Tag Archives: film

The ITVS Indie Roundup

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A curated list of indie news and recommendations from ITVS’s Rebecca Huval.

Get into the Halloween mood with The Awl’s list of classic Hollywood monsters, including Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Kim Novak’s eyebrows.

The U.S. Copyright Office just granted documentary filmmakers a special pass. In an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, documentarians are allowed to rip footage from DVDs and streaming videos to be incorporated into their work.

Confused by crowdfunding? The IFC Center in New York is hosting an event to demystify the process. “Get the Money: Tap into Crowds” will be held November 9 (via @POVengage).
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The ITVS Indie Roundup

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A curated list of indie news and recommendations from ITVS’s Rebecca Huval.

The director of concert documentary Andrew Bird: Fever Year has found an even more intimate subject to cover for her next nonfiction film. Xan Aranda will explore the Mormon film industry and her own disillusionment from the faith. She dished out the details to Chicago WBEZ’s The Morning Shift. (via Kartemquin Films)

D’oh! Here are five simple blunders documentary filmmakers make, including filming without a vision in mind.

How do you capture the feel of dancing on camera? The rush, dizziness, and gravity-defying lightness? Who better to answer that question than dancer-photographer, Mikhail Baryshnikov, who talked to the New York Times Lens blog about his techniques in dance and photography.

Check out this rediscovered Dutch TV documentary, The Making of The Empire Strikes Back. In an interview, Star Wars director Irvin Kershner says, “Some people call it science fiction. I don’t even consider it science fiction. I consider it a fairy tale.” Continue reading →

MacArthur Foundation Open Call for Documentary Film Proposals

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The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is accepting proposals for documentary film and transmedia projects between Monday, August 6, 2012 and Friday, September 7, 2012.

The program seeks to fund documentary projects that address the significant social challenges of our time or explore important but under-reported topics. Domestic and international topics are welcome, and preference will be given to projects that align with one of MacArthur’s grantmaking areas. To learn more about these areas, please visit http://macfound.org.

Support will be provided for production and post-production activities, and to experienced filmmakers based in the U.S. with track records of completing feature-length films that have been broadcast nationally and internationally. The typical grant range is between $50,000 and $200,000. For more information and to apply, please visit http://macfound.org/programs/media/ and click “Grant Guidelines.”

The ITVS Indie Roundup

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A curated list of indie news and recommendations from ITVS’s Rebecca Huval.

You’ll never look at a dumpster the same way again. The sanitation department of Hamburg, Germany, teamed up with an advertising agency to form the Trashcan Project. They plant pinhole cameras on the dumpsters, offering a trash-level view of the city.

Awaken your creative juices by perusing the 10 Gold winners from Cannes Lions 2012, the advertising festival, including a surprising interpretation of the Three Little Pigs by The Guardian.

If you’ve made a film before, you understand that it’s an all-consuming labor of madness and passion. Now’s your chance for some schadenfreude. Watch other directors as they captain the impossible task of making a movie through this Sundance compilation of documentaries about filmmaking. Continue reading →

Live Chat on DDF Funding

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This year’s deadline for the Diversity Development Fund (DDF) falls on November 11. On Tuesday, November 1 at 1PM PT / 4PM ET, ITVS Programming Manager Karim Ahmad will be taking questions from interested applicants in a live chat on BTB.

The DDF provides up to $15,000 in research and development funding to independent producers of color to develop single documentary programs for public television. Projects should speak to the ITVS mission to serve underserved audiences with programs that take creative risks, explore complex issues, inspire dialogue and express points of view seldom seen on commercial or public television.
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New AIR Initiative Seeks Innovative Media Makers

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Localore — a new initiative from The Association of Independents in Radio (AIR) — is recruiting innovative producers to lead public stations in ways beyond broadcast.


Calling all independent media makers (yes, we’re talking to you filmmakers!). Do you want to explore new ways of telling your story? Do you have an idea that takes advantage of both traditional and digital media? Then take a look at Localore, a new initiative from our friends at The Association of Independents in Radio (AIR), that’s designed to fuel public media’s capacity for innovative storytelling and journalism.

Through Localore, AIR will recruit talented radio, TV, film, and online producers to lead 10 public station-based projects, blending approaches to broadcast and digital platforms. This means mixing traditional media with mobile applications, online video, digital games, data visualization and maps — anything that will help to bring stories to the public in new ways beyond broadcast.

Interested producers are invited to submit proposals until November 10th at Localore.net.A second round of vetting in December will call on producers, matched with incubator stations, to submit final proposals.

Watch the station runway video (above) to see which public stations are interested in partnering with Independents. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to get your innovative project considered for this game-changing initiative.

Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund Announces Grantees

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The Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund provides finishing funds to feature-length documentaries which highlight and humanize issues of social importance from around the world.

Starting four years ago as a partnership between Gucci and the Tribeca Film Institute, the fund aims to humanize socially important issues from around the world that aren’t receiving attention from the mainstream media. Over the past four years, the fund has supported 30 films.

This year, nine projects have been chosen as grantees, with three earmarked for money from the fund’s inaugural Spotlighting Women Documentary Award which highlights the courage, strength of character, and compassion of women from around the world. For a complete list of the grantees, visit www.tribecafilminstitute.org.

Congratulations to the filmmakers!

 

Hey Filmmakers – The LINCS Deadline is on June 18th

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Hey filmmakers — the LINCS deadline is on June 18, so if you haven’t already contacted a potential station partner, now is the time to do so.

Do you have questions about LINCS funding and how to successfully partner with a public television station? Recently ITVS Director of Programming Erica Deiparine-Sugars and LINCS Production Manager Robby Fahey joined DocuMentors for their ongoing expert interview series Doc Talks. The ITVS team revealed strategies for a successful LINCS application and station partnership.

Also joining the conversation was filmmaker Monika Navarro, whose film Lost Souls (Animas Perdidas) was funded by LINCS and was produced in association with WGBH-Boston. Lost Souls aired this season on Independent Lens.

Listen to the LINCS Doc Talks interview here >>