All these wonderful things

The Monday Brief: A Strong Start for RESTREPO, A Good Move for LAFF and 8 For Oscar

For all intents and purposes, the documentary year - though just half over - has reached a wrap point.  The films of the first half of the year have come to the end (or nearly have) of their festival runs.  Nearly every major American documentary festival showcase has come and gone.

Time now to take our only major break in the year - the two-plus months between the festivals of June and the unveiling of fall titles in Toronto, which then kicks off a busy theatrical season, the lead up to the European fests of late October and November and awards season.

Speaking of, here's a piece of Oscar trivia you might be interested in:

In the past five years, only one film - last year's THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS - wasn't screened by this point in the year and went on to be nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar.

So, chances are, we've already seen this year's five nominees. 

And while your scanning this year's titles in your head (THE OATH, ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE, LAST TRAIN HOME, A FILM UNFINISHED, GASLAND, INSIDE JOB, THE TILLMAN STORY are just a few that figure to play in the mix) you might wonder which of this year's most popular titles (OCEANS, BABIES, EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP, JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK) might be able to crack through the Academy's "serious ceiling".

And you might look at this week's box office returns to see how one film, which may be one of a few frontrunners at this point, happened to do with audiences...

That film is Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington's RESTREPO and the answer is, quite well actually.  Buoyed perhaps by Junger's literary star-power (if not its Sundance Grand Jury prize, which has been hit and miss in terms of theatrical payoff for docs recently), RESTREPO opened this weekend to more than $15K on each of its two screens, battling back the notion that folks aren't clamoring for nonfiction (or fiction for that matter) pieces about current US wars.  The film - currently only in NYC and LA - heads to SF, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia in time for the Independence Day weekend.

Sticking with box office for a moment, two of the aforementioned successes - Banksy's EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP and Ricki Stern & Annie Sundberg's JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK - continued to do well at the North American box office, according to estimates at Box Office Mojo.  EXIT picked up nearly another $75K in its 11th weekend, taking its cume to $2.65M.  And JOAN scored another $365K in its 4th weekend, for a total-to-date of $716K.  That film is now in 86 theaters and may hit the $1M mark after this coming holiday weekend.

But perhaps the biggest heat around a documentary film this past week centered on the television debut of one of the year's best and most important films, Josh Fox' GASLAND.  We have a full post up today about the natural gas industry's attempts to smear Fox and his film.

LAFF and Silverdocs have both wrapped (we had the winners yesterday) for 2010.  LAFF has since announced their Audience Awards, with prizes going to both Mark Landsman's THUNDER SOUL (Documentary Audience Award) and Roberto Hernandez and Geoffrey Smith's PRESUMED GUILTY (International Audience Award).  We're also pleased to note that OK Go's "This Too Shall Pass" music video (which we had a hand in) picked up the LAFF Audience Award for Music Videos.

The Monday Brief: JOAN RIVERS Opens Big, A Legal Break for Berlinger, Sheffield Moves to June and the P.O.V. Power List

First off, apologies for the break in posting.  Between traveling to New York, working on various projects and the start of the Los Angeles Film Festival, I've found myself starting several posts (including the last two Monday Briefs) only to watch them go unfinished.

Truth is, this summer might be somewhat light in our coverage around these parts, although we're gonna endeavor to stay on track this month to cover two of the year's most important festivals for documentary - LAFF, which launched seemingly successfully in its new downtown digs last Thursday, and Silverdocs, which kicks off tomorrow...

In the interim, there's been a lot of news in the documentary world - shifting dates for a top festival, a legal victory for a noted filmmaker and a list that does what lists tend to do: get people talking.

But the past two weekends, the biggest headlines in the doc world were made by a film that premiered at Sundance...

Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg's docu-portrait, JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK, was the big winner at the specialty box office the past two weekends.  Opening a week ago at 7 theaters (but as indieWIRE noted - on three separate screens at NYC's IFC Center), the film took in an estimated $24,368 - the biggest per theater debut for a doc this year.  In its first weekend, the film took in more than $170K, more than the combined total take of Stern and Sundberg's previous two (critically acclaimed and super serious) docs, THE TRIALS OF DARRYL HUNT and THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK.

In its second weekend, the film cooled off only slightly as it expanded to 29 screens, managing a still strong average of just under $8K per screen, bringing its grand total thus far to more than $475K.  According to Peter Knegt's iW piece, IFC Films plans an aggressive rollout for the film, expanding to the top fifty markets by the 4th of July.  It could be the doc of the summer (at the box office at least), and seems likely to become the 4th $1M doc of 2010 (following BABIES, OCEANS and EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP).

Also fairing quite well last weekend was Madeleine Sackler's charter schools documentary THE LOTTERY.  Variance Films released the doc on a single NYC screen to a potent $17K+.  THE LOTTERY screened at this year's Tribeca Film Festival and a handful of top regional fests (Sarasota, IFFBoston, Cleveland among them) before its quick and successful theatrical launch.

This weekend saw the release of another Sundance doc, 8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION, the first out of the box for Red Flag Releasing.  Released on 16 screens, the film took in an average of more than $3K.

Segueing out of the theatrical box office, news continued to break last week in the Joe Berlinger/Chevron/CRUDE footage case.  And this time the news was good (at least for anyone who cares about documentary)...

A federal appeals court granted Berlinger a temporary stay in the case and will soon rule on his appeal of the lower court judge's decision that he must turn over his raw footage to Chevron.  This means Berlinger won't have to turn over the footage immediately, which would have been the case if the appeals court had denied his petition for a stay.

Berlinger's lawyer, Maura Wogan, told the NY Times that if the court hadn't granted the stay, "(Berlinger) would have been forced to turn over this material before the appeal was heard – he would have, in effect, lost his right to an appeal."

Berlinger will join filmmaker Morgan Spurlock for a special Stranger Than Fiction this Tuesday at NYC's IFC Center.  The event will be a benefit for Berlinger's legal defense fund.

But perhaps the biggest news of the past week was announced with relatively little fanfare.  Confirming rumors that have been circulating for months (we even included them in our festival profile last December), Sheffield Doc/Fest announced that their 2011 edition will be held in early June.  That means two Doc/Fests in Sheffield separated by little more than seven months (they will still hold this year's event the first week of November).

The (Post-Holiday) Brief: Silverdocs and LAFF Previews, 86 Films Eligible for Cinema Eye and CONVENTION in NYC

Hard to believe but it's June 1...

The beginning of June is also the end of something, the end of the first half of our documentary year - one that begins with the announcement of the Sundance line-up and the annual gathering of the doc world in Amsterdam.

Six months ago we were just hearing about LAST TRAIN HOME, ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE, THE OATH, RESTREPO, GASLAND, 12th AND DELAWARE, EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP and the rest.  Now, with last week's announcement of the Silverdocs line-up, that six month stretch starts to wrap itself up.

Not that we won't hear about the above films for the rest of the year (we will, particularly at awards season), but Silverdocs signals the changing of the guard, the last major, domestic festival gasp for many of the creme of 2010's documentary crop and the first glimpse of a few films that will be stalwarts on the fall festival tour.

And the beginning of June reminds us that the unveiling of the Toronto line-up, when the fall season really begins in earnest, is less than two months away.

Summer is here.

Silverdocs will kick off its 8th edition in just over three weeks, leading with opening night omnibus doc FREAKONOMICS and closing with Amir Bar-Lev's THE TILLMAN STORY, both of which should be of strong interest to the DC-adjacent crowd.  Competition titles include several festival favorites, including Doug Block's THE KIDS GROW UP, Alexandra Codina's MONICA AND DAVID (which won Tribeca), Robin Hessman's MY PERESTROIKA, Julia Bacha's BUDRUS, Yael Hersonski's A FILM UNFINISHED (which won Hot Docs, Roberto Hernández and Geoffrey Smith's PRESUMED GUILTY and Christian Frei's SPACE TOURISTS.

Silverdocs will also share a few competition titles with it's cross-country rival LAFF, which gets the jump this year by opening five days earlier than Silverdocs.  Los Angeles is set to premiere Malcolm Murray's CAMERA, CAMERA and Aaron Schock's CIRCO, both of which will then head to Silver Springs.  The two fests will also offer Davis Guggenheim's WAITING FOR SUPERMAN, the first time we've seen that film screen since it debuted in Park City earlier this year.  They'll also share FREAKONOMICS, TILLMAN, Jeff Malmberg's MARWENCOL, Sam Green's UTOPIA IN FOUR MOVEMENTS, Mads Brügger's THE RED CHAPEL, Alexandre O. Philippe's THE PEOPLE VS. GEORGE LUCAS and others.

If I were headed to Silver Springs this year, I'd certainly want to catch Stephen Kijak's STONES IN EXILE - the 60 minute making-of "Exile on Main Street" doc which made such a splash in Cannes, as well as Francine Cavanaugh and Adams Wood's ON COAL RIVER, which chronicles a community action against Massey Energy prior to that company's coal mine disaster at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia.  Plus, there's a terrific line-up of 40+ shorts, including a few of the best shorts we've seen in years - Sergio Oksman's NOTES ON THE OTHER and Vance Malone's THE POODLE TRAINER.

Silverdocs is also gonna fete Frederick Wiseman (although they don't have his latest, BOXING GYM, which was just at Cannes) and will screen Oliver Stone's SOUTH OF THE BORDER, a profile of South American heads of state, which should make some kind of news, one suspects.

We will be covering the Los Angeles Film Fest, which will host large outdoor screenings of the GEORGE LUCAS doc and Mark Landsman's THUNDER SOUL and one of the first (if not the first) post-Sundance screening of Mark Lewis' 3-D doc, CANE TOADS: THE CONQUEST.  LAFF makes its move from Westwood to downtown Los Angeles (HQing itself at the LA Live complex) and while we weren't big fans of this year's LA Live-based Spirit Awards, we're cautiously optimistic about the relocation of the film festival.

Five months into 2010 and the Cinema Eye Honors team (full disclosure: once again I'll be a co-chair for the 2011 event) has announced the 86 films that are already eligible for next year's awards - and most of the above named film titles (save for the recent premieres) are on the list.  I can't get in the business of predicting which way Cinema Eye is going to go (not only that, I'm a relatively poor soothsayer as far as nominations for that event goes), but I'm very excited about that list of films - as well as by a bunch of stuff going on behind the scenes that we will be announcing later this summer.

The Joe Berlinger/CRUDE/Chevron case continues to unfold, as Berlinger's lawyers make their case for overturning the judge's decision (that he must turn over raw footage to Chevron) to an appeals court.  Chevron, for their part, issued a press release this week that, in part, details their arguments related to the Berlinger case:

"The U.S. federal court proceedings in which Chevron seeks hidden evidence of corruption and misconduct captured by filmmaker Joe Berlinger have also centered on evidence of collusion in connection with the (Ecuadorian court appointee Richard) Cabrera’s damages report. Parts of Berlinger’s film CRUDE show plaintiffs’ lawyers Steven Donziger and Pablo Fajardo working with Carlos Beristain, one of the supposedly neutral experts on Cabrera’s team, at a focus group meeting related to Beristain’s supposedly independent health survey Cabrera relies on Beristain’s survey for his assessment of $9.5 billion in damages for excess cancer claims. While, at the direction of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, Berlinger edited the DVD version of Crude to conceal Beristain’s involvement with the lawyers, the unedited scene remains in a recently released internet version of the film. This documentation of collusion supported Chevron’s successful argument to a federal court in New York that other Crude outtakes should be reviewed for further evidence of misconduct. In its recent order, the New York court ruled that the fact that this scene was cut from the final version of the DVD at the direction of plaintiffs’ lawyers is a fact suggestive of an awareness of questionable activity."

Stuff worth reading: 11/4/08 director Jeff Deutchman talks to indieWIRE about the collaborative filmmaking behind his doc (it screens at NYC's Stranger Than Fiction on June 15), which includes contributions from Margaret Brown and Henry Joost.  There are reports that Warner Bros. plans to turn Jody Lambert's festival hit OF ALL THE THINGS into a narrative feature, with Steve Carrell being chased to play Lambert's songwriting dad, Dennis.  indieWIRE has the scoop on the weekend indie box office and doc wise, the story continues to be EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP - now at $2M and still climbing.

Finally, point of personal privilege: CONVENTION, the film I made at the 2008 DNC with fellow filmmakers Steven Bognar, Daniel Junge, Laura Poitras, Julia Reichert, Paul Taylor, Nathan Truesdell and David Wilson (as well as producers Britta Erickson, Shirley Moyers and Jenny Chikes), opens this Friday at the IFC Center and a number of us will be on hand all weekend to toast the theatrical premiere and take your questions.  A couple press pieces to note:  indieWIRE re-runs their article from last summer with Brian Brooks quizzing yours truly on the making of the film.  NY Magazine nicely calls the film "wonderfully counterintuitive...a generous portrait of the true face of modern democracy—if Robert Altman made documentaries, this is what they might look like."  Previously, Variety's Eddie Cockrell said it was "a bipartisan, upbeat celebration of democracy's delicate membrane and can-do spirit".  There's some other raves out there, but we'll spare the piling on (you can also find a negative review or two of the "nothing newsworthy happens" variety, which one might argue is beside the point, but one might also be biased).

Hope you can come out this weekend to the IFC Center - say hello.

The Monday Brief: Debunking Brandeis Citation in Berlinger Ruling, BABIES Rule Mother's Day & Hot Docs Wrapping

With the close of Hot Docs yesterday, we can finally exhale after a non-stop stretch of key film festivals that has swallowed up most of spring thus far - and for the majority of us (certainly those not headed to the south of France), we now have a few weeks to rest before the June festival onslaught hits...

That gives us a moment to reflect on the year thus far and the film's that are making an impact.  Earlier today we posted the first edition of the 2010 Nonfiction Feature Honor Roll, our annual round-up of festival (and, later in the year, critics and end-of-year) prizes.  No surprise that Laura Poitras' THE OATH - which has seemingly shown up with raves at every major fest this year - leads this year's list, followed by Jeff Malmberg's SXSW sensation MARWENCOL and Lucy Walker's audience fave, WASTE LAND.

But it's a film from 2009 that leads The Brief today and what it may mean for nonfiction filmmakers everywhere...

Many are still trying to figure out just how to react to the surprisingly broad ruling from US District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan that may force filmmaker Joe Berlinger to turn over more than 600 hours of outtakes from his film, CRUDE, to the Chevron corporation.  As we noted Saturday, Chevron argued that the outtakes may help them defend themselves in a lawsuit brought by Ecuadorians over water contamination, charges which were detailed in Berlinger's film.

In his decision, Kaplan referenced former Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis' comment that "sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants", which didn't sit well with Frank Smyth of the Society to Protect Journalists:

"The irony in the judge’s choice of language is as thick as crude...

 

What would the late Supreme Court Justice Brandeis think? He made his famous sunlight statement about the need to expose bankers and investors who controlled “money trusts” to stifle competition, and he later railed against not only powerful corporations but the lawyers and other members of the bar who worked to perpetuate their power."

This news is sure to keep developing in the days and weeks to come.

Meanwhile, after months of slow going at the documentary box office, this weekend saw three major debuts and the continued success of the Disneynature franchise.

The Brief: OCEANS and Bansky Reap Box Office Rewards, THE OATH Caps an Award-Winning April and Tribeca in Progress

We're dead in the middle of the spring festival onslaught, with Tribeca and San Francisco just hitting their mid-points, IFFBoston about to wrap its event and Hot Docs getting ready to kick-off tomorrow.  We went on our own mini-fest-tour earlier this month (Ashland and Sarasota - more on this later, but let's just say our assessment bore out) and we're trying to get our footing before we head up to Toronto next week.  So much is happening, and here's a brief sample in a mid-week brief...

It was a big weekend at the theatrical box office for OCEANS, the new film from Oscar nominated filmmaker Jacques Perrin (WINGED MIGRATION) and distributor Disneynature.  The film took in just over $6M for the weekend, after an Earth Day debut at the top of the charts on Thursday.  That takes the film to $8.4M so far, with expectations that the film will reach the $10M mark by today.  OCEANS took in nearly $5K per screen, which was the best average in the top 10.

Mystery seems to be paying off huge dividends for EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP, the curious documentary from the anonymous artist known as Banksy.  The film has taken in an $390,000 from a handful of screens (it expanded from 8 to 11 this weekend) for the best per screen average of any film in release, according to indieWIRE's weekly box office report, which also gives the back story of EXIT's unusual DIY release by sales rep John Sloss and a team that included Richard Abramowitz.

Also from Abramowith, Tom DiCillo's Doors documentary, WHEN YOU'RE STRANGE, took in another $24K in its third weekend, taking that film's total to just under $165,000.

As mentioned, Tribeca is heading for its closing weekend, with much of the doc talk surrounding the unstoppable force that is Alex Gibney.  With two completed films (and a segment of omnibus doc FREAKANOMICS) at this year's fest, Gibney made a huge splash with his not-yet-completed UNTITLED ELIOT SPITZER FILM (we summed up the press coverage here) over the weekend.

But Gibney wasn't the only news at Tribeca.  indieWIRE's Brian Brooks examines a potential controversy in the wake of Deborah Scranton's EARTH MADE OF GLASS.  Cinematical's Christopher Campbell has a review of FREETIME MACHOS (which is also headed to Hot Docs).  And at Movieline, S.T. Vanairsdale has a recap of the Q&A following Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg's popular JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK.  POV's Tom Roston finds that the Rivers doc changes his mind about the subject.

As the other April fests start wrapping up, it's worth noting the exceptional run Laura Poitras' THE OATH is having.  It began the month with a Special Jury Prize at Full Frame, and followed that with two Grand Jury notations - at Sarasota and at IFFBoston.  The film is heading to Hot Docs and then to the IFC Center where Zeitgeist will kick off its theatrical run next Friday.  We'll be hosting the LA premiere at Cinefamily on May 18. 

We finally got a chance to see THE OATH In Sarasota and it's a knockout, subtle and brilliant with one of the best scores in a documentary in years.

Two more of our favorite docs of 2010 also scored at Sarasota and Boston.  Josh Fox' GASLAND, which has been getting deserved raves all year, received the Special Jury prize in Sarasota and Jeff Malmberg's terrific, complex MARWENCOL picked up the same award at IFFBoston.  All three films will rank among the best in nonfiction in 2010.

Stuff worth reading:  Yance Ford recaps her experience at Full Frame and considers the once and future festival.  Raphaela Niehausen writes about Steven Soderbergh's appearance at Stranger Than Fiction for his Spalding Gray doc AND EVERYTHING IS GOING FINE.  Anthony Kaufman considers the "documentary fictions" of the Soderbergh film and the Banksy doc.  Kaufman also writes about the STF screening of Doug Block's latest THE KID GROWS UP.  And completing his doc trifecta, Anthony writes about "art docs" for IFC.com.  And finally, a post over at the IDA's news blog on a recent Supreme Court decision sparks a debate on first ammendment freedoms and animal cruelty.

The Monday Brief: MARWENCOL Victorious, Hot Docs Lineups & What to Say About Elinor Burkett, Film Critics & The Conversation

Flying back to Los Angeles from Cleveland, where locals are putting the wraps on the latest edition of their staggeringly successful regional film festival.  With jammed corridors like I’d never seen before and uniformly packed screenings (a new record of 71,000 tickets sold), the Cleveland International Film Festival has developed an exceptionally loyal and curious fan base (one that reaches far outside the Cleveland metropolitan area), resulting in a festival that sets a high benchmark on the regional circuit and…

It was in Cleveland last night where two docs stood in the spotlight.  First and foremost, Jeff Malmberg's MARWENCOL continued its hot streak, picking up its second Jury Prize in less than two weeks – it took the title at SXSW last week (see our summary of the early reviews of the film here.  The film will next go to top fests Ashland in Oregon, IFFBoston and San Francisco International.

In addition, another documentary, LOUDER THAN A BOMB, a world premiere that follows participants in a poetry slam in Chicago, took two prize in Cleveland - the coveted Audience Award as well as the Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Prize, given to the top social justice film.

As Cleveland was wrapping, another spring festival favorite, Don Hahn’s WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY (which screened at True/False and SXSW) kicked off its theatrical run, opening on five screens for a solid weekend estimate of $6,620 per screen.  The Disney distributed film on the fall and rise of the studio’s animation unit in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s is heading to Full Frame and Sarasota in the next few weeks.

While we've been on a bit of an extended hiatus (or at least slowdown), several top fests have posted their line-ups.  Hot Docs announced this past week that they will open with Thomas Balmès’ French doc BABIES - which was acquired by Focus Features at last year's Cannes Film Festival.  Said Focus topper James Schamus at the time:

“Seeing these little heroes during their formative moments makes Baby(ies) an extraordinarily entertaining experience, one that will appeal to any viewer of any age in any part of the world.  With this movie, Thomas is re-defining the nonfiction art form.”

Hot Docs has slated 25 films in its International Spectrum section of the festival, including festival favorites THE OATH, THE INVENTION OF DR. NAKAMATS, MARWENCOL, HIS & HERS and GASLAND.  Here's the full list:

HOT DOCS 2010
INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM

AISHEEN (STILL ALIVE IN GAZA)
Directed by Nicolas Wadimoff (Qatar/Switzerland)

AUTUMN GOLD
Directed by Jan Tenhaven (Austria/Germany)

CHEMO
Directed by Pawel Lozinski (Poland)

DADDY'S GIRLS
Directed by Lily Sheffy (Isreal)

DAVID WANTS TO FLY
Directed by David Sieveking (Germany/Austria/Switzerland)

DISORDER
Directed by Huang Weikai (China)

FEATHERED COCAINE
Directed by Thorkell Hardarsson and Orn Marino Arnarson (Iceland)

A FILM UNFINISHED
Directed by Yael Hersonski (Isreal)

FLOWERS IN THE DESERT
Directed by José Alvarez (Mexico)

GASLAND
Directed by Josh Fox (USA)

GENERAL ORDERS NO. 9
Directed by Robert Persons (USA)

HIS & HERS
Directed by Ken Wardrop (Ireland)

I SHOT MY LOVE
Directed by Tomer Heymann (Isreal/Germany)

INTO ETERNITY
Directed by Michael Madsen (Sweden/Finland)

THE INVENTION OF DR. NAKAMATS
Directed by Kasper Astrup Schröder (Denmark)

ITO - A DIARY OF AN URBAN PRIEST
Directed by Pirjo Honkasalo (Finland)

MARWENCOL
Directed by Jeff Malmberg (USA)

THE OATH
Directed by Laura Poitras (USA)

THE PLAYER
Directed by John Appel (Netherlands)

THE REGRETTERS
Directed by Marcus Lindeen (Sweden)

SONA, THE OTHER MYSELF
Directed by Yang Yonghi (Japan/South Korea)

STEAM OF LIFE
Directed by Joonas Berghall and Mika Hotakainen (Finland)

TANKOGRAD
Directed by Boris Bertram (Denmark)

THIEVES BY LAW
Directed by Alexander Gentelev (Isreal/Germany)

WISTFUL WILDERNESS
Directed by Digma Sinke (Netherlands)

In addition to Hot Docs, IFFBoston also announced their strong line-up, including nearly 40 nonfiction features.  THE OATH, MARWENCOL and HIS & HERS will screen here as well - along with a number of other notable titles, including BANANAS!*, CASINO JACK AND THE UNITED STATES OF MONEY, COLONY, ERASING DAVID, FAMILY AFFAIR, HOW TO FOLD A FLAG, I'M DANGEROUS WITH LOVE, JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK, SATURDAY NIGHT, WAR DON DON and our own CONVENTION.

In one more bit of spring festival news, Tribeca announced today that they will close their 2010 festival with the ensemble doc FREAKONOMICS, featuring new work from an all-star line-up of docmakers, including Morgan Spurlock, Alex Gibney, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, Seth Gordon and Eugene Jarecki.

And one more thing...  Part of the reason why I’ve been so slack over the past few weeks is that I’ve been editing my new film (and I’m desperately trying to keep my priorities in order).  But another reason why I haven’t been able to muster together Monday Briefs the past three weeks is that I’ve been at somewhat of a loss to add anything of substance to the various debates du jour.  

I mean, what really is there to say about Elinor Burkett that wasn’t said by the late night comedians?  And seriously, are any of us happy that the most famous documentarian on Oscar night is a loud-mouthed punchline?  Or that after months of THE COVE’s steady march to Oscar glory, that film’s director wasn’t allowed to speak about the reason that he made the film – unfurled banner or second speaker rules be damned.

And what to add to the latest rounds of film critic wars and woes?  Armond White vs. J. Hoberman?  Glenn Kenny vs. Eric Kohn?  The pink-slipping of sometime documentarian and longtime film critic Todd McCarthy by the imploding Variety?  The cancellation of “At the Movies”, just as the series seemed to have a rebirth (and more focus on documentaries) with the hiring of the NY Times’ A.O. Scott and the Chicago Tribune’s Michael Phillips.  And the less said about Kevin Smith, the better.  All this in just three weeks. I mean, it was nearly four years ago when I wrote “Dog Days for Film Critics”, but who could imagine it would get so much worse so quickly.

Which is not to say that this stuff doesn’t matter.  It does.  It matters that the biggest platform that documentary filmmakers have all year was hijacked by a lucky-to-be-nominated producer (don’t run off at the mouth about how you don’t like the finished film and how your vision isn’t on the screen at the same time that you clutch your little gold man) and an overeager activist/show director.  Looking idiotic on television is not good for our brand, if that must be said aloud.

And the state of our film criticism union is not strong.  And that matters to us as well.  Check out Rotten Tomatoes year end lists of the best reviewed films of the year.  It’s consistently dominated by nonfiction features.  Now, as much as I love docs, I gotta admit I find it a little hard to believe that we are really that much better than narrative films, but I will take any bit of leverage I can to get our films out before an audience that needs to be convinced that we are entertaining, cinematic and theatrical.

And what to make of The Conversation, a much tweeted about gathering of the usual suspects in New York and the latest attempt to grasp hold of some sense of balance as the ground keeps shifting underneath our industry.  Maybe one day one of these events will come up with the big answers, but for now it seems like a constant cry for filmmakers to find more ways to be innovative (and spend more time marketing and promoting their films - for free, naturally) while the "industry" types pontificate.  How many of the folks speaking at The Conversation actually pay filmmakers and vendors what they say they will? And they charge filmmakers to watch this stuff?

So, alas and alack, I have thoughts but no answers.  And I'm probably as much of a usual suspect as those on the dais in New York.  But I'm quickly looking forward to some new things to have conversations about.

The Monday Brief: Awards Week in Los Angeles, Big Debut for ART OF THE STEAL & ND/NF Doubles Down on Docs

Our long national nightmare is almost over...

This year's Oscar race concludes in just under a week but first there's a long wind-up of activities in Los Angeles including a series of major awards-centric docuvents building to Friday night's Spirit Awards (in late night - or prime time if you're on the west coast) and Sunday's Academy Awards.

It all started last night with a fundraiser for Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush's forthcoming documentary HUNGRY IN AMERICA at Tom Collichio's Craft LA.  Inspired in part by CBS News' groundbreaking 1968 report "Hunger in America", which led to quick, bipartisan action in Washington, the duo hope to explore and explain why hunger continues to to be an issue in this country.  The benefit also served to kick off Vanity Fair's Oscar week activities and boasted a mix of doc veterans (including RJ Cutler, Participant's Diane Weyermann and Courtney Sexton, Gucci Tribeca Fund's Ryan Harrington - an EP on the Hunger doc - and Oscar nominee Roger Ross Williams) and celebrities (Topher Grace, Marcia Cross, David Arquette, Elizabeth Berkley and Top Chef winner Michael Voltaggio).

Tuesday night, the IDA hosts a private event at the Standard Hotel.  Wednesday night, the Motion Picture Academy takes over the IDA's annual Oscar reception with their first annual Docs! night, featuring clips from all 10 Oscar nominated documentary films and panel discussions with the nominees.

Thursday night, LA's Cinefamily kicks off their new nonfiction series What's Up Docs with a rare reunion of groundbreaking comedy doc pioneers TVTV (more on this series in a later post).

Friday, the aforementioned Spirit Awards kick off the weekend with their move to downtown LA and two awards for docs - the just announced Chaz and Roger Ebert Truer Than Fiction prize (which will go to either 45365, BEETLE QUEEN CONQUERS TOKYO or EL GENERAL) and the Best Documentary Feature award, which seems likely to go to ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL.  The late night party that follows will continue the nonstop revelry leading up to Sunday's Oscars.

But all the world is not the Kodak Theatre, and so...

The Monday Brief: Recapping Berlin, More SXSW Titles and Friends of Karen Schmeer Announce Editing Fellowship

February is flying past - the Spirit Awards, Oscars and opening weekend of SXSW all go down in the next three weeks...

It was another weekend awards giving, with THE COVE's Mark Monroe receiving the WGA Documentary Screenwriting award on Saturday night.  As we noted, the Writers Guild win completed an unprecedent sweep of the four available guild prizes (Producers, Directors, Editors and Writers) for Louie Psihoyos' film.

On the other side of the planet, the BAFTAs were handed out in London, where MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN was nominated in the Best British Debut category (the winner was MOON).  Although the BAFTAs don't have a Best Documentary category (there's a Facebook group pleading for BAFTA to add one), the British Academy lumps nonfiction nominees in with narrative features - and sometimes, the docs win: MAN ON WIRE and TOUCHING THE VOID both took Best British Film.

Also over the weekend, the Berlin Film Festival wrapped up and presented its prizes.  Notably, Lucy Walker's WASTE LAND picked up the Audience Award in the Panorama Section.  The film had previously won the Audience prize in the Sundance World Documentary competition.  Walker has previously picked up the Panorama Audience Award for her 2006 film BLINDSIGHT.

In addition to WASTE LAND, a number of films that had made their debuts at Sundance had their international premieres in Berlin.  Time Magazine's Tristana Moore and Dennis Lim, writing for the NY Times, both wrote about Laura Poitras' THE OATH, as did indieWIRE's Shane Danielsen, who said the film had "the strongest word of mouth by far".  The great Meredith Brody (covering Berlin for Anne Thompson's column), the Guardian's Nick James and indieWIRE's Eugene Hernandez all have thoughts about EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP and director/artist Bansky's "appearance" in Berlin.

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.'"

The Monday Brief: A Week of Doc Sales, Controversy at RealScreen Summit and Why is True/False Secret Screening a Sundance Prize Winner?

Good morning, let's get right to it...

The seeds of deals that were beginning to be sown in Park City, began to come to fruition last week, with three major announcements for Sundance docs (and at least two more due to announced shortly). 

First up was the sale of out-of-competition buzz favorite CATFISH to Relativity Media and Rogue Pictures (with Brett Ratner helping to broker the deal and taking on Executive Producer duties).  Next, IFC grabbed Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern's JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK, followed quickly by a pact for Amir Bar-Lev's THE TILLMAN STORY with The Weinstein Co.

Those sales come as the film year hums merrily along (with Sundance turning into Rotterdam so to turn into Berlin) and slates and programs are announced for the next round of fests.  We covered SXSW's line-up last week (see here, here and here), there were also program announcements for True/False (more on that later) and Thessaloniki.  

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country (and prior to the snowpocalypse), Washington DC was abuzz with this year's RealScreen Summit - the annual reality television confab that draws broadcasters and nonfiction producers (and those who want to be) and charges a sizable fee for supplying the proximity.  Those of us in the documentary film world have long known of the Summit and it's trade magazine namesake, RealScreen, as a kind of corporate 2nd cousin twice removed.  While they may brand themselves as "the best in non-fiction" on their website, a banner ad for RealScreen's "factual entertainment awards" - "the first truly global celebration of factual entertainment excellence!" - and headlines about reality stalwarts Endemol and ex-NBC programming chief Ben Silverman's "newly formed multimedia company" tell you that RealScreen's heart is really in reality strips.