Seems like for every silver lining in the doc business, there’s a cloud. On one hand, people stampede to see Up the Yangtze. On the other, even more prefer Michael Moore. And so we asked attendees at the Hot Docs press conference:

The documentary business – on the rise or fading to black?

The windows are shrinking and the markets are augmenting and the broadcasters want different kinds of programming, so a lot of documentaries are in dire straits. But…there’s a whole new generation coming up, and technology is pretty exciting. So I’m hoping that the situation will right itself somehow.
Ed Barreveld, Producer,
Storyline Entertainment

I’d like to think that as more and more interesting documentaries are made, it’s more of a chicken-and-egg sort of thing…Is it the filmmaker that’s making [docs] more appealing to the public? Or is it the public that’s becoming more interested?
Koji Masutani, Director,
Virtual JFK: Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived

With the Michael Moore form of filmmaking. it’s no longer a fly-on-the-wall…I see the future of documentaries being a little more scripted, a little more manipulated.
Marshall Sfalcin,
Subject of The Rise and the Fall of the Grumpy Burger

Documentaries provide that honest and raw look at the world – what people are craving – so I see hope.
Patrick Reed,
Director, Triage: Dr. James Orbinski’s Humanitarian Dilemma

Documentaries in general need to be promoted more or shown or shared more…When documentaries come around it’s word of mouth for me…I enjoy a great documentary, [but] I don’t always hear of it
Glenn Five,
Subject of Anvil! The Story of Anvil