Documentary News

Factual News Kylie Boltin 2 Dec 2011

Sundance announces films for 2012 competition

The U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival have been announced. Included in the list are new docs by Kirby Dick, Eugene Jarecki, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady and docs that take as their subject internationally acclaimed Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, Marina Abramović as she prepares for a major retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, Margaret Atwood’s best-selling book, Payback, and ‘70s US musician Rodriguez.

Factual News Julia Scott-Stevenson 2 Dec 2011

Aussie docos filling the big screen

With Aussie documentaries usually only sparsely populating cinema screens, especially for more than a single showing, we’re now spoilt for choice in December. The Tall Man, the story of the death of Cameron Doomadgee while in police custody on Palm Island, is now on general release. If you need any more encouragement, it also just won the inaugural Walkley Award for Best Documentary.

Festival Reports Julia Scott-Stevenson 30 Nov 2011

Insitu wins DocLab Award

IDFA has wrapped for another year, and the DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling went to interactive project Insitu, directed by Antoine Viviani. A French production, Insitu is neatly described by the judges as “a city poem that you can move through and explore, interrogating efforts to breath life back into our cities and shared public spaces.”

Top Ten Andy Martin 27 Nov 2011

A transmedia goldmine

I hit a goldmine of transmedia discussion recently when I came across the TEDx Transmedia site. A whole TEDx conference dedicated solely to talks on transmedia, and all the videos from the latest conference held in Rome in September are online.

Inside SBS John MacFarlane 25 Nov 2011

SBS launches Television Production Trainee Scheme

Updated March 2012: Following a popular call out earlier this year for a 2nd Assistant Editor on a history documentary, a Research Assistant position for a science documentary has just been announced to start in April. Application Form, Role Description and Guidelines can all be found at the bottom of this page.

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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In Depth Kylie Boltin 23 Nov 2011

Other Israel Film Festival: Interview

The fifth annual Other Israel Film Festival, in New York, recently wrapped. It was a program that included the highly controversial Israeli documentary, A Place of Her Own by director, Sigal Emanuel.

Factual News Kylie Boltin 23 Nov 2011

Oscar doco nominations: The shortlist

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have released the shortlisted nominees for Best Documentary Feature category at the 84th Academy Awards. One hundred twenty-four pictures had originally qualified in the category. Five documentaries will eventually make the cut.

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.

Factual News Julia Scott-Stevenson 18 Nov 2011

Digital Immortality

What happens to our data when we die? Occasionally a news report will mention that a Facebook tribute page has been set up in the event of an unexpected death, but what about the deceased’s original Facebook page? Does it sit there forever, frozen at the last status update or photo post?

Factual News Kylie Boltin 17 Nov 2011

Filmmaker Brian Hill wants your help

Bafta winning British filmmaker Brian Hill (Feltham Sings, Drinking for England) is one of eight filmmakers involved in the international series Why Poverty? Hill has put out a global call to source footage from all over the world.

Q&A Kylie Boltin 16 Nov 2011

Spotlight: Danish director Jørgen Leth

Jørgen Leth is the subject of a retrospective and host of a master class at RIDM —The Montreal International Documentary Festival. I spoke with the Danish director by phone about his thoughts on the craft of documentary, his process of using poetry in the fabric of his films and the Lars Von Trier effect.