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POV's Documentary Blog



documentary filmmaking
  • Inspired by a Magazine Article (But Works Better on a Big Screen)
    Doc Soup Man Tom Roston asks the question "Have you wondered where magazine stories end and documentaries begin?"
    Tom Roston 4 min read July 19, 2013 Doc Soup Comments
  • Ken Burns on the “Ken Burns Effect”
    Ask anyone what they think of when you mention his name, and they'll refer to the Ken Burns Effect, that technique he employs in all his films whereby the camera pans over sideways and then zooms in.
    Adam Schartoff 1 min read November 14, 2012 Documentary News Comments
  • Next on POV: 'Sweetgrass'
    POV's 24th season continues with the U.S. broadcast premiere of Sweetgrass, a riveting and poetic portrait of the American West just as one of its traditional ways of life dies out, Tuesday, July 5, 2011, on PBS.
    Alva French 2 min read July 1, 2011 Documentary News Comments
  • DOCNYC Report: Is Crowd Sourcing the Future?
    Jamie Dobie is POV’s community engagement and education coordinator. She reports from the DOC NYC “State of the Industry” panel that took place on Wednesday, November 3, where she found a lively discussion about social media and engaging communities.   The First Annual DOC NYC opened its doors Wednesday afternoon to documentary professionals and an […]
    Jamie Dobie 5 min read November 5, 2010 Documentary News Comments
  • Doc Soup: Something Rotten in the House of Docs?
    There’s something rotten in the house of docs, or so it was declared at last week’s Independent Filmmaker Conference panel discussion entitled "Cage Match: Filmmaking or Social Activism?," expertly moderated by POV’s very own Yance Ford. Ford kicked things off with the question, "Is the medium in an identity crisis?" And panelist Nick Fraser, of […]
    Tom Roston 3 min read September 27, 2010 Doc Soup Comments
  • Doc Soup: A Documentary Hoax Revealed
    Joaquin Phoenix with David Letterman in 2009. This week, actor Joaquin Phoenix will go on the Late Show and he and David Letterman are going to share some laughs. They will wink and nudge and roll their eyes, indicating that they are being sincerely ironic about the sincerity of what they are talking about — […]
    Tom Roston 3 min read September 20, 2010 Doc Soup Comments
  • Doc Soup: What's 'Power' in the Doc World, and Who's Got it?
    Power. It’s an elusive term. There is real power — the power to control the world around you, to do what you want, and then there are the different ways that we perceive power &mdash as in wealth, fame or influence. Is there such a thing as power in the documentary film industry? In this […]
    Tom Roston 3 min read May 24, 2010 Doc Soup Comments
  • Doc Soup: When the Unexpected Happens on Film: 'The Business of Being Born'
    I know. You’d think I’d post something about the major doc happenings this week: POV airing Food, Inc. (Wednesday, April 21 at 9:00 pm – check local listings) and the kick-off of the Tribeca Film Fest. I might get to those later, but for now I can’t help it — I’ve got an itch and […]
    Tom Roston 4 min read April 19, 2010 Doc Soup Comments
  • Doc Soup: “Collapse” – Are We Doomed?
    We’re doomed! I’m not even talking about that mess up in Massachusetts. I’m talking big-time, end-of-civilization, DOOMED. That, at least, is the message delivered by Collapse, a documentary that came out last year, directed by Chris Smith (The Yes Men, American Movie). The film got limited attention, and can now be see on movies-on-demand on […]
    Tom Roston 8 min read January 25, 2010 Doc Soup Comments
  • The International Documentary Challenge Registration Now Open
    Now in its 5th year, The International Documentary Challenge returns to the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto. This year’s challenge takes place March 4 – 8, 2010 with registration now open. The Doc Challenge is a fun and innovative competition that will push your documentary skills to the limit. If you’re new […]
    theresa 1 min read January 8, 2010 Documentary News Comments
  • Community Events: POV Screenings at Hofstra University
    Students in the MFA Documentary Program at Hofstra University in Hempsted, New York, have been screening POV films this semester. MFA candidate Stefani Saintonge shares some of the highlights of the series so far. This semester, the MFA Documentary Program at Hofstra University is hosting a series of POV screenings. As a student of the […]
    POV Guest Blogger 2 min read November 12, 2009 Documentary News Comments
  • Doc Soup: In Search of the Honest Truth About Docs and Ethics
    Leave it to The New York Times to fail to get the facts straight. Or, rather, to presume that there’s such a thing as an immutable fact and that its journalists have the rarified ability to relay facts without prejudice. No documentary filmmaker worth his or her salt would ever make such a claim, but […]
    Tom Roston 4 min read September 21, 2009 Doc Soup Comments
  • Happy 10th Birthday Wishes to the D-Word!
    For those of you unfamiliar with the D-Word, it is a unique online community of over 2400 documentary professionals from over 78 countries who share information and resources on all things documentary, including creative, business, technical, and social topics. D-Word was started began as a series of online journal entries by filmmaker Doug Block depicting […]
    Simon Kilmurry 1 min read September 3, 2009 Documentary News Comments