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If speaks with CEO/managing director of boutique international distributor Limonero Films, Pamela Martinez, and Women Make Movies exefcutive director Debra Zimmerman about the state of the sector heading into this year's Australian International Documentary Conference.

The post ‘It is a very, very difficult time’: Aidc decision makers on the international challenges facing documentary appeared first on If Magazine.

“It’s very scary.”

In separate interviews, three veteran nonprofit executives used the same phrase to describe the future of public media in the United States under the next Trump Administration. While agencies are currently funded through 2025, the attacks are fierce.

The GOP Is Out for Blood

In April, president-elect Donald Trump called National Public Radio (NPR) “a liberal disinformation machine” and vowed to never give it a penny while Congressman Scott Perry (R-pa) introduced the “No Propaganda Act,” a bill that aims to prohibit federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (Cpb). Senator Ted Cruz (R-tx) called the Cpb “complicit in perpetuating political bias.”

Three weeks ago, Department of Government Efficiency co-heads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy joined the fray, calling for an end to federal funding to the Cpb in the Wall Street Journal.

This isn’t new, of course.

Conservative politicians have tried to destroy public...

Exclusive: New York-based Women Make Movies has acquired U.S. rights for Palestinian Oscar entry Bye Bye Tiberias by Lina Soualem.

The intimate work sees Soualem accompany her Palestinian-French actress mother Hiam Abbass back to the Arab village within Israeli borders, which she left in the 1980s to pursue her acting career in Europe.

There, they reflect on her past as well as the lives of Abbass’ mother and grandmother in a powerful work exploring themes of displacement, identity and survival across four generations of women.

Wmm executive director Debra Zimmerman said the film was a “perfect fit” for the label, which aims to put spotlight on the work of female filmmakers.

“It is a beautiful film about four generations of Palestinian women,” she said. “I am thrilled that we have the opportunity to have this film seen widely right now by the diverse audiences that need and deserve to see it.

Miia Tervo’s “The Missile,” an absurdist dramatic comedy based on the real-life story of a Soviet missile landing in Finnish Lapland in 1984, took home the top prize Thursday at the Finnish Film Affair, an annual industry event running parallel to the Helsinki International Film Festival — Love & Anarchy.

“The Missile” was one of five fiction feature works in progress that were pitched to an audience of industry guests in Helsinki on Sept. 21, during the Finnish Film Affair’s showcase of local and regional projects. The sophomore feature of Finnish director Tervo, known for the female-centered romantic comedy “Aurora,” the film is produced by Kaisla Viitala and Daniel Kuitunen of Helsinki-based Elokuvayhtiö Komeetta, with Stellar Film co-producing.

“The Missile” tells the empowering story of an abused single mother working at a small-town newspaper who gets drawn into the investigation surrounding the missile crash, which upends life in a small northern village.

The Helsinki showcase has become a must-attend event for the Nordic industry.

Miia Tervo’s absurdist comedy drama The Missile walked away with the €3,000 prize for the best fiction project award at Finland’s Finnish Film Affair, which draws to a close today (September 22) in Helsinki.

The Missile is now in post-production. It is set in 1984 in Finnish Lapland, where a single mother of two children is trying to get over her violent ex-husband. She finds herself working at a local newspaper, as reports come in that a Soviet Union missile has shot across the Finnish border.

The project is...

New projects from Jenni Toivoniemi, Jon Blåhed, Erol Mintaş and Ester Martin Bergsmark are among selection

The Finnish Film Affair (Ffa), Helsinki International Film Festival’s industry strand, has unveiled the line-up for its market showcase of Nordic films and Finnish series running September 20-22.

Among the 31 projects selected is Jenni Toivoniemi’s comedy Butterflies, the director’s second feature after Games People Play which was also presented at the Ffa.

Also being showcased is Jon Blåhed’s new feature Raptures; Erol Mintaş’ Earth Song; Ester Martin Bergsmark’s Land Of Ferns; and Marika Harjusaari’s The Mire from the producer of Hatching.

“It’s the place to be for non-fiction,” as one attendee put it.

A high-quality Dox:Award competition is augmenting Cph:dox’s position as the go-to documentary event of the season according to industry attendees, as its 2023 edition came to a close this weekend.

“With some festivals becoming more cutting-edge politically and artistically, we do need a place we can distribute titles, where there is a demand for the best programmes for existing and new audiences,” said Esther van Messel, founder and CEO at Swiss production, sales and distribution company First Hand Films, who said the event is ”gearing up to...

14 projects from four continents received prizes in Pitching du Réel, Rough Cut Lab and Docs in Progress, and three shorts in the Opening Scenes section were awarded by Idfa, Tënk and Slon. The Industry section of the 51st Visions du Réel, which took place online from 25-30 April, has announced its award winners. The Industry jury, comprising Vincenzo Bugno, head of the Berlinale World Cinema Fund, Debra Zimmerman, executive director of Women Make Movies, and filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa, gave out seven prizes in the Pitching du Réel segment and another three in Docs in Progress. The Party Film Sales Award, consisting of the acquisition of international rights for a documentary film, went to the French-Russian co-production Paradise by Alexander Abaturov. Norwegian filmmakers Petter Aaberg and Sverre Kvamme received the Rts Award for Nightcrawlers, which means their film will be pre-sold to Swiss Radio Television. Argentinian actress-writer-director Lola Arias received.

Eurimages Award goes to ’Four Brothers’ directed by Belgium’s Pieter-Jan de Pue.

Greta Vs Climate, a film about teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg, was one of the hottest projects pitched at Danish documentary festival Cph:dox’s Forum event this week.

The Forum team had invited Swedish director Nathan Grossman and producer Fredrik Heining of B-Reel to pitch the film several months ago, and it became even more topical on March 14 when Thunberg, 15, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Greta Vs Climate is already backed by the Swedish Film Institute and Svt.

Other projects stirring a lot of...

Doc NYC Artistic Director Thom Powers Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

James Crump's Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco is the Grand Jury Prize Metropolis Competition winner and The Stranger, directed by Nicole N Horanyi, tops the Viewfinders Competition in the 2017 Doc NYC juried feature programs.

Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco poster

Statement from Metropolis jurors Andrew Rossi (The First Monday In May, Bronx Gothic), Art Basel film programmer Marian Masone and Nantucket Film Festival executive director Mystelle Brabbée: "For rescuing a vital figure in the fashion industry from the background of New York in the 1970s, when the joy and diversity of a new creative vision helped the city emerge from darkness, the Metropolis jury awards Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco by filmmaker James Crump."

Statement from Viewfinders jurors Doug Block (The Kids Grow Up, 51 Birch Street), Vox film critic Alissa Wilkinson and Women Make Movies executive...

Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.

Lineup Announcements

– Montclair Film has announced the full program for the 6th annual Montclair Film Festival (Mff), taking place April 28 – May 7, 2017 in Montclair, NJ and featuring over 150 films, events, discussions, and parties, with over 150 filmmakers and industry guests attending. Highlights include “Casting JonBenet,” “Strong Island,” “Lady Macbeth,” “Menashe” and “Beach Rats.”

“This year, we have been fortunate to find filmmakers who are making work that gives depth and shape to the vital conversations of our time,” said Montclair Film Executive Director Tom Hall. “The festival is an opportunity for bringing audiences together with these incredible artists, so that, together, we can enjoy and engage with the images, ideas, and insights that are illuminated in these wonderful films.” Check out the full lineup right here.

– The Film Society...

What:

A panel discussion on ‘The Art of Capturing Reality- Documentary’. Anjali Monterio in conversation with Debra Zimmerman, Surabhi Sharma, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur & Patrick Shen.

When:

17th January, 2014.

4.30pm – 6.30pm, followed by tea & networking.

Entry:

Free

Venue:

Conference Hall,

St. Andrews College,

St. Dominic Street,

Bandra West, Mumbai: 400050

About the event:

Participating will be Debra Zimmerman, a U.S. film expert and Executive Director of the non-profit group Women Make Movies; PatrickShen, a multiple award-winning U.S. filmmaker; filmmaker Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Celluloid Man; and Surabhi Sharma (Bidesia in Bambai). Anjali Monteiro (Professor and Dean, School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences) will moderate.

Late as usual. People are attending Mipcom in Cannes and in November Afm in Santa Monica, and I’m only now getting around to writing about my own private Toronto. I chose films I would not be able to see soon in a theater near me and I chose films because my schedule permitted me to see them. Occasionally I chose films my friends were going to and that happened when my time was not demanding other things be done.

I wish I could have seen 100 other films too but for some reason or another I could not fit them in.

I moderated a wonderful panel (and we did blog on that!) on international film financing with Sffs’ Ted Hope, UTA’s Rena Ronson, Revolution’s Andrew Eaton, and Hollywood-based Cross Creek’s Brian Oliver, and Paul Miller, Head of Film Financing, from the Doha Film Institute, Qatar's first international organization dedicated to film financing, production, education and two film festivals.

I also spoke with Toronto Talent Lab filmmakers and then I filled my days with films – I did get an interview with Gloria’s director Sebastian Lelio and Berlin Best Actress winner Paulina Garcia and with Marcela Said, director of The Summer of Flying Fish but mostly I watched film after film after film – up to five a day, just like in the old days when I had to do it for my acquisitions jobs. This was pure pleasure. Friends would meet before the film, we would watch and disperse. And we would meet again at the cocktail hour or the dinner hour and then disperse again.

My partner Peter had lots of meetings with the Talent of Toronto from the Not Short on Shorts and the Talent Lab Mentoring Programs.

Parties like the Rotterdam-Screen International party gave us the chance to catch up with our Dutch friends whom we have not seen for the last two years. Ontario Media Development Corporation’s presenting the International Financing Forum luncheon gave us the chance to talk to lots of upcoming filmmakers and old friends again who were mentoring them. The panel Forty Years On: Women’s Film Festivals Today, moderated by Kay Armatage, former Tiff programmer, Professor Emeritus University of Toronto, and featuring Debra Zimmerman, Executive Director of Women Make Movies, NYC, Melissa Silverstein, Do-Fojnder an dArtistic Director of the Athena Film Festival in NYC and blogger of Women in Hollywood, So-In Hong, Director of Programming of the International Women’s Film Festival in Seoul had a rapport and didn’t hesitate to challenge each other. It felt like a party even though the subject was quite serious. The SXSW party was crowded as always, filled with everyone we could possibly know. It is always a great party we all want to attend.

One of the great dinners was that of The Creative Coalition Spotlight Awards Dinner honoring Alfre Woodard (12 Years a Slave), Hill Harper (1982, CSI: NY), Sharon Leal (1982), Matt Letscher (Scandal, The Carrie Diaries), Brenton Thwaites (Oculus, Maleficient), Tommy Oliver (1982, Kinyarwanda – I am a great fan of Tommy’s!), Tom Ortenberg (CEO, Open Road Films which has a coventure with Regal Theaters and AMC Theaters recently acquired by the richest man in China), and David Arquette (The Scream series). Our hostess, Robin Bronk is so welcoming and so dedicated to furthering the cause of universal education as a human right, education in the arts as a must. I admire her presence and her good work.

Here is a list of the great (and not so great, but never bad) films I got to see. I also list those I continue to hear about even now. I do not list all the films which were picked up during the festival and later. For that, you can go to SydneysBuzz.com and buy the Fall Rights Roundup 2013 and see all films whose rights were acquired (and announced) and by whom with links to all companies and Cinando for further research. For buyers it will, by deduction, show what is still available for Afm and for programmers, it will show who is in charge of the film for specific territories. The second edition will be issued two weeks after Afm.

One of the first films I saw and still retaining its place as one of my favorites was the documentary Finding Vivian Maier which begins with the discovery of photographs by an unknown woman named Vivian Maier by filmmaker John Maloof. As the mystery of this woman is uncovered, the audience is treated to her stunning work and the story of who she was.

One of my favorite films was by one of my favorite directors, Lucas Moodyson. We Are The Best (Isa: Trust Nordisk) was a great surprise, the story of three teeny-bopper punk-influenced girls who loved getting into unusual situations. It was loving and fun, darling and funny. I would take my children to see it and would delight in seeing it again. It was the biggest surprise for me. I can see why Magnolia snapped it up for the U.S. I thank programmer Steve Gravenstock for giving me the ticket for this film which I would have missed otherwise.

I had missed Jodorowsky’s Dune in Cannes. I am a great fan of El Topo and was eager to see this film. I was surprised at the elegance and skill of Jodorowsky in explaining his vision. Afterward, Gary Springer, our favorite publicist, arranged a wonderful reception at a classic comic book store where we loaded up on some fascinating graphic novels and Gary showed us his depiction on an old issue of Mad Magazine discussing the making of Jaws which he was in. picture here.

A totally unique and unexpected film about the African Diaspora, Belle, written and directed by Amma Asante was not talked about much to my surprise, perhaps because Fox Searchlight acquired all rights worldwide from Bankside before the festival. It is a stunningly beautiful British period piece of the 18th century about a mixed race aristocratic beauty.

My favorite film, on a par with The Patience Stone last year was Bobo (Isa: Wide) by Ines Oliveira starring Paula Garcia Aissato Indjai, produced by my friend Fernando Vendrell who gave me a ticket when I could not get one myself. This story of a woman who does nothing except go to work is forced to accept a claning woman and her young sister from Guinea-Bissau. Together they face down their demons. I love the cross-cultural understanding which results in their shared situations. I recently saw Mother of George and found the same warm connection across great cultural divides, though this one was of generations.

I wish I could have seen Pays Barbare/ Barbaric Land, the Italian/ French doc in Wavelengths about Mussolini’s attempted subjugation of Ethiopia (the only country in Africa never colonized). It sounds like great political poetry.

1982 which had previously won the prize of the jury I served on for Us Works in Progress held in July at the Champs Elysees Film Festival in Paris. It was deeply moving and disturbing film which depicts the shattering and the healing of a family. It also helps feed the pipeline begun with Lee Daniels producing Monster’s Ball who went on to direct to such films as Precious and The Butler. If the African American experience can continue to be expressed so eloquently by such filmmakers as Tommy Oliver, Rashaad Ernesto Green (Sundance 2012’s Gun Hill Road), Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere), then a film literate audience will foster greater growth of even more talent in the coming generation. While I didn’t see All Is By My Side by U.K.’s John Ridley which is about Jimi Hendrix nor (yet!) the most highly acclaimed film of the festival, 12 Years a Slave by U.K.’s Steve McQueen, but I would include them in this discussion of the African American Experience.

On the subject of Africa, where last Sundance God Loves Uganda shocked and upset me, this year Mission Congo (Cinephil) revealed much of the same cultural divide only these two films show the negative impact of the Christian right upon already besieged Africans. What is done in the name of a righteous G-d is cause for dialogue and oversight.

Israel and the Middle East

No major turmoil or denunciations this year (Thank G-d, Allah, or whoever She may be). Katriel Schory, head of the Israeli Film Fund told me that if I could only see one film, then it should be Bethlehem which is the country’s submission for Academy Award Consideration for the Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It was a sad and clear eyed microcosmic view of the issues of trust and betrayals played out among every level of the society. People compared it to Omar by Hany Abu-Assad,the filmmaker of a favorite of mine, Paradise Now, but I did not see Omar.

Rags and Tatters at first seemed like a documentary, and does have doc footage, but it is a circular story that ends where it began but with much more understanding of the chaotic events in Cairo. Really worth watching.

Latino

Of the Latino films two Chilean films, Gloria (Chile) and The Summer of Flying Fish (Review), were accompanied by interviews which you can read on my previous blogs here and here. El Mudo from Peru by the Vega brothers was in the odd vien of their previous film, October. Not sure at the end just what the film was saying…

Toronto Film Fest Programmer Diana Sanchez’s official count of Latino films in the festival is 16. Of these, 5 are by women; 30% is a strong number. Venezuela and Chile are strong with year with two films each. Two other films might have been chosen except they went to San Sebastian for their world premieres. Especially hot this year was Mexico. 4 films are here but she might have chosen 10 if she could have. Costa Rica is making a showing with All About the Feathers and Central America is making more movies. There is lots of industry buzz coming from the good pictures from Brazil like A Wolf at the Door from Sao Paolo production

She is not counting Gravity by Alfonso Cuaron as as Latino film but as a U.S. film.

And Our White Society

The Dinner (Isa: Media Luna) by Menno Meyjes ♀ (Isa: Media Luna), a Dutch film deals with the personal and political as two families disintegrate when the affluent sons kill a homeless woman. Deeply disturbing social issues on the other side of the spectrum from those of 1982 and yet very much the same. How a society can foster such dissonance in class structure today which results in the disintegration of family and even a nation’s political life is, as I said, deeply disturbing. Based on the N.Y. Times best selling book which sold over 650,000 in The Netherlands, and is published in 22 countries, it stars four of Holland’s most renowned actors, Jacob Derwig, Thekla Reuten, Daan Schuurmans, and Kim van Kooten. This is a story that could be remade in America and still maintain its strength. The writer-director Menno Meyjes wrote the Academy Award nominee The Color Purple and collaborated with director Steven Speilberg on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In 2008 he directed Manolete with Penelope Cruz and Adrien Brody.

The Last of Robin Hood was a romp which thrilled us because Peter Belsito, my own dear husband, had a moment on screen (as the director of Errol Flynn’s last film Cuban Rebel Girls). He got the part because he had had an equally small role in the original Cuban Rebel Girls when it filmed in Cuba in 1959, four months after the Revolution. He happened to be there on vacation with his family including his 18 year old sister and his crazy aunt because Puerto Rico was full that year and Cuba had plenty of room. Directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland invited him to play in their film. The film actually had more meaning than merely a romp as it revealed what lays below the June-September love affair between Errol Flynn and 15 year old Beverly Aadland, the nature of fame (“a religion in this godless country” to quote Flynn himself) and ambition. Kevin Kline, Susan Sarandan and Dakota Fanning were all great in the repertoire piece.

Can a Song Save Your Life? garnered great praise as the film that followed the simple pure Once. I found it a bit flat though it kept my interest enough that I was not contemplating leaving. But it lacked the simplicity of Once.

Fading Gigolo proves that a Woody Allen Film is a Genre. John Turturro makes a Woody Allen middle-aged man fantasy of a wished for love affair with a Hasidic woman. Turturro is always lovable on screen, but his directing has something inauthentic about it…the only authentic thing was the twice-stated thought that somewhere in his heritage he was really Jewish. When I saw his previous film Passione, about Italians and passion, the opening song, being one of the first Cuban songs I ever heard, turned me off because again, it was inauthentic. It was Cuban, not Italian. I think he is not comfortable in his Italian guise.

Other films at Tiff I have seen previously:

Only Lovers Left Alive by Jim Jarmusch (Isa: HanWay, U.S. Spc). If you can see it as a dream of night, then the vampires dreaminess might appeal to you. I personally was ready to fall into my own stupor after watching this 123 minute movie of Vampires who have seen it all. Zzzzzz.

Don Jon is sexy and sweet. Scarlett Johansson is a superb comedienne, equal to Claudette Colbert in this film about two totally media mesmerized young lovers. ___ and his father are also great straight men. I loved this film, so funny and sweet and all about sex. Loved it!

Borgman Darkest humor, or is it humor? Creepy and definitely engrossing. Dutch filmmaker Alex van Warmerdam at his best. This is the Netherlands' Official Academy Awards Submission.

What I hear was good:

Aside from the ones that got snapped up for lots of money and are covered in all the trades already, there are films which I keep hearing about even now and will see:

Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon

12 Years a Slave (Isa: Summit, U.S. Fox Searchlight)

The Lunchbox (Isa: The Match Factory)

Prisoners (Isa: Summit/ Lionsgate, U.S.: Warner Bros)

Dallas Buyers Clubs (Isa: Voltage, U.S. Focus Features)

Life of Crime (Isa: Hyde Park, U.S.: )

A Touch of Sin (Isa: MK2, U.S. Kino Lorber)

Gravity (Isa: Warner Bros. U.S. Warner Bros.)

Enough Said (Isa: Fox Searchlight, U.S. Fox Searchlight)

La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) (Isa: Pathe, U.S. Criterion) Italy’s submission for Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film

Violette (Isa: Doc & Film, U.S.: ?)

Omar (Isa: The Match Factory, U.S.: ?)

Le Passe (The Past) (Isa: Memento, U.S. Spc) Iran’s submission for Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

To the Wolf (Isa: Pascale Ramonda)

The Selfish Giant (Isa: Protagonist, U.S. IFC)

At Berkeley by Frederick Wiseman (Isa: Doc & Film, U.S. Zipporah)

The Unknown Known (Isa: Entertainment One, U.S. Radius-twc)

Ain’t Misbehavin (Un Voyager) by Marcel Ophuls (Isa: Wide House)

Faith Connections by Pan Nalin (Isa: Cite Films). This Indian French film, produced by Raphael Berduo among others is written about here.

Civil Rights (?)

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

12 Years a Slave (Isa: Summit, U.S. Fox Searchlight)

Belle (Isa: Bankside, all rights sold to Fox Searchlight)

Lgbt

Kill Your Darlings: The youthful finding of himself by Alan Ginsburg as he enters Colombia University and meets Lucien Carr, Jack Kerouac and Alan Bourroughs revolves around a murder which actually happened. The period veracity and Daniel Radcliffe’s acting carry the film into a fascinating character study. (U.S. Spc)

Dallas Buyers Club (Isa: Voltage, U.S. Focus Features)

Tom a la ferme / Tom at the Farm by Xavier Dolan Isa: MK2, U.S.:)

L’Armee du salut/ Salvation Army by Abdellah Taia (Isa: - U.S.:-)

Eastern Boys (Isa: Films Distribution)

Pelo Malo/ Bad Hair (FiGa Films)

The Dog (Producer Rep: Submarine)

Ignasi M. (Isa: Latido)

Gerontophilia (Isa: MK2, U.S. Producer Rep: Filmoption)...

Still trying to get on track, I missed the Woodstock Film Festival Brunch because I had the wrong address for the New York Lounge which changed its venue after many years. Then it was too packed to get into, so I wandered up and down Main Street until the Creative Coalition Lunch.  I stopped in at the new Sundance Co-op where sponsors had some fun giveaways: L'Oreal was doing make-up and hair styling, Waldorf Hotel gave me some really nice gloves with Sundance logo and their own, Canada Goose took 4 photo booth pictures of me wearing their hat and jacket.

The Creative Coalition lunch began with cocktails where I saw Gael Garcia Bernal and thanked him for making Who is Dayani Cristal? which Indiewire has reviewed (see the link). However they changed venues as well and I did not much like the cocktail venue; it was crowded and felt more like a press work session than a social event.  The lunch started at 1pm and I had to make a 2:30pm screening so I was tense.  Two awards are given to inspirational teachers.  The first was not quite focussed though the audience very much enjoyed hearing Bill Pullman speak of his growing up; his advice was "don't take advice". The interview was a bit scattered and it was only at the end when Bill told the audience that his early acting teacher now has established a free theater (and school) in a small town far from the maddening crowd that I understood the teacher's true devotion.

Joey Lauren Adams, originally for North Little Rock, was much more inspiring. Her 8th grade drama teacher spoke of how Joey Lauren as a natural and when she enacted a scene, she showed the teacher herself something she had never understood to be a part of that scene before.  Joey Lauren herself told of how shocked she was to not make the cheerleader team as everyone she knew including her sister were cheer leaders.  Finding herself an outcast, she compensated by becoming an office monitor and felt important being able to issue hall passes (or not). She joined the Drama Club which was a venue for geeks, not cheerleaders, and her teacher opened her eyes to the world and to her own unique self and formed her desire to become an actress.  That was truly inspiring!

From the lunch I caught a bus and arrived in time for Inequality For All which is have blogged about immediately on leaving, so inspired was I. And besides, I was on the buss going to the next event - Ira Deutschman's Columbia party and the party for We Are What We Are where I got to sit and talk with Orly Ravid who is in law school and her partner Jeffrey Winter from The Film Collaborative. 

I sat next to Debra Zimmerman of Women Make Movies who helped me with my iPad while we caught up a little.  It was at the Bahamas Film Festival Junkaroo practice several years ago since we had any time together.  She is being honored everywhere for her 40 year old anniversary of Women Make Movies and invited me to their celebration here in Sundance.  We met again at the Ida/ ro*co party at the Kimball Art Center where she introduced me to her posse, Itvs folks and others.  Michael Donaldson, Lisa Callif and Chris Perez were all there from Donaldson Callif and we got time to catch up on them and their 11 films at Sundance (and 2 at Slamdance).  So many others celebrating documentaries, I cannot go through all the cards I collected.

Again I missed the Korean party I thought, but just realized that it is Monday.  So I returned to Prospector Square on the bus, found my lost glasses and walked to Eccles to find my car (free parking on Saturdays!) and drove home where Harlan and I reviewed our day and planned for tomorrow.

See you Day 4!

Toronto – Veteran film distributor Debra Zimmerman of New York City-based Women Make Movies is to receive the prestigious Doc Mogul Award at the upcoming Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. Zimmerman will be feted for supporting female doc makers since 1983, having made Women Make Movies as executive director the largest distributor of films by and about women. “During her tenure, Women Make Movies has helped hundreds of female filmmakers create and distribute game-changing, award-winning and mind-blowing films,” Hot Docs executive director Chris McDonald said in unveiling the Zimmerman tribute. Past winners of the

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Following Part One of our Hawaii International Film Festival coverage, we turn to the fest's China Night gala honoring Yue Sai-Kan, the Women Make Movies panel and Career Achievement Award recipient Koji Yakusho's take on the state of Japanese cinema. It's all below: Among Hiff's Creative Labs was Women Make Movies: The Future is Now, which in addition to celebrating Women Make Movies' 40th anniversary, had executive director Debra Zimmerman leading a panel with female filmmakers discussing their work and experiences, and offering advice to fellow women filmmakers. Here's eight key points: 1. Lisette Marie Flanary's ("One Voice," "American Aloha: Hula Beyond Hawaii") advice to filmmakers, "Be tenacious and passionate." She acknowledges it can take a long time to find confidence as a filmmaker, and stresses you must be in love with your idea and story (and prepared to spend many, many years with it). 2....

Just sharing some news of stuff I was involved in at Sheffield Doc/Fest... Alliance of Women Film Journalists names Debra Zimmerman “Ambassador of Women’s Films” at Sheffield Doc/Fest June 16, 2012 (Sheffield, UK) – On Friday evening, June 15th, at the Sheffield Doc/Fest, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists conferred a special Awfj Eda Award, “Amabassador of Women’s Films” to Debra Zimmerman, long-time Executive Director of New York-based Women Make Movies. The award was presented by Awfj President Jennifer Merin, along with Heather Croall, Director of Doc/Fest. Merin explained, “Since she took the helm of Women Make Movies in 1983, Debra Zimmerman has been a superbly effective advocate for women filmmakers, helping hundreds of them to make and distribute movies. She is a sought after speaker, and has mentored and inspired women across the globe. So, it is with great pleasure that the Board of Directors of the...

The Festival de Cannes, which began Wednesday night with a screening of Wes Anderson's new movie, "Moonrise Empire," should be a time for jubilation. But for advocates of gender parity in film, it has instead become an occasion for outrage.

Why? Because, as The Huffington Post noted a month ago, there are exactly zero woman-directed movies in competition at Cannes 2012. Since then, the disappointment has crystallized into action.

The movement began on the pages of French newspaper Le Monde, when French feminist group La Barbe published a satirical open letter accusing Cannes of sexism.

"Is it not enough for them to aspire to be mistress of ceremonies someday during the festival's opening night?" the letter facetiously asks.

Marie de Cenival, a co-founder of La Barbe, told The Huffington Post that her group had been working on the letter since 2010, the last time Cannes featured a womanless slate of directors.

The Tribeca Film Festival kicks off for the eleventh time starting Wednesday when "The Five-Year Engagement" premieres, and festival organizers have just announced the star-studded jury for this year's edition.

Thirty-nine celebrities -- of various levels of fame and awards kudos -- make up the six juries, with producer Irwin Winkler ("Goodfellas") serving a jury president.

Among those selected by Tribeca this year: Patricia Clarkson, Hugh Dancy, Rosario Dawson, Dakota Fanning, Kellan Lutz, Michael Moore and Olivia Wilde. Also on the list: Brett Ratner. The controversial big-budget director will serve on the Documentary and Student Short Film Competition jury along with Justin Bieber's manager Scooter Braun, Susan Sarandon and Shailene Woodley, among others.

“We are honored to have this accomplished group dedicate the time and care it takes to view and discuss the films in competition this year,” Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal said in a statement.

For...

It’s a star-studded list that includes some interesting, and surprising, names, which is just what you’d expect from the Tribeca Film Festival. The juries have been announced, and you could hardly got a more varied mix.

Juries Announced For 2012 Tribeca Film Festival And Tribeca Film Institute Programs

Academy Award-Winning Producer/Director Irwin Winkler To Serve as Jury President

Patricia Clarkson, Hugh Dancy, Rosario Dawson, Dakota Fanning, Whoopi Goldberg, Susannah Grant, Kellan Lutz, Michael Moore, Mike Newell, Brett Ratner, Susan Sarandon, Olivia Wilde, and Shailene Woodley are among the Jurors

The Tribeca Film Festival (Tff), presented by founding partner American Express, today announced its jurors – a diverse group of 39 individuals, including award-winning filmmakers, writers and producers, acclaimed actors, respected critics and global business leaders. Irwin Winkler has been named President of the Jury. The Jury will be divided among the six competitive Festival categories and will announce the winning films,...

Shailene Woodley, Brett Ratner, Susan Sarandon, Olivia Wilde, and EW’s own film critic Lisa Schwarzbaum are among the 39 jurors taking part in this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, which kicks off on Wednesday.

“We are honored to have this accomplished group dedicate the time and care it takes to view and discuss the films in competition this year,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of the Festival, in a statement.

The juries will award $175,000 in the six categories of World Narrative, World Documentary, Best New Narrative Director, Best New Documentary Director, Narrative Short Film Competition, and Documentary and Student Short Film Competition.

Producer Nekisa Cooper (Pariah) and the Ifp’s deputy director Amy Dotson joined Chicken & Egg Pictures in Park City to honor Wmm‘s Debra Zimmerman with the 2012 Good Egg Award.

Director Josh Radnor spoke about his film Liberal Arts, his experiences at Kenyon College, and David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest.

Sarah Barnett, the Evp of the Sundance Channel, and Nancy Klasky Gribler, the Evp of Marketing for Sundance Cinemas, caught up at the Sundance Channel’s party.

The cast of the new Sundance Channel television show, Push Girls.

The director (Leslye Headland, far left) and cast of Bachelorette in one of the more raucous Q&A portions I’ve witnessed. Apparently some of the cast members (Rebel Wilson) had a bit too much to drink before the screening, and were finding it difficult to focus on the questions being asked. That’s okay though because Wilson made her love and respect for Headland obvious,...

At one point in "Make Believe," the mother of the aspiring 17-year-old magician Krystyn Lambert describes her daughter as finding a home in magic since "it's a little world of oddballs." Ordinarily, Krystyn wouldn't fit the profile. Compared at one point to Britney Spears for a combination of looks and talent, the blonde from Malibu who serves as student council president at her high school wouldn't appear to be an outsider, but in fact she's clearly set apart in her drive.

J. Clay Tweel's documentary tries its best to suggest otherwise, but "Make Believe" isn't so much about a group of teenagers trying to find their way in the world as it is about the fact that they already know where they're going. As older magicians such as Lance Burton and Ed Alonzo (best remembered as the Max's resident illusionist on "Saved by the Bell") explain throughout its 90-minute running time,...

Idfa founder Ally Derks (center) hanging out with a group of her friends last week in Amsterdam at a party hosted by local distributors. Right to left: producer Joel Heller (“Winnebago Man”), producer Jess Search (“The Yes Men Fix the World”), Ally Derks, former Newfest head Basil Tsiokos, Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund director Ryan Harrington, Cleveland International Film Festival Artistic Director Bill Guentzler and Debra Zimmerman.

Of the 500 films archived in the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress, less than two dozen were directed by women. As I bemoaned this shameful statistic to everyone within earshot, my colleagues reminded me that very few women have ever written or directed a major Hollywood movie. They're right, of course. The situation for women who want to make movies is grim. Despite the fact that film schools graduate as many women as men, just 4% of Hollywood directors are women. That's roughly the same miniscule percentage of women archived in the National Film Registry. (You can help change that by voting below.) The movie business "is absolutely consistently more difficult for women from beginning to the end," said Debra Zimmerman, executive director of the nonprofit organization Women Make Movies. How difficult? Did you know that a woman has...

Philippe Lioret’s “Welcome” received the $100,000 grand prize for best dramatic feature at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis on Saturday.

Gabriel Noble’s “P-Star Rising” took the best documentary feature prize, while Dean Yamada’s “Bicycle” (Jitensha) earned the Vison Award for best short film.

Ed Catmull, president of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, was honored with the Pioneering Spirit Award.

Crystal Heart Awards were presented to Hilla Medalia’s "After the Storm”; "Bicycle" (Jitensha); Dag Hoel and Havard Bustnes’ "Big John"; Rene Bo Hanson's "The Eagle Hunter’s Son”; Gloria La Morte and Paola Mendoza's "Entre Nos"; Irene Taylor Brodsky's "The Final Inch”; Zvi Spielmann's "For My Father"; Melody George's "Marbles With Thoreau"; "P-Star Rising"; Debra Zimmerman's "Rough Aunties"; Greg Barker's "Sergio"; Omri Givon's "Seven Minutes in Heaven"; Christian Sonderby Jepsen's "Side by Side"; Jeremiah Crowell's "Small Collection"; and "Welcome.

What's turning me on this week? Women. Women filmmakers, to be exact. With the limp release of Drew Barrymore's Whip It, there's been an increase of chatter in my circles about lady directors. It's often highly difficult for me to enter into a discussion about women making movies, because the lion's share of cinephiles and critics that I spend my time with are men. No offense, guys. It's just that the conversation often devolves into cheap -- albeit funny -- pot-shots and cat calls about women in front of and behind the camera. I have no problem, on face, with these discussions. They're fun, funny, and occasionally enlightening. But what I really want, what I think would really be worth the breath, is an honest-to-goodness discussion on female filmmakers. Contemporary cinema would be flat without all types of voices, women's being among the most important. But often women aren't expected to be, or...