November 11, 2017

Highlights from Day Two at DOC NYC

Day two of DOC NYC featured films that dove headfirst into complicated family dynamics, the glamorous and cut-throat world of 1970’s fashion, and an in-depth chronicle of a Manhattan murder mystery. Director Errol Morris, recipient of this year’s DOC NYC Visionaries Award, again forges new ground with Wormwood, his six-part Netflix series that investigates the […]

November 11, 2017

On Finding the Style for the Story at DOC NYC Pro

  Written by Lisa Kovitz This DOC NYC PRO panel, moderated by the festival’s artistic director Thom Powers, featured two iconic documentary filmmakers, Bret Morgen of Jane and Errol Morris of The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography and Wormwood.  They were joined by newcomer Ceyda Torun, whose debut film Kedi, which follows nine Istanbul street […]

November 11, 2017

On Filmmakers Becoming Part of the Story at DOC NYC Pro

Written by Lisa Kovitz Three directors – Bryan Fogel of Icarus, Yance Ford of Strong Island, and Jeff Orlowski of Chasing Coral – told a DOC NYC PRO audience they did not originally intend to be a character in their films, but a variety of circumstances put each front and center. The panel, moderated by […]

November 11, 2017

Advice On Navigating Sensitive Relationships at DOC NYC PRO

  Written by Lisa Kovitz While people facing significantly challenging life situations is the stuff of compelling documentary, filmmakers are required to take an even more careful approach to their subjects and stories.  Directors Amanda Lipitz of Step, Dan Sickles of Dina, Heidi Ewing of One of Us and Peter Nicks of The Force told […]

November 11, 2017

Party Like a Doc Star!

  The hardest working filmmakers in documentary came out to play at DOC NYC’s Filmmaker Party on Friday, hosted by Netflix at Troy in New York City’s Meatpacking District.                 See more photos from the DOC NYC Filmmaker Party on Flickr

November 11, 2017

On The Art of Observation at DOC NYC Pro

  Written by Lisa Kovitz Directors Greg Barker and Laura Poitras, editor Matthew Hamachek, and producer Julie Goldman took to the stage at DOC NYC Pro Day 2 with a focus on observational filmmaking. The panel was moderated by Thom Powers, the Artistic Director of DOC NYC who framed the panel by noting that for […]

November 11, 2017

Morning Manifesto on Short List Day at DOC NYC PRO

Written by Lisa Kovitz WME Agent Liesl Copland has spent her career securing documentary financing, including running a nascent documentary unit called “Red Envelope” in the early days of Netflix.  At WME (recently rebranded as Endeavor Content), she works with passionate, top-level professionals in distribution, financing, and development. Copland outlined two key trends in the […]

November 10, 2017

Morning Manifesto on The State of Documentary at DOC NYC Pro

  Written by Megan Scanlon   Now in its 8th year, with over 250 films and special events, DOC NYC again lights up lower Manhattan with a shared buzz of excitement and camaraderie. As a nod to this, International Documentary Association (IDA) Executive Director Simon Kilmurry, in conversation with  DOC NYC Artistic Director Thom Powers, […]

November 10, 2017

Highlights from Opening Night at DOC NYC

  While there’s no shortage of bad news breaking at any given moment, documentary films give us the opportunity to explore and investigate critical cultural and political topics, celebrate important people, and look closer at the issues, stories, and ideas that shape our world. On Opening Night of DOC NYC’s eighth season, documentary lovers off […]

November 10, 2017

On Budgets, Funding, Grants, and More at DOC NYC Pro

  Written by Megan Scanlon Day 1 of DOC NYC Pro was chock full of resources, including tips on what most filmmakers would agree is the most pressing question in their journey to make a great documentary: How am I going to pay for this? On the panel to share their grant evaluation wisdom were […]