May 2008

As Sundance Sells to Cablevision, Filmmakers Ponder the Future

mike — Wed, 07 May 2008 22:30:51 -0500

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.

The Doc Doctor's Anatomy of a Film: "Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea"

mike — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:25:28 -0500

About this column: Many filmmakers ponder in anguish, How do other people—celebrated people—do it? Am I taking too long to make this documentary? Does everybody spend as much money as I am spending, or am I spending too little? And when filmmakers share their lessons learned in interviews in the glossy trade magazines, their tales seem to follow the arc of otherworldy heroes rather than real documentary makers, i.e. human beings like you and me. So each month, the Doc Doctor will go out into the world (this real world) of filmmakers who are successful and find out how they made it. The "Anatomy of a Film Column" is a chance to learn from filmmakers' hits and misses in real life examples. —Fernanda Rossi, story consultant a.k.a. the Documentary Doctor

To Shoot "Flying," Jennifer Fox Gave Up Control of Her Camera

michele — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:28:03 -0500

As an award-winning director, producer and camerawoman, Jennifer Fox is certainly well-versed in all the conventions of ‘proper’ documentary filmmaking – introduce the camera slowly, don’t talk about your own life, “create a neutral plane they can project on,” as she says.

The Trailer for "Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea"

mike — Tue, 06 May 2008 10:26:20 -0500

Conversations with Women: Masturbation

michele — Thu, 01 May 2008 08:09:36 -0500

A Conversation with Jennifer Fox, Director of Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman

michele — Thu, 01 May 2008 08:03:24 -0500

Part 1:

The Trailer for "Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman"

michele — Thu, 01 May 2008 08:00:00 -0500

Blogging Hot Docs: A Few Wise Words from Richard Leacock

DevlinP — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 23:06:28 -0500

The most memorable moments at film festivals are often encounters with other filmmakers. Making non-fiction movies can be isolating, especially during the post-production phase. To emerge from that to re-discover an international community of like-minded artists can be very re-energizing.

Blogging Hot Docs: Playing the Pre-Sale, Co-Production Game

DevlinP — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:35:49 -0500

The Toronto Documentary Forum is a high-powered, pressurized event that happens alongside the Hot Docs film festival. A couple hundred commissioning editors and broadcasters from around the world gather for two days of project pitching.