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December
Newsletter
Producer
workshop on outreach strategies in February!
Want
to find out how to use outreach to make your doc effective—or
even how to make outreach part of your funding strategy? The Center
is offering a workshop designed to help producers with strategic
design for their docs. Learn in this one-day workshop from some
of the most respected professionals in outreach and community engagement,
and find out how their strategies helped great documentaries get
made, and make a difference in the world.
What:
Making Your Documentary Matter: Outreach Strategies that
Work
When:
February 7, 2005 from 1-8:00 p.m.
Where:
American University, Washington DC
Panelists
include: Joy Moore of the Annie E. Casey Foundation,
Judith Ravitz of Outreach Extensions, Cheryl Head
of Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Cara Mertes
of P.O.V and many more! $50 registration fee includes all panels,
networking reception and premiere screening of a new Tod
Lending film, Omar and Pete. Space is limited,
register early!
Find
out more on the web: http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/outreachworkshop.htm
Workshop
funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Panel
Showcases Major CSM Study on Doc Filmmakers and "Clearance
Culture"
Filmmakers
and lawyers discussed how best to protect creativity in documentary
at a panel discussion on November 8, which launched the new study,
“Untold Stories: Creative Consequences of the Rights
Clearance Culture for Documentary Filmmakers.” The
study, executed by the Center for Social Media and the Washington
College of Law, was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. It shows
that doc filmmakers today face unreasonable and sometimes crippling
copyright clearance requirements.
“I
would love to see some of my father’s most important work
reach today’s audiences, especially young people,” said
Grace Guggenheim, who showed clips from a film by Charles Guggenheim
about Robert F. Kennedy. “But I’m facing enormous problems
clearing rights.”
Jeffrey
Tuchman told the audience of filmmakers, lawyers, policy activists
and funders about his frustration trying to use contemporary music
for a film he is making on oral histories of the civil rights movement.
“It may be impossible to accompany these interviews with the
music that inspired these people at the time,” he said.
“Fair
use,” or the use of copyrighted material without permission,
is an important feature of copyright law, but today most documentarians
can’t use it because of confusion and ambiguity around the
term. Law professor Mike Madison noted the importance of fair use
as a protection under increasingly harsh copyright law, and communications
professor Joseph Turow noted that the problems faced by filmmakers
are shared by academics. “I’m worried for the future
of academic research,” he said.
Peter
Jaszi, co-author of the study and a law professor at American University,
announced the next stage of the study at the panel. “We expect
to develop, with filmmakers, a statement of best practices in fair
use.” Filmmakers could use such a statement, he explained,
to show their broadcasters and distributors how the law can be used
to protect reasonable quoting from other work, as well as to protect
finished work.
Co-author
Pat Aufderheide noted, “This next stage will involve a wide
range of filmmaker organizations, and we think that it will improve
filmmakers’ options without putting them at risk.”
To
get involved in shaping a statement of best practices, or if you
would like a free DVD--which includes the report, the background
data, a short film and other features--simply email socialmedia@american.edu.
More
information, including the full report, at http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/rock/index.htm
New
Free Video on Clearance and Copyright
Accompanying
the launch of the report, “Untold Stories,”
at the panel on November 8 was a short video by Brigid
Maher, “Stories Untold.” This crisp
introduction to the issues combines clips of endangered or altered
films, interviews with filmmakers, and animation illustrating the
kinds of problems filmmakers have in clearing rights for documentaries.
All quoted material in the film was used by invoking fair use. The
8-minute video is designed both for teaching and for discussions.
“This is a terrific tool,” said filmmaker Peter Wintonick.
“I want every doc filmmaker to see it. We need to be able
to tell more people why this matters to them, and this shows it
to them.”
The
video can be viewed on the Center website at: http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/rock/index.htm
Or
is available on DVD for free by emailing socialmedia@american.edu.
Limited copies, though!
"Checkpoint" Prompts Discussion at "Best of INPUT"
The
Center's screening of Checkpoint, Yoav Shamir's documentary
that quietly observes what goes on at Israeli checkpoints, was a
highlight of the city-wide celebration of the Best of INPUT 2004.
(INPUT brings together programmers and makers for public television
systems around the world; the next one is in San Francisco in May.)
The
film was also a good example of what we're missing on our own screens
of the wealth of international public TV. This film, which took
top awards at three film festivals, and is now being used by the
Israeli army to correct abusive behaviors, is still not available
in theaters or video stores, and hasn't shown on TV. The audience
was eager to discuss after watching the film. "Is this film
really accurate? Is this what you had to go through at checkpoints?"
one viewer asked discussion leader Ned Lazarus. Lazarus was program
director of Seeds of Peace in Jerusalem. "As an American,"
he explained, "my experience was much easier, but I often had
to help members of Seeds of Peace across the checkpoints."
To
read more about the full program, visit: http://www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/acv/rut/en194856.htm
New
Teaching Resources on the Center website
The
Center continues to expand the Teaching Resources section of the
website with two new additions: Video Activism
by River Branch, University of Iowa and Documentary Research
by Lora Taub-Pervipour, Muhlenberg College. To find those syllabi
and others for teaching social issue media courses, visit: http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/res_teaching.html
If
you would like to make your syllabus available to other teachers
and students, please email it to socialmedia@american.edu.
Partner
Announcements
Fifth
Annual Media That Matters Film Festival
CALL FOR ENTRIES: Deadline: January 5, 2005
Center
partner MediaRights wants you to submit your film, for the fifth
annual Media That Matters Film Festival today!
Sixteen
winners get a national distribution deal with MediaRights –
DVD, broadcast, Web streaming and community screenings. Plus –
most films get additional $1,000 awards. This is an opportunity
for your social, political or environmental work to reach millions
and to make an impact. Topics include: Food Politics, Criminal Justice,
Elections, LGBT Rights, Youth Activism, Health Advocacy, Racial
Justice, Human Rights and more.
•
The shorter the better! 8 minutes max. (If your piece is too long,
consider submitting a shorter cut or a standalone excerpt.)
• All genres welcome: Documentary, Narrative, Experimental,
Comedy, Animation, PSA, Digital Story, Music Video, Game, Interactive
Online Project, Youth Media
• $1,000 cash awards granted to most projects
• Submission fee: $20 (students free)
• Deadline: January 5, 2005
Apply
online at: www.mediathatmattersfest.org/apply
For more information contact Wendy Cohen, wendy@mediarights.org
MediaRights
and the Media That Matters Film Festival are projects of
Arts Engine, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization.
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prefer not to receive any further announcements, please reply with
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