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New York, NY – Field of Vision, a new, filmmaker-driven documentary unit that will commission and create forty to fifty original episodic and individual short-form nonfiction films each year, pairing filmmakers with developing and ongoing stories around the globe.

Field of Vision is co-created by Academy Award-Winning filmmaker Laura Poitras, filmmaker AJ Schnack, and curator and producer Charlotte Cook, and was developed in collaboration with The Intercept and First Look Media.

Field of Vision will launch at the 53rd Annual New York Film Festival on September 27, 2015 with Poitras’ Asylum, an episodic, short-form series tracking WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as he publishes diplomatic cables and seeks asylum in London’s Ecuadorian embassy. Asylum will be joined at NYFF by a selection of original work commissioned by Field of Vision on a range of subjects. Details on titles and filmmakers will be announced shortly by the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Subsequent to its festival premiere, the online launch of Field of Vision season one will take place on September 29, 2015 with one film per week to be published on The Intercept through November. A second season will debut in early 2016. The first two seasons of Field of Vision will feature new works by Kirsten Johnson, Heloisa Passos, Iva Radivojevic, Michael Moore, Shola Lynch, Yung Chang, Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher, Beau Willimon, Dustin Guy Defa, Jarred Alterman, Jill Magid, Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega, and others to be announced in coming months

“Our goal with Field of Vision is to create a platform that responds quickly to the world around us, tells great stories with images, and encourages artistic risk taking with a fast production cycle,” said Laura Poitras. “In building Field of Vision, AJ, Charlotte and I are inspired by past examples such as World in Action and Life magazine.”

Field of Vision will commission a broad range of original nonfiction work: episodic series, thematic approaches to a single topic by multiple filmmakers, deep-dive investigations, fast-responding filmmaker assignments and collaborations with artists from different fields. Field of Vision will also team filmmakers with reporters at The Intercept to combine the power of visual and written reporting.

“This is an exciting moment in documentary storytelling,” said AJ Schnack. “By providing an outlet for filmmakers to create both episodic and short-form films and by giving them the resources they need to produce original and innovative work, Field of Vision will expand visual storytelling in the digital age, while responding to unfolding events in real time.”

Charlotte Cook added, “Field of Vision will give filmmakers and artists the ability to experiment with form, craft and storytelling in a highly creative way. Being able to do this in the context of visual journalism is extremely exciting, so that we can create alternative perspectives in both journalistic storytelling and the news.”

“Rarely do writers have the opportunity to work alongside visual journalists,” remarked Betsy Reed, Editor-in-Chief of The Intercept. “Field of Vision will amplify The Intercept’s core mission while taking us in entirely new directions – injecting the vision of groundbreaking documentary filmmakers into the swirl of digital journalism. We are thrilled to be able to share this vision with our readers as well as new audiences.”

“We are thrilled to welcome AJ and Charlotte to our growing team at First Look Media and The Intercept,” said Michael Bloom, First Look Media President. “We’re committed to supporting independent creators, and Field of Vision is a great example of the ambitious, maker-driven work that we will help to develop and share with audiences across various mediums and subjects.”

About Field of Vision Co-Creators:
AJ Schnack is a filmmaker and writer known for nonfiction feature work including Caucus (2013), Kurt Cobain About a Son (2006) and Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns) (2003). He is the Founding Director of the Cinema Eye Honors, an annual international award for nonfiction filmmaking. Schnack won the Jury Prize for Direction at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival and is an Independent Spirit Award nominee.

Charlotte Cook is a film curator, writer and producer. Most recently, Cook was the Director of Programming at Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival, and prior to that was the head of film programming and training at the Frontline Club in London, an organization dedicated to championing independent journalism and freedom of expression. She has also worked as part of the commissioning team at BBC Storyville and with BRITDOC.

Laura Poitras’ most recent film, CITIZENFOUR, won an Academy Award for Best Documentary, as well as awards from BAFTA, Independent Spirit Awards, and the Director’s Guild of America. She is a Co-Founding Editor of The Intercept along with Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill.

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About Field of Vision
Field of Vision commissions and creates short and episodic films that use visual journalism to expand how we understand the world. Field of Vision will work with leading filmmakers to take on developing and ongoing stories as they unfold.

About The Intercept
The Intercept, launched in 2014 by Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill, is dedicated to producing fearless, adversarial journalism. We believe journalism should bring transparency and accountability to powerful governmental and corporate institutions, and our journalists have the editorial freedom and legal support to pursue this mission. The Intercept is a publication of First Look Media.

About First Look Media
Launched in 2013 by eBay founder and philanthropist Pierre Omidyar, First Look Media is a multi-platform media company devoted to supporting independent voices, from fearless investigative journalism and documentary filmmaking to arts, culture, media and entertainment. First Look Media produces and distributes content in a wide range of forms including feature films, short-form video, podcasts, interactive media and long-form journalism, for its own digital properties and with partners.