This week the Film Independent Spirit Awards announced their nominations for best documentary, with nods going to STRAY DOG and CITIZENFOUR, among other films. Kevin Ritchie of Realscreen reported on the development, as did Christopher Campbell of Nonfics.com.

Also at Realscreen, Manori Ravindran reported on films up for awards at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). Ravindran also had two reports on the IDFA forum, you can read part one here, and part two here. Writing for the POV blog, Kel O’Neill had his own report of the IDFA DocLab interactive conference.

Writing for Ion Cinema, Jordan M. Smith had a report on docs in production that are also Sundance hopefuls. Smith also had a roundup of doc awards nominees and winners.

In a post for Indiewire, Paula Bernstein interviewed director Joe Berlinger on the experience of making METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER.

Back at Realscreen, Michael Donaldson shared a special post on five fair use mistakes that filmmakers often make.

At Designing Sound, Shaun Farley shared a discussion with doc sound design guru James LeBrecht.

A reminder that the application process for Kartemquin Films’ Diverse Voices in Docs program for documentary filmmakers of color is still open. You can find info and an application about the program here.

Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Tatiana Siegel reported that Alex Gibney and HBO were preparing a new documentary about Scientology.

In a post for The Talkhouse, REMOTE AREA MEDICAL directors Jeff Reichert and Farihah Zaman addressed the idea that activism must be front and center in documentary films.

This time writing for Film School Rejects, Christopher Campbell had a piece noting the similarities between the best doc and best picture Oscar contenders.

At the Vulture blog, Benjamin Wallace-Wells had a piece on the privilege experienced by nonfiction storytellers.

Back at Nonfics.com, Christopher Campbell had a roundup of this week’s docs available on home viewing platforms, such as VOD. Campbell also had a piece on the idea of developing a Bechdel test for documentaries.

Finally, THE ACT OF KILLING filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer will be participating in an online chat on Wednesday, December 3 at 1 p.m. EST.

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