Seeking compelling, original and unique documentaries for the
2014 Documentary Lab

Film Independent's Documentary Lab is now accepting submissions to its intensive seven-week program running in Los Angeles in April and May. Documentary directors currently in post-production on their feature length films are encouraged to apply. 

Lab participants receive creative feedback and story notes through a series of meetings and workshops with film professionals who advice on both the craft and business of documentary filmmaking. While in the Lab, filmmakers strategize the completion, distribution, and marketing of their film with their fellow participants and industry professionals.

Visit filmindependent.org to apply by Monday, December 1

By Nick Toti | Indiewire

In this guest post, filmmaker Nick Toti writes about the changing ecosystem for indie film - and how non-profits could be the answer.

Nick Toti and Matt Latham of Interesting Productions

 In the past two years I've read a lot of articles and heard a lot of people talk about the future of cinema. Ted Hope preaches on the necessity of a sustainable film ecosystem. Tim League experiments with new modes of distribution. Powerful algorithms help craft content for specific audiences like never before, piracy is both an aid and a threat, and equity crowdfunding looms like an inscrutable (and hopefully benign) god over the whole conversation.

Despite these familiar talking points, my filmmaking partner Matt Latham and I felt that there was something missing. All the voices we heard were from people who had already established themselves within the industry. Many of these talks—especially those jeremiads warning against the evils of piracy—seem like frantic attempts to patch the leaks in an already sinking ship. Movies are being made at a rate like never before. Increasingly affordable high-quality equipment, crowdfunding and unilateral access to online distribution have been the game changers. While the industry struggles to adapt, those of us who are truly independent (i.e. the gals and guys no one cares about, who have no money, who keep making movies out of an obsessive sense of personal necessity) are free to take full advantage of these new resources.

For the first time in the history of this still young medium, we have the potential to reach wide audiences with the most personal, idiosyncratic, boundary-pushing, formally audacious, exploratory, gonzo, batshit, soul-destroying cinema that has ever been made—exactly the kind of cinema that makes no financial sense. The reason why Hollywood has been the dominant model for cinematic production in America is because it's a model that successfully brings profits to its investors. Movies become products for mass consumption and people reliably buy products that comfort and coddle them. Challenging works just don't fit the model. We've all known and complained about this for years without effectively working toward anything different.

The nonprofit model has been utilized by theater companies for years as a viable means to keep the medium alive through the direct support of those who value it. Independent cinema is naturally moving in a direction that makes sense within the nonprofit model. Projects are already being funded through donations and small, personal, obsessively odd movies rarely turn a profit. However, new communities of enthusiastic viewers and filmmakers have been able to connect and support these projects, both financially and through word-of-mouth promotion.

Websites like NoBudge are becoming the cinematic version of what the Little Journals were to poetry in the mid-20th Century, Simple Machine brings un-distributed movies to potential audiences and the Micro-Wave Cinema Series is dedicated to connecting low-budget filmmakers with an engaged, enthusiastic audience. This is the beginning of a new American cinema that exists beyond the reach of the marketplace.

One of the biggest obstacles to starting nonprofit production companies in the past has been the issue of cultural benefit. A nonprofit must be demonstrably culturally beneficial, whether through educational programs, community involvement, or engagement with social issues. Because of this, nonprofit cinematic productions have been limited primarily to educational documentaries and narratives tackling serious social issues. There's no reason to stick so rigidly to these constraints, though. Cinema is a vibrant medium that's been strangled by commercial interests. By severing the long-standing ties that American cinema has had with commercial industry, we can bring the medium back to a place of personal relevance in people's lives. Challenging, formally adventurous cinema is serious business, even if it doesn't make a dime. The cultural benefits are obvious, if only barely being discovered.

Taking this state of things into account, Matt and I saw the opportunity to do something different. We've decided to embrace the fact that the movies we want to make probably won't appeal to general audiences. We make movies as an expression of something that we couldn't otherwise articulate, and, thanks to the internet, we're able to share those movies with audiences who appreciates our particular brand of cinema. As such, we've started a nonprofit production company called Interesting Productions as an experiment in a new model of cinematic production and distribution.

Rather than making movies in the hopes of handing them off to a distributor, Interesting Productions will make all of our movies available for free. This is an extreme approach and probably won't be followed by many people, but audacity has always been a valuable quality in those exploring new territory. Our movies will be funded entirely through donations, so the sustainability of this endeavor will depend entirely on the goodwill of the community we hope to serve. As a nonprofit (we're currently fiscally sponsored through Fractured Atlas but working toward being our own 501(c)(3) charitable organization), the hope is that we'll be able to draw big, tax-deductible donations, but this will undoubtedly take time and a lot of effort as we build up a system of support. As we grow, though, we'll continue to reach more and more people and continue making new movies as long as we're able.

This is an exciting time in American cinema. The models that are going to sustain our cinematic ecosystem remain undiscovered. The time when money called all the shots is dying. What's growing in its place is a time of visionaries and big ideas and little guys who no longer wait for anyone's permission to create the imagery of future myths.

Nick Toti earned his MA in English from Truman State University in 2010 and has been making movies in Austin, Texas ever since. He is co-writer and producer of Matt Latham's "YOU ARE YOUR BODY/YOU ARE NOT YOUR BODY" and director/producer of "WHEN YOU CALL ME THAT, SMILE" and two upcoming documentaries. He is currently raising money on Indiegogo forInteresting Productions.

Check this out at Indiewire.

 

 

by Shako Liu

Are you an emerging filmmaker of color? Funders are looking for you!

At Independent Filmmaker Project’s Film Week in September, a panel of documentary funders discussed diversity in film production. According to Leslie Fields-Cruz, interim executive director of The National Black Programming Consortium, there is a need for more filmmakers of color.

“Out of the films that are presented [to AfroPoP], my mission is to make sure 50 percent are made by producers of color,” Fields-Cruz said. “I am starting to have a problem to try to make sure that happens.”

The funders at the panel, titled “In Living Color: Funding Diverse Stories and Filmmakers,” are seeking to reverse that trend. They offered their guidance to prospective applicants. Here are three tips to help funders find you.

Think about the big picture.

Just because you have a good subject, it doesn’t mean you’ll have a good film. Alex Hannibal, coordinator of documentary programming at Tribeca Film Institute, said a common issue is that passionate filmmakers only have their eyes on the project. Think about where the film will land, and why you are doing it, she said.

Thinking about the factors surrounding the project—the destination of a film and the motivation behind its production—can allow a filmmaker to occupy a wide spectrum of genres. Moira Griffin, manager of diversity initiatives at Sundance Institute, suggested that filmmakers should experiment with different ways of getting their message across. If a filmmaker is seeking to tackle social justice issues, she said, they should expand their definition of a social justice film.

“We think of social justice as one thing,” Griffin said. “But social justice can be a science fiction movie, can be a movie about black people as zombies, can be a movie about two people in love that happen to be Asians. It can be anything.”

Be creative to attract private funding

Diversity is no longer a mandate for many foundations, according to Loira Limbal, director of the Firelight Media Producer Lab, so you may need to get creative—add a white male co-producer, if that’s what it takes. And, as Griffin pointed out, there are private, wealthy non-white funders who producers of color can approach.

Public television can provide a high profile outlet and resources, but the venue is easily overlooked by young producers, according to ITVS Programming Manager N’Jeri Eaton. Often, young filmmakers don’t consider public television and its potential funding, Eaton said, because they don’t believe that their audience aligns with the audience of public television.

Develop your audience and track the conversation

Cultivating your audience at the beginning of the production process is an important step in presenting your work, Griffin said. Once you find that audience, you can showcase the fact that your work has an interest base. And, according to Limbal, there are underserved audiences who would respond to films from producers of color. If you produce for an underserved audience, then you can prove to funders that your film has a built-in interest sect.

Fields-Cruz added that in order to continue growing their audience, filmmakers should keep track of metrics and lead conversations with their viewers.

Do you agree with the panelists? Do you have your own tips? Share your experience in the comments.

Get more documentary film news and features: Subscribe to POV’s documentary blog, like POV on Facebook or follow them on Twitter @povdocs!

Film Independent President Josh Welsh announced  this year’s 2015 Spirit Award nominees will be presented by Rosario Dawson (Top Five, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Cesar Chavez, Rent) and Diego Luna (The Book of Life, Cesar Chavez, Y Tu Mama Tambien) in a press conference at 10:00 am PT on Tuesday, November 25 at The W Hollywood.

“We are so thrilled that Rosario Dawson and Diego Luna are teaming up once more to join Film Independent in announcing this year’s Spirit Award nominees,” said Josh Welsh, President of Film Independent. “This year marks our 30th anniversary and we look forward to celebrating with the independent film community on the beach on February 21st.”

Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that also produces the Los Angeles Film Festival and Film Independent at LACMA Film Series, will announce the winners on Saturday, February 21, 2015 at the 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards. The live event is held under Film Independent’s signature tent on the beach in Santa Monica and will broadcast live exclusively on IFC at 2:00 pm PT/ 5:00 pm ET.

Spirit Awards are given out in the following categories: Best Feature, Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay, Best Director, Best Screenplay, John Cassavetes Award (given to the best feature made for a budget under $500,000), Best Male Lead, Best Female Lead, Best Supporting Male, Best Supporting Female, Best Cinematography, Best International Film, Best Documentary, Best Editing and the Robert Altman Award. The Filmmaker Awards include the Piaget Producers Award, the LensCrafters Truer Than Fiction Award and the Kiehl’s Someone to Watch Award.

 

Written by Vanessa Erazo @ REMEZCLA

Casting choices can make or break a film. That’s why directors go to great lengths to get it right. When Jon Stewart decided, for his first time as a movie director, to adapt journalist Maziar Bahari‘s memoir for the big screen he absolutely wanted to get it right. He knew Bahari personally and wanted to portray his harrowing story of being imprisoned and tortured in Iran in a respectful and true-to-life way. When it was announced that Gael García Bernal would play the role, there were grumblings about Stewart’s choice.

It’s understandable, roles for minorities are far and few between. Hollywood has a long history of white-washing characters that were meant for people of color. This situation is a bit different. It’s not a case of white-washing per se, but it is a lost opportunity for a Persian actor to play something other than the terrorist roles they are so often offered. So, why did Jon Stewart cast a Mexican actor to play an Iranian journalist?

Read more at REMEZCLA.