Doc Conference
Doc Conference is an in-depth series of panels and discussions about the current landscape for documentary production, financing and distribution.
This year’s sessions included:
Keynote Conversation: Nick Broomfield & Morgan Spurlock
Doc Conference kicks off with two directors known for bringing a sense of humor to their work. Nick Broomfield has a long career of pursuing high-profile figures, whether they cooperate or not, yielding films such as Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam; Kurt & Courtney; and his latest, Sarah Palin – You Betcha! Morgan Spurlock came to prominence with Super Size Me and has maintained a prolific career including this year's The Greatest Movie Ever Sold and Comic-Con: Episode IV – A Fan's Hope. This conversation, moderated by Festival doc programmer Thom Powers, will explore the process behind their crowd-pleasing works.
Short Docs; Big Exposure
Short documentaries are under-going a radical transformation in how they reach audiences via new initiatives on mobile devices, tablets and even old-fashioned TV. In this panel, we hear from three companies that are making short documentaries a key part of their business. Karol Martesko-Fenster of CINELAN talks about his company's work with leading directors on 3-minute films. Marc Schiller of The Economist Film Project talks about the esteemed magazine's partnership with PBS NewsHour. Beth Levison of Etsy talks about creating short profiles of artists.
How Films Can Change the World
New studies have recently come out looking at how films can make a dramatic impact on public awareness and behavioral change, drawing from the experiences of An Inconvenient Truth, End of the Line and Waiting For Superman. Peter Broderick, who has consulted with hundreds of filmmakers, will speak on what we can learn from these reports. He'll be joined by Diane Weyermann of Participant Media who will discuss her company's outreach behind films such as Food, Inc and Last Call at the Oasis. Joe Berlinger, who directed Paradise Lost 3 in collaboration with Bruce Sinofsky, will discuss how their work has raised awareness over a legal case and kept a man on death row from being executed. Diana Barrett will give an overview of her company, The Fledgling Fund, which supports innovative media projects that target entrenched social problems.
World Premiere from Lucy Walker - The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom
Lucy Walker, the Academy Award® nominated filmmaker of Waste Land and Blindsight (2006 Toronto International Film Festival), debuts her latest work, The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, a half-hour short filmed in Japan after the tsunami. Set against the back-drop of cherry blossom season, Walker interviews people seeking to rebuild their lives. Following the film, Walker will discuss its making.
Sneak Preview: Excerpts from To Tell the Truth
Veteran director David Van Taylor offers a sneak preview of To Tell the Truth: Documentary History Comes Alive, which will eventually become a six-part series, produced by his company Lumiere Productions. He will screen excerpts from the first two episodes – featuring icons like Leni Riefenstahl, Frank Capra and John Grierson as well as lesser-known pioneers like Leo Hurwitz and Carlton Moss – and will discuss the thorny issues documentarians confront, both then and now.
- David Van Taylor – Director, To Tell the Truth: Documentary History Comes Alive
- Mark Cousins – Director, The Story of Film: An Odyssey
- MODERATOR: Patricia Aufderheide, Professor, Film and Media Arts, School of Communication, American University
Keynote Conversation: Nick Broomfield & Morgan Spurlock
Nick Broomfield
Nick Broomfield was born in London and studied law at Cardiff University before attending England’s National Film School. His documentaries include Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer, Tracking Down Maggie, Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam, Kurt and Courtney, Biggie and Tupac and Sarah Palin. His first dramatic feature, Battle for Haditha, premiered at the Festival.
Morgan Spurlock
Morgan Spurlock was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and studied film at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He received worldwide acclaim for his Academy Award®-nominated debut Super Size Me. His other documentary features are Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?, Freakonomics, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold and Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope.
MODERATOR: Thom Powers
Thom Powers has been an International Documentary Programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival since 2006. He is also responsible for Mavericks, the Festival’s discussion series with cinema innovators.
Powers is the Artistic Director for the weekly documentary series, “Stranger than Fiction” at Manhattan’s IFC Center and for the DOC NYC festival in November. He also consults on programming for the Miami International Film Festival. He has directed documentaries for HBO and PBS; and is a founding member of the documentary production company Sugar Pictures. He teaches documentary courses at New York University’s School of Continuing Professional Studies and the School of Visual Arts.
He is a co-founder of the Cinema Eye Honors, an annual award for documentary excellence; and the Garrett Scott Development Grant.
He has served as a juror for Sundance, SXSW, CPH: DOX and DocAviv festivals; as well as the Emmy, IDA and Independent Spirit Awards. He has written extensively on documentary filmmaking for The Boston Globe, Real Screen, and Filmmaker Magazine.
Short Docs; Big Exposure
Beth Levison
Beth Levison is the Supervising Producer of video at Etsy.com, where she oversees the development, production, post, and programming of an eclectic range of documentary shorts. Published to the web on a weekly basis and running 3-5 minutes in length, the pieces reveal the people and processes behind the things we use and consume, and explore the social, cultural, and economic implications of how things are made. A longtime producer of documentary television for HBO (A Child’s Garden of Poetry, Classical Baby), PBS (e2: the economies of being environmentally conscious, EGG the arts show), and a host of other broadcasters, Levison is the recipient of three Peabodys, two national Emmys, and many other awards. She is currently directing/producing her first independent documentary film, Lemon, which will have its festival premiere this fall. She lives in New York City with her husband and two young boys.
Karol Martesko-Fenster
Karol Martesko-Fenster is an Austrian-born American entrepreneur. His career in the motion picture, broadcasting, publishing, and Internet business spans over two decades and includes leadership in the American independent film industry. Karol has provided strategic consulting services to numerous film and media ventures, produced 6 feature films and over 20 music television and satellite programs, and he co-founded indieWIRE.com, FILMMAKER Magazine, RES Magazine, and the media content enterprises Thought Engine, ConditionONE.com and CINELAN. Currently President, Film & Media for S2BN Entertainment Corporation, Karol was previously SVP&GM / Film & Animation at Babel Networks, Head of Film at Chris Blackwell's Palm Pictures, President of RES Media Group and President/Publisher of Silicon Alley Reporter. Karol is an executive producer on Phil Cox’s The Bengali Detective, James Allen Smith’s Floored, Danfung Dennis’ Hell and Back Again, and is collaborating with Harry Belafonte and Michael Cohl on Sing Your Song.
Marc Schiller
Marc Schiller is Founder and CEO of Electric Artists, an award winning digital strategy and marketing firm that has re-written the book on how entertainment companies and brands should approach marketing in the digital age. The company’s mission: To help its clients tap into the ever-evolving ways in which people communicate using new emerging technologies.
Marc consults on marketing strategy for a range of independent film projects that include: Asif Kapadia’s box office smash: Senna, Banksy’s Academy Award® nominated film: Exit Through The Gift Shop, and partnered with The Economist to develop The Economist Film Project as well as an array of Fortune 500 clients.
Marc has been profiled in Advertising Age, BusinessWeek, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Billboard, Forbes, and many others. Marc is also a frequent featured speaker at esteemed universities including Yale Graduate School of Management and Kellogg Graduate School of Management as well as at numerous conferences held around the world.
MODERATOR: Julie Goldman
Julie founded Motto Pictures in 2009. She specializes in producing and executive producing feature documentaries by creatively developing films, securing financing and building distribution strategies.
Julie was nominated for the PGA Producer of the Year Award for Sergio and was a consultant on the Academy Award® winning The Cove. Julie recently produced Sundance Audience Award winner and IFC Films hit Buck. Other recent films include the acclaimed Koran By Heart and Better This World. Julie is currently in production on a slate of films, including Hungry in America, The Great Invisible, God Loves Uganda, and Gideon's Army.
Some of Julie’s earlier films include: In the Shadow of the Moon, Easy Riders Raging Bulls, Sketches of Frank Gehry, Devil's Playground, Black Sun, What Remains and Cat Dancers.
How Films Can Change the World
Joe Berlinger
Two-time Emmy and Peabody winner Joe Berlinger has been a leading voice in nonfiction film and television for two decades. Berlinger’s films include the landmark documentaries Brother's Keeper, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, a film that re-defined the rockumentary genre. Crude, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and won 22 awards, recently triggered a high-profile First Amendment battle with oil-giant Chevron.
Berlinger has created many hours of television, including the Emmy-winning 10 Days that Unexpectedly Changed America and the Emmy-nominated Gray Matter. He has directed and produced five seasons of the critically acclaimed Sundance Channel series Iconoclasts and directed/executive-produced the first season of Masterclass, a new series for the Oprah Winfrey Network. His numerous HBO productions include Addiction, Judgement Day and Virtual Corpse, and he has created series for VH1 and Court TV. His series The Wrong Man helped lead to the exoneration of Marty Tankleff, falsely imprisoned for 17 years for the killing of his parents. Berlinger Emmy-winning Paradise Lost series for HBO spawned a worldwide movement to free "The West Memphis Three" from wrongful murder convictions.
Diane Weyermann
As Executive Vice President, Documentary Films, Diane Weyermann is responsible for Participant Media’s documentary films.
Participant's documentaries include PAGE ONE: Inside The New York Times, Waiting for “Superman," Countdown to Zero, Food, Inc., CASINO JACK and the United States of Money, Standard Operating Procedure, Jimmy Carter Man From Plains, Darfur Now and An Inconvenient Truth (Oscar winner). Participant’s latest documentary is Last Call at the Oasis, premiering at 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.
Prior to joining Participant in October 2005, Weyermann was the Director of the Sundance Institute's Documentary Film Program. During her tenure at Sundance, she was responsible for the Sundance Documentary Fund, a program supporting documentary films dealing with contemporary human rights, social justice, civil liberties, and freedom of expression from around the world.
Before Sundance, Weyermann served as the Director of the Open Society Institute New York's Soros Documentary Fund and Arts and Culture Program.
Diana Barrett
Diana Barrett founded The Fledgling Fund in 2005 after a long career at Harvard University, where she taught in both the Harvard Business School and the School of Public Health. At Harvard Business School, she was a member of the Social Enterprise core group where she taught Business Leadership in the Social Sector as well as in various executive programs. Her areas of interest at Harvard included the use of public private partnerships for global poverty reduction and specifically, in addressing the social and personal burden of disease such as HIV/AIDS. She received both her Masters in Business Administration and her Doctorate in Business Administration from the Harvard Business School. The Fledgling Fund provides an opportunity to further those interests by focusing on innovative approaches to complex social issues including the use of media to ignite social change. In addition to leading The Fledgling Fund, Diana serves on the Boards of the International Center for Photography, the Institute for Philanthropy in the U.K., the Social Change Film Forum at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the Advisory Board of the Acumen Fund.
MODERATOR: Peter Broderick
A leading distribution strategist, Peter consults with filmmakers and media companies to develop strategies to maximize distribution, audiences, and revenues. He was previously President of Next Wave Films, which helped launch the careers of Christopher Nolan and other exceptionally talented filmmakers. Peter became one of the most influential advocates of digital moviemaking and is now focused on the revolution in film distribution. He has given keynotes and presentations in Amsterdam, Sydney, Toronto, Cannes, Berlin, and Sundance. With Scott Kirsner, Peter designed and presented Distribution U., a one-day crash course on the new rules of marketing and distribution. Peter is also a leading advocate of crowd funding and crowd sourcing. His seminal reports, Welcome to the New World of Distribution and Declaration of Independence are concise guides to the latest distribution strategies.
World Premiere from Lucy Walker - The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom
Lucy Walker
Lucy Walker is best known for directing four award-winning feature documentaries: Devil's Playground (which premiered at Sundance 2002), Blindsight (premiered Toronto 2006), Waste Land and Countdown To Zero (premiered Sundance 2010). In 2011, Lucy was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Documentary for directing Waste Land, which won over 30 other awards including the Audience Awards at Sundance and Berlin and the IDA’s Best Documentary Award. Recognition for Devil's Playground, about Amish teenagers, included nominations for three Emmys and an Independent Spirit Award. Blindsight won many festivals, including Berlin, and was also longlisted for the Academy Award®. Lucy grew up in London, England, and studied English at Oxford University, where she started out directing theatre before winning a Fulbright Scholarship to attend the MFA graduate film program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She was also a DJ and directed Nickelodeon’s Blue's Clues, for which she was twice nominated for an Emmy. This is the world premiere of her short film The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom.
MODERATOR: Patricia Aufderheide
Patricia Aufderheide is University Professor in the School of Communication at American University in Washington, D.C, and director of the Center for Social Media there. She is co-author with Peter Jaszi of Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright and author of, among others, Documentary: A Very Short Introduction. She has as a juror at the Sundance Film Festival among others and is on the board of Kartemquin Films.
Sneak Preview: Excerpts from To Tell the Truth
David Van Taylor
David Van Taylor’s films have shown in venues around the world including Berlin, FIFA, PBS, HBO, and The Passionate Eye. His feature documentaries include Dream Deceivers, about a heavy-metal suicide trial; A Perfect Candidate, filmed behind the scenes of Oliver North’s Senate campaign; and Ghosts of Attica.
As Vice President of Lumiere Productions, he has co-created two series: the Religious Right history With God on Our Side, and the newsroom “docusoap” Local News. Combining an interest in history, media, and art, Lumiere has been developing To Tell the Truth: a history of documentary film since 2001.
His films have garnered major prizes, including the duPont-Columbia and the IDA’s Distinguished Achievement Award. He is the recipient of a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship.
Mark Cousins
Mark Cousins is the co-editor of Imagining Reality: The Faber Book of Documentary. The subjects of his films include Neo-Nazism and Iranian Cinema. His last documentary, The First Movie, won the Prix Italia. He was guest curator at the Sheffield documentary festival in 2008-2011, during which he presented Japanese and Indian documentaries. His new 15 hour movie, The Story of Film, premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival this year.
MODERATOR: Patricia Aufderheide
Patricia Aufderheide is University Professor in the School of Communication at American University in Washington, D.C, and director of the Center for Social Media there. She is co-author with Peter Jaszi of Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright and author of, among others, Documentary: A Very Short Introduction. She has as a juror at the Sundance Film Festival among others and is on the board of Kartemquin Films.
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