Documentary Insider

Tonight at the Academy of Arts and Sciences Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood starts the Oscar’s Docs screening series.

For the next 13 Mondays (minus Halloween) I’ll be attending The First Twenty Years of Academy Award Winning Documentaries 1941-1960.

As far as I know there are still tickets available for $5.

Visit Oscars.org for more info.

I’ve seen some of these films before – sure. But I think it will be great to see them in context. To see the first Academy Award winner. To see how it all plays out. Oscars evolution and the changes in documentary filmmaking. I’ll blog each Tuesday to discuss the films as they roll out. Tonight covers 1941 and 1942.

Just got an email from the Independent Film Channel that they’re showing 2 new docs this weekend. (I just plugged them into the TiVo).

WMD: WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION about the media and their coverage or lack thereof of 9/11 and The Spaghetti West, an IFC original documentary about the spaghetti westerns of the 1960s.

They are only showing WMD once so you gotta catch it on Sunday.

I just finished watching Ross McElwee‘s Bright Leaves. His docs are like nobody else’s. Seemingly haphazard yet perfectly constructed (try to put that quote on your poster).

It’s available on DVD. And while you’re at it you might as well rent Sherman’s March too.

Michael Moore sent out this letter today. I’m going to send out a box of supplies. It’s an important way to help.

Friends,

There is much to be said and done about the manmade annihilation of New Orleans, caused NOT by a hurricane but by the very specific decisions made by the Bush administration in the past four and a half years. Do not listen to anyone who says we can discuss all this later. No, we can’t. Our country is in an immediate state of vulnerability. More hurricanes, wars, and other disasters are on the way, and a lazy bunch of self-satisfied lunatics are still running the show.

So, in the next few days, I will write to you about what must be done about Bush and Co.

But today I want you to join with me in bypassing the colossally inept and incompetent Bush administration and get help DIRECTLY to the people of the New Orleans area — right now.

A lot of you have written me to ask what you can do. Many don’t know who to trust. Many want to do more than write a check. You are right to think that writing checks to relief agencies will not get water and aid to people in the next 48 hours. Checks will be needed later and can be written later.

I have a way, though, for each and every one of us to do something today that can affect people’s lives TODAY.

For the past few days I’ve been working with a group that, I guarantee you, will get direct aid to the people who need it most.

Cindy Sheehan, the brave woman who dared to challenge Mr. Bush at his summer home, has now sent her Camp Casey from in front of Bush’s ranch to the outskirts of New Orleans. The Veterans for Peace have taken all the equipment and staff of volunteers and set up camp in Covington, Louisiana, on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. They are accepting materials and personally distributing them to those in need.

This is where we come in. We need to ship supplies to them immediately. Today they need the following:

Paper plates, paper towels, toilet paper, baby diapers, baby wipes, baby formula, Pedialyte, baby items in general, powder, lotion, handy wipes, sterile gloves, electrolytes, LARGE cans of veggies, school supplies, and anything else to lift people’s spirits.

You can ship these items by following the instructions on VFPRoadTrips.org. Or you can deliver them there in person. The roads to Covington are open. Here’s how to get there. You can drop them off or you can stay and participate (if you stay, you’ll be camping so bring your own tent and gear and mosquito spray).

If you can’t ship these items or go there in person, then go to VFPRoadTrips.org and make an immediate donation through PayPal. Camp Casey-Covington will have immediate access to this cash and can buy the items themselves from stores that are open in Louisiana (all donations to Veterans for Peace, are tax deductible).

Each day I will post up-to-the minute information as to what is needed and the progress Camp Casey is making. Please visit MichaelMoore.com often and do what you can to help.

Many other groups are also doing good work. MoveOn.org has set up a system for people to offer rooms in their homes to the survivors.

There is no time to waste. People are suffering and dying. Each of us can do something. There is no other alternative.

Thank you in advance for your help. Tomorrow, we will take care of the other work we need to do about the ideologically hamstrung incompetents in charge.

Yours,
Michael Moore
Mike@MichaelMoore.com
MichaelMoore.com

Josh Tickell, a documentary filmmaker and friend of mine, knows how to make biodiesel (as seen in his short film The Veggie Van Voyage). He’s also from Louisiana. So…he hopped in his Veggie Van and is helping by working with biodiesel suppliers in the Mid West as well as generator companies to bring a convoy of biodiesel-powered electricity generators and extra biodiesel fuel to hospitals and relief centers in Louisiana. You can read his informative blog and donate here.

Posted by Sarah Jo Marks

Back when I was predicting Ruben Studdard would be the next American Idol I got TiVo. Let’s say April 2003. It’s no joke, and no commercial either, to say that TiVo has revolutionized the way I watch TV. I read about a program and plug it into the TiVo. I don’t have to remember what night Survivor: Guatemala is going to be on. Or how many nights Rock Star: INXS is on. Or when does the Amazing Race 8 premiere? The TiVo takes care of that for me. So when I sit down to watch TV my shows are always waiting on my “Play List”. And I’d like to add that I’m not embarrassed at all to say I watch reality TV.

I’m busy prepping for an article I’m writing for the IDA magazine about reality shows and it’s got me really thinking about it and how much of it I’ve actually watched. Over the holiday weekend I crammed in the final 5 episodes of the first season of Amazing Race (it shows on the Game Show Network which is now trying to be cool by calling itself GSN). Thanks to TiVo I’ve also managed to watch the entire first season of Survivor on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN…sounds cooler right?). Sure…I knew Richard Hatch was going to win. But it was still fun to see how it all played out in beautiful Borneo.

It’s also a great way to track trends. Want to know what Ashton Kutcher is creating now? I watched one episode of Beauty and the Geek. Want to find out what all the hoopla is about? I watched the Surreal Life and then a couple episodes of that show with Flavor Flav and Brigitte Nielsen (train wreck).

And thanks to “Season Pass” technology it doesn’t hurt to know that I won’t miss a single episode of POV, Independent Lens, 60 Minutes and Lost. (What?! You think I only watch non-fiction programming?)

It’s pretty safe to say that any day of the week the TiVo is at work quietly recording something for me to enjoy/review at my convenience. Whether or not absorbing all this programming is doing anything to my brain remains to be seen. If the TiVo didn’t record this stuff I might spend more time outdoors or learning how to knit. One might ask, TiVo, curse or blessing? Anything that requires more than 300 words…definitely a blessing.

Now…I gotta go program the TiVo for the Fall TV lineup.

You can watch CNN and read all the papers in the world. But about three entries into this I started to cry. If this isn’t a documentary I don’t know what is.

http://mgno.com/

Go to the calendar and click on Saturday, August 27th, 2005 and just go on from there. I just read the whole thing. It’s the real news…

We’re all thinking about Katrina. Here’s what Michael Moore has to say…

Friday, September 2nd, 2005

Dear Mr. Bush:

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It’s Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren’t there to begin with?

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn’t want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don’t like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don’t let people criticize you for this — after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

And don’t listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers’ budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn’t cut the money to fix those levees, there weren’t going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them — BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn’t stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It’s not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C’mon, they’re black! I mean, it’s not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don’t make me laugh! Race has nothing — NOTHING — to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

Yours,

Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.MichaelMoore.com

P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.

AFI screening time is almost over. The bag of tapes I have may be the last. This makes me a little sad. This is my 4th summer spent indoors watching documentaries for AFI Fest. Every year I say I won’t do it again next year. But the fact is I really enjoy it. I enjoy finding that great film hiding in there. I have made friendships and business ties through this festival for years. And come November I’ll be all hyped up again to see the great programming.

The only frustrating thing is that I want to write about some of the films I’ve seen and I can’t. Not yet. It’s a funny secret job. And I want to keep it.

Reel Paradise is a documentary about John Pierson. After becoming disenchanted with the independent film world he picks up his family and moves them to a remote village in Fiji called Taveuni. The natives have no electricity, no running water and little to do for entertainment. The Pierson crew opens the downtrodden 180 Meridian Cinema to show free movies to the natives for a year. It’s a hit.

Steve James (Hoop Dreams, Stevie) showed up for the last 30 days of their adventure to capture life on the island and showcase the Pierson family; John, wife Linda, daughter Georgia (16) and son Wyatt (13).

The film is entertaining and doesn’t really play out like a doc at all – but more like a movie movie. It premiered out of competition at Sundance last January. The film is currently playing in NYC at the IFC Film Center and will open in LA and San Francisco 9/2.

I attended a screening put together by Landmark Theatres and Wellspring.

Kevin Smith was there to introduce the film. And then the entire Pierson gang along with Steve James and producer Scott Mosier were on hand for Q and A after.

Pierson has been so influential in the independent film scene for the past 20 years that it’s not surprising for him to have the incredible support of the film community that he does. After all, it seems a little picture perfect; he gets Steve James to direct a film about himself produced by View Askew, Kevin Smith’s production company. It premiers at the Sundance Film Festival followed by other A list fests and then goes on to theatrical release all the while getting plenty of press in major newspapers, magazines and trades. (He was even featured in People Magazine!)

I’m the first person to be happy for a filmmaker to get the film out there. And having the dream road is what everyone wants. Seems that one way to get there is to:

A) Know everyone in the business by repping films and helping filmmakers for 20 years

B) Make a great movie that will rise to the top!

Docu makers have no fear – the good films will ALWAYS be seen! You don’t have to have Kevin Smith on your speed dial….but…it can’t hurt either.