The International Documentary Association (IDA) announced today that “Selma” director Ava DuVernay and “Free Angela and All Political Prisoners” filmmaker Shola Lynch have joined the lineup of keynote speakers for Getting Real ’16, a biennial filmmaker-to-filmmaker conference. “Hoop Dreams” director Steve James is also among the celebrated guests.
The three-day conference will be Sept. 27-29 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study and other locations in Hollywood.
Events will include keynotes, conversations with noted filmmakers, interactive presentations exploring the art and craft of documentary, distribution of recent documentaries, exclusive Here’s What Really Happened sessions that go behind the scenes into the making of recent docs.
“Getting Real represents the coming together of a diverse and dynamic community, not just to celebrate individual films, but to strengthen the connections within the field,” Simon Kilmurry, Executive Director of IDA said in a statement. “While passion for the truth through documentary storytelling drives many of us, it is only through building community and strengthening infrastructure can we forge an industry that thrives.”
Programming for the Getting Real ’16 has continued to evolve from its inception with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2014 with filmmaker feedback driving the current programming themes.
This year’s conference includes a much greater international focus and includes new offerings, such as creative case studies on the evolving craft of documentary film (which will be held at the NeueHouse in Hollywood), a VR Doc Summit bringing together VR makers and thinkers in this burgeoning creative field, as well as one-on-one mentorship meetings between filmmakers and industry mentors.