HEADLINES
 

Cinema Eye Announces the 2022 Broadcast Film & Series Nominees
Announced via press release: “City So Real, Steve James’ five-part series on race, politics and the pandemic in Chicago, and David Byrne’s American Utopia, a filmed portrait of the Broadway show by director Spike Lee, led the Broadcast Nominations with three nods apiece. American Utopia is one of five films up for Outstanding Broadcast Film, while City So Real joins five other series in the Nonfiction Series category. Both projects were nominated for Outstanding Broadcast Editing and Cinematography. ‘It is notable that both of this year’s most nominated Broadcast entries are part of the creative legacy of Diane Weyermann,’ said Cinema Eye Founding Director AJ Schnack about the longtime documentary veteran who died last week and was an Executive Producer on both City So Real and American Utopia. ‘Many acclaimed films in Cinema Eye history were guided and supported by Diane through her roles at Participant and, earlier, at the Sundance Documentary Fund. These nominations make clear that we will be celebrating Diane’s work at this year’s Cinema Eye and likely for many years to come.’”

19 Documentarians Will Make You Ache for the Loss of Diane Weyermann
Anne Thompson reports at IndieWire: “Social justice has always been the bailiwick of documentary filmmakers, but the late Diane Weyermann was the woman who gave it the financing and clout it deserved. From the Sundance Institute to Participant Media, she passionately supported documentaries that might not otherwise exist. She made them better, found their audiences, and elevated what was once considered a low-budget sideline. Her projects received 10 Oscar nominations (including RBG, The Look of Silence, Murderball, and The Square) and four wins (including The Cove, Citizenfour, An Inconvenient Truth, and American Factory). However, to sum up her impact in the language of credits and awards would an injustice of its own. Weyermann was one of those people who had the privilege of being genuinely beloved. She was dedicated to her work as chief content officer at Participant Media, but the filmmakers she worked with knew her as a fiercely intelligent champion, guide, and most of all a friend. After losing her long battle with cancer last week, Weyermann’s friends in the documentary community sent IndieWire a flood of tributes. We present them here, with edits for length and clarity.”

Documentary's Most Passionate Advocate: Diane Weyermann Remembered
Tom White writes at Documentary Magazine: "Diane Weyermann left us last week, but what she left behind—a staggering body of work that she oversaw, that has transformed the conversations on so many social issues; a formidable documentary program at Sundance; the preeminence of Participant Media as an impact strategist—has inspired the community to share their memories of her, and express their gratitude for her indefatigable fusion of passion, wisdom, verve and kindness that she brought to the hundreds of films and filmmakers she worked with. Diane traveled many thousands of miles in her career, seeking out the next wave of heartbreaking, mind-expanding stories and shepherding them through the long process to completion. She was working right up to the end, her energy flagging, but her ever-full plate of projects and dreams driving her spirit and will."

He Said, She Said, She Said: Sabaya and Consent in Documentary
Lauren Wissot writes in Modern Times Review: “According to Galbraith, ‘These are people who were kidnapped at a very young age and who were held as slaves and sexually abused for five years… I don’t see how, in those circumstances, they have given informed consent.’ (The piece even goes on to ominously note that, ‘The consent gives the filmmakers wide-ranging rights in perpetuity over the stories, images, voices and even the names of the women.’ This, to me, sounds less like an exploitative agreement than it does a standard release form.) Which paternalistically renders all the abused women in the doc (all docs?) victims rather than survivors; reduces them to naive children instead of grown women capable of agency, of giving voice to their own experience. Which is a slippery slope to be on, especially in the nonfiction realm. Who gets to decide such things? Should several unhappy characters be allowed to sabotage an entire project – and thus silence everyone else in a film? These are tricky and complex questions that require nuanced thought, not a knee-jerk reaction. They are issues to be wrestled in the open – and preferably not through anonymous quotes behind the paywall of the New York Times.”

Why Podcasts Now Rule the Documentary Roost
Gwilym Mumford wrote in The Guardian: “I think the true heirs to Made in America can be found in the world of podcasts. Recently, I have been catching up with the latest run of Leon Neyfakh’s narrative pod Fiasco. Each season takes on a famous saga in fairly recent US history – Iran-Contra, say, or most recently the Benghazi attacks – and finds an entirely fresh way of retelling it, often by focusing on seemingly overlooked characters who turn out to have been central to the whole thing. (Fiasco is, slightly unusually for a podcast, behind a paywall: you can hear it by signing up to subscription service Luminary, though the first season, on the 2000 Bush/Gore election, is free-to-listen.) Before Fiasco, Neyfakh had created a similar series for Slate called Slow Burn, which has kept powering on without him. Its most recent series ambitiously tackled the US’s invasion of Iraq, heading all the way back to the 1958 coup to foretell a conflict half a century in the making. Yet, Slow Burn’s real brilliance is in its wide remit: the season before its Iraq one was all about KKK Grand Wizard David Duke’s election to the Louisiana House of Representatives, a story that I had scarcely any knowledge of before listening to the series, but which has so much to educate us on more recent political realignments. And the season before that sidestepped politics altogether to reassess the deaths of Tupac and the Notorious BIG.”

Sound & Vision: Unscripted Networks and Prodcos Embrace the Podcast Boom
Andrew Jeffrey reports at Realscreen: “Podcasting, as an industry, has grown rapidly since the term was first coined in the early ’00s, especially in the past several years. In May, the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Podcast Advertising Revenue Study projected podcast advertising will grow as much in the next two years as it did in the last decade. Advertising revenues already climbed to US$842 million in 2020, up from $708 million the previous year. Meanwhile, major acquisitions and agreements have brought high-profile players into the mix. Streaming audio giant Spotify has purchased companies with strong podcasting portfolios such as The Ringer and Gimlet, while inking content deals with Barack and Michelle Obama, Joe Rogan and Kim Kardashian West. Apple, meanwhile, launched Apple Podcast subscriptions earlier this year which let users unlock new content and receive additional benefits, a company strategy meant to help the tech behemoth compete with Spotify.”

Summer of Soul, Ascension Top Critics Choice Documentary Award Nominations
Pat Mullen reports for POV Magazine: "Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) and Ascension lead the 6th annual Critics Choice Documentary Award nominations. The films, directed by Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson and Jessica Kingdon, respectively, scored six nominations each. The nominations in the early voting period for Critics Choice solidifies Summer of Soul’s frontrunner status in the Oscar doc race. The film premiered at Sundance to rave reviews for its archival look at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. Summer of Soul won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance in the US documentary categories. It’s joined in the Critics Choice race by fellow Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Flee, which topped the World Cinema category in Park City. The animated Flee scored nominations for Best Documentary and Best Director. Ascension, meanwhile, has been an under-the-radar festival hit after debuting at Tribeca where it won top doc. The film examines the pursuit of the Chinese dream and considers various socio-political lenses. Ascension was released in the USA earlier this month.”

We Made a Documentary About Poverty by Turning its Subjects into Filmmakers
Matthew Kidd wrote in The Guardian: “Last year, we started working with the film-maker John Domokos and The Guardian. Together, a community reporting team of local people from The Elephants Trail and video journalists at the Guardian created Made in Bury, a film that draws on diverse local voices to explore issues such as insecurity, poverty and inequality, and examines how local people are organizing to tackle and prevent these problems. I liken our relationship with Domokos to producing a song. Imagine you had the idea for a hit record inside your head, but it just wasn’t polished enough. The lyrics needed a bit of work, you lacked decent instruments and access to a recording studio. In an ideal world, someone from the industry would teach you this stuff, and together you’d turn the song into a hit record. Together, each member of our community reporting team had a part of the film-making process they wanted to master, whether that be editing, filming or presenting. We were able to practice these skills through making this film. Throughout the process I was anxious about whether what we were doing was polished or sexy enough, whether it would appeal to people enough to ‘sell papers’ (though perhaps that’s now an outdated concept), or get hits on YouTube. Of course, working in a completely equal partnership would have required Domokos to stick around for several years to teach us to master all aspects of the filming and editing. He can’t do this because he has his own pressures and deadlines. If the government really want to ‘level up’, this kind of long-term support needs to be in place for projects such as ours.”

Industry Execs on the Challenges and Opportunities Ahead
Justin Anderson, Andrew Jeffrey and Jillian Morgan reports at Realscreen: “Here we are, approaching the final stretch of 2021, and the enduring pandemic, new entrants in the media landscape, mega-deals and calls for diversity continue to reshape film, TV and streaming. To get a read on what’s ahead for 2022 and beyond, Realscreen has surveyed the non-fiction and unscripted screen community. Producers, buyers, distributors and agents reflected on the past 18 months — from remote work to the streaming revolution, COVID-19 and efforts towards diversity, equity and inclusion — and offered predictions on what’s yet to come. Shifts to the entertainment landscape continue to shake up the business, but the unanimous verdict is that the future appears bright — if the genre can match the pace of change.”

DOC NYC

DOC NYC is proud to announce the main lineup for its 12th edition, running online and in-person from November 10-18, 2021, with extended online screenings available across the US through November 28. The 2021 festival showcases more than 200 films and dozens of events, including:

• 32 World Premieres
• 34 US Premieres
• More than 120 feature-length documentaries
• Plus shorts programs and student film showcases

This year’s festival reflects thematically organized sections that spotlight new films on music, sports, activism, the arts and more. DOC NYC is proud to showcase such a wide spectrum of documentary representing the diverse perspectives of their programming team. The lineup includes more than 120 feature-length documentaries covering: trenchant explorations of hot topics, nuanced stories of families, mentoring youth, harsh healthcare realities, and fascinating music tales.
 
DOC NYC is thrilled to be bringing films and filmmakers in person to New Yorkers again. And, of course, they're very happy to continue presenting films online this year to viewers across the US.
 
Binge on all 120+ feature films that will screen in the 2021 program with the All Film Pass for only $699 through 10/20. Ticket packs and individual films tickets for in-person and online screenings are also now available.

ON THE FESTIVAL CIRCUIT

Discover the 2021 RIDM
Announced via press release: “The complete program for the 24th edition of the RIDM is finally unveiled! With a selection of 120 films from 44 countries, including 54 films from Quebec and Canada, more than half of which are by women filmmakers, the RIDM is once again offering the best of real cinema by bringing together the great names and new talents to be discovered. To mark the eventful nature of the festival, each documentary in the program will be premiered in theatres from November 10 to 21. Filmgoers who can't experience the festival in theatres will also be able to enjoy it via its online edition from November 14 to 25, which will include almost all the films in the program and will be accessible throughout Canada. The RIDM is delighted to be back with its audience and to make the event a true meeting place to celebrate auteur documentary cinema. This edition has been orchestrated by an enthusiastic team, headed by Marc Gauthier, the new director of RIDM, supported by a brand new programming collective composed of Ana Alice de Morais, Marlene Edoyan, Nadine Gomez and Hubert Sabino-Brunette.”

IDFA 2021: Premiere Sections Luminous & Frontlight Unveiled
Announced via press release: “The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is delighted to unveil the selected films in premiere-only sections Luminous and Frontlight, with both sections including a majority of world premieres. The festival also presents its first competition selections today in the IDFA Competition for Short Documentary and the IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary. Finally, IDFA also announces the selected titles in interdisciplinary program IDFA on Stage, chief among them the world premiere of the newly restored Dziga Vertov film The History of the Civil War. The 34th edition of IDFA takes place from November 17 to 28 in Amsterdam.”

Doclisboa Returns to its Original Format, Showcasing 249 Films
Vladan Petkovic reports at Cineuropa: “After last year's experimental concept, which saw the festival get split into six smaller editions across six months in an attempt to deal with the pandemic restrictions and still show films in cinemas, Doclisboa is back to its original, 11-day, live format. It will take place from 21-31 October in its usual locations, including the iconic venues of the Culturgest, Cinema São Jorge and Cinemateca Portuguesa. The gathering will present a programme consisting of 249 films – 51 world and 28 international premieres – composed of competitive and non-competitive sections: the International Competition, National Competition, New Visions, From the Earth to the Moon, Heart Beat, Ulrike Ottinger Retrospective, Cecilia Mangini Retrospective, Cinema of Urgency, Green Years and Doc Alliance.”

Thessaloniki Pays Tribute to Bulgarian Filmmaker Binka Zhelyazkova
Mariana Hristova reports at Cineuropa: “The 62nd Thessaloniki International Film Festival, which will unfold from 4 to 14 November, remains faithful to its mission of presenting valuable Balkan cinema to international audiences. This time, the programming team casts light on the Iron Lady of Bulgarian cinema, namely Binka Zhelyazkova (her surname originates from the Bulgarian word for ‘iron’), the first ever female filmmaker in the country and one of the few active women directors globally in the 1950s, whose unconventional work is characterized by her individual artistic style and her bravery in questioning her era’s ideology. The festival will present the first six of her seven features, plus two documentaries. Although all her films were completed between 1957 and 1988 in communist Bulgaria, their obvious parallels with Italian neorealism and the French New Wave, mature cinematic language and free spirit make them universally relevant, and one could hardly guess they were born within a totalitarian regime. Yet they remain unfamiliar outside the specialised film circuit; as Mark Cousins asks in his documentary series Women Make Film after elaborating on her work, ‘Why is Binka Zhelyazkova’s name not known to all movie lovers?’”

Ji.hlava IDFF Opening Film, Masterclasses & Juries Announced
Announced via press release: “Flowers Are Not Silent about contemporary Belarus to open the 25th Ji.hlava. Oliver Stone, Vitaly Mansky and Flatform will have masterclasses. The 25th annual Ji.hlava IDFF is only five days away! The festival will open with When Flowers Are Not Silent by Belarusian director Andrei Kutsila that captured the brutal suppression of demonstrations against last year’s rigged presidential election in Belarus. This year’s Contribution to World Cinema Award will be presented to Czech director Jana Ševčíková. The Masterclass section will host American director Oliver Stone and Russian filmmaker Vitaly Mansky. Ji.hlava’s Awards will be given a new look by Federico Díaz, a prominent Czech artist with Argentinean roots.”

Hot Docs Awards Over $300,000 CDN in Funds to 16 Projects
Nick Cunningham reports at Business Doc Europe: “Hot Docs and the Panicaro Foundation announced 20 October $80,000 CDN in CrossCurrents Doc Funding to four international projects, and with R&M Lang Foundation its support of two films ($15,000 CDN total) via the CrossCurrents International Doc Fund. Ten Canadian projects receive development and production grants totaling $245,000 from the CrossCurrents Canada Doc Fund, established with the support of Netflix. Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and the Panicaro Foundation announced October 20 that four doc projects have received a total of $80,000 CDN in funding from the CrossCurrents Doc Fund International/Theatrical Stream. The selected films are: Concrete Land (dir: Asmahan Bkerat, Jordan), Out of Place (dir: Mohammed Al Majdalawi, Sweden), There Was, There Was Not (dir: Emily Mkrtichian, Armenia), and A Woman’s Path (dir: Marjan Khosravi, Iran, Germany).”

An Interview with DOK Leipzig Director Christoph Terhechte
Nick Cunningham spoke with Terhechte for Business Doc Europe: “DOK Leipzig director Christoph Terhechte is pretty much delighted that docs are back in cinemas and on the big screen where they belong, away from all the distractions of the living room, such as texts that have to be read, coffee that has to be made, knocks on the front door that have to be answered. ‘I don’t think cinema and multitasking are compatible,’ he confides to Business Doc Europe. During the two-pronged docfest a total of some 170 films and XR works from 44 countries (doc and animation), including 37 world and 13 international premieres, will be screened to audiences at nine different venues across Leipzig November 25-31. Then the event goes online as 70 works are made available for streaming Nov 1-14. Films such as Diana El-Jeiroudi’s Republic of Silence (International Competition) will be reserved for exclusively for big screen presentation (a restriction that also includes industry and press online). ‘I don’t think you can focus on a film like that in front of your computer screen or TV as well as you can in the cinema,’ says Terhechte. ‘You just have to forget everything else, sit down with other people and let it float.’"

MISCELLANEOUS
 

Flee is More Than Just a Refugee Story
Jack King spoke with director Jonas Poher Rasmussen about his new film for Huck Magazine: “Amid the ever-intensifying campaign waged against asylum seekers by the Home Office, and the prevalence of dehumanising narratives surrounding refugees spread by politicians and the media, Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee probably couldn’t have arrived at a better time. Last week it played at the London Film Festival – one of its myriad stops ahead of a promising awards season. Boiled down to an attractive marketing logline, one might describe it as “a story of refugees escaping war-torn Afghanistan,” or “a true tale of asylum seekers with burning contemporary resonance”. Both would be technically true, but they are only constituent elements of a much broader mosaic. At the centre of the true story is Amin Nawabi (a pseudonym), with the film broadly covering his adolescence as he, yes, escapes Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal in the late ‘80s. But it’s also about family, friendship, sexuality, and the callous effects grander geopolitics can have on innocent individuals. Most strikingly, Amin reveals his deepest secret: that the story he had lived by up to this point was in some way fictional, given to him by human traffickers.”

Film editing – Classical or Non-linear?
Truls Lie writes for Modern Times Review: “The Danish film editor Niels Pagh Andersen (1958–) reflects in his new book, Order in Chaos – Storytelling and Editing in Documentary Film, on his 40 working years that have passed. When he was fifteen, he started loving film, doing everything to become an editor, then became successfull with fiction films, followed by a personal downfall. Like a classical film narrative – he raised himself again from the bottom surrounded by beer bottles – finding the magic again in documentaries. As he describes in his book, which is as much about film editing as about life itself, people are longing to understand the world and ourselves. Pagh Andersen is today a master of editing. With 250 films behind him, he also became a professor, teaching at the Norwegian Film School – which (together with others) supported this book. Order in Chaos is also made as an e-book with video interviews of eight directors and extracts of the film he edited with them.”

How The Rescue Re-enacted the Thai Cave Rescue With the Divers Who Lived It
Chris Lee reports for Vulture: “The National Geographic documentary The Rescue pulls off something almost as far-fetched as its subject matter. It turns a story whose outcome is instantly familiar — the search-and-rescue mission to recover 12 young soccer players and their coach who became trapped in a flooded labyrinth of caves in northern Thailand in 2018 — into a white-knuckle viewing experience filled with unexpected twists, heartrending drama, and suspense. Directed by the husband-and-wife duo E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, The Rescue debuted at the Telluride Film Festival early last month, picked up the People’s Choice Documentary award at the Toronto International Film Festival a few days later, and reached theaters last Friday as an Oscars front-runner. But the NatGeo feature is also notable as the first of several high-profile, Western-backed Thai-cave-rescue projects heading down the production pipeline.”