Introduce Yourself: Sign In Here First

Hello everybody,

My name is Myrthe Mosterman and I live and study in Amsterdam, Holland, at the Dutch Film and Television Academy. I am 27 years old and I am studying cinematography. I am in my third year now and I will graduate next year.
In a few weeks I am starting to film a small documentary about hiphop in Skopje, Macedonia, and I am thinking of hiring a camera (video hd) over there. Does anybody have experience filming in Macedonia, or knows a good camera rental company?

Thank you

Welcome to The D-Word, Myrthe. There is a D-Word member in Macedonia who runs Asterfest – Goran Trenchovski – who might be able to advise you.

Hi all,

My name is Rob Buscher and I work at the Greater Philadelphia Film Office. Before living in Philly I spent the last 5 1/2 years between the UK and Japan working in film production, curation, and distribution. My expertise is Japanese Cinema.

I joined this forum to see what kinds of opportunities are out there for local documentary filmmakers in the Greater Philadelphia region. Anyone local please get in touch!

Thanks!

Hi everybody,

I came across D_WORD while searching for some information on how to make a documentary and where to start.I'm still learning to get around D_Word.

D-Word looks a nice little warm community.I hope I will find what I need from D-word.I should keep track of my logins on facebook and twitter in case I forget my passwords.

Please Professions help me out here if you can.I am very passionate about real issues cause to me they are what shapes our communities.

Thank you for having me on D-Word..:)

Welcome Brenda and Rob. Rob, surely you know about Philly D-Word members Jon Foy and Fiona Otway, whose respective films won top honors at Sundance. If not, just click on the People link at the top of every page and do a search on their names. You can then go to their profile pages for contact info.

Hi – Maeve O'Boyle here. I was lucky enough to be Doug's editor last year on The Kids Grow up and have finally joined this great forum which I have heard so much about. Thank you Doug and sorry it took me so long. Other credits include Frontline: Heat for PBS, Carrier for PBS, Left of the Dial for HBO and other bits and pieces. Glad to be part of the D-word community.

Maeve! I can't believe my eyeballs! Oh, rapturous day!!!

Only took well over two years of talking up The D-Word to get here here, folks. What an impressive salesperson I am.

Good to see you here, Maeve – we've been talking about you in your absence

Thanks John, thanks Doug – glad to be here finally!

Hi Myrthe, welcome from another Amsterdam D-worder. Good luck in your skopje project, sounds like a blast!

Hello. I am the founder and executive director of Africa Volunteer Corps, an NGO based in Tanzania that places African volunteers to work with African -initiated development projects. I joined D-Word in order to connect with filmmakers to participate in a fundraising series we are starting, the Visualize Change Film Forum. We are looking for films showcasing empowering and positive stories about Africa, especially the importance of local control of the development process. We are aiming to make Visualize Change an annual fundraising event so I look forward to connecting with others trying to tell the positive and inspiring stories of Africa that typically go untold.

Welcome, Kaitlin, and thanks for the great work you're doing with Africa Volunteer Corps. Best of luck with your fundraising.

Hello D-Worders

I'm and artist and filmmaker from the UK. I make films about music, outsiders, strangers and people who change how they look to be themsleves. I made large scale video artworks for years before moving into docs about 7 years ago. My films include TEENLAND (BBC4), GOTH CRUISE (IFC). I'm currently making two films – THE GREAT HIP HOP HOAX for BBC and ORION: THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING.

my latest film is SOUND IT OUT, a crowd funded feature about the very last record shop in my home town, Teesside (North east UK) which will be premiering at SXSW in March.
See more > www.sounditoutdoc.com www.jeaniefinlay.com

I'd love to hear from any other D-Worders with advice for SXSW – and I'd really appreciate it you could help spread the word about our campaign on Indiegogo to get there. www.indiegogo.com/sendustosxsw

Thanks and looking forward to meeting some new doc folks! JF

Welcome to The D-Word, Jeanie. Sounds like you're in the right place – check out the Documentary Festivals Topic for more on SXSW and also use our SEARCH function to see what advice people have been giving in the past.

Thanks John – will do!

It was great talking with you the other day, Jeanie. Glad you followed up and registered. Welcome.

Your trailer is charming and beautifully made, it so makes me want to see the film. Hope you raise oodles of money. And get the list of industry people attending from the festival (on the password protected part of their website) and contact them about a week before it starts.

Hi! My name is Christine and a friend of mine suggested that I get on here and see if anything clicks! I have been an actor for years and about two years ago I took off across the country and abroad volunteering at various not-for-profits. Changed my world. Now I'm looking to get involved in hosting, writing and creating work that's about real people. This is a link to my most recent hosting gig on solar energy. www.solargenerationusa.org If anyone has any leads, knowledge of where to look or projects, I'd greatly appreciate any advice!

Welcome to The D-Word, Christine. Glad that you found us. You can check the Public Classifieds topic here, as people occasionally post about projects they're looking for collaborators on. You might also try the NY section of Shooting People: www.shootingpeople.org.

Hello all! My name is Jen and I am from small town USA in Kansas. I am looking for some advice/help. I have an idea for a documentary but have no idea where to begin. I would like to make/produce this myself but cannot quit my job to take this on. After doing some research and many question and answer sessions with parents this is something that many, many parents are interested in. I have no doubt that it would be watched by many as it asks a question that most of us parents as ourselves when raising our kids. If anyone can give me some insight on where to begin, search for funding or pitch my idea it would be wonderful. Thanking you again! Maybe soon you just might see something on TV from this small town USA Mom. –Jen

Hi Everyone!

I was referred to this site by a new business partner who couldn't say enough about it and I can already see why. I'm looking forward to leveraging the community and sharing what I can with it too as I get to know it and everyone it it better.

To introduce myself, I'm an independent filmmaker and producer currently based in Washington, DC. After ten years in the media industry running a company I started in college that was acquired by National Geographic, I have turned my full-time attention to filmmaking––something I've always wanted to do. I have one completed project (though I'm still looking for domestic distribution for it) and a couple others in various stages of development/production. All docs thus far but I do aspire eventually to do narrative films along the lines of City of God (or that style).

Feel free to check out my work at redfitz.com and see you all around the topic boards!

Nick

In reply to Doug Block's post on Fri 18 Feb 2011 :

Thanks so much Doug – can't believe I took so long to get here! – This is an amazing resource.

I've been getting my lists together and my plan is forming. We will get to Texas by hook or by crook!

I'm going to write a blog for Filmmaker Magazine about my experiences as a virgin SXSW-er so will post a link here. So excited, not long now.

Well i must say that i am flattered being part of a world of experts. I can say that being part of this wonderful and exciting site, my dreams of becoming a professional documentary filmmaker apart from acting, is partly completed. Thanks so much for welcoming me. Please kindly advice and guide me so that i can be the best in Cameroon.As you people can realise, i am seemingly the only one from Cameroon, that is why i want to do my best to carry my country up thanks to D-World. I am so happy.

Hi Nick, You might check out Docs In Progress based in Silver Spring, MD. Erica Ginsberg, the Executive Director, is a regular on D-Word. Docs In Progress is a great meeting place for a variety of doc events and provides many resources for the doc filmmaker in the DC area.

http://www.docsinprogress.org/

A big welcome to Jennifer, Nick, and Jeanie, and a very special welcome to our first member in Cameroon, James!!!

So who else is lurking out there?

Hello,

My name is Joseph Chastain. I recently received fiscal sponsorship to create a documentary on Self-injury. I have a bachelor's of arts in film and television from Columbia College Hollywood in Tarzana, Ca.