Patricia Aufderheide's Posts

Peter Jaszi's and my new book, Reclaiming Fair Use, has been a door opening  opportunities to discuss the growing movement to employ fair use more effectively--and in the process making more and better work, as has been the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries. Read more...

After hundreds of independent producers flocked to sign an open letter to PBS by Kartemquin Films, and the Independent Documentary Association endorsed the campaign, the public TV programmer has agreed to find a home on the core schedule for Independent Lens and POV. These are the two series that showcase the work of independent producers who raise issues typically under-reported in the media, reach audiences underserved by commercial media, and who experiment, innovate and take leadership in the digital transformation. Read more...

Hundreds of documentary filmmakers have signed on to the open letter to PBS that Kartemquin Films posted only a week ago.  Among the signatories: Barbara Kopple, Bill Moyers, Alex Gibney, Michael Moore, Joan Churchill, Jennifer Fox, Chuck Workman and other major award-winners. (Signatures still are being accepted.) Filmmakers are, in the technical language that IndieWIRE employed, pissed. Read more...

Copyright and creativity, as usual, were deeply intertwined at South by Southwest (SXSW) this year. I missed some cool panels that friends were giving, because logistics overcame me. Read more...

At panel after panel at South by Southwest (SXSW), we saw the playing out of multiplatform and transmedia experiments, both by big and little guys. It turns out that story is key (probably not a surprise for filmmakers).

I participated in one of two panels on using html5 for film. (That “html5” stuff is actually shorthand for open, web-native video. Our panel, HTML5 for Film: Leading Edge or Bleeding Edge?, featured Mozilla’s Ben Moskowitz, Xavier Facon of the advertising firm Crisp Media, James Burns of Zeega, and filmmaker Luisa Dantas. Read more...