When I saw Through the Fire at AFI Fest last November it made my heart race! It’s opening Friday in NY, LA, Boston and Portland. Through the Fire, Jonathan Hock’s riveting film, follows basketball star Sebastian Telfair through his senior year in high school where he has to decide whether to attend college or go […]

Just found out about this interesting thing, The International Documentary Challenge. The International Documentary Challenge (IDC) is a timed filmmaking competition where filmmaking teams from around the world have just over 5 days to make a short documentary film! The 1st Annual IDC will take place March 22 through March 27, 2006. The early registration […]

My friends at Friends of Film are showing a super series of films: Friends of Film presents: Back From the Dance Film Series Six Saturday Nights starting Feb 11, 2006 at Hollywood’s Raleigh Studios Chaplin Theater 7 pm February 11th they’re gonna show the Academy Award nominated short docs. A perfect opportunity to see ’em […]

Here are the docs. You can see the whole she-bang here. SPOTLIGHT PREMIERES Al Franken in God Spoke Dir: Nick Doob and Chris Hegedus A cinema verite pursuit of Al Franken, shot over the course of two years, the film follows the former SNL writer turned political attack dog from his feud with Bill O’Reilly […]

Tonight I went to the 2006 Writers Guild Awards Documentary Screenplay Award Ceremony at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. A very lengthy title for an entertaining evening. Although the WGA couldn’t pay for our drinks or parking, they did put together aimportant event for doc-makers. Appetizers and schmoozing started off the night before we were ushered […]

AJ Schnack is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles. He’s a on a mission to get the Academy to include the documentary nominee announcement in the live broadcast. I’m with him! From AJ Schnack’s blog: …as of today, March of the Penguins has outgrossed all five nominated films in each of the following categories, all […]

The nominations for the 78th Annual Academy Awards were made early this morning in Beverly Hills. The documentary nominees are: BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM MARCH OF THE PENGUINS MURDERBALL STREET FIGHT BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT THE DEATH OF KEVIN CARTER: CASUALTY OF THE BANG BANG CLUB GOD […]

So instead of broadcasting the ENTIRE awards show live from Sundance, the Sundance Channel put together a 30-minute show covering the highlights. You can catch it tonight on Festival Dailies on the Sundance Channel. And if you missed any of the coverage the Sundance Channel did on Festival Dailies they will be re-airing it over […]

From today’s New York Times. If you’re not a NYT member you can sign up for free to read the paper online.

Slamdance Announced the 2006 Awards today. The documentary winners are as follows: Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature Empire in Africa World Premiere – (2005, 87 min., USA) directed by Philippe Diaz. The story of the unjust war the international community waged against civilwar stricken Sierra Leone. Winner to receive a Sony HD camera […]