CIFF Conquers the Big Apple!

A sincere apology for the radio silence this past month.  We’ve been extremely busy this New Year (Happy belated 2010!), holding events in association with the 2010 Cinema Eye Honors in NYC, as well as gearing up for what some are already saying is going to be a very dynamic year for docs!  Although CIFF was unable to attend Sundance this year, we’ve got some choice representatives luring doc filmmakers NorthEast for this years CIFF (Thanks Sean Flynn!).

For those who don’t know, the CINEMA EYE HONORS for NONFICTION FILMMAKING is an annual event recognizing and honoring exemplary craft and innovation in nonfiction film.  The event is the brainchild of doc moguls, AJ Schnack (Convention, CIFF ’09 and ALL THESE WONDERFUL THINGS blog) and Thom Powers (Toronto Intl Film Festival Head Programmer / STF Program Director).  This year AJ asked CIFF Director, Ben Fowile, to take-part as a member of the nominating committee, a group of 11 documentary programmers from the best festivals from all over the world.

The night before the awards, CIFF held a reception for all nominated filmmakers and a number of industry guests.  The event went smashingly, thanks to sponsors Above Allen, Thompsons Hotel LES and of course, Maker’s Mark.  Thanks also to Leah Hurley, CIFF ’09’s producer for helping put this event together.  I think the consensus of the entire CE weekend was just how gracious and supportive the documentary community is.  In a city of over 10 million, somehow it felt like the only people who surrounded you were people who eat, sleep and breath nonfiction.  CINEMA EYE reminds us that there are several reasons why we devote our time and energy to nonfiction filmmaking, whether it’s creation, consumption or exhibition.  Thanks to everyone involved in making this special weekend happen.  It was an honor to have CIFF be a part of an event that recognizes craft and innovation in an art form that is continually pushing its own boundaries.

It should also be mentioned that there were tons of CIFF alum there as nominated filmmakers including the filmmakers from BECAUSE WE WERE BORN, THE WAY WE GET BY, OCTOBER COUNTRY and even a special appearance by CIFF alum, Peter Davis!  Below are a few pictures from the event.  If you are interested in seeing more, join us on facebook here. We’ll also be posting them to our flickr account soon.

Finally, big ups to Mike and Donal from OCTOBER COUNTRY for taking home two awards, BEST DEBUT FEATURE and BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE.  Also, congrats to our good friend Jessica Oreck and her film BEETLE QUEEN CONQUERS TOKYO for taking home the SPOTLIGHT AWARD.  Check out a complete listing of winners here.

2010 SPIRIT AWARDS ANNOUNCED

Over on the west coast nominations for the 2010 SPIRIT AWARDS were announced earlier today.  Several of these films we’ve been following for quite some time so it’s a real joy to see them making it to the finals in the awards season.  Congrats to all nominated doc films.  Michael Palmieri’s and Donal Mosher’s OCTOBER COUNTRY (CIFF ’09) scored yet another nomination, this time for BEST DOCUMENTARY proving that it’s the biggest little independent film taking the awards season by storm.  Here’s hoping everyone will have a shot to see this film sometime soon, no matter what corner of the country you are in!

Also congrats to the TRUER THAN FICTION nominations.  We’ve been gushing about these three films since their premieres earlier this year!  All very well deserved.  And if you don’t believe us, check here, here and here.

Jessica Oreck – BEETLE QUEEN CONQUERS TOKYO

Bill and Turner Ross – 45365

Natalia Almada – EL GENERAL (This film had a very quiet festival run but has been making waves during the awards season)

Awards Season Ramping Up!

CIFF is over and snow has already fallen so that must mean its time for the award season to begin (despite it only being mid-October).  We expect lots of this years films to be among the many nominated in some form or another for one award or another.  IFP announced the nominations for their GOTHAM AWARDS today and a very special congrats to Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher for their nod.  OCTOBER COUNTRY was nominated for a Gotham Award – Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You.  We were honored to be able to present the New England Premiere of this acclaimed documentary and wish Donal and Michael the best of luck.

Two days ago AJ Schnack announced the 98 features eligible for the prestigious CINEMA EYE HONORS, which will be held in January in NYC ( an earlier date for the Awards’s Ceremony this year).  CIFF Founder and Director, Ben Fowlie has been asked to be on the Nominating Committee for the 2010 Awards.  Features will be whittled down and nominations will be announced in November at the Sheffield Doc Fest.  For more information, and a complete listing of this years films, visit AJ’s blog post here, or the Cinema Eye Honors site.  Going through the list of films reaffirms what an incredible year for nonfiction it was.  Thanks to all the filmmakers for making such incredible works and good luck!  We’ll have much much more on this event, leading up to the big night in January!

FILMMAKER MAG ANNOUNCES 25 NEW FACES IN FILM

The 09 list is here and we’re VERY happy to see some familiar faces…and several emerging voices in the nonfiction world.  A big congrats to everyone selected, especially to Jessica Oreck, Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher.  We were lucky enough to catch Oreck’s first feature, The Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo last March at SXSW and boy, what a cinematic treat!  Mosher’s and Palmieri’s film, October Country just took home the award of all awards at Silverdocs and continues to garner some serious buzz in the doc blogosphere.  Kudos to the True / False Film Festival for picking that one up early and for giving us the opportunity to see it as a “sneak preview.”  We’ll be talking lots more about these two films in months to come!

Big ups to all the other documentary filmmakers announced in this list including, Ian Olds (Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi  – Acquired by HBO), Nicole Opper (Off and Running) and Jody Lee Lipes (Brock Enright: Good Times Will Never Be the Same)

For a complete list, visit Filmmaker online…