Anthony Kaufman put the odds that THIS IS NOT A FILM would win the Oscar for best doc at 50 to one.
With the release of the Oscar documentary shortlist last week, attention in the media this week turned to prognosticating who will be holding a little gold man come the awards ceremony in February. For those interested in betting on the outcome of the Oscar race, Anthony Kaufman spent his Docutopia column making the odds for the award, establishing THIS IS NOT A FILM as the long shot at 50 to one. At the Documentary Channel blog, Christopher Campbell identified David France’s HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE as the dark horse candidate for the win, while the writers at the DocGeeks blog made their case for various picks.
Writing for Realscreen, Adam Benzine had a thorough round-up of doc winners of various other awards, including those of the Independent Documentary Association (IDA), the British Independent Film Awards, the Los Angeles Film Critics and the Boston Society of Film Critics. Writing for the IDA website, Katherine Relth also provided some coverage of the IDA awards. And Benzine was back in a few days to report on the documentary nominees for the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards.
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Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce’s film “The Atomic States of America” brings home the dangers posed by the continued mishandling of our countries nuclear industry from it’s inception. With specific attention to the manipulation of regulations and communications between the federal bureau assigned to regulate it and the utilities than actually “self-regulate”, the film brings into stark focus the threats posed by what now comprises the main source of power for 1/4 of the United States.
The filmmakers travelled up from Philly to join Thom for the audience Q&A session.
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The POV film LAST TRAIN HOME won two awards at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards.
In the same week that a presidential nominee threatened its funding, PBS took home the most hardware of any network from the Oct. 1 33rd Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards, with nine total wins. (I’m not sure if that’s ironic or fitting.) POV was responsible for five of those wins, while Frontline took home two statues, and Independent Lens and Nature won one apiece. ABC and NBC each snagged seven awards, with NBC taking three. Realscreen’s Kevin Ritchie has a brief breakdown of the awards. For those interested in checking out some of the award-winners, POV has put their four programs online for free viewing for a limited time.
Unlike President Obama, documentary filmmakers Laura Poitras and Natalia Almada had a pretty good week, as both were named MacArthur Fellows, an award more commonly referred to as the “genius grant.” The award will give the two recipients no-strings-attached annual payments of $100,000 over the next five years. Melissa Block of NPR got a chance to talk to Poitras, who had been in press earlier this year after it was reported that she was routinely held and harassed by customs officials when returning to the U.S. after shooting in Middle Eastern countries. The POV blog also paid homage to the two geniuses, both of whom are alums of the PBS show. You can find some clips of Poitras and Almada talking about their work in this post on The Wrap by Tim Molloy.
Doc fans in New York City should keep an eye out tomorrow for the lineup announcement for this year’s DOC NYC film festival, which is set to take place in Manhattan Nov. 8-15. With an expanded list of films, panels and other events, there should be a little something in there for everyone. You can keep up to date on all the festival’s latest information by going to www.docnyc.net, and by following the festival’s Twitter account, @DOCNYCfest.
This week, Stranger Than Fiction is hosting the classic HERB & DOROTHY, the extraordinary story of Herbert Vogel, a postal clerk, and Dorothy Vogel, a librarian, who managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history with very modest means. Director Megumi Sasaki and film subject Dorothy Vogel will also be in attendance for a Q&A following the screening. You can find out more information and buy tickets here.
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BETTING THE FARM by directors Cecily Pingree and Jason Mann opened this year’s CIFF.
This weekend, the Camden International Film Festival was held Sept. 27-30 in the town of Camden, Maine. One of a handful of smaller, regional festivals devoted to non-fiction work, CIFF also plays host the Points North Documentary Forum, a series of panels and workshops dedicated to professional improvement and creative inspiration. At the POV blog, Morlene Chin spoke with CIFF founder Ben Fowlie and Points North Forum director Sean Flynn. Realscreen’s Adam Benzine examined the efforts put into developing programs for the Points North forum, while Basil Tsiokos of the What Not to Doc blog gave us an overview of the festival’s film program.
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David France’s HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE about the AIDS activist movement hit cinemas this week.
David France’s film HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE, about the efforts of AIDS activist groups AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and the Treatment Action Group (TAG), hit theaters this week after garnering good buzz on the festival circuit. Christopher Campbell at the Documentary Channel Blog spoke with France, along with the film’s producer, Howard Getler. The filmmakers shared with Campbell their approach to hunting down archival footage, much of which had been shot by activists, some of whom had passed away years before. Tom Roston at the POV blog also spoke with France about his film, touching on parallels between the AIDS activist movement and Occupy Wall Street. And Anthony Kaufman, in his Docutopia blog, examined the film’s strategy of investigating the past, and compared it to a number of other docs that do the same. You can also catch a video interview with France at the Sundance Institute’s website.
Although the Toronto International Film Festival concluded on Sunday, Sept. 16, a few pieces on the festival came trickling in this week as critics and festival-goers had a chance to process all of the work they had seen. At Realscreen, Adam Benzine had a comprehensive take on all of the doc news that went down in Toronto, noting that Sarah Polley’s STORIES WE TELL left the festival as the most buzzed about doc. Benzine also had a moment to interview Spike Lee about his Michael Jackson BAD 25, which celebrates the 25th anniversary of Jackson’s album Bad and had its premiere at TIFF.
The good word on Polley’s film was also helped along after it was named TIFF’s best doc by Indiewire’s Criticwire members. Basil Tsiokos of the What Not to Doc blog also published the second part of his two-part roundup of TIFF docs. Christopher Campbell, writing for Movies.com, wondered if the year’s best docs had their premiere at TIFF, and provided a roundup of reviews. And Julie Miller of Vanity Fair had an interview with rapper/actor/fimmaker Ice-T and Jorge Hinojosa, the executive producer and director, respectively, of ICEBERG SLIM: PORTRAIT OF A PIMP.
This week marks the launch of the Stranger Than Fiction fall season, which is kicking off with a special Thursday, Sept. 27, 8 p.m. screening of Katie Dellamaggiore’s festival darling BROOKLYN CASTLE, about the chess team at Brooklyn’s Intermediate School 318. Dellamaggiore will be in attendance for a Q&A following the film. You can find more information about the film or purchase tickets here. Also keep in mind that season passes for the fall season are available for $99, which gets you a ticket to all of the fall season’s films, along with a free popcorn.
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