Archive for January, 2007
Two international charities have released a 10 min. documentary on Darfur in an effort to raise awareness about the continuing humanitarian crisis, and to show the difficulties that locals face in dealing with the trauma incurred by the war. The charities - Action by Churches Together (ACT) and Caritas - produced the film as part of a joint Darfur relief and development programme.
As is well known, human rights NGOs and international organisations are increasingly turning to the documentary format to get their messages to wider publics. The UN documentary catalogue includes over a hundred films in active distribution, and many of the films produced by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs have been made available online. Just on Darfur, over a thousand independent clips have been uploaded to Google Video.
CNN International has acquired 25 documentaries from the London-based independent distributor Journeyman Pictures. The half-hour documentaries will air as part of a new programme “World’s Untold Stories”, starting on February 16.
The freshly acquired films include ”The Very Thin Blue Line,” focusing on an Iraqi police training camp in Jordan, as well as “Road to Terrorism,” examining Jihadist networks in the Philippines. Founded by independent producer Mark Stucke, Journeyman Pictures markets a range of film types, including those made by major independent production companies. After having built up one of the largest actuality archives, Journeyman’s films are broadcast to an estimated 10 million people around the world.
The jury and audience award-winners of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival were announced last night (January 28) in Park City, Utah. Here are the results in the documentary category.
The Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was given to “Manda Bala” (“Send a bullet”), directed by Jason Kohn. In Brazil, known as one of the world’s most corrupt and violent countries, “Manda Bala” follows a politician who uses a frog farm to steal billions of dollars, a wealthy businessman who spends a small fortune bullet-proofing his cars, and a plastic surgeon who reconstructs the ears of mutilated kidnapping victims.
The World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary was given to “Enemies of Happiness”, directed by Eva Mulvad and Anja Al Erhayem (Denmark). The film follows Malalai Joya, a 28-year-old Afghani woman, as she redefines the role of women and elected officials with her historic 2005 victory in Afghanistan’s first democratic election in over 30 years.
Continue reading ‘2007 Sundance winners announced’
A new Canadian production is underway on the plight of Irish refugees escaping the 1847 famine, many of whom died shortly after arriving in Canada on crowded and unsanitary ships.
The arrival of more than 38,000 famine migrants was a major historical event for Toronto which only had about 20,000 residents at the time. A recent archeological dig has shed more light on the fate of the migrants, uncovering remains of the hospital where over 1000 of them died.
Continue reading ‘Canadian filmmaker on history of Irish famine migrants’
The filmmakers behind the cult internet documentary, “Loose Change” are re-editing the film in the hope of getting a distribution deal by September 11, 2007. By now, the film has become the foundation of the post-9/11 “Truth Movement” in the US, which is assembling convincing evidence to detroy the US government’s official version of the truth.
Today, the Guardian runs an interesting article about the story of the film, taking us into the Catskill Mountains in Oneonta, four hours North of Manhattan, to meet the makers of the film (whose average age is still around 22). So far, the film has been viewed over 4 million times on the internet; shown on television to up to 50 million people in 12 countries; and a 100,000 DVDs have been sold.
Watch the film on the web: Googe Video - Loose change (55 min.) or buy the DVD from the filmmakers.
Related posts: “Loose change - 9/11 documentary update”, July 20, 2006
“Deliver Us From Evil” exposes paedophilia and corruption at the Catholic church through the story of “Father” Oliver O’Grady, whose abusive behaviour in the 1970s was covered up by the Church. Directed by Amy Berg, the film has been nominated for an Oscar and has been picked up by Lions Gate distribution.
Former Roman Catholic priest Oliver O’Grady was convicted in 1993 on four counts of lewd and lascivious acts on minors. During the film, O’Grady details how he preyed on children, how the Diocese of Stockton, California, knew about the abuse, and how church officials covered up his case for two decades by moving him from parish to parish.
“I want to promise myself this is going to be the most honest confession of my life,” O’Grady says in the film. “And in doing that, I need to make a long journey back, understanding what I did and to acknowledge that. And in some ways make reparations for that.” The filming of O’Grady takes place in Dublin, Ireland, where he is now a free man after serving seven years in prison.
Continue reading ‘Church paedophilia film gets Oscar nomination’
Sony Pictures Classics has picked up worldwide rights to “My Kid Could Paint That”, a Sundance documentary featuring the story of controversial child genius, Marla Olmstead. Following comparisons to Jackson Pollock and Wassily Kandinsky, Marla sold over $300,000 worth of abstract paintings. All this when she was only 4-years old.
Amir Bar-Lev, a Manhattan-based documentary film maker, covers her rise to fame and the controversy that surrounds child prodigies and the making of US celebrities. The film has been described as a mix of doc ethics, art politics and family drama, in which the authencity of the artist is drawn into question by skeptical journalists — including the filmmaker himself.
Check out Marla Olmstead’s paintings at her gallery
Continue reading ‘Sony Pictures picks up child artist documentary’
