Documentary box office returns are down this year compared to last -- but niche documentaries are nonetheless coming into their own. It's no longer essential to procure the backing of major studios to make and promote a film, and documentary filmmakers are capitalizing on that with a vengeance. Digital technology makes it fairly cheap to make movies now, and companies such as Netflix are making it possible for niche documentaries to find their ideal audiences. Netflix carries 7,800 documentaries -- and rented about 82% of them last year.
And so the docs keep coming, and the capacity of documentary to take part in current political debate keeps growing. This year's Sundance Festival featured six political documentaries. The Toronto festival will have nine. And philanthropists are beginning to recognize the power of film to forward their goals: "Since 'Inconvenient Truth,' more people are starting to look at media as a strategy to achieve their philanthropic goals," Melissa Berman, chief executive officer of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, told the Wall Street Journal.
The Journal notes that MPI adds a crucial dimension to the genre of political documentary with its commitment to ensuring that alternative perspectives on major public policy issues can find their place in film: "Moving Picture Institute funds and produces films on themes such as free-market economics and individual rights, including the documentary 'Indoctrinate U,' about what MPI founder Thor Halvorssen calls 'the denial of First Amendment rights to those who do not subscribe to the university orthodoxy.'"
Indoctrinate U will premiere on September 28 at the American Film Renaissance Film Festival, with the support of MPI and the American Council of Trustees and Alumni.