Introduce Yourself: Sign In Here First

Great to have you here, Charles. Welcome. Want to hear all about your film in the Works in Progress topic.

Wow, it's been so long since I visited that I don't even know if I ever posted in this forum. And it isn't clear how to find all my older posts, either.

In any case, I'm James McNally, a film blogger located in Toronto. I have been blogging since 2000, and established a dedicated film blog, Toronto Screen Shots (http://www.torontoscreenshots.com) in spring 2007, incorporating all the writing I'd been doing about film on my other blog.

I have been attending TIFF for almost 15 years, and Hot Docs for the past five, and have a strong interest in covering documentary film. As the blog has become more established, I've had the chance to cover more festivals, both locally and even internationally (SXSW and most recently, the Reykjavik International Film Festival).

Though I'm not sure I actually qualify as a full-fledged member, I must have snuck in somehow, and I appreciate having such direct access to the many many talented filmmakers here on D-Word.

Hopefully, I will get to talk with some of you about your projects, both here and potentially on the blog.

Glad you snuck in here while we were sleeping, James ;-) I suspect we'll be glad you did. Welcome.

In reply to Kim Ware's post on ATLANTA :

Interesting!!! I don't believe I've heard much about the doc community in the South, except in the case of Hurricane Katrina coverage, I suppose. The show I work on actually produced an episode about a family in Atlanta with a very troubled and unstable history within its household.

My name is Brent Watkins and I'm thrilled to have discovered this website. I've been a television writer, producer and director for 25 years. I graduated in 1984 from the University of Iowa School of Communications with an emphasis in film production. I have completed a documentary short called "The Heroes of Parlor Town" through funding from Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities. I'm currently producing two more feature documentaries (for details see http://www.brentwatkins.info/html/film_projects.html). I'm also in development with producer Vaughn Halyard ("Final Season", "Do the Right Thing") on a documentary about the devastating 2008 flood that ravaged my city earlier this year. I look forward to networking with fellow documentarians.

Great having you here, Brent. Glad you discovered us.

Hi everyone,
My name is Joanna Arnow--this May I graduated from Wesleyan where I studied film. As my thesis, I directed and edited a twelve-minute documentary called "The Power of the Spoon." It's about challenges the food service worker's union at Wesleyan faced when the school switched from Aramark to a Compass subsidiary (this is why I'm holding a cafeteria tray in my profile pic). You can watch the film on my website http://jarnow.web.wesleyan.edu

I've worked as an intern/production assistant on Augusta Palmer's "The Hand of Fatima" as well as Emily and Sarah Kunstler's "Disturbing The Universe." I also assisted with editing at Rumur Productions. And all of these filmmakers were Brooklyn based, holler!

These days I'm interning for Al Jazeera English Television at their UN bureau and writing script coverage on the side. My commitments are ending soon and I will again be looking for work in documentary production. So I will soon address you all again in the classifieds section, and in the mean time, hello.

Hello back at ya, Joanna. Looks like you've been assisting on some fine work. We know all about Augusta's film and the Kuntsler doc promises to be fascinating. So, welcome aboard.

Hello everyone. Just thought I'd drop in to introduce myself. I'm Douglas Dougan (or Doug Doug to some people!). I'm based in the UK and found the D-Word through a mix of contacts. I'm friends with Lara, who has a sister company with Ben and I've met Doug Block too when he came to do a masterclass in Edinburgh. I don't know if you remember, Doug, we were making the short documentary about the girl with the terminal illness hiding out in the Scottish Highlands. I recall you liked the look of the cinematography we had. Anyway, the film has been doing quite well, we got nominated for a Scottish Documentary Award with it. Working now on bigger projects, one of which might be filming and co-produced in America. Looking forward to discussing it with people here on the site – co-production is a new game for me so I'm sure there will be a lot to talk about.

Hi Doug Doug! Yes, I remember your short very well, it was quite extraordinary. So glad you've made your way to The D-Word at last. This will be a helpful resource for you in your co-production efforts and I'm sure you'll have very useful things to contribute, as well. All my best to Lara next time you see her.

Brent E. Watkins

I too have come to the conclusion life is simply too short not to return to my childhood dream.

Welcome

In reply to Ben Kempas's post on Tue 25 Nov 2008 :

Ben,

Thanks for asking. Michael Haneke was one of my chief inspirors on "Big Easy Life," the movie I just made. I shot the scenes (it's completely verite) in long takes, with designs on covering each scene with one shot. After I was done shooting, right before I began editing, I saw "Code Unknown" (the Haneke epic with Juliette Binoche and many other incredible actors), and this gave me the great energy I needed to be confident that this just might work. And it does work (I think!). Thus, the connection between Haneke and I [documentaries]. But I'm sure there are many more....

Thanks. CODE UNKNOWN is great.

hello d-word peeps i was at IDFA recently and heard about the d-word dinner after the event so i'm here to make sure i see y'all at the next one.

me- producer, london based, started out on Marc Isaacs' first film Lift as his AP and have been working with the band Saint Etienne on their film projects for the past 5 years. Recently produced short documentary collaborations between composers and filmmakers for BRITDOC and between poets and filmmaker Nick Parish for the Tate gallery

looking forward to meeting you in due course!

Andrew

Welcome, Andrew. Make sure to apply for full membership. It's free but not automatic.

Hi All – My name is John Aldrich, and I'm a producer/editor/shooter, currently working on a series for Nat Geo Music called 'Geo Sessions.'

I studied film at the University of Texas and got a Master's in Doc Filmmaking at the Documentary Institute at the University of Florida.

I've been at National Geographic for five years and counting, and am in my 3rd season (45 epis and counting) with Geo Sessions, which is a very basic interview and performance show (but a lot of fun to do). We've done shows with a really wide variety of artists – Ben Harper, Habib Koite, Gogol Bordello, Blind Boys of Alabama, MV Bill... the list goes on. It currently airs on Nat Geo Music (and sometimes the Int'l Channel) in parts of Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America... but no US or UK carriage yet.

I'm also currently at work with fellow D-Word member Jason Osder on a doc called 'Let The Fire Burn' and last year was the Senior Producer/Online Editor for a film we did at Nat Geo entitled 'His Holiness the Dalai Lama Speaks: Peace and Prosperity,' which was at TriBeca and Telluride.

Glad to be on the 'boards!

Cheers

John

hello, my name is Taylor Gentry. I am a full time DP and part time documentary film-maker. In 2007, I shot my first feature length doc, The Greening of Southie. This film aired on the Sundance Channel in March of 2008, and is still playing on Starz doc I've heard. I got hooked up with the production team after interning for them on the feature-length, doc King Corn. I have recently set up shop in Brooklyn and have been shooting a variety of things, both fiction and non. I am also psyched to be behind the camera on the next film in production by Wicked Delicate called The City Dark – www.wickedelicate.com. I look forward to connecting with other documentary film makers out there.

cheers!

sounds like a cool show, John.
so you work in house for NGTandF? what percentage of the shows on natgeo channel would you say are produced in house VS a coproduction?

Welcome, John. And Taylor, feel free to become a full member ...

Hey Taylor,

Wicked Delicate does great work--and kudos for the camerawork on THE CITY DARK. I saw a trailer for it at Independent Film Week back in September. It looks fantastic and I can't wait to see the completed film.

I am a documentary filmmaker and media professional. My principal engagement right now is as a program director with a media funder affinity group called Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media (GFEM.org). We are preparing to launch an online media database, which we hope will be of service to media makers, advocates and funders alike. If all goes well, I hope to be able to share more details about this public interest initiative (which is free) late next week.

Hi Doug. I met you with Peter yesterday at the Jacob Burns Center's Open House. I am an Independent filmmaker, specializing in documentary films and videos for both broadcast television and non-broadcast. My latest project of significance was a historical documentary on the Pequot War of 1636-1637, for which I was co-producer, co-director, and co-writer with Guy Perrotta. I also was co-cinematographer (parts were shot on 16mm film), videographer, and editor. Entitled "Mystic Voices: The Story of the Pequot War", the film received two 2004 Emmy® Awards from The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for Best Documentary and Best Writing. I also was co-nominee with Gary Maynard for Outstanding Achievement in Videography/Cinematography. The film, which received the IDA/Kodak Project Access Grant, currently is in national distribution through American Public Television and The Cinema Guild.

I also have produced other documentary programs for local public television stations, including "The Eleventh North Texas Irish Festival", "The Thirteenth North Texas Irish Festival", and "River Lab: Environmental Awareness for All Seasons", a documentary on a grassroots environmental education program in Connecticut.

Hey there, Charles. Good to meet you again online. And happy to have you aboard. Greetings to Pamela, as well.

Hi,

My name is Ryan Polomski and I am a documentary filmmaker from Austin, Texas. Recently arrived to California and interested in making contacts in the area. I've produced/directed a feature documentary that premiered at SXSW called "State vs Reed" about a man on death row, as well as two travel pieces (one in Guatemala "Hecho A Mano: Tres Historias de Guatemala" and one in Turkey, as well as numerous 1/2 pieces for a regional network in Central Texas. I have photography credits through the Sundance Channel, Atlantic Records; producing/editing credits at the New York Times. Would ideally like to pitch varying ideas here in LA to produce and direct, but would be excited to work on any interesting project or company in a different capacity (editor/shooter/PA/writer/researcher). Specially interested in short form web-based non-fiction series. I'll leave my number in case anyone has immediate interest or advice. 512-417-2685

Ryan

The Los Angeles Film Festival showcases the best of American and international cinema. Drawing an enthusiastic audience of over 85,000, the Festival provides films with the opportunity to be embraced by the public and discovered by the industry.

More than 100 feature films—narrative and documentary—are featured in the Festival, alongside gala premieres, panels and seminars, short film programs, music video showcases, archival presentations, and more. The Festival is also a qualifying festival for Film Independent’s Spirit Awards and the Narrative and Animated Short Film categories of the Academy Awards.