Reflecting on the documentary system

When Netflix is the big daddy and not Sundance, where does the leave the field?

A quick note this week. Last week I went to Durham, NC to support my colleagues at Full Frame, which had its first in person festival in years. The joy of Full Frame I experienced once again: casually hanging out with favorite colleagues that make the best documentary films of our generation. Marshall Curry, Chris Hedgedus, Steven Bognar, Yance Ford, Sam Pollard, Gary Hustwit, Doug Block, Marco Williams, Rex Miller, Steven Maing… these are just a few of my favorite people to see and hear from and watch their work. I am sure I am forgetting others, not to mention festival and art house colleagues from all over the country. This is our community, and for once I could just enjoy those four days and see films and friends.

With the major changes in documentary, you no longer see buyers and sales agents at this size of festival. In many ways I suppose it is not necessary, especially if the phrase “all art is local” holds true. The festival exists for the filmmakers and the amazing community in Durham who really love and know this work. (A well known editor asked before their Speakeasy panel if they should get “into the weeds” on the work they do, and I encouraged them to absolutely get into their process with this audience). But the distributors can see the films digitally, and the streamers are not acquiring but making their own work. There were no industry sponsors, which I am sure eliminated any difficult programming discussions. There were not even many donors listed in the program. Hopefully Full Frame benefits from the major university where it resides for much of its support.

But this makes the support of many other festivals from Hot Docs to Hot Springs come into question. Camden and T/F have filmmaker programs that provide support to the field during the year, beyond their festival days. (And the CIFF pitch is such a great concept and much fun to attend). But just as the doc films are struggling, so too are the festivals. Hot Docs recent plea for support, the smaller handful of acquisitions out of Sundance, and the leadership turnovers at many doc fests reflect the issues within the larger independent film field. And they almost all come down to funding.

I will return to my posts soon that reflect much of what Brian Newman and Ted Hope have also been discussing abut our independent film ecosystem. In the meantime, it was great to see some films I had missed at Sundance, explore new work I would not have seen elsewhere, and now, a few years older, share the elevator after late screenings, skipping the 10PM parties with other makers who have aged along with me in this business. You know who you are!

Thanks to Doug Block for allowing me to articulate this in a soundbite. I urge you to listen to the other filmmakers he caught up with on You Tube as well.

More soon.