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Doc Linkage | State Of Russian Indies; EFA Doc Nods; Vérité Fest Winds Up

[Mark Rabinowitz] I trolled hither and thither amongst all the myriad ones and zeros to bring you, my doc faithful, this three very special international edition of Doc Linkage. Included are a look at the current state of Russian independent cinema, the nominees for the EFA's doc award and the wrapping up of this year's Cinéma Vérité Festival in Tehran. I hope you like them!

A Look at the State of the Russian Indie Landscape
Albina Kovalyova, writing for Russia Profile presents a revealing look at the current state of Russian independent cinema, laying out some of the obstacles to indie filmmaking in a country with a rich cinematic history. It turns out that the modern film funding and distribution bodies are not exactly excited about indies or experimental films and this includes most of what we would call creative docs. Much of the article is comprised of descriptions of three festivals, the second of which is hosted by Kinoteatr Doc. Kovalyova describes the festival as focusing on "Russian documentaries that differ from the majority of television reportage often thought of as defining the genre. Unlike the narrator-driven television documentaries, here the emphasis is placed on telling a story from the perspective of the protagonists."

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Doc Linkage | Allen Talks Docs At IFW, An Overlooked TIFF Gem, And An Influential BBC Doc

[Peter Knegt] Here's some links to some doc-related news and views across the internet, including news from Independent Film Week at indieWIRE.com, an unsung TIFF doc and some news out of the UK regarding potential new evidence in the Omagh bombing of 1998.

SnagFilms CEO Talks Future
indieWIRE's Eric Kohn reports from Independent Film Week, specifically an appearance by SnagFilms CEO Rick Allen, who revealed plans to premiere several new documentaries online. As SnagFilms' library continues to expand, the company will stream two documentaries in conjunction with screenings of both films at the Hamptons International Film Festival next month, and the company is hosting an online sidebar of festival films. The company also announced deals with Spout.com and CINELAN.

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Berends Back Home, George Still In Custody

[Mark Rabinowitz] Word spread quickly yesterday that filmmaker Andrew Berends was released on Wednesday and according to the Help Andy blog, was escorted to the airport and basically kicked out of Nigeria with no explanation as to why. According to the blog, he was still in possession of a valid Nigerian work visa. He was never formally charged with a crime, but his translator Samuel George was required to return to State Security Services (SSS) offices on Friday, along with a third man. From the blog:

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Doc Linkage | Berends Still In Custody; Finneran Leaving AFI; Prolific TIFF Doc Blog

[Mark Rabinowitz] Ah yes, another collection of ones and zeros masquerading as news about documentaries and the doc world. Berends still in custody, Finneran moving on and the TIFF doc blog goes into overdrive.

Berends Still In Custody
Filmmaker Andrew Berends and his Nigerian interpreter Samuel George are still in custody, according to the blog keeping track of the situation. There is an email from Andy here, where he says he enjoyed a brief respite from the interrogation over the weekend, but it has been confirmed that he and George are back in custody as of Monday afternoon. There is information on the blog on how to call or email Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton (Andrew's home state senators) and ask them to pressure the US State Department to pressure Nigeria into releasing Andrew and Samuel. I did. It only takes a minute!

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Doc Linkage | Filmmaker Detained; More TIFF Doc Picks

[Mark Rabinowitz] An emotionally mixed collection of links today, going from the heady stuff of local and international arrests to TFF previews and a DNC Doc from Schnack et. al.

Filmmaker Andrew Berends Arrested In Nigeria, Journalist Amy Goodman Arrested in St. Paul
AP and many other outlets are reporting that New York doc maker Andrew Berends has been arrested in Nigeria and "was held for 36 hours before being accused of spying and temporarily released." His passport was confiscated. According to the New York Times, Berends is hardly the first journalist to be arrested in Nigeria in recent times. "In April, four members of a Seattle-based film crew were arrested while filming in the Delta and held for six days on spying charges," reported the Times, continuing, "In May, a CNN journalist was detained while in the main Delta city of Port Harcourt and questioned by the S.S.S. for five days before being released." A blog has been set up to keep folks up to date on Berends' situation.

So as not to get on too high of an American free speaking horse, I'd like to point out (to paraphrase) It can happen here. Amy Goodman of Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now and two of her producers were arrested by riot police in Minneapolis, yesterday. They have since been released, but still face charges. Apparently other journos and filmmakers have received similar treatment. The videos of two of the arrests are below and they're pretty terrifying.

Nicole Salazar:

Amy Goodman:

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Doc Linkage | "Bird's Nest Preview"; "Trouble" Reviews; 34x25x36 on You Tube

[Mark Rabinowitz] What's a happ'nin around the Internets, these days? Oh, just some reviews, some new distribution ideas and other bits n' bobs. Check 'em out, yo!

"Bird's Nest" Pre-Release Olympics-Sized Tease-o-Rama!
Agnes Varnum and indieWIRE are reporting on how Icarus Films are offering a preview on Amazon Unboxed of their upcoming doc "Bird's Nest" by Christoph Schaub & Michael Schindhelm about the 5-year design and construction of the Olympic stadium in Beijing. I keep hearing about a Beta test that works for Macs, but I can't find it! Would love to hear how the film is, as the trailer's really cool. See?

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Is ITV Doing Away With Political Docs? Not If Sean O'Grady Has His Way

[Mark Rabinowitz] Sean O'Grady of The Independent newspaper has a column in which he bemoans the death of "public service" programming on UK broadcaster ITV and issues a call to arms of sorts. "Television is an ephemeral medium," he writes, continuing, "but it is still possible to recall the superb programming that ITV used to offer in this field. "World In Action," "This Week," "Weekend World," "Walden" - all tremendous, long-running series that broke news, investigated crooks, threatened governments. They even had brilliant theme tunes."

"Millions watched and were moved by Jonathan Dimbleby's "This Week" 1973 documentary "the [sic] Unknown Famine" about starvation in Ethiopia, a decade before Michael Buerk did the same for the BBC. "This Week"'s "Death on the Rock" documentary investigated the shooting by the SAS of three IRA terrorists in Gibraltar in 1989, the sort of trouble-making by broadcast journalists that is almost impossible to imagine now."
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