POV's Documentary Blog

Documentary Year in Review Countdown #11: Michael Moore Sues the Weinsteins over 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Accounting

We’re counting down the top documentary news of 2011 on New Year’s Eve!

What’s the top-grossing documentary of all time? Michael Moore knows it’s his film, Fahrenheit 9/11.

Moore sued producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein in February 2011 for at least $2.7 million in unpaid profits claiming the brothers used “Hollywood accounting tricks” to cheat him. (Moore had already earned between $19 million and $20 million in profits, according to media reports.)

In a rare move, Moore hasn’t picked up a camera (to our knowledge). His attorney noted in a statement that it was the first time the director had sued anyone in his 20-year filmmaking career.

The 2011 Documentary Year in Review Countdown…

#12: Online payments
Ford Foundation Funds Webified Documentaries

#11: Off-camera confrontation
Michael Moore Sues the Weinsteins over ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ Accounting

#10: A film by you
‘Life In A Day,’ a Documentary Culled from 80,000 Filmmakers, Premieres Online

#9: Cameraless documentary
‘Senna’ Breaks U.K. Box-Office Records

#8: Mobile device legend
Cinéma Vérité Pioneer Richard “Ricky” Leacock Dies

#7: Good karma
‘My Reincarnation’ Breaks Records on Kickstarter

#6: Seeing is beliebing
3-D Documentaries Hit Theaters

#5: Risks become real
War Documentarian Tim Hetherington (‘Restrepo’) Killed in Action

#4: No flash in the pan
Popcorn.js Brings HTML5 and Interactivity to Documentaries

#3: Mystery man
What if Banksy Wins an Oscar?

#2: Web threats
The Stop Online Privacy Act Catches the Web Off Guard

#1: Freedom fighters
The West Memphis 3, Subjects of the ‘Paradise Lost’ Documentary Series, Are Set Free