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Doc Linkage | Stewart's NYFF Vids; Ogilvie Moves Shop

[Mark Rabinowitz] Some of the things that are piquing my interest around the 'Net, lately. I think they're cool or interesting or noteworthy so therefore, so should you. My blog (sorta), my rules. Word.

Loving the Jamie Stewart Videos
Jamie Stewart's short videos are one of the things I most look forward to during the New York Film Festival. Omnipresent with his camera and skull cap, Stewart's films are highly imaginative, mixing in a bit of his life (real and imagined) with audio and video footage of the various press conferences and can always be counted on to entertain. Many times I've sat, slack-jawed and muttered "how'd he do that?" under my breath. Then again, I'm a bit of a slack-jawed yokel when it comes to creative video editing. I can't even figure out how to overlay credits on my clips in iMovie. Check out Jamie's videos from this year at FILMMAKER Magazine and his films from previous years at his company's site, Mutiny Company.

Liz Ogilvie Moves To Indiepix
Veteran doc fixture (and all around fun Scot) Liz Ogilvie is moving from Docurama to Indipix, continuing that latter company's series of high profile moves, or so says AJ Schnack. She will kick off her gig as Indiepix Head of Marketing at the upcoming Hamptons International Film Festival, according to Schnack. First free drink in East Hampton is on me, Liz!



Academy Doc Rules Claim Another Victim

[Mark Rabinowitz] AJ Schnack reports on yet another highly-regarded doc getting the shaft due to the irrational, arbitrary and unfair qualifying rules applied to docs. It seems that since it was set to play the New York Film Festival, Ari Folman's "Waltz With Bashir" was unable to qualify before the end of the Oscar®-qualifying period on August 31st because the NYFF's organizers, the Film Society of Lincoln Center told the film's distributors, Sony Pictures Classics that even an "under the radar" run would disqualify it for taking part in the Festival. That's a fair call by the FSLC and one that wouldn't have to be made if the qualifying dates for docs was the same as for fiction films. What's wrong with December 31st for docs, hmmmmmm?

The fact is, these rules are unfair and need to be changed!



Doc Linkage | Rosenbaum on "The 9/11 Generation"; Moore Goes Gratis

[Mark Rabinowitz] A collection of some of the goings on across the InterWeb, including an interesting 1st person piece at indieWIRE.com and Michael Moore's latest distribution plan.

First Person 9/11
Over at indieWIRE, the co-presenter of Docsider, filmmaker Steven Rosenbaum ("7 Days in September") writes a first person piece on the 9/11 generation. It's a lovely and moving piece Reading it, I found myself going back to that day and replaying it, or parts of it, in my head. At any given time I can only remember pieces of that day and those that followed and much of what I do remember is painful, but Rosenbaum's piece certainly sparks some curiosity in me and not only to see his film, which I will endeavor to do this weekend, but maybe to write up my own recollections, if only for myself. I think maybe we all should. It turns out that seven years isn't very long at all.

Michael Moore To Release "Slacker Uprising" For Free
According to Agence France Press and other outlets, Michael Moor is releasing his new film, "Slacker Uprising," free at SlackerUprising.com, beginning on September 23rd. The DVD will be released in October through Netflix and Amazon. In a prepared statement, Moore said, according to AFP: "I've been very blessed and fortunate to have so many people come to my movies over these two decades, I decided the way to say thanks was to make one that the fans can have for free, as a show of my profound appreciation of their support."

» Continue reading "Doc Linkage | Rosenbaum on "The 9/11 Generation"; Moore Goes Gratis"


SnagFilms Kicks Off Annual 9/11 Remembrance Slate

[Mark Rabinowitz] Beginning tomorrow, September 5th and continuing through September 12th, SnagFilms (one of this blogs presenters) will be presenting its first annual "September 11th Remembrance in Film" lineup, with a slate of five docs, including Steven Rosenbaum's "7 Days in September," National Geographic's "Afghanistan Revealed," Beth Murphy's "Beyond Belief," Glenn Holsten's "Saint of 9-11," and Danny Schechter's "We Are Family."

Clearly this is not meant to be a comprehensive documentary look at the events of 9/11 and the slate was apparently put together at a moment's notice but considering how much "conspiracy theory" dreck is out there, this isn't bad.

On the subject of 9/11, the Republican National Convention just aired a video apparently titled: "World Stood Still" that contained horrific video from 9/11, including both towers exploding and falling and a voiceover talking about "bodies falling." After the video, MSNBC cut to Tom Brokaw and Chuck Todd who had a little bit to say about the convention and then back to Keith Olbermann who, visibly upset (he mentioned that he'd lost several friends on the day), proceeded to excoriate the GOP and his own network for airing the video.

Keeping that in mind, I have a question or two for all of my readers: Has the definitive 9/11 doc been made or are we still waiting? Is it too soon? How much 9/11 is too much?



Doc Linkage | Less Paris; More Petit

[Mark Rabinowitz] Paris Hilton is pissed about something or other and "Man on Wire" keeps going strong!

Catch Her While You Can!
Paris Hilton and her "people" have apparently cajoled the Toronto International Film Festival into reducing the number of screenings of Adria Petty's "Paris, Not France," from three to one, according to multiple sources, including SpoutBlog's Karina Longworth and Risky Biz Blog's Steven Zeitchik. I have to tell you, this makes me even more curious to see this film because as Karina and Steven have mentioned, what could there possibly be in this film that would embarrass Hilton into getting the fest to reduce the number of screenings? The mind fairly explodes with the idea....
parisnotfrance.jpg

Man on Wire Passes $1.5 Million
James Marsh's brilliant and beautiful "Man on Wire" has passed the $1.5 million mark and is still going strong. Additionally, NYC and LA audiences are getting an added treat starting on Friday, September 5th, as Michael Sporn's "The Man Who Walked Between The Towers" the Jake Gyllenhaal-narrated, award-winning animated adaptation of Mordicai Gerstein's Caldecott Medal-winning children's book.



Doc Linkage | TIFF Doc Picks, Where Is AJ?, "I.O.U.S.A." Makes Waves

[Mark Rabinowitz] A look at some of today's doc news on the Internets, including "I.O.U.S.A." making waves and some doc tastemakers choose some films to catch in Toronto.

TIFF Doc Pics: What Should You See?
Over at the Toronto International Film Festival's Doc blog (required reading for you doc heads out there) TIFF doc programmer Thom Powers is ramping up the posts on the way to the festival, which kicks off on September 4th and he's asking some notable folks in the film world (still waiting for your call, Thom!) for their top doc picks from the upcoming fest. He kicked off the series on August 19th with Tom Hall, the director of programming at the most excellent Sarasota Film Festival and blogger at the Back Row Manifesto. \Other folks surveyed include doc it out's Agnes Varnum, filmmaker and D-Word founder Doug Block, American Museum of the Moving Image chief curator David Schwartz and a pair of Chicago scribes, Ray Pride and Jonathan Rosenbaum. Most often mentioned film? Agnès Varda's "Les Plages des Angnès".

» Continue reading "Doc Linkage | TIFF Doc Picks, Where Is AJ?, "I.O.U.S.A." Makes Waves"


DOCS-A-POPPIN' 8.8.08 | Losers, Monks & A Rocker

[Mark Rabinowitz] Amid all the hue and cry about diminishing theatrical opportunities for docs (and I have been doing some of the hueing and crying) it seems that filmmakers and distributors large(ish) and small are still clamoring for screen space with three docs opening this week in New York City and two more next week.

The film garnering the most attention in the press is Aaron Rose and Justin Leonard's "Beautiful Losers" (Sidetrack Films), which opens today at the IFC Center. The film's currently rated a 55 on Metacritic and a 60% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Also opening today is Makoto Sasa's "Fire Under the Snow," about Tibetan monk Palden Gyatso, who was tortured in Chinese prisons and upon his release after 33 years protested the Beijing Olympics through hunger strike. The Olympics start today. Nice timing! As this film is part of NYC Docuweek, there's no Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes ratings on this film and oddly, no New York Times review, but they did run a feature on the film on July 6th.

Rounding out the week's offerings is Wednesday's opening, Steven Sebring's Palm Pictures release "Patti Smith: Dream of Life," which is screening at Film Forum (66, 61%).

In expansion news, Magnolia release "Man on Wire" is on many more screens this week while "The Order of Myths" opens at the Nuart in Los Angeles. I'm sure Paramount Vantage's "American Teen" is opening wider, but I can't tell you where because their website doesn't have that info.



Some thoughts On Non-Trad Doc Funding Sources

[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.

» Continue reading "Some thoughts On Non-Trad Doc Funding Sources"


Thoughts On Doc Box Office Health, "Beautiful Losers" Finds A New Alternative

[Mark Rabinowitz] While I am not yet ready to proclaim "Docs are back!" even though my friend AJ Schnack would like me to, I am also not ready to agree with my friend Agnes Varnum's recent indieWIRE column. The thing is, both pieces have a lot to say about the hope for docs in today's theatrical landscape and, to be honest, I don't think either author is entirely on base. I don't think Agnes' piece proves to be as depressing as its title implies and I don't think AJ's piece really has the evidence to counter her title.

» Continue reading "Thoughts On Doc Box Office Health, "Beautiful Losers" Finds A New Alternative"


IDA DocuWeek Comes To NYC, AJ Schnack Weighs In On Early Reviews

[Mark Rabinowitz] Over at All These Wonderful Things, AJ Schnack has been busy, despite attending BritDoc and, I would wager, enduring a substantial hangover today. He's got two interesting posts, one of which (I'll get to the other in another post) outlines the lineup for the first IDA DocuWeek NYC, set to play at the Village East Cinemas and IFC Center. Schnack notes that the screenings will likely get this films a review in the New York Times, potentially costing them a review if and when the films receive a proper theatrical roll out later in the year. AJ laid out the potential scenarios in a post back in April and if indeed the DocuWeek screenings are reviewed by the Times, this could seriously alter the documentary distribution landscape.

As for the films, I hope to see them all, although it'll take a lot to get me to see Glass. Nothing against the film or the filmmaker, of course. Philip Glass' music just makes my teeth hurt, is all.

At a time when the documentary distribution landscape is already being rearranged almost daily, how concerned should we be about early NY Times reviews? Let me know your thoughts, people!