[Mark Rabinowitz] In light of yesterday's Nike/"Beautiful Losers" announcement and my recent post about questionable funding of documentaries in the UK, I find it interesting that today's Guardian has an article subtitled: "Documentary-makers tackling social issues are increasingly turning to charities for funding and support. But can such collaborations be trusted?"

The article explores the various relationships between filmmakers, NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and third sector organizations (described as "voluntary and community groups, social enterprises, charities, cooperatives and mutuals" on the website of the Office of the Third Sector, part of the UK government's Cabinet Office....whew!) and the potential pitfalls therein. It also talks a bit about the various ways filmmakers can use these organizations for support in making their film, including The Good Pitch, a pitching forum at this year's recently concluded BritDoc Festival.

Described on the BritDoc site as existing "to create real impact, issue-driven documentaries need partners to help them get made, find audiences and inspire and enable participation," The Good Pitch seem set up to counter the thoughts of some in the indie world that issue-driven docs are dead, at least for the time being. Then again, that claim was made about the US audience and the difference between what UK and US audiences are interested in seeing may be great.

In the article, Amnesty International's director of creative relationships Chloe Baird-Murray addresses the concerns that the impartiality of the filmmaker may be affected by a financial relationship with Amnesty: " "If the film-maker wants to tell both sides of the story, they can do that," adding, "We support ... freedom of expression. Any storytelling is positive for us if it shines a light on what is happening in the world. We get involved to tell our side of the story correctly."

Clearly filmmakers are looking for new ways to fund documentaries and so far comments on both Docsider and on Karina Longworth's Spout blog post about the Nike/"Beautiful Losers" deal are leaning towards guarded acceptance of the idea of corporate sponsorship of theatrical release. While I realize that the "Beautiful Losers" situation is quite different from the NGO/Third Sector funding of docs, it's all part of the larger issue of where the funding for production and distribution of documentaries comes from and what standards will be set by us, the filmmaking community.