The document summarizes discussions from several panels at the DOC NYC film festival about crowdfunding documentaries, the ivory trade, and other topics: 1. A panel on crowdfunding discussed lessons learned from successful Kickstarter campaigns for films like Citizen Koch. Filmmakers emphasized the importance of strategizing, finding audiences, creating rewards, and maintaining social media momentum throughout campaigns. 2. Directors of films about the ivory trade and poaching discussed the horrors exposed in their films and importance of raising awareness about these issues. 3. Other panels covered investigations into charitable organizations, capturing life in a town impacted by economic crisis, and telling difficult stories about genocide in Indonesia.

1. 1
Lessons in Crowdfunding: The Inside Scoop on Online Fundraising
Posted on November 16, 2013 by Rahul Chadha
This post was written by DOC NYC blogger Minnie Li
Members of the DOC NYC panel on crowdfunding shared some lessons with the audience.
Filmmakers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal (CITIZEN KOCH) and Sara Nodjoumi and Till Schauder (THE IRAN JOB) raised over
$100K for their respective projects on Kickstarter. On Wednesday’s DOC NYC FUND YOUR DOC panel, they discussed
their experiences with crowdfunding, and gave tips and tricks that they learned along the way.
The filmmakers said they were thrown into Kickstarter out of necessity. Lessin and Deal said they lost funding from ITVS for
CITIZEN KOCH due to political reasons. Nodjoumi and Schauder, for their part, said they didn’t have much funding to begin
with, and were encouraged by friends to raise money online. They actually did it twice—once for post-production funds, and
the second time to pay for self-release.
The panelists suggested that, before filmmakers begin a crowdfunding campaign, they first strategize, find target audiences,
create an outreach spreadsheet, and get good footage and a solid trailer in place. Incentives and rewards should also be creative
and personal – Deal used original artwork by grassroots Wisconsinites, while Nodjoumi offered her father’s paintings. And of
course, keeping your social media outlets stocked with fresh and creative content related to your project is a necessity.
But the panelists noted that crowdfunding doesn’t just raise funding; it also lets filmmakers build their audience. As Schauder
said, “You need the small donations because that’s where you realize there’s an audience.” But an online campaign is a full
time job. For Lessin, it was “30 days of 18 hours” per day—repeatedly emailing people, composing weekly press releases, and
writing personal thank-you letters to their 3,500 backers. Donations for crowdfunding campaigns tend to spike at the beginning
and at the end. It’s the in between that Nodjoumi called “the belly where nothing happens.” She added that the trick is to keep
momentum going through a screening, a party or by getting press.
Where to set your fundraising goal was another question that the filmmakers had to figure out an answer for. Nodjoumi said
$100K might seem like a high target, but there are taxes and time and money put into fulfilling the rewards. Deal added, “A
key piece of advice: right before [your Kickstarter page] gets locked, put a link up there so people can continue to give.”
Despite all of the concerns related to fundraising, Lessin noted, “No matter how good a networker you are [or] an organizer
you are, the film sells itself. You got to have something that people want to see or care about.”
This entry was posted in blog, Festival News and tagged carl deal, citizen koch, crowdfunding, kickstarter, Sara Nodjoumi, the
iran job, tia lessin, Til Schauder. Bookmark the permalink.
http://www.docnyc.net/blog/lessons-in-crowdfunding-the-inside-scoop-on-online-fundraising/

2. 2
White Gold: The Dark Side of the Ivory Trade
Posted on November 16, 2013 by Rahul Chadha
This post was written by DOC NYC blogger Minnie Li
From left, DOC NYC Artistic Director Thom Powers speaks with WHITE GOLD director Simon Trevor.
In 1989, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITIES) treaty banned the
ivory trade. But this didn’t stop poachers organized by warlords and Somali gangs from slaughtering elephants for their tusks;
today, fewer than 400,000 African elephants exist. Director Simon Trevor’s film WHITE GOLD, narrated by Hillary Clinton,
exposes the horror of these illegal killings and consumer demands for ivory, particularly from China. At the film’s DOC NYC
world premiere screening on Monday, producer Arne Glimcher said, “America is the second biggest ivory market in the world.
If you have ivory, never wear it again. Give it to the Museum of Natural History. ”
Glimcher said the team had plans to release the film in April 2014 in China, renting theaters to circumvent government censors
there. Actor Jackie Chan, one of the many celebrity supporters of the ban on ivory in China, narrates that version of the film.
Through their nonprofit organization, African Environmental Film Foundation (AEFF), everyone in China who attends a
screening will receive a free copy of the film for distribution.
Trevor has lived in Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park for 50 years now, and often sees elephants drinking from the small water
hole near his home. He said one day an elephant separated herself from the group and walked up to his house. “She put her
trunk through and between the people and took hold of a woman’s wrist standing at the back. She pulled back and shook her
head and went back to other elephants. That woman was wearing a 50-year-old ivory bracelet,” he said.
Among hunters, spears have been replaced with automatic rifles, tanks and helicopters. More than 100 rounds of ammunition,
along with a grenade launcher were found near one dead poacher’s body. So far 1,000 park rangers have been killed protecting
these creatures. Co-producer Ian Saunders said, “The people in the ground that coexist with elephants are being subjected to
the terrorism of the armed gangs, who come in and shoot people, rape people.”
In fact, the film is a “toned down” reality of the situation. Trevor has seen 40,000 elephants die over the years, and said that
900,000 of the animals had been slain since 1979. He remarked, “You can’t show that, can you?”
This entry was posted in blog, Festival News and tagged arne glimcher, hillary clinton, ian saunders, jackie chan, simon trevor,
tsavo east national park, white gold. Bookmark the permalink.
http://www.docnyc.net/blog/white-gold-the-dark-side-of-the-ivory-trade/

3. 3
Mission Congo: Outlining the Charges Against Operation Blessing
Posted on November 16, 2013 by Rahul Chadha
This post was written by DOC NYC blogger Minnie Li
MISSION CONGO filmmakers David Turner and Lara Zizic at the DOC NYC screening of their film.
Pat Robertson, the televangelist for the Christian Broadcast Network (CBN), set up the charitable Operation Blessing to assist
the Rwanda refugee relief in 1994. While he claimed that money raised through his show “The 700 Club” would be used for
relief in Rwanda, reporter Bill Sizemore reported in 1998 that it was actually used to fund Robertson’s African Development
Corporation (ADC), an entity that coordinated diamond-mining operations.
In MISSION CONGO, directors Lara Zizic and David Turner investigate the charges against Robertson on screen. Following
the film’s screening at DOC NYC on Saturday, Zizic said that Robertson is displeased with the release of their film and “has
definitely made that well known.” She added, “But as of now that’s the only reaction.” Robertson, for his part, has fired back
against the claims, with Operation Blessing threatening a lawsuit against the filmmakers.
According to the film, while refugees were dying of dehydration, malnutrition and cholera, Operation Blessing provided Bibles
and Tylenol. The film also outlines allegations that Robertson had close ties to Mobutu Sese Seko, a man closely connected
with the Rwandan genocide.
The film interviews relief workers, doctors, nurses as well as Operation Blessing personnel and pilot. Zizic said, “Most of the
people that we interviewed who worked for Operation Blessing genuinely wanted to help and thought that they were able to.
They were rather disappointed, mostly by the lack of supplies, the lack of organization and the inability to accomplish things.”
This entry was posted in blog, Festival News and tagged david turner, lara zizic, mission congo, operation blessing, pat
robertson, rwandan genocide. Bookmark the permalink.
http://www.docnyc.net/blog/mission-congo-outlining-the-charges-against-operation-blessing/

4. 4
We Always Lie to Strangers: Capturing the Las Vegas of the Bible Belt
Posted on November 16, 2013 by Rahul Chadha
This post was written by DOC NYC blogger Minnie Li
WE ALWAYS LIE TO STRANGERS co-director David Wilson spoke to the audience at the DOC NYC screening of his film.
Branson is a small town in Missouri known for its family-oriented musical and variety shows; it’s a city that lives off of show
business. These shows used to attract almost 7.5 million visitors per year, and the visitors used to bring in $3 billion in
revenues. But after the economic crisis that struck in 2008, lives in Branson were no longer the same. In their film WE
ALWAYS LIE TO STRANGERS, directors AJ Schnack and David Wilson capture a town in transition by following
performers who struggle to make ends meet and keep their shows afloat.
At Saturday’s DOC NYC screening of the film, Wilson said that he and Schnack spent from 2007 to 2012 shooting in Branson,
conducting 30 to 40 on camera interviews and ending up with around 400 hours of raw footage. The performers they captured
are really dedicated people; they work hard to be able to get on stage. Most have multiple jobs. Some even take to the streets to
pass out coupons as part of efforts to fill seats. A performer takes on the added responsibilities of running shows and
overseeing the business end of them—but she also cleans the bathrooms.
Wilson said he and Schnack made a deliberate decision to leave the ending of WE ALWAYS LIE TO STRANGERS with
some ambiguity. “Life is always going to go on so you have to find these moments that feel semi-complete. We made a
conscious decision to not put in an end title to say where they are now. We wanted the film to function some ways like a fiction
film would function. You pick a start and you pick an end, and if you’ve done it right, hopefully it feels complete even if their
lives aren’t over,” he said. These are moments-in-time of life in Branson, and in America, since 2008. Life goes on, and no one
knows where the crisis ends.
This entry was posted in blog, Films and tagged aj schnack, david wilson, we always lie to strangers. Bookmark the permalink.
http://www.docnyc.net/blog/we-always-lie-to-strangers-capturing-the-las-vegas-of-the-bible-belt/

5. 5
The Act of Killing: Telling the Story of Indonesia’s Genocide
Posted on November 16, 2013 by Rahul Chadha
This post was written by DOC NYC blogger Minnie Li
Joshua Oppenheimer, right, the director of the highly regarded film THE ACT OF KILLING, spoke about his film,
accompanied by DOC NYC Artistic Director Thom Powers.
In 1965-66, the military took power in Indonesia, and targeted communists, ethnic Chinese and intellectuals. They killed more
than a million people. Anwar Congo, a local gangster, killed hundreds of people during the period. He was a death squad
leader, and the 41st perpetrator of murders that director Joshua Oppenheimer interviewed for his film, THE ACT OF
KILLING. Oppenheimer interviewed Congo for five years, generating 1,200 hours of footage. “I linger on Anwar because his
pain was close to the surface,” said Oppenheimer at Friday’s DOC NYC screening of the film.
Congo is now an old man with a head full of white hair. In one scene, when his grandsons pester an injured duckling, he
patiently teaches them to be gentle and apologize to it. He often has a group following him. He lives for the moment. He
danced the Cha Cha on the rooftop where he had killed his victims. Congo never shied away from boasting his past and happily
demonstrated the killings he did using wires—a quick and clean kill—which he added is preferable to beatings, which he said
were messy and left an awful smell that lasted for days.
Oppenheimer said these accounts were “not a sign of pride, not a sign that these men lack conscience, but the opposite, a
desperate attempt to convince themselves that what they did was right so that they can wake up in the morning and look into
the mirror and see a human being rather than a murderer.” Congo and his friends loved Hollywood movies and scalped tickets
at these movie theaters as youths. They dressed up as cowboys, gangsters and musical stars in fictional settings in the film,
retelling stories about their glory days killing communists.
Something stirred inside Congo during this process of recreation. He regrets not closing a victim’s eyes after he killed him
because those eyes haunt him in his sleep. Tears filled his eyes when he watched a scene in which he played the role of a
victim under interrogation; his friends played the gangsters. He said he felt the fear and pain his victims experienced then. But
Oppenheimer, off-screen, responds that for the victims, it was much worse. Because it was real.
This entry was posted in blog, Festival News and tagged anwar congo, joshua oppenheimer, the act of killing. Bookmark the
permalink.
http://www.docnyc.net/blog/the-act-of-killing-telling-the-story-of-indonesias-genocide/

6. 6
20 Feet From Stardom: A Bittersweet Tale of Backup Singers
Posted on November 14, 2013 by Rahul Chadha
This post was written by DOC NYC blogger Minnie Li.
Director Morgan Neville at last night’s DOC NYC screening of the film 20 FEET FROM STARDOM.
Darleen Love, Lisa Fischer and Judith Hill are names that are not widely familiar to the public, but these singers have shared
the stage with the likes of Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger and Stevie Wonder. “The difference between a lead singer
and a backup singer is a hit,” said 20 FEET FROM STARDOM director Morgan Neville at Wednesday night’s DOC NYC
screening. Neville added, “Talent is fourth on the list. There’s luck, ambition and timing.” That’s the music industry–some
make it, some don’t. The film 20 FEET FROM STARDOM moves the spotlight to backup singers, whose talents at times
exceed that of their lead singers.
Backup singing is an art. For some, it’s a stepping-stone to stardom. For others, it’s a job that pays the bills. Love sang backup
vocals in many of the1960s hits produced by Phil Spector, but she eventually left the industry because her songs were released
under the name of other performers. She returned to singing at the age of 40, after she heard her song played on the radio while
cleaning someone’s house. Fischer won a Grammy and has toured with The Rolling Stones since 1989 as the lead female
vocalist, but decided to remain a backup singer. Hill, who was Michael Jackson’s favorite back-up singer, is still trying to
become a lead.
Ironically, Neville interviewed 50 backup singers for this film, but less than a dozen made it on screen. “No way is this the
comprehensive story on backup singing,” said Neville. “Someone out there should write a book. I have lots of note I can give it
to you.” Hopefully, someone will take up his offer.
20 FEET FROM STARDOM keeps viewers thinking about the complexity of the entertainment industry and how hard it is to
“make it” there. The singers’ stories are bittersweet, their struggles disheartening, their passion infectious–and their voices
make us wonder why they are not stars.
This entry was posted in blog, Festival News and tagged 20 Feet From Stardom, DOC NYC, Morgan Neville. Bookmark the
permalink.
http://www.docnyc.net/blog/20-feet-from-stardom-a-bittersweet-tale-of-backup-singers/