“Fans say they want 2015 Vince,” Vince Staples says on “Etouffée,” a track from his sixth studio album, Dark Times. While the SoCal rapper’s career is an undeniable success story, far removed from his experiences as a teenage Crip that’s inspired much of his work, he’s still haunted by the possibility that violence might lie around every corner.
The album’s cover depicts a barely visible noose against a black background, and paranoia abounds on tracks like “Government Cheese.” The song’s refrain, “Don’t forget to smile,” starts to feel like sarcasm when a dejected Staples takes a phone call from an imprisoned friend: “Told him I was good, wonder if he believed it/Couldn’t tell him the truth.” He raps in a numb monotone throughout the track, like he’s pulling the words from his mouth.
Staples’s trust issues extend to romantic relationships as well.
The album’s cover depicts a barely visible noose against a black background, and paranoia abounds on tracks like “Government Cheese.” The song’s refrain, “Don’t forget to smile,” starts to feel like sarcasm when a dejected Staples takes a phone call from an imprisoned friend: “Told him I was good, wonder if he believed it/Couldn’t tell him the truth.” He raps in a numb monotone throughout the track, like he’s pulling the words from his mouth.
Staples’s trust issues extend to romantic relationships as well.
- 5/26/2024
- by Steve Erickson
- Slant Magazine
Ten years after the release of his Def Jam debut, the Hell Can Wait EP, Vince Staples occupies an ambiguous middle-ground, stuck between platinum-certified arena status and the ephemeral virality that defines too much of the mainstream rap industry. It’s a space that he shares with a handful of others – Maxo, Rapsody, Navy Blue, his onetime Odd Future colleague Earl Sweatshirt – and which allows him to craft densely thematic musical suites on a major-label platform without the pressure of landing a radio hit. He’s made good use of...
- 5/24/2024
- by Mosi Reeves
- Rollingstone.com
New York, NY — April 15, 2024 — The 92nd Street Y, New York (92Ny), one of New York’s leading cultural venues, presents Cotton: Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano and Justin Austin, baritone on Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 7:30 pm at Kaufmann Concert Hall. Tickets start at $30 and are available at https://www.92ny.org/event/denyce-graves-and-justin-austin.
Celebrated mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, acclaimed for her riveting performances on the world’s great opera stages, her activism in support of diversity in the arts, and her championing of new music, is featured with exciting rising star baritone Justin Austin and pianist Laura Ward in the New York premiere of this immersive exploration of African American stories through song, poetry, and photography.
A poignant and powerful multidisciplinary work that speaks to the resilience of soul and psyche, Cotton is inspired by photographer John E. Dowell’s haunting images of South Carolina cotton fields – captured in his 2018 exhibit Cotton: The Soft,...
Celebrated mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, acclaimed for her riveting performances on the world’s great opera stages, her activism in support of diversity in the arts, and her championing of new music, is featured with exciting rising star baritone Justin Austin and pianist Laura Ward in the New York premiere of this immersive exploration of African American stories through song, poetry, and photography.
A poignant and powerful multidisciplinary work that speaks to the resilience of soul and psyche, Cotton is inspired by photographer John E. Dowell’s haunting images of South Carolina cotton fields – captured in his 2018 exhibit Cotton: The Soft,...
- 4/15/2024
- by Music MCM
- Martin Cid Music
Exclusive: Liliane Bedford has joined Confluential Films (Fancy Dance), the Black-founded and Black-owned banner of Tommy Oliver, as Senior Vice President of Film and Television, the company announced on Wednesday.
Bedford joins from Stacey Sher’s Shiny Penny Productions, where she served as Vice President of Development and Production. In her new role, she will help to manage the film and television development slates for Confluential, while expanding the company’s array of diverse content.
“Confluential Films has a long legacy of inclusivity and championing change, and I look forward to joining the talented team in continuing that tradition,” Bedford stated. “From the narratives they tell to the culture they promote, I cannot wait for this next chapter with Confluential Films in continuing the company’s rich history of powerful and meaningful content.”
In addition to Bedford’s appointment, Confluential Films has announced that Kay Dillard has been promoted from Film Coordinator to Creative Executive.
Bedford joins from Stacey Sher’s Shiny Penny Productions, where she served as Vice President of Development and Production. In her new role, she will help to manage the film and television development slates for Confluential, while expanding the company’s array of diverse content.
“Confluential Films has a long legacy of inclusivity and championing change, and I look forward to joining the talented team in continuing that tradition,” Bedford stated. “From the narratives they tell to the culture they promote, I cannot wait for this next chapter with Confluential Films in continuing the company’s rich history of powerful and meaningful content.”
In addition to Bedford’s appointment, Confluential Films has announced that Kay Dillard has been promoted from Film Coordinator to Creative Executive.
- 3/27/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
In late 2023, Taraji P. Henson created headlines for her outspoken candor on the press tour for The Color Purple. In various conversations supporting the Warner Bros. film — a musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, previously adapted for film in 1985 by director Steven Spielberg — Henson has tearfully relayed her frustrations as a Black woman in Hollywood.
Despite an Oscar nomination and four Emmy nods, Henson has admitted that finding roles that represent her stature as a respected leading lady still proves difficult. “The industry had me thinking I was too edgy, I’m street, I’m this, I’m that, and I ain’t Hollywood pretty. But the fight in me and my purpose, once I understood I had a purpose in this thing, I was like, ‘Oh no,'” she told The Hollywood Reporter in December. “There’s a place for me because there’s a girl...
Despite an Oscar nomination and four Emmy nods, Henson has admitted that finding roles that represent her stature as a respected leading lady still proves difficult. “The industry had me thinking I was too edgy, I’m street, I’m this, I’m that, and I ain’t Hollywood pretty. But the fight in me and my purpose, once I understood I had a purpose in this thing, I was like, ‘Oh no,'” she told The Hollywood Reporter in December. “There’s a place for me because there’s a girl...
- 1/14/2024
- by Tyler Coates
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Cinema Eye Honors announced the winners for its documentary films and series competition Friday in Manhattan, with “32 Sounds” taking the honor for outstanding nonfiction feature. Maite Alberdi won outstanding direction for “The Eternal Memory” together with Kaouther Ben Hania for “Four Daughters,” while “Paul T. Goldman” won outstanding nonfiction series.
See all the winners below:
—Outstanding Nonfiction Feature
32 Sounds
Directed by Sam Green
Produced by Josh Penn and Thomas O. Kriegsmann
—Outstanding Direction
Maite Alberdi
The Eternal Memory
Kaouther Ben Hania
Four Daughters
—Outstanding Editing
Michael Harte
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
—Outstanding Production
Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson Rath, Derl McCrudden and Vasilisa Stepanenko
20 Days in Mariupol
—Outstanding Cinematography
Ants Tammik
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood
—Outstanding Original Score
Jd Samson
32 Sounds
—Outstanding Sound Design
Mark Mangini
32 Sounds
—Outstanding Visual Design
Thomas Curtis and Sean Pierce
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
—Outstanding Debut
Kokomo...
See all the winners below:
—Outstanding Nonfiction Feature
32 Sounds
Directed by Sam Green
Produced by Josh Penn and Thomas O. Kriegsmann
—Outstanding Direction
Maite Alberdi
The Eternal Memory
Kaouther Ben Hania
Four Daughters
—Outstanding Editing
Michael Harte
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
—Outstanding Production
Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson Rath, Derl McCrudden and Vasilisa Stepanenko
20 Days in Mariupol
—Outstanding Cinematography
Ants Tammik
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood
—Outstanding Original Score
Jd Samson
32 Sounds
—Outstanding Sound Design
Mark Mangini
32 Sounds
—Outstanding Visual Design
Thomas Curtis and Sean Pierce
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
—Outstanding Debut
Kokomo...
- 1/13/2024
- by Jazz Tangcay, Caroline Brew, Jaden Thompson and Diego Ramos Bechara
- Variety Film + TV
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Beyond Utopia (Madeleine Gavin)
A harrowing, brave account of what it’s like to defect from North Korea, Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia follows a heroic pastor and the people he helps. Perhaps most unforgettable is a multigenerational family whose escape is shown through furtive, horror-movie-like handheld camera and revealing interviews. As Gavin offers a rundown of North Korean politics, we see this family slowly reckon with their own brainwashing and realize the world outside North Korea is not what their upbringing taught them to believe. – Lena W.
Where to Stream: PBS
The Florida Project (Sean Baker)
How, exactly, did Sean Baker do it? How did the director of Tangerine make this story of a mother and daughter living at a rundown...
Beyond Utopia (Madeleine Gavin)
A harrowing, brave account of what it’s like to defect from North Korea, Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia follows a heroic pastor and the people he helps. Perhaps most unforgettable is a multigenerational family whose escape is shown through furtive, horror-movie-like handheld camera and revealing interviews. As Gavin offers a rundown of North Korean politics, we see this family slowly reckon with their own brainwashing and realize the world outside North Korea is not what their upbringing taught them to believe. – Lena W.
Where to Stream: PBS
The Florida Project (Sean Baker)
How, exactly, did Sean Baker do it? How did the director of Tangerine make this story of a mother and daughter living at a rundown...
- 1/12/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Taraji P. Henson is no stranger to hustle. Throughout college, she spent most post-class evenings singing, dancing, and waiting tables on a D.C. cruise ship and her early mornings as a receptionist at The Pentagon to help cover her Howard University tuition. Henson still wears many hats as the owner of the haircare line Tph by Taraji, the founder of the mental wellness nonprofit Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation, and most recently as the brazen Shug Avery in the blockbuster musical The Color Purple.
“I just had my house remodeled: I have an infrared sauna,...
“I just had my house remodeled: I have an infrared sauna,...
- 1/6/2024
- by Kalia Richardson
- Rollingstone.com
After Lenny Kravitz watched an early cut of “Rustin,” it wasn’t difficult for him to determine whether or not he’s accept the challenge of writing and performing an original song for the new Netflix film. After watching the movie — which features a tour de force performance from Colman Domingo as the forgotten Black queer icon of the Civil Rights Movement, who was chief in organizing the historic March on Washington in 1963 — Kravitz told IndieWire, “The first thing I felt was, ‘My mother would want me to do this.’”
Speaking to IndieWire over Zoom, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter admitted he had not heard of the film’s namesake, “which immediately showed me that there was a problem, because I grew up in a family that was very active in the Civil Rights Movement. My mother and her friends and all of those folks in the ’60s, they were in all that.
Speaking to IndieWire over Zoom, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter admitted he had not heard of the film’s namesake, “which immediately showed me that there was a problem, because I grew up in a family that was very active in the Civil Rights Movement. My mother and her friends and all of those folks in the ’60s, they were in all that.
- 12/15/2023
- by Marcus Jones
- Indiewire
After making “American Promise,” Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster were looking to create a very different type of documentary. The married co-directors had spent over a decade documenting their son and his best friend’s journey through Dalton, one of the most prestigious private schools in the country.
“That was 13 years of intense verité filmmaking,” said Stephenson, when she and Brewster were on IndieWire’s Toolkit podcast. “And I think as artists, we wanted to explore the medium and figure out what other kind of storytelling can we try.”
The filmmaking partners knew they were looking for a new project that would allow them to use archival footage to focus on an artist but push beyond a normal biography profile. Brewster, in particular, was focused on making a film about a musician. “Music is an entry to your soul,” said Brewster. “And so we thought that would be emotionally resonant...
“That was 13 years of intense verité filmmaking,” said Stephenson, when she and Brewster were on IndieWire’s Toolkit podcast. “And I think as artists, we wanted to explore the medium and figure out what other kind of storytelling can we try.”
The filmmaking partners knew they were looking for a new project that would allow them to use archival footage to focus on an artist but push beyond a normal biography profile. Brewster, in particular, was focused on making a film about a musician. “Music is an entry to your soul,” said Brewster. “And so we thought that would be emotionally resonant...
- 12/12/2023
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
"I remember what's important and I make up the rest. That's what storytelling's all about." HBO unveiled an official trailer for the acclaimed documentary Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, made by the two doc filmmakers Joe Brewster & Michèle Stephenson. This premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the top Grand Jury prize in its documentary section. This award-winning film travels through time & space to reveal the enduring influence of Nikki Giovanni, one of America's greatest living artists & social commentators. It reckons with the inevitable passing of time in a collision of memories, moments in American history, live readings, and visually unique depictions of Giovanni's poetry. Narrated by Taraji P. Henson. "Brewster & Stephenson's approach is imaginative and dreamlike, akin to the way Giovanni’s words are hair-raising in their power to summon unrealized ways of seeing." I watched this at Sundance and was also wowed by it,...
- 12/11/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
By the time December rolls around, a frontrunner has typically emerged in the Oscar race for Best Documentary Feature. Not this year. The contest remains wide open, more so than in any year in recent memory.
For that reason alone, it’s essential to hear from the leading filmmakers in the mix. And that’s where Deadline’s Contenders Film: Documentary event comes in. Out essential guide featuring an awards-worthy slate of outstanding nonfiction films kicks off Saturday at 9 a.m. Pt featuring panels from nine of the year’s most buzzy titles.
Click here to sign up for and launch the livestream.
Among the all-star talent on hand is Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim, director of Apple Original Films’ Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, about the beloved Hollywood icon. Guggenheim’s film recently won five prizes at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, including Best Feature and Best Director.
Also...
For that reason alone, it’s essential to hear from the leading filmmakers in the mix. And that’s where Deadline’s Contenders Film: Documentary event comes in. Out essential guide featuring an awards-worthy slate of outstanding nonfiction films kicks off Saturday at 9 a.m. Pt featuring panels from nine of the year’s most buzzy titles.
Click here to sign up for and launch the livestream.
Among the all-star talent on hand is Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim, director of Apple Original Films’ Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, about the beloved Hollywood icon. Guggenheim’s film recently won five prizes at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, including Best Feature and Best Director.
Also...
- 12/10/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
IndieWire’s longtime commitment to highlighting boundary-pushing documentary filmmaking reached new heights this fall during the inaugural Art of the Doc screening series. Presented in partnership with National Geographic, Art of the Doc showcased six of the best nonfiction films of 2023 at the Landmark Westwood in Los Angeles. Each screening featured in-person conversations with filmmakers and documentary subjects moderated by IndieWire editors.
“Our editors gave careful consideration in selecting these films for our inaugural screening series, Art of the Doc,” IndieWire senior VP and editor in chief Dana Harris-Bridson said in a statement announcing the series. “We’re excited to have the in-person opportunity to share IndieWire’s perspective with the work of great filmmakers.”
“We’re thrilled to be launching our first documentary screening series with our partner National Geographic,” said IndieWire senior VP and publisher James Israel. “Nat Geo’s support of the art of current documentary filmmaking...
“Our editors gave careful consideration in selecting these films for our inaugural screening series, Art of the Doc,” IndieWire senior VP and editor in chief Dana Harris-Bridson said in a statement announcing the series. “We’re excited to have the in-person opportunity to share IndieWire’s perspective with the work of great filmmakers.”
“We’re thrilled to be launching our first documentary screening series with our partner National Geographic,” said IndieWire senior VP and publisher James Israel. “Nat Geo’s support of the art of current documentary filmmaking...
- 11/27/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Updated with details about the next and final screening, which is “Stamped from the Beginning” on November 20. Learn more here.
This Monday, November 20, the next and concluding screening in our Art of the Doc series will be of Roger Ross Williams’ acclaimed “Stamped from the Beginning” at the Landmark Westwood. Doors open at 6:30pm with a pre-reception featuring beer, wine, and conversations with other documentary fans. Then at 7:30, the screening will begin, after which there will be a Q&a moderated by IndieWire’s Marcus Jones with director Roger Ross Williams himself. The film, based on the book by Ibram X. Kendi about how racist tropes permeate American culture, debuted to extraordinary acclaim at TIFF in September, and IndieWire’s Anne Thompson considers it a frontrunner in the Best Documentary Feature race at the Oscars.
New to our Art of the Doc series? Well, IndieWire has celebrated the...
This Monday, November 20, the next and concluding screening in our Art of the Doc series will be of Roger Ross Williams’ acclaimed “Stamped from the Beginning” at the Landmark Westwood. Doors open at 6:30pm with a pre-reception featuring beer, wine, and conversations with other documentary fans. Then at 7:30, the screening will begin, after which there will be a Q&a moderated by IndieWire’s Marcus Jones with director Roger Ross Williams himself. The film, based on the book by Ibram X. Kendi about how racist tropes permeate American culture, debuted to extraordinary acclaim at TIFF in September, and IndieWire’s Anne Thompson considers it a frontrunner in the Best Documentary Feature race at the Oscars.
New to our Art of the Doc series? Well, IndieWire has celebrated the...
- 11/17/2023
- by Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
Ava DuVernay’s Origin and Matthew Heineman’s American Symphony were among the top winners at the Virginia Film Festival, the four-day Charlottesville event that ran from October 25-29.
Origin, based on Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, won the festival’s Audience Award for narrative feature. Heineman’s American Symphony, about musician Jon Batiste, was recognized for documentary feature.
Other Audience Award winners included Dreams of Home for narrative short and Black Godfather of Scuba for documentary short.
The winners of the Programmers’ Awards were American Fiction in the narrative category and No Ordinary Campaign in the documentary category. For the Moon was recognized in the narrative short category and 1-15-41 in the documentary short.
DuVernay also was recognized with the festival’s Visionary Award as she sat down for a post-screening Q&a with the Washington Post‘s Ann Hornaday.
Jon Batiste performs as...
Origin, based on Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, won the festival’s Audience Award for narrative feature. Heineman’s American Symphony, about musician Jon Batiste, was recognized for documentary feature.
Other Audience Award winners included Dreams of Home for narrative short and Black Godfather of Scuba for documentary short.
The winners of the Programmers’ Awards were American Fiction in the narrative category and No Ordinary Campaign in the documentary category. For the Moon was recognized in the narrative short category and 1-15-41 in the documentary short.
DuVernay also was recognized with the festival’s Visionary Award as she sat down for a post-screening Q&a with the Washington Post‘s Ann Hornaday.
Jon Batiste performs as...
- 11/2/2023
- by Ted Johnson
- Deadline Film + TV
The 2023 Cinema Eye Honors have unveiled the 20 titles for its Audience Choice Prize Long List, with voting now open.
The 17th annual awards ceremony also recognized the best nonfiction and documentary films and series across five Broadcast categories and a Shorts List with 10 of the year’s top documentary short films, as well as the 20 films in the running for the Audience Choice Prize Long List.
This year’s list includes films from Cinema Eye Honors alumni including “The Eternal Memory,” “American Symphony,” “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” “Stamped from the Beginning,” “32 Sounds,” “A Compassionate Spy,” “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” “The Mission,” “The Pigeon Tunnel,” and “Stephen Curry: Underrated.”
Hulu series “The 1619 Project” and Showtime’s “Nothing Lasts Forever” lead the Broadcast Film and Series nominations with three nods each. The “1619 Project,” adapted from Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones’s work with The New...
The 17th annual awards ceremony also recognized the best nonfiction and documentary films and series across five Broadcast categories and a Shorts List with 10 of the year’s top documentary short films, as well as the 20 films in the running for the Audience Choice Prize Long List.
This year’s list includes films from Cinema Eye Honors alumni including “The Eternal Memory,” “American Symphony,” “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” “Stamped from the Beginning,” “32 Sounds,” “A Compassionate Spy,” “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” “The Mission,” “The Pigeon Tunnel,” and “Stephen Curry: Underrated.”
Hulu series “The 1619 Project” and Showtime’s “Nothing Lasts Forever” lead the Broadcast Film and Series nominations with three nods each. The “1619 Project,” adapted from Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones’s work with The New...
- 10/19/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Hulu’s “The 1619 Project” and Showtime’s “Nothing Lasts Forever” lead all broadcast documentaries in nominations for the 17th annual Cinema Eye Honors, which were announced on Thursday during the Cinema Eye Fall Lunch at Redbird in downtown Los Angeles.
Each of the programs received three nominations in the five broadcast categories, with “The 1619 Project” nominated in the Anthology Series, cinematography and editing categories and “Nothing Lasts Forever” singled out in Broadcast film, cinematography and editing categories.
Other programs with multiple nominations include the broadcast movie “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” the nonfiction series “Dear Mama” and “Paul T. Goldman” and the anthology series “Edge of the Unknown With Jimmy Chin” and “Our Planet II.”
Hulu led all networks and platforms with eight nominations, followed by Netflix with five and Showtime with four.
Cinema Eye Honors, a New York-based organization devoted to honoring all facets of nonfiction filmmaking, also...
Each of the programs received three nominations in the five broadcast categories, with “The 1619 Project” nominated in the Anthology Series, cinematography and editing categories and “Nothing Lasts Forever” singled out in Broadcast film, cinematography and editing categories.
Other programs with multiple nominations include the broadcast movie “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” the nonfiction series “Dear Mama” and “Paul T. Goldman” and the anthology series “Edge of the Unknown With Jimmy Chin” and “Our Planet II.”
Hulu led all networks and platforms with eight nominations, followed by Netflix with five and Showtime with four.
Cinema Eye Honors, a New York-based organization devoted to honoring all facets of nonfiction filmmaking, also...
- 10/19/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The documentary festival Doc NYC has unveiled the full lineup for its 14th edition. It will be a total of 114 features and 129 short films. The festival runs in-person November 8-16 at IFC Center, Sva Theatre and Village East by Angelika and continues online through November 26 with films available to viewers across the U.S.
The Short Lists sections showcase a selection of nonfiction features and shorts that the festival’s programming team considers to be among the year’s strongest contenders for Oscars and other awards. The Winner’s Circle are films already feted at major international film events while Come As You Are section highlights films about people striving to find their place in the world, or in their communities.
Short List: Features
20 Days In Mariupol
Director: Mstyslav Chernov
Producers: Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson Rath, Derl McCrudden
An AP team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the...
The Short Lists sections showcase a selection of nonfiction features and shorts that the festival’s programming team considers to be among the year’s strongest contenders for Oscars and other awards. The Winner’s Circle are films already feted at major international film events while Come As You Are section highlights films about people striving to find their place in the world, or in their communities.
Short List: Features
20 Days In Mariupol
Director: Mstyslav Chernov
Producers: Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson Rath, Derl McCrudden
An AP team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the...
- 10/18/2023
- by Armando Tinoco
- Deadline Film + TV
PBS’ “20 Days in Mariupol,” IFC’s “The Disappearance of Shere Hite” and MTV’s “The Eternal Memory” are among Doc NYC’s 14th edition featuring 114 features and 129 short films.
The shortlist for Doc NYC, the largest documentary festival in the U.S., was launched in 2012 and has become a key indicator and predictor for the Academy Awards’ best documentary feature category. Ten out of the last 11 winners for documentary feature were screened at the festival. In addition, 12 of the 15 shortlisted docs from 2022 were among its lineup.
Some other notable inclusions are Julie Cohen’s moving “Every Body” about the generation of intersex people living among us, Lisa Cortés’ “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” an intimate look at the queer rock ‘n’ roll legend, and Matthew Heineman’s “American Symphony,” an emotional look into the life of singer Jon Batiste as he prepares for his performance at Carnegie Hall.
The festival runs from Nov.
The shortlist for Doc NYC, the largest documentary festival in the U.S., was launched in 2012 and has become a key indicator and predictor for the Academy Awards’ best documentary feature category. Ten out of the last 11 winners for documentary feature were screened at the festival. In addition, 12 of the 15 shortlisted docs from 2022 were among its lineup.
Some other notable inclusions are Julie Cohen’s moving “Every Body” about the generation of intersex people living among us, Lisa Cortés’ “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” an intimate look at the queer rock ‘n’ roll legend, and Matthew Heineman’s “American Symphony,” an emotional look into the life of singer Jon Batiste as he prepares for his performance at Carnegie Hall.
The festival runs from Nov.
- 10/17/2023
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Doc NYC, America’s largest documentary festival, on Tuesday announced its lineup in the short and feature categories, as well as for its Winner’s Circle category and its new section for 2023 titled Come As You Are.
All shortlisted films will have theatrical screenings at the festival. With Tuesday’s announcement, Doc NYC will present a total of 114 features and 129 short films in its 14th year, including 33 world premieres and 29 U.S. premieres.
The festival will run this year Nov. 8-16 at IFC Center, Sva Theatre and Village East Angelika in New York, and will run online through Nov. 26.
The festival’s new Come As You Are section features films about “people striving to find their place in the world, or in their communities,” according to the festival. The Doc NYC Short List for documentary features was launched in 2012. For 10 of the last 11 years, the festival has screened doc features...
All shortlisted films will have theatrical screenings at the festival. With Tuesday’s announcement, Doc NYC will present a total of 114 features and 129 short films in its 14th year, including 33 world premieres and 29 U.S. premieres.
The festival will run this year Nov. 8-16 at IFC Center, Sva Theatre and Village East Angelika in New York, and will run online through Nov. 26.
The festival’s new Come As You Are section features films about “people striving to find their place in the world, or in their communities,” according to the festival. The Doc NYC Short List for documentary features was launched in 2012. For 10 of the last 11 years, the festival has screened doc features...
- 10/17/2023
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Virginia Film Festival has announced the lineup for its 36th year, which will take place in Charlottesville from Oct. 25-29. Netflix’s Maestro — written, produced and directed by and starring Bradley Cooper as legendary composer Leonard Bernstein — will be the festival’s opening night film. Makeup effects artist Kazu Hiro, a two-time Academy Award winner for Bombshell and Darkest Hour, will receive the Vaff Craft Award at the screening.
The festival’s centerpiece film will be Focus Features’ The Holdovers, directed by Alexander Payne and starring Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and newcomer Dominic Sessa. Giamatti stars as a curmudgeonly teacher at a New England prep school who forms an unexpected bond with one of his unruly students (Sessa) during Christmas break. The film’s Academy Award-winning producer Mark Johnson (Rain Man), also the Vaff’s advisory board chair, will appear for a post-screening discussion.
Netflix’s American Symphony,...
The festival’s centerpiece film will be Focus Features’ The Holdovers, directed by Alexander Payne and starring Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and newcomer Dominic Sessa. Giamatti stars as a curmudgeonly teacher at a New England prep school who forms an unexpected bond with one of his unruly students (Sessa) during Christmas break. The film’s Academy Award-winning producer Mark Johnson (Rain Man), also the Vaff’s advisory board chair, will appear for a post-screening discussion.
Netflix’s American Symphony,...
- 9/26/2023
- by Tyler Coates
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Catherine Breillat to present Last Summer and do a Deep Focus Free Talk at the 61st New York Film Festival. Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Film at Lincoln Center has announced that Paul B Preciado, director of Orlando, My Political Biography (Main Slate selection) will deliver the third annual Amos Vogel Lecture during the 61st New York Film Festival. In Deep Focus: Todd Haynes will present his Image Book, Nikki Giovanni (featured in Joe Brewster’s Spotlight selection Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Story) will participate in a discussion moderated by Edwidge Danticat, Sandra Hüller, star of two Main Slate selections (Justine Triet’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall and Jonathan Glazer’s brilliant Cannes Grand Prix winner The Zone Of Interest), and Catherine Breillat.
Sandra Hüller to present The Zone Of Interest with Jonathan Glazer and Christian Friedel and do a Deep Focus Free Talk Photo:...
Film at Lincoln Center has announced that Paul B Preciado, director of Orlando, My Political Biography (Main Slate selection) will deliver the third annual Amos Vogel Lecture during the 61st New York Film Festival. In Deep Focus: Todd Haynes will present his Image Book, Nikki Giovanni (featured in Joe Brewster’s Spotlight selection Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Story) will participate in a discussion moderated by Edwidge Danticat, Sandra Hüller, star of two Main Slate selections (Justine Triet’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall and Jonathan Glazer’s brilliant Cannes Grand Prix winner The Zone Of Interest), and Catherine Breillat.
Sandra Hüller to present The Zone Of Interest with Jonathan Glazer and Christian Friedel and do a Deep Focus Free Talk Photo:...
- 9/24/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Making Magic
To mark the 25th anniversary of the “Harry Potter” books being published in the U.S., the Empire State Building is set to be lit up in Hogwarts house colors at sunset on Wednesday, Sept. 27.
Viewers outside of New York can watch the building’s Tower Lights shine red for Gryffindor, yellow for Hufflepuff, blue for Ravenclaw and green for Slytherin on the Empire State’s live cam. For those in New York, there will be a magical pop-up cart on the 86th Floor Observation Deck where fans will be able to pick up free copies of the book and bottles of Butterbeer. Costumes and wizard robes are encouraged.
Crypto Scam
BBC One have set a documentary on alleged crypto-scammer Sam Bankman-Fried. Produced by Bitachon365 (“Secrets of Prince Andrew”), the 60-minute doc will air under the BBC’s “Panorama” strand on Sept. 25. A 90-minute cut will be available...
To mark the 25th anniversary of the “Harry Potter” books being published in the U.S., the Empire State Building is set to be lit up in Hogwarts house colors at sunset on Wednesday, Sept. 27.
Viewers outside of New York can watch the building’s Tower Lights shine red for Gryffindor, yellow for Hufflepuff, blue for Ravenclaw and green for Slytherin on the Empire State’s live cam. For those in New York, there will be a magical pop-up cart on the 86th Floor Observation Deck where fans will be able to pick up free copies of the book and bottles of Butterbeer. Costumes and wizard robes are encouraged.
Crypto Scam
BBC One have set a documentary on alleged crypto-scammer Sam Bankman-Fried. Produced by Bitachon365 (“Secrets of Prince Andrew”), the 60-minute doc will air under the BBC’s “Panorama” strand on Sept. 25. A 90-minute cut will be available...
- 9/22/2023
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival announced the lineup for the 32nd edition of North America’s longest-running all doc festival, a slate that includes several world premieres and a slew of Academy Award-contending films. In addition, Hot Springs announced Oscar-winning actress Mary Steenburgen, an Arkansas native, will serve as honorary chair of the event in the resort town located in the scenic Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas.
Filmmaker, artist and MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient Sky Hopinka will receive the Hsdff Brent Renaud Career Achievement Award at this year’s festival; Diane Becker and Shane Boris, two of the Oscar-winning producers of Navalny, will earn the Impact Award. The festival runs from Oct. 6-14.
Musician Kishi Bashi, aka Kaoru Ishibashi
Among the world premieres happening at Hsdff are A Song Film by Kishi Bashi: Omoiyari, directed by Justin Taylor Smith...
Filmmaker, artist and MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient Sky Hopinka will receive the Hsdff Brent Renaud Career Achievement Award at this year’s festival; Diane Becker and Shane Boris, two of the Oscar-winning producers of Navalny, will earn the Impact Award. The festival runs from Oct. 6-14.
Musician Kishi Bashi, aka Kaoru Ishibashi
Among the world premieres happening at Hsdff are A Song Film by Kishi Bashi: Omoiyari, directed by Justin Taylor Smith...
- 9/20/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Ariana Grande, Guillermo del Toro, Padma Lakshmi, Roxane Gay, Gabrielle Union, Sandra Cisneros, Amanda Gorman, Margaret Cho and Ron Perlman are among the signatories of an open letter calling on creative communities in Hollywood and beyond to leverage their voices to stop book bans.
Upwards of 175 actors, musicians, authors, comedians, reality stars, models, media personalities, academics, activists and more have signed the open letter spearheaded by Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton and published Tuesday via public advocacy organization and political action committee MoveOn Political Action.
LeVar Burton
The letter encourages signatories and readers to address challenges at the local level across U.S. school districts, while calling out book bans as “restrictive behavior” that is “antithetical to free speech and expression.” It also underscores the “chilling effect” these bans can have “on the broader creative field.”
“We cannot stress enough how these censorious efforts will not end with book bans,...
Upwards of 175 actors, musicians, authors, comedians, reality stars, models, media personalities, academics, activists and more have signed the open letter spearheaded by Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton and published Tuesday via public advocacy organization and political action committee MoveOn Political Action.
LeVar Burton
The letter encourages signatories and readers to address challenges at the local level across U.S. school districts, while calling out book bans as “restrictive behavior” that is “antithetical to free speech and expression.” It also underscores the “chilling effect” these bans can have “on the broader creative field.”
“We cannot stress enough how these censorious efforts will not end with book bans,...
- 9/19/2023
- by Abbey White
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
HBO Documentary Films has acquired U.S. and Canada television and streaming rights to Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, winner of the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary at Sundance.
The film directed and produced by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson examines the life and career of poet and activist Nikki Giovanni, who rose to fame in the 1960s through her writings and television appearances. Today’s announcement will come as welcome news to a documentary community concerned about the relatively sluggish pace of acquisitions since at least the beginning of the year. The fact that a Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner wasn’t snapped up right away bred a feeling of gloom that streamers and distributors were only interested in nonfiction content that focused on true crime or celebrities.
Directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson
“We are thrilled and deeply honored that HBO Documentary Films, a beacon of innovation, authenticity, and a leading force committed to the art of storytelling, has recognized the significance of our work,” Brewster and Stephenson said. “We believe that through this collaboration, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project has found a home where it will shine and have a global reach.”
The documentary “travels through time and space to reveal the enduring influence of Nikki Giovanni, one of America’s greatest living artists and social commentators,” HBO Documentary Films said in a release. “Giovanni reckons with the inevitable passing of time in intimate vérité and revealing archival footage. The film is a collision of memories, moments in American history, live readings, and visually innovative treatments of her poetry.”
Producer Tommy Oliver commented, “Joe and Michèle have crafted a bold, glorious, boundary-pushing portrait of one of our Greats and I couldn’t be more excited to partner (yet again) with Lisa [Heller], Nancy [Abraham], and the rest of the wonderful HBO Docs team to bring Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project to the world.”
As we reported last January, Taraji P. Henson voices Giovanni’s poetry in the film and she is one of the documentary’s executive producers.
“I’m thrilled to join Michèle and Joe in bringing Nikki’s remarkable work to life on screen,” Henson said in a statement in January. “Interpreting and giving voice to her powerful words was a revelatory and emotional process, and moved me completely. This film reflects Nikki’s vibrance and legacy in all its complexity, and I am honored to be a part of it.”
Poet Nikki Giovanni
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project is a production of Confluential Films and Rada Studio, in association with JustFilms | Ford Foundation; in association with Bertha Doc Society. Written and directed by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson; with the voice of Taraji P. Henson; producers, Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson, Tommy Oliver; executive producers, Codie Elaine Oliver, Taraji P. Henson; editors, Terra Long, Lawrence Jackman, Regi Allen.
Giovanni, who has been named one of Oprah’s “25 Living Legends,” turned 80 in June. She has earned seven NAACP Image Awards, a Grammy nomination, the Maya Angelou Lifetime Achievement Award and numerous other honors in a career spanning more than 50 years.
The film directed and produced by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson examines the life and career of poet and activist Nikki Giovanni, who rose to fame in the 1960s through her writings and television appearances. Today’s announcement will come as welcome news to a documentary community concerned about the relatively sluggish pace of acquisitions since at least the beginning of the year. The fact that a Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner wasn’t snapped up right away bred a feeling of gloom that streamers and distributors were only interested in nonfiction content that focused on true crime or celebrities.
Directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson
“We are thrilled and deeply honored that HBO Documentary Films, a beacon of innovation, authenticity, and a leading force committed to the art of storytelling, has recognized the significance of our work,” Brewster and Stephenson said. “We believe that through this collaboration, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project has found a home where it will shine and have a global reach.”
The documentary “travels through time and space to reveal the enduring influence of Nikki Giovanni, one of America’s greatest living artists and social commentators,” HBO Documentary Films said in a release. “Giovanni reckons with the inevitable passing of time in intimate vérité and revealing archival footage. The film is a collision of memories, moments in American history, live readings, and visually innovative treatments of her poetry.”
Producer Tommy Oliver commented, “Joe and Michèle have crafted a bold, glorious, boundary-pushing portrait of one of our Greats and I couldn’t be more excited to partner (yet again) with Lisa [Heller], Nancy [Abraham], and the rest of the wonderful HBO Docs team to bring Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project to the world.”
As we reported last January, Taraji P. Henson voices Giovanni’s poetry in the film and she is one of the documentary’s executive producers.
“I’m thrilled to join Michèle and Joe in bringing Nikki’s remarkable work to life on screen,” Henson said in a statement in January. “Interpreting and giving voice to her powerful words was a revelatory and emotional process, and moved me completely. This film reflects Nikki’s vibrance and legacy in all its complexity, and I am honored to be a part of it.”
Poet Nikki Giovanni
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project is a production of Confluential Films and Rada Studio, in association with JustFilms | Ford Foundation; in association with Bertha Doc Society. Written and directed by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson; with the voice of Taraji P. Henson; producers, Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson, Tommy Oliver; executive producers, Codie Elaine Oliver, Taraji P. Henson; editors, Terra Long, Lawrence Jackman, Regi Allen.
Giovanni, who has been named one of Oprah’s “25 Living Legends,” turned 80 in June. She has earned seven NAACP Image Awards, a Grammy nomination, the Maya Angelou Lifetime Achievement Award and numerous other honors in a career spanning more than 50 years.
- 8/29/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Eight months after it won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” has been officially picked up by HBO Documentary Films, which is buying U.S. and Canada television and streaming rights. Backed by Confluential Films and Rada Studio and directed and produced by respected veterans Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, producer Tommy Oliver (HBO’s “40 Years A Prisoner”), and executive producers Taraji P. Henson and Codie Elaine Oliver, the film will also screen in the Spotlight section of the upcoming 61st New York Film Festival.
To qualify for the Oscars, the film will play in theaters this fall ahead of its 2024 debut on HBO and Max. Sundance always supplies a number of Oscar nominees in the documentary race and “Going to Mars” is a strong contender.
As innovative and unpredictable as its subject, “Going to Mars” travels through time and space,...
To qualify for the Oscars, the film will play in theaters this fall ahead of its 2024 debut on HBO and Max. Sundance always supplies a number of Oscar nominees in the documentary race and “Going to Mars” is a strong contender.
As innovative and unpredictable as its subject, “Going to Mars” travels through time and space,...
- 8/29/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
The 2023 New York Film Festival has revealed the lineup for its Spotlight section, featuring world premieres of Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie’s Showtime series The Curse starring Emma Stone, and Garth Davis’ Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal-starrer Foe.
A collaboration between Fielder and Safdie, The Curse stars Stone and Fielder as married entrepreneurs who plan to flip homes and convert them to eco-friendly residences for struggling residents of Española, New Mexico for an HGTV-style reality show being overseen by Safdie’s producer. The series, the first three episodes of which will be screened at the NYFF with the remaining episodes in the 10-episode project shown at Film at Lincoln Center, tackles issues of race, class and capital and deals with ethical and moral gray zones.
Foe, adapted from an Iain Reid novel of the same name, centers around a married midwestern couple in the year 2065, living in...
A collaboration between Fielder and Safdie, The Curse stars Stone and Fielder as married entrepreneurs who plan to flip homes and convert them to eco-friendly residences for struggling residents of Española, New Mexico for an HGTV-style reality show being overseen by Safdie’s producer. The series, the first three episodes of which will be screened at the NYFF with the remaining episodes in the 10-episode project shown at Film at Lincoln Center, tackles issues of race, class and capital and deals with ethical and moral gray zones.
Foe, adapted from an Iain Reid novel of the same name, centers around a married midwestern couple in the year 2065, living in...
- 8/17/2023
- by Hilary Lewis
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Frameline, the San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival concluded its 47th iteration on Saturday, June 24, with a screening of Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music, directed by Oscar-winning duo Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (The Celluloid Closet). The documentary feature about the titular performer’s singular spectacle was preceded by the Festival’s annual Award Ceremony, which reaffirmed the dynamic future of queer cinema.
This year, the 11-day Festival ran from June 14–24, 2023, with events held in theaters across San Francisco, including the historic Castro Theatre, located in the heart of the city’s LGBTQ+ cultural district, and the Roxie Theater, Frameline’s longest-running partner theater. Frameline47 also returned to Oakland this year, featuring the Festival’s first-ever Oakland Opening Night (Jac Cron’s Chestnut) and Centerpiece (Hannah Pearl Utt’s Cora Bora) films, both of which screened at The New Parkway Theater. With a full slate of upwards of 90 in-person screenings and programs,...
This year, the 11-day Festival ran from June 14–24, 2023, with events held in theaters across San Francisco, including the historic Castro Theatre, located in the heart of the city’s LGBTQ+ cultural district, and the Roxie Theater, Frameline’s longest-running partner theater. Frameline47 also returned to Oakland this year, featuring the Festival’s first-ever Oakland Opening Night (Jac Cron’s Chestnut) and Centerpiece (Hannah Pearl Utt’s Cora Bora) films, both of which screened at The New Parkway Theater. With a full slate of upwards of 90 in-person screenings and programs,...
- 6/29/2023
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
In our Member Lens series, we’re spotlighting a cross-section of current Film Independent Members to see how they got where they are now, what they hope to do next and what being a part of Film Independent means to them. This profile originally ran in May 2022.
May is for Members! This week only: 50% off Filmmaker Lover or Filmmaker Pro. This month, we’re celebrating our Membership experience for filmmakers and film lovers all over the globe. All month-long you can enjoy an array of special discounts on Membership.
Melissa Haizlip isn’t someone who had to go searching for culture. The New York-based director, producer and actor grew up immersed in a world of creators, her uncle Ellis—host of the landmark PBS variety show Soul! (1968-1973) and subject of Haizlip’s Peabody-award nominated 2018 documentary Mr. Soul!—acting as the catalyst bringing of the 20th century’s most important...
May is for Members! This week only: 50% off Filmmaker Lover or Filmmaker Pro. This month, we’re celebrating our Membership experience for filmmakers and film lovers all over the globe. All month-long you can enjoy an array of special discounts on Membership.
Melissa Haizlip isn’t someone who had to go searching for culture. The New York-based director, producer and actor grew up immersed in a world of creators, her uncle Ellis—host of the landmark PBS variety show Soul! (1968-1973) and subject of Haizlip’s Peabody-award nominated 2018 documentary Mr. Soul!—acting as the catalyst bringing of the 20th century’s most important...
- 5/22/2023
- by Matt Warren
- Film Independent News & More
Davis Guggenheim’s “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” will open the eighth edition of Chicago’s Doc10 documentary film festival on May 4.
About Fox’s life, career and work as a public advocate for Parkinson’s research, “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” debuted at Sundance in January. Guggenheim, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind “An Inconvenient Truth” will be at Doc10 to participate in a post-screening conversation.
Doc10, a four-day fest running May 4-7, features a selection of 10 of this year’s most acclaimed documentaries and a package of prestigious doc shorts. Dedicated to supporting social-impact documentary films, the fest is hosted by Chicago Media Project, a company that raises funds for and produces docus including “Crip Camp” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
In addition to “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” Doc10 will screen: Penny Lane’s “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” Nicole Newnham’s “The Disappearance of the Shere Hite,...
About Fox’s life, career and work as a public advocate for Parkinson’s research, “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” debuted at Sundance in January. Guggenheim, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind “An Inconvenient Truth” will be at Doc10 to participate in a post-screening conversation.
Doc10, a four-day fest running May 4-7, features a selection of 10 of this year’s most acclaimed documentaries and a package of prestigious doc shorts. Dedicated to supporting social-impact documentary films, the fest is hosted by Chicago Media Project, a company that raises funds for and produces docus including “Crip Camp” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
In addition to “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” Doc10 will screen: Penny Lane’s “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” Nicole Newnham’s “The Disappearance of the Shere Hite,...
- 3/27/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Sundance prize winning directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson have signed with Range Media Partners
At the 2023 festival, Brewster and Stephenson won the grand jury prize for U.S. Documentary for their feature ”Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project.”
Harvard-and Stanford–trained psychiatrist, Brewster, and Columbia Law School graduate Stephenson decided to pursue filmmaking together, and by 2006 the two founded Rada Studio. The studio has provided creators the opportunity to think radically about storytelling and work to disrupt nonfiction spaces. The pair works together to build reality, fiction, immersive and hybrid stories that embrace and deliver compelling narratives, which are all created by, for, and about the Black and Brown communities.
The couple’s award-winning documentary retells the story of acclaimed poet Nikki Giovanni, highlighting the revolutionary historical periods Giovanni lived through. “Going to Mars” recounts Giovanni’s experiences that span from the Civil Rights and Black Arts...
At the 2023 festival, Brewster and Stephenson won the grand jury prize for U.S. Documentary for their feature ”Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project.”
Harvard-and Stanford–trained psychiatrist, Brewster, and Columbia Law School graduate Stephenson decided to pursue filmmaking together, and by 2006 the two founded Rada Studio. The studio has provided creators the opportunity to think radically about storytelling and work to disrupt nonfiction spaces. The pair works together to build reality, fiction, immersive and hybrid stories that embrace and deliver compelling narratives, which are all created by, for, and about the Black and Brown communities.
The couple’s award-winning documentary retells the story of acclaimed poet Nikki Giovanni, highlighting the revolutionary historical periods Giovanni lived through. “Going to Mars” recounts Giovanni’s experiences that span from the Civil Rights and Black Arts...
- 3/7/2023
- by Charna Flam
- Variety Film + TV
The 2023 NAACP Image Awards is announcing winners in several non-televised categories via streaming presentations all week long leading up to the live ceremony.
During night one, hosted by actor Khleo Thomas, the NAACP presented a number of awards in the outstanding recording categories. Presenters included Crystal Renee Hayslett, Echo Kellum and Jotaka Eaddy.
On Monday night, Beyoncé took home the most awards, including outstanding female artist, outstanding soul/R&b song for “Cuff It” and outstanding album for Renaissance. The next top winner was Chris Brown with two awards for outstanding male artist and outstanding duo, group or collaboration (contemporary) with Wizkid for “Call Me Every Day” from his album Breezy.
Rihanna also picked up a win for outstanding music video/visual album for her song “Lift Me Up” from the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Other notable winners include Silk Sonic for outstanding duo, group or collaboration (Traditional) for “Love’s Train,...
During night one, hosted by actor Khleo Thomas, the NAACP presented a number of awards in the outstanding recording categories. Presenters included Crystal Renee Hayslett, Echo Kellum and Jotaka Eaddy.
On Monday night, Beyoncé took home the most awards, including outstanding female artist, outstanding soul/R&b song for “Cuff It” and outstanding album for Renaissance. The next top winner was Chris Brown with two awards for outstanding male artist and outstanding duo, group or collaboration (contemporary) with Wizkid for “Call Me Every Day” from his album Breezy.
Rihanna also picked up a win for outstanding music video/visual album for her song “Lift Me Up” from the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Other notable winners include Silk Sonic for outstanding duo, group or collaboration (Traditional) for “Love’s Train,...
- 2/21/2023
- by Carly Thomas
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Park City, Utah – The 2023 Sundance Film Festival announced their Grand Jury Prizes on January 27th, and the top films were “A Thousand and One” (U.S. Dramatic), “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” (U.S. Documentary), ‘Scrapper’ (World Cinema Dramatic) and “The Eternal Memory” (World Cinema Documentary).
After 99 feature films and 70 Short Films, honors were also given for Audience Awards, Festival Favorite Award, Jury Awards for Directing, Screenwriting & Editing and Special Jury Award.
Grand Jury Prize
‘A Thousand and One’
Photo credit: Sundance Film Festival
U.S. Dramatic: “One Thousand and One” directed by A.V. Rockwell
Convinced it’s one last, necessary crime on the path to redemption, unapologetic and free-spirited Inez kidnaps 6-year-old Terry from the foster care system. Holding on to their secret and each other, mother and son set out to reclaim their sense of home, identity, and stability in New York City.
U.S. Documentary:...
After 99 feature films and 70 Short Films, honors were also given for Audience Awards, Festival Favorite Award, Jury Awards for Directing, Screenwriting & Editing and Special Jury Award.
Grand Jury Prize
‘A Thousand and One’
Photo credit: Sundance Film Festival
U.S. Dramatic: “One Thousand and One” directed by A.V. Rockwell
Convinced it’s one last, necessary crime on the path to redemption, unapologetic and free-spirited Inez kidnaps 6-year-old Terry from the foster care system. Holding on to their secret and each other, mother and son set out to reclaim their sense of home, identity, and stability in New York City.
U.S. Documentary:...
- 1/31/2023
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Exclusive: Fisk University made history earlier this year by becoming the first Hbcu gymnastics team to compete at an NCAA event.
The Nashville school and its team will now be the subject of a docuseries from filmmaker Deborah Riley Draper and wiip.
Flipped (w/t) will follow college gymnastics’ only all Bipoc team as they navigate the pressures of their first season while challenging the stereotypes and norms in women’s athletics. With no university gym of their own, Coach Corrinne Tarver and her gymnastics team at Fisk University, consisting primarily of first-year college students, aim to take on the best in NCAA gymnastics without mitigating or changing who they are as women of color.
The series features access to the coaches, student athletes, parents, and administrators at Fisk University and the trials and triumphs of Hbcu sports.
The team, which included several Division-i athletes who de-committed from high-profile programs,...
The Nashville school and its team will now be the subject of a docuseries from filmmaker Deborah Riley Draper and wiip.
Flipped (w/t) will follow college gymnastics’ only all Bipoc team as they navigate the pressures of their first season while challenging the stereotypes and norms in women’s athletics. With no university gym of their own, Coach Corrinne Tarver and her gymnastics team at Fisk University, consisting primarily of first-year college students, aim to take on the best in NCAA gymnastics without mitigating or changing who they are as women of color.
The series features access to the coaches, student athletes, parents, and administrators at Fisk University and the trials and triumphs of Hbcu sports.
The team, which included several Division-i athletes who de-committed from high-profile programs,...
- 1/30/2023
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Renowned poet Nikki Giovanni is the subject of Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, co-directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s latest effort. Incorporating live poetry readings, space-age imagery, pivotal moments in American history and intimate moments with Giovanni herself, the documentary offers a holistic image of an invaluable artist and the broader cultural moment she continues to speak to. Dp Greg Harriott talks about how he came to work on the film and how he approached capturing the wide range of visuals. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up […]
The post “I Wanted the Lenses To Have Some Character”: Dp Greg Harriott on Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “I Wanted the Lenses To Have Some Character”: Dp Greg Harriott on Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/30/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Renowned poet Nikki Giovanni is the subject of Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, co-directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s latest effort. Incorporating live poetry readings, space-age imagery, pivotal moments in American history and intimate moments with Giovanni herself, the documentary offers a holistic image of an invaluable artist and the broader cultural moment she continues to speak to. Dp Greg Harriott talks about how he came to work on the film and how he approached capturing the wide range of visuals. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up […]
The post “I Wanted the Lenses To Have Some Character”: Dp Greg Harriott on Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “I Wanted the Lenses To Have Some Character”: Dp Greg Harriott on Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/30/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
While our Sundance Film Festival 2023 coverage continues to roll in, the respective juries at Park City have doled out their winners, with Grand Jury Prizes awarded to A Thousand and One (U.S. Dramatic), Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (U.S. Documentary), Scrapper (World Cinema Dramatic), and The Eternal Memory (World Cinema Documentary), and the Next Innovator Award presented by Adobe was awarded to Kokomo City.
Check out the full list of winners below, with our coverage where available.
Grand Jury Prizes
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to A.V. Rockwell for A Thousand and One / U.S.A. — Convinced it’s one last, necessary crime on the path to redemption, unapologetic and free-spirited Inez kidnaps 6-year-old Terry from the foster care system. Holding on to their secret and each other, mother and son set out to reclaim their sense of home, identity, and stability in New York City.
Check out the full list of winners below, with our coverage where available.
Grand Jury Prizes
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to A.V. Rockwell for A Thousand and One / U.S.A. — Convinced it’s one last, necessary crime on the path to redemption, unapologetic and free-spirited Inez kidnaps 6-year-old Terry from the foster care system. Holding on to their secret and each other, mother and son set out to reclaim their sense of home, identity, and stability in New York City.
- 1/28/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Teyana Taylor and Aaron Kingsley in ‘A Thousand and One’ (Photo Courtesy of Sundance Institute / Photo by Focus Features)
The Sundance Film Festival named A Thousand and One from writer/director A.V. Rockwell the winner of the prestigious U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic. Directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s The Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the 2023 festival which hosted in-person screenings as well as access online.
“This year’s Festival has been an extraordinary experience,” said Joana Vicente, Sundance Institute CEO. “The artists that comprise the 2023 Sundance Film Festival have demonstrated a sense of urgency and dedication to excellence in independent film. Today’s award winners highlight our programs’ most impressive achievements in the current moment of cinematic arts. I hope you will join me in congratulating our winners, as well as thanking all artists across sections...
The Sundance Film Festival named A Thousand and One from writer/director A.V. Rockwell the winner of the prestigious U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic. Directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s The Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the 2023 festival which hosted in-person screenings as well as access online.
“This year’s Festival has been an extraordinary experience,” said Joana Vicente, Sundance Institute CEO. “The artists that comprise the 2023 Sundance Film Festival have demonstrated a sense of urgency and dedication to excellence in independent film. Today’s award winners highlight our programs’ most impressive achievements in the current moment of cinematic arts. I hope you will join me in congratulating our winners, as well as thanking all artists across sections...
- 1/27/2023
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
A Thousand and One took the jury prize in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, with Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project taking the top prize in the U.S. Documentary Competition section.
A Thousand and One is directed by A.V. Rockwell and follows a mother who kidnaps her six-year-old son Terry from the foster care system, a secret that threatens their way of life as Terry gets older. The Focus Features title stars Teyana Taylor, Josiah Cross and Will Catlett.
“When I was writing this film, I was thinking about mother and son relationships. I was thinking about Black women and Black men relationships. I was thinking about marginalized people and their relationship to their homes,” said Rockwell, accepting the award. “Thank you to everyone for seeing all of those groups and for seeing me.” A tearful Jeremy O. Harris, who was a part of the dramatic jury,...
A Thousand and One is directed by A.V. Rockwell and follows a mother who kidnaps her six-year-old son Terry from the foster care system, a secret that threatens their way of life as Terry gets older. The Focus Features title stars Teyana Taylor, Josiah Cross and Will Catlett.
“When I was writing this film, I was thinking about mother and son relationships. I was thinking about Black women and Black men relationships. I was thinking about marginalized people and their relationship to their homes,” said Rockwell, accepting the award. “Thank you to everyone for seeing all of those groups and for seeing me.” A tearful Jeremy O. Harris, who was a part of the dramatic jury,...
- 1/27/2023
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In the opening scene of Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s searching documentary Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, the poet Nikki Giovanni shows her cards: “I don’t remember a lot of things,” she says as images of a glittering galaxy and archival footage of the poet as a child flash onscreen. “I remember what is important and I make up the rest. That’s what storytelling is all about.”
Brewster and Stephenson don’t question Giovanni’s proposition; they find purpose in it. Her words become a statement of intention (This is my story), a warning (My boundaries are firm) and a rejection of formal conventions (How do you stretch the boundaries of biography?). In that last question, Giovanni is whispering back to Audre Lorde, the poet who coined the term biomythography to describe her book Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, a text that combined biography,...
Brewster and Stephenson don’t question Giovanni’s proposition; they find purpose in it. Her words become a statement of intention (This is my story), a warning (My boundaries are firm) and a rejection of formal conventions (How do you stretch the boundaries of biography?). In that last question, Giovanni is whispering back to Audre Lorde, the poet who coined the term biomythography to describe her book Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, a text that combined biography,...
- 1/27/2023
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Sundance Film Festival has unveiled its Jury and Audience Award winners for 2023.
The day’s big winners included Maryam Keshavarz’s The Persian Version, which claimed both the Audience Award and Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in U.S. Dramatic Competition, as well as A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One for Focus Features, which took the Grand Jury Prize in the same section.
Other titles taking top awards included Festival Favorite Radical from filmmaker Christopher Zalla and 3Pas Studios; Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project from Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, which took the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary; Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia, which nabbed the U.S. Documentary Audience Award; and D. Smith’s Kokomo City, which dominated the Next section as it claimed both the Innovator and Audience Award.
Written, directed and produced by Keshavarz for Archer Grey, The Persian Version watches...
The day’s big winners included Maryam Keshavarz’s The Persian Version, which claimed both the Audience Award and Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in U.S. Dramatic Competition, as well as A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One for Focus Features, which took the Grand Jury Prize in the same section.
Other titles taking top awards included Festival Favorite Radical from filmmaker Christopher Zalla and 3Pas Studios; Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project from Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, which took the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary; Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia, which nabbed the U.S. Documentary Audience Award; and D. Smith’s Kokomo City, which dominated the Next section as it claimed both the Innovator and Audience Award.
Written, directed and produced by Keshavarz for Archer Grey, The Persian Version watches...
- 1/27/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
More than 50 years ago, while a student at Fisk University, Nikki Giovanni was published in the journal Negro Digest. Since then she has become a heralded poet and cultural staple while being called the “Poet of the Black Revolution,” a title apt for the fire within her writing. Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson examine her life in Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, a documentary attempting to detail the way she views the world.
Early on, the directors ask Giovanni a question about her childhood. She responds: “I refuse to answer a question that will make me unhappy… I refuse to be unhappy about something I can do nothing about.” And that sets the tone for the personal nature of this documentary. Unlike the usual subject, she has no desire to investigate the past––in her own words, she “put which was unhappy away.” There are a distinct lack of personal details in Mars,...
Early on, the directors ask Giovanni a question about her childhood. She responds: “I refuse to answer a question that will make me unhappy… I refuse to be unhappy about something I can do nothing about.” And that sets the tone for the personal nature of this documentary. Unlike the usual subject, she has no desire to investigate the past––in her own words, she “put which was unhappy away.” There are a distinct lack of personal details in Mars,...
- 1/23/2023
- by Michael Frank
- The Film Stage
Filmmakers Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson are capturing Nikki Giovanni in a state of transition. The trailblazing Black woman poet and activist whose words inspired the Civil Rights and Black Power movement, is making an effort to share her deepest, most personal emotions. Now in the winter of her life, Giovanni contends with seizures, whose every occurrence depletes her memory. Scenes of her bedroom bathed in blue hues, the overbearing sound of static, the numbing overexposure of light, along with compositions that see her body blinking in and out of reality, visualize her harshest fight. Her health problems, however, haven’t dimmed her sharp wit, her charismatic personality, and her unflinching independence.
“Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” , sees her promoting a new collection of poetry entitled “A Good Cry: What We Learn from Tears and Laughter.” In it, the writer draws upon the raw emotions of her upbringing — a violent father,...
“Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” , sees her promoting a new collection of poetry entitled “A Good Cry: What We Learn from Tears and Laughter.” In it, the writer draws upon the raw emotions of her upbringing — a violent father,...
- 1/20/2023
- by Robert Daniels
- Indiewire
Oscar-nominated actress Taraji P. Henson is joining the Sundance documentary Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project as executive producer and voice of Giovanni’s poems throughout the film.
Going to Mars, directed by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, premieres Friday at the festival in U.S. Documentary Competition. It examines the life and work of Giovanni, who emerged in the 1960s as one of the nation’s foremost poets and a leader of the Black Arts Movement. She has won seven NAACP Image Awards and has been named one of Oprah’s 25 “Living Legends.”
“I’m thrilled to join Michèle and Joe in bringing Nikki’s remarkable work to life on screen,” Henson said in a statement. “Interpreting and giving voice to her powerful words was a revelatory and emotional process, and moved me completely. This film reflects Nikki’s vibrance and legacy in all its complexity, and I...
Going to Mars, directed by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, premieres Friday at the festival in U.S. Documentary Competition. It examines the life and work of Giovanni, who emerged in the 1960s as one of the nation’s foremost poets and a leader of the Black Arts Movement. She has won seven NAACP Image Awards and has been named one of Oprah’s 25 “Living Legends.”
“I’m thrilled to join Michèle and Joe in bringing Nikki’s remarkable work to life on screen,” Henson said in a statement. “Interpreting and giving voice to her powerful words was a revelatory and emotional process, and moved me completely. This film reflects Nikki’s vibrance and legacy in all its complexity, and I...
- 1/19/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Renaissance and Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers have earned Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar some big nominations in the NAACP Image Awards’ music categories this year. On Thursday, the organization announced the nominees for this year’s awards show, and Bey and K-Dot lead with five nods each.
Following closely behind are Chris Brown and Tems with four nods, and Drake, who has three.
Mr. Morale and Renaissance are up against Chris Brown’s Breezy, Pj Morton’s Watch the Sun, and Ari Lennox’s age/sex/location for the Outstanding Album category.
Following closely behind are Chris Brown and Tems with four nods, and Drake, who has three.
Mr. Morale and Renaissance are up against Chris Brown’s Breezy, Pj Morton’s Watch the Sun, and Ari Lennox’s age/sex/location for the Outstanding Album category.
- 1/12/2023
- by Tomás Mier
- Rollingstone.com
Passages.The Sundance Institute has announced the films selected for their 2023 Festival, which will take place in-person in Park City, Utah, from January 19-29, 2023. A selection of the films will be available virtually in the US from January 24-29.U.S. Dramatic COMPETITIONThe Accidental Getaway Driver (Sing J. Lee): During a routine pickup, an elderly Vietnamese cab driver is taken hostage at gunpoint by three recently escaped Orange County convicts. Based on a true story. World Premiere.All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (Raven Jackson): A decades-spanning exploration of a woman’s life in Mississippi and an ode to the generations of people, places, and ineffable moments that shape us. World Premiere.Fair Play (Chloe Domont): An unexpected promotion at a cutthroat hedge fund pushes a young couple’s relationship to the brink, threatening to unravel far more than their recent engagement. World Premiere.Fancy Dance (Erica Tremblay...
- 12/7/2022
- MUBI
A documentary on Little Richard, a reexamination of the history of the Meatpacking District through the lens of trans sex workers, the film adaptation of a viral short story, and more will premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
The U.S. Documentary competition will boast the world premiere of Lisa Cortés’ Little Richard: I Am Everything. The film will simultaneously chronicle the career of the titular rock and roll pioneer while examining the genre’s Black queer origins in an effort to counterbalance the whitewashed history of American pop.
Somewhat similarly,...
The U.S. Documentary competition will boast the world premiere of Lisa Cortés’ Little Richard: I Am Everything. The film will simultaneously chronicle the career of the titular rock and roll pioneer while examining the genre’s Black queer origins in an effort to counterbalance the whitewashed history of American pop.
Somewhat similarly,...
- 12/7/2022
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Prime Video shared the official trailer for upcoming Western drama series “The English,” starring Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer. All six episodes of the limited series will premiere on November 11 exclusively in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Nordics on Prime Video, following its November 10 UK premiere on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer. The series is created by Hugo Blick, who also serves as an executive producer, director and writer.
The series follows aristocratic Englishwoman Lady Cornelia Locke, played by Blunt, and a Pawnee ex-cavalry scout named Eli Whipp, played by Spencer. They come together in 1890 middle America to cross a violent landscape built on dreams and blood.
“The English” is produced by Drama Republic, a Mediawan company, and Eight Rooks. Blunt also serves as executive producer, alongside Greg Brenman for Drama Republic. Colin Wratten serves as a producer on “The English.” Global distribution is handled by All3Media Intl.
The series follows aristocratic Englishwoman Lady Cornelia Locke, played by Blunt, and a Pawnee ex-cavalry scout named Eli Whipp, played by Spencer. They come together in 1890 middle America to cross a violent landscape built on dreams and blood.
“The English” is produced by Drama Republic, a Mediawan company, and Eight Rooks. Blunt also serves as executive producer, alongside Greg Brenman for Drama Republic. Colin Wratten serves as a producer on “The English.” Global distribution is handled by All3Media Intl.
- 10/13/2022
- by EJ Panaligan and Michaela Zee
- Variety Film + TV
Mr. Soul! director/writer Melissa Haizlip on telling the story of Ellis Haizlip, co-creator and host of the groundbreaking program Soul!: “To really understand who he was as a regular person, also to understand his ambition as somewhat of an unsung hero and a queer icon and a broadcast pioneer.”
The impressive list of the 2021 NAACP Image Awards includes double winners Viola Davis (George C Wolfe’s Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Peter Nowalk and Shonda Rhimes’s How To Get Away With Murder) and Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods), Dawn Porter’s John Lewis: Good Trouble (Documentary), Barack Obama’s A Promised Land (Nonfiction), Walter Mosley’s The Awkward Black Man (Fiction), Eddie Murphy (Hall of Fame Award), and Melissa Haizlip’s Mr. Soul!.
Melissa Haizlip with Anne-Katrin Titze on Ellis Haizlip and Mr. Soul!: “We were always aware how big the story was,...
The impressive list of the 2021 NAACP Image Awards includes double winners Viola Davis (George C Wolfe’s Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Peter Nowalk and Shonda Rhimes’s How To Get Away With Murder) and Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods), Dawn Porter’s John Lewis: Good Trouble (Documentary), Barack Obama’s A Promised Land (Nonfiction), Walter Mosley’s The Awkward Black Man (Fiction), Eddie Murphy (Hall of Fame Award), and Melissa Haizlip’s Mr. Soul!.
Melissa Haizlip with Anne-Katrin Titze on Ellis Haizlip and Mr. Soul!: “We were always aware how big the story was,...
- 7/31/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
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