My work here at The Doc Channel often requires that I eat, breathe, and yes, occasionally sleep documentaries. I find lately that every now and then the films will even find a way to infiltrate my dreams. Like the time ?¢‚Ǩ?ìDancing Outlaw’s?¢‚Ǩ¬ù Jesco White was tap-dancing on Elvis’ grave and upon spotting me stopped to offer me a granola bar (I’m not making this up.) Or the time I was at a McDonald’s and Morgan Spurlock came in and totally busted me putting McNuggets on my Big Mac (man, was he pissed). Sometimes I’m making my own documentary and in typical dream fashion things go all Murphy’s Law on me. Interview subjects don’t show up, we run out of tape to shoot with, our light meters are actually Martian death rays that disintegrate our subject when we attempt to use them (ok I’m making that last part up). I’m sure I’m not the only one here at the channel who has had such dreams. Someday soon I plan to smoothly find a window to ask the others here if they’ve ever had nocturnal visions of Jesco, but in the meantime, let’s just keep this stuff between us.

One of my favorite aspects of the work I do here at The Documentary Channel is coming up with fresh new weekly content for our website. The site gives me a forum not just to spotlight the films we are featuring on the channel but documentary films or filmmakers that I believe should be household names. As a dyed-in-the-wool cinema addict, I think it’s my duty to use this power wisely. After all, did Sam Raimi’s Spiderman films not teach us that with great power comes great responsibility? This week in our ?¢‚Ǩ?ìFrom the Vault?¢‚Ǩ¬ù section, I featured a doc that’s long held a place in my heart, Bennett Miller’s film about Speed Levitch, ?¢‚Ǩ?ìThe Cruise.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù Like ?¢‚Ǩ?ìTigrero,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù it’s a film I delight in turning people on to, because it’s a little funny, a little profound and it makes me want to go out and make my own films. Great films have long had that impact on me, and as long as I’m a part of The Documentary Channel team, I’ll do my best to bring them to the attention of those who might have missed them. So thanks for checking out our site. Tell your friends, tell your friends to tell their friends, and join in my quest to have at least a small part in the creation of future cult classics. This channel is for us?¢‚Ǩ‚Äùthe people who genuinely love the films. We won’t forget that, and as long as I’m here, I won’t let you guys forget it either.

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Yesterday I received an email from Christa Lang-Fuller, who was married to the late, great filmmaker Sam Fuller for several decades. She wrote to thank me for the kudos I had recently given the excellent documentary film by Mika Kaurismaaki, ?¢‚Ǩ?ìTigrero.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù Mrs. Fuller told me the film was her initial brainchild (but brilliantly executed by Kaurismaaki) and that I should mention somewhere on the site that the film had won the International Critics award in Berlin in 1994. In closing she told me a great story about Sam Peckinpah offering his services to Sam Fuller as a second unit director on one of Fuller’s many masterpieces, ?¢‚Ǩ?ìThe Big Red One,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù an offer that was refused by the studio! As Peckinpah is another filmmaker high atop my personal short list of all time greats, the notion of the two men working together puts a huge smile on my face. So thank you for sharing a bit of your personal backstory, Mrs. Fuller. It was an honor to hear from you, and I hope you’ll stay in touch.

If you haven’t seen it yet, you owe it to yourself to check out ?¢‚Ǩ?ìTigrero.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù And if you are a fellow fan of Fuller’s, be sure to see, 1996’s ?¢‚Ǩ?ìThe Typewriter, The Rifle and The Movie Camera,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù produced by a great filmmaker in his own right, Tim Robbins, and directed by Adam Simon. So seek ?¢‚ǨÀúem out and Feel free to write me and let me know what you think.

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A new year has begun, and as I relish any opportunity to ramble endlessly about film, I thought I would take this opportunity to briefly salute the ten documentary films that I believe were the cream of the crop in 2005. So here are the ten I think must be seen at all costs, in no particular order.

1. The Devil and Daniel Johnston
2. Tarnation
3. Punk: Attitude
4. Murderball
5. No Direction Home
6. We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen
7. Shake Hands With The Devil
8. In the Realms Of The Unreal
9. March Of The Penguins
10. The Fearless Freaks

So there they are my personal favorites, and yes I’m aware that Shake Hands and In the Realms were technically made in ‘04. But I saw them both theatrically this year, so I’m counting them. Please let me know if you agree with my choices or better yet, if you disagree, as I think film related debate is the coolest! So until next week gentle reader, I bid you adieu. Go forth and seek out the films on my list and marvel at their marvelousness. You won’t be sorry.

Some of us here at DOC recently read a book called A New History of Documentary Film , and we were privately embarrassed by how many gaps in our doc-knowledge were exposed over the course of reading it. (This does not, of course, include Chris Dortch, who apparently has no gaps in knowledge whatsoever.) Thankfully for everyone, those voids have now been filled. Anyway, the book is both deep and wide ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú covering everything from Robert Flaherty to Born into Brothels ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú and we feel it is fairly essential for anyone serious about docs. For the sake of full disclosure, it was co-authored by one of our advisory board members, Dr. Betsy McLane, who has no idea we have read her book nor that we are plugging it ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú which also means that, thankfully, she does not yet plan to test us on its content (Dr. McLane has taught docs at places like the University of Vermont and USC). So, to Betsy we say thank you for the education. To everyone else, start reading.