You wiil see new documentaries before they are released. You will meet filmmakers and other interesting industry people. You will form friendships with film enthusiasts like yourself. Need any more reasons to sign up for one or more of these high energy documentary showcases?
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, created in 2004, celebrates nonfiction film and has evolved into an internationally recognized venue for showcasing innovative, contemporary and classic documentaries. The juried festival presents 100 films at the historic Wilma Theater in downtown Missoula, Montana.
Held in May in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the six-day DOXA screening program features outstanding documentaries from around the world. DOXA is known not only for screening wonderful films, but also for showing great hospitality to filmmakers and film lovers.
Held in April in Toronto, Hot Docs is North America's largest documentary film festival, presenting more than 100 cutting-edge documentaries from Canada and around the globe, and offering a lively mix of public and professional networking events. The well-attended festival is considered an important meeting place for filmmakers, buyers, programmers, distributors and commissioning editors from around the world.
Held each June, the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival brings issue-oriented documentaries to the Walter Reade Theater at NYC's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Co-presented with the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the festival program has both feature length and short documentary films, as well as dramatic features.
Welcome to Realitywood! That is the slogan of Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, considered to be the premier nonfiction film showcase in America. Founded in 1998 by Nancy Buirski, Full Frame has been dubbed "the Cannes of documentaries." Held in April, the festival welcomes filmmakers and film lovers from around the world to the historic Carolina Theater in downtown Durham, North Carolina, for a four-day, morning-to-midnight smorgasbord of more than 100 films, panel discussions, seminars and Q&As.
Held annually in April at the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City, Iowa, this festival features short (under 30 minutes) nonfiction films and videos. All screenings are free of charge.
Held annually in June in Washington, DC, SILVERDOCS celebrated its fifth anniversary in 2007 by announcing that it is the first carbon-neutral documentary festival in North America. With its progressive agenda, SILVERDOCS attracts leading documentary filmmakers such as Nick Broomfield, Werner Herzog, Barbara Kopple, Al Maysles, Stanley Nelson, Martin Scorsese and Penelope Spheeris to present their works and share their perspectives with Festival audiences.
One of the world's most prestigious film festivals, star-studded Sundance Film Festival is noted for premiering big Hollywood and independent narrative features, but also has an important documentary films section. The festival, held annually in January in Park City Utah, was founded by Robert Redford, who continues to participate in many of its events.
Founded by Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal to promote Lower Manhattan's cultural recovery after 9-11, Tribeca Film Festival has become a sprawling enterprise that presents various mini-festivals and other events throughout the year. Tribeca Film Festival, itself, held in April and May, has so many screenings, panel discussions and seminars, it is difficult to keep up with the program. Recently, the Festival's emphasis seems to have shifted to celebrity-studded Hollywood blockbuster premiers, but the nonfiction film section is still a very important venue for documentary film directors seeking distribution for their films. Tickets to screenings are expensive, but filmmakers are usually on hand for post-screening Q&As.
