Silver Docs Volunteer Call

VOLUNTEER SCREENERS

SILVERDOCS, the “pre-eminent documentary festival in the US” (Screen International) seeks Volunteer Screeners to be an integral part of the programming team. Screeners review a minimum of 40 feature and short (combined) documentaries submitted to SILVERDOCS 2009. Potential Screeners should have a critical eye and knowledge of film, and be able to write articulate and concise evaluations of the films they review. Screeners must have a DVD player, reliable Internet access and a qualified point of view. Regular access to a multiregion DVD player is a plus. Screeners are required to pick up films for review at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Md., during regular business hours.

If you would like to apply to be a Volunteer Screener, e-mail Programming@SILVERDOCS.com with the following:

RESUME - highlighting any film experience/expertise/interest you may have;
COVER LETTER - detailing your interest in the Screener position, and your knowledge of documentary film in general and of SILVERDOCS in particular;
TWO FILM EVALUATIONS - 250 words each - of any two films that you've seen in the past six months. This will give us insight into your writing style and critical perspective;
TOP TEN LIST of favorite films of all time, with a particular emphasis on documentaries.
We are accepting Screener applications now through December 19. Please send all the application materials at the same time via e-mail. The screening review process takes place early November through late March 2009.

Pamela Yates and Paco de Onis' Latest Film Selected for Sundance 2009

Pamela Yates and Paco de Onis, guest lecturers in the MFA SocDoc dept., had their latest film The Reckoning selected to make its world premiere at the the 2009 Sundance Film Festival this January!

The film was also selected as one of the 20 projects in the 2009 Sundance Doc Fund.

What two amazing honors - congratulations!

SUNDANCE FILMS 2009

SUNDANCE DOC FUND FALL 2008

Skylight Pictures -
THE RECKONING (U.S.)
The film chronicles the history and launch of the International Criminal Court in the Hague, the world’s first institution created to prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

Biographies:

PAMELA YATES
Producer, Director, Writer
Co-Founder and President of Skylight Pictures, Inc.
FILM CREDITS INCLUDE: The Reckoning (in production);; State of Fear; Presumed Guilty: Tales of the Public Defenders; Wide Angle(series) "Cause for Murder"; "Living Broke in Boom Times (a trilogy): "Poverty Outlaw"; "Takeover", "Outriders", and Michael Moore's " TV Nation" "When the Mountains Tremble";" Brotherhood of Hate";; "Witness to War";" Nicaragua: Report from the Front"
AWARDS AND HONORS:, Academy Award, Emmy Award, Sundance Special Jury Award, Overseas Press Club Award, and Guggenheim Fellowship

PACO DE ONIS

Producer, Writer

FILM AND TELELVISION CREDITS INCLUDE: The Reckoning; Granito; The Court of Last Resort; State of Fear; Secrets from the Grave; On Our Own Terms: Bill Moyers on Dying; Chaos Theory; Police Force; Edgewise; City Arts; TV Nation; Colors TV

AWARDS AND HONORS: Emmy Award, Overseas Press Club Award

MFA SocDoc Information Session

The information session on Saturday, November 8th was a rousing success!

The event began with a documentary highlight film featuring clips from faculty films and some other of our favorite docs of all time. The film was followed by faculty presentations from Maro Chermayeff, Deborah Dickson, Maryann DeLeo, Matthew Akers, Ann Collins and Sam Pollard speaking about the core classes in Directing, Producing, Editing, Visionary Journalism and Cinematography. The event ended with a lively Q&A session that lasted for well over an hour.

If you missed the information session on November 8th - don't worry! You can email mfasocdoc@sva.edu to schedule a phone or in person informational meeting.

Now Accepting Applications For Fall 2009

The MFA Social Documentary Film program at the School of VISUAL ARTS is pleased to announce that the application for the fall 2009 semester is now online: https://www.applyweb.com/apply/svag/

Although we are accepting applications on a rolling basis, we recommend that applications be completed by January 15, 2009.

Also, if you are able to attend and have not yet registered for our department information session on November 8 at 141 West 21 Street, Room 101C from 2:00PM to 4:00PM, please register online: http://www.schoolofvisualarts.edu/gradopenhouse/app

If you are unable to attend the information session and would like to meet with a representative of the department, you can set up an in-person or telephone meeting at any time simply by emailing or calling the number below.

We have added some amazing faculty members to our already impressive list of lecturers (namely Brett Morgan and Maryann Deleo), you can view the updated bio list here: http://www.mfasocdoc.sva.edu/faculty_guest.html

Please contact us with any questions that you have about the application process or the department (212-592-2919 or email mfasocdoc@sva.edu).

PALEY DOCFEST 08

About PaleyDocFest

The Paley Center for Media's annual Festival celebrating the documentary—with premieres, works-in-progress, classic docs, workshops, and special events—will take place October 16 to 27, 2008.

Each screening will be introduced by the filmmaker and followed by the lively Q&A sessions that have become a hallmark of the Festival.

CLICK HERE to read more.

Stranger than Fiction Film Series

Stranger Than Fiction is a Tuesday night documentary series held at the IFC Center, curated by Thom Powers. STF presents an eclectic mix of documentaries – sneak previews and lost classics – followed by discussions with the filmmakers and post-show receptions. Now in its eighth season, STF has fostered new talent, won loyal audiences, and provided a gathering spot for New York’s independent film community. Esteemed speakers have included Michael Moore, Ira Glass, Laurie Anderson, Jonathan Demme and Barbara Kopple.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Information Session November 8, 2008

MFA SOCIAL DOCUMENTARY FILM INFORMATION SESSION AT THE SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS
Saturday, November 8th
2:00pm-4:00pm
141 West 21 Street
Room 101C

This session will be a great opportunity to listen to presentations about the school, classes and the new department space; meet key faculty; and ask questions about the new department.

Please RSVP Online. Click Here.

The first comprehensive reference work on documentary film

With over 800 articles from scholars around the world, the Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film is a fully international reference work on the history of the documentary film from the Lumière brothers' Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory (1885) to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 (2004). All over the world documentary films have provided engaging, provocative, and skilled representations of life and this Encyclopedia provides a resource that critically analyzes that history in all its aspects. Not only does this Encyclopedia examine individual films and the careers of individual film makers, it also provides overview articles of national and regional documentary film history. It explains concepts and themes in the study of documentary film, the techniques used in making films, and the institutions that support their production, appreciation, and preservation. With over 200 film stills, this resource provides the decisive entry point into the history of an art form.

CLICK HERE to read more.

Media Bistro Announces MFA Program!

TUESDAY, SEP 30
School of Visual Arts Launches New MFA Program in Documentary Filmmaking

Our good pal Steven Heller dropped us a line to let us know that the place he spends a lot of his time, the School of Visual Arts, has launched a brand new MFA program that we wish we could drop out of working life and move to NY to attend. It's the two-year Master of Fine Arts Degree in Social Documentary Film, which will begin in the fall of 2009 and will feature a roster of instructors that make our hearts skip a beat. Maro Chermayeff, the producer and director of the PBS series, Carrier is set to chair the program and other instructors include Michael Epstein, Susan Froemke, and fantastic cinematographer, Bob Richman. If you're in the market for a graduate film program, it sounds just spectacular. And might we suggest that one of the first projects the SVA's new students in the program work on be UnBeige: The Untold Story, so we can be involved to? Because, really, you wouldn't believe the skeletons we have in our closets, especially in Stephanie's.

CLICK HERE to view the article on the Media Bistro site.

MFA SocDoc Program Discussed by the International Documentary Association

School of Visual Arts Launches MFA Program in Social Documentary Film
By Thomas White
The School of Visual Arts, which has been shaping and nurturing the careers and sensibilities of artists for over 60 years, will introduce a Masters of Fine Arts program in Social Documentary Film, beginning in fall 2009. The New York City-based school, which currently offers as BFA in Film, Video and Animation and an MFA in Photography, has tapped award-winning filmmaker Maro Chermayeff to chair the program.

"With this program we aim to provide an environment that fosters the development of socially accountable, nonfiction film," said Chermayeff in a statement. "Through hands-on experience, students in this program will gain the technical and theoretical knowledge they need to bring their individual visions to fruition. It's our goal that graduates leave this program with short feature films that engage larger issues, and perhaps even impact public policy."

Chermayeff, whose credits include the PBS series CARRIER, Frontier House and Julliard, has tapped such leading New York-based filmmakers as Deborah Dickson (Lalee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton; The Education of Gore Vidal); Deborah Shaffer (Witness to War: Dr. Charlie Clements); Pamela Yates (State of Fear; When the Mountains Tremble); and Susan Froemke (Addiction; Abortion: Desperate Choices), among others, to join the faculty.

The MFA in Social Documentary Film is a two-year course of study designed to develop journalistic skills and the practical aspects of filmmaking. For more information, click here.

READ THE ARTICLE ON DOCUMENTARY.ORG

CARRIER wins at the Emmys

The talented team of Cinematographers who worked on the PBS series CARRIER won Emmys this weekend for their amazing work. Congratulations to our friends Axel Baumann, Ulli Bonnekamp, Mark Brice, Robert Hanna and Wolfgang Held!

Cinematography for Reality Programming: "Carrier: Rites of Passage," PBS.


See a list of all of the winners at:
http://www.emmys.org

Rooftop Films New York Non-Fiction Show

Friday, Sept. 12th, 2008
New York Non-Fiction
Buy Tickets
It’s your city. Take a look.
Venue: on the roof of the Open Road Rooftop
Address: 350 Grand Street @ Essex (Lower East Side)
Directions: F/J/M/Z to Essex / Delancey
8:00: Doors Open
8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by New Rap Order
9:00 PM: Films
11:30 PM: Open bar at Fontana's with complimentary beer courtesy of Radeberger Pilsner
*Tickets: $9 on Going.com

Always one of our most popular programs, Rooftop Films’ annual New York Non-Fiction show has served as a showcase for new documentaries about the extraordinary lives of “ordinary” New Yorkers for nearly a decade. This year’s films explore the magic in little metropolitan moments and the poetry of the odd job, find humor in exploitative urban institutions and capture the melancholy beauty of the dilapidated underground. Above all, they express in particular what all of us who live in New York know intuitively: in this great city there is always an amazing story waiting around the corner.

This year's show takes place on the roof incredible roof at Open Road Rooftop above New Design High School (pictured below). The roof has been covered with hundreds of gorgeous graffitti murals and features a breathtaking view of the Lower East Side. After the screening all in attendance are invited to head down to Fontana's for an open bar after party to meet the filmmakers

Documentary Film Reading List

The Social Documentary: Bibliography, Radio-Television-Film 345
Instructor: Dr. Laura Stein
University of Texas at Austin; Spring 2004

Nichols, Bill. (2001). “How Do Documentaries Differ from Other Types of Film,” from Introduction to Documentary. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Nichols, Bill. (2001). “What Types of Documentary Are There,” from Introduction to Documentary. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Eitzen, Dirk. (1995, Fall). “When Is a Documentary?: Documentary as a Mode of Reception,” Cinema Journal 35(1), 81-102.

Monaco, James (1981). “The Language of Film: Signs and Syntax,” from How to Read a Film. New York: Oxford University Press.

Grierson, John. (1976). “First Principles of Documentary,” from Richard Barsam (Ed.), Nonfiction Film Theory and Criticism. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co.

Grierson, John. (1976). “The Nature of Propaganda,” from Richard Barsam (Ed.), Nonfiction Film Theory and Criticism. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co.

Grierson, John. (1976). “The Documentary Idea,” from Richard Barsam (Ed.), Nonfiction Film Theory and Criticism. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co.

Keil, Charlie. (1998). “Persuasion and Expression in ‘The Plow That Broke the Plains’ and ‘The City,’” from Barry Keith Grant and Jeannette Sloniowski (Eds.)., Documenting the Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary Film and Video. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.

Guyn, William. (1998). “Basil Wright’s ‘Song of Ceylon,’” from Barry Keith Grant and Jeannette Sloniowski (Eds.)., Documenting the Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary Film and Video. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.

Rothman, William. (1997). “Land Without Bread,” from Documentary Film Classics. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Nichols, Bill. (2001). “How Have Documentaries Addressed Social and Political Issues?” from Introduction to Documentary. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Flaherty, Robert. J. “How I filmed ‘Nanook of the North,’” from Harry Gould (Ed.), Film Makers on Film Making. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Rothman, William. (1997). “‘Nanook of the North,’” from Documentary Film Classics. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Stubbs, Liz. (2002). “Albert Maysles: Father of Direct Cinema,” from Documentary Filmmakers Speak. New York: Allworth Press.

Pryluck, Calvin. (1988). “Ultimately, We are All Outsiders,” from Alan Rosenthal, (Ed.), New Challenges for Documentary. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Schwartz, David. (1985). “Streetwise and Seventeen,”Theatre Crafts, 19(9), 103-105.

Rothman, William. (1997). “Chronicle of a Summer, ” from Documentary Film Classics. New York: Cambridge University Press.

King, Noel. (1981). Recent “Political” Documentary: Notes on “Union Maids” and “Harlan County USA.” Screen, 22(2), 7-18.

Stubbs, Liz. (2002). “Barbara Kopple: Through the Lens Fearlessly,” from Documentary Filmmakers Speak. New York: Allworth Press.

Fischer, Lucy. (1998). “Ross McElwee’s ‘Sherman’s March,’” from Barry Keith Grant and Jeannette Sloniowski (Eds.)., Documenting the Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary Film and Video. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.

Stubbs, Liz. (2002). “Ross McElwee: Personal Journeyman,” from Documentary Filmmakers Speak. New York: Allworth Press.

Feldman, Seth. (1998). “Dziga Vertov’s ‘The Man with a Movie Camera,’” from Barry Keith Grant and Jeannette Sloniowski (Eds.)., Documenting the Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary Film and Video. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.

Michelson, Annette (1984). “Introduction,” from Annette Michelson (Ed.), Kino-Eye: The Writings of Dziga Vertov. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Vertov, Dziga. (1984/1922). “We: Variant of a Manifesto,” from Annette Michelson (Ed.), Kino-Eye: The Writings of Dziga Vertov. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Bernstein, Matthew. (1994, Spring). “Documentaphobia and Mixed Modes: Michael Moore’s ‘Roger & Me,’” from Barry Keith Grant and Jeannette Sloniowski (Eds.)., Documenting the Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary Film and Video. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.

Ruby, Jay. “The Image Mirrored: Reflexivity in Documentary Film”

Bullert, B. J. (1997). “Roger & Me and the Heartbeat of America,” from Public Television: Politics and the Battle over Documentary Film. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Arthur, Paul. (1993). “Jargons of Authenticity,” from M. Renov (Ed.), Theorizing Documentary. New York: Routledge.

Lane, Jim. (1993). Notes on Theory and the Autobiographical Documentary Film in America. Wide Angle, 15(3), 21-36.

Petty, Sheila. (1998). “Silence and Its Opposite: Expressions of Race in ‘Tongues Untied,’” from Barry Keith Grant and Jeannette Sloniowski (Eds.)., Documenting the Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary Film and Video. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.

Bullert, B.J. (1997). “Tongues Untied,” from Public Television: Politics and the Battle over Documentary Film. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Greg Bordowitz, “Operative Assumptions,” from M. Renov & E. Suderburg (Eds.), Resolutions: Contemporary Video Practices. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Riggs, Marlon. (1996). “Tongues Re-tied,” from M. Renov & E. Suderburg (Eds.), Resolutions: Contemporary Video Practices. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Rothman, William. (1997). “Cinema Verité in America and ‘Don’t Look Back,’” from Documentary Film Classics. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Levin, G.Roy. (1971). “Donn Alan Pennebaker,” from Documentary Explorations: Interviews with Filmmakers. New York: Doubleday & Co.

Plantinga, Carl. (1998). “Satirizing Masculinity in ‘This is Spinal Tap,’” from Barry Keith Grant and Jeannette Sloniowski (Eds.)., Documenting the Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary Film and Video. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.

Nichols, Bill. (1994). “At the Limits of Reality (TV),” from Blurred Boundaries. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Andrejevic, Mark. (2004). “Rediscovering Reality,” from Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.

Andrejevic, Mark. (2004). “The Kinder, Gentler Gaze of Big Brother,” from Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.

Boyle, Deirdre. (1992, Summer). “From Portapak to Camcorder: A Brief History of Guerrilla Television,” Journal of Film & Video, 44(1-2), 67-79.

Millner, Sherry. (1991). “Bargain Video,” from D. Marcus (Ed.), The Paper Tiger Television Guide to Media Activism. New York: The Paper Tiger Television Collective.

Stein, Laura. (2001). “Access Television and Grassroots Political Communication in the United States,” from John Downing with T. Ford, G. Gil & L. Stein. Radical Media: Rebellious Communication and Social Movements. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Williams, Linda. (1998). “Truth, History, and ‘The Thin Blue Line,’” from Barry Keith Grant and Jeannette Sloniowski (Eds.)., Documenting the Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary Film and Video. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.

Bates, Peter. (1989). Truth Not Guaranteed: An Interview with Errol Morris. Cineaste, 17, 1, pp. 16-17.

Barnouw, Dagmar. (1995). Seeing and Believing: The Thin Blue Line of Documentary Objectivity. Common Knowledge, 4, 1, pp. 129-143.

Engardio, Joel (1999, October 20-26). “ITVS: Might See TV,” SF Weekly.

U.S. Journalist Arrested in Nigeria

U.S. Journalist Arrested in Nigeria
New York Times
By WILL CONNORS
Published: September 2, 2008

LAGOS, Nigeria — An American documentary filmmaker and his translator working in the volatile Delta region of Nigeria have been arrested and accused of spying, according to Nigerian government officials and media watchdog groups.

Andrew Berends, a New York-based freelance journalist who was working on a film about the oil-producing Delta region, was arrested on Sunday and held for 36 hours before being released. Mr. Berends’s passport and equipment were confiscated, and he was made to report back to the State Security Service early Tuesday morning. His translator, Samuel George, was also arrested.

“When you come to a security area with no clearance it’s against the rules,” said a military spokesman, Major Sagir Musa, who confirmed that Mr. Berends had been arrested and handed over to the security service. “He had no security clearance. It is for his own safety. If something happens to him it’s an embarrassment to the security agencies. It’s not normal times in the area right now. The S.S.S. will investigate him and once they are satisfied they will release him, God willing.”

Mr. Berends contacted both Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists Monday night, and both advocacy groups condemned his detention.

“Berends was arrested just for doing his job and no other reason,” Reporters Without Borders said in a statement Tuesday. “It is absurd for the authorities to think that, by arresting him and his interpreter, they can conceal the economic and ecological disaster unfolding in the Niger Delta.”

Despite its oil riches, the Niger Delta is a desperately poor and increasingly lawless part of the country where wealth is siphoned away by corrupt officials. Militants demand a greater share of the area’s oil resources and claim to be fighting on behalf of the impoverished residents, but also appear to be engaging in many criminal and opportunistic acts of violence. Hundreds of foreign workers and wealthy Nigerians have been kidnapped for ransom, and oil theft is rampant.

Several other foreign journalists and filmmakers have been detained while working in the region in recent years. 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. 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.

“The government probably knows the fellow’s real mission and that it has nothing to do with espionage, but they want to do it to discourage others from coming to report on the situation on the ground,” said Chris Alagoa of the Niger Delta Peace and Security Secretariat, a community organization in the region. “They shouldn’t report on things that aren’t true, but if they’re reporting objectively on the situation, the world and the Nigerian people have a right to know the truth. Hounding journalists and filmmakers who want to inform the public is in bad taste.”

While Nigeria has a significantly freer press than most other Africa nations, gathering information in the tumultuous Niger Delta is particularly difficult.

“We have one of the freest presses in Africa, but there are rules,” said Nwuke Ogbonna, Information Commissioner for Rivers State, of which Port Harcourt is the capital. As for Mr. Berends, he said, “He may have engaged in actions that are not in the national interests of this country. Whether that means spying or entering off-limits areas I can’t say. It’s for the security agents to determine whether this means he was spying.”

Mr. Berends had visited Nigeria on several occasions and had been in the country since April on this particular trip. He often ventured into the creeks of the Delta to film in local villages affected by oil drilling. Two weeks ago, Mr. Berends said he had nearly finished his work and was planning on returning to New York this month.

12th Annual DocuWeek™

The International Documentary Association (IDA) is seeking energetic and motivated individuals to volunteer at the 12th Annual DocuWeek™ Theatrical Documentary Showcase New York from August 8-14, 2008 at the Village East Cinema, 181 - 189 2nd Ave., New York, NY 10003 . Last year, DocuWeek™ screened the Oscar Winner Taxi to the Dark Side, and Oscar Nominated films War/Dance and Salim Baba. In exchange for each shift completed volunteers can attend a DocuWeek™ film on a space available basis.

Being a volunteer for IDA has many advantages:
•See great Documentary films
•Meet new people, make connections, and friends
•Learn more about documentaries and those who make them

If you are available to Volunteer August 8-14, please email ny_volunteers@documentary.org

Please check out http://www.documentary.org to find out more about the DocuWeek and their organization.

CARRIER

This series was Co-Executive Produced, Co-Created and Directed by Maro Chermayeff - the Chair of the new MFA Social Documentary Program at SVA. Check out the 26 minute preview piece...

American Teen

I am so excited to see this film...

Top Grossing Documentary Films

1 Fahrenheit 9/11 $119,194,771
2 March of the Penguins $77,437,223
3 Sicko $24,540,079
4 An Inconvenient Truth $24,146,161
5 Bowling for Columbine $21,576,018
6 Madonna: Truth or Dare $15,012,935
7 Winged Migration $11,689,053
8 Super Size Me $11,536,423
9 Mad Hot Ballroom $8,117,961
10 Hoop Dreams $7,830,611
11 Tupac: Resurrection $7,718,961
12 Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed $7,499,617
13 Roger and Me $6,706,368
14 The Aristocrats $6,377,461
15 Spellbound (2003) $5,728,581
16 Shine a Light $5,129,873
17 Touching the Void $4,593,598
18 The Fog of War $4,198,566
19 Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
20 Paris is Burning $3,779,620
21 Imagine: John Lennon $3,753,977
22 Step Into Liquid $3,681,803
23 Born Into Brothels $3,515,061
24 The Corporation $3,493,516
25 Rize $3,336,391
26 Grizzly Man $3,178,403
27 Wordplay $3,121,270
28 Capturing the Friedmans $3,119,113
29 The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill $3,058,527
30 Crumb $3,041,083
31 Unzipped $2,875,086
32 When We Were Kings $2,789,985
33 Comedian $2,751,988
34 My Architect $2,750,707
35 Freeriders $2,750,064
36 Control Room $2,589,616
37 The Endurance: Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure $2,453,083
38 Snowriders 2 $2,287,639
39 A Brief History of Time $2,279,692
40 Riding Giants $2,276,368
41 Rivers and Tides $2,200,276
42 The Endless Summer II $2,155,385
43 Snowriders $2,068,490
44 Beyond the Mat $2,053,648
45 Young@Heart $2,005,718
46 Endless Winter $1,966,454
47 Vertical Reality $1,951,429
48 The Story of the Weeping Camel $1,763,052
49 Koyaanisqatsi $1,723,872
50 Life & Times of Hank Greenberg $1,712,385
51 Who Killed the Electric Car? $1,678,874
52 Black Diamond Rush $1,634,386
53 Rhyme & Reason $1,608,277
54 Vincent: The Life and Death of Vincent Van Gogh $1,577,480
55 Murderball $1,531,154
56 Why We Fight $1,439,972
57 The Kid Stays in the Picture $1,439,232
58 No End in Sight $1,433,319
59 Microcosmos $1,433,210
60 Looking for Richard $1,408,575
61 The Celluloid Closet $1,400,591
62 Hearts of Darkness $1,318,449
63 Anne Frank Remembered $1,310,200
64 Brother's Keeper $1,305,915
65 Dogtown and Z-Boys $1,300,682
66 Startup.com $1,283,356
67 Metallica: Some Kind of Monster $1,222,708
68 Shut Up and Sing $1,215,045
69 The Thin Blue Line $1,209,846
70 Festival Express $1,174,079
71 American Movie $1,165,795
72 In the Shadow of the Moon $1,134,358
73 Paper Clips $1,121,744
74 The U.S. Vs. John Lennon $1,109,146
75 Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man $1,044,254
76 The Eyes of Tammy Faye $1,029,591
77 35 Up $922,872
78 Jesus Camp $902,544
79 The War Room $901,668
80 Fast, Cheap and Out of Control $878,960
81 Marlene $852,676
82 Sharkwater $850,920
83 Arctic Tale $833,532
84 Ballets Russes $815,848
85 Visions of Light $799,856
86 Into Great Silence $790,452
87 Trembling Before G-d $788,896
88 To Be and to Have $777,129
89 Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones $776,699
90 The Girl Next Door (2000) $771,712
91 For All Mankind $770,132
92 First Descent $750,805
93 Lost in La Mancha $732,393
94 The Big One $720,074
95 The 11th Hour $707,343
96 Inside Deep Throat $691,880
97 Wigstock: The Movie $686,152
98 The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters $677,914
99 Kurt and Courtney $668,228
100 Dust to Glory $640,013

Top 25 Documentaries

In honor of its 25th anniversary, the International Documentary Association has released its list of the 25 best documentaries of all time, as determined by voting among its 2,800 members. They had an original ballot of 700 titles to choose from, and they were allowed up to five write-in votes.

1. Hoop Dreams (1994), Steve James
2. The Thin Blue Line (1988), Errol Morris
3. Bowling for Columbine (2002), Michael Moore
4. Spellbound (2002), Jeffrey Blitz
5. Harlan County U.S.A. (1976), Barbara Kopple
6. An Inconvenient Truth (2006), Davis Guggenheim
7. Crumb (1994), Terry Zwigoff
8. Gimme Shelter (1970), Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin
9. The Fog of War (2003), Errol Morris
10. Roger & Me (1989), Michael Moore
11. Super Size Me (2004), Morgan Spurlock
12. Don't Look Back (1967) D.A. Pennebaker
13. Salesman (1968), Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin
14. Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance (1982), Godfrey Reggio
15. Sherman's March (1986), Ross McElwee
16. Grey Gardens (1976), Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Ellen Hovde, and Muffie Meyer
17. Capturing the Friedmans (2003), Andrew Jarecki
18. Born into Brothels, (2004), Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski
19. Titicut Follies (1967), Frederick Wiseman
20. Buena Vista Social Club (1999), Wim Wenders
21. Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), Michael Moore
22. Winged Migration (2002), Jacques Perrin
23. Grizzly Man (2005), Werner Herzog
24. Night and Fog (1955), Alain Resnais
25. Woodstock (1970), Michael Wadleigh

Documentary Film Festivals

Or at least festivals with documentary film categories...

Academia Film Olomouc Festival
AFI Fest
AFIAFilm Festival
Agon Archaeological Film Festival
American Conservation Film Festival
Angelus Student Film Festival
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IFC Back to Basics Documentary Challenge

Submit your three-minute documentary for a chance to win cash.
1st prize is $7500. Runner-up prize is $2500. Good Luck!

www.ifc.com/backtobasics_rules

New MFA in Social Documentary Film Program Announced

Beginning in the fall of 2009, the School of Visual Arts (SVA), will offer a two-year, sixty-credit Master of Fine Arts program in Social Documentary Film. Taught by seasoned professionals from the New York documentary film community and equipped with the latest in digital technologies, the new program will emphasize the craft, creativity and practical acumen needed to produce compelling documentaries suitable for commercial distribution. The MFA in Social Documentary Film will provide students with a solid foundation in the fundamentals of non-fiction filmmaking, as well as an immersion into the critical and analytical processes necessary to conceptualize and develop films with content of significant social relevance.

The program will be chaired by award-winning documentary producer and director Maro Chermayeff, whose work includes the recently-released PBS 10-hour television event, Carrier. As Chermayeff explains, "With this program we aim to provide an environment that fosters the development of socially accountable, non-fiction film. Through hands-on experience, students in this program will gain the technical and theoretical knowledge they need to bring their individual visions to fruition. It’s our goal that graduates leave this program with films which engage larger issues, and perhaps even impact public policy.”

Provost Dr. Christopher Cyphers commented, "SVA is extremely fortunate to have a filmmaker of Maro's caliber lead the College's new graduate program in Social Documentary Film. This program represents the convergence of journalism, social activism and the art of filmmaking; we expect that graduates of the program will deploy their technical skill, conscience and aesthetic sensibilities as a means to affect the public discourse on a wide range of social, political and cultural topics."

Faculty and guest lecturers include: Academy Award nominee Deborah Dickson (Lalee’s Kin: The Legacy of Cotton, The Education of Gore Vidal); Emmy Award-winning producer Jeff Dupre (Broadway: The American Musical, Out of the Past); Emmy Award-nominated cinematographer Bob Richman (Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, My Architect, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills); editor Ann Collins (Sound and Fury); producer Robin Hutt (senior vice president of Tru Television); Emmy Award-winning producer Glenda Hersh (A Baby Story); producer, director and sound recordist JT Takagi (North Korea: Beyond the DMZ, Keeping Speech Free, Homes Apart: Korea); Deborah Shaffer (Academy Award-winning Witness to War: Dr. Charlie Clements); Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Michael Epstein (The Battle Over Citizen Kane, Hitchcock, Selznick and the End of Hollywood); 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship winner Pamela Yates (State of Fear, When the Mountain Trembles); and Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Susan Froemke (HBO’s “Addiction,” Abortion: Desperate Choices), among others, all selected for their expertise in the field.

The MFA in Social Documentary Film is a concentrated two-year course of study with a curriculum designed to develop the journalistic skills of research, analysis and critical inquiry, while emphasizing the practical aspects of filmmaking--from developing a budget, to making a pitch, to understanding the markets. Required core courses include: Producing; Visionary Journalism & Writing; Directing; Editing; Cinematography & Sound; and Process and Style lectures, which feature guest lecturers brought in to discuss niche topics such as rights and clearances, archival research, public television and film festivals. In addition, there will be an ongoing weekly screening series, designed to expose students to the best documentary films in the genre, where top filmmakers present and discuss their films. The degree program will culminate in the creation of a thesis film, either ready for distribution or serving as the basis for a more ambitious post-graduate project.

Maro Chermayeff is a three-time Emmy Award-nominated producer, director, author and former television executive. She is an executive producer, director and co-creator of the recently premiered PBS television series, Carrier, a 10-hour non-fiction television event which explores life aboard the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, during a deployment to the Gulf in support of the Iraq War. Chermayeff also produced and directed the Emmy-nominated PBS series Frontier House, which won a Cine Golden Eagle for each of its six episodes; the multi-award-winning feature-length documentary Kindness of Strangers; and the American Masters' program "Juilliard," for which she co-authored the companion book. As a programming executive at A&E Television Network, Chermayeff was executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning and multi-nominated series Biography, as well as numerous documentary specials and series.

Application Information: Office of Graduate Admissions, gradadmissions@sva.edu or 212.592.2107.
Media Contact: For further information or to arrange interviews with Maro Chermayeff, please contact Keri Murawski, publicist, at 212.592.2164 or kmurawski@sva.edu.