October 2011
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WatchI have two new discoveries to share, documentaryguide.com and explore.org. Documentary Guide claims to be the largest database on the Internet with “tens of thousands of films, schools, and festivals” indexed. Documentary guide is designed for educators and researchers and works like a search engine for films on the web. From their homepage you can simply enter your research topic and...
September 2011
2 posts
4docs : Animated Minds →
This a great website for the short documentary community. Watch, communicate, participate.
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August 2011
3 posts
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WatchThe Story of Menstruation—1946
From the Wonderful World of Disney. Wow.
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Aquadettes: a new film on California is a Place →
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July 2011
1 post
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WatchCooking Up a Story is an “online television show and blog about food and sustainable living.” The site features short documentary videos, interviews with experts on agriculture, cooking, and sustainability, cooking demonstrations, and recipes. It really is a neato website and beautifully designed. One could easily spend hours sifting through all of their resources—if one was...
June 2011
2 posts
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Tami Tushie's Toys
A short documentary about a Minnesota mom who hosts parties at her home to sell merchandise— only it’s not Tupperware she is selling. Wink, wink.
Watch the film here
Tami Tushie’s Toys
Directed by Melody Gilbert
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Festival Tips
There has been a lot of talk about festivals around here lately. Our director, Ian, has been visiting festivals all over the world for his newest film Summer Snapshot.
In honor, I am posting an interesting article I found on the DocAgora blog about navigating the world of documentary film festivals. The article was written in 2009 by Peter Wintoneck and offers some interesting insights.
Fest...
April 2011
2 posts
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PAM wants in on this storytelling thing
The Portland Art Museum has jumped on the storytelling wagon with their own version of Story Corps-style documenting of personal stories. Object Stories invites participants to tell the silly, sentimental, and heart-felt stories behind their favorite objects. The museum has set up a nice website that features information on the exhibit and showcases photographs and audio from these storytelling...
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Thank you filmmakers!
Thanks in large part to a very generous community of independent documentary filmmakers, our DVD library is really starting to look impressive. We have had so many filmmakers contribute copies of their work to our collection making it, not only grow in size, but also reflect a wonderful diversity of film topics, styles, lengths, and techniques.
Today I came into work to find another donation...
March 2011
4 posts
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NW Doc + Tribeca = Awesome!
Congratulations to Ian McCluskey, Director of NW Documentary, whose documentary, Summer Snapshot, will be screening at the Tribeca Film Festival this year! Summer Snapshot is a 10-minute film, shot on Super 8, that explores the nostalgia of youth and summertime.
Check out Summer Snapshot on Tribeca’s Film Guide and spread the word!
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Interview Basics with Adam Weiss →
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stumbling blocks
So I have been a bit quiet about my filmmaking progress since my big proclamation a couple of months ago. I have been reading a lot on my topic, taking notes, and reading some more. I am to a point now where I have hit a bit of a wall. I’ve done my research and now I need to start actually planning a production schedule which will begin with finding interview subjects. I have a few in mind,...
February 2011
6 posts
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Anecdotes: TK's Documentary Film Screening... →
Our friend TK has a nice site full of documentary resources, festival listings, and documentary screenings around Portland.
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WatchMeet the Freegans
Directed by: Travis Shields
A winner at the 2009 Telly Awards and the 2008 International Documentary Challenge
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4 Docs →
A great website dedicated to a love of short documentaries. Check out their wiki for filmmaking tips and their “view” page to watch a bunch of great shorts.
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January 2011
4 posts
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WatchBlind Mechanic
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48 Hour Go Green Film Competition →
This looks like lots of fun! What better way to kick off the new year than with some super speedy filmmaking. The 48 Hour Go Green Film Competition challenges participants to make a short eco-themed film in 48 hours. You can choose the genre but they will randomly assign you with a theme, line of dialogue, character, and prop that must appear in the film. Grand prize is $5000!
December 2010
3 posts
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Research, research, research
I began researching my documentary several months ago knowing very little about the subject or even what exactly I wanted to accomplish through making a film on the subject. It was daunting to say the least. I decided to plunge ahead by reading everything I could find and then start a list of questions I wanted to answer through the film. I ended up with a very solid list of questions and a nice...
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Time to get personal... just a little personal
My name is Carson and I am a filmmaker who hasn’t made a film in a very long time. Very long. This is my confession.
I began volunteering with NW Documentary shortly after moving to Portland five years ago because I thought that being a part of the documentary film community would inspire me to continue making films. I have had many amazing experiences working with NW Documentary but they...
November 2010
5 posts
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WatchFlicker
Directed By: Nik Sheehan
2009 official selection of Big Sky Film Festival
“In 1960, poet, artist, and beatnik Brion Gysin invented the Dreammachine, a hypnotic light device with the power to induce hallucinations. The Dreammachine enthralled mystics and freethinkers everywhere, with William Burroughs claiming that it could, “storm the citadels of enlightenment.”
Nik Sheehan’s...
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What is the future of independent documentary?
I really don’t know but it certainly is an interesting question. There is a lot of buzz around about the future of documentary distribution and funding and the current and future role social media will play. There are those who believe that self-distribution combined with intense social media marketing is the wave of the future. Gary Hustwit, director of Helvetica and Objectified, has had...
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Look what we can do
We are proud of our students and the amazing work they are able to turn out in such a short time. NW Documentary’s DIY Documentary Workshop is a 10-week course in which participants plan, shoot, edit, and premier their own documentary. As a former student of the DIY workshop I can say it is a challenging and wonderful experience. You can watch many of our student’s films on NW...
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An online collection of all things audio... →
October 2010
4 posts
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WatchClick Whoosh
Union Street Films
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WatchLorelei Lee
A Film By: Simone Grudzen & Jesse Kerman
Official selection of the 2009 Big Sky Film Festival
The full 8 min. film can be seen here
September 2010
7 posts
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WatchDo you have something important to say? A story that needs to be recorded for future generations? On October 10th, 2010 you can help document the world’s story by filming anything that inspires you on that day and contributing your footage to the One Day On Earth project. The goal of the project is to create a collaborative, open archive and a documentary film using the footage. This...
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2010 International Documentary Challenge Winners
Audience Award:
Tami Tushie’s Toys Team: Minnesota Docuclubbers
Jury Winners
Best Film: Legend: A Film About Greg Garing Team: Kamikaze Chickadee
P.O.V. Award Winner: Grounded By Reality Team: Shed Collective
You can watch all of the 2010 finalists in there on the Doc Challenge website. This challenge seems like so much fun, I hope to participate some time in the future.
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Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Announces...
Call for entries! The 2011 Big Sky Documentary Festival will take place in Missoula, Montana in early February. Big Sky has an award for Best Documentary Short (15-50 minutes) and an award for Best Mini-Doc (under 15 min). Send ‘em in.
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WatchForty Foot
A Film By: Leticia Agudo, Aoibheann O’Sullivan, & Paul McGrath
The Forty Foot is an association made up of mostly older Irish locals that take a daily swim in the Sandycove. This short documentary tells the history of the association and their location along with personal portraits of a few of the swimmers. Forty Foot was named best film in the 2009 International Documentary...
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I guess my work here is done
I stumbled on a website this morning that I probably should have stumbled across many months or years ago, Snag Films. This website allows you to watch full length documentary films for free, “snag” them and embed them on other social media sites, and even donate to the filmmaker or cause the film supports. With over 1600 films in their library, Snag seems to have a nice selection of...
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August 2010
5 posts
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WatchRoz (and Joshua)
Directed By: Charlene Music
Roz’s son Joshua was taken away from her when he was only 7 months old. Today, Roz still does not have custody of her son but is determined to do all she can to change that.
Official Selection of 2009 Big Sky Film Festival
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Frederick Wiseman Interview Highlights
When documentary film legend Frederick Wiseman was interviewed after receiving the Charles Guggenheim Honors at the SilverDocs Film Festival this year he offered up some great insight into his filmmaking process. The following are some of the highlights taken from the interview and abbreviated by the folks at Docs in Progress:
I do very little research – only one or two days on site. I don’t ...
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FleetFlicks: Support the Short
First I would like to say that these guys have a great website. Well designed and easy to use, wow. Second, there website also has really great content, wow again.
Fleet Flicks is a website with that exists with the goal to “redesign what short film can be” by providing a place where quality short films can be displayed on the web giving new filmmakers a place to showcase their work...
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WatchHeartland Transport
A Film By Cody Stokes
An amazing and touching short film about a group of same-sex couples that make the trek to Iowa to get married after a 2009 court decision gave them the right to marry. Heartland Transport was an official selection of the Big Sky Documentary Festival this year.
July 2010
4 posts
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Center for Digital Story Telling
The Center for Digital Story Telling gives people the tools and knowledge to tell their story using digital media. The short visual stories that come out of their workshops are generally personal photos and images strung together with voice-over narration and music. You can watch many of the stories on their website and also access relevant articles and testimonials.
From the mission...