Netflix has acquired Azazel Jacobs’ sisterhood drama His Three Daughters, which stars Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olsen and Natasha Lyonne and bowed at the Toronto Film Festival.
The trio play estranged sisters forced to reunite when their father becomes seriously ill. The family drama sees the sisters converge as their father’s health steadily declines.
The deal, with a price tag north of $6 million, according to sources, represents Netflix’s third acquisition out of Toronto after the streaming giant picked up Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut, Woman of the Hour, for around $11 million after a world premiere at the festival. Netflix also nabbed the worldwide rights to Lucy Walker’s documentary Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa after it was presented as a work-in-progress screening at TIFF.
After Toronto Netflix also paid around $20 million for the Richard Linklater-directed Hit Man, which bowed in Venice and stars Glen Powell and Adria Arjona.
The trio play estranged sisters forced to reunite when their father becomes seriously ill. The family drama sees the sisters converge as their father’s health steadily declines.
The deal, with a price tag north of $6 million, according to sources, represents Netflix’s third acquisition out of Toronto after the streaming giant picked up Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut, Woman of the Hour, for around $11 million after a world premiere at the festival. Netflix also nabbed the worldwide rights to Lucy Walker’s documentary Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa after it was presented as a work-in-progress screening at TIFF.
After Toronto Netflix also paid around $20 million for the Richard Linklater-directed Hit Man, which bowed in Venice and stars Glen Powell and Adria Arjona.
- 10/2/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film will release globally later this year.
Netflix has made another fall festival acquisition, swooping with Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground on worldwide rights to Matthew Heineman’s Telluride documentary American Symphony.
The film follows a year in the life of musician and Late Show bandleader Jon Batiste as he navigates the stresses and struggles of his meteoric rise winnings six Grammys and preparing the American Symphony for Carnegie Hall, while his wife and bestelling author Suleika Jaouad is diagnosed with the return of Leukemia.
Heineman, Lauren Domino, and Joedan Okun produced American Symphony, and executive producers are Alice Webb,...
Netflix has made another fall festival acquisition, swooping with Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground on worldwide rights to Matthew Heineman’s Telluride documentary American Symphony.
The film follows a year in the life of musician and Late Show bandleader Jon Batiste as he navigates the stresses and struggles of his meteoric rise winnings six Grammys and preparing the American Symphony for Carnegie Hall, while his wife and bestelling author Suleika Jaouad is diagnosed with the return of Leukemia.
Heineman, Lauren Domino, and Joedan Okun produced American Symphony, and executive producers are Alice Webb,...
- 9/19/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Netflix spent big at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, picking up Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut “Woman of the Hour” for $11 million and Richard Linklater’s well-reviewed “Hit Man” for $20 million. But other than that and despite an unusually numerous 50 titles for sale, the TIFF market at large was muted.
The lack of activity was in sync with the festival season for 2023 so far, as Sundance and Cannes went off with a smattering of deals compared to years past.
“In this marketplace, the studios and streamers, aside from Netflix, would rather spend big bucks on one or two movies that they are passionate about versus spending a boatload of money to fill a slate or clog up the pipeline with regular content,” a high-level distribution executive told TheWrap who declined to be named.
According to multiple executives who spoke to TheWrap, shifting priorities for the streamers, ongoing challenges...
The lack of activity was in sync with the festival season for 2023 so far, as Sundance and Cannes went off with a smattering of deals compared to years past.
“In this marketplace, the studios and streamers, aside from Netflix, would rather spend big bucks on one or two movies that they are passionate about versus spending a boatload of money to fill a slate or clog up the pipeline with regular content,” a high-level distribution executive told TheWrap who declined to be named.
According to multiple executives who spoke to TheWrap, shifting priorities for the streamers, ongoing challenges...
- 9/19/2023
- by Scott Mendelson
- The Wrap
’Mr. Dressup: The Magic Of Make Believe’ wins doc award, ’Dicks: The Musical’ wins Midnight Madness.
The satire American Fiction starring Jeffrey Wright has won the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) 2023 People’s Choice Award, boosting the crowd-pleaser’s Oscar credentials heading into awards season.
‘American Fiction’: Toronto Review
Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut for Amazon/MGM stars Wright as a frustrated Black author whose deliberately dumbed-down novel about cliched Black characters becomes a hit. There are multiple screenings at TIFF Bell Lightbox today (September 17) from 2:30pm-9:30pm Et.
American Fiction follows last year’s recipient...
The satire American Fiction starring Jeffrey Wright has won the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) 2023 People’s Choice Award, boosting the crowd-pleaser’s Oscar credentials heading into awards season.
‘American Fiction’: Toronto Review
Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut for Amazon/MGM stars Wright as a frustrated Black author whose deliberately dumbed-down novel about cliched Black characters becomes a hit. There are multiple screenings at TIFF Bell Lightbox today (September 17) from 2:30pm-9:30pm Et.
American Fiction follows last year’s recipient...
- 9/17/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
’Mr. Dressup: The Magic Of Make Believe’ wins doc award, ’Dicks: The Musical’ wins Midnight Madness.
The satire American Fiction starring Jeffrey Wright has won the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) 2023 People’s Choice Award, boosting the crowd-pleaser’s Oscar credentials heading into awards season.
‘American Fiction’: Toronto Review
Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut from Orion and MRC stars Wright as a frustrated Black author whose deliberately dumbed-down novel about cliched Black characters becomes a hit. There are multiple screenings at TIFF Bell Lightbox today (September 17) from 2:30pm-9:30pm Et.
MGM distributes American Fiction in the...
The satire American Fiction starring Jeffrey Wright has won the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) 2023 People’s Choice Award, boosting the crowd-pleaser’s Oscar credentials heading into awards season.
‘American Fiction’: Toronto Review
Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut from Orion and MRC stars Wright as a frustrated Black author whose deliberately dumbed-down novel about cliched Black characters becomes a hit. There are multiple screenings at TIFF Bell Lightbox today (September 17) from 2:30pm-9:30pm Et.
MGM distributes American Fiction in the...
- 9/17/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
’Mr. Dressup: The Magic Of Make Believe’ wins doc award, ’Dicks: The Musical’ wins Midnight Madness.
The satire American Fiction starring Jeffrey Wright has won the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) 2023 People’s Choice Award, boosting the crowd-pleaser’s Oscar credentials heading into awards season.
‘American Fiction’: Toronto Review
Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut from Orion and MRC stars Wright as a frustrated Black author whose deliberately dumbed-down novel about cliched Black characters becomes a hit. There are multiple screenings at TIFF Bell Lightbox today (September 17) from 2:30pm-9:30pm Et.
MGM distributes American Fiction in the...
The satire American Fiction starring Jeffrey Wright has won the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) 2023 People’s Choice Award, boosting the crowd-pleaser’s Oscar credentials heading into awards season.
‘American Fiction’: Toronto Review
Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut from Orion and MRC stars Wright as a frustrated Black author whose deliberately dumbed-down novel about cliched Black characters becomes a hit. There are multiple screenings at TIFF Bell Lightbox today (September 17) from 2:30pm-9:30pm Et.
MGM distributes American Fiction in the...
- 9/17/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
“American Fiction,” Cord Jefferson’s blistering satire of race and media, captured the Toronto International Film Festival’s people’s choice award, bolstering its Oscars chances.
TIFF’s people’s choice award is considered to be among the best predictors of eventual awards success, though the 2023 festival hosted a weaker lineup than most years due to the writers and actors strikes that saw some prominent contenders skip a Canadian premiere. In the past, winners of the prize such as “Green Book,” “12 Years a Slave” and “Nomadland” went on to be named best picture at the Academy Awards. Other recipients, including “Belfast,” “La La Land,” “Jojo Rabbit,” and 2022’s winner, “The Fabelmans,” were all best picture nominees.
The people’s choice category was created in 1978. Seven recipients won best picture at the Oscars, with five of those victories coming in the past two decades.
Alexander Payne’s boarding school dramedy...
TIFF’s people’s choice award is considered to be among the best predictors of eventual awards success, though the 2023 festival hosted a weaker lineup than most years due to the writers and actors strikes that saw some prominent contenders skip a Canadian premiere. In the past, winners of the prize such as “Green Book,” “12 Years a Slave” and “Nomadland” went on to be named best picture at the Academy Awards. Other recipients, including “Belfast,” “La La Land,” “Jojo Rabbit,” and 2022’s winner, “The Fabelmans,” were all best picture nominees.
The people’s choice category was created in 1978. Seven recipients won best picture at the Oscars, with five of those victories coming in the past two decades.
Alexander Payne’s boarding school dramedy...
- 9/17/2023
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction picked up the top People’s Choice honor Sunday at the Toronto Film Festival, which wrapped up a 48th edition with little Hollywood star wattage amid the uncertainty of dual Hollywood strikes.
Jefferson’s feature directorial debut, an adaptation for Orion of Percival Everett’s 2001 novel Erasure, had its world premiere in Toronto at the Princess Alexandra Theatre on Sept. 8. MRC is the film’s studio and financier.
The American drama about U.S. racial dynamics portrays a Black academic, played by Jeffrey Wright, who grows frustrated that the only “Black books” that seem to find a wide (and white) audience are those that tread on stereotypes.
“My gratitude towards everyone who watched American Fiction [and] discussed it afterwards among friends and colleagues is endless. The film is now in your hands, and I’m so grateful that it was embraced in this way,” Jefferson said in a statement Sunday morning.
Jefferson’s feature directorial debut, an adaptation for Orion of Percival Everett’s 2001 novel Erasure, had its world premiere in Toronto at the Princess Alexandra Theatre on Sept. 8. MRC is the film’s studio and financier.
The American drama about U.S. racial dynamics portrays a Black academic, played by Jeffrey Wright, who grows frustrated that the only “Black books” that seem to find a wide (and white) audience are those that tread on stereotypes.
“My gratitude towards everyone who watched American Fiction [and] discussed it afterwards among friends and colleagues is endless. The film is now in your hands, and I’m so grateful that it was embraced in this way,” Jefferson said in a statement Sunday morning.
- 9/17/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“American Fiction” has won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced at an awards brunch on Sunday.
The Orion/MGM film by first-time director Cord Jefferson is a barbed satire that stars Jeffrey Wright as a writer who, to his dismay, achieves enormous success after as a joke writing a book filled with what he feels are the worst and most pandering cliches of Black representation. In its review, TheWrap called the film “an outlandishly assured directorial debut, a beautifully modulated film that takes a great actor, Jeffrey Wright, and gives him a spectacular showcase.”
While the film did not come into the festival as one of its highest profile selections, it was an immediate sensation after its Friday night premiere at the Princess of Wales Theatre, drawing some of TIFF’s most positive reviews. It currently stands at 86% positive on Rotten Tomatoes...
The Orion/MGM film by first-time director Cord Jefferson is a barbed satire that stars Jeffrey Wright as a writer who, to his dismay, achieves enormous success after as a joke writing a book filled with what he feels are the worst and most pandering cliches of Black representation. In its review, TheWrap called the film “an outlandishly assured directorial debut, a beautifully modulated film that takes a great actor, Jeffrey Wright, and gives him a spectacular showcase.”
While the film did not come into the festival as one of its highest profile selections, it was an immediate sensation after its Friday night premiere at the Princess of Wales Theatre, drawing some of TIFF’s most positive reviews. It currently stands at 86% positive on Rotten Tomatoes...
- 9/17/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The People’s Choice Award from the just-wrapped 2023 Toronto Film Festival has gone to Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction. First Runner-Up is Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers. Second Runner-Up is Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron. The Documentary Award goes to Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe, and the Midnight Madness winner is Dicks: The Musical.
Orion and MRC’s American Fiction stars Jeffrey Wright and comes from writer-director Jefferson. It is a scathing satire on the publishing industry and its treatment of serious works by Black writers, one whose name is Thelonious “Monk” Ellison. He travels back to his hometown of Boston to attend a book festival, but the turnout is low in favor of another book seminar with author Sintara Golden’s (Issa Rae) bestseller We Lives in Da Ghetto. It is scheduled to be released in theaters in November.
Voted by audience members since 1978 and...
Orion and MRC’s American Fiction stars Jeffrey Wright and comes from writer-director Jefferson. It is a scathing satire on the publishing industry and its treatment of serious works by Black writers, one whose name is Thelonious “Monk” Ellison. He travels back to his hometown of Boston to attend a book festival, but the turnout is low in favor of another book seminar with author Sintara Golden’s (Issa Rae) bestseller We Lives in Da Ghetto. It is scheduled to be released in theaters in November.
Voted by audience members since 1978 and...
- 9/17/2023
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Netflix buys Lucy Walker’s TIFF doc ‘Mountain Queen’ as heat builds on handful of acquisition titles
Wicked Little Letters, Hit Man, Knox Goes Away also generating interest.
Netflix has picked up worldwide rights to Lucy Walker’s TIFF documentary Mountain Queen: The Summits Of Lhakpa Sherpa in its second buy of the festival.
The streamer plans a 2024 launch for the story of the first Nepali woman to scale Mount Everest. Sk Global Entertainment, Obb Pictures, Avocados and Coconuts produced and CAA Media Finance represented the filmmakers in the deal.
On Monday night Netflix snapped up US and select territories on Woman Of The Hour in a deal understood to be valued at $10m.
At time of...
Netflix has picked up worldwide rights to Lucy Walker’s TIFF documentary Mountain Queen: The Summits Of Lhakpa Sherpa in its second buy of the festival.
The streamer plans a 2024 launch for the story of the first Nepali woman to scale Mount Everest. Sk Global Entertainment, Obb Pictures, Avocados and Coconuts produced and CAA Media Finance represented the filmmakers in the deal.
On Monday night Netflix snapped up US and select territories on Woman Of The Hour in a deal understood to be valued at $10m.
At time of...
- 9/12/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Netflix has nabbed the worldwide rights to Lucy Walker’s documentary Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa after a world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
“It’s actually a fairy tale. You work for decades, and sometimes you have decades you’re doing everything wrong or nearly right, and then you have moments where you say I’m so glad I kept going,” Walker said of premiering the doc at TIFF during a Visionaries session sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter.
“Netflix is particularly good as it’s so global,” Walked added. A 2024 streaming release is planned for the documentary about Lhakpa Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to completely summit and survive Mount Everest. She climbed Mount Everest while bringing up two teenage daughters and recovering from an abusive marriage.
The film was shown as a work-in-progress at Toronto a year ago, before Walker returned for the world premiere.
“It’s actually a fairy tale. You work for decades, and sometimes you have decades you’re doing everything wrong or nearly right, and then you have moments where you say I’m so glad I kept going,” Walker said of premiering the doc at TIFF during a Visionaries session sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter.
“Netflix is particularly good as it’s so global,” Walked added. A 2024 streaming release is planned for the documentary about Lhakpa Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to completely summit and survive Mount Everest. She climbed Mount Everest while bringing up two teenage daughters and recovering from an abusive marriage.
The film was shown as a work-in-progress at Toronto a year ago, before Walker returned for the world premiere.
- 9/12/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Netflix has picked up worldwide rights to the documentary “Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa” out of the Toronto International Film Festival, TheWrap has learned. The sale comes on the heels of another high-profile pickup from Netflix, Anna Kendrick’s serial killer directorial debut “Woman of the Hour.”
The streamer will release the film in 2024.
Directed by Lucy Walker (“Of Night & Light”), the film tells the story of Lhakpa Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to summit and descend Mount Everest who is now a single mom working at a Connecticut Whole Foods.
“Lhakpa grew up in Nepal, illiterate and rejected by her family, and emigrated to the US without speaking English,” the official synopsis from TIFF reads. “When we meet her, she’s working as a dishwasher at Whole Foods in Connecticut, raising her teenage daughters, Sunny and Shiny, in a small apartment. She’s a single mom and spousal-abuse survivor.
The streamer will release the film in 2024.
Directed by Lucy Walker (“Of Night & Light”), the film tells the story of Lhakpa Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to summit and descend Mount Everest who is now a single mom working at a Connecticut Whole Foods.
“Lhakpa grew up in Nepal, illiterate and rejected by her family, and emigrated to the US without speaking English,” the official synopsis from TIFF reads. “When we meet her, she’s working as a dishwasher at Whole Foods in Connecticut, raising her teenage daughters, Sunny and Shiny, in a small apartment. She’s a single mom and spousal-abuse survivor.
- 9/12/2023
- by Adam Chitwood
- The Wrap
Exclusive: Netflix has acquired worldwide rights to the documentary Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa out of the Toronto Film Festival, Deadline can exclusively reveal.
The deal is the second in quick succession for the streamer, which less than 12 hours ago snapped up Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut, Woman of The Hour, for $11 million. No details as to the financial terms were disclosed.
Pic’s subject, Lhakpa Sherpa, was the first Nepali woman to completely summit and survive Mount Everest. For anyone else, that might be the greatest challenge and achievement of their life. But for the unforgettable Lhakpa — now a single mother of three, based in Connecticut — it was just the start.
Hailing from Sk Global Entertainment, Obb Pictures, and Avocados and Coconuts, the doc was directed by Lucy Walker, the 2x Oscar nominee previously at TIFF with another tale of a female Everest climber in 2006’s Cinema Eye Honors Award-nominated Blindsight.
The deal is the second in quick succession for the streamer, which less than 12 hours ago snapped up Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut, Woman of The Hour, for $11 million. No details as to the financial terms were disclosed.
Pic’s subject, Lhakpa Sherpa, was the first Nepali woman to completely summit and survive Mount Everest. For anyone else, that might be the greatest challenge and achievement of their life. But for the unforgettable Lhakpa — now a single mother of three, based in Connecticut — it was just the start.
Hailing from Sk Global Entertainment, Obb Pictures, and Avocados and Coconuts, the doc was directed by Lucy Walker, the 2x Oscar nominee previously at TIFF with another tale of a female Everest climber in 2006’s Cinema Eye Honors Award-nominated Blindsight.
- 9/12/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Nahnatchka Khan’s slasher-comedy Totally Killer from Prime Video and Blumhouse Television to close fest.
The world premiere of Legendary Pictures’ reimagining of cult classic The Toxic Avenger starring Peter Dinklage will open 2023 Fantastic Fest running September 21-28.
Director Macon Blair’s film, which also stars Jacob Tremblay and Taylour Paige with Elijah Wood and Kevin Bacon, is among a roster of 29 world premieres, 24 North American premieres, and 18 US premieres.
The world premiere of Nahnatchka Khan’s slasher-comedy Totally Killer from Prime Video and Blumhouse Television will close the festival and stars Kiernan Shipka as a time-traveling teen out to...
The world premiere of Legendary Pictures’ reimagining of cult classic The Toxic Avenger starring Peter Dinklage will open 2023 Fantastic Fest running September 21-28.
Director Macon Blair’s film, which also stars Jacob Tremblay and Taylour Paige with Elijah Wood and Kevin Bacon, is among a roster of 29 world premieres, 24 North American premieres, and 18 US premieres.
The world premiere of Nahnatchka Khan’s slasher-comedy Totally Killer from Prime Video and Blumhouse Television will close the festival and stars Kiernan Shipka as a time-traveling teen out to...
- 8/15/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Next Goal Wins (Taika Waititi, 2023).The lineup is being unveiled for the 2023 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, starting with 60 selections from the Gala and Special Presentations programs. The festival takes place from September 7–17, 2023.Gala PRESENTATIONSConcrete Utopia (Um Tae-Hwa)Dumb Money (Craig Gillespie)Fair Play (Chloe Domont)Flora and Son (John Carney)Hate to Love: Nickelback (Leigh Brooks)Lee (Ellen Kuras)Next Goal Wins (Taika Waititi)Nyad (Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin)Punjab ’95 (Honey Trehan)Solo (Sophie Dupuis)The End We Start From (Mahalia Belo)The Movie Emperor (Ning Hao)The New Boy (Warwick Thornton) The Royal Hotel (Kitty Green)The Holdovers.Special Presentationsa Difficult Year (Éric Toledano, Olivier Nakache)A Normal Family (Hur Jin-ho)American Fiction (Cord Jefferson)Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet)Close to You (Dominic Savage)Days of Happiness (Chloé Robichaud)The Rescue (Daniela Goggi)Ezra (Tony Goldwyn)Fingernails (Christos Nikou)Four Daughters (Kaouther Ben Hania...
- 8/14/2023
- MUBI
Quebec festival wrapped on August 9.
Talk To Me, the horror hit from Danny and Michael Philippou which has grossed more than $31m in North America and close to $50m worldwide, has been named best international feature in the 2023 Fantasia audience awards.
In other key awards Lee Sang-yong’s South Korean title The Roundup: No Way Out was named best Asian feature, while Shigeyoshi Tsukahara’s Japanese entry Kurayukaba earned best animated feature, and
Satan Wants You from Steve J. Adams and Sean Horlor took the inaugural Dgc Audience Award for Best Canadian Film (narrative or documentary).
The full list of audience award winners appears below.
Talk To Me, the horror hit from Danny and Michael Philippou which has grossed more than $31m in North America and close to $50m worldwide, has been named best international feature in the 2023 Fantasia audience awards.
In other key awards Lee Sang-yong’s South Korean title The Roundup: No Way Out was named best Asian feature, while Shigeyoshi Tsukahara’s Japanese entry Kurayukaba earned best animated feature, and
Satan Wants You from Steve J. Adams and Sean Horlor took the inaugural Dgc Audience Award for Best Canadian Film (narrative or documentary).
The full list of audience award winners appears below.
- 8/14/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The Toronto Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its Visionaries informal conversation series presented by The Hollywood Reporter, led by Spike Lee, Guillermo del Toro, Nadine Labaki and The King’s Speech producer See-Saw Films.
Oscar-winning director Lee will be on hand to discuss his long career in Hollywood, which includes the groundbreaking 1992 biopic Malcolm X. French filmmaker Ly will also be in Toronto for the world premiere of Les Indésirables, the follow up to his debut feature Les Miserables, which won the Jury Prize in Cannes and earned an Oscar nomination for best international feature at the 2020 Oscars.
And del Toro, who has shot many of his movies in Toronto, including the Oscar-winning The Shape of Water, will take part in the Visionaries series to talk about his cinema of fantastical worlds, as will See-Saw founders Iain Canning and Emile Sherman, whose prestige film output includes Lion and Jane Campion...
Oscar-winning director Lee will be on hand to discuss his long career in Hollywood, which includes the groundbreaking 1992 biopic Malcolm X. French filmmaker Ly will also be in Toronto for the world premiere of Les Indésirables, the follow up to his debut feature Les Miserables, which won the Jury Prize in Cannes and earned an Oscar nomination for best international feature at the 2020 Oscars.
And del Toro, who has shot many of his movies in Toronto, including the Oscar-winning The Shape of Water, will take part in the Visionaries series to talk about his cinema of fantastical worlds, as will See-Saw founders Iain Canning and Emile Sherman, whose prestige film output includes Lion and Jane Campion...
- 8/14/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TIFF continues to build out its speaker lineup despite the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes barring a number of participants from this year’s 48th edition.
Of note, actor Viggo Mortensen will appear on stage in Toronto to discuss his feature directorial debut, the western The Dead Don’t Hurt, a movie he also stars in with Garret Dillahunt, Danny Huston and Vicky Krieps. Despite the SAG-AFTRA strike, Mortensen will appear at TIFF under the guise of director. He’ll be joined by producer Jeremy Thomas and Regina Solórzano. Global rights are available on The Dead Don’t Hurt; HanWay Films is handling.
Also having onstage conversations in the Visionaries section are Oscar winners Guillermo del Toro and Spike Lee.
Last week, TIFF announced that Pedro Almodovar, who is already receiving a tribute at the fest, Hong Kong actor Andy Lau and the stars of Korean disaster epic, Concrete Utopia, are already set to have sitdown conversations.
Of note, actor Viggo Mortensen will appear on stage in Toronto to discuss his feature directorial debut, the western The Dead Don’t Hurt, a movie he also stars in with Garret Dillahunt, Danny Huston and Vicky Krieps. Despite the SAG-AFTRA strike, Mortensen will appear at TIFF under the guise of director. He’ll be joined by producer Jeremy Thomas and Regina Solórzano. Global rights are available on The Dead Don’t Hurt; HanWay Films is handling.
Also having onstage conversations in the Visionaries section are Oscar winners Guillermo del Toro and Spike Lee.
Last week, TIFF announced that Pedro Almodovar, who is already receiving a tribute at the fest, Hong Kong actor Andy Lau and the stars of Korean disaster epic, Concrete Utopia, are already set to have sitdown conversations.
- 8/14/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Speakers include Guillermo del Toro, Ladj Ly, Nadine Labaki, Viggo Mortenson, Jeremy Thomas.
TIFF top brass have unveiled the bulk of the TIFF Industry Conference line-up with sessions and speakers including Spike Lee, Lucy Walker, AI and film, and African cinema and film industries.
The Conference is divided into six sections and encompasses Doc Day and the new Sloane science and technology project pitch initiative funded by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Public Understanding of Science and Technology programme.
Besides Lee and Walker, whose acquisition title Mountain Queen: The Summits Of Lhakpa Sherpa will premiere in TIFF Docs, speakers include Guillermo del Toro,...
TIFF top brass have unveiled the bulk of the TIFF Industry Conference line-up with sessions and speakers including Spike Lee, Lucy Walker, AI and film, and African cinema and film industries.
The Conference is divided into six sections and encompasses Doc Day and the new Sloane science and technology project pitch initiative funded by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Public Understanding of Science and Technology programme.
Besides Lee and Walker, whose acquisition title Mountain Queen: The Summits Of Lhakpa Sherpa will premiere in TIFF Docs, speakers include Guillermo del Toro,...
- 8/14/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Messages have been pouring in to pay tribute to Jess Search, producer and co-founder of U.K.’s Doc Society, who died Monday from brain cancer at the age of 54.
Search was a founding director of Doc Society, the mission of which is to “unleash the transformational power of documentary film to address the two critical and intertwined issues of climate change and democracies in crisis.”
Before that, she was a commissioning editor at Channel 4 and a founder of Shooting People, the online filmmakers network. She was also a board member of the U.K. think tank Ippr. She moderated panel discussions for IDFA, the Skoll World Forum, the Trust Women conference, and Doc Society’s Good Pitch.
Search was nominated for an Emmy for “Virunga.” Her recent executive producer credits included “F@ck This Job,” “Welcome to Chechnya” and “Cold Case Hammarskjöld.”
British Film Institute CEO Ben Roberts said:...
Search was a founding director of Doc Society, the mission of which is to “unleash the transformational power of documentary film to address the two critical and intertwined issues of climate change and democracies in crisis.”
Before that, she was a commissioning editor at Channel 4 and a founder of Shooting People, the online filmmakers network. She was also a board member of the U.K. think tank Ippr. She moderated panel discussions for IDFA, the Skoll World Forum, the Trust Women conference, and Doc Society’s Good Pitch.
Search was nominated for an Emmy for “Virunga.” Her recent executive producer credits included “F@ck This Job,” “Welcome to Chechnya” and “Cold Case Hammarskjöld.”
British Film Institute CEO Ben Roberts said:...
- 8/3/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Following the Galas and Special Presentations line-up at Toronto International Film Festival, they’ve now unveiled their documentary lineup, which includes Frederick Wiseman’s restaurant doc Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros, Errol Morris’ John le Carré film The Pigeon Tunnel, Raoul Peck’s Silver Dollar Road, Roger Ross Williams’ Stamped From the Beginning, and more.
“There’s no question it’s been a very challenging year and I think we’re waiting for the moment, for the market to correct itself for people to realize that their viewers are going to need something more than just celebrity profiles and true crime [docs],” Powers told Deadline. “There’s quite a few sales titles this year that are coming in with strong representation from companies like CAA, UTA, Submarine, Dogwoof, Cinephil, et cetera,” Powers noted. “I think that’s a sign of the strength of what these companies hope are going to have some broad appeal of these films.
“There’s no question it’s been a very challenging year and I think we’re waiting for the moment, for the market to correct itself for people to realize that their viewers are going to need something more than just celebrity profiles and true crime [docs],” Powers told Deadline. “There’s quite a few sales titles this year that are coming in with strong representation from companies like CAA, UTA, Submarine, Dogwoof, Cinephil, et cetera,” Powers noted. “I think that’s a sign of the strength of what these companies hope are going to have some broad appeal of these films.
- 7/26/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Programme opens with world premiere of Copa 71 from Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine.
Toronto has announced its TIFF Docs line-up, a crop of 22 features at time of writing which includes premieres of new work by Lucy Walker, Errol Morris, and Raoul Peck.
The section opens with the world premiere of Copa 71 from Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine, a timely tale about a 1971 international women’s football tournament in Mexico City which drew record crowds and has been largely erased from sports history.
Walker’s Mountain Queen: The Summits Of Lhakpa Sherpa gets its world premiere and profiles a single mother...
Toronto has announced its TIFF Docs line-up, a crop of 22 features at time of writing which includes premieres of new work by Lucy Walker, Errol Morris, and Raoul Peck.
The section opens with the world premiere of Copa 71 from Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine, a timely tale about a 1971 international women’s football tournament in Mexico City which drew record crowds and has been largely erased from sports history.
Walker’s Mountain Queen: The Summits Of Lhakpa Sherpa gets its world premiere and profiles a single mother...
- 7/26/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The Toronto International Film Festival announced its lineup of documentaries this morning, a slate that includes the world premiere of a film on uncancelled comedian Louis C.K., as well as fresh work from nonfiction greats Raoul Peck, Frederick Wiseman, Errol Morris, Lucy Walker, and Roger Ross Williams.
Sorry/Not Sorry, directed by Caroline Suh and Cara Mones, foregrounds women comedians who accused Louis C.K. of sexual harassment and the consequences they faced as a result. C.K. admitted in 2017 that he had exposed himself and masturbated in front of several women, which appeared to cancel his thriving standup and acting career. But after a pause he resumed standup performances before sold out crowds.
Louis C.K.
“It’s a really nuanced telling of the story produced by the New York Times,” TIFF chief documentary programmer Thom Powers told Deadline. “It’s been six years since the original New York Times reporting on this case.
Sorry/Not Sorry, directed by Caroline Suh and Cara Mones, foregrounds women comedians who accused Louis C.K. of sexual harassment and the consequences they faced as a result. C.K. admitted in 2017 that he had exposed himself and masturbated in front of several women, which appeared to cancel his thriving standup and acting career. But after a pause he resumed standup performances before sold out crowds.
Louis C.K.
“It’s a really nuanced telling of the story produced by the New York Times,” TIFF chief documentary programmer Thom Powers told Deadline. “It’s been six years since the original New York Times reporting on this case.
- 7/26/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
A documentary about women who accused Louis C.K. of sexual harassment and the consequences those accusations had on their careers is one of 22 documentaries from 12 countries heading to the 2023 Toronto Intl. Film Festival.
The docu titled “Sorry/Not Sorry,” previously intended for Showtime, is one of several films in TIFF’s nonfiction program that focus on women who have been unjustly ignored for their achievements. TIFF Docs opening night film, “Copa 71,” tells the story of the lost legacy of a 1971 international women’s soccer tournament that had record setting crowds in Mexico City but was largely erased from sports history. The film’s producers include Venus and Serena Williams as well as soccer super star Alex Morgan. Lucy Walker, a two-time Oscar nominee, is bringing “Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa,” about a single mother working as a dishwasher at a Connecticut Whole Foods, who has another life as a record-breaking mountain climber.
The docu titled “Sorry/Not Sorry,” previously intended for Showtime, is one of several films in TIFF’s nonfiction program that focus on women who have been unjustly ignored for their achievements. TIFF Docs opening night film, “Copa 71,” tells the story of the lost legacy of a 1971 international women’s soccer tournament that had record setting crowds in Mexico City but was largely erased from sports history. The film’s producers include Venus and Serena Williams as well as soccer super star Alex Morgan. Lucy Walker, a two-time Oscar nominee, is bringing “Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa,” about a single mother working as a dishwasher at a Connecticut Whole Foods, who has another life as a record-breaking mountain climber.
- 7/26/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
The soccer documentary Copa 71, from executive producers Serena Williams and Venus Williams, is set to open the Toronto Film Festival’s Docs sidebar as it recounts the 1971 Women’s World Cup tournament in Mexico City.
The documentary from directors Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine will have its world premiere at TIFF. New Black Films, Dogwoof and Westbrook Studios are producing.
Toronto also booked world premieres for Raoul Peck’s Silver Dollar Road, about a Black family fighting to save their North Carolina property from land-grabbing developers; Anand Patwardhan’s The World is Family, which recounts the director’s parents helping lead India’s independence movement; and Karim Amer’s Defiant, about Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba and his battle against disinformation.
There’s also a world premiere for Caroline Suh and Cara Mones’ Sorry/Not Sorry, a portrait of women who accused comedy giant Louis C.K. of sexual harassment,...
The documentary from directors Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine will have its world premiere at TIFF. New Black Films, Dogwoof and Westbrook Studios are producing.
Toronto also booked world premieres for Raoul Peck’s Silver Dollar Road, about a Black family fighting to save their North Carolina property from land-grabbing developers; Anand Patwardhan’s The World is Family, which recounts the director’s parents helping lead India’s independence movement; and Karim Amer’s Defiant, about Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba and his battle against disinformation.
There’s also a world premiere for Caroline Suh and Cara Mones’ Sorry/Not Sorry, a portrait of women who accused comedy giant Louis C.K. of sexual harassment,...
- 7/26/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
New films from legendary documentarians Frederick Wiseman and Errol Morris and new work from directors Raoul Peck, Lucy Walker, Roger Ross Williams and Karim Amer will screen at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, which announced its TIFF Docs lineup on Wednesday.
The 93-year-old Wiseman will present the North American premiere of “Menus – Plaisirs Les Troisgros,” a four-hour deep dive into a fabled Michelin-starred restaurant in France. Morris will have the international premiere of “The Pigeon Tunnel,” which is built around a Morris interview with John le Carre that turned out to be the last interview the espionage novelist gave before his death in 2020.
The 22 films announced on Wednesday include 10 world premieres, including Amer’s “Defiant,” Walker’s “Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa,” Peck’s “Silver Dollar Road,” Williams’ “Stamped From the Beginning” and Caroline Suh and Cara Mones’ “Sorry/Not Sorry.” Of the 26 directors represented by those films,...
The 93-year-old Wiseman will present the North American premiere of “Menus – Plaisirs Les Troisgros,” a four-hour deep dive into a fabled Michelin-starred restaurant in France. Morris will have the international premiere of “The Pigeon Tunnel,” which is built around a Morris interview with John le Carre that turned out to be the last interview the espionage novelist gave before his death in 2020.
The 22 films announced on Wednesday include 10 world premieres, including Amer’s “Defiant,” Walker’s “Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa,” Peck’s “Silver Dollar Road,” Williams’ “Stamped From the Beginning” and Caroline Suh and Cara Mones’ “Sorry/Not Sorry.” Of the 26 directors represented by those films,...
- 7/26/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
This year, non-fiction titles will be front and center at the Toronto International Film Festival, as many writers and actors will not be on hand due to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Opening night at the 2023 festival brings a documentary world premiere, Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine’s “Copa 71” (seller: Dogwoof), about an historic international women’s soccer tournament lost to sports history. The filmmakers bring us back to the record-setting crowds assembled in Mexico City in 1971. U.S. soccer star Alice Morgan and athletes Venus and Serena Williams are among the film’s executive producers.
That’s the sort of unexpected story that veteran TIFF documentary programmer Thom Powers sought for this year’s documentary program of 22 titles from 12 countries. While it’s always painful to whittle down the selection from 800 feature submissions (the post-pandemic production boom continues), Powers looked at giving a boost to sales titles...
Opening night at the 2023 festival brings a documentary world premiere, Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine’s “Copa 71” (seller: Dogwoof), about an historic international women’s soccer tournament lost to sports history. The filmmakers bring us back to the record-setting crowds assembled in Mexico City in 1971. U.S. soccer star Alice Morgan and athletes Venus and Serena Williams are among the film’s executive producers.
That’s the sort of unexpected story that veteran TIFF documentary programmer Thom Powers sought for this year’s documentary program of 22 titles from 12 countries. While it’s always painful to whittle down the selection from 800 feature submissions (the post-pandemic production boom continues), Powers looked at giving a boost to sales titles...
- 7/26/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Lucy Walker, the British filmmaker behind Oscar-nominated docs Waste Land and The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, has lined up her latest feature doc.
Walker is directing Of Night and Light: The Story of Iboga and Ibogaine and the film has landed a secret slot at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Of Night and Light: The Story of Iboga and Ibogaine tells the astounding unknown story of what might be the aha scientific breakthrough moment of our generation.
Back in 1962 a teenage psychonaut in New York City named Howard Lotsof experimented with an obscure psychedelic from the root bark of a West African shrub and recognized its unique therapeutic potential. Together with his African-American wife Norma, a pair of outsider NYU film students, they dedicated their lives to getting science and government to research it, convinced that it would be of great medicinal benefit, despite it sounding too good to be true,...
Walker is directing Of Night and Light: The Story of Iboga and Ibogaine and the film has landed a secret slot at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Of Night and Light: The Story of Iboga and Ibogaine tells the astounding unknown story of what might be the aha scientific breakthrough moment of our generation.
Back in 1962 a teenage psychonaut in New York City named Howard Lotsof experimented with an obscure psychedelic from the root bark of a West African shrub and recognized its unique therapeutic potential. Together with his African-American wife Norma, a pair of outsider NYU film students, they dedicated their lives to getting science and government to research it, convinced that it would be of great medicinal benefit, despite it sounding too good to be true,...
- 5/10/2023
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Lucy Walker, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker of “Waste Land,” is working on her next ambitious documentary, “The Great Oven” shedding light on a grassroots food movement in the Middle East and South America.
The initiative, which was created in 2019 by James Gomez Thompson and Beirut-born Nour Matraji, has allowed for giant ornate ovens to be distributed to corners of the world that need them the most, including Lebanon and Colombia. Ovens were first delivered to the Lebanese/Syrian border to bring together communities from two sides of a decades- long sectarian conflict.
The character-driven film follows the journey of Gomez Thompson from Lebanon to Colombia, where a diverse group of people have been spearheading the solidarity movement. Many of them have been marginalized, notably stateless youth, refugee families, ex-child fighters and trafficked women.
“What started with something as simple as a community oven has opened a universe I could never imagine possible,...
The initiative, which was created in 2019 by James Gomez Thompson and Beirut-born Nour Matraji, has allowed for giant ornate ovens to be distributed to corners of the world that need them the most, including Lebanon and Colombia. Ovens were first delivered to the Lebanese/Syrian border to bring together communities from two sides of a decades- long sectarian conflict.
The character-driven film follows the journey of Gomez Thompson from Lebanon to Colombia, where a diverse group of people have been spearheading the solidarity movement. Many of them have been marginalized, notably stateless youth, refugee families, ex-child fighters and trafficked women.
“What started with something as simple as a community oven has opened a universe I could never imagine possible,...
- 1/16/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The documentary community is mourning one of its most treasured artists, filmmaker Julia Reichert. The Oscar-winning American Factory director died Thursday night at her home in Yellow Springs, Ohio of a form of cancer affecting the bladder and other organs. She was 76.
“I love this special woman… We can see her sweetness, joy, passion and love in every frame,” filmmaker Ondi Timoner wrote on Facebook. “You were a gift to us all, an inspiration for all the best parts of being human, and you uplifted everyone you touched with your work. I feel so lucky to have known you all these years.”
Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery Related Story Julia Reichert Dies: Oscar-Winning 'American Factory' Documentarian Was 76 Related Story 'Tiger King', 'American Factory' Among Grierson British Documentary Award Nominees
Rip Julia Reichert, the most beloved person in the documentary community, an angel & a beacon.
“I love this special woman… We can see her sweetness, joy, passion and love in every frame,” filmmaker Ondi Timoner wrote on Facebook. “You were a gift to us all, an inspiration for all the best parts of being human, and you uplifted everyone you touched with your work. I feel so lucky to have known you all these years.”
Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery Related Story Julia Reichert Dies: Oscar-Winning 'American Factory' Documentarian Was 76 Related Story 'Tiger King', 'American Factory' Among Grierson British Documentary Award Nominees
Rip Julia Reichert, the most beloved person in the documentary community, an angel & a beacon.
- 12/4/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
On July 16, the Omaha, Nebraska based non-profit Film Streams is hosting a local celebration for See Change, the organization’s initiative that strives for gender parity in their programming. The fundraiser will spotlight four women documentary filmmakers, featuring a discussion moderated by Film Streams’ artistic director, Dr. Diana Martinez. The four visiting filmmakers are Ramona Díaz (A Thousand Cuts), Grace Lee (American Revolutionary), Yoruba Richen (The New Black) and Lucy Walker (Waste Land). The event will be held at Film Streams’ Dundee Theater, the longest-surviving cinema in Omaha. Film Streams Executive Director Deirdre Haj, who took on the title last […]
The post Film Streams See Change Fundraiser Spotlights Women Documentary Filmmakers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Film Streams See Change Fundraiser Spotlights Women Documentary Filmmakers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 7/13/2022
- by Natalia Keogan
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
On July 16, the Omaha, Nebraska based non-profit Film Streams is hosting a local celebration for See Change, the organization’s initiative that strives for gender parity in their programming. The fundraiser will spotlight four women documentary filmmakers, featuring a discussion moderated by Film Streams’ artistic director, Dr. Diana Martinez. The four visiting filmmakers are Ramona Díaz (A Thousand Cuts), Grace Lee (American Revolutionary), Yoruba Richen (The New Black) and Lucy Walker (Waste Land). The event will be held at Film Streams’ Dundee Theater, the longest-surviving cinema in Omaha. Film Streams Executive Director Deirdre Haj, who took on the title last […]
The post Film Streams See Change Fundraiser Spotlights Women Documentary Filmmakers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Film Streams See Change Fundraiser Spotlights Women Documentary Filmmakers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 7/13/2022
- by Natalia Keogan
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Executive joined from HBO in May 2022.
Topic Studios president Maria Zuckerman is departing the company after a three-year tenure in which the company delivered projects such as Pablo Larrain’s Spencer starring Oscar nominee Kristen Stewart and HBO/HBO Max surfing series 100 Foot Wave.
No reason was given for Zuckerman’s departure. She joined in May 2019 from HBO and reported to First Look Media CEO Michael Bloom.
Under her leadership, Topic Studios also enjoyed success with Nikyatu Jusu’s 2022 Sundance grand jury winner Nanny, Kevin Macdonald’s The Mauritanian with Jodie Foster, and Adam Leon’s Italian Studies starring Vanessa Kirby.
Topic Studios president Maria Zuckerman is departing the company after a three-year tenure in which the company delivered projects such as Pablo Larrain’s Spencer starring Oscar nominee Kristen Stewart and HBO/HBO Max surfing series 100 Foot Wave.
No reason was given for Zuckerman’s departure. She joined in May 2019 from HBO and reported to First Look Media CEO Michael Bloom.
Under her leadership, Topic Studios also enjoyed success with Nikyatu Jusu’s 2022 Sundance grand jury winner Nanny, Kevin Macdonald’s The Mauritanian with Jodie Foster, and Adam Leon’s Italian Studies starring Vanessa Kirby.
- 6/14/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The Oscar shortlists hit Hollywood on Dec. 21, with filmmakers and artisans alike waiting to see if their pics have made it. It’s another Covid-challenged year, with theaters still not running at full capacity and screening links de rigueur even as widespread vaccinations boost the confidence in getting back in a cinema. The films below have been gaining traction on the awards circuit so far, but given the contours of kudos campaigns, surprises can and will emerge. Critics groups are beginning to weigh in and some guild nominations are imminent. Oscar nominations will be announced Feb. 8, with the ceremony taking place March 27.
Documentary Feature
This category once again offers up an embarrassment of riches, with films such as Denmark’s “Flee” leading the pack — the Sundance winner recently won a Gotham award. “Flee” can also grab noms in animation and international feature. NatGeo’s lineup includes John Hoffman and Janet Tobias’ “Fauci,...
Documentary Feature
This category once again offers up an embarrassment of riches, with films such as Denmark’s “Flee” leading the pack — the Sundance winner recently won a Gotham award. “Flee” can also grab noms in animation and international feature. NatGeo’s lineup includes John Hoffman and Janet Tobias’ “Fauci,...
- 12/11/2021
- by Carole Horst
- Variety Film + TV
Ten years ago, the New York Times embarked on an experiment to incorporate short documentary films into its opinion section and quickly established itself as an alternative to HBO Documentary Films, then the most prominent distributor of short documentaries, growing along with the market for these short nonfiction films in its first decade.
Errol Morris, Jessica Yu and Alex Gibney made shorts for “New York Times: Op-Docs” its inaugural year and since that time its roster has expanded to include Garrett Bradley and Laura Poitras, who expanded their respective op-docs into features that garnered favor with Oscar voters: Poitras’ Oscar-winning documentary “CitizenFour” was born out of “The Program” (2012), while Bradley’s Oscar nominated “Time” grew out of her 2016 op-doc short titled “Alone.” Four op-docs shorts have received Oscar nominations, including “Walk Run Cha-Cha” and “A Concerto Is a Conversation” the past two consecutive years, and the program’s docs have...
Errol Morris, Jessica Yu and Alex Gibney made shorts for “New York Times: Op-Docs” its inaugural year and since that time its roster has expanded to include Garrett Bradley and Laura Poitras, who expanded their respective op-docs into features that garnered favor with Oscar voters: Poitras’ Oscar-winning documentary “CitizenFour” was born out of “The Program” (2012), while Bradley’s Oscar nominated “Time” grew out of her 2016 op-doc short titled “Alone.” Four op-docs shorts have received Oscar nominations, including “Walk Run Cha-Cha” and “A Concerto Is a Conversation” the past two consecutive years, and the program’s docs have...
- 11/30/2021
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Time Studios, the Emmy-winning TV and film production division of Time, which has generated more than $70M in revenue since its 2020 launch, today announced the expansion of its Documentary division, also introducing a new arm for Kids & Family programming.
Alexandra Johnes and Loren Hammonds have been tapped as Heads of Documentary, with Maria Perez-Brown coming aboard as Head of Kids & Family. Additional new hires and promotions include Rebecca Teitel as VP of Documentary, Rebecca Gitlitz as Director and Showrunner and Jeff Smith as Executive Producer and Showrunner. The Scripted division of Time Studios will be run by Kaveh Veyssi, VP of Film & TV, Time Studios, as part of a strategic alliance with Sugar23, as previously announced.
The new Kids & Family division will build on Time’s success in the space with the Daytime Emmy Award-nominated Kid of the Year television special, recognizing the contributions of extraordinary young leaders in a range of fields,...
Alexandra Johnes and Loren Hammonds have been tapped as Heads of Documentary, with Maria Perez-Brown coming aboard as Head of Kids & Family. Additional new hires and promotions include Rebecca Teitel as VP of Documentary, Rebecca Gitlitz as Director and Showrunner and Jeff Smith as Executive Producer and Showrunner. The Scripted division of Time Studios will be run by Kaveh Veyssi, VP of Film & TV, Time Studios, as part of a strategic alliance with Sugar23, as previously announced.
The new Kids & Family division will build on Time’s success in the space with the Daytime Emmy Award-nominated Kid of the Year television special, recognizing the contributions of extraordinary young leaders in a range of fields,...
- 11/18/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
The 12th edition of Doc NYC kicks off today — exactly one month before the AMPAS documentary branch begins voting to determine the 2022 Oscar documentary shortlist.
The nine-day affair, which runs until Nov. 18, will feature over 125 short docus and 127 feature-length nonfiction films that will screen at New York City’s IFC Center, Sva Theater and Cinépolis Chelsea. (The fest will be available online until Nov. 28)
Penny Lane’s “Listening to Kenny G,” will serve as the opening night film while Matthew Heineman’s “The First Wave” will close the festival. Sam Pollard and Rex Miller’s “Citizen Ashe” and Dave Wooley and David Heilbroner’s “Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over” are both fest Centerpiece docs.
Festivities commence with the fest’s annual Visionaries Tribute Honoree luncheon at Gotham Hall. While kudos will be given to cinematographer Joan Churchill, Oscar nominated director Raoul Peck (“I Am Not Your Negro”), Emmy Award-winning...
The nine-day affair, which runs until Nov. 18, will feature over 125 short docus and 127 feature-length nonfiction films that will screen at New York City’s IFC Center, Sva Theater and Cinépolis Chelsea. (The fest will be available online until Nov. 28)
Penny Lane’s “Listening to Kenny G,” will serve as the opening night film while Matthew Heineman’s “The First Wave” will close the festival. Sam Pollard and Rex Miller’s “Citizen Ashe” and Dave Wooley and David Heilbroner’s “Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over” are both fest Centerpiece docs.
Festivities commence with the fest’s annual Visionaries Tribute Honoree luncheon at Gotham Hall. While kudos will be given to cinematographer Joan Churchill, Oscar nominated director Raoul Peck (“I Am Not Your Negro”), Emmy Award-winning...
- 11/10/2021
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Topic Studios president Maria Zuckerman is a canny executive who can see over the horizon. In 2019, the New Yorker figured out that the Hollywood universe was expanding at such a rate that it was time to become a bicoastal content provider instead of a distributor-buyer. She left producing at HBO, where she had been happily ensconced for almost 20 years, and moved over to independent Topic Studios. She quickly saw a route to diversifying and expanding the company’s lineup, by backing, funding, and producing (at different levels) a wide range of independent features, building on the Oscar-winning “Spotlight” toward this past weekend’s opener, Pablo Larraín’s surreal Princess Diana drama “Spencer” (Neon), starring Oscar frontrunner Kristen Stewart.
“It’s a fiercely independent company,” Zuckerman said in an interview with IndieWire. That’s because owner First Look Media (Oscar-winning “Spotlight”) created a two-sided entity: the not-for-profit and the studio. “Our mission is to be profitable,...
“It’s a fiercely independent company,” Zuckerman said in an interview with IndieWire. That’s because owner First Look Media (Oscar-winning “Spotlight”) created a two-sided entity: the not-for-profit and the studio. “Our mission is to be profitable,...
- 11/8/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Topic Studios president Maria Zuckerman is a canny executive who can see over the horizon. In 2019, the New Yorker figured out that the Hollywood universe was expanding at such a rate that it was time to become a bicoastal content provider instead of a distributor-buyer. She left producing at HBO, where she had been happily ensconced for almost 20 years, and moved over to independent Topic Studios. She quickly saw a route to diversifying and expanding the company’s lineup, by backing, funding, and producing (at different levels) a wide range of independent features, building on the Oscar-winning “Spotlight” toward this past weekend’s opener, Pablo Larraín’s surreal Princess Diana drama “Spencer” (Neon), starring Oscar frontrunner Kristen Stewart.
“It’s a fiercely independent company,” Zuckerman said in an interview with IndieWire. That’s because owner First Look Media (Oscar-winning “Spotlight”) created a two-sided entity: the not-for-profit and the studio. “Our mission is to be profitable,...
“It’s a fiercely independent company,” Zuckerman said in an interview with IndieWire. That’s because owner First Look Media (Oscar-winning “Spotlight”) created a two-sided entity: the not-for-profit and the studio. “Our mission is to be profitable,...
- 11/8/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Doc NYC Artistic Director Thom Powers with Anne-Katrin Titze on Lifetime Achievement Award honoree Joan Churchill: “We’re really pleased to be able to put a spotlight on her important work.”
The afternoon before the Short List selections were announced, Betsy West and Julie Cohen’s Julia on Julia Child, Liz Garbus’s Becoming Cousteau, Morgan Neville’s Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, Lucy Walker’s Bring Your Own Brigade, and Todd Haynes’s The Velvet Underground on Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Nico) Doc NYC Artistic Director Thom Powers spoke with me about the 12th edition being back in cinemas. In addition, films will be available online “to reach people who aren’t able to be at the theater.”
In the first instalment Thom and I discussed the Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award honorees Raoul Peck and Joan Churchill, the new juried sections in the festival,...
The afternoon before the Short List selections were announced, Betsy West and Julie Cohen’s Julia on Julia Child, Liz Garbus’s Becoming Cousteau, Morgan Neville’s Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, Lucy Walker’s Bring Your Own Brigade, and Todd Haynes’s The Velvet Underground on Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Nico) Doc NYC Artistic Director Thom Powers spoke with me about the 12th edition being back in cinemas. In addition, films will be available online “to reach people who aren’t able to be at the theater.”
In the first instalment Thom and I discussed the Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award honorees Raoul Peck and Joan Churchill, the new juried sections in the festival,...
- 10/28/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Doc NYC gave a boost to 15 Oscar-contending documentaries Tuesday, naming them to its prestigious shortlist of the year’s best nonfiction films.
Early favorites Flee, Summer of Soul, The Rescue, Ascension, and Becoming Cousteau made the Doc NYC shortlist, as did Introducing, Selma Blair, the intimate documentary about actress Selma Blair’s battle with Ms, and The Velvet Underground, Todd Haynes’ film on the influential avant-garde rock band fronted by Lou Reed.
Doc NYC has earned a reputation as an accurate predictor of Oscar success. Last year, the festival gave shortlist recognition to three of the docs that went on to claim Oscar nominations: Time, Collective, and Crip Camp.
“For eight of the last nine years, Doc NYC has screened the documentary feature that went on to win the Academy Award,” the festival noted. “The festival has also screened 39 of the last 45 Oscar-nominated documentary features.
Early favorites Flee, Summer of Soul, The Rescue, Ascension, and Becoming Cousteau made the Doc NYC shortlist, as did Introducing, Selma Blair, the intimate documentary about actress Selma Blair’s battle with Ms, and The Velvet Underground, Todd Haynes’ film on the influential avant-garde rock band fronted by Lou Reed.
Doc NYC has earned a reputation as an accurate predictor of Oscar success. Last year, the festival gave shortlist recognition to three of the docs that went on to claim Oscar nominations: Time, Collective, and Crip Camp.
“For eight of the last nine years, Doc NYC has screened the documentary feature that went on to win the Academy Award,” the festival noted. “The festival has also screened 39 of the last 45 Oscar-nominated documentary features.
- 10/27/2021
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Roster includes Lantern’s Lane, Flee The Light.
Montreal-based WaZabi Films will launch sales on Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) world premiere selections Maria Chapdelaine from Sébastien Pilote and Ivan Grbovic’s Drunken Birds (Les Oiseaux Ivres).
Maria Chapdelaine will screen in Contemporary World Cinema and takes place in rural Quebec in the early 20th century where a teenage girl must choose one of three suitors. Pilote adapted the screenplay from Louis Hémon’s 1913 novel. WaZabi represents worldwide rights excluding Canada, where MK2|Mile End will distribute.
Pierre Even (War Witch) of Item 7 and Sylvain Proulx produced the film, which...
Montreal-based WaZabi Films will launch sales on Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) world premiere selections Maria Chapdelaine from Sébastien Pilote and Ivan Grbovic’s Drunken Birds (Les Oiseaux Ivres).
Maria Chapdelaine will screen in Contemporary World Cinema and takes place in rural Quebec in the early 20th century where a teenage girl must choose one of three suitors. Pilote adapted the screenplay from Louis Hémon’s 1913 novel. WaZabi represents worldwide rights excluding Canada, where MK2|Mile End will distribute.
Pierre Even (War Witch) of Item 7 and Sylvain Proulx produced the film, which...
- 8/25/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Title: Bring Your Own Brigade Director: Lucy Walker As the Dixie Fire presently rages on in northern California, having now consumed over 600,000 acres of land, the tragic and ongoing relevance of Lucy Walker’s new nonfiction offering Bring Your Own Brigade, available to stream on Paramount+ and Cbsn alongside its theatrical engagements, is only cast into […]
The post Bring Your Own Brigade Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Bring Your Own Brigade Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 8/20/2021
- by Brent Simon
- ShockYa
It rather famously only takes a few minutes for Pixar’s animated classic “Up” to reduce audiences to tears, a record which could be broken by Lucy Walker’s brutal new documentary “Bring Your Own Brigade.” After a brief introduction to a survivor of a horrifying California wildfire, the film cuts to similar apocalyptic blazes all over the world, and in particular the image of a helpless koala bear on fire, crying out in pain, until it’s saved by human hands.
Walker’s documentary sometimes spares us the gruesome details and terrifying life-or-death despair of wildfire victims. But “Bring Your Own Brigade” also spends much of its first act immersed in the inferno of California’s Camp Fire of 2018, with cell-phone footage of citizens unable to escape gridlock as their cars begin to overheat in the surrounding flames. Panic is in the air, everyone seems to be about to die,...
Walker’s documentary sometimes spares us the gruesome details and terrifying life-or-death despair of wildfire victims. But “Bring Your Own Brigade” also spends much of its first act immersed in the inferno of California’s Camp Fire of 2018, with cell-phone footage of citizens unable to escape gridlock as their cars begin to overheat in the surrounding flames. Panic is in the air, everyone seems to be about to die,...
- 8/19/2021
- by William Bibbiani
- The Wrap
When British filmmaker Lucy Walker moved to Los Angeles in 2008, she was struck by a seasonal phenomenon many residents of the Western U.S. had come to accept as normal: raging and increasingly deadly wildfires. “I was thinking, ‘Why is nobody making a film about this?'” says Walker, who lives in Venice.
Armed with the curiosity of an outsider, Walker, who earned an Oscar nomination for her 2010 feature documentary Waste Land, about an artist who scavenges at a massive landfill in Rio, already had raised some financing from online education pioneer Lynda Weinman to make a documentary on ...
Armed with the curiosity of an outsider, Walker, who earned an Oscar nomination for her 2010 feature documentary Waste Land, about an artist who scavenges at a massive landfill in Rio, already had raised some financing from online education pioneer Lynda Weinman to make a documentary on ...
When British filmmaker Lucy Walker moved to Los Angeles in 2008, she was struck by a seasonal phenomenon many residents of the Western U.S. had come to accept as normal: raging and increasingly deadly wildfires. “I was thinking, ‘Why is nobody making a film about this?'” says Walker, who lives in Venice.
Armed with the curiosity of an outsider, Walker, who earned an Oscar nomination for her 2010 feature documentary Waste Land, about an artist who scavenges at a massive landfill in Rio, already had raised some financing from online education pioneer Lynda Weinman to make a documentary on ...
Armed with the curiosity of an outsider, Walker, who earned an Oscar nomination for her 2010 feature documentary Waste Land, about an artist who scavenges at a massive landfill in Rio, already had raised some financing from online education pioneer Lynda Weinman to make a documentary on ...
Chloe Trayner has been named artistic director of the Ragtag Film Society, a 23-year-old non-profit that runs the preeminent international non-fiction documentary festival, True/False, in Columbia, Mo.
Also joining the festival’s curatorial squad is Eric Allen Hatch in a new role as music director and film programmer.
Launched in 2004 by co-founders David Wilson and Paul Sturtz, True/False has become one of the documentary community’s favorite film festivals, normally talking place in late February-early March. More of a showcase than premiere festival, True/False is a community-based affair known for its enthusiastic, politically diverse audience and upbeat vibe.
True/False is unique in that it’s not a premiere-driven international festival like Cannes, Sundance, or Toronto, and it’s not a regional festival like Woodstock or Sarasota. The line-up typically includes 40 features docs and 15 to 25 short documentaries. It’s not an event where distribution deals are made...
Also joining the festival’s curatorial squad is Eric Allen Hatch in a new role as music director and film programmer.
Launched in 2004 by co-founders David Wilson and Paul Sturtz, True/False has become one of the documentary community’s favorite film festivals, normally talking place in late February-early March. More of a showcase than premiere festival, True/False is a community-based affair known for its enthusiastic, politically diverse audience and upbeat vibe.
True/False is unique in that it’s not a premiere-driven international festival like Cannes, Sundance, or Toronto, and it’s not a regional festival like Woodstock or Sarasota. The line-up typically includes 40 features docs and 15 to 25 short documentaries. It’s not an event where distribution deals are made...
- 8/5/2021
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
In Bring Your Own Brigade, British film-maker Lucy Walker takes us back to the California tragedies of 2018 and a crisis that continues to rage on
“In the Christian imagination,” says Lucy Walker’s voiceover, “hell is fire pits, it’s being burned alive. These are the very worst things we could imagine. When we came up with the idea of hell, it was fire that we imagined and that’s what we’re creating for ourselves.”
Walker is our guide into a modern Dante’s Inferno in her excruciatingly timely film Bring Your Own Brigade, which examines a world on fire by focusing on the savage blazes that tore through the California cities of Malibu and Paradise in November 2018.
“In the Christian imagination,” says Lucy Walker’s voiceover, “hell is fire pits, it’s being burned alive. These are the very worst things we could imagine. When we came up with the idea of hell, it was fire that we imagined and that’s what we’re creating for ourselves.”
Walker is our guide into a modern Dante’s Inferno in her excruciatingly timely film Bring Your Own Brigade, which examines a world on fire by focusing on the savage blazes that tore through the California cities of Malibu and Paradise in November 2018.
- 8/4/2021
- by David Smith in Washington
- The Guardian - Film News
Maria Zuckerman has been promoted to president of Topic Studios, First Look Media announced Wednesday.
Zuckerman joined Topic in May 2019 as EVP and head of Topic Studios and will now continue to report to the company’s CEO, Michael Bloom. She will continue to lead the studio’s creative vision and overall strategy, including development, financing and production across feature films, documentaries, television and podcasts.
“I’m thrilled to recognize Maria’s role in growing Topic Studios with her promotion to President. Maria and her team have built the Studio into a major creative force, giving new and established voices the opportunity to collaborate and produce truly extraordinary work. I know the Studio will continue to thrive under her leadership, and I can’t wait to see what’s next,” Bloom said in a statement.
“It has been thrilling over the past two years to grow Topic Studios’ reach and slate of productions.
Zuckerman joined Topic in May 2019 as EVP and head of Topic Studios and will now continue to report to the company’s CEO, Michael Bloom. She will continue to lead the studio’s creative vision and overall strategy, including development, financing and production across feature films, documentaries, television and podcasts.
“I’m thrilled to recognize Maria’s role in growing Topic Studios with her promotion to President. Maria and her team have built the Studio into a major creative force, giving new and established voices the opportunity to collaborate and produce truly extraordinary work. I know the Studio will continue to thrive under her leadership, and I can’t wait to see what’s next,” Bloom said in a statement.
“It has been thrilling over the past two years to grow Topic Studios’ reach and slate of productions.
- 7/28/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
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