20 Under 40: Film Industry Talent to Watch

Following the heels of the 2010 CINEMA EYE HONORS, Toronto IFF and Stranger Than Fiction’s Thom Powers put together a list of 20 industry leaders worth keeping an eye on.  Listed among the talented and hard-working leaders of the non-fiction frontier is  Camden International Film Festival’s Founder and Director, Ben Fowlie.  Put simply by Power’s, “Ben Fowlie, founding director of the Camden Film Festival, has put a small town on the map of a crowded festival calendar. In order for film culture to flourish, we could use an organizer like Ben in every small town.”

Thanks for the recognition Thom!  Powers and his top-notch programming has been a major influence in our programming over the years.  We’ve been fortunate enough to have Thom’s wife, Raphaela Niehausen (who also made the list!) attend CIFF (MISS GULAG, CIFF ’07) and have also collaborated with his NY based Stranger Than Fiction Screening Series (THE WAY WE GET BY, STF SPRING ’09).

Congrats to everyone else mentioned.  CIFF is in exceptional company!  A special shout out to list-makers and major CIFF alums, David Redmon and Ashley Sabin!  For a complete list of the 20 Under 40: Film Industry Talent to Watch, visit the STF blog.

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.