Full Frame Documentary Film Festival

The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is one of the United States' premier documentary film festivals, held over the course of four days each spring at the Carolina Theater in Durham, North Carolina. It began in 1998 with no more than a few hundred patrons and has grown tremendously since then.

The festival is renownedfact|date=April 2008 for its presentation of both new and curated documentaries as well as panel discussions, seminars, and question and answer sessions, along with the support it has garnered from filmmakers, film industry executives, and the general public.fact|date=April 2008 Produced by the non-profit organization Doc Arts, Inc., the festival is funded by private sponsors, some corporate. A few examples of sponsors include "The New York Times", Duke University, A&E, and HBO.

Full Frame has reached national recognition not just from its impressive programming but also the presence of numerous filmmaking celebrities. Over the years, those attending have included Morgan Spurlock, Michael Moore, DA Pennebaker, Martin Scorsese, Mira Nair, Al Franken, Sydney Pollack and many others.

The festival receives over 1,000 new films for consideration, the most of any documentary awards festival in the United States. In 2007 alone, the 10th anniversary of the festival, Full Frame received over 2,100 submissions, of which a select 85 were chosen.

Prizes

The prizes awarded at the 2006 festival:

* The Full Frame Grand Jury Award for best overall film.
* The Full Frame Audience Award is chosen by ballot of the attendees of the festival.
* The Full Frame Jury Award for Best Short is given to the best film of 40 minutes or less.
* The Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) Filmmaker Award for the film which best gives a firsthand look at the central issues of contemporary life and culture.
* The Charles E. Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award for the best first-time documentary feature filmmaker.
* The Full Frame/Emerging Pictures Audience Award
* The Full Frame Inspiration Award for the best film examining religion and spirituality.
* The Full Frame President's Award for the best student film.
* The Full Frame Women in Leadership Award for the film that best examines women in leadership positions.
* The Full Frame/Working Films Award for the film that has the greatest chance of initiating grassroots organizing and social change.
* The Seeds of War for the two filmmakers who best examine the causes of war.

External links

* [http://www.fullframefest.org/ Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Website]