Introduce Yourself: Sign In Here First

In reply to Linda Wasson's post on Mon 7 Mar 2011 07:55 UTC :

I completely understand your frustration and your pessimism. I think the American public at large is finally ready to hear about industrial hemp, and I think the changes in the technology, and the interest in being greener and more energy efficient are all coming together. As much as we have needed hemp for years, I think hemp's time is finally here, thanks in part to hemp's ability to build the healthiest, most energy efficient houses.

It's horrible to think of the thousands of farms and farmers who could have saved their family farms had they been able to grow hemp. And it's horrible to think of all the merchants who got behind hemp and lost so much, because the market wasn't ready for their vision.

So many people still confuse industrial hemp with marijuana. I've worked at Barnes & Noble for the past 6 years, and I have never seen industrial hemp grace the front cover of a magazine, except for the occasional mention on the front cover of one of the periodicals on marijuana, and it has been equally hard to find hemp cited in the indexes of books one might think it should be included in. I think America is going to be really excited to meet industrial hemp at this time in history, thanks in great part to the many reasons that you cited above. In May, the nation will be celebrating the 2nd annual Hemp History Week. Slowly but surely, the tides are changing.

My name is Jacob Bricca, and I'm new to D-Word. I've been editing feature docs since the early 2000s. Some of my credits are Lost in La Mancha (2002), which chronicled Terry Gilliam's disastrous attempt to make a film adaptation of Don Quixote, Jimmy Scott: If You Only Knew (2002), a biopic/concert film about the jazz vocalist that won the 2003 Independent Lens Audience Award, Tell Me Do You Miss Me (2006), a melancholy travelogue following indie rock band Luna on their final tour dist. by Rhino, and Con Artist (2010), which follows the indescribably odd antics of NYC painter Mark Kostabi and is playing at the Laemmle Sunset 5 in LA this coming April 1-7.

Though I seem to work on a lot of films about musicians and artists, some of the ones I'm most passionate about deal with themes of social justice. We just locked picture on Precious Knowledge, a film about the banning of the Mexican-American ethnic studies classes running in the Tucson public schools, which opponents call "seditious" and proponents see as an effective way of engaging their students. (It will premiere at the San Diego Intl. Film Festival later this month.)

I've also done some directing/producing. My feature Indies Under Fire: The Battle for the American Bookstore (2006) followed three indie bookstores in their struggle to stay afloat in the early 2000s. My most recent short Pure, a mash-up of action movie memes, played at the Berlin Intl. Film Festival, and was abuzz on the web for a brief period.

I also teach documentary studies and production at Wesleyan University. Teaching "The Documentary Film" (a history/survey course) is a humbling experience--so many great films! I love exposing students to the genius of Frederick Wiseman, the Maysles Bros. and Ross McElwee, and showing contemporary docs at the close of the course (My Kid Could Paint That and Iraq In Fragments have been recent choices.) In my "Documentary Advocacy" class, I teach doc production to amateurs, and help students engage with local organizations to make films that they can use for outreach purposes.

I love docs and all the issues of they bring up. I thought the recent love-fest over The Social Network was way overblown and advised anyone I could to watch Catfish instead. I thought it engaged with the Facebook phenomenon and all its attendant issues way more successfully!

Happy to be here...

Jacob, I've had Lost in La Mancha on my list to see for some time now. I'll have to step it up. Welcome to the d-word discussions!

Great to have you here, Jacob. I did see Lost in La Mancha and loved it. Utterly fascinating. And sounds like a great course you're teaching – lucky students.

Hi Jacob, i am a big fan of Lost in La Mancha, really love it.

Hi, my name is Nicolas Brown and I've been addicted to documentary film making for most of my life. My father is a documentary filmmaker, and so are both of my brothers. (This feels like my introduction to a 12 step program...)
I heard about D Word whilst teaching in Potsdam, Germany last week. I just spent the last 3 years making Human Planet for the BBC, soon to premiere on Discovery on April 10, 2007.
Prior to that, I made films about climate change such as The Truth About Global Warming with Tom Brokow (Emmy), Climate Chaos with David Attenborough, and the Energy Solution (Best Environmental Film, Telluride Mountainfilm). Before that it was Colonial House and Frontier House for PBS.
I mainly work for TV– I produce and direct. Rarely, I pick up a camera and film myself.
I now have films in development, and am rennovating my kitchen– without filming it at all!
Well, thats my introduction.

And a good one it is, indeed. Nice to have you with us, Nicolas. Feel free to jump right into the various discussion topics.

In a week or so, you'll be able to see how Nicolas and his DoP, Keith Partridge, made their segments of Human Planet in extreme environments; they presented this to a professional audience at Insight Out last week. http://www.insightout-training.net/videos.html

I'm looking for some great panelist for my film "What On Earth? – Inside the Crop Circle Mystery" My film's appearing at the QUAD in NY 4/22 for a solid run and I'm looking for panelist, not necessarily crop circle experts but anyone who truly cares about the consciences of the world we live in. If you know of anyone or want to attend I would love to have you there. I have the event on Facebook if you want to RSVP, thank you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n10Hq8bkcE

Suzanne, as this is our topic for personal introductions, post like this should go into Public Classifieds in the future.

Hi. My name is Bill Schlosser and I've been the television industry for nearly twenty years. I found out about The D-Word only recently and am excited to be a part of this community. While I'm no stranger to documentary making, I am new to the world of crowdfunding. I'm trying this method of fundraising to fund the post production of a doc about the snake charmers of India. So far I've raised $30. Not exactly stellar. I would love to hear from anybody who has had success in this area and how they did it. Right now I'm on IndieGoGo. If you would like to see my pitch and critique it, you can go there and search "Sapera." I'm not asking for donations from this community, just some advice. I look forward to getting to know all of you better. And sometime soon I'll post a picture of my ugly mug! Oh and here's a link if you want to see a bit of "Sapera: The Snake Charmers of India."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAULmrei2lk

Welcome to The D-Word, Bill. Theresa Loong has written about her Kickstarter experience in the Finding Funding (N. America) topic, including a link to a lengthy report about it with many tips. Highly recommended reading.

Hi D-Worders,

I’ve been a member of the D-Word for a while – in fact, some of you have been very helpful answering technical questions I had – but realized I never introduced myself. better late than never. . . I am a burgeoning filmmaker. My recent films include a documentary I shot in the NYC Subway called ‘A City Symphony Underground.’ Some consider it more of an experimental piece but it’s actually based on the “city symphony” Documentary genre made popular in the 1920s. Films such as ‘Berlin: A City Symphony, Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera, Manahatta,’ and Joris Iven’s ‘Rain.’ So far the film has been screened in 5 festivals and, I hope, many more.

I like doing all parts of the filmmaking process. I have my own equipment. One of my interests is creating short films for NGOs and nonprofits that help others. Films that they can use for fundraising, website, etc. After the earthquake in Haiti last year I traveled to Haiti with World Wide Orphan’s Foundation founder, Jane Aronson, to film her pilgrimage to orphanages there. I loved the work so much and also proved to myself that I was able to film and record audio on my own and get great results. Added to the difficulty of the trek was the 100 degree weather shooting mid day in bright conditions – man, that was hard – getting decent footage shooting people with dark skin with the sun behind them. Arghhh. . . . Plus it was run and gun stuff, all hand held, never knowing what will happen next.

I have also started creating artist profiles – short pieces that profile a creative person’s work and the process they go through.

If any of you D-Worders have any ideas of people that may be interested in the kind of work I do – please get in touch . . . love to hear from all and everybody.

Oh, much of my professional history I produced educational media and curriculum so am also interested in working on projects created to educate or having to do with education. I have a graduate degree from Harvard Grad School of Ed.

Well, that’s it for now. Please check out my website Catherinestratton.blogspot.com where you can see recent work.

Cheers,

cathy

Thanks for the intro, Cathy. See, if you hadn't introduced yourself we would have continued to call you Catherine. Next thing you know you'll be hanging out in the Bar and getting plastered in the afternoon.

In reply to Catherine Stratton's post on Sun 27 Mar 2011 :

Always great when folk finally delurk. Good to have you here, Cathy.

Hello D-Word, I am quite new to the world of film making... though its been something I've always wanted to be involved with ever since my father was subject of a film by the legendary, Paul Watson, in the 70's. I had the privilege of having lunch with Paul last year and was further inspired to become a catalyst in the telling of important stories. I found myself in the Biz quite by mistake shortly after this... an introduction I made for my friend, director Mark Neale, resulted in his feature documentary, Fastest, being funded. I am now working with him as producer for Mechanics of Hope, a film about NGO, Riders for Health. I was assistant to CEO's of this organisation for a number of years so I know it very well. I am also producing a film about composer, film maker & educator, Tony Conrad. This film is being made by Tyler Hubby. One of my other major projects is with Crispin Glover, the actor & auteur. I am presently developing the circuit in the UK for him to tour his Big Slide Show performance & film screenings. This is his sole distribution model and one that I am honoured to help develop. The first tour in Feb this year sold out. I am learning fast about the innovative & new funding & distribution models that are being practised and I am keen to get involved with discussions about it all. I am also a musician and writer.

A warm welcome, Paul. Would love to hear more about the funding and distribution you're doing in the relevant topics here. Feel free to leap right into the discussions.

Hello, documentarians of the world!

I'm an aspiring filmmaker currently living in New Orleans. I'm fortunate to be working with Lily Keber on Bayou Maharajah – a documentary about colorful New Orleans pianist James Booker which is now (mostly) in post-production.

We're in the process of setting up a website, and you can sign-up for the email list here if you want to see what happens when filmmakers get ahold of fancy email campaign software.

When I'm not working on the Booker doc, I also spend time pouring coffee at Royal Blend for rent money, shooting antique shop commercials for equipment money, and pestering all the film crews I come across while walking my dog for fun. My wife's in grad school at UNO for poetry, so we'll occasionally cross paths, too.

I plan to assail these forums with a variety of complex technical questions, probing distribution queries, and buckets of unsolicited opinions.

Wow, Ted, a poet and a documentary filmmaker, you guys are gonna be living the high life alright!

Anyway, welcome to The D-Word. Happy to say I'm gonna be in NOLA for 3 days soon for the first time in over 25 years (though it's for a conference, so don't know how much down time I'll have). Looking forward to it.

I've been registered on the D-Word for a couple of weeks and figured I should introduce myself. I live in Lexington, Kentucky, where I pick up what documentary work I can, although of late that's become very rare around here. But you must know all about that wherever you are so I'll leave it. Otherwise, the place does have its charms, I suppose.

I have made two documentaries myself: "Rock That Uke" (co-director, editor, camera) and "...damn bad oyster: The Times of William Goebel, governor" (producer, director, writer, editor). The former is a meditation on life, death, love, hate, art, frustrated ambition...what you'd expect. Oh, and the ukulele. Especially if it's amplified and distorted. Yeah, it's kinda funny. The latter is a historical project that airs regularly on KET (the state PBS affiliate). It tell the story of a violent, raucous decade (the 1890s) in Kentucky that culminates in assassination and political upheaval. It's quite funny. One review called it "drolly informative." What higher praise could I wish for.

This will do for now; don't want to wear out my welcome first time out. If anyone's needs help on anything in Kentucky, let me know. I have some gear (and I travel). Or if anyone's passing through and needs a drink, I can provide that too.

Hi this is Sigrid Dyekjaer, producer from Denmark, part of Danish Documentary production, produced film like "The Good Life" by Eva Mulvad, showing at Tribeca in a couple of weeks, "The Monastery" by Pernille Rose Groenkjaer, "Mechanical Love" By Phie Ambo. I am attaching my CV. I am also chairman of the Advisoryboard for CPH:DOX.

Welcome aboard, Sean. A drink sounds really good right now.

And a particularly warm welcome to Sigrid, who I first met at IDFA 5 years ago when "The Monastery" won the Joris Ivens prize. She's one of the Europe's greatest producers and I urge everyone to come see The Good Life at Tribeca and meet her.

So you know, no need to attach your CV. Clicking on your name or photo links to your member profile .

Hello,
I am a musician, composer new to your community. Have to say, in a world where we all spend far too much time in front of our computers (oops that is what I am doing now) it is nice to see so many of you opening up about real issues. That said, I am a composer who had the pleasure of composing music for a doc and fell in love with the process. To be able to write music in, around and complimenting the dialogue and narration of a doc was great. To be a creative part of such a meaningful art form is ..well just love it. So if any of you have need of any music, temp music or anything music related, please feel free to let me know. Also to whomever made the doc about Little Jimmy Scott...i'd like to know where I can see that. He is great..I had the pleasure of seeing him in New York and wow...that is so where Betty Carter got her style.
Thanks to all and I look forward to being a part of this community.
Laura Perlman ljperl@earthlink.net

Welcome, Laura. The Jimmy Scott filmmaker dude is Jacob Bricca .

Welcome Laura! Glad you found your way here. I owe you an email back. It's been a crazy week. Happy to have you among us.

Hi there, my name is Kristen and I'm a newbie. :)
So grateful to have found this resource for doc filmmakers!
My husband, Jeff and I are currently in production on a feature doc about Transformational Bodywork called "Growing My Brave". Following stories from surviving to thriving. A project that we kind of stumbled into and are now in love with. It's been a truly organic experience that has changed our lives for the better and we look forward to learning and growing our skills as storytellers. We have at least one more leg of shooting in May and then looking forward to jumping into post, with hopes to release by 2012. I cut a teaser to help with funding which you can watch here: http://vimeo.com/18899104

Thanks for taking a look and thanks for having me!

Warmly, Kristen Turick

Welcome to The D-Word, Kirsten.

So who else is out there? Enthusiasts and Professionals, please introduce yourself here.

Hey, all!

I'm a filmmaker and a film executive. My documentary is still on the festival circuit and will premiere on the OWN network later in the year.

Chris (and everyone in the same situation) – It's time to apply for Professional status on The D-Word then. It'll give you access to all of our Business, Creative, Technical, and Social Topics. It's free but not automatic.

Hi Doug
Can you help me with a password for HOtdocs, to be registrered with a discount?
all the best
sigrid

Sure thing, Sigrid. Enter the discount code [...] when ordering online and you'll get $50 (U.S.) off an industry pass. But aren't you going there with your film and automatically getting a pass?

[edited by Ben – the discount code can only be obtained in our Professionals-only area]

Hi Sigrid, this is the link to the private topic with the discount code.

Oopsie, didn't realize you asked me in one of the public topics, Sigrid. Usually we hosts are totally on top of keeping questions in the proper topics. (And other times we sleep.)

Anyway, hope you've been perusing the various topics here and getting a feel for the discussions.

Greetings all. I was fortunate enough to meet Doug Block about a month ago at a class here in the Twin Cities and he mentioned D-Word quite a bit, which I was embarrassingly ignorant of. Well, not anymore.

I've directed/produced 2 feature docs and 1 short besides a few narrative shorts and a co directed feature which is in post. My most recent doc is called SCRAP and is playing April 17th at The Indie Spirit Film Festival. The trailers for it are below. Thanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s3PlfeOiew&feature=channel_video_title

http://www.youtube.com/user/killingjokefilms?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/4PB0el-BOfA

Welcome to The D-Word, Paul. Ignorance excused if you make up for it by active participation. :-)

(by the way, a doc I shot will play at your Minneapolis Film Festival this month. Called MASTER CLASS OPERA, by Olivia Hagemann.)

Anyboy else out there? Come on, it's time to un-lurk!

In reply to Ben Kempas's post on Wed 6 Apr 2011 : Nice! I was fortunate enough to screen SCRAP at MSPIFF. It's a good fest for docs and I'll see if I can make it our for yours. Thanks for the shout out.

Hello, I'm new to D-Word world. Nice to meet everyone! Lily Keber (Director of Bayou Maharajah) introduced me to this site. I'm currently recording sound for her project. I also just finished working with Gary Hustwit (Director of Helvetica) & Luke Geissbuhler (DP of Borat) in New Orleans. Very cool guys. I've recorded professional audio/video of hundreds of famous individuals from all walks of life, all over the globe. I am looking forward to recording the artist Lil' Wayne next week. If your production comes to New Orleans look me up! I also love to travel:) www.ericlaws.com

In reply to Paul von Stoetzel's post on Wed 6 Apr 2011 :

Welcome, Paul! So you know, Resurrect Dead, the film I showed the clip of that I'm exec producing, will be showing at MSPIFF. The director, Jon Foy, who's also a D-Word member, will be coming.

Greetings to you, too, Eric. Feel free to register as a Professional member.

Hi D-Worders,

My name is Jason Thomas Spencer. I've been on the site for a few months reading a lot of very helpful posts and figured it's about time to introduce myself. I've been an editor in NY for about 5 years and am making the leap this summer with my wife into our first feature length documentary. I'm looking forward to being a part of this community. Thanks to Doug for the forum!

Best,
-Jason
spencer4email@gmail.com

Good to have you here, Jason. Lots of luck with your film.

Hello! I'm Erum, the production assistant for a documentary to be filmed in Africa this summer. I'm curious about renting equipment over purchasing. I am aware I can purchased equipment via this site, and wanted to know the experiences people have using this forum.

Looking forward to navigating the D-word!

Hi everyone. I actually registered a few years ago but am just now discovering what a great resource and community Doug has built here. I'm a print journalist and aspiring (and self-taught) filmmaker. In the past two years I've participated in both the Third World Newsreel production workshop and the UnionDocs collaborative project; discovered Bill Nichols, Dziga Vertov, and Walter Murch; and made a short that was screened at the Documentary Fortnight program. But I'm most proud of serving as the volunteer editor of the film "A Future For Meher," which was made by nonprofessional volunteers and so far has helped raise more than $3,500 for the medical care and educational fund of an impoverished girl in New Delhi. I also recently became the blogger for the Stranger Than Fiction film series programmed by Thom Powers. (Doug, I heard you speak at the Resurrect Dead screening a few weeks ago.)I look forward to conversing with you all.

Welcome, Erum and Rahul. Great job you're doing with the blog, Rahul. Look forward to meeting you at one of the upcoming STF screenings.

Hello everyone! My name is Italo Baudo, from Wishaw in Scotland.
I am new to the D- World, as well as to anything related to film making, especially in the computerised era of documentary filmaking.
I studied animation and handled a traditional 16mm camera some 40 years ago and since then I was working as an Illustrator and Graphic Designer.
The seed of Documentary Film making has been planted and stayed dormant for all those years though. Now, gradually, I would like to explore the field and see which educational material I can find to start reading first, and experimenting afterward and try out a short documentary film (1 to 3 min. long) to publish in You Tube and see how it goes. Thank you for reading!

Good to have you back in the fold, Italo. Welcome.

Greetings everyone,

I was introduced to this site by my friend Deirdre Haj from Full Frame where I'm having the world premiere of my latest film One Night in Kernersville – a jazz doc/poem! I'm a filmmaker, screenwriter, ethnographer, multimedia documentary producer and father of two lovely daughters. I've had the pleasure of filming all over the world and working with NGO's making advocacy documentaries for them. I know quite a lot about Mystical Islam and have done some groundbreaking work on the Gnawa in Morocco (http://www.gnawastories.com). I am currently working on 20 (yes that's twenty!) ten minute documentaries of 20 members of the Latino Community Credit Union in NC highlighting financial empowerment. I've worked with the BBC, HBO and Salma Hayek doing narrative screenplays and nothing, truly nothing compares to working in the field and collaborating with people who struggle and still retain their dignity. It reminds me why our work matters.

I speak french and spanish fluently and I look forward to interacting with filmmakers from all over the world and sharing their experiences. You can find some of my work here http://www.melloweb.com . Peace

Welcome to The D-Word, Rodrigo. Any friend of Deirdre's is certainly a friend of ours. Lots of D-Word members going to Full Frame so check out the F2F and Festival topics and hopefully you'll make new friends.

Hi Everyone,
I'm Juliana Piccillo, filmmaker, writer and activist – sex work is my cause. Planning to bust through the shorts ceiling with a feature length doc and I'm so incredibly excited to find this community!

Hola!

My name is Stephanie Frederic. I'm a director/producer/writer based in Los Angeles.

I'm a firm believer that – a laptop and a dream can take you anywhere. As a former TV news reporter, I've been telling stories all my life. If there's one thing I know, I was born to do just this. I own FGW Productions (www.fgwproductions.com) and we are visual storytellers.

Some of the docs I have produced included, "Rwanda Rising," "From Darkness to Light – The Donnie McClurkin Story," and "Planet LA."

I'm here to help and to learn.

Feel free to reach out. I'd love to know more about you and my new doc family.

Steph

Juliana and Stephanie, how nice to have you both find us. A warm welcome to The D-Word.