The Library

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 O’ Fools: The documentary festival life cycle

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.

Docs in Progress is a non-profit arts organization, based in Silver Spring, MD, with a mission to support independent documentary filmmakers through workshops, public screenings, one-on-one consultations, and online resources. That’s cool.

They also have a nice website packed with useful information and resources that could be of use to any independent filmmaker, East or West coast. The site offers up Alumni Stories in which Docs in Progress workshop alum share their wisdom and tales from the trenches in essays such as, “How to Support an Indie Doc Without Going Broke”, in which filmmaker  Simone Fary shares tips on using free social networking applications and other online resources to market your film.

My favorite resource, however, are the Expert Interviews in which industry experts tell us everything from how to perfect your elevator pitch to how to choose the perfect music for your doc. There are some good essays here, I highly recommend checking it out.