How to Get a Film Grant
Edet Belzberg explains the ins and outs of applying for grant funding for a documentary film.Read More
Documentary
Ken Burns: Why Everyone Is Not a Filmmaker
The digital revolution has made filmmaking technologies available to the masses. But the idea that it makes us all artists, says Ken Burns, is “bullshit.”Read More
“Drew: The Man Behind The Poster” – Trailer
“Drew: The Man Behind The Poster” is a feature-length documentary film highlighting the career of poster artist Drew Struzan, who’s most popular works include the “Indiana Jones,” “Back to the Future” and “Star Wars” movie posters. Read More
Dario Argento An Eye for Horror
Brilliantly mixing gore, vivid colors, and twisting stories filled with black-gloved murderers and dashes of the supernatural, Dario Argento’s films have combined the best of horror and art house cinema.Read More
“Spin” Footage you were never supposed to see.
Filmmaker Brian Springer spent a year scouring the airwaves with a satellite dish grabbing back channel news feeds not intended for public consumption. The result of his research is SPIN, one of the most insightful films ever made about the mechanics of how television is used as a tool of social control to distort and limit the American public’s perception of reality.Read More
The Godfather and the Mob
Originally airing on England’s Channel 4 TV, The Godfather And The Mob reveals the true life story of murder, mafia and mayhem that occurred behind the scenes of the most iconic gangster film ever made. When plans were revealed to turn Mario Puzo’s bestselling novel into a film, the mafia claimed The Godfather to be anti-American-Italian and attempted to stop the film being made.Read More
Planning an Unscripted Documentary
How do you make a documentary when you have no script? I was faced with this problem when I shot my first unscripted documentary for a class in documentary filmmaking. We had the assignment of making an 8-12 minute unscripted documentary. I started by visiting a friend’s farm and shooting some footage. I quickly filled up 3 one-hour tapes.Read More
‘Babies’ Documentary Trailer
French director Thomas Balmès simultaneously follows four babies around the world from birth to first steps. The children are, respectively, in order of on-screen introduction: Ponijao, who lives with her family near Opuwo, Namibia; Bayarjargal, who resides with his family in Mongolia, near Bayanchandmani; Mari, who lives with her family in Tokyo, Japan; and Hattie, Read MoreRead More
Fair Use for Documentaries
By Jon M. Garon Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, PC For documentary filmmakers to accurately depict their stories, they invariably need to rely on copyright’s fair use provisions significantly more than other filmmakers. This is particularly true if the documentary focuses on literary or visual works or incorporates copyrighted materials as background content, although the situations Read MoreRead More
Documentaries and Films Based on True Life Stories
By Jon M. Garon Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, PC Despite the short-term glut in the market, documentaries have become an increasingly important part of the film industry as well as tools of public discourse. Since documentaries only rarely receive national theatrical distribution, audiences do not treat nontheatrical distribution as an aesthetic judgment against the film. Read MoreRead More
The Special Effects of Karel Zeman
Documentary on Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman’s incredible special effects. Part 1 Part 2 Karel Zeman (November 3, 1910, Ostrom?? near Nová Paka, then Austria-Hungary – April 5, 1989, Prague, then Czechoslovakia) was a Czech animator and filmmaker. He is considered the co-founder of the Czech animated film. He started to be interested in puppet theatre Read MoreRead More
Trailer: Anvil! The Story of Anvil
It is by turns side-splittingly funny, tragic, upsetting, stupid, side-splittingly funny, touching, poignant, beautiful, life-affirming, side-splittingly funny and above all, brilliant. At 14, Toronto school friends Steve “Lips” Kudlow and Robb Reiner made a pact to rock together forever. Their band, Anvil, went on to become the “demigods of Canadian metal,” releasing one of the Read MoreRead More