This year’s Cinema Eye Honors are set to take place Wednesday, January 11 at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens.
The doc world was set abuzz after the New York Times on Sunday, January 8, broke news that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was substantially changing its submission requirements for documentary films, beginning in 2013. Under the new rules, set to be formally announced this week, documentary films would need to have been reviewed in either the New York Times or the Los Angeles Times in order to qualify for consideration for an Oscar, as part of efforts to cut down on the number of films submitted to the Academy. The changes are expected to make it much harder for films lacking a commercial distributor, as well as docs screened as part of the International Documentary Association’s DocuWeeks program, from contending for awards, since those films usually failed to secure reviews in either of the papers.
The Times also reported that the Academy was going to abolish the complicated committee-based method by which documentaries received Oscar nominations, and would open up voting on documentary awards to all Academy members, instead of limiting it only to those who had attended specific screenings. IndieWire took a look at some of the fallout from the decision, and rounded up a few responses. Michael Moore, reportedly one of the forces behind the moves, later gave a more complete rundown of the planned changes to IndieWire.
The Oscar changes might have the unintended effect of bolstering the importance of the Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking, the fifth installment of which is set to take place Wednesday, January 11 at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. (Tickets for the awards show are $75, but Stranger Than Fiction followers can get them for the discounted price of $40 with the code momicineeye. For more info and to buy tickets go here.)
The Paradise Lost trilogy by filmmakers Bruce Sinofsky (left) and Joe Berlinger (right) helped free the West Memphis Three in 2011
Happy New Year! Welcome to Stranger Than Fiction’s inaugural Monday Memo, a new weekly feature in which we plan to bring you up to speed on the last week’s events in the world of documentary filmmaking, and take a look at what’s coming up on the horizon. We hope to provide an online space where you can get caught up on the news, hear about the latest trends and developments, and maybe even have a conversation with other documentary fiends looking for their fix. The Memo is likely to evolve as we make our way through its gestational phases, but we’d encourage you to send any tips or ideas you might have to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Although the new year is only two days old, Tom Roston at POV’s Doc Soup has already turned his attention to the ten releases he’s looking most forward to seeing in 2012, most eagerly anticipating SALINGER, a rumored two-hour film about reclusive author J.D. Salinger, who passed away in January 2010. Let’s hope the effort is not crumby.
A review of 2011 box office receipts showed that Jon Chu’s concert film, JUSTIN BIEBER: NEVER SAY NEVER, sent tweens (and in all likelihood, their poor parents as well) to the theaters in droves, taking in an astounding $73 million, making it the year’s highest grossing documentary. It must be the hair. IndieWIRE gives a complete list of the top grossing docs of the year, all of which managed to surpass the $1 million mark.
Buck is the story of Buck Brannaman, childhood rodeo star who has taken the pain of his early years and transformed himself into a gifted trainer of horses and teacher to thousands in the art of horsemanship. Cindy Meehl’s first film captures the silent pain experienced by Brannaman, the youngest of two sons who suffered horrific physical and mental abuse at the hands of his alcoholic father. The film uses interviews and archival footage to show his rebirth as a man others could trust, and a champion for the animals he trains.
Using non-violent techniques unfamiliar to most in the industry, Brannaman explains that “a lot of times I am not helping people with horse problems, I am helping horses with people problems.” Brannaman served as the inspiration for author Nicholas Evans’ 1995 book “The Horse Whisperer,” and advisor to the 1998 film of the same name. Director Robert Redford describes how he incorporated “the humanity and gentleness I got from Buck I used in the film.” We witness the calm and non-threatening ethos of his techniques that bring instantaneous changes in a previously skittish colt in front of an audience in a round corral. We also meet Brannaman’s foster mother, who raised 23 children on her ranch in Montana, and life-long friends that recall the shy, quiet boy who would not look anyone in the eye. Click “Read more” below to continue reading.
When Daniel McGowan was arrested by federal agents in 2005 as part of the largest domestic terrorism case in the history of the United States, the Environmental Liberation Front was deemed America’s “number one domestic terrorism threat.” The audience meets former ELF member McGowan during his house arrest, when he is facing life in prison plus 335 years for his crimes committed under new terrorism enhancements implemented after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Using rare archival footage, directors Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman in their film If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front capture the frenzy of youthful protesters striking out against any and all corporate offenders on the streets and in the national parks of Washington, Oregon and California, following the emergence of the radical black bloc during the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle. To continue reading, click “Read more” below.
[Photo: from left, directors Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman, courtesy of Simon Luethi]
On paper, a rundown of the masterful film Undefeated reads like a reboot of the 1986 Goldie Hawn vehicle Wildcats—a white coach takes on an underfunded, predominantly black high school football team in the inner city, and manages to show them how to succeed in life both on and off the field. But Hollywood retreats to the sports film genre only to trot out hackneyed plot points and mawkish scenes that leave viewers gagging. In making Undefeated, filmmakers T.J. Martin and Dan Lindsay instead relied on an immersive approach to documentary that recalls the sort of work practiced by the writers of the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 70s (the George Plimpton book Paper Lion sprang immediately to mind). Martin and Lindsay relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, for nine months to produce the film, accruing some 500 hours of footage over that period, in true verite style. In volunteer coach Bill Courtney, the filmmakers also found a character whose charisma makes it difficult to turn one’s head from the screen. Too often our understanding of sports is filtered through the actions of overpaid athletes and coaches, as well as a massive marketing machine intent on selling us jerseys, beer and exorbitantly priced tickets. Undefeated is a window into the powerful transformative effect that something as simple as a game can have on people and communities who otherwise might not have anything else. Following the screening, Stranger Than Fiction Artistic Director Thom Powers spoke with Martin and Lindsay. Click “Read more” below for the Q&A, which contains plot spoilers.
When Daniel McGowan was arrested by federal agents in 2005 as part of the largest domestic terrorism case in the history of the United States, the Environmental Liberation Front was deemed America’s “number one domestic terrorism threat.” The audience meets former ELF member McGowan during his house arrest, when he is facing life in prison plus 335 years for his crimes committed under new terrorism enhancements implemented after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
On paper, a rundown of the masterful film