Monday Memo: Fourth Annual DOC NYC Festival Begins


Director Errol Morris speaks at the DOC NYC screening of his new film, The Unknown Known.

This week the DOC NYC Festival officially kicked off its fourth year in New York City with a screening of Errol Morris’ new Donald Rumsfeld film THE UNKNOWN KNOWN. Writing for the POV blog, Tom Roston recapped the screening. At his Docutopia post for the SundanceNOW, Anthony Kaufman wrote on some of the films screening at DOC NYC, including THE PUNK SINGER and PATROLMAN P. Director Jeremy Xido penned a guest post on his film DEATH METAL ANGOLA, which screened at DOC NYC, for Filmmaker Magazine. Also at Filmmaker Magazine, Scott Macaulay named his 10 favorite picks for the festival, as did Lauren Wissot at the same publication. The folks at Indiewire also shared 10 of their top choices. And Daniel Walber reviewed DOC NYC film THE FINAL MEMBER for Nonfics.com.

The Women and Hollywood blog on Indiewire played host to a series of interviews with female filmmakers screening work at the DOC NYC. Inkoo Kang spoke with Dori Berinstein, Sarah McCarthy and Ky Dickens. Melissa Silverstein chatted up Sini Anderson, Suzan Beraza, Samantha Grant, Gitte Peng, Dawn Porter, Therese Shechter, Linda Hoaglund, Lucy Kostelanetz, Merete Mueller, Beth B, Sierra Pettengill and Jamila Wignot. And at Filmmaker Magazine, Randy Astle spoke with WEB director Michael Kleiman.

Earlier this morning, Canadian documentary filmmaker Peter Wintonick passed away from a rare form of liver cancer. Adam Benzine had the details in a piece at Realscreen, while Peter Knegt reported the news for Indiewire. Wintonick was in the midst of making the film BE HERE NOW when he passed. For those interested in helping the film reach its completion, please go here.

BRITDOC named THE ACT OF KILLING the winner of this year’s PUMA Impact Award, handed out to the film determined to have had the most substantial positive impact over the past year. Sarah Salovaara covered the event for Filmmaker Magazine, while Christopher Campbell did the same for Nonfics.com. Bryce J. Renninger looked at some of the metrics turned out b BRITDOC on the award nominees.

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Monday Memo: DOC NYC Announces Lineup


This year's DOC NYC festival runs Nov. 14-21 in New York City.

The DOC NYC film festival, set to run Nov. 14-21 at the IFC Center and the SVA Theatre, this week announced its lineup, with this year’s event consisting of 131 films, 72 features, and some 20 panel discussions and master classes. Ramzi de Coster at Indiewire had all the details, while Kevin Ritchie of Realscreen highlighted new films from Michel Gondry and Errol Morris that would make appearances. Kate Erbland had coverage of the festival for Film School Rejects, while Basil Tsiokos penned a post at his What (Not) to Doc blog. Gordon Cox provided coverage at Variety, while Adam Schartoff spoke with DOC NYC (and Stranger Than Fiction) Artistic Director Thom Powers for a Filmwax podcast.

This week AMERICAN PROMISE from directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson hit theaters on Friday. At the POV blog, Tom Roston looked at AMERICAN PROMISE as part of a pantheon of doc films that follow their subjects for a long period of time. At Filmmaker Magazine, Brandon Harris spoke with Brewster and Stephenson on the film, and Adam Schartoff also dedicated one of his Filmwax podcasts to speaking with the pair.

Chicago production house Kartemquin Films this week issued a call for participants in its Diverse Voices in Docs program, which provides professional development and mentorship to emerging documentary filmmakers of color. They’ll also be hosting a screening of work from graduates of its inaugural 2013 program on October 30 in Chicago.

This week Stranger Than Fiction plays host to THE NEW PUBLIC from director Jyllian Gunther, a film that follows an arts-focused high school that opens in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The film screens on Tuesday, October 22 at 8 p.m. at the IFC Center in Manhattan, and will be followed by a Q&A with Gunther. For more information or to purchase tickets please go here.

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