The annual Museum of the Moving Image’s First Look Festival has given IndieWire an exclusive “first look” at the lineup.
The 13th annual event, which takes place March 13 through 17 in Astoria, Queens, opens with the New York premiere of Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez’s “Sujo,” which recently took home the Grand Jury Prize, World Cinema Dramatic Competition, at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
The First Look Festival focuses on emerging talents and international voices, with the fest premiering 46 works, including 20 features that represent 21 countries. Highlights include Farhad Delaram’s “Achilles,” Graham Swon’s “An Evening Song (for three voices), and the U.S. premiere of Lois Patiño’s “Samsara.” Zhang Mengqi’s “Self-Portrait: 47 Km 2020,” which won the Award of Excellence winner at the 2023 Yamagata Documentary Festival, will also screen along with Shoghakat Vardanyan’s 2023 IDFA grand prize winner “1489,” the debut for the filmmaker. Returning First Look directors like Michaël Andrianaly...
The 13th annual event, which takes place March 13 through 17 in Astoria, Queens, opens with the New York premiere of Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez’s “Sujo,” which recently took home the Grand Jury Prize, World Cinema Dramatic Competition, at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
The First Look Festival focuses on emerging talents and international voices, with the fest premiering 46 works, including 20 features that represent 21 countries. Highlights include Farhad Delaram’s “Achilles,” Graham Swon’s “An Evening Song (for three voices), and the U.S. premiere of Lois Patiño’s “Samsara.” Zhang Mengqi’s “Self-Portrait: 47 Km 2020,” which won the Award of Excellence winner at the 2023 Yamagata Documentary Festival, will also screen along with Shoghakat Vardanyan’s 2023 IDFA grand prize winner “1489,” the debut for the filmmaker. Returning First Look directors like Michaël Andrianaly...
- 2/12/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková – no stranger to Prague’s nightlife in the 1970s and 80s, as depicted in upcoming documentary “I’m Not Everything I Want to Be” – has already earned comparisons to a certain American icon.
“Libuše had this big exhibition in France in 2019 and on the radio they said: ‘She is like Nan Goldin of Czechoslovakia,’” says producer Lukáš Kokeš. Klára Tasovská directs.
Recently, Goldin has been the subject of Laura Poitras’ Oscar-nominated “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed.”
“The very first time we pitched this project, our tutor, ‘Navalny’s’ editor Maya Daisy Hawke, said: ‘That’s funny. My husband [Joe Bini] is actually editing a film about Goldin next door,’” laughs Kokeš.
“In order to be authentic, Goldin would go to live with sex workers or addicts. Libuše did the same thing. Her most unique series of photographs comes from this LGBTQ+ club in Prague. That’s...
“Libuše had this big exhibition in France in 2019 and on the radio they said: ‘She is like Nan Goldin of Czechoslovakia,’” says producer Lukáš Kokeš. Klára Tasovská directs.
Recently, Goldin has been the subject of Laura Poitras’ Oscar-nominated “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed.”
“The very first time we pitched this project, our tutor, ‘Navalny’s’ editor Maya Daisy Hawke, said: ‘That’s funny. My husband [Joe Bini] is actually editing a film about Goldin next door,’” laughs Kokeš.
“In order to be authentic, Goldin would go to live with sex workers or addicts. Libuše did the same thing. Her most unique series of photographs comes from this LGBTQ+ club in Prague. That’s...
- 7/8/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Ace Eddies: ‘Top Gun: Maverick,’ ‘Everything Everywhere’ win over Oscar rivals for Best Film Editing
“Top Gun: Maverick” got a big boost in its bid for Best Editing at the Oscars with a win at the Ace Golden Eddie Awards on March 5. It prevailed in the drama race at these awards bestowed by American Cinema Editors over two of its Oscar rivals –“Elvis” and “Tár ” — as well as “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “The Woman King.”
Another of the Oscar nominees, “Everything Everywhere All at Once ” won the comedy/musical category over the fifth Oscar contender, “The Banshees of Inisherin,” plus “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”, “The Menu” and “Triangle of Sadness.”
Since 1990, the film that came up with one of the ACEs went on to win the top prize at the Academy Awards 18 times, including the 2020 winner for best drama editing, “Parasite.” And in 10 of the 14 years when the Ace barometer was wrong, at least one of the Eddie champs was a contender for Best Picture.
Another of the Oscar nominees, “Everything Everywhere All at Once ” won the comedy/musical category over the fifth Oscar contender, “The Banshees of Inisherin,” plus “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”, “The Menu” and “Triangle of Sadness.”
Since 1990, the film that came up with one of the ACEs went on to win the top prize at the Academy Awards 18 times, including the 2020 winner for best drama editing, “Parasite.” And in 10 of the 14 years when the Ace barometer was wrong, at least one of the Eddie champs was a contender for Best Picture.
- 3/6/2023
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
American Cinema Editors announced winners in 14 categories March 5 during the 73rd annual Ace Eddie Awards. And all five Oscar nominees were included among the nominations — though spread out between two categories.
Historically, the Eddie winner for theatrical drama has also won the Academy Award 13 of 22 times‚ but not in the last three years. Whether or not that streak will hold remains murky since Oscar nominees “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” both took home trophies.
“The Woman King” director Gina Prince-Bythewood received the Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award, while film editors Lynne Willingham and Don Zimmerman received Career Achievement Awards.
Other winners included awards season faves “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” “Fire of Love,” and “The Bear.” See the complete list of winners, marked in bold, below.
Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic)
“All Quiet on the Western Front” – Sven Budelmann, Bfs
“Elvis” – Matt Villa, Ace Ase,...
Historically, the Eddie winner for theatrical drama has also won the Academy Award 13 of 22 times‚ but not in the last three years. Whether or not that streak will hold remains murky since Oscar nominees “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” both took home trophies.
“The Woman King” director Gina Prince-Bythewood received the Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award, while film editors Lynne Willingham and Don Zimmerman received Career Achievement Awards.
Other winners included awards season faves “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” “Fire of Love,” and “The Bear.” See the complete list of winners, marked in bold, below.
Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic)
“All Quiet on the Western Front” – Sven Budelmann, Bfs
“Elvis” – Matt Villa, Ace Ase,...
- 3/6/2023
- by Mark Peikert
- Indiewire
American Cinema Editors handed out its 73rd Eddie Awards on Sunday, with Top Gun: Maverick editor Eddie Hamilton and Everything Everywhere All at Once editor Paul Rogers collecting trophies for best edited dramatic feature and comedy feature, respectively.
Everything Everywhere – which won the BAFTA in film editing – and Top Gun: Maverick, along with Eddie nominees Jonathan Redmond and Matt Villa for Elvis, Monika Willi for Tár and Mikkel E.G. Nielsen for The Banshees of Inisherin are nominated for the Oscar in film editing.
Everything Everywhere’s Rogers thanked mentors, friends and family, including the Daniels, remembering cutting the movie during lockdown. He also urged diversity, saying, “We can choose what stories we get to tell.” Hamilton wasn’t in attendance and colleagues accepted, reading thanks to those including Tom Cruise and Chris McQuarrie.
Also on Sunday at UCLA’s Royce Hall, Ken Schretzmann and Holly Klein collected the animated feature prize,...
Everything Everywhere – which won the BAFTA in film editing – and Top Gun: Maverick, along with Eddie nominees Jonathan Redmond and Matt Villa for Elvis, Monika Willi for Tár and Mikkel E.G. Nielsen for The Banshees of Inisherin are nominated for the Oscar in film editing.
Everything Everywhere’s Rogers thanked mentors, friends and family, including the Daniels, remembering cutting the movie during lockdown. He also urged diversity, saying, “We can choose what stories we get to tell.” Hamilton wasn’t in attendance and colleagues accepted, reading thanks to those including Tom Cruise and Chris McQuarrie.
Also on Sunday at UCLA’s Royce Hall, Ken Schretzmann and Holly Klein collected the animated feature prize,...
- 3/6/2023
- by Carolyn Giardina
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Before Nan Goldin was the subject of Laura Poitras’ documentary “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” Poitras first learned about her when she was studying filmmaking in San Francisco and saw a copy of “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency.” “I had a roommate who was a photographer, so she had one of the early editions and it was just mind-blowing. The intimacy, the rawness, the capturing of relationships and sexuality and the differences between genders,” she tells Gold Derby during our recent webchat (watch the exclusive video interview above).
When she actually got to experience Goldin’s art in-person, it became another incredible event for her. “It’s like she created this whole new visual storytelling, language and relationship. These were people she was friends and lovers with.”
See dozens of interviews with 2023 Oscar contenders
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” explores Goldin’s life and work as a visual...
When she actually got to experience Goldin’s art in-person, it became another incredible event for her. “It’s like she created this whole new visual storytelling, language and relationship. These were people she was friends and lovers with.”
See dozens of interviews with 2023 Oscar contenders
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” explores Goldin’s life and work as a visual...
- 3/1/2023
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
The nominations for the 2023 Ace Eddie Awards announced on Wednesday (Feb. 1) include our Oscar frontrunner for Best Film Editing, “Top Gun: Maverick,” along with the other four films contending in that race: “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Elvis,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Tar.”
The Ace Eddie Awards divide their prizes for editing between dramas and comedies/musicals.
“Elvis,” “Tar” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” contend here in the drama race, which is rounded out by “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “The Woman King.”
Facing off against “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” on the comedy side are “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” “The Menu” and “Triangle of Sadness.”
In 1992, the Eddies went from three to five nominees (matching that of the Oscars) and in 2000 it split the award in two, with five nominees for each of drama and comedy/musical. Over the past 30 years,...
The Ace Eddie Awards divide their prizes for editing between dramas and comedies/musicals.
“Elvis,” “Tar” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” contend here in the drama race, which is rounded out by “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “The Woman King.”
Facing off against “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” on the comedy side are “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” “The Menu” and “Triangle of Sadness.”
In 1992, the Eddies went from three to five nominees (matching that of the Oscars) and in 2000 it split the award in two, with five nominees for each of drama and comedy/musical. Over the past 30 years,...
- 2/1/2023
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
The American Cinema Editors group has revealed the nominees for the 2023 Eddie Awards, which will be handed out March 5 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
The live-action theatrical feature competition has two categories, drama and comedy. The nominees in the category of best edited dramatic feature are Sven Budelmann for All Quiet on the Western Front, Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond for Elvis, Monika Willi for Tár, Eddie Hamilton for Top Gun: Maverick and Terilyn A. Shropshire for The Woman King. Nominees for best edited comedic feature are Mikkel E.G. Nielsen for The Banshees of Inisherin, Paul Rogers for Everything Everywhere All at Once, Bob Ducsay for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Christopher Tellefsen for The Menu and Ruben Östlund and Mikel Cee Karlsson for Triangle of Sadness.
With her nomination for The Woman King, Shropshire becomes the second Black woman to be nominated for an Eddie in the dramatic feature category.
The live-action theatrical feature competition has two categories, drama and comedy. The nominees in the category of best edited dramatic feature are Sven Budelmann for All Quiet on the Western Front, Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond for Elvis, Monika Willi for Tár, Eddie Hamilton for Top Gun: Maverick and Terilyn A. Shropshire for The Woman King. Nominees for best edited comedic feature are Mikkel E.G. Nielsen for The Banshees of Inisherin, Paul Rogers for Everything Everywhere All at Once, Bob Ducsay for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Christopher Tellefsen for The Menu and Ruben Östlund and Mikel Cee Karlsson for Triangle of Sadness.
With her nomination for The Woman King, Shropshire becomes the second Black woman to be nominated for an Eddie in the dramatic feature category.
- 2/1/2023
- by Carolyn Giardina
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The American Cinema Editors (Ace) has nominated “Tár,” “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “Elvis, “Top Gun: Maverick” and “The Woman King” in the category of feature film drama for the 73rd annual Ace Eddie Awards.
“The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” “The Menu” and “Triangle of Sadness” all received nominations in the best edited comedic feature category.
The TV nominees include “The Bear,” “Severance” and “The White Lotus.”
Since 1961, only 12 women have won in the best-edited drama feature category. This year, there are two women who made the cut: Terilyn Shropshire for “The Woman King” and Monika Willi for “Tár.” Willi also earned an Oscar nomination for her work.
As previously announced, the Ace Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award, recognizing a filmmaker who exemplifies distinguished achievements in the art and business of film, will be presented to Gina Prince-Bythewood...
“The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” “The Menu” and “Triangle of Sadness” all received nominations in the best edited comedic feature category.
The TV nominees include “The Bear,” “Severance” and “The White Lotus.”
Since 1961, only 12 women have won in the best-edited drama feature category. This year, there are two women who made the cut: Terilyn Shropshire for “The Woman King” and Monika Willi for “Tár.” Willi also earned an Oscar nomination for her work.
As previously announced, the Ace Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award, recognizing a filmmaker who exemplifies distinguished achievements in the art and business of film, will be presented to Gina Prince-Bythewood...
- 2/1/2023
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
American Cinemas Editors has cut together the nominees for its 73rd annual Ace Eddie Awards, which will be handed out next month. See the list for all 14 categories below.
Vying for the marquee prize of Best Edited Feature Film prize are the editors behind All Quiet on the Western Front, Elvis, Tár, Top Gun: Maverick and The Woman King. The Comedy Theatrical race will be among The Banshees of Inisherin, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, The Menu and Triangle of Sadness.
Related Story Gina Prince-Bythewood Set For Golden Eddie At 73rd Ace Eddie Awards, Editors Lynne Willingham & Don Zimmerman To Receive Career Achievement Honors Related Story Ace Eddie Awards 2023 Date Set; Timeline Revised – Update Related Story American Cinema Editors Condemns Oscars' Pre-Taped Category Revamp, Calls For Future Demonstration Of "Fairness And Inclusiveness"
Since the turn of the 21st century, the Eddie...
Vying for the marquee prize of Best Edited Feature Film prize are the editors behind All Quiet on the Western Front, Elvis, Tár, Top Gun: Maverick and The Woman King. The Comedy Theatrical race will be among The Banshees of Inisherin, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, The Menu and Triangle of Sadness.
Related Story Gina Prince-Bythewood Set For Golden Eddie At 73rd Ace Eddie Awards, Editors Lynne Willingham & Don Zimmerman To Receive Career Achievement Honors Related Story Ace Eddie Awards 2023 Date Set; Timeline Revised – Update Related Story American Cinema Editors Condemns Oscars' Pre-Taped Category Revamp, Calls For Future Demonstration Of "Fairness And Inclusiveness"
Since the turn of the 21st century, the Eddie...
- 2/1/2023
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Individuals confronting the might of powerful institutions. That thematic focus unites much of the work of documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras.
The Oath, from 2010, revolved around two men — one Yemeni, the other Saudi — entangled in the Bush administration’s war on terror. The 2015 Oscar-winning documentary Citizenfour centered on cyber intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who exposed top-secret details of the Nsa’s global surveillance program. Poitras returns to the Oscar race this year with All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, her film about artist Nan Goldin, who confronted the powerful Sackler family, billionaire owners of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma.
Goldin became addicted to Purdue’s signature drug and later founded the organization Pain to shame museums into cutting ties with the Sacklers, who burnished their name by donating handsomely to major art institutions.
Deadline: When did you first become familiar with Nan Goldin and how did the documentary come about?
Laura Poitras...
The Oath, from 2010, revolved around two men — one Yemeni, the other Saudi — entangled in the Bush administration’s war on terror. The 2015 Oscar-winning documentary Citizenfour centered on cyber intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who exposed top-secret details of the Nsa’s global surveillance program. Poitras returns to the Oscar race this year with All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, her film about artist Nan Goldin, who confronted the powerful Sackler family, billionaire owners of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma.
Goldin became addicted to Purdue’s signature drug and later founded the organization Pain to shame museums into cutting ties with the Sacklers, who burnished their name by donating handsomely to major art institutions.
Deadline: When did you first become familiar with Nan Goldin and how did the documentary come about?
Laura Poitras...
- 12/30/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
In the early days of filming “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” nonfiction filmmaker Laura Poitras didn’t have a clear grasp on what the shape of her latest documentary would be, but she was clear what her portrait of famed artist and activist Nan Goldin wouldn’t be.
“We weren’t gonna make a biography,” Poitras told IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “One thing I try to do as a filmmaker is to not hear the story that people repeat about their life over and over. We all do that. We all tell a story and we go into a kind of a mode of repeating, but how could it feel in the present in a really meaningful way.”
While Poitras filmed Goldin risking her career by challenging global art institutions to cut ties with the Sackler family — major philanthropic donors who fueled the opioid epidemic through the manufacturing...
“We weren’t gonna make a biography,” Poitras told IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “One thing I try to do as a filmmaker is to not hear the story that people repeat about their life over and over. We all do that. We all tell a story and we go into a kind of a mode of repeating, but how could it feel in the present in a really meaningful way.”
While Poitras filmed Goldin risking her career by challenging global art institutions to cut ties with the Sackler family — major philanthropic donors who fueled the opioid epidemic through the manufacturing...
- 12/16/2022
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Nan Goldin never held back on sharing her life; it’s her artistic signature. The photographer’s 1986 slide show “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” presaged her rise in the Downtown New York art world by revealing the drugs and sex and abuse in her own life, as well as those of her friends.
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” began when Goldin sought a producer for a documentary she was making. A recovering OxyContin addict, Goldin launched advocacy group Prescription Addiction Intervention Now (P.A.I.N.) and wanted to complete a film about its art-museum protests against Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family. With protests at The Met, The Guggenheim, The Louvre, and other art institutions, P.A.I.N. demanded that the museums stop accepting Sackler money and take their names off their walls.
Goldin wanted Poitras to tell the story of P.A.I.N. — but Poitras...
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” began when Goldin sought a producer for a documentary she was making. A recovering OxyContin addict, Goldin launched advocacy group Prescription Addiction Intervention Now (P.A.I.N.) and wanted to complete a film about its art-museum protests against Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family. With protests at The Met, The Guggenheim, The Louvre, and other art institutions, P.A.I.N. demanded that the museums stop accepting Sackler money and take their names off their walls.
Goldin wanted Poitras to tell the story of P.A.I.N. — but Poitras...
- 11/22/2022
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Mubi has recently wrapped production on Zia Anger’s feature film debut, My First Film, starring Odessa Young and Devon Ross.
The film is an adaptation of Anger’s critically acclaimed live cinema performance piece of the same name.
Related Story Park Chan-wook On How A Language Barrier Became "Central Element" Of His Film – Contenders L.A. Related Story Mubi Founder Efe Çakarel Talks Strategy Behind 'Decision To Leave' Acquisition – Toronto Industry Talk Related Story Canadian Director Patricia Rozema's Early Films Enjoy Revival As Kino Lorber, Mubi Take Rights To 4K Restorations
The movie is a deeply personal examination of cinema, body, truth and storytelling, centering on a young filmmaker (Odessa Young) as she recounts the story of struggling to make her first feature. Fact bleeds into fiction, and the past, present, and future converge to create a modern myth that redefines and expands the very act of creation.
The film is an adaptation of Anger’s critically acclaimed live cinema performance piece of the same name.
Related Story Park Chan-wook On How A Language Barrier Became "Central Element" Of His Film – Contenders L.A. Related Story Mubi Founder Efe Çakarel Talks Strategy Behind 'Decision To Leave' Acquisition – Toronto Industry Talk Related Story Canadian Director Patricia Rozema's Early Films Enjoy Revival As Kino Lorber, Mubi Take Rights To 4K Restorations
The movie is a deeply personal examination of cinema, body, truth and storytelling, centering on a young filmmaker (Odessa Young) as she recounts the story of struggling to make her first feature. Fact bleeds into fiction, and the past, present, and future converge to create a modern myth that redefines and expands the very act of creation.
- 11/21/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
The Cinema Eye Honors has announced the full slate of nominees for its 16th Annual Awards Ceremony meant to recognize outstanding artistry and craft in nonfiction filmmaking.
Two National Geographic films — Sara Dosa’s “Fire of Love” and Alex Pritz’s “The Territory”— not only led all nominees with seven nominations (including Outstanding Nonfiction Feature for both), but tied the record for most nominations in a single year. Next in line is the Cannes-winning feature, “All That Breathes,” directed by Shaunak Sen, which got six nominations. The Laura Poitras-directed documentary “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” and Payal Kapadia’s “A Night of Knowing Nothing” followed with four nominations.
This year’s awards mark the first time in Cinema Eye history that five women were nominated for Outstanding Direction, with “Beba” director Rebeca Huntt and “Descendant” filmmaker Margaret Brown joining Sara Dosa, Payal Kapadia, Laura Poitras, and Shaunak Sen in the category.
Two National Geographic films — Sara Dosa’s “Fire of Love” and Alex Pritz’s “The Territory”— not only led all nominees with seven nominations (including Outstanding Nonfiction Feature for both), but tied the record for most nominations in a single year. Next in line is the Cannes-winning feature, “All That Breathes,” directed by Shaunak Sen, which got six nominations. The Laura Poitras-directed documentary “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” and Payal Kapadia’s “A Night of Knowing Nothing” followed with four nominations.
This year’s awards mark the first time in Cinema Eye history that five women were nominated for Outstanding Direction, with “Beba” director Rebeca Huntt and “Descendant” filmmaker Margaret Brown joining Sara Dosa, Payal Kapadia, Laura Poitras, and Shaunak Sen in the category.
- 11/10/2022
- by Marcus Jones
- Indiewire
“Fire of Love” and “The Territory” led all films in nominations for the 16th annual Cinema Eye Honors, awards that were established in 2007 to honor all aspects of nonfiction filmmaking.
“Fire of Love” is a documentary from Sara Dosa about scientists Katia and Maurice Krafft, set against the volcanoes they spent much of their lives studying; “The Territory” is director Alex Pritz’s look at an indigenous Brazilian tribe threatened by deforestation. Both films received seven nominations, tying the record for the most Cinema Eye noms in a single year.
Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes” received six nominations, while Laura Poitras’ “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” and Payal Kapadia’s “A Night of Knowing Nothing” each received four.
In the Outstanding Nonfiction Feature category, those five films were joined by Daniel Roher’s “Navalny.”
Also Read:
‘Fire of Love,’ ‘Good Night Oppy’ Lead Critics Choice Documentary Awards Nominations...
“Fire of Love” is a documentary from Sara Dosa about scientists Katia and Maurice Krafft, set against the volcanoes they spent much of their lives studying; “The Territory” is director Alex Pritz’s look at an indigenous Brazilian tribe threatened by deforestation. Both films received seven nominations, tying the record for the most Cinema Eye noms in a single year.
Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes” received six nominations, while Laura Poitras’ “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” and Payal Kapadia’s “A Night of Knowing Nothing” each received four.
In the Outstanding Nonfiction Feature category, those five films were joined by Daniel Roher’s “Navalny.”
Also Read:
‘Fire of Love,’ ‘Good Night Oppy’ Lead Critics Choice Documentary Awards Nominations...
- 11/10/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The Oscar prospects for Fire of Love, The Territory, and All That Breathes got a significant boost today with the announcement of the nominations for the 16th Annual Cinema Eye Honors.
Sara Dosa’s Fire of Love and Alex Pritz’s The Territory tied with a leading seven nominations apiece, while All That Breathes, from director Shaunak Sen, was recognized in half a dozen categories. Fellow Oscar contenders All the Beauty and the Bloodshed — the Venice Golden Lion winner directed by Laura Poitras — and Payal Kapadia’s A Night of Knowing Nothing earned four nominations apiece.
In the marquee category of Outstanding Nonfiction Feature, six films will go head to head at the Cinema Eye Honors: All That Breathes; All the Beauty and the Bloodshed; Fire of Love; Navalny — Daniel Roher’s documentary on Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny; A Night of Knowing Nothing, and The Territory [see the full list of nominees below].
Pritz, making his...
Sara Dosa’s Fire of Love and Alex Pritz’s The Territory tied with a leading seven nominations apiece, while All That Breathes, from director Shaunak Sen, was recognized in half a dozen categories. Fellow Oscar contenders All the Beauty and the Bloodshed — the Venice Golden Lion winner directed by Laura Poitras — and Payal Kapadia’s A Night of Knowing Nothing earned four nominations apiece.
In the marquee category of Outstanding Nonfiction Feature, six films will go head to head at the Cinema Eye Honors: All That Breathes; All the Beauty and the Bloodshed; Fire of Love; Navalny — Daniel Roher’s documentary on Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny; A Night of Knowing Nothing, and The Territory [see the full list of nominees below].
Pritz, making his...
- 11/10/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Fire of Love and The Territory landed a field-leading seven mentions, including best feature, in the Cinema Eye Honors nominations, which were announced Thursday.
The Ceh organization, which celebrates nonfiction work on screens big and small, also nominated All That Breathes (six noms), All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (four noms), Navalny (three noms) and A Night of Knowing Nothing (four noms) for its top honor.
Meanwhile, in the directing category, an unprecedented five of the six nominees are women: Laura Poitras (All the Beauty and the Bloodshed), Rebecca Huntt (Beba), Margaret Brown (Descendant), Sara Dosa (Fire of Love) and Payal Kapadia (A Night of Knowing Nothing). The sixth nominee is Shaunak Sen (All That Breathes).
Poitras, with her noms for feature and direction, ties Steve James for the most Ceh noms of all time, with 13.
Alex Pritz has the most individual noms this year,...
Fire of Love and The Territory landed a field-leading seven mentions, including best feature, in the Cinema Eye Honors nominations, which were announced Thursday.
The Ceh organization, which celebrates nonfiction work on screens big and small, also nominated All That Breathes (six noms), All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (four noms), Navalny (three noms) and A Night of Knowing Nothing (four noms) for its top honor.
Meanwhile, in the directing category, an unprecedented five of the six nominees are women: Laura Poitras (All the Beauty and the Bloodshed), Rebecca Huntt (Beba), Margaret Brown (Descendant), Sara Dosa (Fire of Love) and Payal Kapadia (A Night of Knowing Nothing). The sixth nominee is Shaunak Sen (All That Breathes).
Poitras, with her noms for feature and direction, ties Steve James for the most Ceh noms of all time, with 13.
Alex Pritz has the most individual noms this year,...
- 11/10/2022
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
More than her urgently and perceptively topical subject matter, American documentarian Laura Poitras has a habit, and penchant, not solely for making work about the right things, but in being there as they’re occurring, standing in the center of them unafraid. It’s not a documentary filmmaking language where you can carefully compose, refocus, and reframe a shot; it’s “start rolling and go,” and maybe hide it under your arm in case there’s some brute who might smash your camera and its Sd card. You can call this predominantly a journalistic skill: there she was in June 2013, flanked by the Guardian‘s Glenn Greenwald (now did his story turn elsewhere) and Ewen MacAskill, before legendary Nsa whistleblower Edward Snowden in her documentary Citizenfour—a vital audiovisual documenter of contemporary radical US history.
Turning even further towards domestic affairs—after 2017’s Risk couldn’t quite find the necessary...
Turning even further towards domestic affairs—after 2017’s Risk couldn’t quite find the necessary...
- 9/7/2022
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
Karim Kassem’s ‘Octopus’ won best film in the Envision Competition.
Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa’s Mr Landsbergis has won the €15,000 best film award of the International Competition at International Documentary Film Fesival Amsterdam (IDFA) tonight (Thursday November 25).
The four-hour documentary is about inspirational Lithuanian political leader Vytautas Landsbergis, who led the country to freedom at the end of the Soviet era.The prize comes just six months after Loznitza’s other film of 2021, Babi Yar. Context, won the the Golden Eye Award.
“It is not easy to bring history to life. It is even more difficult to make it thrilling,...
Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa’s Mr Landsbergis has won the €15,000 best film award of the International Competition at International Documentary Film Fesival Amsterdam (IDFA) tonight (Thursday November 25).
The four-hour documentary is about inspirational Lithuanian political leader Vytautas Landsbergis, who led the country to freedom at the end of the Soviet era.The prize comes just six months after Loznitza’s other film of 2021, Babi Yar. Context, won the the Golden Eye Award.
“It is not easy to bring history to life. It is even more difficult to make it thrilling,...
- 11/26/2021
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Karim Kassem’s ‘Octopus’ won best film in the Envision Competition.
Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitza’s Mr Landsbergis has won the €15,000 best film award of the International Competition at International Documentary Film Fesival Amsterdam (IDFA) tonight (Thursday November 25).
The four-hour documentary is about inspirational Lithuanian political leader Vytautas Landsbergis, who led the country to freedom at the end of the Soviet era.The prize comes just six months after Loznitza’s other film of 2021, Babi Yar. Context, won the the Golden Eye Award.
“It is not easy to bring history to life. It is even more difficult to make it thrilling,...
Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitza’s Mr Landsbergis has won the €15,000 best film award of the International Competition at International Documentary Film Fesival Amsterdam (IDFA) tonight (Thursday November 25).
The four-hour documentary is about inspirational Lithuanian political leader Vytautas Landsbergis, who led the country to freedom at the end of the Soviet era.The prize comes just six months after Loznitza’s other film of 2021, Babi Yar. Context, won the the Golden Eye Award.
“It is not easy to bring history to life. It is even more difficult to make it thrilling,...
- 11/25/2021
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Sergei Loznitsa’s extensive documentary “Mr. Landsbergis,” clocking in at 246 minutes and depicting Lithuania’s “singing revolution” when the country finally broke away from the Soviet Union, has won the Best Film award in the International Competition section, as well as €15,000, at documentary film festival IDFA in Amsterdam.
It marks the second 2021 release for the prolific filmmaker, who has already shown “Babi Yar. Context” at Cannes Film Festival in July. The latter film was also noticed at IDFA and granted the Beeld en Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award for Best Creative Use of Archive’s special mention.
“On every level of craft, the winning film represents a monumental achievement that fully explores the role one man, one nation, and one historical moment can play in the still-unfolding story of the global struggle for freedom and self-determination,” argued jurors Arne Birkenstock, Claire Diao, Elena Fortes, Jessica Kiang and Ryan Krivoshey, admitting that...
It marks the second 2021 release for the prolific filmmaker, who has already shown “Babi Yar. Context” at Cannes Film Festival in July. The latter film was also noticed at IDFA and granted the Beeld en Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award for Best Creative Use of Archive’s special mention.
“On every level of craft, the winning film represents a monumental achievement that fully explores the role one man, one nation, and one historical moment can play in the still-unfolding story of the global struggle for freedom and self-determination,” argued jurors Arne Birkenstock, Claire Diao, Elena Fortes, Jessica Kiang and Ryan Krivoshey, admitting that...
- 11/25/2021
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
In a year when so many international film festivals have gone dark, it comes as no surprise that, as soon as the coronavirus pandemic took hold, IDFA’s annual public performance strand—IDFA on Stage—came very close to being canceled. Ironically, however, not only did it survive to see another day, this year’s selection is bigger and more diverse than last year’s, with nine projects in its non-competitive program.
IDFA on Stage curator Jasper Hokken admits that initially, like everyone else in the festival business, he underestimated the staying power of Covid-19. “I always start the research for this program a little bit early,” he says, “because the preparation time always takes a little longer for these events. So, before the pandemic hit, I was already in touch with makers, creators and filmmakers working on these types of projects, and then, when the pandemic started to have an impact,...
IDFA on Stage curator Jasper Hokken admits that initially, like everyone else in the festival business, he underestimated the staying power of Covid-19. “I always start the research for this program a little bit early,” he says, “because the preparation time always takes a little longer for these events. So, before the pandemic hit, I was already in touch with makers, creators and filmmakers working on these types of projects, and then, when the pandemic started to have an impact,...
- 11/23/2020
- by Damon Wise
- Variety Film + TV
The forum will take place online from November 16 to 20.
New works from The Trial director Maria Ramos and The Other Side Of Everything filmmaker Mila Turajlić are among the 63 projects selected for Idfa Forum, the Dutch documentary festival’s co-production and co-financing market.
The online forum will take place from November 16 to 20.
Ramos will pitch her new investigative project Justice Under Suspicion, focusing on state rule in present-day Brazil. Her 2018 documentary The Trial debuted at Berlin, winning awards at IndieLisboa and Madrid documentary festivals.
Turajlić will present a rough cut of Serbia-France co-pro The Labudovic Reels, constructed from archive footage...
New works from The Trial director Maria Ramos and The Other Side Of Everything filmmaker Mila Turajlić are among the 63 projects selected for Idfa Forum, the Dutch documentary festival’s co-production and co-financing market.
The online forum will take place from November 16 to 20.
Ramos will pitch her new investigative project Justice Under Suspicion, focusing on state rule in present-day Brazil. Her 2018 documentary The Trial debuted at Berlin, winning awards at IndieLisboa and Madrid documentary festivals.
Turajlić will present a rough cut of Serbia-France co-pro The Labudovic Reels, constructed from archive footage...
- 10/13/2020
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
As of this date, the annual Tour de France is still scheduled to take place.
In April the organizers of the Tour de France decided to postpone the Tour de France to Saturday August 29th to Sunday September 20th 2020.
Initially scheduled to take place from the 27th June to the 19th July, the Tour de France will follow the same route, with no changes, from Nice to Paris.
In 2015, director Stephen Frears and actor Ben Foster (below), brought to the screen The Program. Inspired by the award winning book ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ by David Walsh, where Sunday Times journalist, David Walsh, at first charmed by Lance’s charisma and talent, soon began to question whether the ‘world’s greatest athlete’ was ‘clean’. Walsh sought to unveil the truth, his ensuing battle with Armstrong risked his own career, ostracized him from the cycling community and cost his paper, The Sunday Times,...
In April the organizers of the Tour de France decided to postpone the Tour de France to Saturday August 29th to Sunday September 20th 2020.
Initially scheduled to take place from the 27th June to the 19th July, the Tour de France will follow the same route, with no changes, from Nice to Paris.
In 2015, director Stephen Frears and actor Ben Foster (below), brought to the screen The Program. Inspired by the award winning book ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ by David Walsh, where Sunday Times journalist, David Walsh, at first charmed by Lance’s charisma and talent, soon began to question whether the ‘world’s greatest athlete’ was ‘clean’. Walsh sought to unveil the truth, his ensuing battle with Armstrong risked his own career, ostracized him from the cycling community and cost his paper, The Sunday Times,...
- 5/14/2020
- by Melissa Thompson
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Exclusive: Valparaiso Pictures has wrapped shooting on documentary The Toxic Pigs of Fukushima, directed by BAFTA nominee Otto Bell (The Eagle Huntress), with Emmy winner Joe Bini (You Were Never Really Here) on board to edit.
The 40-minute doc charts the destruction wrought by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 which triggered a tsunami, nuclear meltdown and mass evacuations. Through the central metaphor of radiated wild boars that now roam the region, Bell and longtime collaborator, cinematographer Simon Niblett, follow the everyday lives of a handful of citizens still struggling to make a life in the much-changed landscape.
Above we can reveal the first-look image from the film.
Los Anglees-based production firm Valparaiso fully financed with David Carrico and Adam Paulsen for Valparaiso and Bell’s Kissaki Films producing. CAA Media Finance is handling sales.
The film was in part inspired by the photographs of Toru Hanai and Yuki Iwanami,...
The 40-minute doc charts the destruction wrought by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 which triggered a tsunami, nuclear meltdown and mass evacuations. Through the central metaphor of radiated wild boars that now roam the region, Bell and longtime collaborator, cinematographer Simon Niblett, follow the everyday lives of a handful of citizens still struggling to make a life in the much-changed landscape.
Above we can reveal the first-look image from the film.
Los Anglees-based production firm Valparaiso fully financed with David Carrico and Adam Paulsen for Valparaiso and Bell’s Kissaki Films producing. CAA Media Finance is handling sales.
The film was in part inspired by the photographs of Toru Hanai and Yuki Iwanami,...
- 11/16/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s a movie-going experience that’s hard to explain to anyone who hasn’t previously seen one of nonfiction filmmaker Sam Green’s live documentaries. In his latest piece, a collaboration with the Kronos Quartet entitled “A Thousand Thoughts,” the big screen plays home to interviews and archival images that audiences would expect to see in a traditional documentary. On stage, the Kronos Quartet appear live to perform the film’s score, while Green himself narrates the film.
Green has made traditional documentaries before, like “Weather Underground,” but his live projects have been entirely conceived of and executed as purely as live events. Not only will “A Thousand Thoughts” never be available on Netflix (or anywhere else), it’s the nonfiction streaming boom that inspired Green to create these unique theatrical events.
“I’m thrilled that these days you can see so many documentaries and so many great documentaries,...
Green has made traditional documentaries before, like “Weather Underground,” but his live projects have been entirely conceived of and executed as purely as live events. Not only will “A Thousand Thoughts” never be available on Netflix (or anywhere else), it’s the nonfiction streaming boom that inspired Green to create these unique theatrical events.
“I’m thrilled that these days you can see so many documentaries and so many great documentaries,...
- 4/24/2019
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Sam Green has been making documentaries for over two decades and, to hear him tell it, he’s really hitting his stride right about now. For the past few years, the filmmaker has produced live event documentaries in which he will narrate the action in person and on stage while music is played and media is presented on a screen above.
His most recent endeavor is A Thousand Thoughts, written and directed by himself and Joe Bini. The subject here is the Kronos Quartet, the accomplished music group that’s been around since 1973, founded by violinist David Harrington. While you may know their work best from their collaborations with Clint Mansell (who can forget the score from Requiem For A Dream?), they’ve done so much more.
Ahead of the New York premiere this Thursday at The Town Hall, we had the chance to speak with Green about his work with Kronos,...
His most recent endeavor is A Thousand Thoughts, written and directed by himself and Joe Bini. The subject here is the Kronos Quartet, the accomplished music group that’s been around since 1973, founded by violinist David Harrington. While you may know their work best from their collaborations with Clint Mansell (who can forget the score from Requiem For A Dream?), they’ve done so much more.
Ahead of the New York premiere this Thursday at The Town Hall, we had the chance to speak with Green about his work with Kronos,...
- 4/23/2019
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
Trophies were handed out at the 34th edition of the Film Independent Spirit Awards with Barry Jenkins’s adaptation of James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk walking away with the most trophies including Best Feature, Best Director for Jenkins and Best Supporting Female for Regina King.
Of the three awards for Beale Street, it seems that King’s win further strengthens her chances of winning Oscar gold on Sunday considering Jenkins was snubbed for Best Director and the film didn’t make the Best Picture cut. However, the wins might work in its favor for the film’s Best Adapted Screenplay category.
Other big honorees of the evening included Boots Riley winning Best First Feature for his surreal comedy of class and race Sorry To Bother You and Glenn Close (who took her dog Pip as her date) taking home the trophy for Female Lead for her role in The Wife,...
Of the three awards for Beale Street, it seems that King’s win further strengthens her chances of winning Oscar gold on Sunday considering Jenkins was snubbed for Best Director and the film didn’t make the Best Picture cut. However, the wins might work in its favor for the film’s Best Adapted Screenplay category.
Other big honorees of the evening included Boots Riley winning Best First Feature for his surreal comedy of class and race Sorry To Bother You and Glenn Close (who took her dog Pip as her date) taking home the trophy for Female Lead for her role in The Wife,...
- 2/24/2019
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
The 2019 Independent Spirit Awards took place on a beach in Santa Monica, Calif., with Barry Jenkins’ “If Beale Street Could Talk” taking the top prize for best feature along with best director for Jenkins.
Ethan Hawke and Glenn Close took the prizes for best male lead and best female lead, respectively. Bo Burnham took the best first screenplay trophy for “Eighth Grade” and Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty won for best screenplay.
The Spirit Awards are chosen by the Film Independent’s 6200 members after an anonymous committee votes on nominations. The eligibility rules require that movies be produced in the U.S. for less than $20 million.
Keep checking back as the winners are updated live.
Best Feature
Eighth Grade
First Reformed
If Beale Street Could Talk (Winner)
Leave No Trace
You Were Never Really Here
Best Director
Debra Granik, Leave No Trace
Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk (Winner)
Tamara Jenkins,...
Ethan Hawke and Glenn Close took the prizes for best male lead and best female lead, respectively. Bo Burnham took the best first screenplay trophy for “Eighth Grade” and Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty won for best screenplay.
The Spirit Awards are chosen by the Film Independent’s 6200 members after an anonymous committee votes on nominations. The eligibility rules require that movies be produced in the U.S. for less than $20 million.
Keep checking back as the winners are updated live.
Best Feature
Eighth Grade
First Reformed
If Beale Street Could Talk (Winner)
Leave No Trace
You Were Never Really Here
Best Director
Debra Granik, Leave No Trace
Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk (Winner)
Tamara Jenkins,...
- 2/23/2019
- by Variety Staff
- Variety Film + TV
The Film Independent Spirit Awards have come to a close in sunny Santa Monica, with “If Beale Street Could Talk” winning Best Feature, Best Director for Barry Jenkins, and Best Supporting Female for Regina King. The love was spread fairly evenly across the other major prizes, with Glenn Close of “The Wife” taking home Best Actress, Ethan Hawke earning Best Actor for his performance in “First Reformed,” and “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” winning Best Screenplay (Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty) and Best Supporting Male (Richard E. Grant).
“We the Animals” led all films with five nominations, followed by “Eighth Grade,” “First Reformed,” and “You Were Never Really Here” with four apiece. There will be excitingly little overlap between today’s ceremony and tomorrow’s — for the first time since 2008, no movies are up for the top prize at both shows.
Aubrey Plaza hosted the ceremony, which aired on IFC. Full...
“We the Animals” led all films with five nominations, followed by “Eighth Grade,” “First Reformed,” and “You Were Never Really Here” with four apiece. There will be excitingly little overlap between today’s ceremony and tomorrow’s — for the first time since 2008, no movies are up for the top prize at both shows.
Aubrey Plaza hosted the ceremony, which aired on IFC. Full...
- 2/23/2019
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Can You Ever Forgive Me? wins two, including best supporting male for Richard E. Grant.
If Beale Street Could Talk was named best feature at Saturday’s (23) 34th Film Independent Spirit Awards as the drama’s best director winner Barry Jenkins delivered an impassioned plea urging Hollywood to champion more female filmmakers.
Jenkins noted how his star Regina King – who claimed the best supporting female prize – had remarked how women make up four percent of studio directors, yet accounted for 44% of directors at Sundance, and six percent of directors nominated for the Spirit Award
“I want to look at this room,...
If Beale Street Could Talk was named best feature at Saturday’s (23) 34th Film Independent Spirit Awards as the drama’s best director winner Barry Jenkins delivered an impassioned plea urging Hollywood to champion more female filmmakers.
Jenkins noted how his star Regina King – who claimed the best supporting female prize – had remarked how women make up four percent of studio directors, yet accounted for 44% of directors at Sundance, and six percent of directors nominated for the Spirit Award
“I want to look at this room,...
- 2/23/2019
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The 2019 Independent Spirit Awards will be handed out on February 23 during an afternoon ceremony on Santa Monica. These awards often preview the winners of the Academy Awards the following day. This year, we are predicting that both actress tipped to take home Oscars will win here first: leading lady Glenn Close (“The Wife”) and supporting player Regina King (“If Beale Street Could Talk”). But for the first time in a decade, none of the five films up for Best Feature here number among the nominees for Best Picture at the Oscars.
Scroll down to see the full list of Indie Spirits nominations. This roster of contenders was determined by committees that included film critics, film programmers, producers, directors, writers, cinematographers, editors, actors, past nominees and winners, and members of Film Independent’s Board of Directors. Only American-made movies with budgets under $20 million were eligible for consideration.
Winners will be revealed...
Scroll down to see the full list of Indie Spirits nominations. This roster of contenders was determined by committees that included film critics, film programmers, producers, directors, writers, cinematographers, editors, actors, past nominees and winners, and members of Film Independent’s Board of Directors. Only American-made movies with budgets under $20 million were eligible for consideration.
Winners will be revealed...
- 2/23/2019
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
This evening the 2019 Critics Circle Award were held at the May Fair Hotel in London. Each year the ceremony brings together the finest in modern film and 2019 continues to focus a wider spotlight than the glitzier events.
Yorgos Lanthimos’ cruelty-saoked period drama The Favourite is rightly, well – the favourite for many of the awards. Paweł Pawlikowski’s Cold War joins Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here, Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma and Rupert Everett’s The Happy Prince with five nominations apiece.
As well as the winners (indicated in Bold) below we were on the red carpet to speak with the nominees and guests at the event.
We spoke to Richard E. Grant (Star Wars Episode IX), Anya Taylor-Joy, Fionn Whitehead (Back Mirror Bandersnatch, Dunkirk & many more this evening the 2019 Critics Circle Award, which were held at the May Fair Hotel in London. Each year the ceremony brings together...
Yorgos Lanthimos’ cruelty-saoked period drama The Favourite is rightly, well – the favourite for many of the awards. Paweł Pawlikowski’s Cold War joins Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here, Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma and Rupert Everett’s The Happy Prince with five nominations apiece.
As well as the winners (indicated in Bold) below we were on the red carpet to speak with the nominees and guests at the event.
We spoke to Richard E. Grant (Star Wars Episode IX), Anya Taylor-Joy, Fionn Whitehead (Back Mirror Bandersnatch, Dunkirk & many more this evening the 2019 Critics Circle Award, which were held at the May Fair Hotel in London. Each year the ceremony brings together...
- 1/20/2019
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The Sundance Film Festival is launching a new program to offer industry mentoring to under-represented and indie creators, the festival announced Tuesday.
Based out of Park City, Utah’s Kimball Art Center, the program will include focused mentoring for filmmakers, writers, producers, and beyond, as well as keynote events with “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler and a conversation with top nonfiction filmmakers about a banner 2018 for docs.
“We’re eager to unfold this first edition and convene our vibrant community. While the Institute continues to encourage artists to find their voices, it takes the dedicated support of our industry colleagues to carry those voices out into the world,” said the Sundance Institute’s Anne Lai, Caroline Libresco, and John Nein in a joint statement.
The forum is an expansion of programming at the nonprofit institute. Members of the group’s signature artist development labs and fellowships will showcase new work to industry attendees,...
Based out of Park City, Utah’s Kimball Art Center, the program will include focused mentoring for filmmakers, writers, producers, and beyond, as well as keynote events with “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler and a conversation with top nonfiction filmmakers about a banner 2018 for docs.
“We’re eager to unfold this first edition and convene our vibrant community. While the Institute continues to encourage artists to find their voices, it takes the dedicated support of our industry colleagues to carry those voices out into the world,” said the Sundance Institute’s Anne Lai, Caroline Libresco, and John Nein in a joint statement.
The forum is an expansion of programming at the nonprofit institute. Members of the group’s signature artist development labs and fellowships will showcase new work to industry attendees,...
- 1/15/2019
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
“Black Panther” filmmaker Ryan Coogler will lead a keynote conversation as part of a new program to be held at Sundance called the Talent Forum, the Sundance Institute announced Tuesday.
“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” director Morgan Neville is also among some of the speakers who will participate at a keynote panel discussion.
The Talent Forum is a new event for creators and industry professionals at the Sundance Film Festival in which emerging talent from the Institute’s Labs and Fellowships will gather, present new work, attend screenings, keynote conversations and seminars, and engage in one-on-one meetings with other talent and professionals designed to support the artist.
Also Read: Jordan Peele, Rosamund Pike, Steven Soderbergh Projects Announced for 2019 Sundance Indie Episodic, Shorts Slate
The new program kicks off Jan. 29-31 at the Kimball Art Center in Park City, Utah.
Coogler will sit down with New York Times journalist and...
“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” director Morgan Neville is also among some of the speakers who will participate at a keynote panel discussion.
The Talent Forum is a new event for creators and industry professionals at the Sundance Film Festival in which emerging talent from the Institute’s Labs and Fellowships will gather, present new work, attend screenings, keynote conversations and seminars, and engage in one-on-one meetings with other talent and professionals designed to support the artist.
Also Read: Jordan Peele, Rosamund Pike, Steven Soderbergh Projects Announced for 2019 Sundance Indie Episodic, Shorts Slate
The new program kicks off Jan. 29-31 at the Kimball Art Center in Park City, Utah.
Coogler will sit down with New York Times journalist and...
- 1/15/2019
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
The 2019 Film Independent Spirit Awards have revealed their nominations. Leading the pack is Jeremiah Zagar’s Malickian coming-of-age tale We the Animals, which nabbed five nods, while grabbing four each were Paul Schrader’s First Reformed, Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade and Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here. Rounding out the Best Feature category was If Beale Street Could Talk and Leave No Trace.
Some of our favourite performances of the year, including Helena Howard, Regina Hall, Carey Mulligan, Richard E. Grant, and Ethan Hawke got nods in their respective categories. Suspiria earned the Robert Altman Award for its ensemble. The Favourite and Roma, which were only eligible for Best International Film, earned nods in that category alongside Burning, Happy as Lazzaro, and Shoplifters.
Check out the nomination list below ahead of a February 23 ceremony.
Best Feature
Eighth Grade
First Reformed
If Beale Street Could Talk
Leave No...
Some of our favourite performances of the year, including Helena Howard, Regina Hall, Carey Mulligan, Richard E. Grant, and Ethan Hawke got nods in their respective categories. Suspiria earned the Robert Altman Award for its ensemble. The Favourite and Roma, which were only eligible for Best International Film, earned nods in that category alongside Burning, Happy as Lazzaro, and Shoplifters.
Check out the nomination list below ahead of a February 23 ceremony.
Best Feature
Eighth Grade
First Reformed
If Beale Street Could Talk
Leave No...
- 11/17/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Roma, The Favourite nominated for best international film.
We The Animals earned five nominations for the upcoming 2019 Spirit Awards, while You Were Never Really Here, First Reformed and Eighth Grade led the field in major categories on four apiece.
You Were Never Really Here, First Reformed and Eighth Grade are up for best feature, alongside Leave No Trace and If Beale Street Could Talk, both of which earned three nods.
We The Animals is in contention for cinematography, editing, first feature, supporting male, and the Someone To Watch Award.
You Were Never Really Here is also in contention for director Lynne Ramsay,...
We The Animals earned five nominations for the upcoming 2019 Spirit Awards, while You Were Never Really Here, First Reformed and Eighth Grade led the field in major categories on four apiece.
You Were Never Really Here, First Reformed and Eighth Grade are up for best feature, alongside Leave No Trace and If Beale Street Could Talk, both of which earned three nods.
We The Animals is in contention for cinematography, editing, first feature, supporting male, and the Someone To Watch Award.
You Were Never Really Here is also in contention for director Lynne Ramsay,...
- 11/16/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Roma, The Favourite nominated for best international film.
We The Animals earned five nominations for the upcoming 2019 Spirit Awards, while You Were Never Really Here, First Reformed and Eighth Grade led the field in major categories on four apiece.
You Were Never Really Here, First Reformed and Eighth Grade are up for best feature, alongside Leave No Trace and If Beale Street Could Talk, both of which earned three nods.
We The Animals is in contention for cinematography, editing, first feature, supporting male, and the Someone To Watch Award.
You Were Never Really Here is also in contention for director Lynne Ramsay,...
We The Animals earned five nominations for the upcoming 2019 Spirit Awards, while You Were Never Really Here, First Reformed and Eighth Grade led the field in major categories on four apiece.
You Were Never Really Here, First Reformed and Eighth Grade are up for best feature, alongside Leave No Trace and If Beale Street Could Talk, both of which earned three nods.
We The Animals is in contention for cinematography, editing, first feature, supporting male, and the Someone To Watch Award.
You Were Never Really Here is also in contention for director Lynne Ramsay,...
- 11/16/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Roma, The Favourite nominated for best international film.
We The Animals earned five 2019 Spirit Awards nominations on Friday (16), while You Were Never Really Here, First Reformed and Eighth Grade led the field in major categories on four apiece.
You Were Never Really Here, First Reformed and Eighth Grade are up for best feature, alongside Leave No Trace, and If Beale Street Could Talk, both of which earned three nods on the day.
We The Animals is in contention for cinematography, editing, first feature, supporting male, and the Someone To Watch Award.
You Were Never Really Here is also contention for director Lynne Ramsay,...
We The Animals earned five 2019 Spirit Awards nominations on Friday (16), while You Were Never Really Here, First Reformed and Eighth Grade led the field in major categories on four apiece.
You Were Never Really Here, First Reformed and Eighth Grade are up for best feature, alongside Leave No Trace, and If Beale Street Could Talk, both of which earned three nods on the day.
We The Animals is in contention for cinematography, editing, first feature, supporting male, and the Someone To Watch Award.
You Were Never Really Here is also contention for director Lynne Ramsay,...
- 11/16/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Roma, The Favourite nominated for best international film.
You Were Never Really Here and First Reformed led the 2019 Spirit Awards announced in Los Angeles on Friday (16), earning four nods apiece.
Both films are up for best feature, alongside Leave No Trace, If Beale Street Could Talk, and Eighth Grade.
You Were Never Really Here is also contention for director Lynne Ramsay, lead male Joaquin Phoenix, and editor Joe Bini while First Reformed earned additional nods for Paul Schrader in the director and screenplay categories, and Ethan Hawke for male lead.
Leave No Trace is nominated for director Debra Granik and supporting female Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie,...
You Were Never Really Here and First Reformed led the 2019 Spirit Awards announced in Los Angeles on Friday (16), earning four nods apiece.
Both films are up for best feature, alongside Leave No Trace, If Beale Street Could Talk, and Eighth Grade.
You Were Never Really Here is also contention for director Lynne Ramsay, lead male Joaquin Phoenix, and editor Joe Bini while First Reformed earned additional nods for Paul Schrader in the director and screenplay categories, and Ethan Hawke for male lead.
Leave No Trace is nominated for director Debra Granik and supporting female Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie,...
- 11/16/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Coming-of-age drama “We the Animals” has scored a leading five Spirit Awards nominations, with “Eighth Grade,” “First Reformed,” and “You Were Never Really Here” taking four each.
The nominees for best feature are “Eighth Grade,” “First Reformed,” “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “Leave No Trace,” and “You Were Never Really Here.”
“We the Animals” received nominations for best first feature, best supporting male actor for Raul Castillo, cinematography, editing, and the Someone to Watch award for Jeremiah Zagar, who directed and adapted the script from Justin Torres’ debut novel of the same name. The movie, which focuses on a mixed-race family in upstate New York, opened at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Bo Burnham’s comedy-drama “Eighth Grade” took nods for feature, first feature, actress for Elsie Fisher, and supporting male actor for Josh Hamilton. “First Reformed” landed noms for feature, director and screenplay for Paul Schrader, and male lead for Ethan Hawke.
The nominees for best feature are “Eighth Grade,” “First Reformed,” “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “Leave No Trace,” and “You Were Never Really Here.”
“We the Animals” received nominations for best first feature, best supporting male actor for Raul Castillo, cinematography, editing, and the Someone to Watch award for Jeremiah Zagar, who directed and adapted the script from Justin Torres’ debut novel of the same name. The movie, which focuses on a mixed-race family in upstate New York, opened at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Bo Burnham’s comedy-drama “Eighth Grade” took nods for feature, first feature, actress for Elsie Fisher, and supporting male actor for Josh Hamilton. “First Reformed” landed noms for feature, director and screenplay for Paul Schrader, and male lead for Ethan Hawke.
- 11/16/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
The Film Independent Spirit Awards announced their 2019 nominations on Friday, November 16. So who made the cut at these kudos, which celebrate the best in American independent films? Scroll down to see the complete list.
These Spirit contenders were decided by nominating committees that included film critics, film programmers, producers, directors, writers, cinematographers, editors, actors, past nominees and winners, and members of Film Independent’s Board of Directors. The winners will be chosen by all of Film Independent’s eligible members, including industry insiders and any movie fans who sign up for membership starting at $95 per year.
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Eligible films must be American productions with budgets within $20 million, which this year excluded awards contenders like “Vice,” “Mary Queen of Scots,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “The Hate U Give,” “Widows,” “Beautiful Boy” and “Black Panther,” among others. Additional titles like “Roma,” “22 July” and “The Favourite...
These Spirit contenders were decided by nominating committees that included film critics, film programmers, producers, directors, writers, cinematographers, editors, actors, past nominees and winners, and members of Film Independent’s Board of Directors. The winners will be chosen by all of Film Independent’s eligible members, including industry insiders and any movie fans who sign up for membership starting at $95 per year.
Sign UPfor Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions
Eligible films must be American productions with budgets within $20 million, which this year excluded awards contenders like “Vice,” “Mary Queen of Scots,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “The Hate U Give,” “Widows,” “Beautiful Boy” and “Black Panther,” among others. Additional titles like “Roma,” “22 July” and “The Favourite...
- 11/16/2018
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
The nominations for the 34th Independent Spirit Awards were announced live this afternoon, setting the stage for the awards season with a decidedly indie bent. Over the last several years, the Indie Spirits have become both a champion of underdog indies and a key indicator in which films and performances could end up with the Oscar.
Some of the year’s biggest titles are, however, not eligible for this year’s Indie Spirits per their rules, including “Vice,” “The Sisters Brothers,” and “Mary Queen of Scots,” while Alfonso Cuarón’s lauded “Roma” only qualifies for Best International Film.
Favorites like “Eighth Grade” and “First Reformed” dominated the big categories, with each film earning four nominations, including Best Feature for both, Best Actress for “Eighth Grade” lead Elsie Fisher, and Best Actor for “First Reformed” star Ethan Hawke. “We the Animals” led the entire field with five total noms. A number...
Some of the year’s biggest titles are, however, not eligible for this year’s Indie Spirits per their rules, including “Vice,” “The Sisters Brothers,” and “Mary Queen of Scots,” while Alfonso Cuarón’s lauded “Roma” only qualifies for Best International Film.
Favorites like “Eighth Grade” and “First Reformed” dominated the big categories, with each film earning four nominations, including Best Feature for both, Best Actress for “Eighth Grade” lead Elsie Fisher, and Best Actor for “First Reformed” star Ethan Hawke. “We the Animals” led the entire field with five total noms. A number...
- 11/16/2018
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
At this point, the winkingly irreverent shaggy-dog potboiler is as firmly established a genre as the hard-boiled stories it tries to subvert. Robert Altman kicked things off with 1973’s “The Long Goodbye,” his riff on a bewildered Philip Marlowe in the Age of Aquarius, and the Coens later took that baton and ran it up to summit of Cult Film Mountain with “The Big Lebowski,” leaving plenty of imitators trailing behind and inspiring plenty more in the two decades since.
So what’s a 2018 release to do? How can one further twist and turn the hardboiled-detective genre in a world where The Dude reigns and abides?
Scottish director Lynne Ramsay (“We Need to Talk About Kevin”) offers that question her elliptical and brutal answer in “You Were Never Really Here,” a film that presents an unfamiliar spin on this well-known style and does so with equal parts surgical precision and Mack Truck force. Still, for all of its meticulous construction and often masterful craft, the film remains something to coldly admire rather than easily embrace, often playing more as a collection of accomplished filmmaking moments than as a fully enthralling whole.
Also Read: Will Ferrell Calls Joaquin Phoenix a 'Little Bitch' and 8 Other Hilarious Interview Magazine Highlights
Adapting Jonathan Ames’ 2013 novella, that was itself a sideways riff on noir-ish detective fiction, writer-director Ramsay picks up that genre-slanting approach and moves it even further afield. Instead of subverting hard-boiled structure — where a jaded old-timer accepts a seemingly open-and-shut case, only to be ensnared in a wider web of corruption — “You Were Never Really Here” readily adopts it, but tells that recognizable tale with terse abstraction tied to the lead character’s fractured point-of-view.
That is to say, if you’re trying to make sense of the story, which is both clear-cut and oblique, you’re entirely missing the point. It doesn’t matter that hired muscle Joe (Joaquin Phoenix, in leonine bearded majesty) uncovers a wider ring of corruption and pedophilia when sent to rescue the missing daughter of a New York State Senator. What matters is that this hirsute veteran is mentally and physically scarred, that he — our unreliable narrator — suffers from a debilitating case of Ptsd forged from a childhood of abuse and a career witnessing horrors in the military and FBI.
Also Read: Would Joaquin Phoenix Play The Joker? 'It Depends,' He Says
His trauma, and self-obliterating response to said trauma, frames his every waking moment. Under Ramsay and editor Joe Bini’s tightly coiled assembly, those same pathologies also shape the film’s form, so that the narrative content of any given interaction takes a backseat to the anguished mental landscape of the protagonist experiencing it. So really, it makes no difference if Joe is in a drug den or a diner, he lives each instant with the same twinging unease — and so too will the viewer.
(The version of this film currently opening in U.S. theaters is, incidentally, slightly expanded from the one that premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.)
While other film noir riffs might lob an unconventional cast of characters (as did the Coens) or employ cultural anachronisms (as did Altman) in order to shake things up, here the plot moves through the familiar film-noir motions while using film craft to effectively blur them out. Discordant flashbacks and flash-forwards, cut like synapses firing and set to Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood’s warping, nervous score, become the focal point of any given scene.
Also Read: 'Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot' Film Review: Joaquin Phoenix Shines in Disjointed Drama
Indeed, the film’s jangly, jagged-edge rhythm becomes its very narrative backbone. In that sense, the film is less interested in goofing on the detective genre than it is in undermining the genre itself; Joe could just as well be sleepwalking through a sweeping MGM musical or a light romantic comedy, and he’d experience the situations the same way.
Ramsay runs with that idea, often finding a number of unfamiliar notes to play in a series of otherwise common set-ups. In one standout sequence, after Joe realizes that a man he shot is not yet dead, he offers the expiring man a painkiller, and then gets alongside his victim on the ground. The two men then quietly listen to the pop music playing on the radio while one of them bleeds his life away.
Though such notes of grace make “You Were Never Really Here” stand out, they are few and far between in what is an otherwise grimly violent and willfully oblique tour through one fellow’s harrowed psyche. That the film can so quickly and so effectively establish Joe’s frenzied demons and numbed emotions is an absolute testament to the care and quality of filmmaking at hand. That the film leads you onto such stormy waters so quickly, and then lets the tempest roar without much reprieve for the next 90 minutes, means that for others, such an uncompromising and unvarying approach might offer little beyond the sum of its parts.
Read original story ‘You Were Never Really Here’ Film Review: Stylish Psychological Thriller Falls a Bit Short on Substance At TheWrap...
So what’s a 2018 release to do? How can one further twist and turn the hardboiled-detective genre in a world where The Dude reigns and abides?
Scottish director Lynne Ramsay (“We Need to Talk About Kevin”) offers that question her elliptical and brutal answer in “You Were Never Really Here,” a film that presents an unfamiliar spin on this well-known style and does so with equal parts surgical precision and Mack Truck force. Still, for all of its meticulous construction and often masterful craft, the film remains something to coldly admire rather than easily embrace, often playing more as a collection of accomplished filmmaking moments than as a fully enthralling whole.
Also Read: Will Ferrell Calls Joaquin Phoenix a 'Little Bitch' and 8 Other Hilarious Interview Magazine Highlights
Adapting Jonathan Ames’ 2013 novella, that was itself a sideways riff on noir-ish detective fiction, writer-director Ramsay picks up that genre-slanting approach and moves it even further afield. Instead of subverting hard-boiled structure — where a jaded old-timer accepts a seemingly open-and-shut case, only to be ensnared in a wider web of corruption — “You Were Never Really Here” readily adopts it, but tells that recognizable tale with terse abstraction tied to the lead character’s fractured point-of-view.
That is to say, if you’re trying to make sense of the story, which is both clear-cut and oblique, you’re entirely missing the point. It doesn’t matter that hired muscle Joe (Joaquin Phoenix, in leonine bearded majesty) uncovers a wider ring of corruption and pedophilia when sent to rescue the missing daughter of a New York State Senator. What matters is that this hirsute veteran is mentally and physically scarred, that he — our unreliable narrator — suffers from a debilitating case of Ptsd forged from a childhood of abuse and a career witnessing horrors in the military and FBI.
Also Read: Would Joaquin Phoenix Play The Joker? 'It Depends,' He Says
His trauma, and self-obliterating response to said trauma, frames his every waking moment. Under Ramsay and editor Joe Bini’s tightly coiled assembly, those same pathologies also shape the film’s form, so that the narrative content of any given interaction takes a backseat to the anguished mental landscape of the protagonist experiencing it. So really, it makes no difference if Joe is in a drug den or a diner, he lives each instant with the same twinging unease — and so too will the viewer.
(The version of this film currently opening in U.S. theaters is, incidentally, slightly expanded from the one that premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.)
While other film noir riffs might lob an unconventional cast of characters (as did the Coens) or employ cultural anachronisms (as did Altman) in order to shake things up, here the plot moves through the familiar film-noir motions while using film craft to effectively blur them out. Discordant flashbacks and flash-forwards, cut like synapses firing and set to Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood’s warping, nervous score, become the focal point of any given scene.
Also Read: 'Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot' Film Review: Joaquin Phoenix Shines in Disjointed Drama
Indeed, the film’s jangly, jagged-edge rhythm becomes its very narrative backbone. In that sense, the film is less interested in goofing on the detective genre than it is in undermining the genre itself; Joe could just as well be sleepwalking through a sweeping MGM musical or a light romantic comedy, and he’d experience the situations the same way.
Ramsay runs with that idea, often finding a number of unfamiliar notes to play in a series of otherwise common set-ups. In one standout sequence, after Joe realizes that a man he shot is not yet dead, he offers the expiring man a painkiller, and then gets alongside his victim on the ground. The two men then quietly listen to the pop music playing on the radio while one of them bleeds his life away.
Though such notes of grace make “You Were Never Really Here” stand out, they are few and far between in what is an otherwise grimly violent and willfully oblique tour through one fellow’s harrowed psyche. That the film can so quickly and so effectively establish Joe’s frenzied demons and numbed emotions is an absolute testament to the care and quality of filmmaking at hand. That the film leads you onto such stormy waters so quickly, and then lets the tempest roar without much reprieve for the next 90 minutes, means that for others, such an uncompromising and unvarying approach might offer little beyond the sum of its parts.
Read original story ‘You Were Never Really Here’ Film Review: Stylish Psychological Thriller Falls a Bit Short on Substance At TheWrap...
- 4/6/2018
- by Ben Croll
- The Wrap
Lynne Ramsay’s latest film, “You Were Never Really Here,” packs a whole can of worms in its thin 89-minute running time. In the film, Joaquin Phoenix plays a war veteran who now works as a hitman. His attempt to save a young girl from a sex trafficking ring becomes very complicated once he uncovers a political conspiracy lurking beneath it. The directing and editing (courtesy of Joe Bini) are the real selling points here, as Ramsay tries an experimental approach.
- 4/4/2018
- by Jordan Ruimy
- The Playlist
Kirsten Johnson was among the most in-demand documentary DPs even before her much-celebrated 2016 film Cameraperson. Johnson has shot more than 50 films for such directors as Laura Poitras, Alex Gibney and Kirby Dick. Her latest film, A Thousand Thoughts, is a doc on the Kronos Quartet from directors Sam Green and Joe Bini. The film will be presented at Sundance as a “live documentary” with Green narrating live and the Quartet conducting the score in person. Before its premiere, Johnson spoke with Filmmaker about finding innovative ways to film a concert and how a shot from Cameraperson wound up in A […]...
- 1/21/2018
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
As the entertainment space evolves and pushes further into the technology world, including virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and other experimental works, the Sundance Film Festival is continuing to debut some of the best examples of such crossovers as part of its New Frontier section. Every year, the section aims to “offer some of the most innovative independent production and experimentation at the crossroads of film, art and technology that is being created today.” For the 2018 edition of the festival, that will include an international slate of VR, Mr, and AI.
This year, New Frontier programming will encompass three venues, including the New Frontier Exhibition at Kimball Art Center (which will host immersive dance and cutting edge VR & Mr works as well as works involving Artificial Intelligence), along with New Frontier at The Ray, which will also include The Box at New Frontier at The Ray (a 40-seat mobile VR theater...
This year, New Frontier programming will encompass three venues, including the New Frontier Exhibition at Kimball Art Center (which will host immersive dance and cutting edge VR & Mr works as well as works involving Artificial Intelligence), along with New Frontier at The Ray, which will also include The Box at New Frontier at The Ray (a 40-seat mobile VR theater...
- 12/6/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Screening at the very end of the Cannes Film Festival's competition, and rumored to have been finished the very week of its premiere, Scottish director Lynne Ramsay’s adaptation of Jonathan Ames’s novel You Were Never Really Here is a genre film so fiercely empathetic and brutally honed that its harsh impulse seems precariously mysterious. A bearded, dark-eyed Joaquin Phoenix plays a New York mercenary hired through shady means to retrieve lost girls and sex slaves, something he does with brute efficiently in baggy jeans and bulky hoody, armed only with a store-bought hammer and singular purpose. Quick flashes of traumatic memories—a technique so anarchronistic as to seem surprisingly lazy—detail the scars of the man’s psyche, damaged from abuse as a child and time both in the military and FBI—pain that rears itself in multiple flirtations with suicide throughout the picture. Utilizing his skillset for a dark but righteous purpose,...
- 5/29/2017
- MUBI
On the surface, Jonathan Ames’ You Were Never Really Here seems like an odd fit as source material for a film by Lynne Ramsay. Ames’ novella is a pulpy genre exercise about a hard-bitten vigilante, one of those lone-wolf types who abides by a strict code of ethics and practices his chosen métier with fanatic professionalism. It’s the kind of character that usually appeals to macho filmmakers such as Jean-Pierre Melville or Walter Hill, not to a poetic feminist of Ramsay’s kind. Unsurprisingly, she’s appropriated the material for her own purpose, paring down the already slender narrative and plunging deep into the tortured psychology of its protagonist. The results are breathtaking, and You Were Never Really Here stands alongside Claire Denis’ Bastards as one of the most ferocious indictments of systematic abuse of power and gender violence ever projected on a screen.
The correlation with Bastards is...
The correlation with Bastards is...
- 5/27/2017
- by Giovanni Marchini Camia
- The Film Stage
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