here?

Full Frame 2009: 41 Features Announced for This Year's Festival in Durham

It's that time of year again when the big doc fests of the spring anounce their titles in quick succession (and word begins to bubble about what may be coming down the pike in early summer at Silverdocs and LAFF).  Yesterday, Tribeca announced its Competition and Discovery sections.  Last week, the Full Frame Film Festival unveiled it's roster of "New Docs" including 41 feature films:

45365
Directed by Bill Ross & Turner Ross

ADJUST YOU COLOR: THE TRUTH OF PETEY GREENE
Directed by Loren Mendell

ART & COPY
Directed by Doug Pray

BEETLE QUEEN CONQUERS TOKYO
Directed by Jessica Oreck

BOY INTERRUPTED
Directed and produced by Dana Perry

BURMA VJ
Directed by Anders Østergaard

CALIFORNIA COMPANY TOWN
Directed and produced by Lee Anne Schmitt

HAIR INDIA
Directed by Raffaele Brunetti & Marco Leopardi

LADY KUL EL-ARAB
Directed by Ibtisam Mara'ana

LOVE ON DELIVERY (FRA THAILAND TIL THY)
Directed by Janus Metz

LUBER ALOFT (LUBER IN DER LUFT)
Directed by Anna-Lydia Florin

MECHANICAL LOVE
Directed by Phie Ambo

THE MEMORIES OF ANGELS (LA MEMOIRE DES ANGES)
Directed by Luc Bourdon

MILKING THE RHINO
Directed by David E. Simpson

O’ER THE LAND
Directed and produced by Deborah Stratman

OBJECTIFIED
Directed by Gary Hustwit

OBLIVION (EL OLVIDO)
Directed by Heddy Honigmann

OWNING THE WEATHER
Directed by Robert Greene

PINUCCIO LOVERO. A MIDSUMMER DEATH’S DREAM
Directed by Pippo Mezzapesa

THE RED RACE
Directed by Chao Gan

REPORTER
Directed by Eric Daniel Metzgar

ROUGH AUNTIES
Directed by Kim Longinotto

SAINT MISBEHAVIN’: THE LIFE & TIME OF WAVY GRAVY
Directed by Michelle Esrick

SALONICA
Directed by Paolo Poloni

SAY MY NAME
Directed by Nirit Peled

SHOUTING FIRE: STORIES FROM THE EDGE OF FREE SPEECH
Directed by Liz Garbus

SMILE ‘TIL IT HURTS: THE UP WITH PEOPLE STORY
Directed by Lee Storey

SONS OF CUBA (HIJOS DE CUBA)
Directed by Andrew Lang

SUPERMEN OF MALEGAON
Directed by Faiza Ahmad Khan

SWEET CRUDE
Directed by Sandy Cioffi

THE SWINDLER (BEDRAGAREN)
Directed by Åsa Blanck & Johan Palmgren

UNIT 25 (UNIDAD 25)
Directed by Alejo Hoijman

UNMISTAKEN CHILD
Directed by Nati Baratz

THE VISITORS
Directed by Melis Birder

VOICES FROM EL-SAYED (SHABLUL BAMIDBAR)
Directed by Oded Adomi Leshem

THE WAY WE GET BY
Directed by Aron Gaudet

WE LIVE IN PUBLIC
Directed by Ondi Timoner

WILLIAM KUNTSLER: DISTURBING THE UNIVERSE
Directed by Sarah Kuntsler & Emily Kunstler

YOUSSOU NDOUR: I BRING WHAT I LOVE
Directed by Chai Vasarhelyia

SXSW 2009: The SX Global and 24 Beats Doc Selections

Continuing our week-long look at the docs of SXSW 2009, we focus on films screening in the SX Global (International) and 24 Beats Per Second (Music) sections of the festival.  Again, we supply lots of notes and links and trailers, descriptions via the festival.  The latter lineup is after the jump.

SX GLOBAL

CALLING E.T.  (Netherlands)
Directed by Prosper de Roos
A close-up look at a small group of people listening, watching, waiting and preparing for their perceived inevitable earthly encounter with extraterrestrial intelligence. (U.S. Premiere)

Note - The film screened at IDFA in November.

FAVELA ON BLAST (Brazil)
Directed by Leandro HBL
Globe trotting taste-maker DJ Diplo presents a look at Brazil's Baile Funk music scene from directly inside the mountain ghettos where it spawned and thrives.

Note - A truly good film that I had the pleasure of seeing in Copenhagen at CPH:DOX.  Here's a clip from the film:

THE FORGOTTEN TREE (Mexico)
Directed by Luis Rincon
A documentary that revisits the slums featured over fifty years ago in LOS OLVIDADOS (Luis Buñuel), and reveals the current and similar conditions for the people in this area of Mexico City.

Note - LOS OLVIDADOS earned Best Director honors for Buñuel at the 1951 Cannes Film Festival.

JOURNEY TO THE END OF COAL (France)
Directed by Samuel Bollendorff
Millions of Chinese coal miners are making sacrifices everyday, risking their lives and spoiling their land to satisfy their country’s appetite for economic growth.  Meet them and learn more about how they live in this valley of death and pollution in the frozen winter of Northern China.

Note - Bollendorff is an acclaimed and accomplished photojournalist in France.  JOURNEY TO THE END OF COAL is also an interactive web documentary (not entirely clear on how or if it varies from the film that SXSW will screen) that is available at the film's website.

LOVE ON DELIVERY (Denmark)
Directed by Janus Metz  
In a remote fishing village in Denmark, 575 Thai women are married to Danish men.  An intimate look at the unique relationships between these Danish men and their Thai wives.

Note - Screened at IDFA and CPH:DOX, where it won two awards - Best Short Doc and Best Cinematography award.  Metz directed a second film on this topic, TICKET TO PARADISE, which also screens here at SXSW.

ROADSWORTH: CROSSING THE LINE (Canada)
Directed by Alan Kohl
Stencil artist Peter Gibson’s personal and professional struggle to defend his work, define himself as an artist and address difficult questions about art and freedom of expression.

Note - A six-minute trailer is available for viewing at the Wooster Collective's website.

SNOWBLIND (England)
Directed by Vikram Jayanti
Rachael Scdoris, 23, and legally blind since birth, is racing in her third Iditarod, the grueling 1,100 mile dog sled race in Alaska that's the toughest race in the world.

Note - Rachel has her own website where you can track her progress on the various Iditarods in which she competes.  SPOILER ALERT - it might reveal the end of the movie...  Favorite feature? - What's in Rachel's Sled Bag?

SOUNDS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT...A POPUMENTARY (England)
Directed by Jamie Johnson
Behind the scenes look at of the world’s premiere youth music spectacle: The Junior Eurovision Song Contest.

Note - Variety's Dennis Harvey had this rave after the film debuted in Toronto at TIFF 2008:

"There have been plenty of cute-kids-competing docus of late, including notable hits MAD HOT BALLROOM and SPELLBOUND.  Still, SOUNDS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT delights afresh, not only because its kids are (surprise!) so cute, but because the competition in question -- the Junior Eurovision Song Contest -- is unbeatably, garishly colorful."

We summed up the response at Toronto here.

TICKET TO PARADISE (Denmark)
Directed by Janus Metz
The sequel to Janus Metz' Love on Delivery’ follows the story of a young Thai-girl's journey from peasant to sex worker.

Note - See LOVE ON DELIVERY above.

Arthouse Goes Shopping for ART & COPY and WILLIAM KUNTSLER

While sales for documentaries were slow during the Sundance Film Festival, distributor Arthouse Films, led by former Palm Pictures acquisitions head David Koh, has picked up two films from the festival's US Competition slate - Doug Pray's ART & COPY and Emily and Sarah Kuntsler's WILLIAM KUNTSLER: DISTURBING THE UNIVERSE.

The deal for ART & COPY was announced on the last day of the festival, marking the only sale for a doc during this year's Sundance.  The KUNSTLER acquisition was announced late last week.  Both deals were brokered by sales rep Josh Braun.

Arthouse plans a 2009 theatrical launch for both films, followed by a DVD release.  The KUNSTLER film will air on P.O.V. in 2010.

Sundance 2009: ART & COPY Review

The thought of advertising generally brings a bad taste to my mouth.  It seeps into our lives from so many directions and is completely unavoidable.  Although Doug Pray's (SCRATCH, SURFWISE, etc.) ART & COPY contains spare statistics about the amount of advertising we are subject to, his new film is not about the effects of advertising.  It's about the craft.  It's about artists.  It's about pioneers.  It's about those ads out there that are truly innovative and inspiring.

The beautifully shot film takes an in-depth look into the creative processes involved in some of the most monumental American ad campaigns of the last half century.  It is interwoven and book-ended with visuals of a satellite launch accompanied by ad-exposure statistics, and thoughts from a long-time billboard putter-upper-guy.  The creators of the "Where's the Beef", "Got Milk?", and Apple's "Think Different" campaigns are among those interviewed, and the ads themselves play a major role in the narrative.   

Adman George Lois, who is probably best known for his Esquire magazine covers and his "I Want My MTV" campaign, stands out as a larger-than-life character through his work and his interviews in the film.  He tells the story of making a then-unknown Tommy Hilfiger into a household name practically overnight by comparing him to classic designers like Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein.  It seemed like a stretch at the time, and even Hilfiger seemed reluctant to step into such big shoes but admits that it forced him to prove himself.  Bold-moves like this defined Lois' career and revolutionary attitude toward advertising.  It's inspiring to realize that someone in such a position continues to work against the grain in order to create ads that people actually want to see.

It would be much simpler to make a film about bad advertising or the effects of consumerism on the human psyche, so it's refreshing to see a positive film that celebrates craftsmen in their finest hours.  These folks are masters of concise communication and strive to make ads that not only move products but also appeal to emotions and intellect.  For example, when the film conducts man-on-the street interviews to capture people's reactions to Nike's "Just Do It" campaign.  No talk about the shoes, only about the desire to chase their dreams.

SXSW 2009: Gary Hustwit's OBJECTIFIED, Three Other Docs Announced

Although Sundance is officially under way, our thoughts still turn to March and queso and BBQ, as SXSW begins to unveil their 2009 slate.  Four nonfiction titles were announced earlier this week, with the headline being the world premiere of OBJECTIFIED, Gary Hustwit's follow-up to HELVETICA, which documents the creative processes of some of the world’s most influential industrial designers, and looks at how the things they make impact our lives (film descriptions provided by the festival).

And providing a little bit of synergy between Austin and Park City, the SXSW Film Fest website just posted a podcast of Hustwit interviewing filmmaker Doug Pray, who comes to Sundance this year with his own creative-oriented doc, ART & COPY.  You can listen to the conversation here.

In addition to OBJECTIFIED, SXSW also announced 3 other nonfiction titles for this year's festival:

NEW WORLD ORDER
Directed by Andrew Neel and Luke Meyer
This documentary about conspiracy theorists is a behind the scenes look at the underground anti-globalist movement. The film chronicles celebrity radio host and underground cult hero Alex Jones, (of Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly), and other conspiracy theorists on their ceaseless quests to expose the 'massive global conspiracy' that they believe threatens the future of humanity.

RiP: A REMIX MANIFESTO
Directed by Brett Gaylor
Web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores issues of copyright in the information age, mashing up the media landscape of the 20th century and shattering the wall between users and producers.  Gaylor's documentary features artists like Girl Talk (pictured), who employ mash-up techniques, mixing samples of existing music into new songs.  Interviews with additional artists, lawmakers, companies and consumers are interspersed with animation, archive footage and collages.

WINNEBAGO MAN
Directed by Ben Steinbauer
Winnebago Man – Jack Rebney is the most famous man you've never heard of – after cursing his way through a Winnebago sales video, Rebney’s outtakes became an underground sensation and an online phenomenon seen by millions. Filmmaker Ben Steinbauer climbs to the top of a mountain and goes deep into the woods to find the recluse who unwittingly became an Internet superstar.

Is/Will Sundance Be the Home of Advocacy Docs?

Last week was pretty insane, what with IDFA residue, Spirit nominations, IDA awards and the unveil of the 2009 Sundance line-up, so we can be forgiven (can't we?) if a few things are gonna spill over to this week.

One of these via our pal Karina Longworth, who, took note of some of the MSM previews of Sundance and found a fairly glaring red alert.

Now, I'm loathe to put much stock in anything that John "YOUNG@HEART is a miserable failure" Horn has to say -- and I always find these Sundance trend-watch pieces fairly asinine (as Karina notes, this year's crop of films is either darker or more uplifting than usual), but something in Horn's Park City preview leaves us a little concerned.:

"Cooper says the festival's 16 competition documentaries, selected from 879 submissions, continue the nonfiction filmmaking trend toward advocacy and away from impartial journalistic observation. "They are basically telling you what to do, versus 'This is something that is going on,' " Cooper says.

Documentary competition titles include THE COVE, about cruelty to ocean mammals; DIRT THE MOVIE, a documentary about, yes, topsoil; BOY INTERRUPTED, a mother's account of her son's tragic battle with mental illness; and WHEN YOU'RE STRANGE, a look at the rock band the Doors from Sundance feature veteran Tom DiCillo."

Now, a huge caveat seems in order.  Horn is purposefully leaving out some of the more obviously poppy titles in the Documentary Competition line-up: RJ Cutler's look at Anna Wintour and the preparation of Vogue' SEPTEMBER ISSUE, Doug Pray's look at advertising (ART & COPY) and the latest from Ondi Timoner (WE LIVE IN PUBLIC).  But still - the trend in docs is "telling you what to do?"

As Karina notes,

"I guess the word that rankles there is “trend.” I’ve never been to a documentary-heavy film festival that didn’t have its share of edutainment, but looking at the most successful nonfiction films of this past year (whether at the box office or with critics or with awards bodies, or all of the above), what’s notable is that surprising lack of prescriptive, “Here’s a problem … and a solution!”-style filmmaking."

She goes on to note some of the most acclaimed films of 2008, including MAN ON WIRE, TROUBLE THE WATER and ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD as films that fail to live up to this nonexistant "trend".  Of WIRE, she asks, "What is that advocating, exactly — art crime?" 

I'd add UP THE YANGTZE and ORDER OF MYTHS to her list.  Both are beautifully observant portraits that deal with big issues but never feel the need to direct you to a website or a charity. 

In fact, the kind of film that Cooper seems to describe was actually in the minority at last year's festival (one dominated by titles like AMERICAN TEEN and ROMAN POLANSKI, in addition to some of those named above).  (FIELDS OF) FUEL and FLOW: FOR LOVE OF WATER are two of the few titles that come to mind that fit that description.

So if most of the films in competition were advocacy docs, that would actually mark a pretty big shift even if the nonfiction of Sundance will always be more topic-driven and politically correct than the films that premiere at SXSW, for example.

It will be interesting - and frankly disappointing - to see if such films actually dominate the Sundance slate or if the description of the heretofore nonexistent trend is just symptomatic of Horn's sloppy documentary reporting