Over the years, the Oscar for best documentary feature has provided the Academy Awards with some of the ceremony’s most contentious and divisive moments: In 1975, when the Vietnam War doc Hearts and Minds claimed the prize, producer Bert Schneider read a letter of thanks from the Viet Cong, so incensing hosts Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra that they took it upon themselves later in the broadcast to apologize “for any political references.” In 2003, while accepting his Oscar for the anti-gun doc Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore was greeted with both cheers and boos when he cried “Shame on you, Mr. Bush” for launching the war in Iraq.
In the past couple of years, as Academy membership has grown larger and more diverse, the feature documentary results have been a lot more mellow, with crowd-pleasing choices — like the 2021 concert film Summer of Soul and the 2020 nature doc My Octopus Teacher — prevailing.
In the past couple of years, as Academy membership has grown larger and more diverse, the feature documentary results have been a lot more mellow, with crowd-pleasing choices — like the 2021 concert film Summer of Soul and the 2020 nature doc My Octopus Teacher — prevailing.
- 3/6/2023
- by Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Levelling
Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song, Netflix, streaming now
Leonard Cohen's seminal song gets the full treatment in this documentary, which comes at the musician from it's perspective. Although not offering as deep a profile of the artist himself, Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine do succeed in charting the full evolution of his best known track. The film explores Cohen's tightrope walk between holiness and hedonism, while also indicating how he felt about the song's resurgence. Footage of the man himself late in his career is a treat.
Phantom Thread, 11.15pm, BBC2, Monday, January 30
Jennie Kermode writes: Featuring the last film performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, who announced his retirement shortly before it was released in 2018, Paul Thomas Anderson’s sumptuously presented drama has echoes of Hitchcock’s Vertigo in its portrait of a romance which hinges on the reshaping of a woman (played by Vicky Krieps) into somebody else.
Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song, Netflix, streaming now
Leonard Cohen's seminal song gets the full treatment in this documentary, which comes at the musician from it's perspective. Although not offering as deep a profile of the artist himself, Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine do succeed in charting the full evolution of his best known track. The film explores Cohen's tightrope walk between holiness and hedonism, while also indicating how he felt about the song's resurgence. Footage of the man himself late in his career is a treat.
Phantom Thread, 11.15pm, BBC2, Monday, January 30
Jennie Kermode writes: Featuring the last film performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, who announced his retirement shortly before it was released in 2018, Paul Thomas Anderson’s sumptuously presented drama has echoes of Hitchcock’s Vertigo in its portrait of a romance which hinges on the reshaping of a woman (played by Vicky Krieps) into somebody else.
- 1/30/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Screen’s analysis of the 2023 Bafta Film Awards longlists, which have been unveiled following the first round of voting.
The final nominations will be announced on January 19, and the Bafta Film Awards will take place on February 19.
All Quiet On The Western Front lands with a bang
Edward Berger’s First World War drama All Quiet On The Western Front is a surprise success on the longlists, included more times than any other film (The Banshees Of Inisherin is second with 14 longlist nods). The Netflix production has been represented in every category for which it was eligible, including best film,...
The final nominations will be announced on January 19, and the Bafta Film Awards will take place on February 19.
All Quiet On The Western Front lands with a bang
Edward Berger’s First World War drama All Quiet On The Western Front is a surprise success on the longlists, included more times than any other film (The Banshees Of Inisherin is second with 14 longlist nods). The Netflix production has been represented in every category for which it was eligible, including best film,...
- 1/6/2023
- by Ben Dalton¬Charles Gant¬Orlando Parfitt¬Michael Rosser¬Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
On Dec. 21, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled its shortlists for the 2023 Oscars in 10 categories, which included advancing 15 documentary features to the next round. A total of 144 documentary features this year were eligible, and those that moved on include All That Breathes, Fire of Love and Moonage Daydream.
Among the more surprising omissions was Mars Rover doc Good Night Oppy. Members of the documentary branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees for documentary feature as well as documentary short (15 films were shortlisted from 98 qualified shorts).
A list of the 15 documentaries on this year’s Oscars shortlist follows.
All That Breathes
Winner of the Cannes Golden Eye and Sundance Grand Jury Prize (World Cinema Documentary), All That Breathes follows two brothers in New Delhi racing to save a bird falling from the sky. Shaunak Sen directs the HBO documentary. It premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival,...
Among the more surprising omissions was Mars Rover doc Good Night Oppy. Members of the documentary branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees for documentary feature as well as documentary short (15 films were shortlisted from 98 qualified shorts).
A list of the 15 documentaries on this year’s Oscars shortlist follows.
All That Breathes
Winner of the Cannes Golden Eye and Sundance Grand Jury Prize (World Cinema Documentary), All That Breathes follows two brothers in New Delhi racing to save a bird falling from the sky. Shaunak Sen directs the HBO documentary. It premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival,...
- 1/5/2023
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Oscar contender Moonage Daydream
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) today announced the list from which the coming year's Oscar nominees will be selected. It includes All The Beauty And The Bloodshed, which has already acquired several other major award nominations - Nan Goldin, Laura Poitras, Harry Cullen and Megan Kapler - recently shared their thoughts on it - and Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song, which directors Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller discussed with us. Other nominees cover diverse issues from wildlife protection in India to the life and work of David Bowie, the attempted assassination of a Russian opposition figure and the life of the Hmong people in the remote hill country of northern Vietnam.
The full list:
All That Breathes All The Beauty And The Bloodshed Bad Axe Children Of The Mist Descendant Fire Of Love Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song...
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) today announced the list from which the coming year's Oscar nominees will be selected. It includes All The Beauty And The Bloodshed, which has already acquired several other major award nominations - Nan Goldin, Laura Poitras, Harry Cullen and Megan Kapler - recently shared their thoughts on it - and Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song, which directors Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller discussed with us. Other nominees cover diverse issues from wildlife protection in India to the life and work of David Bowie, the attempted assassination of a Russian opposition figure and the life of the Hmong people in the remote hill country of northern Vietnam.
The full list:
All That Breathes All The Beauty And The Bloodshed Bad Axe Children Of The Mist Descendant Fire Of Love Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song...
- 12/21/2022
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Louis Armstrong, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Selena Gomez, Sinead O’Connor and Tanya Tucker are the subjects of six separate 2022 music documentaries. But if you ask the directors behind each project whether or not they made a music doc, the answer is resounding no.
Instead, the music created by each legendary artist is used to draw viewers into a deeper story that goes beyond song.
Sacha Jenkins’ “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues” is a prime example. While Jenkins delves into the life and art of the legendary jazz performer, the director also explores America and race by examining the misconception that the New Orleans trumpeter didn’t do enough to support the civil-rights movement.
“The film is much more than a music doc,” says Jenkins. “Music is a great portal into larger conversations because music is always a reflection of and a reaction to the environment, particularly with Black artists in America.
Instead, the music created by each legendary artist is used to draw viewers into a deeper story that goes beyond song.
Sacha Jenkins’ “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues” is a prime example. While Jenkins delves into the life and art of the legendary jazz performer, the director also explores America and race by examining the misconception that the New Orleans trumpeter didn’t do enough to support the civil-rights movement.
“The film is much more than a music doc,” says Jenkins. “Music is a great portal into larger conversations because music is always a reflection of and a reaction to the environment, particularly with Black artists in America.
- 12/17/2022
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Leonard Cohen’s signature song, “Hallelujah,” had its journey to music immortality stopped almost at birth by a record executive. The chief of Cohen’s label, Columbia, vetoed the finished album containing the track in 1984 because he considered it unmarketable in the United States.
An intervention by an influential labelmate of Cohen’s, one Bob Dylan, helped “Hallelujah” to escape front-office purgatory and, over time, become the soaring secular hymn that musicians love to cover and listeners play at both weddings and funerals.
Related: The Contenders Documentary – Deadline’s Full Coverage
Dylan, in fact, might have been the first to cover the song. “Dylan loved ‘Hallelujah,’” filmmaker Dayna Goldfine said at Deadline’s Contenders Documentary event. Goldfine and her husband, Daniel Geller, are co-directors and co-writers of Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song, from Sony Pictures Classics.
Pairing archival footage of Cohen himself with interviewees including Brandi Carlisle, Eric Church and Judy Collins,...
An intervention by an influential labelmate of Cohen’s, one Bob Dylan, helped “Hallelujah” to escape front-office purgatory and, over time, become the soaring secular hymn that musicians love to cover and listeners play at both weddings and funerals.
Related: The Contenders Documentary – Deadline’s Full Coverage
Dylan, in fact, might have been the first to cover the song. “Dylan loved ‘Hallelujah,’” filmmaker Dayna Goldfine said at Deadline’s Contenders Documentary event. Goldfine and her husband, Daniel Geller, are co-directors and co-writers of Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song, from Sony Pictures Classics.
Pairing archival footage of Cohen himself with interviewees including Brandi Carlisle, Eric Church and Judy Collins,...
- 12/4/2022
- by Sean Piccoli
- Deadline Film + TV
Deadline’s Contenders Film: Documentary awards-season event kicks off Sunday at 8 a.m. Pt and promises to open up distant lands and even a distant planet—no passport required.
Click her to register for and watch today’s Contenders livestream.
The terrain covered by the cast and creatives from our 20 participating films astonishes with its variety and range: an enclave of Delhi, India in All That Breathes, a remote section of Paraguay in Eami, and possibly an even more remote outpost of the Brazilian rainforest in Wildcat. Moscow is the ultimate destination of Navalny, the documentary about Russia’s imprisoned and poisoned opposition leader, and Descendant takes us to a neighborhood of Mobile, Alabama settled by survivors of the last slave ship known to have navigated U.S. waters.
About 5,600 miles separate Moscow from Mobile, mere inches apart compared to the far-flung rendezvous point of Good Night Oppy, about NASA...
Click her to register for and watch today’s Contenders livestream.
The terrain covered by the cast and creatives from our 20 participating films astonishes with its variety and range: an enclave of Delhi, India in All That Breathes, a remote section of Paraguay in Eami, and possibly an even more remote outpost of the Brazilian rainforest in Wildcat. Moscow is the ultimate destination of Navalny, the documentary about Russia’s imprisoned and poisoned opposition leader, and Descendant takes us to a neighborhood of Mobile, Alabama settled by survivors of the last slave ship known to have navigated U.S. waters.
About 5,600 miles separate Moscow from Mobile, mere inches apart compared to the far-flung rendezvous point of Good Night Oppy, about NASA...
- 12/4/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Vladimir Putin may prefer that people forget about imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but the Cinema Eye Honors isn’t.
The awards show dedicated to the art and craft of documentary film today announced its 2023 Unforgettables list of the most memorable subjects of nonfiction films this year, and Navalny’s name was front and center. The story of the lawyer and anti-corruption crusader, who was almost killed in a Kremlin poisoning plot in 2020, is told in the award-winning film Navalny, directed by Daniel Roher.
Joining Navalny on the Unforgettables list is another political leader — Gabby Giffords, the former Congresswoman from Arizona who was severely injured in an assassination attempt in 2011. Her difficult road to recovery and return to activism is told in Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down, directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen.
Artist Nan Goldin
Nan Goldin, the artist at the center of the Laura Poitras...
The awards show dedicated to the art and craft of documentary film today announced its 2023 Unforgettables list of the most memorable subjects of nonfiction films this year, and Navalny’s name was front and center. The story of the lawyer and anti-corruption crusader, who was almost killed in a Kremlin poisoning plot in 2020, is told in the award-winning film Navalny, directed by Daniel Roher.
Joining Navalny on the Unforgettables list is another political leader — Gabby Giffords, the former Congresswoman from Arizona who was severely injured in an assassination attempt in 2011. Her difficult road to recovery and return to activism is told in Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down, directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen.
Artist Nan Goldin
Nan Goldin, the artist at the center of the Laura Poitras...
- 10/26/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Universal’s ‘Moonage Daydream’ and Sony’s ‘Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song’ both out.
Two modern music icons face off at UK-Ireland cinemas this weekend, with the release of David Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream and Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song.
Opening in 50 sites, most of which are Imax, Universal’s Moonage Daydream is a journey through Bowie’s creative and musical output. The film, which launched as an out-of-competition Midnight Screening in Cannes this May, is written, directed, edited and produced by US filmmaker Brett Morgen.
Moonage Daydream has the backing of the David Bowie estate...
Two modern music icons face off at UK-Ireland cinemas this weekend, with the release of David Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream and Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song.
Opening in 50 sites, most of which are Imax, Universal’s Moonage Daydream is a journey through Bowie’s creative and musical output. The film, which launched as an out-of-competition Midnight Screening in Cannes this May, is written, directed, edited and produced by US filmmaker Brett Morgen.
Moonage Daydream has the backing of the David Bowie estate...
- 9/16/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
To mark the release of Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song on 16th September, we’ve been given a signed poster and a copy of Leonard Cohen’s book of short stories, A Ballet Of Lepers to give away to one winner.
Directed by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song is An exploration of the life of singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen as seen through the prism of his internationally renowned hymn, `Hallelujah’.
A Ballet of Lepers is an uncovered novel & stories written by Leonard Cohen between 1956 in Montreal, just as Cohen was publishing his first poetry collection, and 1961, when he’d settled on Greece’s Hydra island. The pieces in this collection offer startling insight into Cohen’s imagination and creative process, and explore themes that would permeate his later work, from shame and unworthiness to sexual desire to longing, whether for love, family,...
Directed by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song is An exploration of the life of singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen as seen through the prism of his internationally renowned hymn, `Hallelujah’.
A Ballet of Lepers is an uncovered novel & stories written by Leonard Cohen between 1956 in Montreal, just as Cohen was publishing his first poetry collection, and 1961, when he’d settled on Greece’s Hydra island. The pieces in this collection offer startling insight into Cohen’s imagination and creative process, and explore themes that would permeate his later work, from shame and unworthiness to sexual desire to longing, whether for love, family,...
- 9/15/2022
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The International Documentary Association (IDA) has announced the full program for its annual screening series, including the 10 films that have been chosen for its Awards Campaign Access Initiative (Acai).
The program will open with Netflix’s “Descendant,” a film produced by the Obamas’ company Higher Ground Productions. The documentary sees director Margaret Brown return to her hometown of Mobile, Alabama to document the search for The Clotilda, the last known ship to arrive in the United States, illegally carrying enslaved Africans, and the ramifications its discovery has on the community.
What will follow is a showcase of 43 feature-length documentary films that are eligible for consideration for the upcoming Academy Awards; 20 films will be screened both in-person and online, and 35 will be available for virtual viewing only.
The films selected for the Acai, a program meant to support independent filmmakers from historically excluded communities currently pursuing a film awards campaign, are:
Beba | Dir.
The program will open with Netflix’s “Descendant,” a film produced by the Obamas’ company Higher Ground Productions. The documentary sees director Margaret Brown return to her hometown of Mobile, Alabama to document the search for The Clotilda, the last known ship to arrive in the United States, illegally carrying enslaved Africans, and the ramifications its discovery has on the community.
What will follow is a showcase of 43 feature-length documentary films that are eligible for consideration for the upcoming Academy Awards; 20 films will be screened both in-person and online, and 35 will be available for virtual viewing only.
The films selected for the Acai, a program meant to support independent filmmakers from historically excluded communities currently pursuing a film awards campaign, are:
Beba | Dir.
- 8/30/2022
- by Marcus Jones
- Indiewire
There’s something about Canadian writer/poet/singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen that seems to shine so brightly that people always want to approach his life from an angle and never succeed in getting very close. Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man, did have an extensive interview but was intercut it with a tribute concert while Marianne & Me: Words Of Love came at Cohen via his love for his Swedish muse Marianne Ihlen, with Nick Broomfield shoehorning himself into the film for good measure. Now it’s the turn of Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine, whose previous films include Ballets Russes, and who approach the musician largely from the perspective of his most famous song, Hallelujah. The end result could do with less tangent and more of the gent himself.
Things start well, with a decent potted history of how Cohen came to move from the written word to the sung and how his Jewish roots.
Things start well, with a decent potted history of how Cohen came to move from the written word to the sung and how his Jewish roots.
- 8/11/2022
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The film Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song proffers the supposition that the multifaceted and layered career of the poet/singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen can be extrapolated by studying his enduring and internationally renowned composition “Hallelujah.” While there may be far more to explore about this remarkable man’s life than can be contained in one documentary, this piece by Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine does an extraordinary job in doing just that.
As a whole, the film chronicles Cohen’s song, “Hallelujah,” long (and dramatic) journey from rejection to international acclaim. The film also explores the many artists for which the song served as a sort of gauge for their own creative output or spirituality.
Artists like John Cale, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, Brandi Carlile, Eric Church, Judy Collins, Glen Hansard, Myles Kennedy, Sharon Robinson, and Regina Spektor are all allotted ample time to extol the virtues and nuances of Cohen’s composition,...
As a whole, the film chronicles Cohen’s song, “Hallelujah,” long (and dramatic) journey from rejection to international acclaim. The film also explores the many artists for which the song served as a sort of gauge for their own creative output or spirituality.
Artists like John Cale, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, Brandi Carlile, Eric Church, Judy Collins, Glen Hansard, Myles Kennedy, Sharon Robinson, and Regina Spektor are all allotted ample time to extol the virtues and nuances of Cohen’s composition,...
- 8/6/2022
- by Mike Tyrkus
- CinemaNerdz
Leonard Cohen. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Leonard Cohen Family Trust. © Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.
The new documentary Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song is a double biography of sorts, of beloved Canadian-Jewish songwriter/singer Leonard Cohen, who has had a cult-like following, particularly among musicians, and his most famous song “Hallelujah,” a song that seems to be everywhere and has taken on a life of its own, transforming from a more sacred form about King David to more secular form that appears in countless movie soundtracks and has become a favorite at weddings, funerals and singing contest. This excellent documentary, from co-directors Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine, has plenty for both long-time fans and those new to the musician’s work.
Unlike some previous documentaries about Leonard Cohen, who passed away in 2016, this one focuses more on his career and its evolution than on his personal or romantic life.
The new documentary Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song is a double biography of sorts, of beloved Canadian-Jewish songwriter/singer Leonard Cohen, who has had a cult-like following, particularly among musicians, and his most famous song “Hallelujah,” a song that seems to be everywhere and has taken on a life of its own, transforming from a more sacred form about King David to more secular form that appears in countless movie soundtracks and has become a favorite at weddings, funerals and singing contest. This excellent documentary, from co-directors Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine, has plenty for both long-time fans and those new to the musician’s work.
Unlike some previous documentaries about Leonard Cohen, who passed away in 2016, this one focuses more on his career and its evolution than on his personal or romantic life.
- 7/29/2022
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This review of “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song” first appeared when the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2021.
Like the blind men of lore groping to understand an elephant by focusing on a tail or a tusk or an ear, filmmakers have tended to approach the late singer, songwriter, poet and novelist Leonard Cohen in bits and pieces. Lian Lunson looked at his career through the lens of a 2005 tribute concert in “Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man,” Tony Palmer’s “Leonard Cohen: Bird on a Wire” was a long-lost chronicle of a single European tour in 1972 and Nick Broomfield’s “Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love” is as much about Broomfield’s own relationship with one of Cohen’s muses, Marianne Ihlen.
And now there’s Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, a Song.” It purports to be about a single...
Like the blind men of lore groping to understand an elephant by focusing on a tail or a tusk or an ear, filmmakers have tended to approach the late singer, songwriter, poet and novelist Leonard Cohen in bits and pieces. Lian Lunson looked at his career through the lens of a 2005 tribute concert in “Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man,” Tony Palmer’s “Leonard Cohen: Bird on a Wire” was a long-lost chronicle of a single European tour in 1972 and Nick Broomfield’s “Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love” is as much about Broomfield’s own relationship with one of Cohen’s muses, Marianne Ihlen.
And now there’s Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, a Song.” It purports to be about a single...
- 6/30/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Vintage songs are regularly remade, sampled and, most recently, interpolated into new ones. But even in that context, the saga of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” remains singular. A song that was initially rejected and ignored by the music business in the Eighties has, over the last two or three decades, become a go-to pop hymn for TV talent shows, soundtracks, even a Saturday Night Live sketch. For a long time, “Suzanne” was in the running as Cohen’s leading contribution to the post-rock pop repertoire. “Hallelujah” has now overtaken it: Pick nearly any genre,...
- 6/30/2022
- by David Browne
- Rollingstone.com
Dan Geller on Leonard Cohen: ‘Leonard is a very very clever writer. I believe someone had asked James Joyce about Ulysses, which is, you know, famously impenetrable …” Photo: Cohen Estate
The 21st edition of the Tribeca Film Festival hosted a special New York première screening of Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller’s poetically keen Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song, with an original score by John Lissauer at the Beacon Theatre, followed by a Leonard Cohen tribute concert with Judy Collins, Amanda Shires, Sharon Robinson and Daniel Seavey. The documentary is dedicated to the distinguished music producer Hal Willner (recently Ethan Silverman’s Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex and the Lou Reed: Caught Between The Twisted Stars exhibition).
Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine with Anne-Katrin Titze: “The Beacon Theatre, which is historically so important, not only in terms of Hallelujah the song, where John Cale...
The 21st edition of the Tribeca Film Festival hosted a special New York première screening of Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller’s poetically keen Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song, with an original score by John Lissauer at the Beacon Theatre, followed by a Leonard Cohen tribute concert with Judy Collins, Amanda Shires, Sharon Robinson and Daniel Seavey. The documentary is dedicated to the distinguished music producer Hal Willner (recently Ethan Silverman’s Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex and the Lou Reed: Caught Between The Twisted Stars exhibition).
Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine with Anne-Katrin Titze: “The Beacon Theatre, which is historically so important, not only in terms of Hallelujah the song, where John Cale...
- 6/29/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Judy Collins is singing the praises of Leonard Cohen. Bob Dylan, not so much. “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song” unspools Sunday, June 12, at the Tribeca Film Festival. A tribute concert featuring Collins follows the screening. She is driving through Colorado when we chat. She says she loves the film, but this song? Not at first. And she wasn’t alone.
SEEBig Grammy changes for 2023 include new categories: Songwriter of the Year, Best Visual Game Score …
Gd: It’s remarkable that this song ever got recorded, isn’t it?
Jc: (Laughs) It was a bust at first. No one wanted it. It had something like 4,000 verses when it started. Then people started recording it and the rest is kind of history. I didn’t like it at first. Now I’m entranced by it. He’s an icon and my story with him is a kind of fairy tale.
SEEBig Grammy changes for 2023 include new categories: Songwriter of the Year, Best Visual Game Score …
Gd: It’s remarkable that this song ever got recorded, isn’t it?
Jc: (Laughs) It was a bust at first. No one wanted it. It had something like 4,000 verses when it started. Then people started recording it and the rest is kind of history. I didn’t like it at first. Now I’m entranced by it. He’s an icon and my story with him is a kind of fairy tale.
- 6/10/2022
- by Bill McCuddy
- Gold Derby
The new documentary Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song is arriving on July 1, and there’s a premiere party this Sunday evening at New York’s Beacon Theatre featuring performances by Judy Collins, Amanda Shires, Sharon Robinson, and Why Don’t We’s Daniel Seavey.
Directed by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, the film utilizes never-before-seen footage to dive deep into the creation of Cohen’s 1984 classic “Hallelujah” and the broader saga of his life. It was inspired by Alan Light’s book The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen,...
Directed by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, the film utilizes never-before-seen footage to dive deep into the creation of Cohen’s 1984 classic “Hallelujah” and the broader saga of his life. It was inspired by Alan Light’s book The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen,...
- 6/9/2022
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
In the canon of great songwriters, few names loom as large as Leonard Cohen. The Canadian singer-songwriter pursued a career as a poet before pivoting to music later in life, and that sensibility comes through in his haunting, spiritual lyrics. While songs like “Hallelujah” and “Bird on a Wire” have permeated pop culture, largely as a result of other people covering them, Cohen’s own discography of albums provides a treasure trove of smart, poetic gems for music fans willing to look closely enough.
From folk-tinged classics like “Songs of Love and Hate” to his late-career, mortality-centric masterpieces like “Old Ideas” and “You Want It Darker,” Cohen’s unique voice never failed to captivate his legions of devoted fans. But while his literary prowess is rivaled by few, his enigmatic personality and relative lack of mainstream popularity make him something of a mystery to many music lovers.
“Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen,...
From folk-tinged classics like “Songs of Love and Hate” to his late-career, mortality-centric masterpieces like “Old Ideas” and “You Want It Darker,” Cohen’s unique voice never failed to captivate his legions of devoted fans. But while his literary prowess is rivaled by few, his enigmatic personality and relative lack of mainstream popularity make him something of a mystery to many music lovers.
“Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen,...
- 5/25/2022
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
New documentaries on T. Rex, Leonard Cohen, and Lil Baby are among the films set to screen at the 2022 Tribeca Festival (formerly known as the Tribeca Film Festival), taking place June 8 through 19 in New York City.
Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan and T. Rex, was written and directed by Ethan Silverman, and will get its premiere at Tribeca. The film pairs a deep dive into Bolan’s life and career with a look at the making of the 2020 T. Rex tribute album (also titled Angelheaded Hipster), which was...
Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan and T. Rex, was written and directed by Ethan Silverman, and will get its premiere at Tribeca. The film pairs a deep dive into Bolan’s life and career with a look at the making of the 2020 T. Rex tribute album (also titled Angelheaded Hipster), which was...
- 4/19/2022
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
As we limp into the third year of the pandemic, placating platitudes like “nothing is ever set in stone” continue to be the order of the day, as does tremendous flexibility when it comes to something relatively minor like, oh, when your next favorite movie is coming out. Despite the unpredictability of 2020 and 2021, female filmmakers continue to make great strides, from winning the top awards at the majority of last year’s biggest festivals, notching only the second woman to win the Best Director Oscar (Chloé Zhao for “Nomadland”), and churning out big-time box office hits.
While it’s still unclear if 2022 will provide a bounceback for the box office and its rising (and established) women talents, there are some positive indicators. According to the latest study from the Celluloid Ceiling, the longest-running and most comprehensive study of women’s employment in film, women directors were up overall in 2020. Women...
While it’s still unclear if 2022 will provide a bounceback for the box office and its rising (and established) women talents, there are some positive indicators. According to the latest study from the Celluloid Ceiling, the longest-running and most comprehensive study of women’s employment in film, women directors were up overall in 2020. Women...
- 3/11/2022
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
The festival has five competition sections.
Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (Cph:dox) has revealed the full film programme for its 2022 edition, including a focus on Russia and Ukraine.
Three films that consider one or both of Russia and the Ukraine will compete for the main Dox:Award competition of the festival, which will return as an in-person event from March 23 to April 3, after two years impacted by the pandemic.
Scroll down for the full list of Dox:Award titles
The films are Antoine Cattin’s Swiss title Holidays, about Russia’s large number of national holidays; Daniel Roher’s US doc Navalny,...
Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (Cph:dox) has revealed the full film programme for its 2022 edition, including a focus on Russia and Ukraine.
Three films that consider one or both of Russia and the Ukraine will compete for the main Dox:Award competition of the festival, which will return as an in-person event from March 23 to April 3, after two years impacted by the pandemic.
Scroll down for the full list of Dox:Award titles
The films are Antoine Cattin’s Swiss title Holidays, about Russia’s large number of national holidays; Daniel Roher’s US doc Navalny,...
- 3/1/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The festival has five competition sections.
Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (Cph:dox) has revealed the full film programme for its 2022 edition, including a focus on Russia and Ukraine.
Three films that consider one or both of Russia and the Ukraine will compete for the main Dox:Award competition of the festival, which will return as an in-person event from March 23 to April 3, after two years impacted by the pandemic.
Scroll down for the full list of Dox:Award titles
The films are Antoine Cattin’s Swiss title Holidays, about Russia’s large number of national holidays; Daniel Roher’s US doc Navalny,...
Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (Cph:dox) has revealed the full film programme for its 2022 edition, including a focus on Russia and Ukraine.
Three films that consider one or both of Russia and the Ukraine will compete for the main Dox:Award competition of the festival, which will return as an in-person event from March 23 to April 3, after two years impacted by the pandemic.
Scroll down for the full list of Dox:Award titles
The films are Antoine Cattin’s Swiss title Holidays, about Russia’s large number of national holidays; Daniel Roher’s US doc Navalny,...
- 3/1/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Copenhagen Intl. Documentary Film Festival (Cph:Dox), which runs in-person March 21-April 3, has revealed the lineup for its music program, Sound & Vision.
Highlights of the program, which contains 18 films, include a Nick Cave documentary, a look at the rise and fall of Sinéad O’Connor’s music career, the story behind Leonard Cohen’s hit “Hallelujah,” and an examinations of an album composed by artificial intelligence. The music of Leonard Bernstein, Stockhausen, Xxxtentaction and a feminist metal band from Lebanon will also feature.
Although people have been singing along to Cohen’s “Hallelujah” for more than 40 years, it flopped when it was first released in 1984. The documentary “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song” takes us through Cohen’s career and the creation of “Hallelujah,” which he worked on for seven years.
Cave’s film “This Much I Know to Be True” focuses on an intimate concert experience, and also provides...
Highlights of the program, which contains 18 films, include a Nick Cave documentary, a look at the rise and fall of Sinéad O’Connor’s music career, the story behind Leonard Cohen’s hit “Hallelujah,” and an examinations of an album composed by artificial intelligence. The music of Leonard Bernstein, Stockhausen, Xxxtentaction and a feminist metal band from Lebanon will also feature.
Although people have been singing along to Cohen’s “Hallelujah” for more than 40 years, it flopped when it was first released in 1984. The documentary “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song” takes us through Cohen’s career and the creation of “Hallelujah,” which he worked on for seven years.
Cave’s film “This Much I Know to Be True” focuses on an intimate concert experience, and also provides...
- 2/24/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Hallelujah has sold to France, Germany and Austria.
UK documentary specialist Dogwoof has reported sales on Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song and River following this year’s European Film Market (EFM).
Venice premiere Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song has sold to The Jokers for France and Prokino for Germany and Austria. As previously announced, the documentary feature was taken for the world by Sony Picture Classics, excluding the aforementioned territories.
The title takes inspiration from the book The Holy Or The Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley & The Unlikely Ascent Of Hallelujah by Alan Light. It is...
UK documentary specialist Dogwoof has reported sales on Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song and River following this year’s European Film Market (EFM).
Venice premiere Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song has sold to The Jokers for France and Prokino for Germany and Austria. As previously announced, the documentary feature was taken for the world by Sony Picture Classics, excluding the aforementioned territories.
The title takes inspiration from the book The Holy Or The Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley & The Unlikely Ascent Of Hallelujah by Alan Light. It is...
- 2/16/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Film to receive North American theatrical release in 2022
Sony Pictures Classics announced today has acquired all worldwide rights from Dogwoof to Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song following its launch at Venice and Telluride.
The film will receive a North American theatrical release in 2022 and explores the legendary poet and singer-songwriter through the lens of arguably his most famous work, ‘Hallelujah’. Cohen approved production before his 80th birthday in 2014. He died in 2016.
Geller and Goldfine also produced the project, inspired by Alan Light’s book ‘The Holy Or The Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff...
Sony Pictures Classics announced today has acquired all worldwide rights from Dogwoof to Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song following its launch at Venice and Telluride.
The film will receive a North American theatrical release in 2022 and explores the legendary poet and singer-songwriter through the lens of arguably his most famous work, ‘Hallelujah’. Cohen approved production before his 80th birthday in 2014. He died in 2016.
Geller and Goldfine also produced the project, inspired by Alan Light’s book ‘The Holy Or The Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff...
- 10/14/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Sony Pictures Classics has taken global rights sans France and Germany, to Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s documentary Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song.
The docu made its premiere at Venice and Telluride, with SPC eyeing a theatrical release for 2022.
Inspired by the book The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley & the Unlikely Ascent of Hallelujah by Alan Light, the documentary was produced and directed by Emmy Award winners Geller and Goldfine and executive produced by longtime Geller/Goldfine collaborator Jonathan Dana and Oscar winner Morgan Neville, along with Michael Drews and Robin Sagon. The late Hal Willner served as music producer, with John Lissauer providing an original score.
Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song explores the legendary poet and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen through the lens of arguably his most famous and certainly most covered work, the hymn “Hallelujah”.
Approved for production by Cohen just...
The docu made its premiere at Venice and Telluride, with SPC eyeing a theatrical release for 2022.
Inspired by the book The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley & the Unlikely Ascent of Hallelujah by Alan Light, the documentary was produced and directed by Emmy Award winners Geller and Goldfine and executive produced by longtime Geller/Goldfine collaborator Jonathan Dana and Oscar winner Morgan Neville, along with Michael Drews and Robin Sagon. The late Hal Willner served as music producer, with John Lissauer providing an original score.
Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song explores the legendary poet and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen through the lens of arguably his most famous and certainly most covered work, the hymn “Hallelujah”.
Approved for production by Cohen just...
- 10/14/2021
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
‘Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song’ Review: A Unique and Gratifying Pop-Music Documentary
“Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song” is a documentary about the Leonard Cohen song “Hallelujah,” and if that sounds like a lot of movie to devote to one song — well, “Hallelujah” is a lot of song. The way we think of it now, it’s epic and lovely and trancelike: a hymn cast in a pop idiom. You might call it a feel-good hymn for a secular society, because the word “hallelujah” has obvious religious connotations, and part of the reason that people feel so good listening to “Hallelujah,” or singing along with it in oversize stadiums, is that the song says to its audience: If you find this beautiful, then you’re a spiritual person.
The documentary, which was directed, written, photographed, and co-edited by the team of Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine, is also a portrait of Leonard Cohen, who in a career that spanned half a...
The documentary, which was directed, written, photographed, and co-edited by the team of Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine, is also a portrait of Leonard Cohen, who in a career that spanned half a...
- 10/10/2021
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
For over 25 years, Emmy-award winning directors/producers Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine have jointly created multi-character documentary narratives that use the personal stories of their protagonists to paint a larger portrait of the human experience. They are especially known for meticulous archival research, which made works such as “Ballets Russes” (2005) and “Isadora Duncan: Movement from the Soul” (1988) so extraordinary. “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song” explores the life of the legendary singer-songwriter through the prism of his internationally renowned song, “Hallelujah.” Dogwoof is the international sales agent for the Venice-bowing doc.
What inspired you to take on this topic?
It was a combination of things. We’d seen Leonard Cohen twice when he came through the Bay Area during his world tours in 2010 and 2013 and were deeply moved by those concerts, and especially by his performances of “Hallelujah.” Then one night over dinner, our friend, film historian David Thomson,...
What inspired you to take on this topic?
It was a combination of things. We’d seen Leonard Cohen twice when he came through the Bay Area during his world tours in 2010 and 2013 and were deeply moved by those concerts, and especially by his performances of “Hallelujah.” Then one night over dinner, our friend, film historian David Thomson,...
- 9/4/2021
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s respectful doc tells the story of the artist through the life of his 1984 song, by turns a modern prayer, symbolist poem and divine gift
In the mid-1980s, Leonard Cohen met Bob Dylan for coffee in a Paris cafe. In the course of the conversation, Dylan asked how long it had taken to write the song Hallelujah; Cohen, embarrassed, said that it had been about seven years. Then Cohen asked Dylan how long he had spent on one of his own compositions. “Fifteen minutes,” said his rival, without missing a beat.
Pundits now suspect that Bob Dylan was lying, keen to foster the image of himself as a freewheeling genius, a man who tossed off casual masterpieces as naturally as taking a leak. But Cohen was not being entirely honest either. In fact, he had toiled at Hallelujah for nearly a decade, filling his...
In the mid-1980s, Leonard Cohen met Bob Dylan for coffee in a Paris cafe. In the course of the conversation, Dylan asked how long it had taken to write the song Hallelujah; Cohen, embarrassed, said that it had been about seven years. Then Cohen asked Dylan how long he had spent on one of his own compositions. “Fifteen minutes,” said his rival, without missing a beat.
Pundits now suspect that Bob Dylan was lying, keen to foster the image of himself as a freewheeling genius, a man who tossed off casual masterpieces as naturally as taking a leak. But Cohen was not being entirely honest either. In fact, he had toiled at Hallelujah for nearly a decade, filling his...
- 9/3/2021
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
Daniel Gellar and Dayna Goldfine’s “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song” begins at what is, by most definitions, the end: with Cohen’s final concert, in December of 2013. He roams the stage, growling out the title song in his trademark fedora and black suit, with all 79 of his years behind it, and it sounds like both a dirge and a celebration. By this time, the omnipresent “Hallelujah” was the song Cohen was most associated with, its strange combination of spirituality and sin, of operatic emotion and shrugging acceptance, making it a standard – the 21st century’s “Yesterday.”
Telluride 2021 Preview: 10 Must-See Films To Watch
But there’s a whole oddball history there, a strange, twisted story of the “Hallelujah” path from forgotten album track to cultural ubiquity, first told in Alan Light’s 2012 book “The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of ‘Hallelujah...
Telluride 2021 Preview: 10 Must-See Films To Watch
But there’s a whole oddball history there, a strange, twisted story of the “Hallelujah” path from forgotten album track to cultural ubiquity, first told in Alan Light’s 2012 book “The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of ‘Hallelujah...
- 9/2/2021
- by Jason Bailey
- The Playlist
In 1984, Columbia Records president Walter Yetnikoff called Leonard Cohen into his office in New York City and told him, “Look, Leonard, we know you’re great, but we don’t know if you’re any good.” The tireless musician had just presented his label with his seventh studio album, “Variations,” which was a collection of songs like any other except it wasn’t: this was something more special, more spiritual. This was the record on which Cohen placed “Hallelujah,” a song he wrote over 80 draft verses for, with an estimated 250 versions of every single line. Yetnikoff didn’t get it. The album was never released in the U.S.
“Hallelujah” might bring to mind that ironic, quite comical incident with Yetnikoff and Columbia considering just how far that one word traveled thanks to Cohen, but the song has taken on such a life of its own that it might have...
“Hallelujah” might bring to mind that ironic, quite comical incident with Yetnikoff and Columbia considering just how far that one word traveled thanks to Cohen, but the song has taken on such a life of its own that it might have...
- 9/2/2021
- by Ella Kemp
- Indiewire
Fall festival season officially launches this week, and the programmers at the Telluride Film Festival are ready to make up for time lost last year amid the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. On Wednesday, just a day before the Telluride Film Festival officially kicks off for 2021, organizers announced an enormous lineup of 80 features, including the premieres of multiple buzzy awards contenders like Will Smith in “King Richard,” Kenneth Branagh’s autobiographical drama “Belfast,” Joe Wright’s “Cyrano,” and Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” (which will also screen during this year’s Venice Film Festival).
“I do think we’ve got the best movies of the year,” Telluride executive director Julie Huntsinger told Indiewire in an interview. Unlike last year’s Telluride Film Festival, which was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic (although Telluride did announce its lineup and host a drive-in screening of “Nomadland” in Los...
“I do think we’ve got the best movies of the year,” Telluride executive director Julie Huntsinger told Indiewire in an interview. Unlike last year’s Telluride Film Festival, which was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic (although Telluride did announce its lineup and host a drive-in screening of “Nomadland” in Los...
- 9/1/2021
- by Christopher Rosen
- Gold Derby
Previously confirmed titles include ‘The Electrical Life of Louis Wain’.
Reinaldo Marcus Green’s King Richard and Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast are among the world premieres on the programme for the 48th Telluride Film Festival (September 2-6).
The festival has confirmed a line-up of 80 films across features, shorts and retrospectives. Francis Ford Coppola, who said this week he is willing to invest up to $100m of his own money to get passion project Megalopolis made, will be among filmmakers attending in person. Coppola has a new cut of The Outsiders and The Rain People playing in Special Screenings.
Barry Jenkins...
Reinaldo Marcus Green’s King Richard and Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast are among the world premieres on the programme for the 48th Telluride Film Festival (September 2-6).
The festival has confirmed a line-up of 80 films across features, shorts and retrospectives. Francis Ford Coppola, who said this week he is willing to invest up to $100m of his own money to get passion project Megalopolis made, will be among filmmakers attending in person. Coppola has a new cut of The Outsiders and The Rain People playing in Special Screenings.
Barry Jenkins...
- 9/1/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
As usual, Telluride Film Festival has unveiled their 2021 lineup just moments before the event gets underway. Taking place from Thursday, September 2 through Monday, September 6, 2021, the lineup features Mike Mills’ C’mon C’mon, Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, Pablo Larraín’s Spencer, Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God, Reinaldo Marcus Green’s King Richard, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter, as well as Cannes highlights Bergman Island and Red Rocket, and more.
See the lineup below.
The Automat (d. Lisa Hurwitz, U.S., 2021) In person: Lisa Hurwitz
Becoming Cousteau (d. Liz Garbus, U.S., 2021) In person: Liz Garbus
Belfast (d. Kenneth Branagh, U.K., 2021) In person: Kenneth Branagh, Jamie Dornan
Bergman Island (d. Mia Hansen-Løve, France/Germany/Sweden, 2021) In person: Mia Hansen-Løve
Bitterbrush (d. Emelie Mahdavian, U.S., 2021) In person: Emelie Mahdavian, Colie Moline
C’Mon C’Mon (d. Mike Mills, U.S., 2021) In person: Mike Mills,...
See the lineup below.
The Automat (d. Lisa Hurwitz, U.S., 2021) In person: Lisa Hurwitz
Becoming Cousteau (d. Liz Garbus, U.S., 2021) In person: Liz Garbus
Belfast (d. Kenneth Branagh, U.K., 2021) In person: Kenneth Branagh, Jamie Dornan
Bergman Island (d. Mia Hansen-Løve, France/Germany/Sweden, 2021) In person: Mia Hansen-Løve
Bitterbrush (d. Emelie Mahdavian, U.S., 2021) In person: Emelie Mahdavian, Colie Moline
C’Mon C’Mon (d. Mike Mills, U.S., 2021) In person: Mike Mills,...
- 9/1/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Mike Mills’ Joaquin Phoenix drama “C’mon C’mon,” Joe Wright’s adaptation of the Broadway musical “Cyrano” and Reinaldo Marcus Green’s “King Richard,” with Will Smith in the story of the tennis-titan Williams sisters and their father, Richard, are among the films that will play at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival, Telluride organizers announced on Wednesday.
The annual Colorado festival, which was canceled last year because of the Covid pandemic, has been expanded by one day this year, beginning on Thursday instead of Friday. As usual, it did not announce its relatively small and carefully curated lineup until the day before the festival begins.
Among the films that will join “C’mon C’mon,” “Cyrano” and “King Richard” as Telluride world premieres are a number of documentaries, including Liz Garbus’ “Becoming Cousteau,” E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s “The Rescue,” John Hoffman and Janet Tobias’ “Fauci” and Julie Cohen & Betsy West’s “Julia.
The annual Colorado festival, which was canceled last year because of the Covid pandemic, has been expanded by one day this year, beginning on Thursday instead of Friday. As usual, it did not announce its relatively small and carefully curated lineup until the day before the festival begins.
Among the films that will join “C’mon C’mon,” “Cyrano” and “King Richard” as Telluride world premieres are a number of documentaries, including Liz Garbus’ “Becoming Cousteau,” E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s “The Rescue,” John Hoffman and Janet Tobias’ “Fauci” and Julie Cohen & Betsy West’s “Julia.
- 9/1/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The programme for the 2021 Venice Film Festival has been unveiled, and includes new films from Pedro Almodóvar, Jane Campion, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michelangelo Frammartino, Pablo Larraín, Paul Schrader, Ridley Scott, and more.Parallel MothersCOMPETITIONParallel Mothers (Pedro Almodóvar)Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon (Ana Lily Amirpour)Un Autre Monde (Stephane Brize)The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion)America LatinaL’Evenement (Audrey Diwan)Official CompetitionThe Hole (Michelangelo Frammartino)Sundown (Michel Franco)Lost Illusions (Xavier Giannoli)The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal)Spencer (Pablo Larrain)Freaks Out (Gabriele Mainetti)Qui Rido Io (Mario Martone)On The Job: The Missing 8 (Erik Matti)Leave No Traces (Jan P. Matuszyński)Captain Volkonogov EscapedThe Card Counter (Paul Schrader)The Hand of God (Paolo Sorrentino)Reflection (Valentyn Vasyanovych)The Box (Lorenzo Vigas)Out Of COMPETITIONFeaturesDune (Denis Villeneuve)Il Bambino Nascosto (Roberto Andò)Les Choses Humaines (Yvan Attal)Ariaferma (Leonardo Di Costanzo)Halloween Kills (David Gordon Green...
- 8/3/2021
- MUBI
A new Venice-bound documentary on singer Leonard Cohen will be shopped internationally by doc specialists Dogwoof.
Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s latest feature “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song” is executive produced by Oscar winner Morgan Neville and Jonathan Dana, a long-time collaborator of directors Geller and Goldfine (“The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden”). The film explores the poet and singer-songwriter’s life through the lens of what’s arguably his most famous work, the hymn “Hallelujah,” which has been covered countless times by other artists over the years.
“Hallelujah” will world premiere Out of Competition at the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 2.
“With Leonard Cohen’s worldwide reputation and ‘Hallelujah’s’ standing as one of the most recognized and covered songs from any artist, Dogwoof’s abilities as a global partner create a perfect fit for representing our documentary. We are delighted to work with their excellent team,...
Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s latest feature “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song” is executive produced by Oscar winner Morgan Neville and Jonathan Dana, a long-time collaborator of directors Geller and Goldfine (“The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden”). The film explores the poet and singer-songwriter’s life through the lens of what’s arguably his most famous work, the hymn “Hallelujah,” which has been covered countless times by other artists over the years.
“Hallelujah” will world premiere Out of Competition at the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 2.
“With Leonard Cohen’s worldwide reputation and ‘Hallelujah’s’ standing as one of the most recognized and covered songs from any artist, Dogwoof’s abilities as a global partner create a perfect fit for representing our documentary. We are delighted to work with their excellent team,...
- 7/27/2021
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
“The 78th Venice International Film Festival is organized by La Biennale di Venezia and directed by Alberto Barbera. It will take place at Venice Lido from 1 – 11 September 2021. The Festival is officially recognised by the Fiapf (International Federation of Film Producers Association). The aim of the Festival is to raise awareness and promote international cinema in all its forms as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and dialogue. The Festival also organises retrospectives and tributes to major figures as a contribution towards a better understanding of the history of cinema.” Venezia 2021 – Competition Madres Paralelas, dir: Pedro Almodovar Mona Lisa And The Blood Moon, dir: Ana Lily Amirpour Un Autre Monde, dir: Stéphane Brizé The Power Of The Dog, dir: Jane Campion America Latina, dir: Damiano D’Innocenzo, Fabio D’Innocenzo L’Evénement, dir: Audrey Diwan Competencia Oficial, dirs: Gaston Duprat, Mariano Cohn Il Buco, dir: Michelangelo Frammartino Sundown,...
- 7/26/2021
- by HollywoodNews.com
- Hollywoodnews.com
Taking place September 1 through 11, the Venice Film Festival has now unveiled its lineup, after a few teases of what it contains (the opening night selection of Madres Paralelas by Pedro Almodovar and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune). Among the selections are Jane Campion’s The Power of a Dog, Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter, Pablo Larrain’s Spencer, Ana Lily Amirpour’s Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon.
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut The Lost Daughter, Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel, Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God, and Edgar Wright’s The Last Night in Soho will premiere there, along with new shorts by Radu Jude and Tsai Ming-liang.
Check out the line below for the festival that will feature 50% capacity at screenings.
Venezia 78 – Competition
Madres Paralelas, dir: Pedro Almodovar
Mona Lisa And The Blood Moon, dir: Ana Lily Amirpour
Un Autre Monde, dir: Stéphane Brizé
The Power Of The Dog,...
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut The Lost Daughter, Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel, Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God, and Edgar Wright’s The Last Night in Soho will premiere there, along with new shorts by Radu Jude and Tsai Ming-liang.
Check out the line below for the festival that will feature 50% capacity at screenings.
Venezia 78 – Competition
Madres Paralelas, dir: Pedro Almodovar
Mona Lisa And The Blood Moon, dir: Ana Lily Amirpour
Un Autre Monde, dir: Stéphane Brizé
The Power Of The Dog,...
- 7/26/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
This year’s line-up includes five female directors in competition.
The line-up of the 78th Venice Film Festival (September 1-11) has been announced by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera.
Scroll down for the full line-up
This year’s selection saw the festival take a backward step for gender balance, with five female directors selected in the main competition, down from last year’s eight. 26% of films in the overall line-up are directed by women, down from 28% in 2020.
The high-profile titles picked for competition this year include Pablo Larrain’s Spencer; Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand Of God...
The line-up of the 78th Venice Film Festival (September 1-11) has been announced by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera.
Scroll down for the full line-up
This year’s selection saw the festival take a backward step for gender balance, with five female directors selected in the main competition, down from last year’s eight. 26% of films in the overall line-up are directed by women, down from 28% in 2020.
The high-profile titles picked for competition this year include Pablo Larrain’s Spencer; Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand Of God...
- 7/26/2021
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
The Venice film festival runs September 1-11.
The line-up for the 78th Venice Film Festival (September 1-11) is being unveiled this morning at around 11:00 Cest (10:00 BST) by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera.
The press conference will be live-streamed here below, and the story will be updated with the films as they are announced.
As previously announced, Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers will open the festival in competition. Denis Villeneuve’s Dune will also have its world premiere at the festival out of competition on September 3.
Bong Joon Ho will preside over the competition jury that also includes Chloé Zhao,...
The line-up for the 78th Venice Film Festival (September 1-11) is being unveiled this morning at around 11:00 Cest (10:00 BST) by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera.
The press conference will be live-streamed here below, and the story will be updated with the films as they are announced.
As previously announced, Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers will open the festival in competition. Denis Villeneuve’s Dune will also have its world premiere at the festival out of competition on September 3.
Bong Joon Ho will preside over the competition jury that also includes Chloé Zhao,...
- 7/26/2021
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Ivan Mactaggart, the UK producer whose credits include Oscar-nominated animation Loving Vincent and Judi Dench starrer Red Joan, is teaming with scribe William Boyd (Chaplin) on period feature The Galapagos Affair.
Set in the late 1920s and based on a true story, the pic will follow German doctor Friedrich Ritter and his patient, Dore Strauch, as they leave their spouses to pursue a utopian dream on the deserted Galapagos island of Floreana.
Their peace and solitude is disrupted by the arrival of the glamorous ‘Baroness’ Eloise Wagner de Bosquet and her two young lovers. Disturbed by the Baroness, Friedrich and Dore’s island paradise gradually descends in a spiral of jealousy, resentment, violence and eventually murder.
The pic is based on the historical book by John Treherne and was also previously told in 2013 documentary Galapagos Affair: Satan Came To Eden, which was directed by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller...
Set in the late 1920s and based on a true story, the pic will follow German doctor Friedrich Ritter and his patient, Dore Strauch, as they leave their spouses to pursue a utopian dream on the deserted Galapagos island of Floreana.
Their peace and solitude is disrupted by the arrival of the glamorous ‘Baroness’ Eloise Wagner de Bosquet and her two young lovers. Disturbed by the Baroness, Friedrich and Dore’s island paradise gradually descends in a spiral of jealousy, resentment, violence and eventually murder.
The pic is based on the historical book by John Treherne and was also previously told in 2013 documentary Galapagos Affair: Satan Came To Eden, which was directed by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller...
- 12/17/2019
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Batgirl Yvonne Craig. Batgirl Yvonne Craig dead at 78: Also featured in 'Star Trek' episode, Elvis Presley movies Yvonne Craig, best known as Batgirl in the 1960s television series Batman, died of complications from breast cancer on Monday, Aug. 17, '15, at her home in Pacific Palisades, in the Los Angeles Westside. Craig (born May 16, 1937, in Taylorville, Illinois), who had been undergoing chemotherapy for two years, was 78. Beginning (and ending) in the final season of Batman (1967-1968), Yvonne Craig played both Commissioner Gordon's librarian daughter Barbara Gordon and her alter ego, the spunky Batgirl – armed with a laser-beaming electric make-up kit “which will destroy anything.” Unlike semi-villainess Catwoman (Julie Newmar), Batgirl was wholly on the side of Righteousness, infusing new blood into the series' increasingly anemic Dynamic Duo: Batman aka Bruce Wayne (Adam West) and Boy Wonder Robin aka Bruce Wayne's beloved pal Dick Grayson (Burt Ward). “They chose...
- 8/19/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
DVD Release Date: Sept. 9, 2014
Price: DVD $29.99
Studio: Zeitgeist
Darwin meets Hitchcock in the true-crime tale The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came To Eden, a documentary portrait of a 1930s murder mystery that’s as strange and alluring as the famous archipelago itself.
A true-life murder mystery unspools in The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden
Fleeing conventional society, a Berlin doctor, Friedrich Ritter, and his younger mistress, the also married Dore Strauch, start a new life on uninhabited Floreana Island. But after the international press sensationalizes the exploits of the island’s “Adam and Eve”, others flock there—including a self-styled Swiss Family Robinson and a gun-toting Viennese Baroness and her two lovers. Things would never be the same.
To bring this incredible story to life, filmmakers Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller (Ballets Russes) interweave newly unearthed home movies of the original settlers, footage of native flora and fauna, testimonies of modern day islanders,...
Price: DVD $29.99
Studio: Zeitgeist
Darwin meets Hitchcock in the true-crime tale The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came To Eden, a documentary portrait of a 1930s murder mystery that’s as strange and alluring as the famous archipelago itself.
A true-life murder mystery unspools in The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden
Fleeing conventional society, a Berlin doctor, Friedrich Ritter, and his younger mistress, the also married Dore Strauch, start a new life on uninhabited Floreana Island. But after the international press sensationalizes the exploits of the island’s “Adam and Eve”, others flock there—including a self-styled Swiss Family Robinson and a gun-toting Viennese Baroness and her two lovers. Things would never be the same.
To bring this incredible story to life, filmmakers Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller (Ballets Russes) interweave newly unearthed home movies of the original settlers, footage of native flora and fauna, testimonies of modern day islanders,...
- 9/8/2014
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
The 4th annual Napa Valley Film Festival (Nvff), scheduled for November 12-16, 2014, announced its Narrative and Documentary feature film competition lineups as well as Jury members. The 2014 Festival will screen 22 feature films in competition. The full film program line-up, including out-of-competition special presentations, sneak previews of awards season contenders, and narrative, documentary and animated shorts, will be announced in September.
“Our thoughts are with everyone in the Napa Valley who have suffered losses from the recent earthquake,” said Co-Founder/Artistic Director Marc Lhormer. “We are proud to be part of a community that rallies in support of each other in such a generous and big hearted way. As they say in the business, the show must go on.”
“This is an exceptionally strong year for both the Narrative and Documentary competition programs,” said Program Director Herb Stratford. “These filmmakers have created new works that provoke, inspire, educate and entertain. They are the heart of our program each year, which includes more than 100 new independent films and advance studio screenings, and we are excited to announce their participation in the festival.”
Directors of the Narrative and Documentary films in competition participate in Nvff’s unique Artists-in-Residence Program presented in partnership with the incomparable Meadowood Napa Valley. Directors stay at the luxury resort for six nights during the festival and are treated to special events and workshops with their competition group and industry mentors. Serving as faculty for a set of Master Classes at Nvff 2014 are producer Ted Hope ( Adventureland, 21 Grams); writer/director Joshua Michael Stern (Jobs, Swing Vote) writer/director Joe Carnahan (The Blacklist; The Grey, Smokin’ Aces); producer Pam Koffler (Killer Films); and producer J. Todd Harris ( The Kids are All Right; Bottle Shock); Ryan Harrington (Tribeca Film Institute); producer Jason Berman (Struck by Lightning, Luv); producer Anne Carey (Archer Gray Productions); executives Tom Quinn (RADiUS) and David Glasser (The Weinstein Company). Meadowood Napa Valley will also award $10,000 to the winning filmmakers in both the Narrative and Documentary competition categories at the Closing Night Awards Ceremony on Sunday, November 16.
Narrative Competition Section
Films in the Narrative competition section feature actors Anne Hathaway, Billie Joe Armstrong, Elizabeth Banks, Tate Donovan, Rachael Harris, Zoe Kravitz, Stephen Lang, Leighton Meester, Debra Messing, Dev Patel, Kyra Sedgwick, Chloe Sevigny and Paul Wesley, among others. The 12 films selected include:
"Thank You A Lot"- Music agent and manager Jack Hand has a bad reputation and an even worse track record. He has only two clients left: an indie band on the verge of a breakup and a part-time hip-hop artist. Jack’s future hinges on signing the one person he is barely on speaking terms with — his estranged father, a respected and reclusive country singer/songwriter. "East Side Sushi"- Juana‘s work – preparing fruit for the family’s sidewalk cart – is steady, but hardly her life’s calling. Despite the objections and concerns of her family, Juana decides to pursue her dream of becoming an expert sushi chef, to go where her heart tells her, not where she is expected to be. "Fall To Rise" - Principal dancer Lauren Drake is beautiful, talented and famous. When Lauren is released from her company after being sidelined by an injury, she quickly becomes frustrated with her new domestic lifestyle. At a performance by another dance company, she meets and teams up with Des, a former dancer who is also eager to have a second chance in the dance world. "Little Accidents" (Isa: William Morris Endeavor Entertainment) - In a small West Virginia town reeling from a recent tragic accident in the local mine, a fresh unfortunate incident in the woods leaves a young boy dead. Meanwhile Owen, an injured miner struggling to adjust to his new life aboveground, joins the search for the first boy who is presumed lost in the woods. "Like Sunday, Like Rain" - Reggie Kipper is a sweet, awkward cello prodigy, a composer and overall genius. He’s about to graduate from high school and enroll at MIT — and he’s is only twelve years old. Eleanor Fallon is a 23-year old struggling musician who meets Reggie when she is hired to be his au pair, and the unlikely duo embarks on a summer adventure that neither of them ever expected. "Sun Belt Express"- Allen King, a man living on the Arizona/Mexico border, finds out what his breaking point is when his ex-wife demands money, and his job teaching at a college south of the border evaporates. Allen then finds a unique way to supplant his income by transporting illegal aliens in the trunk of his car. "Sam & Amira" (Isa: Preferred Entertainment) - Sam is an army veteran struggling to assimilate into normal life stateside. He works a variety of odd jobs, tries his hand at stand-up comedy, and is recruited by his cousin into some shady investment dealings. Sam’s already complicated life is made more so by Amira, an Iraqi woman dealing with her own issues who is the daughter of an old army colleague. "Song One" (Isa: Lotus Entertainment) - Estranged from her family, Franny returns home when an accident leaves her brother comatose. Retracing his life as an aspiring singer-songwriter, she tracks down his favorite musician, James Forester. Against the backdrop of Brooklyn’s music scene, Franny and James develop an unexpected relationship and face the realities of their lives. "The Road Within" (Isa: Panorama Media) - Vincent has Tourette Syndrome. When his mother dies, he becomes obsessed with scattering her ashes by the ocean. Too much for his father to handle, Vincent is sent to a residential treatment center in Nevada where he befriends two other “inmates” struggling with their own personal issues. "Kinderwald" - Pennsylvania wilderness, 1885. John Linden, a hard-working German immigrant, is making a go of homesteading with his brother’s widow and her two young sons. John’s visually and spiritually idyllic world is thrown into utter chaos when the two boys go missing while off playing in the woods. "Wildlike" (Isa: Panorama Media) - Mackenzie is a fourteen-year-old girl whose father died last year. When her struggling mother checks herself into a recovery center, Mackenzie is sent from their Seattle home to live with her uncle in Alaska. At first he seems a supportive caretaker, but when his infatuation crosses a sexual line, Mackenzie runs away. With no one else to turn to, she shadows a solitary backpacker, Bartlett, a widowed man with scars of his own, into the beauty and danger of America’s last frontier.
Documentary Competition Section
"American Native" - For years, the legend of the Jackson Whites tribe has been told, passed down from generation to generation of New Jersey suburbanites. While the garish stories and tall tales have never been hard to find, the truth behind them has. Accessing the community is not easy; few outsiders have been able to penetrate the insular walls formed from centuries of discrimination. "Botso" - Dr. Botso Korisheli, 91 and still teaching music along with his unique philosophy, has a fascinating and unforgettable life story. Born in the former Soviet State of Georgia, Botso witnessed his father imprisoned under orders from Josef Stalin while his home was taken over by the Kgb. Forced to dig ditches for the Soviet army, Botso was then captured by the Germans. "Flying The Feathered Edge" - Robert A. “Bob” Hoover, age 92, is considered by many to be our greatest living aviator. Nicknamed “The Pilot’s Pilot” by his peers, Bob is largely unknown outside aviation circles despite his staggering array of accomplishments. Following a storied career during WWII as a fighter pilot, Bob continued to serve for years as one of our best test pilots. Mr. Hoover will be in attendance for screenings and Q&As. "Happy Valley" (Isa: Submarine Entertainment) - Few sports dynasties in the modern era have had a larger and longer-lasting profile than college football’s Penn State and its legendary coach Joe Paterno. State College, Pennsylvania, is in the heart of an area known as Happy Valley, ground zero of a proud football tradition for decades. When the shocking sex abuse scandal of assistant coach Jerry Sandusky rocked that town and college in 2011, the impact was unprecedented. "Havana Curveball" - At age 13 and preparing for his Bar Mitzvah, Mica takes to heart his rabbi’s injunction to help “heal the world.” Mica imagines himself a hero for other kids, and hatches a grand plan to send baseballs, bats and gloves to Cuba. Mica knows only that Cubans are poor and love baseball, and that Cuba “saved” his grandpa’s life when he was escaping from Nazi Germany. "States of Grace" - Dr. Grace Dammann’s life was forever altered when a driver crashed head-on into her car on the Golden Gate Bridge. After a seven-week coma and numerous surgeries, Grace miraculously regained consciousness, with her cognitive abilities almost entirely intact, but her body left shattered and severely disabled. "Underwater Dreams" - The epic story of four teenage boys from the Arizona desert who dare to go up against college engineering students from MIT. Inspired by two energetic high school science teachers, the boys build a robot from hardware store parts and enter an underwater robotics competition sponsored by Nasa. "An Honest Liar" - For as long as there have been magicians and illusionists, there have been doubters and debunkers making sure that the general public doesn’t get taken for a ride. One of the greatest illusionists of his era was “The Amazing Randi,” who made the shift from magic and escape acts to exposing the frauds who prey on unsuspecting victims. "Compared to What: The Improbable Journey of Barney Frank" (Isa: Preferred Content) - Few members of the U.S. Congress have ever been as polarizing and revolutionary as Barney Frank has been over the past 40 years. Compared to What: The Improbable Journey of Barney Frank examines the career, passions and legacy of our first openly gay Congressman. This rare and intimate documentary is entertaining, enlightening and thought-provoking. "#chicagoGirl: The Social Network Takes On A Dictator" (Isa: Preferred Content) - In #chicagoGirl, we meet freedom fighters in the streets of Homs and Damascus along with the stateside collection of exiles working to return Syria to a stable and human rights-respecting country. Will 21st century tools of change stand up to guns and violence and terror in the streets? Narrative Features Jury
Christine Vachon , (Producer, "Boys Don’t Cry," "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," "Far From Heaven")
Peter Baxter ( Co-founder/Director Slamdance Film Festival)
Dierk Sinderman (Hollywood Foreign Press Association)
Lisa Truitt ( Producer, James Cameron’s "Deepsea Challenge 3D,""Mysteries of Egypt")
Don Lewis (Producer; Editor Film Threat)
Documentary Features and Shorts Jury
Morgan Neville ("Twenty Feet From Stardom")
Tiffany Shlain ("The Tribe; Connected: An Autobiography About Love," "Death & Technology")
Freida Lee Mock ("Anita. G-Dog,""Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision," "Return with Honor")
Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine ("Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden,""Ballets Russes").
Narrative Shorts Jury
Joshua Michael Stern ("Jobs,""Swing Vote," "Neverwas")
Ralph Macchio (Actor, "The Karate Kid;" Director, "Across Grace Alley")
Neil Berkeley ("Beauty in Embarrassing;" Founder Brkl)
Animated Shorts
Bill Plympton (The King of Indie Animation)
Adam Glick (Amazon Web Services)
Ryan Tudhope (Atomic Fiction)
About The Napa Valley Film Festival
The Napa Valley Film Festival (Nvff) is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in Napa, California. The ultimate celebration of film, food and wine, Nvff lights up the picturesque towns of Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga at the most colorful time of year. Nvff features over 100 new independent films and studio sneak previews screening in 12 beautiful venues throughout four walkable villages, as 300 visiting filmmakers interact with audiences at screenings and intimate events. Attendees enjoy film panels & culinary demonstrations, wine tasting pavilions, the spectacular Festival Gala, Celebrity Tributes, Awards Ceremony, and an array of parties, VIP receptions and winemaker dinners and more. For information or to buy passes, visit NapaValleyFilmFest.org...
“Our thoughts are with everyone in the Napa Valley who have suffered losses from the recent earthquake,” said Co-Founder/Artistic Director Marc Lhormer. “We are proud to be part of a community that rallies in support of each other in such a generous and big hearted way. As they say in the business, the show must go on.”
“This is an exceptionally strong year for both the Narrative and Documentary competition programs,” said Program Director Herb Stratford. “These filmmakers have created new works that provoke, inspire, educate and entertain. They are the heart of our program each year, which includes more than 100 new independent films and advance studio screenings, and we are excited to announce their participation in the festival.”
Directors of the Narrative and Documentary films in competition participate in Nvff’s unique Artists-in-Residence Program presented in partnership with the incomparable Meadowood Napa Valley. Directors stay at the luxury resort for six nights during the festival and are treated to special events and workshops with their competition group and industry mentors. Serving as faculty for a set of Master Classes at Nvff 2014 are producer Ted Hope ( Adventureland, 21 Grams); writer/director Joshua Michael Stern (Jobs, Swing Vote) writer/director Joe Carnahan (The Blacklist; The Grey, Smokin’ Aces); producer Pam Koffler (Killer Films); and producer J. Todd Harris ( The Kids are All Right; Bottle Shock); Ryan Harrington (Tribeca Film Institute); producer Jason Berman (Struck by Lightning, Luv); producer Anne Carey (Archer Gray Productions); executives Tom Quinn (RADiUS) and David Glasser (The Weinstein Company). Meadowood Napa Valley will also award $10,000 to the winning filmmakers in both the Narrative and Documentary competition categories at the Closing Night Awards Ceremony on Sunday, November 16.
Narrative Competition Section
Films in the Narrative competition section feature actors Anne Hathaway, Billie Joe Armstrong, Elizabeth Banks, Tate Donovan, Rachael Harris, Zoe Kravitz, Stephen Lang, Leighton Meester, Debra Messing, Dev Patel, Kyra Sedgwick, Chloe Sevigny and Paul Wesley, among others. The 12 films selected include:
"Thank You A Lot"- Music agent and manager Jack Hand has a bad reputation and an even worse track record. He has only two clients left: an indie band on the verge of a breakup and a part-time hip-hop artist. Jack’s future hinges on signing the one person he is barely on speaking terms with — his estranged father, a respected and reclusive country singer/songwriter. "East Side Sushi"- Juana‘s work – preparing fruit for the family’s sidewalk cart – is steady, but hardly her life’s calling. Despite the objections and concerns of her family, Juana decides to pursue her dream of becoming an expert sushi chef, to go where her heart tells her, not where she is expected to be. "Fall To Rise" - Principal dancer Lauren Drake is beautiful, talented and famous. When Lauren is released from her company after being sidelined by an injury, she quickly becomes frustrated with her new domestic lifestyle. At a performance by another dance company, she meets and teams up with Des, a former dancer who is also eager to have a second chance in the dance world. "Little Accidents" (Isa: William Morris Endeavor Entertainment) - In a small West Virginia town reeling from a recent tragic accident in the local mine, a fresh unfortunate incident in the woods leaves a young boy dead. Meanwhile Owen, an injured miner struggling to adjust to his new life aboveground, joins the search for the first boy who is presumed lost in the woods. "Like Sunday, Like Rain" - Reggie Kipper is a sweet, awkward cello prodigy, a composer and overall genius. He’s about to graduate from high school and enroll at MIT — and he’s is only twelve years old. Eleanor Fallon is a 23-year old struggling musician who meets Reggie when she is hired to be his au pair, and the unlikely duo embarks on a summer adventure that neither of them ever expected. "Sun Belt Express"- Allen King, a man living on the Arizona/Mexico border, finds out what his breaking point is when his ex-wife demands money, and his job teaching at a college south of the border evaporates. Allen then finds a unique way to supplant his income by transporting illegal aliens in the trunk of his car. "Sam & Amira" (Isa: Preferred Entertainment) - Sam is an army veteran struggling to assimilate into normal life stateside. He works a variety of odd jobs, tries his hand at stand-up comedy, and is recruited by his cousin into some shady investment dealings. Sam’s already complicated life is made more so by Amira, an Iraqi woman dealing with her own issues who is the daughter of an old army colleague. "Song One" (Isa: Lotus Entertainment) - Estranged from her family, Franny returns home when an accident leaves her brother comatose. Retracing his life as an aspiring singer-songwriter, she tracks down his favorite musician, James Forester. Against the backdrop of Brooklyn’s music scene, Franny and James develop an unexpected relationship and face the realities of their lives. "The Road Within" (Isa: Panorama Media) - Vincent has Tourette Syndrome. When his mother dies, he becomes obsessed with scattering her ashes by the ocean. Too much for his father to handle, Vincent is sent to a residential treatment center in Nevada where he befriends two other “inmates” struggling with their own personal issues. "Kinderwald" - Pennsylvania wilderness, 1885. John Linden, a hard-working German immigrant, is making a go of homesteading with his brother’s widow and her two young sons. John’s visually and spiritually idyllic world is thrown into utter chaos when the two boys go missing while off playing in the woods. "Wildlike" (Isa: Panorama Media) - Mackenzie is a fourteen-year-old girl whose father died last year. When her struggling mother checks herself into a recovery center, Mackenzie is sent from their Seattle home to live with her uncle in Alaska. At first he seems a supportive caretaker, but when his infatuation crosses a sexual line, Mackenzie runs away. With no one else to turn to, she shadows a solitary backpacker, Bartlett, a widowed man with scars of his own, into the beauty and danger of America’s last frontier.
Documentary Competition Section
"American Native" - For years, the legend of the Jackson Whites tribe has been told, passed down from generation to generation of New Jersey suburbanites. While the garish stories and tall tales have never been hard to find, the truth behind them has. Accessing the community is not easy; few outsiders have been able to penetrate the insular walls formed from centuries of discrimination. "Botso" - Dr. Botso Korisheli, 91 and still teaching music along with his unique philosophy, has a fascinating and unforgettable life story. Born in the former Soviet State of Georgia, Botso witnessed his father imprisoned under orders from Josef Stalin while his home was taken over by the Kgb. Forced to dig ditches for the Soviet army, Botso was then captured by the Germans. "Flying The Feathered Edge" - Robert A. “Bob” Hoover, age 92, is considered by many to be our greatest living aviator. Nicknamed “The Pilot’s Pilot” by his peers, Bob is largely unknown outside aviation circles despite his staggering array of accomplishments. Following a storied career during WWII as a fighter pilot, Bob continued to serve for years as one of our best test pilots. Mr. Hoover will be in attendance for screenings and Q&As. "Happy Valley" (Isa: Submarine Entertainment) - Few sports dynasties in the modern era have had a larger and longer-lasting profile than college football’s Penn State and its legendary coach Joe Paterno. State College, Pennsylvania, is in the heart of an area known as Happy Valley, ground zero of a proud football tradition for decades. When the shocking sex abuse scandal of assistant coach Jerry Sandusky rocked that town and college in 2011, the impact was unprecedented. "Havana Curveball" - At age 13 and preparing for his Bar Mitzvah, Mica takes to heart his rabbi’s injunction to help “heal the world.” Mica imagines himself a hero for other kids, and hatches a grand plan to send baseballs, bats and gloves to Cuba. Mica knows only that Cubans are poor and love baseball, and that Cuba “saved” his grandpa’s life when he was escaping from Nazi Germany. "States of Grace" - Dr. Grace Dammann’s life was forever altered when a driver crashed head-on into her car on the Golden Gate Bridge. After a seven-week coma and numerous surgeries, Grace miraculously regained consciousness, with her cognitive abilities almost entirely intact, but her body left shattered and severely disabled. "Underwater Dreams" - The epic story of four teenage boys from the Arizona desert who dare to go up against college engineering students from MIT. Inspired by two energetic high school science teachers, the boys build a robot from hardware store parts and enter an underwater robotics competition sponsored by Nasa. "An Honest Liar" - For as long as there have been magicians and illusionists, there have been doubters and debunkers making sure that the general public doesn’t get taken for a ride. One of the greatest illusionists of his era was “The Amazing Randi,” who made the shift from magic and escape acts to exposing the frauds who prey on unsuspecting victims. "Compared to What: The Improbable Journey of Barney Frank" (Isa: Preferred Content) - Few members of the U.S. Congress have ever been as polarizing and revolutionary as Barney Frank has been over the past 40 years. Compared to What: The Improbable Journey of Barney Frank examines the career, passions and legacy of our first openly gay Congressman. This rare and intimate documentary is entertaining, enlightening and thought-provoking. "#chicagoGirl: The Social Network Takes On A Dictator" (Isa: Preferred Content) - In #chicagoGirl, we meet freedom fighters in the streets of Homs and Damascus along with the stateside collection of exiles working to return Syria to a stable and human rights-respecting country. Will 21st century tools of change stand up to guns and violence and terror in the streets? Narrative Features Jury
Christine Vachon , (Producer, "Boys Don’t Cry," "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," "Far From Heaven")
Peter Baxter ( Co-founder/Director Slamdance Film Festival)
Dierk Sinderman (Hollywood Foreign Press Association)
Lisa Truitt ( Producer, James Cameron’s "Deepsea Challenge 3D,""Mysteries of Egypt")
Don Lewis (Producer; Editor Film Threat)
Documentary Features and Shorts Jury
Morgan Neville ("Twenty Feet From Stardom")
Tiffany Shlain ("The Tribe; Connected: An Autobiography About Love," "Death & Technology")
Freida Lee Mock ("Anita. G-Dog,""Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision," "Return with Honor")
Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine ("Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden,""Ballets Russes").
Narrative Shorts Jury
Joshua Michael Stern ("Jobs,""Swing Vote," "Neverwas")
Ralph Macchio (Actor, "The Karate Kid;" Director, "Across Grace Alley")
Neil Berkeley ("Beauty in Embarrassing;" Founder Brkl)
Animated Shorts
Bill Plympton (The King of Indie Animation)
Adam Glick (Amazon Web Services)
Ryan Tudhope (Atomic Fiction)
About The Napa Valley Film Festival
The Napa Valley Film Festival (Nvff) is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in Napa, California. The ultimate celebration of film, food and wine, Nvff lights up the picturesque towns of Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga at the most colorful time of year. Nvff features over 100 new independent films and studio sneak previews screening in 12 beautiful venues throughout four walkable villages, as 300 visiting filmmakers interact with audiences at screenings and intimate events. Attendees enjoy film panels & culinary demonstrations, wine tasting pavilions, the spectacular Festival Gala, Celebrity Tributes, Awards Ceremony, and an array of parties, VIP receptions and winemaker dinners and more. For information or to buy passes, visit NapaValleyFilmFest.org...
- 8/28/2014
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
★★★☆☆There's a legend on the South American Galapagos Islands that the famous tortoises that inhabit their shores have the power to stare into the souls of men. These enormous reptiles are said to judge each new arrival on their archipelago, and curse those that alight there with nefarious intent. The question is raised whether such a hex was placed upon a group of settlers in the 1930s, who are the subject of historical documentary, Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine's handsome The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (2013). A real-life whodunnit provides a riveting narrative backbone but despite some juicy melodrama, this languid doc never quite lives up the intrigue of its central conundrum.
- 7/27/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
There is so much depth and suspense to the real life happenings from the Galapagos Islands back in the 1930s, that this documentary feels almost like the film Alfred Hitchcock never made. This tale was Hitchcockian before Hitchcockian ever became a thing. Yet where this Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine production truly comes into its element, is with the quite staggering amount of footage that illustrates this fascinating tale, which has such linearity.
Primarily, we follow the adventures of Dore Strauch and Friedrich Ritter, who, in 1929, decided to get as far away from normal civilisation as possible, abandoning their friends and family in Germany, for a serene life on the tiny island of Floreana. Living off the land, they inadvertently gained notoriety in their native country, when their personal letters back home were intercepted by the press. Naturally, others were too inspired to move out to this idyllic paradise, though no sooner after people arrived,...
Primarily, we follow the adventures of Dore Strauch and Friedrich Ritter, who, in 1929, decided to get as far away from normal civilisation as possible, abandoning their friends and family in Germany, for a serene life on the tiny island of Floreana. Living off the land, they inadvertently gained notoriety in their native country, when their personal letters back home were intercepted by the press. Naturally, others were too inspired to move out to this idyllic paradise, though no sooner after people arrived,...
- 7/25/2014
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
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