Alex Gibney Tapped for MIPDOC Keynote

PARIS, February 12: Alex Gibney, an Oscar-nominated American
scriptwriter, director and producer, will deliver the keynote speech, titled
“The Power of Documentary,” at this year’s MIPDOC on Sunday, April 6.

Gibney is involved with two Oscar-nominated documentary
films: Taxi to The Dark Side as director
and No End in Sight as executive
producer. Gibney has won a variety of accolades, including the Independent
Spirit Award, the WGA Award and Emmy Awards.

Lynne Kirby, the senior VP of original programming and
development at the Sundance Channel, will interview Gibney after his keynote on
April 6. Gibney will also be the master of ceremony at the 2008 Trailblazers
Awards, where he will award the five global innovative and creative directors
selected this year. The five MIPDOC Trailblazers of 2008 are: producer Rea
Apostolides (Greece); director Bon Hwan Ku (South Korea); director Yufuko
Kuroda (Japan); director, producer and executive producer Daniel Cross
(Canada); and director Karin Slater (South Africa). The third MIPDOC
International Trailblazers is held in partnership with the Sundance Channel,
the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and the Korean Broadcasting Institute
(KBI).

“MIPDOC’s vitality is driven by the creative and innovative
professionals that network together from all across the documentary world,”
said Paul Johnson, the director of Reed MIDEM’s television division. “As the
world’s largest screening event for the documentary genre, MIPDOC gives these
programs and, indeed, all doc projects a chance to shine.”

This year’s MIPDOC takes place from April 5-6 at the
Intercontinental Carlton Hotel in Cannes. In 2007, MIPDOC saw record
participation, welcoming 469 companies from 60 countries. In all, 1,311
programs were presented, including 944 new programs.

—By Irene Lew