The Environmental Film Festival is still going, and more docs are appearing in theaters. It must be spring! See the full list of films on the Docs in Progress site or at the WIFV site.

Don’t miss the last few days of the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital. On Saturday, 3/24, the Avalon Theatre is showing The CIty Dark by Ian Cheney (King Corn), about the loss of darkness at night. Sure, it _seems_ dark, but where are the stars?

Opening this weekend at the Landmark E Street are two new films. Jiro Dreams of Sushi, about a famed Japanese chef, who is 85 years old and hoping to pass on the restaurant to his son who struggles to live up to his father’s reputation. Also opening this week is The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, an unusual love story of a couple who want to be more like each other. So they make it happen.

This year’s Oscar winner, Undefeated, moves to the West End Cinema, and fellow nominee, Pina, by Wim Wenders, is still at the AFI Silver (only in 2D, alas).

Artisphere has a couple of docs as part of the Northern Virginia Jewish Film Festival: Trembling Before G-d and Connected. The former is about the little known world of homosexual orthodox Jews and the later is about our over connected modern life. Both are worth checking out.

On Sunday, 3/25, the National Archives will feature excerpts from Ken Burns newest documentary, The Dust Bowl. Introduced by Mr. Burns himself.

Coming up next weekend, at the AFI Silver, is your chance to see the Best Worst Movie, a documentary about the terribly bad movie, Troll 2. It’s really bad, too. But the Best Worst Movie is good, so go see that.

There are plenty of other movies on the Roundup, so go read through and see what ya like!

Festivals, panels, films, and summits. After the Oscars, the documentary world in DC is still going strong. See the full list of films on the Docs in Progress site or at the WIFV site. Sign up on the upper left of this screen to get my weekly highlights in your email inbox.

The DC Independent Film Festival starts happens this weekend, with films and seminars you won’t want to miss. Of note – special guest of honor at this year’s festival is the famous documentary filmmaker Les Blank! Including a masterclass on Saturday, 3/3. List of films at DCIFF. Check out the list of seminars and workshops at DCIFF, including a panel of documentary filmmakers at 3pm.

Oscar winning feature Undefeated opens at the Landmark Bethesda Row today. Charlotte Rampling: The Look opens at the Landmark E Street today as well. Next weekend, the incredible story of a famous housing project in St. Louis, The Pruitt-Igoe Myth, opens at the West End Cinema. Fabulous use of archival footage.

As part of the DCIFF, check out some documentaries in progress from Kosovo. Docs In Progress collaborated with Dokufest, a film festival in Kosovo, and some of those films will be shown. The filmmakers will participate in a feedback session via Skype after the screening.

A number of films next week about singers and musicians. Next Wednesday, the Avalon Theater will screen My Sweet Canary, about Roza Eskenazi, the beloved singer of “rebetiko” also known as Greek blues. Next weekend, as part of the New African Films Festival, the AFI Silver will screen Mama Africa, a portrait of the great singer Miriam Makeba. And Thursday, the Hirshhorn Museum will screen Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone.

Also at the New African Films Festival: Born On The 25th of January, an eye-opening documentary of the Tahrir Square revolution in Egypt. Screening at the AFI Silver on Saturday, 3/10, at 5:15pm.

On Wednesday, 3/7, get a sneak preview of films coming to the DC Environmental Film Festival, made by women filmmakers. Includes a panel discussion with a number of filmmakers.

Next weekend is the Documentary Summit.

“The two days are filled with panels that will take you through EVERY step of the process including storytelling, fundraising, cutting edge filmmaking techniques, distribution, and social media strategies. Our visiting documentary experts include successful & critically acclaimed filmmakers and producers, commissioning editors, foundation directors, social media gurus, DSLR and HD experts, as well as distributors.”

You can get a discount on tickets if you use the code: roundup.

That same Saturday, 3/10, is the WIFV Career Boot Camp. The theme is building a successful career in a slow economy.

The Documentary Summit is coming to DC on March 10th and 11th, and the early bird pricing deadline is this Friday (2/10). Don’t miss your chance to get your tickets for 30% off!

Andrew Zinnes is leading the Summit. He is a producer of documentary, fiction, and reality TV, and also the author of The Documentary Filmmaker’s Handbook. Andrew has written a guest blog post about the Summit for us.
___________________________________________________________________
More…

A long list of documentary events this week. These are just selected items – see the full list on the Docs in Progress site or at the WIFV site. Sign up on the upper left of this screen to get my weekly highlights in your email inbox.

Tonight, the WIFV Documentary Roundtable returns! Join us to hear from the filmmakers of Essakane Film. They will talk about how they produced a documentary about a festival in the Sahara desert and got their footage back home, safe and sound. I’m dying to know how they kept all that sand out of their hard drives…

This weekend, there will be a special screening of a new film about the Joffrey Ballet. The film, Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance, will be shown at the AFI Silver Theater and at the West End Cinema on Saturday, 1/28, at 1:30pm. There will be live Q&A from Lincoln Center. The film screens again at the West End Cinema on Sunday at 11am.

Saturday night, if you want to head to the new-ish Library of Congress facility in Culpeper, VA, you can see documentary footage of MLK, Jr. in King, A Filmed Record: Montgomery to Memphis.

Bloom Bars continues there Tuesday evening documentary series with Salvador Dawning, about Afro-Brazilian culture. The following week, 2/7, they will show Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action .

The best of the Banff Mountain Film Festival returns to National Geographic from 1/31-2/4. Also around town, starting Feb. 1 and running through Feb 9, the ReelAbilities Disabilities Film Festival takes place with screenings of documentaries at various venues around town. Check out their website for the full list of films. The documentary selections are on the Doc Roundup.

The Most Dangerous Man In America will screen at The Hill Center on Feb. 2. And a new documentary about the big tobacco companies and the science of addiction, Addiction Incorporated will open at the Landmark E Street on Feb. 3.

There are two big events coming up that you won’t want to miss. Next Wednesdat, 2/1, WIFV will have an evening program on The Art of Storytelling with Speakeasy DC. What makes a film truly great is how the filmmaker tells the story, and we can all improve our skills in that area. Learn about structure, arc, and character development from some experts, including Amy Saidman, the Executive Director of Speakeasy DC, Amy Wilson, a WIFV member and storyteller, and Mike Kane, an Executive Producer at Discovery and also a storyteller.

On Friday and Saturday, 2/3-4, WIFV will hold a special workshop on Producing the Indie Film with Maureen Ryan, a feature and documentary producer. Ms. Ryan was co-producer of James Marsh’s recent docs, Man On Wire and Project Nim, as well as many other films. Along with producing films, Ms. Ryan is a faculty member at Columbia University’s Graduate Film Program and the author of Producer to Producer: A Step-by-Step Guide to Low Budget Independent Film Producing. Don’t miss this chance to spend a day and a night learning from a master.

A couple of cool documentary events in the near future – see the full list on the Docs in Progress site or at the WIFV site. Sign up on the upper left of this screen to get my weekly highlights in your email inbox.

Tonight, at the West End Cinema in DC, is the opening night for local producer Josh Levin’s documentary on legendary writer-director-producer Roger Corman. Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel chronicles on Corman built his cinematic empire, one low-budget success after another. Features interviews with many stars who got their start working for Corman (Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson, Ron Howard, and many others).

Saturday, Jan. 14, there will be a workshop on Lighting On The Fly, organized by Docs In Progress. UPDATE: CLASS IS FULLY BOOKED (sorry for the tease). Learn from an experienced DP how to work quickly and on a budget, and still achieve aesthetic results.

There are four showings this weekend at Artisphere of Battle for Brooklyn, about an attempt to protect a neighborhood in Brooklyn from being “developed” into a basketball arena.

On Monday, the AFI Silver is once again showing King, A Filmed Record: From Montgomery to Memphis in honor of the late, great Rev. Dr. Don’t miss this riveting collection of documentary footage of the Martin Luther King, Jr. in action.

Continuing the theme of civil rights, on Tuesday (1/17) the Smithsonian American Art Museum is going to show last year’s Silverdocs selection The Loving Story. An important national case, but also a local story of significance. This profile of Mildred and Richard Loving reminds us of the importance of official and legal marriage to a couple who are committed to each other. Mildred and Richard, a black woman and a white man, were married in DC and living in Virginia in 1958 – a state where interracial marriage was against the law. This is their fight, and we are the beneficiaries of their efforts.

A number of films are coming to town next weekend. The National Gallery of Art is showcasing a series of films by David Gatten on Saturday 1/21, ITVS Community Cinema will screen Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock on Sat & Sun, and Artisphere will show Light of Mine, about a blind photographer (yes, that is an odd combination), on Sunday.

Mark your calendars for the return of the WIFV Documentary Roundtable on Thursday, Jan. 26. This year is our “focus on filmmakers,” and we start with the team behind Essakane Film. This documentary, directed by Kiley Kraskouskas, takes you to the Sahara, where the Tuareg nomads put on an annual music festival that draws musicians and music-lovers from all over the world. After a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds to film the festival, they are in the final days of an IndieGoGo campaign to keep the Essakane Film going, raising much needed post-production funds. Join us on Jan. 26 to hear how the managed a festival shoot in the Sahara and, perhaps, some tidbits on successful crowd-funding.

Opening today at the West End Cinema is a documentary on perhaps the most prolific filmmaker of all time, the man who gave essential training to countless stars: Roger Corman. Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel is “a tantalizing and star-studded tribute” to this writer-director-producer. Among those who started their career with Corman are William Shatner, Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson, Ron Howard, Pam Grier, and many many many more.

The film is also of interest to the DMV because it was produced by local producer (and theater owner) Josh Levin. Don’t miss this chance to learn about the amazing Roger Corman. Maybe his filmmaking chutzpah will rub off on you, too!

The West End is also showing several of Corman’s classic films this weekend at midnight. Fall of the House of Usher (with Vincent Price), Little Shop of Horrors (with Jack Nicholson as the masochistic dental patient), and finally The Terror (also starring Jack Nicholson). The latter film was made in two days after Corman’s production of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven wrapped early.

At the end of the year, there are just a smattering of documentaries playing around the DC region – see the full list on the Docs in Progress site or at the WIFV site. Sign up on the upper left of this screen to get my weekly highlights in your email inbox.

Holiday travels kept me from posting this earlier in the week, but there is a good series of documentaries about Andy Warhol’s associates and influences at the esteemed National Gallery of Art. Today, at 12:30pm, they are showing the very cool Notes On Marie Menken. Ms. Menken was a filmmaker in New York City, considered by some to be “the mother of the avant-garde.” Part of a generation older than most of the 1960s filmmakers, Marie was a mentor and influence on many key experimental filmmakers, including Andy Warhol, Stan Brakhage, Kenneth Anger, and Jonas Mekas. You can watch some of her short films online, including one of my favorites, Go! Go! Go! (the exclamation marks are important). Read more about Marie Menken at Ubuweb.

Tomorrow at the National Gallery of Art is Beautiful Darling, a vivid portrait of Warhol “superstar” Candy Darling. A verse in the Lou Reed song, “Take a Walk on The Wild Side,” refers to her (“Candy came from out on the island” is how the verse starts. You can fill in the rest….) Beautiful Darling is told by (and produced by) Jeremiah Newton, a close friend of Candy’s. The documentary features a lot of personal photos and home movies.

Also showing tomorrow, and running through mid-January, is the personal documentary The Man Nobody Knew, about the filmmaker’s father and former head of the CIA, William Colby. Featuring a “who’s who” of the American intelligence community, this doc is not just a personal story, but also a look at the hidden side of American policy in the 20th century. At the Avalon Theater.

In the New Year, Bloom Bars continues its Tuesday night series of documentaries. Coming up on January 3rd is H₂Oil, a look at Canada’s controversial oil sands. Learn where the oil for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project will come from. The following week, on Jan. 10, is The Demining Camp, about a group of men sweeping war-torn Mozambique for old mines.

A special event at the Wooly Mammoth Theatre (on D Street in DC) will feature the new documentary The MLK Streets Project. A group of teenagers travelled the country, visiting as many streets named for Martin Luther King to see if urban legend was correct – were those streets really more violent than others? Reserve tickets here.

The DC Film Salon has a good event coming up that I want to highlight. On Wednesday, 1/11, they are hosting a Film Salon on the “Business of Media”. At the Gibson Gallery, 709 G Street NW (across the street from Gallery Place), starting at 6pm for networking. Get more information and register at dcfilm.org.

Mark your calendars now for the next Docs In Progress work-in-progress screening. On Thursday, January 12th, they will be showing two films. A Sister’s Call, about a sister who finds her missing brother after 20 years and the family secrets that are revealed. Also screening: excerpts from Aviva Kempner’s next documentary, The Rosenwald Schools, about the philanthropist Julius Rosenwald and his work to build thousands of schools for rural African-American kids. Co-sponsored by the Documentary Center at George Washington University.

Saturday, Jan. 14, there will be a workshop on “Lighting On The Fly,” organized by Docs In Progress. Learn from an experienced DP how to work quickly and on a budget, and still achieve aesthetic results. Earlybird registration is $100.

The 2011 Washington Jewish Film Festival is continuing this weekend, with a well deserved tribute to Aviva Kempner. Don’t miss these, and plenty other documentaries around DC – see the full list on the Docs in Progress site or at the WIFV site. Sign up on the upper left of this screen to get my weekly highlights in your email inbox.

Several films by DC’s own Aviva Kempner will be shown this weekend as part of the Washington Jewish Film Festival. Friday at 1pm, there will be a free screening of Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, a biography of early sitcom (and radio) star, Gertrude Berg. On Saturday you can see her first film, Partisans of Vilma, examining the armed resistance in Vilna’s Jewish ghetto during WWII. On Sunday, catch the reprise of Aviva’s 1999 biography of Hank Greenberg, “The Hammerin’ Hebrew” of the Detroit Tigers; earlier that day you can see her work-in-progress, “The Rosenwald Schools, about Julius Rosenwald’s philanthropic efforts to build more than 5,000 schools for African-American children in the segregated South.

Also at the Washington Jewish Film Festival: Love During Wartime and several other documentaries. (OK, plus a number of fiction films. You’ll have to look those up on your own…)

Kinywarwanda opens this weekend at the West End Cinema in DC, spinning a story of the Rwandan genocide – not a documentary, but don’t miss it anyway. And don’t forget The Swell Season, following Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, stars of the musical Once as they attempt to weather the travails of touring as a couple. Worth the price of admission for the cinematography, particularly the scene at a cafe as the relationship drifts apart.

Coming up on December 14th, Artisphere in Rosslyn is showing Family Inc., about a filmmaker’s attempts to switch fields and begin running the family business in Hong Kong (a toy company, by the way). Later in the month, the 21st to be precise, Artisphere is showing Rubber Tramps about several folks who have dropped out of society on the West Coast (Surprise! I’m sure you were expecting them to be living in Des Moines.)

BloomBars, in Columbia Heights, continues its series of Tuesday night series of documentaries with a film on the Island of Mozambique and another on food. See the calendar for more info.

Tonight, 12/9, don’t miss the annual Docs In Progress holiday party. Stop by The Documentary House in Silver Spring between 7 & 10 pm, and say hello. Meet other filmmakers and documentary lovers, and most importantly – show your support for this local institution. And let me extend my thanks to Erica, Sam, and the board for all they do for documentary in this town. Here’s to another year, and many more to come!

Mark your calendars now for the WIFV Twelfth Night party, at the Gibson Guitar showroom in DC. Celebrate the changing of the year with other filmmakers.

If you ever wondered what the world would be like when the punk generation grew up and was in charge, look around you. You are living in that world.

Punk rockers – those very vocal anti-authority folks from the 70s, 80s, and even the 90s – are now finding out what it is like to be society’s ultimate authority figure: fathers. This interesting looking documentary follows Jim Lindberg (of the band Pennywise) as he grapples with this shift. Also featured, among many, are Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Art Alexakis (Everclear), Brett Gurewitz (Bad Religion and owner of the noted Epitaph label), and Lars “sometimes-you-ask-yourself-should-I-have-tattoed-my-forehead” Frederiksen (Rancid).

Playing at the Landmark E Street.

The 2011 Washington Jewish Film Festival begins today. There are plenty of documentaries there and other places around DC – see the full list on the Docs in Progress site or at the WIFV site. Sign up on the upper left of this screen to get my weekly highlights in your email inbox.

The big news this week is the 2011 Washington Jewish Film Festival, with screenings around town. Many at the DC JCC, but also at the AFI Silver Theater, the Avalon Theater, American University, and even some embassies. I hope I’m not leaving anyone out…

This year, our own Aviva Kempner is being honored with the WJFF Visionary Award. Many congratulations to Aviva! This December, she is also recognized as the DC Filmmaker of the Month, an honor given by the DC Office of Motion Picture and Television Development. Both well-deserved honors.

The WJFF is screening many of Aviva’s films during this year’s festival. Included in the list is a work-in-progress screening of her latest film, The Rosenwald Schools. In this film, Aviva examines the work of philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, who partnered with Booker T Washington to build over 5,000 schools for rural African American communities in the South. Screening next Sunday, Dec. 11, at 10:30am at the DC JCC.

Also screening at the Washington Jewish Festival is Through The Eye Of The Needle – The Art Of Esther Nisenthal Krinitz, directed by Nina Shapiro-Perl, a filmmaker-in-residence at American University, and made with a number of talented local folks, including producer Adele Schmidt and cinematography by Tom Kaufman. Screens Monday, 12/5, at 6:15pm at the DC JCC, along with two short films.

In other venues, BloomBars will be showing several documentaries over the next week or two. They are holding an encore presentation of Capoiera: Fly Away Beetle and a documentary on “green engineering.” Check out their schedule for more info.

Tonight, head out to Silver Spring to learn What To Look For In A Camera Package For Your Documentary, a title that says it all. And a week from Friday, on Dec. 9, go visit them for their holiday party, at 7pm.

On Monday, 12/5, WIFV is co-hosting an International Documentary Association event at the West End Cinema. DOC U: Can Your Documentary Really Change The World? Nina Seavey, the Director of the Documentary Center at GW, and a documentary filmmaker in her own right, will moderate a discussion on how to make the biggest impact with your film. Don’t miss this great event.

And next Wednesday, learn what you need to know to hire (or make a living as) an independent contractor. Head on out to Interface Media for WIFV’s December Weds One: Contract Tips for Independent Contractors (and those who hire them).