This week the Sundance Institute named this year’s fellows for the documentary edit and story labs. Writing for Realscreen, Manori Ravindran covered the news, as did Nigel M. Smith of Indiewire.

The film NORTHERN LIGHT from director Nick Bentgen began a run at the Maysles Cinema this week. On the True/False Fest blog Chris Boeckmann posted an interview conducted with Bentgen about a year ago. Lance Edmands of Hammer to Nail also had an interview with Bentgen, while Jeannette Catsoulis of the New York Times awarded it a Critics’ Pick.

Basil Tsiokos turned out a slew of overviews of some upcoming film festivals and events on his blog, What (Not) to Doc. Among the events he looked at were the BAMcinemaFest, the American Black Film Festival, the AFI Docs festival, and the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

This week Stranger Than Fiction closes out its spring/summer season with a special Wednesday screening of THE PLEASURES OF BEING OUT OF STEP, a profile of music critic Nat Hentoff from director David L. Lewis, on June 25 at 8 p.m. at the IFC Center in Manhattan. Following the screening, Lewis will be in attendance for a Q&A. For more information or to purchase tickets please go here.

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Filmmaker Andre Valentim Almeida took home the Doc Alliance Selection Award at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival for his film A CAMPANHA DO CREOULA; writing for Screen Daily, Wendy Mitchell had the details. Also, the Doc Alliance site had an interview with Almeida. In other Cannes news, Jay Weissberg of Variety reviewed Wim Wenders’ new doc THE SALT OF THE EARTH. At the Thompson on Hollywood blog at Indiewire, Tom Christie reviewed THE GO-GO BOYS from director Hilla Medalia. Over at Nonfics.com, Daniel Walber reviewed THE FLOOD, a Cannes award winner from 1947 made by filmmaker Jerzy Bossak. Writing for Sight and Sound Magazine, Isabel Stevens reviewed the Frederick Wiseman film NATIONAL GALLERY. Jordan Cronk of Reverse Shot also reviewed the new Wiseman film.

This week saw the launch of the new VOD platform Docurama from Cinedigm. Paula Bernstein of Indiewire reported on the development, as did Sahil Patel of Video Ink.

The first West Coast edition of the POV Hackathon took place last week. The POV blog had a report from Michael S. Scherotter on the making of one of the prototypes yielded by the Hackathon.

This week Stranger Than Fiction is hosting a screening of the film THE BEACHES OF AGNES, an autobiographical essay from director Agnes Varda. The screening takes place on Tuesday, May 27 at 8:00 p.m. at the IFC Center in Manhattan. For more information or to purchase tickets please go here.

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The Hot Docs festival finished out its 2014 incarnation on Sunday. At Indiewire, Paula Bernstein reported that OUT OF MIND, OUT OF SIGHT from John Kastner had won the award for best Canadian feature at the festival, and had details on other award winners. The Toronto Star’s Peter Howell wrote on the trend of festival docs that blurred the line between fact and fiction. In a piece for the Huffington Post, director Kevin McMahon wrote on the changes to the doc landscape currently being wrought. Writing for Realscreen, Manori Ravindran profiled the film MEET THE PATELS from directors Ravi and Geeta Patel. Paula Bernstein also had a piece for Indiewire  that culled advice from Hot Docs filmmakers on finding a directorial voice. Back at Realscreen, Manori Ravindran profiled the film CASE AGAINST 8.

At Ion Cinema, Jordan M. Smith reviewed FED UP. Smith also reviewed EVERYTHING WILL BE and JOY OF MAN’S DESIRING. Back at Indiewire, Peter Knegt spoke with LOVE HOTEL directors Philip Cox and Hikaru Toda. Indiewire colleague Paula Bernstein wrote a piece on the keys to a successful doc pitch. Bernstein also had a piece that rounded up tips on how to make your first documentary film. Writing for the POV blog, Tom Roston shone a light on the film PINE RIDGE from director Anna Eborn. Canada’s POV Magazine thoughtfully put all of their festival coverage on one page for easy access.

In Tribeca Film Festival coverage, Daniel Walber of Nonfics.com issued a piece naming the festival’s seven best docs. Kevin Ritchie of Realscreen reported that KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON from director Alan Hicks had won the documentary audience award. Writing for the International Documentary Association (IDA), Patricia Aufderheide recapped the festival’s docs. In a separate post at the CMSi blog, Aufderheide wrote about cinema verite at Tribeca and South by Southwest. At Indiewire, John Anderson recapped a work-in-progress screening of the latest Alex Gibney doc, this one about James Brown. In a post at the POV blog, Liz Nord interviewed CLOUDS creators Jonathan Minard and James George. Patricia Aufderheide recapped the interactive exhibits at Tribeca this year in a post at the CMSi site. And in a separate post, Aufderheide considered the way work was represented in Tribeca films.

Stranger Than Fiction (STF) kicks off its Spring Season on Tuesday, May 6 at 8 p.m. at the IFC Center in Manhattan with a screening of Chris Marker’s seminal cinematic essay SANS SOLEIL. Filmmaker Jem Cohen (INSTRUMENT, MUSEUM HOURS) will be in attendance following the screening for a discussion about the film. STF’s Spring Season features a stellar lineup, including Joe Berlinger’s WHITEY: THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. JAMES J. BULGER (May 13); Doug Block’s 112 WEDDINGS (June 3), and Marina Zenovich’s ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED (June 17). Tickets are available for individual shows, and season passes that include a free Docurama DVD, free popcorn and guaranteed admission are available for $99.

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Stranger Than Fiction, the weekly documentary film series hosted by Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen and presented by IFC Center, begins on Tuesday with a retrospective screening of SANS SOLEIL (May 6), Chris Marker’s 1983 masterpiece. Film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum names it one of the key nonfiction films of our time and describes it as “a film about subjectivity, death, photography, social custom, and consciousness itself.” The screening will be accompanied by a conversation with filmmaker Jem Cohen, who cites Marker as a key influence on his own work. This presentation coincides with a month-long retrospective “Chris Marker & His Legacy” on Sundance NOW Doc Club, also curated by Powers.

The season bring many new films from STF alum to the IFC Center. Joe Berlinger‘s WHITEY: United States of America v. James J. Bulger (May 13) follows the trial of the infamous gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, using the courtroom action as a springboard to examine accusations of multi-faceted corruption within our nation’s law enforcement and legal systems. Acclaimed documentarian, Doug Block, has supported his career over the last two decades with a side business of videotaping weddings. In 112 WEDDINGS (June 3), he tracks down and interviews the more memorable of his 112 wedding couples. Marina Zenovich‘s ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED (June 17) revisits the key players involved Polanski’s controversial and complex sexual abuse conviction.

9-MAN (May 20) gives a glimpse into Chinese-American community through an athletic game that has been played exclusively Chinatowns across America since the 1930s. THE FRONT MAN (Thurs, May 29) is a non-fiction rock ‘n roll comedy love story about an everyman middle-class musician burdened by the desire for stardom.

The spring season closes with a special Wednesday screening of THE PLEASURES OF BEING OUT OF STEP (Wed, June 25), director David L. Lewis’ portrait of Nat Hentoff, a pioneer in music criticism, who has spent more than six decades championing jazz in the pages of the Village Voice, The Wall Street Journal, Down Beat, and numerous other publications. A New York story, the film won the DOC NYC Metropolis Grand Jury Prize in 2013.

The STF spring/summer season will take place weekly at the IFC Center for the next eight weeks. All screenings are Tuesday night at 8:00 pm, besides the special Thursday, May 29 screening of THE FRONT MAN, and the Wednesday, June 25 screening of THE PLEASURES OF BEING OUT OF STEP. Each event includes a discussion with the filmmakers, followed by a gathering at a nearby bar. The STF titles for May 27 and June 10 will be announced shortly.

Tickets are available for individual shows or season passes can be bought for $99 for 9 films.

With a season pass, you receive many perks including a free DVD from Docurama; free popcorn at every STF show; assurance that you never miss a sold out show (as long as you arrive by 15 min. prior); and the ability to transfer your pass to a friend, if you can’t come.

Click here to buy the Spring/Summer Season Pass.

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On Monday, Jan 20 during the Sundance Film Festival, I’ll be introducing the panel “Spotlight on Women Directors” moderated by Anne Thompson (free and open to the public at 2:00 pm at Sundance Channel House 268 Main Street). The event is an offshoot of this month’s theme on SundanceNOW Doc Club focusing on women. For perspective on the breadth of recent work, below is an alphabet of women in documentaries – both behind and in front of the camera – from the past year.

A = AFTER TILLER dir by Martha Shane & Lana Wilson

B = BLACKFISH dir by Gabriela Cowperthwaite

C = CHICKEN & EGG PICTURES funding women doc makers

D = DON’T STOP BELIEVIN: EVERYMAN’S JOURNEY dir by Ramona Diaz

E = Editor turned director Alison Ellwood’s 30 for 30 film NO LIMITS

F = FREE ANGELA AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS dir by Shola Lynch

G = GIDEON’S ARMY dir by Dawn Porter

H = Head Honchos Sheila Nevins (HBO Docs); Molly Thompson (A&E IndieFilms); Cara Mertes (Ford Foundation JustFilms; Tabitha Jackson (Sundance Documentary Fund): et al.

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