ITVS Funded Films Receive Three Nominations for the 2011 IDA Awards

Three ITVS projects received nominations for the 2011 IDA Awards which will be held on December 2nd in Los Angeles.

The IDA Awards celebrate outstanding achievements in documentary filmmaking and three ITVS funded films received nominations for the 2011 Awards. All three nominees were originally broadcast on the award-winning PBS series POV.  See the entire list of ITVS nominees after the jump:
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Tags: Academy Award, American Experience, Awards, documentary, Emmy, film festival, filmmaker, independent, Independent Lens, P.O.V., PBS

Filmmaker Isaac Solotaroff on Wham! Bam! Islam!

Director Isaac Solotaroff  talks about using Wham! Bam! Islam! and the recently released Hunt For the Noor Stone Interactive game to promote cultural understanding.

The interactive game, Hunt for the Noor Stone, just launched and features an in-depth, standards-aligned study guide for middle school students. The inspiration for the game came from THE 99, the comic book series featured in Solotaroff’s documentary Wham! Bam! Islam! which aired on Independent Lens last week, and is currently streaming for free on PBS.org. BTB caught up with Soloratoff last week to ask — why a game, and why now?

Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Isaac Solotaroff and on my good days I get to work on documentaries and on my bad days I try to figure out how to raise money to make documentaries.
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Tags: documentary, filmmaker, game, Independent Lens, interactive, interview, islam, online, video games

Catch ITVS Films and Staff at the Silverdocs Festival

The Silverdocs Film Festival and Conference kicks off Monday June 20 in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Known as the “pre-eminent documentary festival in the U.S.,” Silverdocs is a seven-day international film festival and five-day concurrent conference that promotes documentary film as a leading art form and supports the work of independent filmmakers.

Silverdocs kicks today in Silver Spring, Maryland and both ITVS staff and films are well represented:
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Tags: documentary, film festival, filmmaker, funding, independent, ITVS, Silverdocs, Washington DC

Deadline News Indies Can Use

One of BTB’s chief responsibilities is to keep an eye out for news the independent producer can use. Below is a highlight of upcoming funding opportunities, festival deadlines, and other things you may find helpful. These will be for both U.S. and international producers. Enjoy and good luck!

NALIP Latino Producers Academy
Deadline: June 8, 2011
The LPA is an intensive 10 day (Aug. 10-19) professional development workshop for Latino/a film and public television documentary producers. It is designed to support both emerging and mid-career professionals with projects in development and pre-production.

HBO NALIP Documentary Contest
Deadline June 10, 2011
HBO has teamed with NALIP to find the next great Latino documentary film.They will award $10,000 to the winner of their 2011 Documentary grant.
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Tags: applications, deadlines, filmmaker, funding, independent producers, indie

The Dense Web of Connections that Led to Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo

Filmmaker Jessica Oreck dropped by ITVS last summer and walked us through her inspiration for making a documentary about insects in Tokyo. The documentary Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo airs Tuesday night on Independent Lens.

Tags: beetle queen conquers tokyo, documentary, filmmaker, Independent Lens, insects, ITVS, Japan, jessica oreck, PBS, tokyo

Vanessa Gould Tours Los Angeles With Her Film BETWEEN THE FOLDS

Director of the Community Cinema documentary selection BETWEEN THE FOLDS Vanessa Gould spent the past few days at a series of screening events for the film in the greater Los Angeles area. In addition to the two unique screening and folding events at the historic Aero Theatre in Santa Monica and at the Frida Kahlo Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, Ms. Gould attended a very special screening of the film at the LA County Sheriff’s Pitches Detention Center for close to 200 inmates. She shares her deeply moving visit with us. [No photographs were allowed in or near the detention center for security reasons.]

Vanessa Gould (producer/director) of BETWEEN THE FOLDS

As we walked into LA’s Pitches Detention Center, the sky was deep blue and a long flock of birds flew calmly with the wind above. The series of heavy gates and barbed wire fences ahead gave me a pit in my stomach. Behind the barriers, I soon saw men of all ages – hundreds in royal blue jumpsuits – working, standing, exercising outside.

I was there with Desiree Gutierrez, the ITVS National Community Cinema Coordinator for the Southern California region, to answer questions about BETWEEN THE FOLDS, which a group was watching as we arrived. I had strong doubts as to whether they’d connect to a film about paperfolding, worrying it was trivial in light of the gravity of their own personal situations. How would the film be relevant to them? What could I possibly say or do that could be genuinely useful?

A stock photo of a typical inmate gathering provided courtesy of the LA County Sheriff's Department

Desiree and I entered the room with Deputy Bates and a few other staff members just as they had finished the film. It was a crowded room with about 200 men seated closely, gathered around a single television.

As soon as the lights went on and I looked up – despite my insecurity – it was quite possibly the most enthusiastic reception the film has ever seen: a room brimming with almost-rowdy excitement and big smiles, a few thumbs up and hands on hearts. Even some paper hats and paper stars made out of the local county newspaper were floating around. Deputy Bates introduced us, and I filled with warmth, relieved that the film had perhaps given them an escape from their daily routine.

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Tags: between the folds, filmmaker, Los Angeles