Janet Pierson is the new Producer of the SXSW Film Festival and Conference. But she?s had a long career championing filmmakers in a variety of roles, (e.g. Assistant Director  of NYC's Film Forum, Producer's Rep with husband John Pierson, Producer of Cold Spring Film Workshop, co-creator, executive producer, and segment director of IFC-tv cable series, Split Screen, not to mention appearing in Steve James? documentary Reel Paradise.
   
She answers our call for doc picks with the following:
      
I'm thrilled to be going to TIFF this year.  While it may be surprising since I've worked in independent film for so many decades, I haven't actually been to TIFF since 1991.  I'm looking forward to so much, including the new work by Spike Lee, Richard Linklater and Kevin Smith.  On the doc side, if I must narrow it to three, I'm particularly interested in:
   
Blood Trail - which I had the good fortune to catch  at BritDocs in July.  It's  a subject of great interest to me - the real story of journalists and photojournalists covering war on the frontlines.  Blood Trail not only gets us intimately and authentically close, it examines the nature of the game, and shows how access and coverage have changed over the last 15 years.  Fascinating and moving.
   
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 (pictured above right):  I was privileged to work on the NY opening of Atomic Cafe, and Rafferty's Feed remains one of my all-time favorite docs.  But that's only part of the allure as I now live in TX where I get the holiness of  Tommy Lee Jones and football.  And not that any of those personal connections matter, I love too, the way the film uses an unexpected lens to explore a tumultous time, place, and people, that still has great resonance today.

Waltz with Bashir:  the word from Cannes completely piqued my interest.