January 6, 2017 | POV’s daily list of essential reading for the documentary and independent filmmaking community.
A Chilling PBS Documentary Shows How Mistakes Are Made
President-elect Donald J. Trump stirred up the debate over nuclear weapons with a late-December Twitter post, but one aspect of that issue is rarely explored: Nuclear armaments have to be safely stored and maintained somewhere. Just why this matters is chillingly detailed in Command and Control, an episode of “American Experience” on PBS on Tuesday, Jan. 10, that recounts a 1980 maintenance blunder at a missile silo in Arkansas.
Read more | New York Times »
Netflix Buys Sundance Documentary ‘Casting JonBenet’
Netflix has acquired worldwide rights to Kitty Green’s documentary Casting JonBenet, which will have its world premiere later this month in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival.
Read more | Variety »
‘I Am Not Your Negro’ Trailer: James Baldwin Talks Race Relations in America in Raoul Peck’s Documentary
At the time of his death in 1987, writer, poet and social critic James Baldwin had an unfinished manuscript entitled “Remember This House,” a memoir about his personal recollections of the lives and deaths of civil rights leaders Medgar Evans, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Now, filmmaker Raoul Peck has mined the manuscript for his new documentary essay I Am Not Your Negro that explores race relations in the United States through Baldwin’s words. Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, the film prominently places Baldwin’s voice front and center as he conveys his thoughts and experiences of living as a marginalized figure in American society. Watch a trailer for the film below.
Read more | IndieWire »
Why Did CNN Air a Documentary About the Band Chicago Produced by Band Members?
CNN pre-empted its usual prime-time programming on New Year’s Day for a special two-hour film: a retrospective on the long career of the pop-rock group Chicago. The film traced the group’s arc from its humble roots to its induction in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year.
Read more | Washington Post »
Upcoming Festivals and Deadlines
This Week
- Deadline: World Press Photo Digital Storytelling Contest submissions Jan 6
Next Week
- Deadline: Final Submission for Visions du Réel Jan 8
- Deadline: Hot Docs Doc X Program submissions Jan 9
- Deadline: Hot Docs late submissions Jan 9
- Applications Open: 2017 IFP Labs (Narrative, Documentary, and Serialized Projects) Jan 10
- Deadline: NEH Media Development & Media Production Grants Jan 11
- Deadline: Screen Australia’s Documentary Development Funding Jan 13
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