1. How to Win an Oscar for Your Documentary: During the “Race for the Documentary Oscar” panel at the Sheffield Doc/Fest, the panelists revealed some quick ways to get your documentary film to win (or at least have a shot at winning) an Oscar. Panelists included Philippa Kowarsky, founding and managing director of Cinephil, a sales and co-productions company (“The Gatekeepers,” “The Act of Killing”), Academy-award winning producer Simon Chinn (“Man on Wire,” “Searching for Sugar Man”) and Nick Fraser, commissioning editor at BBC Storyville (“Man on Wire”). Read five of the top things we learned from the panel here.
2. Joe Berlinger’s Master Class: The acclaimed director, known for his Oscar-nominated “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” as well as his most recent documentary, “Whitey: United States of America V. James J Bulger,” hosted a master class at the Sheffield Doc/Fest about documentary filmmaking. In the class we learned a bit about Berlinger’s history, how he never planned to be a documentary filmmaker and how he created a film “that has been one of the most reviled films in cinematic history.” Read more about Berlinger’s class here.
3. Summer Grants: Nofilmschool has compiled a list of summer grants (with deadlines) that filmmakers should take a look at. Some of the grants include: One for Australian documentary filmmakers (June 13), the renowned Sundance Documentary Fund (July 1) and a post-production fund from the Abu Dhabi Film Festival (July 15).
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