From the St Louis Film Hotwire List:
Today, anyone with a video camera and movie-editing software can make a documentary. But can the aspiring filmmaker afford to make it legally? Just a few years ago the answer often was “no.” Now, thanks to a best practices fair use statement developed and disseminated by their peers, documentary filmmakers are dramatically lowering clearance costs — the licensing fees paid to copyright holders for permission to use music, text, archival photos and film and news clips — while also respecting copyright ownership.
These new developments will be explained during a seminar for filmmakers that will be offered by St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts (VLAA) on December 3. The program, which is entitled Best Practices in Fair Use, begins at 7:00 p.m. and will conclude by 9:30 p.m. Tuition is $15. Participants will receive copies of The Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use and Bound by Law? Tales from the Public Domain, a comic book about intellectual property.
Award-winning filmmaker JJ Hanley of Kartemquin Films in Chicago (Hoop Dreams, Refrigerator Mothers, Vietnam Long Time Coming, 5 Girls) will show clips to present her “in the trenches” perspective on fair use. Producer/Writer JJ Hanley conceptualized, developed and produced Refrigerator Mothers, the story of mother’s who were blamed by the medical establishment for causing autism in their children. The film won multiple awards, including Best Documentary at the Sedona International Film Festival, 2002 and the Grand Jury Award at the Florida Film Festival, 2002. It was also an official selection at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, 2002.
Hanley brings a breadth of life experience to the filmmaker’s art and a real-world grasp of the cultural challenges brought on by globalization. She spent several formative years of her childhood living in Turkey and revolutionary Iran. Later she traded securities in the New York and London offices for a global bank’s $50 billion portfolio. Deciding to pursue her love of writing, Hanley traded Wall Street for journalism where she conceived, developed and wrote special features independently for a variety of journalistic media, from glossy magazines to dot-coms, and eventually became book editor for the largest weekly suburban newspaper in the country. These varied experiences contribute not only to her worldly understanding but inform her ability to see a cinematic work in progress through the eyes of a diverse audience.
Mark P. McKenna, assistant professor at St. Louis University of Law and VLAA board member, will address the legal issues.
The seminar will be held in the Regional Arts Commission’s building, which is located across the street from the Pageant. For more information, call 314/863-6930, or visit the St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts Web site, www.vlaa.org.
Post a Comment