Activism

After 26 years on 16mm, a groundbreaking documentary becomes available on DVD. Filmmaker Carolyn Strachan recalls the making of Two Laws/Kanymardra Yuwa, about an Aboriginal land rights struggle, and how her ongoing desire to find an audience that appreciates its use of wide-angle lens and community-driven storytelling prompted the re-release.

The creation of the Independent Television Service in the mid-1990s as a source of funding for independent filmmakers was seen at the time as one of the great successes in the independent film movement. Today, the organization has a budget exceeding $12 million, and provides key funding to hundreds of films each year, including approving many outright grants in the six-figure range. All ITVS projects are supposed to completed and groomed for public television—but, in fact, one in three films funded by ITVS do not make to a major PBS series. Why is that? In more than a dozen interviews with filmmakers and people familiar with ITVS, some complaints emerge: namely, that ITVS is an overbearing funding partner that deploys "bulldog" lawyers and shrouds the funding process in secrecy. The Independent's Michele Meek takes a look at the organization and the independent filmmakers who rely on it, to find out what's going on.

With online distribution becoming a viable outlet for filmmakers, The Independent takes a look at how filmmakers are leveraging the growing audiences this election season to promote political films, from Michael Moore's Slacker Uprising (see trailer here) to David Zucker’s An American Carol (see trailer here), as well as strictly YouTube releases like this video by Noshpit Entertainment.

With the power of YouTube and an army of over 2,000 videographer volunteers (you can join too), Video the Vote (see promo) hopes to ensure timely, complete, and accurate reporting of voter suppression and election irregularities come November 4 and beyond.

Guaranteed Completion Contracts (GCCs), otherwise known as waivers, prove to be a lifesaver for indie filmmakers as the SAG and AMTFG negotiations remain at a standstill. Here is a rundown of the issues at hand and how they might affect independent filmmakers.

Joanna Rudnick, director and subject of the documentary In the Family (see the trailer) discusses living life with the knowledge she has an 85 percent chance of getting cancer and what effect this documentary has had on her life, so far.

Filmmaker and political activist Rory Kennedy talks with The Independent about her latest documentary Thank You Mr. President: Helen Thomas at the White House about influential political journalist Helen Thomas. The film premieres on HBO on August 18th with additional airings throughout the month.

Once a child actor, Rider Strong charts a new course for his career by writing and directing (with brother Shiloh) the short film Irish Twins currently on the festival circuit (see the trailer), not to mention earning the “funniest ad” award for MoveOn.org’s recent Obama in 30 Seconds contest (watch it). Strong talks with Erin Trahan about his first short, his future political career, and why he's a lot more like Arnold Schwanzenegger than one might think.

And check out Michele's interview with documentarian Marlo Poras about the making of Run Granny Run, a film about political activist Doris "Granny D" Haddock.

"I used to be a lawyer who wanted to be an artist, but then I went to therapy. Now I am an artist whose medium is the rule of law. That sounds so pretentious, I want to puke." So says California law professor James Cooper, who talks with Mike Hofman about how his grassroots group, Proyecto Acceso, uses various forms of media—including documentary film, reality television, music videos, and animation—to promote the rule of law in Latin America.