Audience Engagement

If you want to take the pulse of documentaries as interventions in public life, the International Documentary Film Festival at Amsterdam (IDFA)--which just wound up on Sunday--is an excellent stop. The largest international documentary film festival in the world, it exhibits hundreds of films, takes in thousands of international visitors, attracts passionate audiences that pack theaters on a Sunday morning for impossibly obscure experiences, and hosts a vigorous market. Read more...

I just ran into Josh Berg at Public Media Camp. Josh was the recipient of our Future of Public Media student research grant back in January. He has been researching online video and its role in political engagement. He has since began working with PBS Interactive, delivering PBS's video product to stations. Below is the introduction to his research (a tease). The full version of his paper will be available in the coming weeks. Enjoy!

Online Video and Political EngagementRead more...

These days, documentary filmmakers face different challenges than their counterparts of the past. Gone are the days of media for consumption; we now live in an era of media for participation.Films are now backed up with online teasers, trailers and other promotional videos; pages on social networking sites; email updates and blogs as well as various other forms of electronic promotion.Read more...

Lioness shows how a documentary positioned at the centerpiece of a strategic outreach campaign can put an issue on the public agenda and have a direct impact on public policy.

The National Defense Authorization Act for the Fiscal Year 2010 was approved by the House Armed Services Committee this week.Read more...