Documentary News

Quicklink Julia Scott-Stevenson 17 May 2012

Crowdfunding in support of Rubbernaut

Crowdfunding sites are overflowing with countless documentaries in various stages of production looking for contributions. Rubbernaut is one of them - a documentary about forests in Cambodia being razed and replaced with rubber plantations, destroying the forest’s natural resources and trampling traditional land rights.

Quicklink Kylie Boltin 24 Apr 2012

Occupy Wall Street documentary to premiere online

On April 27, Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST), the 38-minute documentary #Whilewatch will have its online debut. Billed as a portrait of the “Occupy Wall Street media revolution” the documentary features journalists from the Occupied Wall St Journal, activists, educators and producers who made the 2011 occupation of Zuccotti Park, in Manhattan’s financial district a reality.

Quicklink Kylie Boltin 24 Apr 2012

Alive Inside

A US documentary-in-progress about new approaches to patients with Alzheimer’s has gone viral.

Quicklink Kylie Boltin 2 Feb 2012

Naomi Wolf’s lessons from Sundance

In her recent Guardian column, writer and activist Naomi Wolf discusses What the Occupy movement must learn from Sundance.

Quicklink Julia Scott-Stevenson 24 Nov 2011

Calling all budding multiplatform screen producers

Metro Screen has just launched its Multiplatform Screen Producer Scholarship - a training opportunity for budding producers with a passion for multiplatform content.

Quicklink Kylie Boltin 24 Nov 2011

EU blocks release of Afghan documentary

The European Union has blocked the release of a film they commissioned about female Afghani prisoners convicted of "moral crimes". Full article here.

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Quicklink Julia Scott-Stevenson 22 Nov 2011

Recording Aussie doco heritage

For some in-depth nuggets of wisdom from Australian documentary makers, head to Australian Screen Online. They’ve begun posting transcripts of interviews with a range of industry members, which were undertaken for a book on Aussie doco launched earlier this year - Australian Documentary: History, Practices and Genres.

Quicklink Julia Scott-Stevenson 14 Nov 2011

Still from the 2011 F4 winner, 'Two' by Maya Newell.

F4 open for submissions

F4, the First Factual Films Festival that runs with the Australian International Documentary Conference in Adelaide in March, has extended its submission date until the end of November. F4 screens films from Australian documentary filmmakers at the start of their careers, and one will be selected for the F4 Award for Outstanding New Documentary Talent. All filmmakers selected for F4 are flown to Adelaide for the festival and also receive free registration to AIDC as well as a program of professional development opportunities. Submissions close on the 30th of November, details here.

Quicklink Kylie Boltin 11 Nov 2011

DOC NYC Awards announced

Viewfinders Grand Jury Prize: Scenes of a Crime
Metropolis Grand Jury Prize: Girl With Black Balloons
Special Jury Prize: Lemon

All films will have encore screenings at the festival.

Quicklink Julia Scott-Stevenson 7 Nov 2011

Navel-gazing doco makers

For a bit of doco-making insight from some big-hitters in the business, check out this video of a panel on ‘The Rise of Non-Fiction Film’. There are a few tidbits to chew on, such as a discussion on what screen size does to a production (i.e., making something for cinema or mobile). Also each panellist gets to muse on what their dream projects would be - a doco on democracy from Davis Guggenheim is something I’d like to see. You can also read a rundown of the highlights at IndieWIRE.

Quicklink Kylie Boltin 13 Oct 2011

Hot Docs announces new director

Charlotte Cook will join the Hot Docs team as the new director of programming. Cook comes to Hot Docs from Frontline Club in London, UK – a centre dedicated to independent journalism and home to more than 200 talks and film screenings annually. Cook was the head of film programming for the past two years.

Quicklink Julia Scott-Stevenson 27 Sep 2011

Twittamentary

This is so meta my brain is starting to dribble out my ears. First crowd-funding documentaries, then crowd-sourcing documentaries, and now making a Twittamentary - a documentary about Twitter, with content sourced through Twitter and filming planned via Twitter. Twittamentary, according to this article in the Guardian, is firmly in the ‘Twitter is a force for good’ camp, although I suspect the ‘force for evil’ camp is populated entirely by about three crotchety old folk who still call it ‘the Twitter’. I’ll plant my flag in the ‘force for good’ camp, and another flag for good measure in the ‘force for serious amounts of time-wasting’ camp. But I digress. To get in the spirit, you can follow the filmmaker at @sioksiok.

Quicklink Julia Scott-Stevenson 21 Sep 2011

A White Night for peace

The next iteration of the ‘film a day in your life’ projects is almost upon us, with the 11 Eleven Project asking people the world over to hit record in less than two months.

On the 11th of November, 2011, project director Danielle Lauren and her team are encouraging anyone and everyone to pick up a video camera, stills camera, microphone or pen and record a moment in time. The hoped-for output is ambitious - a documentary, a photographic book, a world music collection and an interactive online portal, all in the service of encouraging connections between people across the globe and “an enlightened sense of global awareness, responsibility and recognition.”