It must be said how nice it is to be free of the bone chilling cold which I’ve been enduring these last few months back in Buffalo. Stepping onto the tarmac in 30 degree weather after touching down in Columbia, Mo last night was sadly a mild improvement, but today, with all the sunshine and contagiously good spirits that are pervading the small college town streets that play host to True/False Film Festival, my frozen heart has been gratefully thawed. And let’s not forget the films, bands and food that have been making my stay thus far quite a delight. I was greeted bright and early by one of the many lovely Q queens that help keep the reasonable, yet respectable lines that file through alleys and indoor corridors in order, plus that keyboard key covered Buffalo sculpture stationed in the lobby of The Globe made me feel right at home.
- 3/7/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
By Anjelica Oswald
Managing Editor
This year’s Oscar race could make history with two possible best picture nominees directed by women — Ava DuVernay’s Selma and Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken. If both women are nominated for best director, that would also be a historical moment. But though these accomplishments in the narrative field are possible, more women directors are breaking into the documentary categories. Four of the 15 shortlisted documentaries feature women at the helm: Jennifer Grausman (co-directed with Sam Cullman and Mark Becker) with Art and Craft, Tia Lessin (co-directed with Carl Deal) with Citizen Koch, Laura Poitras with Citizenfour and Rory Kennedy with Last Days in Vietnam. Additionally, three of the eight shortlisted documentary shorts feature female directors: Ellen Goosenberg Kent with Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, Aneta Kopacz with Joanna and Lucy Walker with The Lion’s Mouth Opens. More often than not, women directors tend to...
Managing Editor
This year’s Oscar race could make history with two possible best picture nominees directed by women — Ava DuVernay’s Selma and Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken. If both women are nominated for best director, that would also be a historical moment. But though these accomplishments in the narrative field are possible, more women directors are breaking into the documentary categories. Four of the 15 shortlisted documentaries feature women at the helm: Jennifer Grausman (co-directed with Sam Cullman and Mark Becker) with Art and Craft, Tia Lessin (co-directed with Carl Deal) with Citizen Koch, Laura Poitras with Citizenfour and Rory Kennedy with Last Days in Vietnam. Additionally, three of the eight shortlisted documentary shorts feature female directors: Ellen Goosenberg Kent with Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, Aneta Kopacz with Joanna and Lucy Walker with The Lion’s Mouth Opens. More often than not, women directors tend to...
- 12/16/2014
- by Anjelica Oswald
- Scott Feinberg
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Iskander: Edet Belzberg’s film Children Underground was one of my favorite docs. When I went to meet her for the first time to talk about potentially working on her new film, I was simply excited to meet her and hear about her experiences as a documentary filmmaker. So I was thrilled to be have the opportunity to work with her on Watchers of the Sky. The prospect of traveling to Chad and working closely with Edet was very exciting. Filmmaker: Why do you think you were the right choice to D.P. each film? Iskander: […]...
- 1/22/2014
- by Arielle Grinshpan
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Iskander: Edet Belzberg’s film Children Underground was one of my favorite docs. When I went to meet her for the first time to talk about potentially working on her new film, I was simply excited to meet her and hear about her experiences as a documentary filmmaker. So I was thrilled to be have the opportunity to work with her on Watchers of the Sky. The prospect of traveling to Chad and working closely with Edet was very exciting. Filmmaker: Why do you think you were the right choice to D.P. each film? Iskander: […]...
- 1/22/2014
- by Arielle Grinshpan
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
The horror of genocide simply can't be put into words. An unspeakable act, it leaves its mark across generations, reverberating through history as a stamp of supreme evil. But can justice be found for those marked by such brutal acts of violence? One lawyer thought so and forever laid the groundwork that would allow the Nuremberg trials to happen, along with the formation of the International Criminal Court. Oscar nominated director Edet Belzberg ("Children Underground") brings her latest documentary "Watchers Of The Sky" to the Sundance Film Festival this week, and it will shine light on lawyer Raphael Lemkin. Through reminisces and insight from Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the U.N.; Luis Moreno Ocampo, Icc chief prosecutor; Benjamin Ferencz, Nuremberg prosecutor; and Emmanuel Uwurukundo, U.N. refugee officer, the doc explores how Lemkin created the legal framework that enabled prosecutors to bring crimes of massacre into a courtroom,...
- 1/21/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
X-Men franchise director Bryan Singer, whose first two features debuted at the Sundance Film Festival — including The Usual Suspects in 1995 — was one of the industry figures named to the Sundance juries that will judge this year’s films when the festival begins next week. Singer, who has X-Men: Days of Future Past due in May, will be one of five members of the U.S. Dramatic Jury. Other members of the juries include Tracy Chapman, Lone Scherfig, Leonard Maltin, and screenwriter Jon Spaihts (Prometheus). A complete list of the juries, courtesy of the Sundance Film Festival, can be viewed after the jump.
- 1/9/2014
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
The Sundance Institute announced Thursday that 11 independent films supported by its Artist Services Program are now available on Hulu, Netflix and SnagFilms (Indiewire's parent company). The Artist Services Program gives Sundance alumni exclusive opportunities to self-distribute, market and find finance solutions to their work. "Brother to Brother," "Children Underground," "Enemies of the People" and "Dirty Work" are now available for immediate streaming, and Artist Services films can also be found on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Microsoft Xbox, Sony Entertainment Network, SundanceNOW, Vudu and YouTube. To see bonus video content for select titles, visit this link. Read More: 'Indie Game: The Movie,' 'The Woods,' 'Enemies of the People' & More Sundance Titles Now Available on iTunes Official information about the films, their availability and their newly added platforms (in bold)...
- 8/23/2012
- by Srimathi Sridhar
- Indiewire
Now available on SnagFilms, Hulu and Netflix are eleven new films supported by the Sundance Institute's Artist Services Program, which launched in February. Artist Services gives filmmakers exclusive opportunities to self-finance, market and distribute their films. Films from the program are also available on iTunes, Amazon, Microsoft Xbox, Sony, Vudu, YouTube and SundanceNOW. Here's details on what's currently playing. Among the eleven new titles are "Brother to Brother," "Children Underground" and "Dirty Work." The films are listed in detail below: "Blessing" (Director and screenwriter: Paul Zeher) — Randi’s life on her family's farm is brightened by an oversized satellite dish, rock 'n' rail and her passion to go to the ocean. Standing in the way are her jealous mother, her overworked father and her quirky and lovable 10-year-old brother. Randi is caught between her own desires and her...
- 8/23/2012
- by Sophia Savage
- Thompson on Hollywood
I like this title, so I found the news.
During our recent interview with Ellis Perez, the Director General of the Dominican Republic's film organization DGCine which you can read tomorrow, he mentioned an interesting factoid about Dr. Aside from its being the site of Christopher Columbus' second landing in 1492 and his naming the country Hispanola, its being the site of the first permanent European settlement in the Americas, its sharing 1/3 of the island with Haiti, and its reign of terror by the dictator Trujillo from 1930 until his assassination in 1961, there was one good act performed by El Jefe. That was his open-door policy which accepted Jewish refugees from Europe, Japanese migration during the 1930s, and exiles from Spain following its civil war. In 1939 Trujillo took in German and Austrian Jewish refugees and gave them a safe haven in Puerto Plata province's town Sosua where many still live or have returned after being educated abroad. Another coincidental connection of the Dr to the Jews is that the current President Leonel Fernandez spent most of his childhood and teenaged years in Washington Heights during its transition from being a German Jewish neighborhood to becoming the Dominican neighborhood it is today.
And speaking of New York, here is a second Jews in the News item which also includes a doc about Sosua!
The New York-based Foundation for Jewish Culture has granted finishing funds to six documentaries.
Finishing funds ranging between $12,000 and $40,000 have recently been granted to six documentaries. The funds are designed to enable the filmmakers to pay licence fees for music and archival footage, complete additional editing and shooting and build audience awareness through outreach and engagement strategies.
The grants fall under the Foundation’s Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film which supports projects expanding understanding of the Jewish experience. 80 projects made applications this year and the final six recipients were selected by a panel including Moma’s Sally Berger, filmmaker Nicole Opper, film critic George Robinson and Daniella Tourgeman from the Jerusalem Cinematheque/ Israel Film Archive.
The fund has supported the completion of over 80 films since 1996 including Waltz With Bashir, Budrus, William Kunstler: Disturbing The Universe and The Rape Of Europa.
The winning projects are:
· Sosua: Dare To Dance Together directed and produced by Peter Miller and Renee Silverman, which follows Jewish and Dominican teenagers over the course of the year as they create a musical theatre piece about German Jews finding refuge in the Dominican Republic in the late 1930s.
How To Re-Establish A Vodka Empire directed by Dan Edelstyn, which traces the history of the film-maker’s Jewish grandmother who fled the Bolshevik revolution and settled in strife-torn Belfast.
· Miss World directed by Cecilia Peck (Shut Up And Sing), which is the story of Israeli beauty pageant queen Linor Abargil and her crusade to combat sexual violence against women.
· My Father Evgeni directed and produced by Andrei Zagdansky, follows the filmmaker’s history working with his father for the Kiev Popular Science Film Studios.
· The Return directed and produced by Adam Zucker (Greensboro: Closer To The Truth), which follows four young Polish women who were raised Catholic only to discover that they were born Jewish.
· Watchers Of The Sky directed by Edet Belzberg (Children Underground) which interweaves stories of four visionaries with the journey of lawyer Raphael Lemkin who drafted and pushed through the Un Genocide Convention.
During our recent interview with Ellis Perez, the Director General of the Dominican Republic's film organization DGCine which you can read tomorrow, he mentioned an interesting factoid about Dr. Aside from its being the site of Christopher Columbus' second landing in 1492 and his naming the country Hispanola, its being the site of the first permanent European settlement in the Americas, its sharing 1/3 of the island with Haiti, and its reign of terror by the dictator Trujillo from 1930 until his assassination in 1961, there was one good act performed by El Jefe. That was his open-door policy which accepted Jewish refugees from Europe, Japanese migration during the 1930s, and exiles from Spain following its civil war. In 1939 Trujillo took in German and Austrian Jewish refugees and gave them a safe haven in Puerto Plata province's town Sosua where many still live or have returned after being educated abroad. Another coincidental connection of the Dr to the Jews is that the current President Leonel Fernandez spent most of his childhood and teenaged years in Washington Heights during its transition from being a German Jewish neighborhood to becoming the Dominican neighborhood it is today.
And speaking of New York, here is a second Jews in the News item which also includes a doc about Sosua!
The New York-based Foundation for Jewish Culture has granted finishing funds to six documentaries.
Finishing funds ranging between $12,000 and $40,000 have recently been granted to six documentaries. The funds are designed to enable the filmmakers to pay licence fees for music and archival footage, complete additional editing and shooting and build audience awareness through outreach and engagement strategies.
The grants fall under the Foundation’s Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film which supports projects expanding understanding of the Jewish experience. 80 projects made applications this year and the final six recipients were selected by a panel including Moma’s Sally Berger, filmmaker Nicole Opper, film critic George Robinson and Daniella Tourgeman from the Jerusalem Cinematheque/ Israel Film Archive.
The fund has supported the completion of over 80 films since 1996 including Waltz With Bashir, Budrus, William Kunstler: Disturbing The Universe and The Rape Of Europa.
The winning projects are:
· Sosua: Dare To Dance Together directed and produced by Peter Miller and Renee Silverman, which follows Jewish and Dominican teenagers over the course of the year as they create a musical theatre piece about German Jews finding refuge in the Dominican Republic in the late 1930s.
How To Re-Establish A Vodka Empire directed by Dan Edelstyn, which traces the history of the film-maker’s Jewish grandmother who fled the Bolshevik revolution and settled in strife-torn Belfast.
· Miss World directed by Cecilia Peck (Shut Up And Sing), which is the story of Israeli beauty pageant queen Linor Abargil and her crusade to combat sexual violence against women.
· My Father Evgeni directed and produced by Andrei Zagdansky, follows the filmmaker’s history working with his father for the Kiev Popular Science Film Studios.
· The Return directed and produced by Adam Zucker (Greensboro: Closer To The Truth), which follows four young Polish women who were raised Catholic only to discover that they were born Jewish.
· Watchers Of The Sky directed by Edet Belzberg (Children Underground) which interweaves stories of four visionaries with the journey of lawyer Raphael Lemkin who drafted and pushed through the Un Genocide Convention.
- 3/4/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
#74. Watchers of the Sky - Edet Belzberg Belzberg won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for Children Underground (2001) and she last attended the fest with The Recruiter in 2008, and while Park City has done Darfur before my feeling is that Watchers of the Sky (which works from a Pulitzer Prize winner and goes about the region via the Pov of modern day heroes aka as humanitarians) will find a slot in the U.S docu or Spotlight Docs section. Gist: Inspired by Samantha Power's Pulitzer Prize winning book "A Problem From Hell", this interweaves the stories of four exceptional humanitarians whose lives and work are linked together by the ongoing crisis in Darfur. Through the stories of these contemporary characters, the film uncovers the forgotten history of the Genocide Convention and its founder Raphael Lemkin, the legendary international lawyer who dedicated his life to the prevention of genocide.
- 11/14/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
Among the dozen documentaries in competition this year at the Tribeca Film Festival's World Documentary Feature section, we find Mona Nicoara and Miruna Coca-Cozma's Our School (Școala noastră), a bitter-sweet story about hope and race, and an elegy about generational prejudice and squandered opportunities. The 94-minute long doc was shot over the course of four years and it follows three Roma (often called Gypsy) children – Alin, Beniamin and Dana – as they struggle to break the barriers of segregation, candidly challenging entrenched stereotypes and trying to make the best of the cards dealt to them by adults along the way. The film begins in 2006, as the children are moved from a dead-end segregated school on the outskirts of Târgu Lăpuș, Romania, into a mainstream school in the center of town, where they will learn together with Romanians. Once in the mainstream school, the children’s hopes and optimism are met...
- 3/17/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
#36. Our School - Mona Nicoara and Miruna Coca-Cozma Since her film debut (as associate producer) on the 2001 Sundance Special Jury Prize winning Children Underground, Mona Nicoara has been hard at work on her filmmaking debut. Offering one more snapshot of the children in her native Romania, Our School - an Ifp and Sundance Lab supported project that Nicoara co-directed with Miruna Coca-Cozma should find a spot in the World Documentary Comp section. The doc tells the story of race relations in a small Transylvanian town through the eyes of Roma children struggling to break the barriers of segregation. The film follows three children - Alin, Beniamin, and Dana - as they are moved from a dead-end all-Roma school into a mainstream school together with Romanians, where they meet with varying degrees of success. As teachers reject the new Roma students, seven-year-old Alin, the youngest of the three, falters in isolation,...
- 11/5/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
- New works from documentary filmmaker faves in Alex Gibney (Gonzo: The Life and Times of Hunter Thompson), Margaret Brown (The Order of Myths) and Patrick Creadon (I.O.U.S.A.) and many first time doc filmmakers make up the section in this year's documentary Comp lineup. I don't count many Iraq-war related items listed below, telling us that the doc vague of such films is officially D.O.A. Click on the individual links below for more info on each film (including official sites and trailers). Documentary COMPETITIONAn American Soldier directed and written by Edet Belzberg ("Children Underground"), a look at one of the U.S. Army's all-time top recruiters, Sgt. 1st Class Clay Usie.American Teen directed and written by Nanette Burstein ("On the Ropes"), an irreverent, frank account of four Indiana high school seniors.Bigger, Faster, Stronger directed by Christopher Bell and written by Bell, Alexander Buono and Tamsin Rawady,
- 11/28/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
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