Introduce Yourself: Sign In Here First

Welcome aboard, Sean. A drink sounds really good right now.

And a particularly warm welcome to Sigrid, who I first met at IDFA 5 years ago when "The Monastery" won the Joris Ivens prize. She's one of the Europe's greatest producers and I urge everyone to come see The Good Life at Tribeca and meet her.

So you know, no need to attach your CV. Clicking on your name or photo links to your member profile .

Hello,
I am a musician, composer new to your community. Have to say, in a world where we all spend far too much time in front of our computers (oops that is what I am doing now) it is nice to see so many of you opening up about real issues. That said, I am a composer who had the pleasure of composing music for a doc and fell in love with the process. To be able to write music in, around and complimenting the dialogue and narration of a doc was great. To be a creative part of such a meaningful art form is ..well just love it. So if any of you have need of any music, temp music or anything music related, please feel free to let me know. Also to whomever made the doc about Little Jimmy Scott...i'd like to know where I can see that. He is great..I had the pleasure of seeing him in New York and wow...that is so where Betty Carter got her style.
Thanks to all and I look forward to being a part of this community.
Laura Perlman ljperl@earthlink.net

Welcome, Laura. The Jimmy Scott filmmaker dude is Jacob Bricca .

Welcome Laura! Glad you found your way here. I owe you an email back. It's been a crazy week. Happy to have you among us.

Hi there, my name is Kristen and I'm a newbie. :)
So grateful to have found this resource for doc filmmakers!
My husband, Jeff and I are currently in production on a feature doc about Transformational Bodywork called "Growing My Brave". Following stories from surviving to thriving. A project that we kind of stumbled into and are now in love with. It's been a truly organic experience that has changed our lives for the better and we look forward to learning and growing our skills as storytellers. We have at least one more leg of shooting in May and then looking forward to jumping into post, with hopes to release by 2012. I cut a teaser to help with funding which you can watch here: http://vimeo.com/18899104

Thanks for taking a look and thanks for having me!

Warmly, Kristen Turick

Welcome to The D-Word, Kirsten.

So who else is out there? Enthusiasts and Professionals, please introduce yourself here.

Hey, all!

I'm a filmmaker and a film executive. My documentary is still on the festival circuit and will premiere on the OWN network later in the year.

Chris (and everyone in the same situation) – It's time to apply for Professional status on The D-Word then. It'll give you access to all of our Business, Creative, Technical, and Social Topics. It's free but not automatic.

Hi Doug
Can you help me with a password for HOtdocs, to be registrered with a discount?
all the best
sigrid

Sure thing, Sigrid. Enter the discount code [...] when ordering online and you'll get $50 (U.S.) off an industry pass. But aren't you going there with your film and automatically getting a pass?

[edited by Ben – the discount code can only be obtained in our Professionals-only area]

Hi Sigrid, this is the link to the private topic with the discount code.

Oopsie, didn't realize you asked me in one of the public topics, Sigrid. Usually we hosts are totally on top of keeping questions in the proper topics. (And other times we sleep.)

Anyway, hope you've been perusing the various topics here and getting a feel for the discussions.

Greetings all. I was fortunate enough to meet Doug Block about a month ago at a class here in the Twin Cities and he mentioned D-Word quite a bit, which I was embarrassingly ignorant of. Well, not anymore.

I've directed/produced 2 feature docs and 1 short besides a few narrative shorts and a co directed feature which is in post. My most recent doc is called SCRAP and is playing April 17th at The Indie Spirit Film Festival. The trailers for it are below. Thanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s3PlfeOiew&feature=channel_video_title

http://www.youtube.com/user/killingjokefilms?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/4PB0el-BOfA

Welcome to The D-Word, Paul. Ignorance excused if you make up for it by active participation. :-)

(by the way, a doc I shot will play at your Minneapolis Film Festival this month. Called MASTER CLASS OPERA, by Olivia Hagemann.)

Anyboy else out there? Come on, it's time to un-lurk!

In reply to Ben Kempas's post on Wed 6 Apr 2011 : Nice! I was fortunate enough to screen SCRAP at MSPIFF. It's a good fest for docs and I'll see if I can make it our for yours. Thanks for the shout out.

Hello, I'm new to D-Word world. Nice to meet everyone! Lily Keber (Director of Bayou Maharajah) introduced me to this site. I'm currently recording sound for her project. I also just finished working with Gary Hustwit (Director of Helvetica) & Luke Geissbuhler (DP of Borat) in New Orleans. Very cool guys. I've recorded professional audio/video of hundreds of famous individuals from all walks of life, all over the globe. I am looking forward to recording the artist Lil' Wayne next week. If your production comes to New Orleans look me up! I also love to travel:) www.ericlaws.com

In reply to Paul von Stoetzel's post on Wed 6 Apr 2011 :

Welcome, Paul! So you know, Resurrect Dead, the film I showed the clip of that I'm exec producing, will be showing at MSPIFF. The director, Jon Foy, who's also a D-Word member, will be coming.

Greetings to you, too, Eric. Feel free to register as a Professional member.

Hi D-Worders,

My name is Jason Thomas Spencer. I've been on the site for a few months reading a lot of very helpful posts and figured it's about time to introduce myself. I've been an editor in NY for about 5 years and am making the leap this summer with my wife into our first feature length documentary. I'm looking forward to being a part of this community. Thanks to Doug for the forum!

Best,
-Jason
spencer4email@gmail.com

Good to have you here, Jason. Lots of luck with your film.

Hello! I'm Erum, the production assistant for a documentary to be filmed in Africa this summer. I'm curious about renting equipment over purchasing. I am aware I can purchased equipment via this site, and wanted to know the experiences people have using this forum.

Looking forward to navigating the D-word!

Hi everyone. I actually registered a few years ago but am just now discovering what a great resource and community Doug has built here. I'm a print journalist and aspiring (and self-taught) filmmaker. In the past two years I've participated in both the Third World Newsreel production workshop and the UnionDocs collaborative project; discovered Bill Nichols, Dziga Vertov, and Walter Murch; and made a short that was screened at the Documentary Fortnight program. But I'm most proud of serving as the volunteer editor of the film "A Future For Meher," which was made by nonprofessional volunteers and so far has helped raise more than $3,500 for the medical care and educational fund of an impoverished girl in New Delhi. I also recently became the blogger for the Stranger Than Fiction film series programmed by Thom Powers. (Doug, I heard you speak at the Resurrect Dead screening a few weeks ago.)I look forward to conversing with you all.

Welcome, Erum and Rahul. Great job you're doing with the blog, Rahul. Look forward to meeting you at one of the upcoming STF screenings.

Hello everyone! My name is Italo Baudo, from Wishaw in Scotland.
I am new to the D- World, as well as to anything related to film making, especially in the computerised era of documentary filmaking.
I studied animation and handled a traditional 16mm camera some 40 years ago and since then I was working as an Illustrator and Graphic Designer.
The seed of Documentary Film making has been planted and stayed dormant for all those years though. Now, gradually, I would like to explore the field and see which educational material I can find to start reading first, and experimenting afterward and try out a short documentary film (1 to 3 min. long) to publish in You Tube and see how it goes. Thank you for reading!

Good to have you back in the fold, Italo. Welcome.

Greetings everyone,

I was introduced to this site by my friend Deirdre Haj from Full Frame where I'm having the world premiere of my latest film One Night in Kernersville – a jazz doc/poem! I'm a filmmaker, screenwriter, ethnographer, multimedia documentary producer and father of two lovely daughters. I've had the pleasure of filming all over the world and working with NGO's making advocacy documentaries for them. I know quite a lot about Mystical Islam and have done some groundbreaking work on the Gnawa in Morocco (http://www.gnawastories.com). I am currently working on 20 (yes that's twenty!) ten minute documentaries of 20 members of the Latino Community Credit Union in NC highlighting financial empowerment. I've worked with the BBC, HBO and Salma Hayek doing narrative screenplays and nothing, truly nothing compares to working in the field and collaborating with people who struggle and still retain their dignity. It reminds me why our work matters.

I speak french and spanish fluently and I look forward to interacting with filmmakers from all over the world and sharing their experiences. You can find some of my work here http://www.melloweb.com . Peace

Welcome to The D-Word, Rodrigo. Any friend of Deirdre's is certainly a friend of ours. Lots of D-Word members going to Full Frame so check out the F2F and Festival topics and hopefully you'll make new friends.

Hi Everyone,
I'm Juliana Piccillo, filmmaker, writer and activist – sex work is my cause. Planning to bust through the shorts ceiling with a feature length doc and I'm so incredibly excited to find this community!

Hola!

My name is Stephanie Frederic. I'm a director/producer/writer based in Los Angeles.

I'm a firm believer that – a laptop and a dream can take you anywhere. As a former TV news reporter, I've been telling stories all my life. If there's one thing I know, I was born to do just this. I own FGW Productions (www.fgwproductions.com) and we are visual storytellers.

Some of the docs I have produced included, "Rwanda Rising," "From Darkness to Light – The Donnie McClurkin Story," and "Planet LA."

I'm here to help and to learn.

Feel free to reach out. I'd love to know more about you and my new doc family.

Steph

Juliana and Stephanie, how nice to have you both find us. A warm welcome to The D-Word.

Hello. My name is Christina. I am a new at this. Two days ago I started shooting my first documentary and I am excited, stressed and hoping for the best. It is called G30 and it is following the life of 30something people in Greece during these times of financial hardship. We are hoping for a positive message out of this documentary! Let's see what happens!

wow, Christina. 30 characters are surely a big number :) Good luck!

Welcome to everybody x

Welcome, Christina, and best of luck with your project.

I think 30-something refers to their age, not the number of them. I could be wrong.

I think the :) indicates Niam was kidding, Jason. Of course, I could be wrong, too.

Oh the subtleties of online language. :{

While we're starting a petition to demand an explanation from Christina, let's see who else is lurking out there...

The next D-Worder to introduce themselves will get a drink from me (if we ever meet in person).

I think she means 30something people. Still waiting for Christina!

Seems like people are scared of drinking with me...

Hello. I'm John and I'll have a drink with you.

Thanks! But co-hosts are excluded from the offer...

The last time I was in a bar with Ben I also didn't feel like drinking. Something strange. I guess it's like being confronted with a cautionary tale of where a life of excess can lead ...

Thanks for making me look like an alcoholic in a public topic, James...

You take over with trying to get the lurkers out of the shadows, please.

What if the topic had a less public reach? I'll vouch that you are not an alcoholic in a public topic, Ben, and we can all juice with Kurt any old time.

Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay!
Yes, 30 something refers to age. Our characters are 10, which is a much more reasonable number, I guess!
Our generation of 30 something here in Greece has a difficult task. We grew up believing that things will only get better, at least on the financial front. Unfortunately, for the last few years the financial situation is grim and no one can be sure what will come out of it. In a country run mostly my 50 or 60 something old politicians, who have more than their share for the current situation and still try to convince us that they also have the solution, we decided it was time for our generation to speak up. Because at 30 we are no longer kids, that's for sure. Let's hope we get our message across!

Good luck Christina! Sounds like an interesting project for a just cause.

You don't want to make a revolution like the Arabs are doing? ;)

Christina, I happen to have a number of friends in Greece all of whom are in their 30-somethings, and I my feeling is that you're telling a very important story here.

Thank you very much guys! Let's hope it works out well! I'll keep you posted.
Niam, I am not sure Greece is ready for a revolution yet! What we need is a major change in our way of thinking! Hopefully in a few months I will be able to say that at least young people have started that process.

Hello! My name is Stephen Troy, I'm a young filmmaker who recently created his first feature, a documentary titled Dale and the Duds. Now, as I prepare to sell it and send it to festivals, I am faced with many many questions that I cannot find answers to. Mostly about legal issues. This is a problem that I must deal with! So I have signed up for this site, hoping to get some answers.

My website is: www.RotNproductions.com

You can view some of my older short work online.

Welcome to The D-Word, Stephen. Rights issues are best addressed in our Legal Corner

In reply to Blaire Johnson's post on Thu 3 Mar 2011 :

Hi Blaire I checked your website it is absolutely very interesting, nice project... if I can collaborate... just let me know how