DOC Ottawa-Gatineau supports the lobbying goals of the national organization, and through its events, hopes to raise the profile of Canadian independent documentary filmmaking in the national capital region.

In 2008, we worked towards all these lofty goals in several ways. DOG offered opportunities for the community to meet with representatives from OMNI Television (Paritosh Mehta), TVOntario (Jane Jancovic), CIDA’s DIP program and CTV (Bob Culbert). As well as discussing the commissioning environment at CTV, Bob Culbert presented a seminar on story development.

Our major events for 2008 included an intensive weekend dedicated to storytelling presented by Don White. The weekend gave members and the larger community the opportunity to analyse story structure in two seminars, as well as develop their own projects in an intensive workshop.

The year was topped off with a high profile celebration of DOC’s 25th Anniversary, with the screening of John Walker’s documentary Passage at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, in collaboration with the CMC, NFB, PTV Productions and John Walker Productions. Canada’s first Inuk cabinet minister, Leona Aglukkaq, helped kick off the evening, and the richness and value of Canada’s documentary tradition was celebrated by all.

We look forward to an equally exciting and stimulating 2009.