Activism

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.

The films in this story capture the cinematic landscape of a country coming to grips with severe economic turmoil. From a man who loses his job and becomes obsessed with beating an arcade game's high score, to contemplating how, exactly, we ended up in this monetary mess, The Independent's Teresa Bitler suggests films that put the current fiscal downfall into perspective.

In the second installment of a new series about the United States' health care debate, The Independent examines the next step in the process, and why, exactly, legislation seems to be at an impasse.

You might be hard-pressed to find a more controversial, debated, constantly evolving topic than health care reform. In the first installment of a new series about the health care debate and how it might affect you, The Independent offers a summary of what's happened and happening on the Hill.

"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.

In June 1999, The Independent asked Seventh Art Releasing where the company would be in ten years (read the original interview here). They answered, “Still open for business doing films we like.” And Seventh Art has done just that. And though there have been some changes, Epstein insists that despite the technological and economic turmoil of the past ten years, the company’s original vision has stayed the same. Exactly a decade after the last interview, The Independent’s Emily Cataneo sits down with co-founder Udy Epstein to find out what those changes are.

The Independent goes behind the scenes of a start-up film festival in Northern Ireland as the director tries to revive independent filmmaking in the country. The Yellow Fever Independent Film Festival is the first independent festival in Northern Ireland, and founder and filmmaker George Clarke (view the trailer for his kung fu zombie film Battle of the Bone here) faces some large hurdles to get the festival up and running for its August debut. The Independent's Dante A. Ciampaglia discovers Clarke's motivations and hopes for YFIFF and how it can bring change to the indie-deprived nation.

You spend years writing a script, story boarding, filming and editing -- putting all of your blood, sweat and money into a film, and finally sending it out to festivals in the hope that friends, family and the public will get a chance to see what your hard work and talent has created, but next thing you know, you've been rejected in front of hundreds of your peers. Sounds like a nightmare, but it happened to more than 350 filmmakers who applied to the Sarasota Film Festival this year. But, instead of letting it get to them, they went ahead and made the best out of a bad situation, creating their own Facebook group, laurels and even a fringe festival. The Independent's Dante A. Ciampaglia talks to several filmmakers that were part of the 350 and gets their opinion on what went down with Sarasota.

Five years ago Vanessa Domico saw a gap in the distribution of LGBT titles and decided it was time to pull up her sleeves. Using her expertise as a director of distribution, she founded Outcast Films, now one of the foremost LGBT distributors in the country, with critically acclaimed releases like their most recent film She's a Boy I Knew (view the trailer here). Outcast is more than a distributor -- under Domico's leadership it also focuses on education and activism on behalf of the LGBT community.

So, you're assembling your documentary and you desperately need to include a certain song, image, or archival scene to tell your story, do you need to get permission? How do you know if it's copyrighted? Independent writer Jen Swanson talks to Patricia Aufderheide of the American University Center for Social Media and one of the authors of The Documentary Filmmakers Statement of Best Practices, as well as filmmakers David Van Taylor and Gordon Quinn, to help break down Fair Use and how it applies to documentary filmmakers.