Here’s the shortlist. AJ Schnack has more information on each film on his blog including some robust criticism of the list that I find myself agreeing with. I was really disappointed that films like Billy The Kid, We Are Together, Manda Bala, and The King of Kong didn’t make the list. The King of Kong is one of the funniest and most skillfully constructed documentaries I have seen in a long time and I wish that films like this would get more recognition just for being great films and telling great stories.

“Autism: The Musical,” directed by Tricia Regan

“Body of War,” directed by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro

“For The Bible Tells Me So,” directed by Daniel G. Karslake

“Lake of Fire,” directed by Tony Kaye

“Nanking,” directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman

“No End in Sight,” directed by Charles Ferguson

“Operation Homecoming – Writing the Wartime Experience,” directed by Richard Robbins

“The Price of Sugar,” directed by Bill Haney

“Please Vote For Me,” directed by Wejun Chen

“A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman,” directed by Peter Raymont

“The Rape of Europa,” directed by Richard Berge and Bonni Cohen

“Sicko,” directed by Michael Moore

“Taxi to the Dark Side,” directed by Alex Gibney

“War/Dance,” directed b Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine

“White Light/Black Rain,” directed by Steven Okazaki

UPDATE: More docs are coming to mind. What about Kurt Cobain About a Son for a spot of innovation and music just for change or In the Shadow of the Moon? I haven’t seen In The Shadow of the Moon yet but it has space and astronauts in it for gawds sake! Any one else have thoughts on what’s missing?

A while back AJ Schnack asked a bunch of people to guess what Sicko would make at the box office. I had no idea but I guessed it wasn’t going to do the business of Farenheit 9/11 so I went for 25 million and I won! Sicko ended up taking just over 24.5 million so to be fair Jonathan Marlow was bloody close too with 24 million (but I’m holding on to my bragging rights!)

Very few documentaries are crossing the 1 million mark this year. Anthony Kaufman is worried that there may be a doc depression. Certainly, the lower than expected numbers for In The Shadow of the Moon are both surprising and worrying since a well-made doc about American astronauts feels about as close to a sure thing as you can get in this fickle business.

It’s nice to see No End in Sight so high up on the list for 2007 so far but I feel increasingly confused about how this stuff plays out. Do distributors have a better idea or is everyone scrabbling around in the dark? Perhaps this is another example of the “glut of cinema” – too many docs competing for a limited movie-going audience.

Eric Byler and Annabel Park have started an interesting “interactive documentary” project on YouTube to cover immigration policy in Northern Virginia in a timely fashion – before the news gets outdated in the usual production process.

Here’s what it says on their channel:

This channel is an “Interactive Documentary” about the politicization of the immigration issue, currently being shot in Northern Virginia. We will be posting new videos in quick intervals. And we will respond to viewer feedback, including requests for more coverage on certain storylines, contextual clarifications, and even perhaps on-site production excursions. The aim of this documentary is to inform the public, and investigate alternatives to the intense polarization that is hindering progress on the immigration issue. Clips on this page will be shot and edited quickly by independent filmmakers–Eric Byler, Annabel Park, and Jeff Man–with additional production support from Tomiko Anders, Tom Moore, Harry Yoon and Zhibo Lai. Because one of the chief aims of this project is to elevate dialogue, comments that contain inflammatory words will not be posted. Please help us create a constructive, public forum.

Check it out and join the debate by leaving a comment.

I went to see Gimme Shelter at the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in NYC yesterday. I have seen this film many times before but really felt the tension last night, perhaps something to do with watching it in a room full of other people. I was torn, as I always am, between the rock and roll exhilaration of a young, hot Jagger prancing about on stage and the truly disturbing bad trip that Altamont became. I have always loved the scenes of the Stones listening to recordings of their own music, particularly Charlie Watts’ amazing face when he’s listening to Wild Horses. It never fails to send shivers down my spine. But the tension is in the film from the start and by the time we actually get to Altamont I am feeling the bad vibe like a host at a party gone horribly, horribly wrong. It’s 1969 and this is the skidding end of the 60s dream.

Gimme Shelter caused a critical furor when it was released. Pauline Kael wrote a scathing review saying: “The free concert was staged and lighted to be photographed, and the three hundred thousand people who attended it were the unpaid cast of thousands. The violence and murder weren’t scheduled, but the Maysles brothers hit the cinema-verite jackpot.” Ouch. I think Kael’s review is both inaccurate and unfair but it does raise some interesting questions about the very nature and intent of cinema verite filmmaking. You can read Kael’s review and the Maysles brothers’ reply on The Documentary Blog. I also highly recommend reading this 2000 Salon article by Michael Sragow which investigates the “true story” behind Gimme Shelter and the Altamont concert.

Sumner Jules Glimcher talking with Al Maysles after the screening (this was taken on my iPhone which I still haven’t quite mastered so excuse the odd composition!)

The Academy has changed the rules for documentaries for the 81st Awards (ie. for the Oscars taking place in 2009), dropping the requirement for a multi-city rollout. Instead docs will now have to screen for 7 days in BOTH Los Angeles County and the Borough of Manhattan, rather than in one or the other as the rules stand now.

Films that reach the semifinal round of voting will no longer be required to provide two film prints to the Academy but will be able to submit in either film or digital format, complying with rigorous Digital Cinema standards.

Read the new rules here:

http://www.oscars.org/81academyawards/rules/rule12.html

And the press release here:

http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2007/07.10.09a.html

There are so many great documentaries out in NYC this week: AJ Schnack’s Kurt Cobain About a Son, Amir Bar-Lev’s My Kid Could Paint That and Tony Kaye’s Lake of Fire. I haven’t seen Lake of Fire yet but I’ve heard that it is very powerful and thought provoking on the highly-charged subject of abortion and I am looking forward to catching it at Film Forum this week. Kaye funded the film himself and worked on it for 17 years! My Kid Could Paint That, about child art prodigy Marla Olmstead, is a fascinating study of truth and hype and the role of the filmmaker and is a great film to go see with a bunch of friends and then spend hours arguing about it afterwards over frosty beverages. I fell in love with About a Son and can’t recommend it highly enough. Go with no rock bio expectations and just let it pull you in.

Here are some pics from the About a Son party last night. It was so much fun – I felt like I was at a high-school disco.

Sarie Horowitz looking foxy with filmmaker/editor extraordinaire Jeff Israel

Mike Tully and Holly Herick

Me with my lovely friend Lotta Boman and Jeff Israel

David Nugent looking awfully tanned and outdoorsy after his time in the Hamptons and the top of Holly’s head (it was very hard to see in the bar!)

IndieWIRE’s James Israel won the Fender geetar. Lucky bugger!

Stranger Than Fiction’s Fall Season launched last week at the IFC Center with Nina Davenport’s Operation Filmmaker. The story starts simply enough: shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, MTV aired a documentary about Muthana Mohmed, a young Baghdad film student. Liev Schreiber saw the MTV piece while preparing to direct his first feature, Everything is Illuminated, and decided to invite Muthana to be an intern on the film. Davenport was hired to document the feel-good experience. But nothing goes according to plan. Muthana has never lived away from home and is used to being looked after by his doting mother. He doesn’t know how to do his own laundry and is unhappy about his junior role on set. He also horrifies Peter Saraf, Everything is Illuminated’s producer, with his pro-Bush stance. The well-meaning Americans feel guilty about what has happened in Iraq but are rather put out by Muthana’s lack of gratitude for the opportunities they have given him.

Davenport, meanwhile, is slowly sucked into the story as Muthana becomes increasingly (and understandably) determined not to return to Iraq and starts asking for money and help with his visa. At this point Davenport realized that she had a story that was far more than just a DVD extra and ultimately it is Davenport herself who ends up looking for an exit strategy, as filmmaker and subject become increasingly co-dependent.

Operation Filmmaker is a fascinating study into what happens when people try to do the right thing in a world where the dice are loaded and misunderstanding is rife. Schreiber and Saraf are good people who have no idea of the minefield they are walking into and frankly haven’t thought through the repercussions of their actions. The road to hell, after all, is paved with good intentions. The relationship between Davenport and Muthana adds another layer to the story and is a sobering portrayal of the complicated power relationships between a documentary filmmaker and her subject. Who is exploiting who? Davenport handles all this material with admirable humor and skill – allowing herself to become part of the story in a way that feels both natural and inevitable. It is often uncomfortable viewing but then it is always hard when somebody holds a mirror up to us, exposing sides of ourselves that we would rather not see.

Billy The Kid is showing at Stranger Than Fiction tomorrow night – this film has been scooping up awards at festivals this year and I fell in love with it when I saw it. The other wonderful thing about Stranger Than Fiction is that it is a great connector for the documentary community in NYC and it always reminds me of how creative and supportive this community is. Plus it is on a Tuesday and I have always hated Tuesdays so it is nice to have something good to look forward to!

AJ Schnack’s beautiful and haunting Kurt Cobain About a Son is opening in NYC on October 3rd. You can read AJ’s About a Blog for more info on the film and my Beatmag article reviews About a Son as well as some other wonderful films I saw at SXSW this year. Here’s the trailer:

Hey UK People, Holy Modal Rounders. . . Bound to Lose is screening at the Horse Hospital in London on Wednesday and since I cannot make it I am humbly requesting that some of you go see it in my place. As the leaves start falling off the trees and the nights turn cold there is nothing like a bit of folky psychedelia to keep you happy and the filmmakers are lovely, lovely people.

Details here: www.thehorsehospital.com

The Shooters posse went to see DARKON at Rooftop Films last night. I’d forgotten quite how funny the film is and it was lovely to watch it on the lawn of the Automotive High School where we have done Shooting People screenings with Rooftop in the past. By the way there are only a few more Rooftop screening happening this Summer so make sure you go before the frosts set in – it’s a really great experience to sit outside in NYC and watch bands and films under the (light-polluted) stars.

Here’s Shooting People founder Cath le Couteur and NY Editor Jesse Epstein with a man in armor (I don’t know who the random guy in the background is but I’m sure he’s very nice):