Features

As doc filmmakers and fans well know, true criminals are often scarier than the masked marauders at multiplexes. Steven LaFond picks four docs that put the black in black metal and the heavy in murder.

For six years now Ben Fowlie has been luring the documentary world north to the Camden International Film Festival. They come for pitch opportunities, a seminar for film professionals, a semester-long partnership with the University Maine, and for docs that embrace an activist edge.

At the close of the Toronto International Film Festival and after taking in most of the fest's new Canadian releases, Katherine Brodsky noticed a common import: American fame.

The Independent has been thinking a lot about 3D lately. So when Courtney Sheehan went over the moon for Step Up 3D, Erin Trahan decided to see for herself if dance really can change the world. Short answer: possibly. Bigger question: what's 3D's relevance to indie filmmaking?

US docmakers may feel pressed by funders to change the world with every film. The Independent's Randi Cecchine asks how is that mandate influencing docs' form, and what happens when funding models drastically differ, as they do abroad?

They come from all walks of life, and each has a different story to tell. Some have found success, while others are just beginning their careers. And although their filmmaking reflects this diversity, they all have one major thing in common (other than being on this list): talent. Be sure to take notes as you read...you'll want to remember these filmmakers.

"It’s understanding the difference between an issue, and what will really provide the elements of a film," said Nettie Wild a social documentary filmmaker and director of Bevel Up: Drugs, Users and Outreach Nursing (view the trailer here), which screened at HotDocs in 2008. Independent writer, Jericho Parms, talks to Wild as well as director Francine Cavanaugh (view the trailer for her latest film On Coal River here), co-founder of Mountain Eye Media, about the elements that make a good activist film, and the effect social media can have on society.

There is no doubt that the war of the tax credits can have an impact on your bottom line. And with states competing to get the best incentives on the books, it’s a buyer’s market. So how can filmmakers choose the right destination? A new series from The Independent assesses some of the top locations for independents in the United States.

Corporate television commercials are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Instead, businesses both big and small are turning to documercials, commercials shot like documentaries, to more sincerely convey their message via the Internet. Like it or not, this trend is opening up doors for independent filmmakers — both financially and professionally.

In The Independent's new series Film Journal: The Making of an Independent Feature, filmmaker Valerie Weiss will share her experiences of financing, making, and marketing her first independent feature film Losing Control. Here, she discusses her inspiration for making the film and her method of fundraising.