Jehane Noujaim's film THE SQUARE made waves this year after Netflix nabbed digital rights for it.
The film world remains roiled by digital technologies that are still transforming the way documentaries are made, funded, marketed and viewed. What follows is an interview with Thom Powers, programmer for documentaries at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and the Stranger Than Fiction series, as well as artistic director of the DOC NYC festival, about the changes being wrought by digital, and the state of documentaries in 2013. Click here for the 2012 State of Docs.
Rahul Chadha: Do you think that 2013 saw significant changes in the overall state of docs?
Thom Powers: One way to answer that question is to think about how docs are reaching audiences. Looking back on the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, I think of three notable docs that sold to relative newcomers. One is THE SQUARE that sold to Netflix. Along with its acquisition of THE SHORT GAME, Netflix has announced itself as a staking more ground in the doc space. They hired Adam Del Deo, a filmmaker who collaborated with Jim Stern on docs like EVERY LITTLE STEP and SO GOES THE NATION and is now looking at new titles to acquire. Netflix has made a big impression with what they’ve done in fiction television with House of Cards. They’re talking about doing the same for documentary.
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The Act of Killing from director Joshua Oppenheimer topped a number of best docs of 2013 lists.
There was little doc news to report over the past holiday week, but some writers managed to get their year-end lists out. At the British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound site, Robert Greene continued his effort to put cinematic nonfiction into the doc vernacular. Programmer Basil Tsiokos also released his own list of his favorite films from 2013 at his What (Not) to Doc blog. Nonfics.com hosted a list of the year’s best music docs from Andy Markowitz of MusicFilmWeb. Writing for the SundanceNOW site, Anthony Kaufman released a list of six under-viewed docs from the year.
Writing for The New York Times, Brooks Barnes linked docs that screen at Sundance to the ones that show up on the Oscar shortlist some months later. And Stranger Than Fiction’s Thom Powers rounded up some advice from filmmakers on how to prep for Sundance and other festivals.
Indiwire’s Paula Bernstein published a list of 25 doc filmmakers worth following on Twitter.
Heather McIntosh of the Documentary Site announced her plan to watch 365 docs in 2014, following in the footsteps of Dan Schindel.
Price Peterson of Netflix announced the launch of its Documentary Club, in which a different doc on the site will be discussed each week.
At Nonfics.com, Christopher Campbell shared his top home picks for the week, and also highlighted those films hitting theaters.
This week saw the passing of Bill Knight, a member of the Bangor Troop Greeters, a group in Maine that welcomed U.S. soldiers home from overseas deployments. Knight had been featured in the film THE WAY WE GET BY by director Aron Gaudet.
Finally, the folks at The Black and Blue culled the best professional advice ever received from 88 different cinematographers.
That’s it for this week (and year). Be sure to keep sending tips and recommendations for the Memo via e-mail here, or by Twitter to @GuerrillaFace. Happy New Year everyone!
The PBS documentary show Independent Lens announced its Winter/Spring lineup this week.
The PBS show Independent Lens this week announced the lineup for its Winter/Spring 2014 season. At Indiewire, Alison Willmore had coverage of the program’s schedule, which includes AT BERKELEY from Frederick Wiseman, MEDORA from Davy Rothbart and Andrew Cohn, LET THE FIRE BURN from Jason Osder and THE NEW BLACK from Yoruba Richen, among others. At the Independent Lens blog, Craig Phillips interviewed JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI director David Gelb.
Year-end lists continued to roll in from all quarters of the internet this week. Nonfics.com’s Christopher Campbell rounded up a whole slew of critics picks, while Jose F. Rodriguez of the Tribeca Film Institute wrote up a list of the year’s 10 best docs. The POV blog also updated its list of the top docs of 2013, while Paste Magazine’s Michael Dunaway had his picks for the year’s top 15 films at Paste Magazine. At Indiewire’s Women and Hollywood blog, writers Melissa Silverstein and Inkoo Kang listed the year’s best female-helmed docs. Filmmaker Caveh Zahedi penned a list of his top 10 docs at Fandor. And Indiewire’s Peter Knegt updated the site’s list of the top grossing indie docs for 2013 as of December 17.
CNN doubled down on docs this week, announcing that it would begin acquiring and airing documentaries that were not first on television premieres. Adam Benzine covered the move for Realscreen, with Tony Maglio doing the same at The Wrap and Hilary Lewis pulling duty at The Hollywood Reporter.. Lisa de Moraes of Deadline also reported that CNN chief Jeff Zucker had other changes for CNN in the works intended to help the network compete with channels such as Discovery and National Geographic.
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The film LIFE ITSELF on film critic Roger Ebert from director Steve James will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival next year.
The Sundance Institute this week named the documentaries that would premiere at its festival next year, including LIFE ITSELF from director Steve James, FINDING FELA from Alex Gibney and FREEDOM SUMMER from Stanley Nelson. At Realscreen, Adam Benzine covered the announcement, as did Justin Chang of Variety. Indiewire’s Bryce J. Renninger took a look at the relationship between a Sundance premiere for a doc and an Oscar win, discerning an interesting relationship. Nate von Zumwalt of the Sundance blog spoke with Steve James on HOOP DREAMS, a restored version of which will screen at the festival next year. And Realscreen’s Kevin Ritchie reported on the doc shorts set to play at Sundance.
In awards news, Adam Benzine of Realscreen had a rundown of awards-winners from various festivals, while Realscreen colleague Kevin Ritchie repeated the feat a week later. The International Documentary Association (IDA) awards got their own post from Adam Benzine, while Dave McNary of Variety also wrote on the IDA awards.
Last week also appeared to be the week in which everyone tacitly agreed to start sending out their “Best Of 2013” lists. Tom Roston issued his top 10 picks for the year at the POV blog, while the writers at the Indiewire blog The Playlist did the same, but picked 15 films. Eric Kohn also released his list in a post at Indiewire. At the Los Angeles Times, Hugh Heart named his favorite music docs for the year, while Paula Bernstein produced a list of her favorite doc characters for the year. And Scott Tobias shared his reflections on the year in docs at The Dissolve.
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20 FEET FROM STARDOM from director Morgan Neville was one of the films named to the Oscar doc shortlist this week.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) this week announced the 15 docs named to this year’s Oscar shortlist. Adam Benzine of Realscreen covered the news, as did Peter Knegt of Indiewire and Tim Gray of Variety. Basil Tsiokos took a look at the shortlisted films and linked to previous coverage of them at his What (Not) to Blog, while Larry Rohter of the New York Times noted a focus on politics and music. Inkoo Kang of the Women in Hollywood blog at Indiewire took note of five women directors whose films made the shortlist. In his Docutopia post at the SundanceNOW blog, Anthony Kaufman examined the effect that recent rule changes had on the doc Oscar process. And Lily Rothman of Time explained how viewers could watch every film on the doc shortlist.
The other big news came this week when the Sundance Film Festival announced the films in its 2014 lineup. Again, Adam Benzine had coverage at Realscreen, as did Daniel Fienberg of Hitfix. Indiewire had a rundown of the films in the World Cinema doc competition, and in the U.S. doc competition. Christopher Campbell had a nice rundown of the Sundance films, along with some trailers for films. And Kevin Ritchie of Realscreen had coverage of the docs screening at this year’s Slamdance.
The International Documentary Association (IDA) also had its awards ceremony this week, with Anne Thompson and Ryan Lattanzio of the Thompson on Hollywood blog at Indiewire providing coverage. Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter also wrote up the awards.
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