Television

The Sundance Channel was scooped up by Cablevision's Rainbow Media for $496 million on May 7. That division of Cablevision also owns the IFC Channel, AMC, Fuse, and We. In announcing the deal, officials took pains to quash speculation that Cablevision would combine IFC and Sundance, the channel founded in 1996 by Robert Redford and partially owned by Redford, General Electric's NBC, and CBS Corp.

Grassroots filmmakers are always looking for mainstream distribution, and short films often have a particularly tough time gaining exposure. Which is why the success of the Logo Network’s short-film programming is welcome news. Two years ago, Logo, which is basically MTV’s gay cousin, launched The Click List: The Best in Short Film, a weekly show featuring an eclectic mix of stories.

I first became aware of AIVF when Martha Gever was editor of The Independent. I marveled at this national organization that put out each month a magazine chock full of weighty, intellectual and critical articles on film and video.

What happened at AIVF over the last 30 years?

In 1998, I joined the production team of Julie Gustafson’s Desire, a documentary about teenage girls from three diverse New Orleans neighborhoods. Funded by both local and outside foundations, Desire was one of the first in New Orleans to create paid opportunities for local documentary makers. As a member of Julie’s crew, I met many independent filmmakers working in the city, and my short stint on the project turned into a long-term relationship with New Orleans. I visited many times over the next eight years to see filmmaking friends and to hear about their projects.

In 1988, 19-year-old Joanna Katz and her friend were abducted at gunpoint by five men who took turns raping, beating, and torturing them. Joanna managed to escape and later testified in the trials that led to the sentencing of all five men to 30 to 35 years in prison.

The International Public Television (INPUT) conference was hosted this year by Independent Television Service (ITVS). Held in a different country (and hosted by a different public media outlet) each year, INPUT serves public television executives and

independent producers from around the planet through screenings and discussions about some of the most innovative and controversial programming being done today.

Nick Fraser’s career has been a constant battle between “what I will and won’t do for television,” says the 57-year-old series editor of the BBC’s international documentary showcase “Storyville.” A kind of documentary filmmaking godfather, Fraser is able to fund dozens of films each year, but he’s waged a war on media bias—whether that’s what he se

Dear Doc Doctor:

My film projects and ideas are well-suited for public television. But as an independent filmmaker I can’t envision my work fitting into pre-formatted programs. Do I have any options besides just selling a finished film?