Exclusive: Cinetic Media has signed New York-based documentary filmmaker Contessa Gayles for management across all media.
Most recently, Gayles took to SXSW with her film Songs from the Hole, which garnered strong reviews and won the festival’s Visions Audience Award. Described as a documentary visual album, pic follows musician James “JJ’88” Jacobs as he writes about his innermost struggles while serving a double life sentence.
Up next for Gayles is the Tribeca Festival debut of her documentary The Debutantes, made in collaboration with NBC News Studios, Westbrook Studios, and BET Studios. Through personal video diaries and dance, the doc watches as teens Amelia, Dedra, and Teylar navigate identity and gender norms while pursuing dreams of college, medicine or business.
Gayles’ documentary short, Founder Girls, exec produced by Queen Latifah, premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Festival and was broadcast on BET. Previously, she was a producer at CNN, where she created,...
Most recently, Gayles took to SXSW with her film Songs from the Hole, which garnered strong reviews and won the festival’s Visions Audience Award. Described as a documentary visual album, pic follows musician James “JJ’88” Jacobs as he writes about his innermost struggles while serving a double life sentence.
Up next for Gayles is the Tribeca Festival debut of her documentary The Debutantes, made in collaboration with NBC News Studios, Westbrook Studios, and BET Studios. Through personal video diaries and dance, the doc watches as teens Amelia, Dedra, and Teylar navigate identity and gender norms while pursuing dreams of college, medicine or business.
Gayles’ documentary short, Founder Girls, exec produced by Queen Latifah, premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Festival and was broadcast on BET. Previously, she was a producer at CNN, where she created,...
- 4/22/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Cinetic Media has signed award-winning Iranian filmmaker Babak Jalali for management across all media.
Most recently, Jalali co-wrote and directed the indie drama Fremont, released by Music Box Films last August. Securing a nomination for the John Cassavetes Award at the 2024 Independent Spirit Awards, following a Jury Prize win in Deauville and one for Directing at Karlovy Vary, the film centers on mid-20s Afghan refugee Donya (Anaita Wali Zada), whose complicated feelings about her prior work as a translator for the U.S. military have left her troubled and unable to sleep. Drifting through her uninspired routine in Fremont, California, which comprises her work at a fortune cookie factory, she struggles to connect with her unfamiliar surroundings. When Donya is promoted to writing fortunes at her job, she sends a message out to the world, unsure where it will lead.
Gregg Turkington and Jeremy Allen White also star in the pic,...
Most recently, Jalali co-wrote and directed the indie drama Fremont, released by Music Box Films last August. Securing a nomination for the John Cassavetes Award at the 2024 Independent Spirit Awards, following a Jury Prize win in Deauville and one for Directing at Karlovy Vary, the film centers on mid-20s Afghan refugee Donya (Anaita Wali Zada), whose complicated feelings about her prior work as a translator for the U.S. military have left her troubled and unable to sleep. Drifting through her uninspired routine in Fremont, California, which comprises her work at a fortune cookie factory, she struggles to connect with her unfamiliar surroundings. When Donya is promoted to writing fortunes at her job, she sends a message out to the world, unsure where it will lead.
Gregg Turkington and Jeremy Allen White also star in the pic,...
- 2/20/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Malu is a mercurial actress living with her conservative mother in a Rio de Janeiro slum while trying to navigate her strained relationship with her own daughter in Pedro Freire’s multigenerational family drama, Malu. The film is the feature debut of director Pedro Freire. Serving as editor is Marilia Moraes, whose credits include the recent Medusa and Petra Costa’s Elena. Below, Moraes dives deep into her process and what the particularities of the film required in the editing room, including the need to construct its rhythms around the performers. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor questionnaire here. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
The post “It Was Necessary to Make Non-Obvious Cuts”: Editor Marilia Moraes on Malu first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “It Was Necessary to Make Non-Obvious Cuts”: Editor Marilia Moraes on Malu first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/21/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Malu is a mercurial actress living with her conservative mother in a Rio de Janeiro slum while trying to navigate her strained relationship with her own daughter in Pedro Freire’s multigenerational family drama, Malu. The film is the feature debut of director Pedro Freire. Serving as editor is Marilia Moraes, whose credits include the recent Medusa and Petra Costa’s Elena. Below, Moraes dives deep into her process and what the particularities of the film required in the editing room, including the need to construct its rhythms around the performers. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor questionnaire here. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
The post “It Was Necessary to Make Non-Obvious Cuts”: Editor Marilia Moraes on Malu first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “It Was Necessary to Make Non-Obvious Cuts”: Editor Marilia Moraes on Malu first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/21/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Cinetic Media has signed documentary filmmaker Carla Gutiérrez. It will represent Gutiérrez across all media. The news comes as Gutiérrez’s directorial debut”Frida” premieres this week at Sundance. Cinetic has been ramping up management additions of late having also recently signed Betsy West and Julie Cohen (“Rbg”) of Storyville Films, both of whom executive produced Gutiérrez’s directorial debut.
Carla Gutiérrez is an Emmy- and Eddie-nominated documentary editor. She edited the Oscar-nominated films “Rbg” and “La Corona.” Her latest film as an editor, “Julia,” about renowned chef, and television personality Julia Child, premiered at Telluride and was an official selection of the Toronto Film Festival. Gutiérrez also edited the Emmy-nominated “Pray Away.” Her work has received awards at Sundance, Tribeca, Berlinale, Outfest, the Critic’s Choice Awards, the National Board of Review Awards, and the DuPont Columbia Awards. She has been a creative adviser for the Sundance Edit Lab,...
Carla Gutiérrez is an Emmy- and Eddie-nominated documentary editor. She edited the Oscar-nominated films “Rbg” and “La Corona.” Her latest film as an editor, “Julia,” about renowned chef, and television personality Julia Child, premiered at Telluride and was an official selection of the Toronto Film Festival. Gutiérrez also edited the Emmy-nominated “Pray Away.” Her work has received awards at Sundance, Tribeca, Berlinale, Outfest, the Critic’s Choice Awards, the National Board of Review Awards, and the DuPont Columbia Awards. She has been a creative adviser for the Sundance Edit Lab,...
- 1/18/2024
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
The French artist Apolonia Sokol – focus of the Oscar-shortlisted documentary Apolonia, Apolonia – has been compared to the great Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. She concedes there may be a few parallels, beginning with something of a physical resemblance.
“I was joking a little bit about that — the fact that we have the unibrow and the mustache,” Sokol laughs. “Maybe these are similarities.”
On a more substantive level, both artists describe themselves as almost possessed by the creative urge. “I paint because I need to,” Kahlo once said. In the documentary directed by Lea Glob, Sokol comments, “I can’t tell the difference between my identity and my work. But there really is no difference.”
Painter Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), circa 1945.
There’s another parallel between them. “What is so interesting about Frida Kahlo is that she was one of the first artists to actually create her own mythology, her personal mythology, for her paintings.
“I was joking a little bit about that — the fact that we have the unibrow and the mustache,” Sokol laughs. “Maybe these are similarities.”
On a more substantive level, both artists describe themselves as almost possessed by the creative urge. “I paint because I need to,” Kahlo once said. In the documentary directed by Lea Glob, Sokol comments, “I can’t tell the difference between my identity and my work. But there really is no difference.”
Painter Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), circa 1945.
There’s another parallel between them. “What is so interesting about Frida Kahlo is that she was one of the first artists to actually create her own mythology, her personal mythology, for her paintings.
- 1/13/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Grasshopper Film and streaming platform Documentary+ have acquired North American rights to the Oscar-shortlisted feature Apolonia, Apolonia, a deal announced as the nomination voting window opens for the 96th Academy Awards.
Grasshopper will release the film theatrically Friday at Dctv’s Firehouse Cinema in New York, “with a launch on Documentary+ following all other traditional windows,” according to a release.
The film directed by Lea Glob documents the life of French painter Apolonia Sokol over a 13-year period, examining her attempt to maintain artistic integrity in an art world — and culture — where patriarchy privileges the male gaze over the female.
Apolonia Sokol
“The result is a moving meditation on friendship, personal and creative fulfillment, and both the liberation and limitations of the female body,” the release noted. “Over the years, both Sokol and Glob see again and again that the road to artistic achievement is not an easy or...
Grasshopper will release the film theatrically Friday at Dctv’s Firehouse Cinema in New York, “with a launch on Documentary+ following all other traditional windows,” according to a release.
The film directed by Lea Glob documents the life of French painter Apolonia Sokol over a 13-year period, examining her attempt to maintain artistic integrity in an art world — and culture — where patriarchy privileges the male gaze over the female.
Apolonia Sokol
“The result is a moving meditation on friendship, personal and creative fulfillment, and both the liberation and limitations of the female body,” the release noted. “Over the years, both Sokol and Glob see again and again that the road to artistic achievement is not an easy or...
- 1/11/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Lea Glob approaches the subject of her award-winning documentary, Apolonia, Apolonia, with a devout curiosity. Apolonia, a French painter whom the director met in 2009, is a striking figure. She is wide-eyed and brunette with bangs that stop, almost abruptly, in the middle of her forehead. She moves with an arresting ease, commanding rooms like stage actors do theater audiences. In the first scene of the film, shot in 2013, the artist flits about her tiny apartment, preparing for her 26th birthday party. She dismisses dress options like a countess among her attendants and demands attention from her friends in a similarly regal manner. Her smile, a toothy grin outlined by vivid lipstick colors, courts mischief. Her eyes inspire questions.
Who is Apolonia? Glob’s meditative doc is, initially, desperate to know. The beginning of Apolonia, Apolonia chronicles those years when Glob sheepishly assumed the role of director and the artist her subject.
Who is Apolonia? Glob’s meditative doc is, initially, desperate to know. The beginning of Apolonia, Apolonia chronicles those years when Glob sheepishly assumed the role of director and the artist her subject.
- 12/18/2023
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Cinetic Media has signed directors Julie Cohen, Oren Jacoby and Betsy West. The management company will represent the Oscar-nominated filmmakers and their documentary company, Storyville Films, across all types of media.
Storyville Films was founded by Jacoby to produce documentaries and series driven by “strong personal narratives of conscience, courage and innovation.” Jacoby, Cohen and West serve as Storyville’s directors. Their production and distribution partners include Amazon, CNN Films, HBO, Imagine Entertainment, Kino Lorber, Magnolia Pictures, Netflix, Participant Media, PBS, Sony Pictures Classics and Time Studios.
Films by the Storyville partners include West and Cohen’s “Rbg,” a documentary about the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg that was a box office hit and earned an Oscar nomination; as well as “Julia,” a look at Julia Childs’ legacy; and “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down.” Jacoby’s films include “On Broadway,” “Constantine’s Sword” and “Sister Rose’s Passion,...
Storyville Films was founded by Jacoby to produce documentaries and series driven by “strong personal narratives of conscience, courage and innovation.” Jacoby, Cohen and West serve as Storyville’s directors. Their production and distribution partners include Amazon, CNN Films, HBO, Imagine Entertainment, Kino Lorber, Magnolia Pictures, Netflix, Participant Media, PBS, Sony Pictures Classics and Time Studios.
Films by the Storyville partners include West and Cohen’s “Rbg,” a documentary about the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg that was a box office hit and earned an Oscar nomination; as well as “Julia,” a look at Julia Childs’ legacy; and “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down.” Jacoby’s films include “On Broadway,” “Constantine’s Sword” and “Sister Rose’s Passion,...
- 12/13/2023
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Eleven documentary projects from 11 countries have been selected for the Intl. Documentary Assn.’s annual Enterprise Documentary Fund Production Grant.
Selected from 371 applicants, the 15 directors behind the 11 docus will receive a total of $435,000 in production grants.
Established in 2017, the IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund supports in-depth explorations of original, contemporary stories that integrate journalistic practice into the filmmaking process. The fund is financially supported by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, with additional support from the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation. In its seven-year history, the fund has given over $5 million in grant money to nonfiction filmmakers.
The selected projects are currently in production in 11 countries including the U.S., Philippines, Brazil, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Italy and Afghanistan. Of the 15 directors behind the docs, 46% are filmmakers of color, 69% are women or gender-non-conforming filmmakers, 12% identify as members of the Lgbtqia+ community, and 8% identify as a D/deaf or disabled person or have long-term health conditions.
Selected from 371 applicants, the 15 directors behind the 11 docus will receive a total of $435,000 in production grants.
Established in 2017, the IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund supports in-depth explorations of original, contemporary stories that integrate journalistic practice into the filmmaking process. The fund is financially supported by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, with additional support from the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation. In its seven-year history, the fund has given over $5 million in grant money to nonfiction filmmakers.
The selected projects are currently in production in 11 countries including the U.S., Philippines, Brazil, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Italy and Afghanistan. Of the 15 directors behind the docs, 46% are filmmakers of color, 69% are women or gender-non-conforming filmmakers, 12% identify as members of the Lgbtqia+ community, and 8% identify as a D/deaf or disabled person or have long-term health conditions.
- 11/15/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Last year, Shane Boris received two Oscar nominations for producing National Geographic’s “Fire of Love” and CNN Films’ “Navalny.” In March he garnered an Academy Award for his work on Daniel Roher’s “Navalny,” about anti-Putin freedom fighter Alexei Navalny. During a Hot Docs Industry talk, the producer spoke about a wide variety of topics, including his latest documentary, “King Coal,” what he’s looking for in a docu, and nonfiction’s current distribution landscape.
Boris made his first documentary “You’re Looking at Me Like I Live Here and I Don’t” in 2010. The film, which aired on PBS’s Independent Lens, follows Lee Gorewitz as she struggles to navigate the increasingly confused and confusing landscape of Alzheimers.
“That doc began as a fiction film,” Boris said. “But we went into the Alzheimer’s unit to scout our location, and the person that took us around was starting...
Boris made his first documentary “You’re Looking at Me Like I Live Here and I Don’t” in 2010. The film, which aired on PBS’s Independent Lens, follows Lee Gorewitz as she struggles to navigate the increasingly confused and confusing landscape of Alzheimers.
“That doc began as a fiction film,” Boris said. “But we went into the Alzheimer’s unit to scout our location, and the person that took us around was starting...
- 5/5/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
This year, women directors – and their women-centric subjects – swept the awards at Sundance Film Festival. Three women directors – Madeleine Gavin, Maryam Keshavarz, and Noora Niasari – won Audience Awards for their films on North Korea (“Beyond Utopia”), intergenerational motherhood (“The Persian Version”), and custody in diaspora (“Shayda”). Portraits of masculinity were also celebrated as well. First-time feature filmmaker Sing J. Lee won the Directing Award for his touching portrait of masculinity and fatherhood in “The Accidental Getaway Driver,” while Sauvnik Kaur’s intimate documentary on brotherhood “Against The Tide” took home a Special Jury Award. After two years of isolation and virtual festival-ing, it seems that stories of tenderness appealed over aggressive storytelling at Park City this year.
“This year’s Festival has been an extraordinary experience,” said Joana Vicente, Sundance Institute CEO. “The artists that comprise the 2023 Sundance Film Festival have demonstrated a sense of urgency and dedication to excellence in independent film.
“This year’s Festival has been an extraordinary experience,” said Joana Vicente, Sundance Institute CEO. “The artists that comprise the 2023 Sundance Film Festival have demonstrated a sense of urgency and dedication to excellence in independent film.
- 2/1/2023
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Festival runs through January 29.
A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand And One took the 2023 Sundance U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic prize and Charlotte Regan’s UK entry Scrapper earned the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2023 Sundance awards ceremony on Friday.
Audience award winners included Maryam Keshavarz’s The Persian Version in U.S. Dramatic Competition, Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia in U.S. Documentary, Mstylav Chernov’s 20 Days In Mariupol in World Cinema Documentary, and Noora Niasari’s Shayda in World Cinema Dramatic.
Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente said the selection “demonstrated a sense of...
A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand And One took the 2023 Sundance U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic prize and Charlotte Regan’s UK entry Scrapper earned the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2023 Sundance awards ceremony on Friday.
Audience award winners included Maryam Keshavarz’s The Persian Version in U.S. Dramatic Competition, Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia in U.S. Documentary, Mstylav Chernov’s 20 Days In Mariupol in World Cinema Documentary, and Noora Niasari’s Shayda in World Cinema Dramatic.
Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente said the selection “demonstrated a sense of...
- 1/27/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
A Thousand and One took the jury prize in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, with Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project taking the top prize in the U.S. Documentary Competition section.
A Thousand and One is directed by A.V. Rockwell and follows a mother who kidnaps her six-year-old son Terry from the foster care system, a secret that threatens their way of life as Terry gets older. The Focus Features title stars Teyana Taylor, Josiah Cross and Will Catlett.
“When I was writing this film, I was thinking about mother and son relationships. I was thinking about Black women and Black men relationships. I was thinking about marginalized people and their relationship to their homes,” said Rockwell, accepting the award. “Thank you to everyone for seeing all of those groups and for seeing me.” A tearful Jeremy O. Harris, who was a part of the dramatic jury,...
A Thousand and One is directed by A.V. Rockwell and follows a mother who kidnaps her six-year-old son Terry from the foster care system, a secret that threatens their way of life as Terry gets older. The Focus Features title stars Teyana Taylor, Josiah Cross and Will Catlett.
“When I was writing this film, I was thinking about mother and son relationships. I was thinking about Black women and Black men relationships. I was thinking about marginalized people and their relationship to their homes,” said Rockwell, accepting the award. “Thank you to everyone for seeing all of those groups and for seeing me.” A tearful Jeremy O. Harris, who was a part of the dramatic jury,...
- 1/27/2023
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The 2023 Sundance Film Festival has set its jury, and among its members are “Coda” star and Oscar winner Marlee Matlin, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” director Destin Daniel Cretton and Jim Gaffigan.
Additionally, Jeremy O. Harris, Ramona S. Diaz and Petra Costa are among the filmmakers who have been appointed to this year’s competition juries for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, it was announced Wednesday.
After two years of virtual presentations, this year’s festival will return to in-person screenings and awards galas — with a concurrent online component for select films running Jan. 24–Jan. 29.
“The jury plays a crucial role in the Festival by amplifying breakthrough works and providing the audience with further opportunities for discovery,” Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente said in a statement. “We thank them for their dedication to artistic excellence and their thoughtful lens on cinematic expression and all that independent film offers.
Additionally, Jeremy O. Harris, Ramona S. Diaz and Petra Costa are among the filmmakers who have been appointed to this year’s competition juries for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, it was announced Wednesday.
After two years of virtual presentations, this year’s festival will return to in-person screenings and awards galas — with a concurrent online component for select films running Jan. 24–Jan. 29.
“The jury plays a crucial role in the Festival by amplifying breakthrough works and providing the audience with further opportunities for discovery,” Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente said in a statement. “We thank them for their dedication to artistic excellence and their thoughtful lens on cinematic expression and all that independent film offers.
- 1/11/2023
- by Scott Mendelson
- The Wrap
Jeremy O. Harris, Eliza Hittman, and Marlee Matlin have been named the jurors of the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Harris was at Sundance in 2020 with Zola, the same years Hittman screened her film Never Rarely Sometimes Always. Matlin starred in 2021 Sundance winner Coda.
W. Kamau Bell, Ramona Diaz, and Carla Gutierrez are the jurors for the U.S. Documentary Competition; Shozo Ichiyama, Annemarie Jacir, and Funa Maduka for World Cinema Dramatic Competition; and Karim Amer, Petra Costa, and Alexander Nanau for World Cinema Documentary Competition. Madeleine Olnek is the juror for the Next competition section, Destin Daniel Cretton, Marie-Louise Khondji, and Deborah Stratman will judge the Short Film Program Competition.
The jury for Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize is Dr. Heather Berlin, Jim Gaffigan, Dr. Mandë Holford, Shalini Kantayya, and Lydia Dean Pilcher, and have already awarded the prize to Sophie Barthes’ The Pod Generation.
W. Kamau Bell, Ramona Diaz, and Carla Gutierrez are the jurors for the U.S. Documentary Competition; Shozo Ichiyama, Annemarie Jacir, and Funa Maduka for World Cinema Dramatic Competition; and Karim Amer, Petra Costa, and Alexander Nanau for World Cinema Documentary Competition. Madeleine Olnek is the juror for the Next competition section, Destin Daniel Cretton, Marie-Louise Khondji, and Deborah Stratman will judge the Short Film Program Competition.
The jury for Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize is Dr. Heather Berlin, Jim Gaffigan, Dr. Mandë Holford, Shalini Kantayya, and Lydia Dean Pilcher, and have already awarded the prize to Sophie Barthes’ The Pod Generation.
- 1/11/2023
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sundance has announced the 16 jurors granting awards at this year’s film festival, ranging from playwright Jeremy O. Harris to Oscar winner Marlee Matlin.
This year’s Sundance Film Festival will take place from Jan. 19-29 in Utah, marking its first return to Park City since the pandemic. The awards ceremony will take place on Jan. 27, with grants bestowed for feature and short films.
Jurors are Harris, Matlin and Eliza Hittman for U.S. dramatic competition; W. Kamau Bell, Ramona Diaz and Carla Gutierrez for U.S. documentary competition; Shozo Ichiyama, Annemarie Jacir and Funa Maduka for world cinema dramatic competition; Karim Amer, Petra Costa and Alexander Nanau for world cinema documentary competition; Madeleine Olnek for the Next competition section; and Destin Daniel Cretton, Marie-Louise Khondji and Deborah Stratman for the short film program competition.
“The jury plays a crucial role in the festival by amplifying breakthrough works and providing...
This year’s Sundance Film Festival will take place from Jan. 19-29 in Utah, marking its first return to Park City since the pandemic. The awards ceremony will take place on Jan. 27, with grants bestowed for feature and short films.
Jurors are Harris, Matlin and Eliza Hittman for U.S. dramatic competition; W. Kamau Bell, Ramona Diaz and Carla Gutierrez for U.S. documentary competition; Shozo Ichiyama, Annemarie Jacir and Funa Maduka for world cinema dramatic competition; Karim Amer, Petra Costa and Alexander Nanau for world cinema documentary competition; Madeleine Olnek for the Next competition section; and Destin Daniel Cretton, Marie-Louise Khondji and Deborah Stratman for the short film program competition.
“The jury plays a crucial role in the festival by amplifying breakthrough works and providing...
- 1/11/2023
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
Lea Glob’s documentary “Apolonia, Apolonia,” depicting French figurative painter Apolonia Sokol over the course of 13 years, has won the best film award in the International Competition section as well as €15,000 at documentary film festival IDFA in Amsterdam.
The coming-of-age story with Bohemian Paris as its backdrop was pitched at IDFA Forum back in 2015. In his Variety review for “Apolonia, Apolonia” Guy Lodge described the docu as “an impressively idiosyncratic, far-reaching work, assured of further festival play and specialist arthouse attention.” The film is a co-production between Denmark, Poland and France.
This marks the third time that Glob, a Danish director, has been at IDFA with a docu.
Glob’s “Olmo & the Seagull” which she co-directed with Petra Costa screened at IDFA 2015, while “Venus,” which was co-directed with Mette Carla Albrechtse, made its world premiere at IDFA in 2016.
“(‘Apolonia, Apolonia’) has characters who breathe life and take us on a journey,...
The coming-of-age story with Bohemian Paris as its backdrop was pitched at IDFA Forum back in 2015. In his Variety review for “Apolonia, Apolonia” Guy Lodge described the docu as “an impressively idiosyncratic, far-reaching work, assured of further festival play and specialist arthouse attention.” The film is a co-production between Denmark, Poland and France.
This marks the third time that Glob, a Danish director, has been at IDFA with a docu.
Glob’s “Olmo & the Seagull” which she co-directed with Petra Costa screened at IDFA 2015, while “Venus,” which was co-directed with Mette Carla Albrechtse, made its world premiere at IDFA in 2016.
“(‘Apolonia, Apolonia’) has characters who breathe life and take us on a journey,...
- 11/17/2022
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
The Edge Of Democracy Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival The Edge Of Democracy, Netflix
It can be tricky to keep up with global politics given that so much seems to be going on everywhere all at once, so in light of the victory for Lula da Silva over Bolsonaro in Brazil's elections, I'm starting this week's Stay-at-Home Seven with a couple of docs that offer good background. Petra Costa's consideration of post-dictatorship politics in her homeland is available to stream with her narration in either Portuguese or English. She draws on her own family's diverse history, which offers connections both to revolutionaries and the affluent establishment in this absorbing essay film that in its exploration of the re-emergence of the extreme right finds echoes with other democracies across the world. Although Costa covers a lot of ground, she keeps a grip on the shape of the material as...
It can be tricky to keep up with global politics given that so much seems to be going on everywhere all at once, so in light of the victory for Lula da Silva over Bolsonaro in Brazil's elections, I'm starting this week's Stay-at-Home Seven with a couple of docs that offer good background. Petra Costa's consideration of post-dictatorship politics in her homeland is available to stream with her narration in either Portuguese or English. She draws on her own family's diverse history, which offers connections both to revolutionaries and the affluent establishment in this absorbing essay film that in its exploration of the re-emergence of the extreme right finds echoes with other democracies across the world. Although Costa covers a lot of ground, she keeps a grip on the shape of the material as...
- 10/31/2022
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Today the short film streaming platform Argo launches two new playlists of films by eight members of the Brazilian Filmmakers Collective. Below, Moara Passoni, one of Filmmaker‘s 25 New Faces, discusses the genesis of the group. — Editor Toward the end of 2013, I moved to New York to launch director Petra Costa’s first feature-film Elena. At the time, we used to joke that we were “the incredible army of Brancaleone” — young Brazilians, mostly women, out to conquer Hollywood. We managed a thumping opening weekend, but it didn’t go far beyond that. That would all change some years later, […]
The post Moara Passoni on the Origins of the Brazilian Filmmakers Collective first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Moara Passoni on the Origins of the Brazilian Filmmakers Collective first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 9/22/2022
- by Moara Passoni
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
After premiering at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, Rebeca Huntt’s feature directorial debut, the documentary “Beba,” is now bound for a movie theater near you. Acclaimed on the festival circuit and poised for a summer sleeper release as only Neon can mount, this hypnotic portrait takes no prisoners and leaves no casualties in its director’s searching portrait of her own NYC-born, Afro-Latina roots.
The film will next screen at the Tribeca Film Festival before its nationwide opening, and follows Huntt as she undertakes an unflinching exploration of her own identity through the format of a cinematic memoir. Reflecting on her childhood and adolescence in New York City as the daughter of a Dominican father and Venezuelan mother, Huntt investigates the historical, societal, and generational trauma she’s inherited and ponders how those ancient wounds have shaped her, while simultaneously considering the universal truths that connect us all as humans.
The film will next screen at the Tribeca Film Festival before its nationwide opening, and follows Huntt as she undertakes an unflinching exploration of her own identity through the format of a cinematic memoir. Reflecting on her childhood and adolescence in New York City as the daughter of a Dominican father and Venezuelan mother, Huntt investigates the historical, societal, and generational trauma she’s inherited and ponders how those ancient wounds have shaped her, while simultaneously considering the universal truths that connect us all as humans.
- 5/12/2022
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Neon has acquired worldwide rights to “Beba,” the first film from New York Afro-Latina artist Rebeca Huntt. The documentary-memoir had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, where it was hailed for its “originality, inventiveness and the urgency of Huntt’s voice,” Neon said in a statement.
The film, which weaves together music, 16mm film, poetry and interviews, will get a 2022 release from Neon. The daughter of a Dominican father and Venezuelan mother, Huntt, whose nickname is “Beba,” reflects on her childhood and adolescence in New York City while investigating the historical, societal and generational trauma she has inherited. Throughout the film, she searches for a way to forge her own creative path amidst racial and political unrest.
“Poetic, powerful and profound, ‘Beba’ is a courageous, deeply human self-portrait of an Afro-Latina artist hungry for knowledge and yearning for connection,” Neon said.
Huntt wrote and directed “Beba,” and produced with Sofia Geld.
The film, which weaves together music, 16mm film, poetry and interviews, will get a 2022 release from Neon. The daughter of a Dominican father and Venezuelan mother, Huntt, whose nickname is “Beba,” reflects on her childhood and adolescence in New York City while investigating the historical, societal and generational trauma she has inherited. Throughout the film, she searches for a way to forge her own creative path amidst racial and political unrest.
“Poetic, powerful and profound, ‘Beba’ is a courageous, deeply human self-portrait of an Afro-Latina artist hungry for knowledge and yearning for connection,” Neon said.
Huntt wrote and directed “Beba,” and produced with Sofia Geld.
- 10/2/2021
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
Rebeca Huntt reflects on identity and upbringing.
Neon has picked up worldwide rights from UTA Independent Film Group to recent TIFF world premiere Beba by New York Afro-Latina artist Rebeca Huntt.
‘Beba’: Toronto Review
The distributor plans a 2022 release on the feature, which weaves together music, 16mm film, poetry, and interview footage as writer-director “Beba” explores her identity and reflects on her childhood and adolescence in New York City as the daughter of a Dominican father and Venezuelan mother.
Huntt produced with Sofia Geld. Petra Costa, Alyse Ardell Spiegel, Alessandra Orofino, Joy Bryant and Inuka Bacote-Capiga are executive producers.
Neon has picked up worldwide rights from UTA Independent Film Group to recent TIFF world premiere Beba by New York Afro-Latina artist Rebeca Huntt.
‘Beba’: Toronto Review
The distributor plans a 2022 release on the feature, which weaves together music, 16mm film, poetry, and interview footage as writer-director “Beba” explores her identity and reflects on her childhood and adolescence in New York City as the daughter of a Dominican father and Venezuelan mother.
Huntt produced with Sofia Geld. Petra Costa, Alyse Ardell Spiegel, Alessandra Orofino, Joy Bryant and Inuka Bacote-Capiga are executive producers.
- 10/1/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Neon has acquired worldwide rights to Beba, the debut film by New York Afro-Latina artist Rebeca Huntt that recently made its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, earning rave reviews. The 16mm feature of poetry and interview footage will debut in 2022.
Huntt undertakes an unflinching exploration of her own identity in the coming-of-age documentary/cinematic memoir. Reflecting on her childhood and adolescence in New York City as the daughter of a Dominican father and Venezuelan mother, she investigates the historical, societal and generational trauma she’s inherited and ponders how those ancient wounds have shaped her, while simultaneously considering the universal truths that connect us all as humans. Huntt searches for a way to forge her own creative path amid a landscape of intense racial and political unrest as an Afro-Latina artist hungry for knowledge and yearning for connection.
Huntt wrote and direct and produced with Sofia Geld. Oscar nominee Petra Costa,...
Huntt undertakes an unflinching exploration of her own identity in the coming-of-age documentary/cinematic memoir. Reflecting on her childhood and adolescence in New York City as the daughter of a Dominican father and Venezuelan mother, she investigates the historical, societal and generational trauma she’s inherited and ponders how those ancient wounds have shaped her, while simultaneously considering the universal truths that connect us all as humans. Huntt searches for a way to forge her own creative path amid a landscape of intense racial and political unrest as an Afro-Latina artist hungry for knowledge and yearning for connection.
Huntt wrote and direct and produced with Sofia Geld. Oscar nominee Petra Costa,...
- 10/1/2021
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Brazilian hit comedy troupe Porta Dos Fundos, renowned for its irreverent take on the life of Christ in their annual Christmas Specials, is making its first animated special exclusively for streamer Paramount Plus.
The new Paramount Plus Original, titled “Mean Boys,” is written by troupe co-founder Fábio Porchat and co-produced by Vis Americas and Brazilian animation studio, Estricnina.
The move makes sense given that ViacomCBS took a majority stake in Porta dos Fundos in 2017 and co-produced last year’s special with Porta dos Fundos.
“Mean Boys” will give the audience a peek at Jesus’ teenage life before he became Christ as he enrolls in a new high school and, with the help of his pal Lázaro, tries to fit in. “We always wanted to make an animation [film],” said Porchat, adding: “This pandemic turned our desire into a necessity. After all, drawing can’t transmit a virus.” The pandemic continues to...
The new Paramount Plus Original, titled “Mean Boys,” is written by troupe co-founder Fábio Porchat and co-produced by Vis Americas and Brazilian animation studio, Estricnina.
The move makes sense given that ViacomCBS took a majority stake in Porta dos Fundos in 2017 and co-produced last year’s special with Porta dos Fundos.
“Mean Boys” will give the audience a peek at Jesus’ teenage life before he became Christ as he enrolls in a new high school and, with the help of his pal Lázaro, tries to fit in. “We always wanted to make an animation [film],” said Porchat, adding: “This pandemic turned our desire into a necessity. After all, drawing can’t transmit a virus.” The pandemic continues to...
- 8/30/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
While the majority of 2020’s film festivals opted for virtual or hybrid affairs — and some were even cancelled, as was the case for both Cannes and Telluride — this year sees the world creeping, quite cautiously, back into seeming normalcy. Cannes went off without a hitch (albeit in an un-traditional July slot), while both Venice and Telluride are gearing up for in-person editions in the coming days. The Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival are both going ahead with hybrid events that will likely offer less virtual options for audiences than they did last year, with NYFF even announcing that it would not screen any films on a virtual platform, though some other events will be available that way.
So, no, this year’s packed fall festival season doesn’t look quite the same as it did even two years ago, but 2021 promises to feel more like old times than 2020 ever did.
So, no, this year’s packed fall festival season doesn’t look quite the same as it did even two years ago, but 2021 promises to feel more like old times than 2020 ever did.
- 8/27/2021
- by Kate Erbland, David Ehrlich and Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
On Thursday evening, the Brazilian Cinematheque was engulfed in flames in western Sao Paulo, where the 6,500-square meter building has housed much of the country’s filmmaking legacy for decades. The organization was founded in 1940 and serves as the largest film archive in South America, with 250,000 rolls of film, 90,000 titles, one million documents and historical materials like early projectors.
Early reports suggest that the fire, the second to strike the complex in six years, was caused by a short-circuit in the air conditioning system. However, many in the Brazilian community have been quick to denounce the blaze as the fault of the government, which eliminated funding for the Cinematheque in early 2020 and caused it to remain abandoned since then.
While it remains too early to ascertain the full extent of the damage, early reports from the ground show that while there were no victims in the blaze, the fire has...
Early reports suggest that the fire, the second to strike the complex in six years, was caused by a short-circuit in the air conditioning system. However, many in the Brazilian community have been quick to denounce the blaze as the fault of the government, which eliminated funding for the Cinematheque in early 2020 and caused it to remain abandoned since then.
While it remains too early to ascertain the full extent of the damage, early reports from the ground show that while there were no victims in the blaze, the fire has...
- 7/30/2021
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
"She felt no time. All she could feel was ecstasy." An official trailer is available for an intriguing Brazilian documentary film titled Êxtase, which initially premiered at the Cph:dox Film Festival last year. It's next playing at the MoMA Doc Fortnight event in NYC, running online now through April. The 75-minute doc marks the feature debut of Moara Passoni, who has associate produced Petra Costa's other doc films before this including: Elena, Olmo & the Seagull, The Edge of Democracy. Passoni's Êxtase (which just translates to Ecstasy in English) is an "elliptical essay portrait" of a young girl experience both rapture and torture starving herself as a way to find a place in a brutal uncertain world. Reviews say the film is an "imaginative, texturally rich imagery and staged sequences to produce a thoughtful and often troubling account of a young woman’s eating disorders, as lived from the inside.
- 3/23/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Several award-winning filmmakers to pitch latest projects at industry platform, which has added three new cash prizes.
Swiss documentary festival Visions de Réel has revealed the industry projects that will be pitched and presented at its 2021 edition, including new features from UK director Mark Cousins and Oscar-nominated US filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon.
In total, 29 projects will participate across the VdR-Pitching, VdR-Work in Progress and VdR-Rough Cut Lab. Industry activity will take place from April 14-22 both online and physically in Nyon, subject to pandemic restrictions.
Full list of projects below
The work in progress strand will include the latest...
Swiss documentary festival Visions de Réel has revealed the industry projects that will be pitched and presented at its 2021 edition, including new features from UK director Mark Cousins and Oscar-nominated US filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon.
In total, 29 projects will participate across the VdR-Pitching, VdR-Work in Progress and VdR-Rough Cut Lab. Industry activity will take place from April 14-22 both online and physically in Nyon, subject to pandemic restrictions.
Full list of projects below
The work in progress strand will include the latest...
- 3/19/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Kirsten Johnson reveals why she made ‘Dick Johnson is Dead’: ‘I was running out of time with my dad’
The multi-award-winning documentary “Dick Johnson is Dead” all began with a dream. Five years ago, acclaimed cinematographer and documentary filmmaker Kirsten Johnson had a dream of seeing a man in a casket. And that man was very familiar to her — it was her widower father Dick Johnson. Her father, she recalled directing a recent Zoom conversation with noted Brazilian documentarian Petra Costa, told her, “‘I’m Dick Johnson and I’m not dead yet.’ The dream woke me up. It woke me up to the idea that I was running out of time with my dad.”
Thus, was the genesis of “Dick Johnson is Dead,” a poignant, funny, revealing and sad portrait of her relationship with her father who is descending into dementia. A decidedly non-traditional documentary, she copes with her father’s dementia by staging his death in various crazy ways-stand-ins were used for these sequences-including having an air...
Thus, was the genesis of “Dick Johnson is Dead,” a poignant, funny, revealing and sad portrait of her relationship with her father who is descending into dementia. A decidedly non-traditional documentary, she copes with her father’s dementia by staging his death in various crazy ways-stand-ins were used for these sequences-including having an air...
- 2/11/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Bárbara Paz, director of Babenco: Tell Me When I Die on Héctor Babenco and Ingmar Bergman: “They are both somehow like an orchestra conductor. They meet somewhere in that sense.”
In Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (winner of the 2019 Venezia Classici Award for Best Documentary on Cinema), Bárbara Paz’ outstanding tribute to her late husband Héctor Babenco, she inventively connects personal footage with clips from his films to create a seamless cinematic celebration that is thought-provoking and poetic. His adaptation of Manuel Puig's Kiss Of The Spider Woman, screenplay Leonard Schrader, starring Raúl Juliá, William Hurt and Sônia Braga (with clothes made by her mother), received four Oscar nominations - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay with Hurt winning Best Actor.
William Hurt won an Oscar, BAFTA, and in Cannes for his performance in Héctor Babenco’s Kiss Of The Spider Woman
Tom Waits was in two of Babenco's films,...
In Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (winner of the 2019 Venezia Classici Award for Best Documentary on Cinema), Bárbara Paz’ outstanding tribute to her late husband Héctor Babenco, she inventively connects personal footage with clips from his films to create a seamless cinematic celebration that is thought-provoking and poetic. His adaptation of Manuel Puig's Kiss Of The Spider Woman, screenplay Leonard Schrader, starring Raúl Juliá, William Hurt and Sônia Braga (with clothes made by her mother), received four Oscar nominations - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay with Hurt winning Best Actor.
William Hurt won an Oscar, BAFTA, and in Cannes for his performance in Héctor Babenco’s Kiss Of The Spider Woman
Tom Waits was in two of Babenco's films,...
- 2/4/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Gotham Awards for the best in independent film kicked off this unusual awards season on Monday night, January 11. Presented by the Independent Filmmaker Project, these kudos are usually handed out in early December but were pushed back (as were many awards events) due to the Covid-19 pandemic. So who won? Scroll down for the complete list of winners, updated live as they were announced.
SEEGotham nominee John Magaro (‘First Cow’) on how Cookie and King-Lu are ‘almost soulmates’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
These awards are limited to American films (apart from Best International Feature ) made with an economy of means, which means no budgets higher than $35 million. Nominees and winners were decided by juries of film experts and insiders. And for the first time in the awards’ history, all five of the nominees for Best Feature were directed by women: “The Assistant” by Kitty Green, “First Cow” by Kelly Reichardt, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” by Eliza Hittman,...
SEEGotham nominee John Magaro (‘First Cow’) on how Cookie and King-Lu are ‘almost soulmates’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
These awards are limited to American films (apart from Best International Feature ) made with an economy of means, which means no budgets higher than $35 million. Nominees and winners were decided by juries of film experts and insiders. And for the first time in the awards’ history, all five of the nominees for Best Feature were directed by women: “The Assistant” by Kitty Green, “First Cow” by Kelly Reichardt, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” by Eliza Hittman,...
- 1/12/2021
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
Just confirmed for the 2021 Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Brazilian Iuli Gerbase’s sci-fi thriller “The Pink Cloud” begins, like the trailer shared in exclusivity with Variety, with a young woman walking her dog, staring at dainty pink clouds encroaching the horizon.
She drops dead 10 seconds later. Sirens awake Giovana and Yago, who only met the night before, instructing them to close all windows and doors immediately.
A stock post-apocalypse thriller would have charted their physical battle to survive confinement, then solve the mystery of the cloud. In her feature debut, written in 2017 and shot in 2019, but made in a remarkable act of prescience, writer-director Gerbase takes “The Pink Cloud” in another, character-driven, direction. The film’s chore is its charting of the distinct emotional reactions of Giovana and Yago as days of lockdown become years.
“When Covid-19 began, I thought people would only see ‘The Pink Cloud’ as reflecting coronavirus,...
She drops dead 10 seconds later. Sirens awake Giovana and Yago, who only met the night before, instructing them to close all windows and doors immediately.
A stock post-apocalypse thriller would have charted their physical battle to survive confinement, then solve the mystery of the cloud. In her feature debut, written in 2017 and shot in 2019, but made in a remarkable act of prescience, writer-director Gerbase takes “The Pink Cloud” in another, character-driven, direction. The film’s chore is its charting of the distinct emotional reactions of Giovana and Yago as days of lockdown become years.
“When Covid-19 began, I thought people would only see ‘The Pink Cloud’ as reflecting coronavirus,...
- 12/15/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Brazil’s controversial hit comedy troupe Porta dos Fundos is gearing up to release its annual Christmas Special, “The Edge of Theocracy,” on Dec. 10. A play on Petra Costa’s Oscar-nominated documentary, “The Edge of Democracy,” a trailer released Nov. 20 on its dedicated YouTube channel lured more than 300,000 views in three days.
Porta dos Fundos’ Christmas specials are renowned for their ironic, some would argue profane, take on the life of Christ.
Taking its cue from Costa’s “The Edge of Democracy,’ which points to Brazil’s spiral into far-right politics as a cautionary tale to the world, “The Edge of Theocracy” satirizes Brazil’s political scene and delivers tart comments on global issues, such as polarization, through the prism of Biblical events thousands of years ago. A delighted Costa gave her blessing and makes a brief appearance as herself in the show.
Shot in less than a week, the...
Porta dos Fundos’ Christmas specials are renowned for their ironic, some would argue profane, take on the life of Christ.
Taking its cue from Costa’s “The Edge of Democracy,’ which points to Brazil’s spiral into far-right politics as a cautionary tale to the world, “The Edge of Theocracy” satirizes Brazil’s political scene and delivers tart comments on global issues, such as polarization, through the prism of Biblical events thousands of years ago. A delighted Costa gave her blessing and makes a brief appearance as herself in the show.
Shot in less than a week, the...
- 11/26/2020
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Brazilian Petra Costa’s Oscar-nominated documentary “The Edge of Democracy” is getting the sincerest form of flattery this Christmas: a parody.
The wildly popular Brazilian comedy troupe, Porta dos Fundos, has decided to make its upcoming annual Christmas Special a satirical take on Costa’s chilling documentary about Brazil’s slide into far-right politics, calling it “The Edge of Theocracy.” And Costa has gleefully agreed to participate in it.
In a behind-the-scenes picture shared exclusively with Variety, Costa is shooting her segment in the 2020 Christmas Special with cameraman Murilo Salazar, and Fabio Porchat, who plays Jesus Christ, is pictured in the laptop held by Salazar. Porchat, a founding partner of Porta dos Fundos, also penned the screenplay. Rodrigo Van Der Put, directed the special.
“We had the idea of making a parody of ‘The Edge of Democracy’ to address the political polarization that’s happening in Brazil and all over the world,...
The wildly popular Brazilian comedy troupe, Porta dos Fundos, has decided to make its upcoming annual Christmas Special a satirical take on Costa’s chilling documentary about Brazil’s slide into far-right politics, calling it “The Edge of Theocracy.” And Costa has gleefully agreed to participate in it.
In a behind-the-scenes picture shared exclusively with Variety, Costa is shooting her segment in the 2020 Christmas Special with cameraman Murilo Salazar, and Fabio Porchat, who plays Jesus Christ, is pictured in the laptop held by Salazar. Porchat, a founding partner of Porta dos Fundos, also penned the screenplay. Rodrigo Van Der Put, directed the special.
“We had the idea of making a parody of ‘The Edge of Democracy’ to address the political polarization that’s happening in Brazil and all over the world,...
- 10/8/2020
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Always be wary of claims of “first” or “only.” Such is the case with brand-new streaming platform Documentary Plus+, which announced this summer that it would be “the first of its kind to focus exclusively on documentary films.” The venture comes from Xtr, the well-financed Los Angeles-based nonfiction film and television studio that Oscar-nominated documentary short producer Bryn Mooser (“Lifeboat”) launched last year.
Xtr, which took five co-financed films to Sundance 2020 — including well-received docs “Feels Good Man,” “Mucho Mucho Amor,” and “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets” — plans to roll out Documentary Plus+ this fall; a representative said they’re hoping for the end of September.
Billed as a “highly curated documentary streaming service,” Documentary Plus+ aims to “provide audiences with the best in documentary film and further serve as a permanent home for the work of nonfiction filmmakers along with added distribution and amplification of their projects across all social channels.
Xtr, which took five co-financed films to Sundance 2020 — including well-received docs “Feels Good Man,” “Mucho Mucho Amor,” and “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets” — plans to roll out Documentary Plus+ this fall; a representative said they’re hoping for the end of September.
Billed as a “highly curated documentary streaming service,” Documentary Plus+ aims to “provide audiences with the best in documentary film and further serve as a permanent home for the work of nonfiction filmmakers along with added distribution and amplification of their projects across all social channels.
- 8/20/2020
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Some documentaries can feel like primers, skimming the surface and inviting viewers to look further into a subject. Maria Ramos' deep dive into the trial that surrounded the impeachment of Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff is anything but and definitely not for dabblers - but for those with more than a passing interest in the corruption and misogyny which, in part, led to Jair Bolsonaro's rise to power, it's compelling viewing. If you are looking for an accompanying documentary to fill in more of the backstory, Petra Costa's The Edge Of Democracy is a good place to start.
Ramos - who has a history of examining the justice system in her country with films including Behave and Justice - does briefly set the scene with intertitle cards explaining that, following her re-election in 2014, Rousseff found herself embroiled in claims surrounding fiscal decrease and farm subsidies. It's quickly apparent that these claims were largely devised.
Ramos - who has a history of examining the justice system in her country with films including Behave and Justice - does briefly set the scene with intertitle cards explaining that, following her re-election in 2014, Rousseff found herself embroiled in claims surrounding fiscal decrease and farm subsidies. It's quickly apparent that these claims were largely devised.
- 8/19/2020
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
‘Money Heist’ scooped the most awards in the TV categories.
Pedro Almodovar’s Pain And Glory swept the Platino Xcaret Awards for Ibero-American films on June 29 winning six trophies including best Ibero-American film.
Almodovar was also awarded best director and best screenplay while Antonio Banderas - who was Oscar-nominated for his performance and won the actor prize at Cannes - picked up best actor. The film also won best editing for the work of Teresa Font, and best original score, for composer Alberto Iglesias.
The awards were originally meant to take place in Riviera Maya, Mexico, in early May but...
Pedro Almodovar’s Pain And Glory swept the Platino Xcaret Awards for Ibero-American films on June 29 winning six trophies including best Ibero-American film.
Almodovar was also awarded best director and best screenplay while Antonio Banderas - who was Oscar-nominated for his performance and won the actor prize at Cannes - picked up best actor. The film also won best editing for the work of Teresa Font, and best original score, for composer Alberto Iglesias.
The awards were originally meant to take place in Riviera Maya, Mexico, in early May but...
- 6/30/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
As part of its annual showcase of documentary filmmaking, the Cannes Film Festival has unveiled a full program during this year’s virtual Marché du Film that will offer documentary professionals a dedicated platform to network and a tailored slate of industry events.
From June 22-26, Cannes Docs will recreate the popular Doc Corner strand of previous festivals with an online documentary showcase that includes virtual exhibitors, curated selections of docs-in-progress, workshops, panel discussions, co-production speed meetings, one-on-one consultations and online social get-togethers.
“Now that we are only a few days away from launching the Marché du Film Online, we realize how much creativity, hard work and commitment it takes to transport a film market to the digital sphere,” said Cannes market head Jérôme Paillard. “We are proud to team up with leading partners in the documentary field on this special edition to offer industry professionals around the world a...
From June 22-26, Cannes Docs will recreate the popular Doc Corner strand of previous festivals with an online documentary showcase that includes virtual exhibitors, curated selections of docs-in-progress, workshops, panel discussions, co-production speed meetings, one-on-one consultations and online social get-togethers.
“Now that we are only a few days away from launching the Marché du Film Online, we realize how much creativity, hard work and commitment it takes to transport a film market to the digital sphere,” said Cannes market head Jérôme Paillard. “We are proud to team up with leading partners in the documentary field on this special edition to offer industry professionals around the world a...
- 6/19/2020
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Punta sacra wins the Golden Sesterce at the Visions du Réel Festival - Visions du Réel 2020 – Awards
Joining Italian director Francesca Mazzoleni’s film on the podium is the Finnish offering Anerca, Breath of Life by Markku and Johannes Lehmuskallio. Despite unfolding entirely online, the 51st edition of the Visions du Réel Festival has managed to retain its characteristic convivial feel: the 134 films featuring in the various sections (and representing the larger part of the original selection) were viewed online 60,500 times, most of them reaching their capacity of 500 (virtual) viewers. The masterclasses delivered by Claire Denis (Maître du Réel 2020), Petra Costa and Peter Mettler were particularly well received and hugely exciting, despite the technical limitations and physical distance between participants. From Paris to Brazil and then north to Toronto, this year’s three guests of honour managed to share their experiences with the public, with the moderators (Emilie Bujès and Lionel Baier for Denis’s session) and with students from Ecal and Head, displaying great generosity...
2019 Oscar-nominated “The Edge of Democracy” filmmaker Petra Costa and Switzerland’s Visions du Réel Film Festival weren’t going to let a global pandemic stop them from hosting a highly anticipated masterclass on Thursday.
For nearly three hours the filmmaker fielded questions from moderators Delphine Jeanneret of the Geneva University of Art and Design, Giona Nazzaro, member of the selection committee for Visions du Réel, and an eager audience of streamers around the world.
Below, five takeaways from the day’s talk.
“The Edge of Democracy”:
While the class covered years of Costa’s career, from time spent in the theater to studying anthropology in the U.S. and her earlier films, most of the day’s talk was focused on 2019’s Oscar-nominated documentary “The Edge of Democracy.”
Examining the impeachment trials of Dilma Rousseff, the imprisonment of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and election of Jair Bolsonaro...
For nearly three hours the filmmaker fielded questions from moderators Delphine Jeanneret of the Geneva University of Art and Design, Giona Nazzaro, member of the selection committee for Visions du Réel, and an eager audience of streamers around the world.
Below, five takeaways from the day’s talk.
“The Edge of Democracy”:
While the class covered years of Costa’s career, from time spent in the theater to studying anthropology in the U.S. and her earlier films, most of the day’s talk was focused on 2019’s Oscar-nominated documentary “The Edge of Democracy.”
Examining the impeachment trials of Dilma Rousseff, the imprisonment of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and election of Jair Bolsonaro...
- 5/1/2020
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Swiss doc event is hoping for high number of international participants.
Titles in the International Feature competition and Burning Lights International competition of Swiss documentary film festival Visions du Réel will start screening online tomorrow, Saturday April 25.
It is a moment artistic director Émilie Bujès feared would never happen. Faced with the cancellation of the physical festival in Nyons due to the Covid-19 crisis, she initially believed moving the line-up online would simply be too difficult.
“I thought, ‘We have all these world premieres, people won’t move them online’,” she said.
But the idea of cancelling altogether was too...
Titles in the International Feature competition and Burning Lights International competition of Swiss documentary film festival Visions du Réel will start screening online tomorrow, Saturday April 25.
It is a moment artistic director Émilie Bujès feared would never happen. Faced with the cancellation of the physical festival in Nyons due to the Covid-19 crisis, she initially believed moving the line-up online would simply be too difficult.
“I thought, ‘We have all these world premieres, people won’t move them online’,” she said.
But the idea of cancelling altogether was too...
- 4/24/2020
- by 1100142¦Wendy Mitchell¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Oscar-nominated documentary director Petra Costa is turning her attention to the Covid-19 pandemic for her next project, “Dystopia.”
The Brazilian director of Netflix film “The Edge of Democracy” fired off a series of tweets today calling for the public to collaborate on the project by submitting video footage of their lives during the pandemic.
The project aims to reveal the societal problems and inequalities that the coronavirus crisis has put in sharp relief.
“We want to document this urgent moment in which the Covid-19 pandemic brings to surface our deepest structural problems and the inequality that defines our societies,” said Costa on her Twitter feed.
“We want to know what’s going on with your family, your community, your neighborhood and your city. Film horizontally what you see, think, live and feel today. We are not asking or encouraging anyone to leave the house! But, if you really have to leave,...
The Brazilian director of Netflix film “The Edge of Democracy” fired off a series of tweets today calling for the public to collaborate on the project by submitting video footage of their lives during the pandemic.
The project aims to reveal the societal problems and inequalities that the coronavirus crisis has put in sharp relief.
“We want to document this urgent moment in which the Covid-19 pandemic brings to surface our deepest structural problems and the inequality that defines our societies,” said Costa on her Twitter feed.
“We want to know what’s going on with your family, your community, your neighborhood and your city. Film horizontally what you see, think, live and feel today. We are not asking or encouraging anyone to leave the house! But, if you really have to leave,...
- 4/21/2020
- by Tim Dams
- Variety Film + TV
When, in mid-March, Swiss authorities closed cinemas and banned group assemblies for the foreseeable future, Visions du Réel artistic director Emilie Bujès found herself in a tough spot. For weeks she held out hope that her festival, which was due to kick off late April, would still be able to go forward as planned, but these new measures put an end to that.
The planners were bereft: While postponing the event – a leading documentary showcase that world premieres several new features per year – wouldn’t work due to several logistical reasons, cancelling it would deal a sharp blow to organizer morale and to the producers and sales agent who rely on the berth to launch new titles.
“From a psychological perspective, canceling the event would have been very, very hard,” says Bujès. “We had built relationships with our partners, we had selected their films and offered them a launchpad, and...
The planners were bereft: While postponing the event – a leading documentary showcase that world premieres several new features per year – wouldn’t work due to several logistical reasons, cancelling it would deal a sharp blow to organizer morale and to the producers and sales agent who rely on the berth to launch new titles.
“From a psychological perspective, canceling the event would have been very, very hard,” says Bujès. “We had built relationships with our partners, we had selected their films and offered them a launchpad, and...
- 4/15/2020
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
Claire Denis, Petra Costa and Peter Mettler to give online masterclasses.
Swiss documentary festival Visions de Réel, which was to have taken place from April 24 to May 2 in the lakeside town of Nyon, has revealed details of the online format it has developed to replace the physical event which was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Visions du Réel 2020 will not take place at the Place du Réel, in the cinemas, in the tent and in the bar, in Nyon,” said artistic director Émilie Bujès, referring to the event’s traditional festival and industry hubs. “But it will resolutely be held on the internet,...
Swiss documentary festival Visions de Réel, which was to have taken place from April 24 to May 2 in the lakeside town of Nyon, has revealed details of the online format it has developed to replace the physical event which was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Visions du Réel 2020 will not take place at the Place du Réel, in the cinemas, in the tent and in the bar, in Nyon,” said artistic director Émilie Bujès, referring to the event’s traditional festival and industry hubs. “But it will resolutely be held on the internet,...
- 3/31/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Claire Denis, Petra Costa and Peter Mettler to give online masterclasses.
Swiss documentary festival Visions de Réel, which was to have taken place from April 24 to May 2 in the lakeside town of Nyon, has revealed details of the online format it has developed to replace the physical event which was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Visions du Réel 2020 will not take place at the Place du Réel, in the cinemas, in the tent and in the bar, in Nyon,” said artistic director Émilie Bujès, referring to the event’s traditional festival and industry hubs. “But it will resolutely be held on the internet,...
Swiss documentary festival Visions de Réel, which was to have taken place from April 24 to May 2 in the lakeside town of Nyon, has revealed details of the online format it has developed to replace the physical event which was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Visions du Réel 2020 will not take place at the Place du Réel, in the cinemas, in the tent and in the bar, in Nyon,” said artistic director Émilie Bujès, referring to the event’s traditional festival and industry hubs. “But it will resolutely be held on the internet,...
- 3/31/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Visions du Réel, a film festival in Nyon, Switzerland, has changed the format of its next edition to accommodate the restrictions imposed by the Swiss government in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
Originally planned to run from April 24 to May 2, the festival will now be a digital-only event held over a longer period, with much of its lineup made available online from April 17.
Émilie Bujès, artistic director of the event, said: “Visions du Réel 2020 will not take place at the Place du Réel, in the cinemas, in the tent and in the bar in Nyon. But it will resolutely be held on the internet, in almost all its generous diversity, and will visit the spectators at home, further expanding the possible territories.”
In redesigning the festival, its organizers have sought to remain true to its essential nature – defined by rigorous artistic standards and conviviality.
The new version includes open-access platforms...
Originally planned to run from April 24 to May 2, the festival will now be a digital-only event held over a longer period, with much of its lineup made available online from April 17.
Émilie Bujès, artistic director of the event, said: “Visions du Réel 2020 will not take place at the Place du Réel, in the cinemas, in the tent and in the bar in Nyon. But it will resolutely be held on the internet, in almost all its generous diversity, and will visit the spectators at home, further expanding the possible territories.”
In redesigning the festival, its organizers have sought to remain true to its essential nature – defined by rigorous artistic standards and conviviality.
The new version includes open-access platforms...
- 3/30/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Premiering in the Dox:award main competition at this year’s (now digital) Cph:dox, Ecstasy (Êxtase) is the astonishing debut of Brazilian filmmaker Moara Passoni, a longtime collaborator of The Edge of Democracy Oscar nominee Petra Costa (who serves as the doc’s producer). It’s a mix of fiction and nonfiction, of historical images and staged scenes, of autobiographical diary entries obsessively developing a “geometry of hunger” even as political chaos grips ’90s Brazil. It’s also a startlingly unusual coming-of-age story, one in which the director […]...
- 3/26/2020
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Premiering in the Dox:award main competition at this year’s (now digital) Cph:dox, Ecstasy (Êxtase) is the astonishing debut of Brazilian filmmaker Moara Passoni, a longtime collaborator of The Edge of Democracy Oscar nominee Petra Costa (who serves as the doc’s producer). It’s a mix of fiction and nonfiction, of historical images and staged scenes, of autobiographical diary entries obsessively developing a “geometry of hunger” even as political chaos grips ’90s Brazil. It’s also a startlingly unusual coming-of-age story, one in which the director […]...
- 3/26/2020
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Netflix and Un Women have teamed up to launch Because She Watched, a collection of series, documentaries and films curated by female creators working behind the scenes and in front of the camera.
The curators include Sophia Loren, Janet Mock, Salma Hayek, Yalitza Aparicio, Millie Bobby Brown, Mindy Kaling, Laurie Nunn, Lana Condor, Petra Costa and Ava DuVernay.
The collection, which will be available to stream all year, launched ahead of International Women's Day on Sunday.
"This collaboration is about taking on the challenge of telling women’s stories and showing women in all their diversity. It’...
The curators include Sophia Loren, Janet Mock, Salma Hayek, Yalitza Aparicio, Millie Bobby Brown, Mindy Kaling, Laurie Nunn, Lana Condor, Petra Costa and Ava DuVernay.
The collection, which will be available to stream all year, launched ahead of International Women's Day on Sunday.
"This collaboration is about taking on the challenge of telling women’s stories and showing women in all their diversity. It’...
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