Ten years can either be a blip or an eternity depending on your perspective. The year 1997 saw President Bill Clinton inaugurated for his second term, James Cameron’s “Titantic” was the top movie and a book about a young wizard named Harry Potter first hit shelves. It was before the Internet stock bust and “information superhighway” was still a promise. The world of documentary in the U.S. was one of foundation funding, public television broadcast and educational distribution with precious few docs breaking into any kind of commercial success. It was in that entrenched world that then-new filmmakers Katy Chevigny and Julia Pimsleur felt like they had little opportunity. Read the article & catch screenings of Arts Engine productions at The Paley Center in NYC this weekend>>

Would you please speak up?! Eugene Hernandez posted a discussion starter on his blog about The Festival That Shall Not Be Named Here and their absurd new policy that accredited festival press may not post film reviews in advance of the premiere screening. Journalists and film writers like myself have a sense of our own importance, for better or worse, but what really matters is filmmakers. It’s the internet for God’s sake–you can post anonymously, but let your thoughts be heard.

If I see 5 filmmaker comments on Eug’s blog that say this is a great, welcome policy, then maybe we shift our understanding of what is helpful and what isn’t. If you say it’s not helpful, then maybe (and I give that a big maybe), the fest will shift its policy. I’m so utterly sick of this particular festival bullying everyone who tries to participate and no one speaking up. Hey, they supposedly made changes to respond to criticism for this year, so at least give it a shot. Read Eugene’s post and share a comment, PUULEEZ!

Anthony Kaufman polled industry folks about Michael Moore’s announced Doc Night plan in his excellent indieWIRE article today. “Reactions to the plan are largely split between documentary filmmakers, who welcome any initiative that helps get their work out to the world, and industry insiders, who are skeptical about the plan’s feasibility and disturbed by what they see as a further ghettoization of the documentary form.”

As I was reading the article, I was feeling like some of us (myself included) come across as quite snarky about the whole thing. I can’t hold back when it comes to Moore; in a typical fashion, he couldn’t bother to comment for Anthony’s article, which just adds fuel to my snark about the man. But as Thom Powers says at the end of the article, “When you have a curated event, you’re building a relationship with the audience. When they have a couple of good experiences, then they don’t have to be sold on each title individually.” I was a season pass holder for Thom’s excellent Stranger Than Fiction series in New York and would gladly promote something similar in cities across America.