--Randal K. West, "Finding Your Vision,"
Videomaker, May 2006, p.70.
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“The word documentary certainly suggests an interest in what is actual, what exists, rather than what one brings personally, if not irrationally, to the table of present-day actuality. Documentary evidence substantiates what is otherwise an assertion or a hypothesis or a claim. A documentary film attempts to portray a particular kind of life realistically; a documentary report offers authentication of what is otherwise speculation. Through documents themselves, through informants, witnesses, participants, through the use of the camera and the tape recorder, through letters or journals or diaries, through school records, court records, hospital records, or newspaper records, a growing accuracy with respect to a situation, a place, a person or a group of people begins to be assembled.”
--Robert Coles, Doing Documentary Work,
New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1997, p.5.
documentaries.org
A showcase for new and existing documentary film, video, radio, and web-based projects.
Docurama
First video label dedicated exclusively to critically acclaimed and cutting-edge documentaries.
Docuseek
Search site for independent documentary, social issue, & educational videos in the U.S. & Canada.
Independent Television Service
ITVS brings to local, national and international audiences high-quality, content-rich programs created by a diverse body of independent producers.
International Documentary Association
THE organization for documentary, which promotes nonfiction film and video around the world by supporting and recognizing the efforts of documentary film and video makers; increasing public appreciation and demand for the documentary; and providing a forum for documentary makers, their supporters and suppliers.
Maysles Associates
Albert Maysles is one of the world's foremost documentary filmmakers of the past 40+ years.
National Film Board of Canada
The NFB is a cultural agency within the Canadian Heritage Department. Initially known as the National Film Commission, it was created by an act of Parliament in 1939. Its mandate, as set forth in the National Film Act, 1950, is “to produce and distribute and to promote the production and distribution of films designed to interpret Canada to Canadians and to other nations.”
Pennebaker Hegedus Films
D.A. Pennebaker, like Albert Mayesles, is one of the world's foremost documentary filmmakers of the past forty-plus years. Chris Hegedus is his wife; she, too, has been a key figure in documentary over the past several decades.
The D-Word
The D-Word began as a series of journal entries depicting the joy and angst of making and selling the feature documentary. It was meant to inform, inspire, humor and depress the hell out of working or aspiring documentary filmmakers, or anyone else interested in the filmmaking process, for that matter.In recent years, The D-Word's focus has shifted to hosting documentary discussion forums online. Now everyone can inform, inspire, humor and depress the hell out of each other.
For those interested in documentary production, I suggest the following books.
Directing the Documentary, 4th edition by Michael Rabiger. Focal Press
Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Videos, 3rd edition by Alan Rosenthal. Southern Illinois University Press
Documentary Storytelling: Creative Nonfiction on Screen, 3rd edition by Sheila Curran Bernard. Focal Press.
