The DFP’s new website, DocSource, has launched at SFF ’08 with some of the features and activities that we will be building on over the coming year. Ultimately we envision the site as a robust and unique service to our many grantees (over 425 films and 376 filmmakers), their stakeholders, and human rights workers globally.

Why is it time for DocSource? I believe in part it is because I see a new field of human rights documentary emerging, fueled by the instincts and inspiration of filmmakers like the DFP grantees you will engage with on the web site, the passion and commitment of those working across many fields for a more just and equitable world, and the imperative of so many critical issues coming into focus globally.

The power of each of these arenas is converging. Festivals are becoming convening zones for talking about issues, the Internet is allowing for new communication, organizing and distribution possibilities. Independent documentary filmmakers, so often driven by a will to change the world, are now bringing sophisticated storytelling and marketing techniques to bear on the critical issues of our day. The heat is on – quite literally — to educate, enlighten, inspire and motivate. We are the generations that must meet today’s challenges head-on. We have the tools to do it and the skills bring these stories to the world, one viewer at a time if that’s what it takes.