The financial success of March of the Penguins is helping create a brighter future for documentary filmmakers.

Some excerpts from the NYT story:

The recent surge in the popularity of documentaries has given filmmakers more confidence in the future of the genre. One reason for their optimism is the rapid development, in many countries, of digital movie networks that are designed to nurture specialty markets and to slash film printing costs - an expense that has long stymied distributors and filmmakers.

The networks, supported by a mix of public and private money, supply digital projectors worth 55,000, or $67,000, to theaters to entice exhibitors to show documentaries and non-Hollywood fare.

The potential impact on distribution costs is dramatic: A single copy of a 35-millimeter reel costs about 1,500, for example, compared with a 35 digital hard disk, according to Keys Ryninks, co-founder of Cinemanet, one of the new networks that has installed digital projectors in 140 theaters in Europe.

"The word 'documentary' used to make people shiver," Ryninks said. ...

One towering hurdle for producers of documentaries is the cost of paying for the development of a 35-millimeter negative, the master print, which is then used to make other single copies at lower cost. The initial development expense is 20,000 or more.

"I'm so close," said Arne Birkenstock, the Cologne-based director and producer of "12 Tangos: Adiós Buenos Aires."

"I have a distributor, a good record company and theaters that are going to do events with the musicians. How can I stop this for the last 15,000?"

Birkenstock's documentary is scheduled for a December release in Germany, but he is still raising money for the negative.