May 25: "Challenges of Researching on/With Communities of Practice" with Patricia Aufderheide
On Friday, May 25 at the International Communication Association Annual Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, Patricia Aufderheide will be presenting as part of the panel on Challenges of Researching on/With Communities of Practice. The panel is chaired by Elizabeth Bird from University of South Florida, and also features Minna KM Aslama of University of Helsinki, Sandra Braman from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukie and Leah A Lievrouw of the University of California Los Angeles.

May 26: "Journalists, Fair Use and the Public's Right to Know" with Patricia Aufderheide and Jan Boyles
On May 26, Patricia Aufderheide and Jan Boyles will present on "Journalists, Fair Use and the Public's Right to Know" at the International Communication Association Annual Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. You can read the Center for Social Media's report on Fair Use and Journalism here.

Land of Opportunity Demo

Story, Vision, Tech - Executing Web-Native Cinema Projects
Creating a project leveraging the web opens up uncountable opportunities for storytellers. Footage that was previously cut due to time constraints, or stories that didn't fit tightly enough within the narrative to be included, can now contribute to the narrative of an interactive project. As freeing as the many options a media maker has may seem, however, they can also be overwhelming. Read more...

Breaking Out of the Black Box: Web-Native Cinema
This weekend at Mozilla's Hot Hacks (part of Hot Docs in Toronto), filmmakers and web developers are coming together to redefine what it means to tell a story with video online. Read more...

Free Speech at Full Frame
Documentary has always been an exercise in freedom of expression. This year's Full Frame Documentary Festival put the spotlight on free speech and the filmmakers who are taking risks to showcase our first amendment rights. Read more...

Fair Use Video of the Month - Don Loves Roger 
Don Loves Roger mashes up every episode of Mad Men and remixes it into a story about two men who once preserved concepts of manhood and masculinity but then found relief and happiness in each other, becoming a threat to the very same patriarchal system on which their power and privilege was based. In this remixed narrative, Don has an opportunity to subvert rather than selling traditional masculinity.  Read more...

Fair Use Question of the Month - Library Exhibits Online
This month's fair use question comes from a university librarian who wants to create an online exhibit to showcase part of the library's permanent collections. Read more...

Ask What IP Policy Can Do For You
The second annual Innovate/Activate conference kicked off with great enthusiasm in Berkeley this April. I/A is about IP policy that is in the public interest. Were you part of the battle to take down SOPA and PIPA? Then this community is for you. According to co-founder and organizer Chris Wong, "for many of us the IP system is broken, but we can rebuild it." Legal scholars and activists gathered to set the rebuild agenda. Read more...

New Research on Public Television Viewers and Public-Purpose Programming
The Center for Social Media's latest research report, Public Television Viewers and Public-Purpose Programming, provides new hope for public media's future. The study, authored by Center director Pat Aufderheide and graduate fellow Echo Xie, analyzes the responses of hundreds of public television viewers who answered an open letter published by Kartemquin Films. Read more...

Localore Projects Begin to Percolate
Localore productions are now starting to launch—read about the evolution of iSeeChange and Black Gold Boom, or join the initiative's Facebook list to follow along as the projects go live.

Call for Entries: 15th UNAFF (United Nations Association Film Festival)
UNAFF celebrates the power of international documentary films dealing with human rights, the environment, protection of refugees, famine, homelessness, racism, disease control, women's issues, children, universal education, war, and peace.  Early deadline for entries is May 2, and the regular deadline is May 22. For more information, visit www.unaff.org

"Iran and the Nuclear Threat" on Link TV
This special 30-min report features news reports from Link TV's daily news program "Mosaic: World News from the Middle East", experts speaking at recent public forums in Washington DC, and special interviews with Hans Blix, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and Ali Soltanieh, Iran's Ambassador to the IAEA. To find the broadcast schedule or watch the program online, visit http://www.linktv.org/iran-us-relations. This website also features the full video of the public forums on Iran-US relations, the latest news stories from news.linktv.org and related articles.

MEDIA THAT MATTERS 12 Seeking Submissions
Arts Engine celebrates twelve years of Media That Matters™ — the premier showcase for short films with big messages. Submit your film for the chance to work with us in creating social change through film. If selected, your film will take become a part of Media That Matters™ — an international, multi-platform campaign streaming and playing to thousands of people at screenings across the globe. Media That Matters™ creates discussion guides and screening materials to promote conversation and encourage educators, activists and organizers alike to Take Action around these films. To submit, visit http://mediathatmattersfest.org/submit

DocuClub Seeking Submissions
Every month at DocuClub a filmmaker presents a rough cut of her film to DocuClub members and the public. A facilitated discussion follows each screening. Past films that have been shown at DocuClub include Born Into Brothels (Academy Award for Best Documentary, 2004), Prodigal Sons (Telluride Film Festival 2008), and Disturbing the Universe: Radical Lawyer William Kuntsler (Sundance Film Festival 2009). To learn more about submitting, visit http://docuclub.org/submit

Big Lessons from One Small Southern Town
Active Voice, the media strategy team, invites you to take community building to the next level. The documentary Welcome to Shelbyville directed and produced by Kim A. Snyder and the 30-minute module adapted from it, “Hawo’s Dinner Party: The New Face of Southern Hospitality,” are helping community leaders create opportunities to address fears and misunderstanding through dialogue and action.  NEW! “Hawo’s Dinner Party” is available with Arabic subtitles and Welcome to Shelbyville is available with Spanish subtitles.

Free Work in Progress Screening - Cooked
Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles will present a free Work In Progress Screening of Cooked on May 16th. Cooked, directed by Judith Helfand,  tells the story of the most traumatic heat wave in U.S. history in which 739 Chicago citizens died in a single week of July 1995. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Helfand. Find out more by visiting the Hammer museum website. 

Good Pitch New York
Good Pitch New York takes place on May 24. An initiative of the BRITDOC Foundation and the Sundance Institute Documentary Film program, Good Pitch New York will present strong US based projects to NGOs, foundations, brands, and interested stakeholders. The invitation only event features a day-long live Pitch of films and their associated outreach campaigns with the aim of creating a unique coalition around each film to maximize its impact and influence. For more information visit the Good Pitch web site here.

PBS Online Film Festival's People's Choice Award Winner Announced
PBS announced that the votes are in and the Festival audience has selected Horse You See, a short film presented by Native American Public Telecommunications, Inc. (NAPT), as the People's Choice Award winner in the first ever PBS Online Film Festival. From filmmakers Melissa Henry and Alfredo Pérez, Horse You See is the story of Ross, a horse from the Navajo Reservation, who shares his story and thoughts as he explains his very essence of being a horse.

BAVC To Formally Announce 2012 Producers Institute for New Media Technologies at Hot Docs
The Producers Institute, launched by BAVC in 2007 with the generous support of an innovation grant from the MacArthur Foundation, is a week-long social impact laboratory that connects the world’s best social issue documentary filmmakers and partner nonprofit organizations with leading technologists and mentors to develop transmedia tools and story assets to advance shared social change agendas. Through a competitive application process and national call for entries, BAVC will engage key media partners to select the world’s most promising and important social issue documentary projects for Producers Institute 2012. Details will be available starting on May 3, 2012 at www.bavc.org/producersinstitute.