The International Documentary Association Presents

DOC U ON THE ROAD

Made possible by a grant from
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

 

Doc U: Can Your Doc Really Change the World?

In Association with:

Monday, December 5, 2011 
Doors Open: 6:30pm
Discussion & Audience Q&A: 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Stay for a drink and mingle with the panelists after the event.

West End Cinema
2301 M Street Northwest
Washington, DC 20037

IDA Members: $5  •  General Admission: $10

Seating is limited so buy your tickets now to be guaranteed admission.

Join IDA now! For discounted admission prices and more!

Can a documentary really change the world? These days it seems as though more and more doc-makers are giving it a try. But if you’re hoping to use the power of film to advocate for solutions to complex social issues and to urge people to take action, how can you make sure that your documentary has the greatest possible impact? What kinds of outreach and marketing campaigns are the most effective? How can you best partner with non-profits to get your message out? What do funders and broadcasters expect from documentary filmmakers? And what’s the best way to build a successful social action campaign? The panel of filmmakers, organizational changemakers, and communication experts we’ve assembled address all of these questions and many more. What they have to say could change the way you think about changing the world.

On December 5, join Nina Seavey, Director of the Documentary Center at George Washington University, as she moderates a discussion with Ronit Avni, founder and Executive Director of Just Vision, Angelica Das, Associate Director at the Center for Social Media, Adam J. Segal,founder/principal at the publicity agency The 2050 Group, and Robert West, co-founder and Executive Director of Working Films, on the ways and means of producing documentary films with the potential to effect real change.
 
Nina Seavey, (Moderator) Director, The Documentary Center
Nina Gilden Seavey is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and a nearly 30-year veteran of the documentary world. Her work can be seen on television, in theaters, and in museum exhibitions across the globe.She is the director of The Documentary Center at The George Washington University, Washington, DC, which she founded in 1991. The Center has launched the careers of over 400 aspiring filmmakers in its two-decade history. In addition to this long-time post, she also currently serves as Co-Director of the Center for Innovative Media at GWU.In 2003 Seavey became the Founding Director of the AFI-Discovery Channel SILVERDOCS Film Festival, now the largest documentary festival in the U.S. She continued with the festival as Executive Producer, Special Programming Advisor, and senior member of the management team from 2004 to 2009.Seavey has made nearly 40 films and television programs. They have been honored with five Emmy nominations with one statue awarded, IDA Documetary Awards nominations, the Erik Barnouw Prize for Best Historical Film of the Year, numerous festival accolades, and many other industry recognitions. But the thing she is most proud of is her three children, Aaron (25), Eleanor (23), and Caleb (21).

Ronit Avni, Executive Director, Just Vision
Ronit Avni is an award-winning filmmaker and human rights advocate. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Just Vision, an organization dedicated to increasing media coverage and support for Palestinian and Israeli efforts to end the occupation and the conflict without arms. Her work has been featured in major news outlets, including Newsweek, The Washington Post, The BBC, NPR and The Economist. Ronit produced the documentary film, Budrus, which was hailed in The New York Times as "this year's must-see documentary" and has won twelve international awards. Ronit directed and produced the documentary film, Encounter Point, which received several awards including the San Francisco International Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary. Encounter Point has screened in more than 200 cities worldwide and continues to be widely used in classrooms and community centers in America and the Middle East. In recent weeks, Ronit’s team at Just Vision released a short film series, Home Front: Portraits from Sheikh Jarrah. Previously, Ronit trained human rights defenders worldwide to incorporate film into their advocacy efforts while working for Peter Gabriel’s human rights organization, WITNESS. She now sits on the WITNESS board. Ronit has been recognized with a variety of honors, including: the King Hussein Leadership Prize, Search for Common Ground’s Common Ground Award, the Circles of Change Award, Auburn Seminary’s Lives of Commitment Award and a Joshua Venture Fellowship for young, Jewish social entrepreneurs. She is currently a United Nation’s Global Expert through the Alliance of Civilizations, an ADR Fellow, a Young Global Leader through the World Economic Forum and a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Angelica Das, Associate Director, Center for Social Media
Angelica Das is the Associate Director at the Center for Social Media. Das comes to the Center with a background in nonprofit management, both at Machik, which supports the work of strengthening communities on the Tibetan plateau, and at the National Geographic Society’s Expeditions Council. She holds a Masters in Arts from the School of Communication and School of International Service’s International Media program, where she developed a map of hyperlocal media in Washington, D.C.

Adam J. Segal, founder/principal, The 2050 Group
Adam J. Segal is founder/principal at The 2050 Group a leading issues and film publicity agency in Silver Spring, Maryland. He is widely recognized as one of the nation's leading publicists specializing in social issue films. In 2009, PR Week magazine named him to its 40 Under 40.On any given day you will find him working on national policy matters and on documentaries at film festivals, broadcasts and theatrical runs.Segal has worked with high-profile social issue documentaries including the Academy Award®-nominated Trouble the Water and Sun Come Up. This year, Segal handled publicity around the premiere of the short-subject film The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement at Sundance and worked on Better This World, The Rescuers, Hot Coffee and Semper Fi: Always Faithful. His film industry clients have included Chicken & Egg Pictures - the hybrid film fund and non-profit production company, HBO, Zeitgeist Films and Docurama Films. He is a member of the IDA and Women in Film & Video (WIFV) Washington, DC.For the past eight years he served on the faculty of the Master's of Arts in Communication Program at Johns Hopkins University. He earned his Master's of Arts in Government from Johns Hopkins University and his Bachelor's of Arts in Political Science from The George Washington University.

Robert West, Executive Director, Working Films
Robert West is co-founder and executive director of Working Films—an international not-for- profit organization committed to audience engagement and non-traditional distribution. Working Films brings persuasive and provocative documentary films to long-term community organizing and activism. Their film campaigns are changing toxic marketplaces, influencing equitable public policies, making communities more inclusive, and inspiring principled individual actions.West has presented workshops on engagement and non-traditional distribution at the Sundance Film Festival, at the Center for Social Media at American University, at Channel 4 BritDoc’s Media Conference, in UK at Sheffield’s Doc/Fest, in Italy at ESo-Doc and other venues. Now in its eleventh year, Working Films has collaborated on celebrated documentary campaigns, including Dirty Business, Freedom Riders, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, Everything’s Cool, Moving To Mars, Erasing David and many others.Working Films is headquartered in a 1910 firehouse in Wilmington NC, with satellite offices in New York and London.


The evening's on-stage conversation will be followed by an audience Q&A, and a reception.For more information on IDA's Doc U: documentary.org/doc-u

What:
Doc U: Can Your Doc Really Change the World?

When:
Monday, December 5, 2011
Doors Open: 6:30pm
Discussion & Audience Q&A: 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Stay for a drink and mingle with the panelists after the event.

Where:
West End Cinema
2301 M Street Northwest
Washington, DC 20037 

Venue Details:
Location: 
West End Cinema is located at 2301 M Street, NW at the corner of 23rd. The entrance is on 23rd Street to the right of United Bank.

Public Transportation: 
On the Metro, take the Orange or Blue line to Foggy Bottom/GWU stop, or the Red Line to Dupont Circle. If you're using the Circulator, get off at the 24th & M or the 22nd & Pennsylvania stop. By bus, the N3, L1, and H1 all stop at 22nd & New Hampshire.

Parking Info: 
Parking is recommend in the Circle Parking lot on 23rd Street between M and L Streets, NW. Metered street parking is also available.
 

Doc U is the International Documentary Association's series of educational seminars and workshops for aspiring and experienced documentary filmmakers. Taught by artists and industry experts, participants receive vital training and insight on various topics including: fundraising, distribution, licensing, marketing, and business tactics.

Special support provided by: