Moore to Receive Career Achievement Award From International Documentary Association
Michael Moore will receive the 2007 International Documentary Association’s (IDA) Career Achievement Award. Moore
will be feted by his peers during the 2007 IDA Distinguished Documentary
Achievement Awards Gala Benefit here on December 7 at the Directors Guild of
America Theatre.
“Michael Moore still has many more extraordinary films ahead of him,” says
IDA President diane estelle Vicari. “Our members are thankful for his
fearless commitment to tell compelling stories. He is a role model for young
documentary filmmakers everywhere in the world.”
Moore has produced, written and directed 15 documentaries for the cinema and
television, beginning with ROGER AND ME in 1989. That prescient documentary
captured how the decision to shift some 30,000 factory jobs to plants in Third
World countries by management at General Motors (GM) affected the lives of
people in Flint, Mich. Moore put a human face on that story by documenting GM
CEO Roger Smith’s unintentionally comedic efforts to avoid coming with Moore
to see firsthand the devastation to Flint community.
ROGER AND ME took top honors in the 1990 IDA Distinguished Documentary feature
competition. Moore has subsequently consistently focused on controversial and
universally important issues, including how the culture of gun violence
(BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE), the corruption in politics and war on Iraq
(FAHRENHEIT 9/11), and the health care system (SICKO) in the United States are
affecting the lives of ordinary people and the future of the country.
His documentaries have consistently earned the accolades of his peers in
various sectors of the industry. He won an Academy Award® in 2003 for BOWLING
FOR COLUMBINE, a Directors Guild of America Award (and the Palm d’Or) for
FAHRENHEIT 9/11 in 2005, Emmy® Awards for TV NATION in 1995 and 1996, and for
THE AWFUL TRUTH in 1999 and 2001. He earned a second IDA Distinguished
Documentary Award for FAHRENHEIT 9/11 in 2004.
Moore’s films have also consistently attracted the ire of powerful special
interest groups and politicians, including a threat by the government to
prosecute Moore for allegedly breaking the U.S. blockade of Cuba by producing
scenes for SICKO there.
“Michael Moore never wavered,” says IDA Executive Director Sandra Ruch. “He
was the guardian at the gate who stood up for all of our rights to freedom of
speech and press. All of his films make you think about things you may not
have considered before.”
Moore was born in Flint in 1954, where his father was a factory worker in the
automotive industry and his mother was a clerk.
Moore was elected to the local school board when he was 18 years old. He
enrolled in the University of Michigan as a political science and theater
major, but decided to leave school after three semesters. He hosted a Sunday
morning radio show called Radio Free Flint. Moore also founded, wrote for and
edited an alternative newspaper called The Flint Voice.
In 1980, The Flint Voice ran a story about a local motel that refused to hire
black people, and another article about the mayor using federally-paid workers
for door-to-door campaigning. When the mayor heard about the story, he ordered
the police to seize the Voice’s printing plates off the press. Moore made
national news when a court reversed that order.
Finding himself amongst Flint’s unemployed in 1986, Moore witnessed family and
friends who spent their lives working for GM being laid off, losing health
care benefits as well as salaries.
Moore decided to make a movie about it. With no schooling or training, he put
together a small group of friends who taught themselves how to make a film. He
sold the house he owned and raised additional funds by organizing bingo games
in the community. Moore took to filmmaking like a fish to water. The rest is
history.
The IDA is a nonprofit, membership organization based in Los Angeles. The
organization, now in its 25th year, was founded to promote and celebrate
nonfiction filmmakers and is dedicated to increasing public awareness and
appreciation of the documentary genre. For more information about the IDA and
2007 IDA Awards Gala Benefit, visit www.documentary.org.
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