It is always really interesting to see what is in the works and to look forward to seeing the finished films in coming months and years. These 20 projects were selected from nearly 800 submissions from more than 70 countries. Whew! Congratulations to all the recipients. DEVELOPMENT Elinyisia Mosha TANZANIA PROJECT (Tanzania/U.S.) This film explores the impact of foreign direct investment in the filmmakers native Tanzania. Priya Giri Desai and  Ann S. Kim MATCH +: A STORY ABOUT LOVE IN…

Archival Storytelling: A Filmmaker’s Guide to Finding, Using, and Licensing Third-Party Visuals and Music is a new book from the hard working folk at Focal Press who publish so many essential books on filmmaking. Copyright and clearance is such a minefield for filmmakers who are frequently faced with the double whammy of complex legal rules and enormous licensing expenses. This book is a great resource because it surveys the entire landscape from ethical/creative considerations to fair use to changes in…

Not bad, not bad. This list often causes some consternation in the doc community as great films are ignored in favor of the obviously not so great but this year’s list includes some really strong films. I, like many others, am disappointed that Margaret Brown’s assured and intelligent The Order of Myths is not on this list but I am really thrilled to see Jeremiah Zagar’s In A Dream on there. I saw In A Dream at the Woodstock Film…

Ted Hope’s new blog Truly Free Film is definitely one to add to your reader (if you haven’t started subscribing to blog feeds in a reader I highly recommend it – it saves time and allows you to keep track of loads of blogs and websites in one place. I use Google Reader but there are other options out there). I previously wrote about Hope’s Phoenix Rising speech here and his Truly Free Film blog follows on from this with…

I have been spending the last few days catching up on presentations and panels from the Power to the Pixel conference that took place in London last month – they are now online and free to wach. There’s some great info and ideas here, from Christy Dena on cross-media production, to Arin Crumley on collaborative filmmaking to Jamie King on distribution. If you are feeling worried about how the credit crunch is going to affect independent filmmaking (and let’s face…

On November 22nd, Shooting People turns 10. Whoo hoo! Filmmakers Cath Le Couteur and Jess Search set up Shooting People in 1998 after making their first short film and it has grown from 60 members to 37,000 over the past 10 years. I am hugely proud to work for an organization that fights so hard to create a vibrant independent filmmaking community that is all about collaboration and innovation. As Mike Figgis says: “Congratulations to Shooting People! Shooting People continue…

Whilst I’m talking about nice things that have happened recently I should mention the “THINK-SHOOT-DISTRIBUTE” scheme, which is easily one of the nicest and all round best. Now in it’s fifth year TSD is a week long intensive seminar course designed form a massive kick up the arse for people like me who have reached a certain point with their filmmaking but now find it hard to take the next step. There may be a couple of raised eyebrows (and…

Recently my brother and I were lucky enough to be voted second place in the inaugural Thunder Clap award. To quote their press release… “The British Thunderclap Award was set up to find and publicly recognise the director who, as voted by the British film audience, is producing the most innovative or interesting work in British independent film. Be it in features, shorts, documentaries or fiction, the award aims to reward the director who so clearly stamps his or her…

Thanks and congratulations to all those who braved the weather in coming out to the BFI on Monday. As usual, and the teeth of a storm, we were a sell out… or a give out I suppose since the event is free. Lucy and Joe both spoke with wit, insight and modesty about their work and I was, as usual, relieved to find that my eavesdropping of conversation in the bar proved that people had genuinely liked their stuff! I…

Ah, good, welcome. (You should scroll down, later, and read all of Cath’s excellent London International Festival bloggings.). So: Shooting People is media sponsor of Doc/Fest, and I was invited by their suave programmer Hussain Currimbhoy to host a series of Q&As with filmmakers. In between I caught several sessions, grabbed as many films as I could and, occasionally, remembered to eat and breathe. By Wednesday’s opening day, the Festival was already sold out, with over 1,300 Delegates passes sold.…