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The International Documentary Association

Presents

Monday, February 20, 2012 
Doors Open: 7:00pm
Discussion & Audience Q&A: 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Wine Reception to Follow

The Cinefamily
611 N. Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Since news broke in early January about the changes to the Academy’s rules for documentary features, there has been an ongoing discussion on impact of these new rules on the documentary community. On January 10, IDA released a statement regarding the rules change. Over the past month, we have been talking to filmmakers, journalists, Academy members and newspaper editors as we try to asses the impact of the Academy’s actions on the doc filmmaking community as well as IDA’s Oscar-qualifying program, DocuWeeks.

With the final decision on the current Oscar race just days away, and many looking forward to making a bid for 2012’s Oscars, IDA invites the Los Angeles film community to joinIDA Board President Marjan Safinia as she moderates a discussion with doc insiders, including Steve Pond, columnist for The Wrap and a top Oscarologist (according to goldderby.com); Dana Harris, Editor-in-chief of Indiewire; James Moll, veteran non-fiction filmmaker and Executive Committee member of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; and Dustin Smith, VP, Acquisitions & Business Affairs for Roadside Attractions, to ask and answer these questions and many more. What does it take to mount a successful Oscar® campaign, and how much does it cost? What does an award really mean for the future of your film and your career? And what do the new rules really mean for doc filmmakers?

Marjan Safinia, IDA Board President (Moderator)
Marjan Safinia is an Iranian documentary filmmaker. Her feature debut, Seeds, premiered as the Opening Night Film at SilverDocs and played at over 50 international film festivals. The film was broadcast in the US, UK, New Zealand, Jamaica and across the Arab world. Her first film, But You Speak Such Good English (UK), premiered at the prestigious Sheffield International Documentary Festival and played at over 20 festivals internationally, including the Margaret Mead Documentary Festival in New York, the acclaimed “Women in Iranian Film” festival at the Barbican Centre in London and the Asia Society in New York. Marjan is one of four co-hosts of The D-Word, the premiere online community for documentary professionals and was a Filmmaking Fellow for Jehane Noujaim’s global Pangea Day. She is based in Los Angeles where she frequently consults with filmmakers and produces work through her company, The Department of Expansion.

Dana Harris, Editor-In-Chief & General Manager, Indiewire.com
Dana Harris is the Los Angeles-based editor-in-chief and general manager of Indiewire. Prior to joining iW, she spent nearly 11 years at Variety in roles that included film reporter, creating lifestyle section Variety Weekend, serving as editor of Variety.com and developing new products for the publication's website. She was also the managing editor for the Independent Film and Video Monthly and a film reporter at the Hollywood Reporter. She has covered virtually all of the world's major film festivals, contributed to publications that include the Los Angeles Times Magazine, the Star-Ledger, the UTNE Reader, FILMMAKER and Premiere and has participated as a moderator and panelist at festivals and conferences that include SXSW, Digital Hollywood and Palm Springs, among others. She also had a life in food, which included being a sous-chef, a restaurant critic and an editor for Fine Cooking. You can follow her in film and food @TheKnife.

Dustin Smith, VP, Acquisitions & Business Affairs for Roadside Attractions
Dustin Smith is the VP, Acquisitions & Business Affairs for Roadside Attractions, a theatrical distribution company based in Los Angeles. Dustin has worked on the acquistion and release of such documentaries as Academy Award winner The Cove, Project Nim, I.O.U.S.A., and The Road to Guantanamo. He has also run the theatrical release campaigns of four-time Academy Award nominee Winter's Bone as well as Ramin Bahrani's Venice Film Festival prize winner Goodbye Solo. In his younger days, he was named one of The Hollywood Reporter's top '35 Under 35.'

James Moll, veteran non-fiction filmmaker and AMPAS Documentary Branch Executive Committee Member
James Moll is an Oscar winning and two-time Emmy winning filmmaker whose feature documentary credits include Running the Sahara, Inheritance, The Last Days, and Foo Fighters: Back and Forth, which just last week earned James a Grammy.In addition to his work as a filmmaker, James established and operated The Shoah Foundation with Steven Spielberg to film and preserve 50,000 Holocaust survivor testimonies around the world. James currently serves as co-chair for the DGA Documentary Award, and as a member of the executive committee of the AMPAS documentary branch.

Steve Pond, columnist, The Wrap.com
Steve Pond is the awards columnist for TheWrap.com. He has been writing about popular culture and the entertainment industry for more than twenty-five years for such publications as Rolling Stone, Premiere, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post and Playboy. He is the author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller The Big Show: High Times and Dirty Dealings Backstage at the Academy Awards.

The evening's on-stage conversation will be followed by an audience Q&A, and a reception on the Cinefamily's backyard Spanish patio!

For more information on IDA's Doc U: documentary.org/doc-u

IDA member: $15  •  IDA student member: $5  •  Non-member: $20

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What:

Doc U: And The Award Goes To...
Documentaries Race For The Gold

When:

Monday, February 20, 2012
Doors Open: 7:00pm
Discussion & Audience Q&A: 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Wine Reception to Follow

Where:

The Cinefamily
611 N. Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Parking:

Metered parking available for free after 6pm, and non-permitted parking
in neighborhoods behind The Cinefamily

Doc U is the International Documentary Association's series of educational seminars and workshops for aspiring and experienced documentary filmmakers. Taught by artists and industry experts, participants receive vital training and insight on various topics including: fundraising, distribution, licensing, marketing, and business tactics.

Special support provided by: