Imagine Documentaries, the non-fiction branch of Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment, is looking to boost a new generation of documentary talent.
Speaking at a panel at Rome’s Mia Market, Imagine Documentaries president Sara Bernstein revealed that her company has signed a development deal with filmmakers Isabel Bethencourt and Parker Hill, whose teenagers-in-Texas portrait “Cusp” premiered to critical acclaim at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, while praising director Jackie Jesko, whose three-part, true-crime doc “Savior Complex” premiered on HBO last month.
“It’s important to champion and make room for the next generation,” said Bernstein, heralding Bethencourt and Hill’s film as “one of the best cinema verité style docs I’d seen in a long time.”
“I thought it was incredibly riveting,” Bernstein continued. “[And] we’re always looking at those filmmakers… [because] it’s exciting to think about the next generation, to ask who’s up and coming.
Speaking at a panel at Rome’s Mia Market, Imagine Documentaries president Sara Bernstein revealed that her company has signed a development deal with filmmakers Isabel Bethencourt and Parker Hill, whose teenagers-in-Texas portrait “Cusp” premiered to critical acclaim at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, while praising director Jackie Jesko, whose three-part, true-crime doc “Savior Complex” premiered on HBO last month.
“It’s important to champion and make room for the next generation,” said Bernstein, heralding Bethencourt and Hill’s film as “one of the best cinema verité style docs I’d seen in a long time.”
“I thought it was incredibly riveting,” Bernstein continued. “[And] we’re always looking at those filmmakers… [because] it’s exciting to think about the next generation, to ask who’s up and coming.
- 10/13/2023
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
The Bentonville Film Festival announces the jury prize winners for their 8th annual Festival.
The week-long Festival, led by Academy Award-winning actor and Festival Chair Geena Davis,is known for its dedication to championing female, non-binary, Lgbtqia+, Bipoc, and people with disabilities’ voices in entertainment.
Every Day in Kaimuki was awarded Best Narrative Feature with director Alika Tengan and cast in attendance. Special honors presented Fin Argus with the Rising Star Award for their truly outstanding talent that has captured the attention of both the public and entertainment and media industry, and Effie Brown with the Rising to the Challenge Award honoring her success supporting indie film projects, both on and off screen.
The 2022 Bff Jury included six experts across three categories: Narrative judges included Producer, Bird Runningwater, Actor/Filmmaker, Yolonda Ross and Producer Shrihari Sathe; Documentary judges included Emmy Award-winning actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, Producer/Distributor Karin Chien and Filmmaker...
The week-long Festival, led by Academy Award-winning actor and Festival Chair Geena Davis,is known for its dedication to championing female, non-binary, Lgbtqia+, Bipoc, and people with disabilities’ voices in entertainment.
Every Day in Kaimuki was awarded Best Narrative Feature with director Alika Tengan and cast in attendance. Special honors presented Fin Argus with the Rising Star Award for their truly outstanding talent that has captured the attention of both the public and entertainment and media industry, and Effie Brown with the Rising to the Challenge Award honoring her success supporting indie film projects, both on and off screen.
The 2022 Bff Jury included six experts across three categories: Narrative judges included Producer, Bird Runningwater, Actor/Filmmaker, Yolonda Ross and Producer Shrihari Sathe; Documentary judges included Emmy Award-winning actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, Producer/Distributor Karin Chien and Filmmaker...
- 6/26/2022
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
“Dune” has been named the best-shot film of 2021 by the American Society of Cinematographers, which held its annual awards show on Sunday evening in Los Angeles.
Cinematographer Greig Fraser won the award over a field that included fellow Oscar nominees “The Power of the Dog,” “The Tragedy of Macbeth” and “Nightmare Alley,” as well as “Belfast.”
In the first 35 years of its existence, the ASC winner has gone on to take the Oscar for Best Cinematography less than half the time, although that percentage has improved recently. “Dune” is considered one of the front runners for this year’s cinematography Oscar, with Fraser seemingly in a close with Ari Wegner for “The Power of the Dog,” who could be the first woman ever to win in the category.
Other feature-film awards went to Jessica Beshir for “Faya Dayi” in the documentary category and Pat Scola for “Pig” in the spotlight category,...
Cinematographer Greig Fraser won the award over a field that included fellow Oscar nominees “The Power of the Dog,” “The Tragedy of Macbeth” and “Nightmare Alley,” as well as “Belfast.”
In the first 35 years of its existence, the ASC winner has gone on to take the Oscar for Best Cinematography less than half the time, although that percentage has improved recently. “Dune” is considered one of the front runners for this year’s cinematography Oscar, with Fraser seemingly in a close with Ari Wegner for “The Power of the Dog,” who could be the first woman ever to win in the category.
Other feature-film awards went to Jessica Beshir for “Faya Dayi” in the documentary category and Pat Scola for “Pig” in the spotlight category,...
- 3/21/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Faya Dayi, Cusp in running for documentary prize.
Dune and Belfast are in the running for the feature film prize at the American Society Of Cinematographer’s 36th ASC Awards as Ari Wegner became only the second woman to be nominated by the guild for her work on The Power Of The Dog.
Greig Fraser is recognised for Dune, Haris Zambarloukos for Belfast, Wegner for The Power Of The Dog, Bruno Delbonnel for The Tragedy Of Macbeth, and Dan Laustsen for Nightmare Alley. Rachel Morrison was the trailblazer for female cinematographers when she earned an ASC nomination for Mudbound in...
Dune and Belfast are in the running for the feature film prize at the American Society Of Cinematographer’s 36th ASC Awards as Ari Wegner became only the second woman to be nominated by the guild for her work on The Power Of The Dog.
Greig Fraser is recognised for Dune, Haris Zambarloukos for Belfast, Wegner for The Power Of The Dog, Bruno Delbonnel for The Tragedy Of Macbeth, and Dan Laustsen for Nightmare Alley. Rachel Morrison was the trailblazer for female cinematographers when she earned an ASC nomination for Mudbound in...
- 1/25/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The American Society of Cinematographers on Tuesday unveiled nominations for its 36th annual ASC Awards, honoring the year’s best in feature film, documentary and television cinematography.
The society’s marquee Feature Film nominees include Bruno Delbonnel for The Tragedy of Macbeth, Greig Fraser for Dune, Dan Laustsen for Nightmare Alley, Ari Wegner for The Power of the Dog and Haris Zambarloukos for Belfast.
Last year, the ASC awarded Mank‘s Erik Messerschmidt with the Feature Film trophy, on his way to winning the Cinematography Oscar for the black-and-white film. This year, Belfast and Macbeth are also both black and white, along with for that matter Guillermo del Toro’s alt-version of Nightmare Alley.
The ASC film winner historically goes on to win the Oscar about half the time — 16 times in the past 35 years.
In TV, there were no repeats from last year’s shows on today’s list. Jon Joffin,...
The society’s marquee Feature Film nominees include Bruno Delbonnel for The Tragedy of Macbeth, Greig Fraser for Dune, Dan Laustsen for Nightmare Alley, Ari Wegner for The Power of the Dog and Haris Zambarloukos for Belfast.
Last year, the ASC awarded Mank‘s Erik Messerschmidt with the Feature Film trophy, on his way to winning the Cinematography Oscar for the black-and-white film. This year, Belfast and Macbeth are also both black and white, along with for that matter Guillermo del Toro’s alt-version of Nightmare Alley.
The ASC film winner historically goes on to win the Oscar about half the time — 16 times in the past 35 years.
In TV, there were no repeats from last year’s shows on today’s list. Jon Joffin,...
- 1/25/2022
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
“Dune,” “Belfast,” “Nightmare Alley,” “The Tragedy of Macbeth” and “The Power of the Dog” are among the films nominated by the American Society of Cinematographers in the feature film category.
The ASC nominees for feature film, documentary and television cinematography represent the organization’s picks for the most compelling visual filmmaking. Last year’s ASC feature film winner was “Mank” cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt who upset “Nomadland” Dp Joshua James Richards, the Oscar favorite. Messerschmidt went on to win the Best Cinematography Oscar.
Cinematographer Ari Wegner was nominated in the theatrical film category for her work on Netflix’s “The Power of the Dog,” becoming the second woman ever nominated by the guild, after Rachel Morrison for Dee Rees’ “Mudbound” (2017).
“Power of the Dog” director Jane Campion made history almost 30 years ago when she became the second woman ever to be nominated for best director for “The Piano” (1993) after Lina Wertmüller...
The ASC nominees for feature film, documentary and television cinematography represent the organization’s picks for the most compelling visual filmmaking. Last year’s ASC feature film winner was “Mank” cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt who upset “Nomadland” Dp Joshua James Richards, the Oscar favorite. Messerschmidt went on to win the Best Cinematography Oscar.
Cinematographer Ari Wegner was nominated in the theatrical film category for her work on Netflix’s “The Power of the Dog,” becoming the second woman ever nominated by the guild, after Rachel Morrison for Dee Rees’ “Mudbound” (2017).
“Power of the Dog” director Jane Campion made history almost 30 years ago when she became the second woman ever to be nominated for best director for “The Piano” (1993) after Lina Wertmüller...
- 1/25/2022
- by Jazz Tangcay and Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
It’s hard out there for a teenage girl. Especially for Autumn, Aaloni and Brittney, Bbf’s living in small, tired Texas town, in the award-winning observational documentary “Cusp.” These 15 and 16-year-olds spend the summer hanging out together in their bedrooms watching “Grey’s Anatomy,” going to the local fast-food restaurants, smoking blunts, swimming, drinking, partying. And at one point, one attempts to pierce their friend’s nipple. But these girls have grown-up fast. They have been victims of rape and abuse.
The Washington Post’s Ann Hornaday noted that the first-time filmmakers Isabel Bethencourt and Parker Hill have made a “portrait that feels simultaneously specific and universal-a portrait of the inchoate desires and heedlessness that have always been a part of adolescence, as well as a snapshot of a particular point in time when such impulses feel breathtakingly high.” And dismaying, especially when the filmmakers “train their cameras on the...
The Washington Post’s Ann Hornaday noted that the first-time filmmakers Isabel Bethencourt and Parker Hill have made a “portrait that feels simultaneously specific and universal-a portrait of the inchoate desires and heedlessness that have always been a part of adolescence, as well as a snapshot of a particular point in time when such impulses feel breathtakingly high.” And dismaying, especially when the filmmakers “train their cameras on the...
- 12/13/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
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.
See our comprehensive guide to where to stream the best films of 2021.
Adrienne (Andy Ostroy)
I hadn’t seen any of Adrienne Shelly’s work at the time of her death, but you couldn’t follow the film world in 2006 without hearing about what happened. News sites first latched onto the assumption of suicide only to discover what happened was murder—the culprit found, arrested, and confessed shortly afterwards. And amidst that tragic whirlwind during the final two months of that year, Shelly’s latest film as writer-director-star, Waitress, was in submission at Sundance. It would eventually bow at the festival, find distribution, become an overnight indie darling, and spawn a Broadway musical adaptation with songs by Sara Bareilles. She unfortunately never...
See our comprehensive guide to where to stream the best films of 2021.
Adrienne (Andy Ostroy)
I hadn’t seen any of Adrienne Shelly’s work at the time of her death, but you couldn’t follow the film world in 2006 without hearing about what happened. News sites first latched onto the assumption of suicide only to discover what happened was murder—the culprit found, arrested, and confessed shortly afterwards. And amidst that tragic whirlwind during the final two months of that year, Shelly’s latest film as writer-director-star, Waitress, was in submission at Sundance. It would eventually bow at the festival, find distribution, become an overnight indie darling, and spawn a Broadway musical adaptation with songs by Sara Bareilles. She unfortunately never...
- 12/3/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
“Growing up is I don’t think I saw enough stories about complex female characters,” admits “Cusp” co-director Parker Hill. For our recent webchat, co-director Isabel Bethencourt adds, “We really wanted to show what it looks like to be a girl and how normal it all feels, but then also the darker realities of of what they’re going through.” Watch the exclusive video interview above.
“Cusp” is a verité documentary for Showtime that follows three teenage friends as then navigate life, family and relationships during a Texan summer. The pair of photographers-turned-directors shot the feature after meeting Brittney, Aaloni, and Autumn on a roadtrip. Hill describes, “We were on a photo road trip, and we met the group of girls at a gas station at three or two in the morning. We got to hanging out and became fast friends. That’s how this story came about. This just happened organically.
“Cusp” is a verité documentary for Showtime that follows three teenage friends as then navigate life, family and relationships during a Texan summer. The pair of photographers-turned-directors shot the feature after meeting Brittney, Aaloni, and Autumn on a roadtrip. Hill describes, “We were on a photo road trip, and we met the group of girls at a gas station at three or two in the morning. We got to hanging out and became fast friends. That’s how this story came about. This just happened organically.
- 11/16/2021
- by Matt Noble
- Gold Derby
In the documentary Cusp, a group of teens share the highs and lows of growing up in modern-day Texas, from social media to sexual assault
In summer 2018, photographers Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt were at the tail-end of a road trip from Montana to Austin when they were diverted to a gas station in a small Texas military town. It was two in the morning, but the truck that pulled up next to them was thrumming with energy — music blasting, a group of barefoot teenage girls spilling out of the cab, charisma free-flowing and uncut.
The groups hit it off, and soon Hill and Bethencourt were careening down a dirt road toward a high school party of about 15. Cameras out, they asked the teens about their lives: what’s it like to be you? What are you dealing with? What do you want to talk about?...
In summer 2018, photographers Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt were at the tail-end of a road trip from Montana to Austin when they were diverted to a gas station in a small Texas military town. It was two in the morning, but the truck that pulled up next to them was thrumming with energy — music blasting, a group of barefoot teenage girls spilling out of the cab, charisma free-flowing and uncut.
The groups hit it off, and soon Hill and Bethencourt were careening down a dirt road toward a high school party of about 15. Cameras out, they asked the teens about their lives: what’s it like to be you? What are you dealing with? What do you want to talk about?...
- 11/11/2021
- by Adrian Horton
- The Guardian - Film News
Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s singular animated doc Flee and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Summer of Soul will head into the 15th annual Cinema Eye Honors as the leaders in nominations, Cinema Eye announced today.
Flee led all films with seven nominations, with Summer of Soul claiming six. Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension, Jessica Beshir’s Faya Dayi and E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s The Rescue followed with five noms apiece, with Todd Haynes’ Apple pic The Velvet Underground claiming four. HBO led all distributors with 16 nominations, with Hulu notching 12. Nat Geo and Neon followed with 11 each.
Of particular note with regard to the noms list was a newly introduced category for Outstanding Sound Design, which will see All Light, Everywhere contending alongside Faya Dayi, Flee, Summer of Soul and The Velvet Underground.
The award ceremony recognizing...
Flee led all films with seven nominations, with Summer of Soul claiming six. Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension, Jessica Beshir’s Faya Dayi and E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s The Rescue followed with five noms apiece, with Todd Haynes’ Apple pic The Velvet Underground claiming four. HBO led all distributors with 16 nominations, with Hulu notching 12. Nat Geo and Neon followed with 11 each.
Of particular note with regard to the noms list was a newly introduced category for Outstanding Sound Design, which will see All Light, Everywhere contending alongside Faya Dayi, Flee, Summer of Soul and The Velvet Underground.
The award ceremony recognizing...
- 11/10/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
An official selection at Sundance (where it picked up the 2021 Emerging Filmmaker Special Jury Award) and AFI Docs, Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt’s meditative documentary Cusp is now set for a Showtime debut on Thanksgiving weekend and the first trailer has arrived.
The documentary follows Brittany, Aaloni, and Autumn, who live in a rural Texas Military town. They spend the remainder of their summer aimlessly getting drunk, high, and spending time with boys to pass the time. Through vignettes, the girls begin to open up about their past and present trauma, conveying the interwoven experiences of these individuals on the cusp of adulthood.
In our review, Matt Cipolla praised aspects of the film, “While Cusp benefits from its distant filmmaking for stretches, it sometimes depersonalizes its subjects by mistake. Perhaps there’s some intent there. After all, the directors fixate on nature, neon, and Americana as much as they do suffering,...
The documentary follows Brittany, Aaloni, and Autumn, who live in a rural Texas Military town. They spend the remainder of their summer aimlessly getting drunk, high, and spending time with boys to pass the time. Through vignettes, the girls begin to open up about their past and present trauma, conveying the interwoven experiences of these individuals on the cusp of adulthood.
In our review, Matt Cipolla praised aspects of the film, “While Cusp benefits from its distant filmmaking for stretches, it sometimes depersonalizes its subjects by mistake. Perhaps there’s some intent there. After all, the directors fixate on nature, neon, and Americana as much as they do suffering,...
- 10/15/2021
- by Margaret Rasberry
- The Film Stage
"Girls are scared 'cause they know..." Showtime has revealed an official trailer for the documentary Cusp, marking the feature debut of talented filmmakers Isabel Bethencourt & Parker Hill. This premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year to numerous rave reviews, where it also won a Special Jury Prize for Emerging Filmmakers. It also played at AFI Docs, and debuts on Showtime this November. Cusp chronicles one formative year of teenage life for three friends in a Texas town where there's little to do but party—and where liquor, drugs, and guns are found everywhere. "Followed through lazy hangouts, fast-food outings, and bonfire parties, Autumn, Brittney, and Aaloni allow directors Parker Hill & Isabel Bethencourt to observe intimate moments within their homes and social circles. The film's raw vérité approach creates a sensitive, multifaceted portrait of adolescent girlhood and the time and place in which these girls experience it." This doc...
- 10/13/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Updated: Showtime Documentary Films has unveiled the first official trailer for Cusp, a feature debut doc from directors Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt, which will premiere on Showtime on November 26 at 9 p.m. Et/Pt.
Set in a small military town in Texas and filmed in vérité style, Cusp follows three wild-spirited teenager girls as they live out a fever-dream summer, watching as the strictures of adolescence clash with their growing desire for personal agency. The coming-of-age pic captures authentic moments of female friendship, while also addressing what it means to grow up in a culture of toxic masculinity.
The film premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, with Hill and Bethencourt winning the Emerging Filmmaker Special Jury Award.
More information on the project can be found below.
Previously, April 14: Showtime Documentary Films has acquired worldwide rights to the documentary Cusp, from first-time feature directors Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt.
Set in a small military town in Texas and filmed in vérité style, Cusp follows three wild-spirited teenager girls as they live out a fever-dream summer, watching as the strictures of adolescence clash with their growing desire for personal agency. The coming-of-age pic captures authentic moments of female friendship, while also addressing what it means to grow up in a culture of toxic masculinity.
The film premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, with Hill and Bethencourt winning the Emerging Filmmaker Special Jury Award.
More information on the project can be found below.
Previously, April 14: Showtime Documentary Films has acquired worldwide rights to the documentary Cusp, from first-time feature directors Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt.
- 10/12/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Beloved American ventriloquist Shari Lewis and her popular sock puppet Lamb Chop will be the subject of a new documentary feature from White Horse Pictures and MoJo Global Arts.
“Shari & Lamb Chop” will be directed by Emmy-nominated Lisa D’Apolito, director of “Love, Gilda,” the documentary about the late Saturday Night Live comedian Gilda Radner.
As a young female ventriloquist with big aspirations, Shari Lewis was searching for a voice who could say things that a young woman in the 1950s could not, and found it in a sock puppet named Lamb Chop. The duo debuted on CBS children’s television series “Captain Kangaroo” in 1956 and went on to attain cultural icon status in the U.S. by the end of the 20th century.
Lewis died in 1998. The documentary will examine her journey, which included winning 13 Emmys and a Peabody and authoring 60 children’s books, and her impact on children’s...
“Shari & Lamb Chop” will be directed by Emmy-nominated Lisa D’Apolito, director of “Love, Gilda,” the documentary about the late Saturday Night Live comedian Gilda Radner.
As a young female ventriloquist with big aspirations, Shari Lewis was searching for a voice who could say things that a young woman in the 1950s could not, and found it in a sock puppet named Lamb Chop. The duo debuted on CBS children’s television series “Captain Kangaroo” in 1956 and went on to attain cultural icon status in the U.S. by the end of the 20th century.
Lewis died in 1998. The documentary will examine her journey, which included winning 13 Emmys and a Peabody and authoring 60 children’s books, and her impact on children’s...
- 8/11/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
AFI Docs, the annual nonfiction film festival in the D.C. region, returns on Tuesday as a hybrid of in-person events and virtual screenings, a format mandated by ongoing safety concerns over Covid-19. While the ability to host at least some screenings at the AFI Silver Theater parallels the reopening of movie venues in general, this year’s festival reflects ongoing caution and a deference for health and safety. The selections themselves point more to “personal stories and personal reflections,” in the words of Sarah Harris, the director of programming for AFI Docs, at a time when people are just now rediscovering human connection. “A lot of what the country needs is healing,” Harris said. “We are coming out of the pandemic, coming out of a lot of political trauma in D.C. We are looking to have that healing through this form of art.” The event includes 77 films from 23 countries,...
- 6/21/2021
- by Ted Johnson
- Deadline Film + TV
The 2021 summer film festival season is continuing forward, slightly off-kilter, with Tribeca in June and Cannes in July, before the fall season takes off with in Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York. The American Film Institute’s AFI Docs 2021 (June 22-27), which is skewed toward the virtual, (much like the lockdown iteration of 2020), will screen 77 Films from 23 countries, opening with Garrett Bradley’s “Naomi Osaka”, a world premiere of the upcoming mini-series about the tennis champion, and closing with Isabel Bethencourt and Parker Hill’s Sundance 2021 premiere “Cusp.” Morgan Neville’s Tribeca 2021 debut “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain” as the centerpiece gala.
Like last year, all the films will be available to view online at Docs.AFI.com, plus in-person screenings at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland. Select films will be available with closed captioning and descriptive audio. 52 percent of the films are directed by women,...
Like last year, all the films will be available to view online at Docs.AFI.com, plus in-person screenings at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland. Select films will be available with closed captioning and descriptive audio. 52 percent of the films are directed by women,...
- 5/26/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
The 2021 summer film festival season is continuing forward, slightly off-kilter, with Tribeca in June and Cannes in July, before the fall season takes off with in Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York. The American Film Institute’s AFI Docs 2021 (June 22-27), which is skewed toward the virtual, (much like the lockdown iteration of 2020), will screen 77 Films from 23 countries, opening with Garrett Bradley’s “Naomi Osaka”, a world premiere of the upcoming mini-series about the tennis champion, and closing with Isabel Bethencourt and Parker Hill’s Sundance 2021 premiere “Cusp.” Morgan Neville’s Tribeca 2021 debut “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain” as the centerpiece gala.
Like last year, all the films will be available to view online at Docs.AFI.com, plus in-person screenings at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland. Select films will be available with closed captioning and descriptive audio. 52 percent of the films are directed by women,...
Like last year, all the films will be available to view online at Docs.AFI.com, plus in-person screenings at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland. Select films will be available with closed captioning and descriptive audio. 52 percent of the films are directed by women,...
- 5/26/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
The American Film Institute has announced the slate for its hybrid 2021 edition from June 22-27. Titles include the centerpiece screening of Morgan Neville’s “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain,” while Garrett Bradley’s “Naomi Osaka” will open the festival and “Cusp” is the closing night selection.
Held in Silver Spring, MD and on docs.afi.com, the lineup features 77 films from 23 countries, including four world premieres. The festival’s programming will feature 52% of the films directed by women, 40% by Bipoc directors and 18% by LGBTQ directors.
“We are living in the Golden Age of documentary film,” said Sarah Harris, AFI Festivals Director of Programming. “At AFI Docs, we are proud to celebrate excellence in the films of 2021 – connecting audiences across the nation, engaging them in lively conversation and inspiring them with both the unprecedented challenges and the breathtaking beauty of the world around us.”
Other titles in the features section...
Held in Silver Spring, MD and on docs.afi.com, the lineup features 77 films from 23 countries, including four world premieres. The festival’s programming will feature 52% of the films directed by women, 40% by Bipoc directors and 18% by LGBTQ directors.
“We are living in the Golden Age of documentary film,” said Sarah Harris, AFI Festivals Director of Programming. “At AFI Docs, we are proud to celebrate excellence in the films of 2021 – connecting audiences across the nation, engaging them in lively conversation and inspiring them with both the unprecedented challenges and the breathtaking beauty of the world around us.”
Other titles in the features section...
- 5/26/2021
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
AFI Docs will go forward this year with limited in-person screenings as well as a virtual edition, and planners of the event announced an initial three screenings.
The festival will open on June 22 with the world premiere of Naomi Osaka, from Garrett Bradley. and will close with Cusp, directed by Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt. The event’s centerpiece screening will be Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, directed by Morgan Neville.
The festival runs from June 22-27, with in-person screenings at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, MD. The event is the American Film Institute’s annual documentary festival, and has been held in recent years in Silver Spring and Washington, D.C. Last year, it was a virtual event because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Naomi Osaka focuses on the tennis star over a period of two years. Bradley will be present for a Q&a afterward.
The festival will open on June 22 with the world premiere of Naomi Osaka, from Garrett Bradley. and will close with Cusp, directed by Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt. The event’s centerpiece screening will be Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, directed by Morgan Neville.
The festival runs from June 22-27, with in-person screenings at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, MD. The event is the American Film Institute’s annual documentary festival, and has been held in recent years in Silver Spring and Washington, D.C. Last year, it was a virtual event because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Naomi Osaka focuses on the tennis star over a period of two years. Bradley will be present for a Q&a afterward.
- 5/13/2021
- by Ted Johnson
- Deadline Film + TV
Centrepiece screening is Morgan Neville’s Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain.
World premieres of Naomi Osaka and Cusp will bookend the 19th annual AFI Docs, set to run from June 22–27.
Garrett Bradley’s Naomi Osaka profiles the Japanese tennis ace and current US Open and the Australian Open title holder who was the first Asian woman to top the world rankings. Bradley will take part in a post-screening Q&a.
Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt’s coming-of-age film and Sundance selection Cusp, which follows three teenage girls from a small Texas town over the course of a life-changing summer.
World premieres of Naomi Osaka and Cusp will bookend the 19th annual AFI Docs, set to run from June 22–27.
Garrett Bradley’s Naomi Osaka profiles the Japanese tennis ace and current US Open and the Australian Open title holder who was the first Asian woman to top the world rankings. Bradley will take part in a post-screening Q&a.
Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt’s coming-of-age film and Sundance selection Cusp, which follows three teenage girls from a small Texas town over the course of a life-changing summer.
- 5/13/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Showtime Documentary Films has acquired the worldwide rights to “Cusp,” a film that was a prize winner at this year’s Sundance and follows a trio of teenage girls in a small, military town in Texas.
Directors Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt won the Emerging Filmmaker Special Jury Award for “Cusp” at Sundance. Showtime plans to give it a theatrical release ahead of a network premiere later this year.
Set in a small military town in Texas, “Cusp” chases three wild-spirited teenage girls as they live out a fever-dream summer, when the strict nature of adolescence clashes with the growing desire for personal agency. The film is shot in a cinema vérité style and captures authentic moments of female friendship while examining what it means to grow up in a culture of toxic masculinity. Though the girls’ experiences are completely unique to their upbringing, “Cusp” is also a universal coming-of-age...
Directors Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt won the Emerging Filmmaker Special Jury Award for “Cusp” at Sundance. Showtime plans to give it a theatrical release ahead of a network premiere later this year.
Set in a small military town in Texas, “Cusp” chases three wild-spirited teenage girls as they live out a fever-dream summer, when the strict nature of adolescence clashes with the growing desire for personal agency. The film is shot in a cinema vérité style and captures authentic moments of female friendship while examining what it means to grow up in a culture of toxic masculinity. Though the girls’ experiences are completely unique to their upbringing, “Cusp” is also a universal coming-of-age...
- 4/14/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Chris Columbus, Eleanor Columbus of Maiden Voyage Pictures among EP roster.
Showtime Documentary Films has acquired worldwide rights to 2021 Sundance entry Cusp, winner of the festival’s Emerging Filmmaker Special Jury Award.
Showtime is planning a theatrical release ahead of a network premiere later this year. Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt directed the film about three free-spirited teenage girls as they live out a fever-dream summer in a small military town in Texas.
Cusp is produced by Zachary Luke Kislevitz (Port Authority) for Kislevitz Films, along with Hill and Bethencourt.
Executive producers are Chris Columbus and Eleanor Columbus for Maiden Voyage Pictures,...
Showtime Documentary Films has acquired worldwide rights to 2021 Sundance entry Cusp, winner of the festival’s Emerging Filmmaker Special Jury Award.
Showtime is planning a theatrical release ahead of a network premiere later this year. Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt directed the film about three free-spirited teenage girls as they live out a fever-dream summer in a small military town in Texas.
Cusp is produced by Zachary Luke Kislevitz (Port Authority) for Kislevitz Films, along with Hill and Bethencourt.
Executive producers are Chris Columbus and Eleanor Columbus for Maiden Voyage Pictures,...
- 4/14/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The youth party culture, as portrayed in the mass media, tends to be driven by a certain debauched and glamorous energy: the clubbing, the drugs, the “freedom,” the your-life’s-a-soap-opera excitement that turns the rituals of hooking up into a flame that lures everyone. But in “Cusp,” a documentary about three small-town Texas teenagers wiling away the summer, the party imperative may be just as compulsive, but it’s the scaled-down, middle-of-nowhere version, where a party is a bonfire and a bunch of dudes standing around with beer and blunts and a jug of moonshine and whatever girls they can get to show up. It’s a slovenly frat house without walls. So unlike the average party you’d see on a reality show, it actually looks as selfish and dangerous as it is.
“Cusp,” the first feature directed by Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt, is a documentary hang-out movie...
“Cusp,” the first feature directed by Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt, is a documentary hang-out movie...
- 2/15/2021
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
A sun-flared and bong-addled tumble into a teenage Texan summer rife with bombshells and boyfriend problems, “Cusp,” from debut directors Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt is one of those fractal-style documentaries, in which any given sliver contains all the colors and contours of the whole. The opening is a case in point: Long-haired girls lounge on a swing in the park, scoffing, wriggling, idly shooting the shit – it could be any year from any of the last five or six decades, except for the phones they glance at every now and then.
Continue reading ‘Cusp’: A Beautiful And Bruised Teenage Summer Fling [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Cusp’: A Beautiful And Bruised Teenage Summer Fling [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.
- 2/4/2021
- by Jessica Kiang
- The Playlist
Chicago – The 2021 Sundance Film Festival will be long remembered as the “virtual” version due to the pandemic, but there are always the real films, and the festival announced their competition honorees on February 2nd, in a virtual ceremony hosted by comedian Patton Oswalt.
After six days, 73 feature films and 50 Short Films, the Grand Jury Prizes were awarded to “Coda” (U.S. Dramatic) … Coda is an acronym for Child of Deaf Adults, and highlights the character of Ruby. “Summer of Soul” (U.S. Documentary) … the “Black Woodstock” of Harlem in the same Summer of 1969. “Flee” (World Cinema Documentary) … a child immigrant grows up to be a respected academic, but still harbors a secret. And “Hive” (World Cinema Dramatic) … a woman has a husband missing in action during the Kosovo war – should she continue to support herself or wait?
The list of all award winners are below.
Grand Jury Prize
Coda
Photo credit: Sundance Film Festival
U.
After six days, 73 feature films and 50 Short Films, the Grand Jury Prizes were awarded to “Coda” (U.S. Dramatic) … Coda is an acronym for Child of Deaf Adults, and highlights the character of Ruby. “Summer of Soul” (U.S. Documentary) … the “Black Woodstock” of Harlem in the same Summer of 1969. “Flee” (World Cinema Documentary) … a child immigrant grows up to be a respected academic, but still harbors a secret. And “Hive” (World Cinema Dramatic) … a woman has a husband missing in action during the Kosovo war – should she continue to support herself or wait?
The list of all award winners are below.
Grand Jury Prize
Coda
Photo credit: Sundance Film Festival
U.
- 2/3/2021
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Siân Heder’s US feel-good family tale Coda won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize.
Coda and Hive were the big winners at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival virtual awards ceremony on Tuesday night (February 2), taking home four and three prizes, respectively.
Siân Heder’s US feel-good family tale Coda – set up after producer Patrick Wachsberger took remake rights to French film La Famille Bélier with him when he left Lionsgate – won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic, U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast, and Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic prizes.
The...
Coda and Hive were the big winners at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival virtual awards ceremony on Tuesday night (February 2), taking home four and three prizes, respectively.
Siân Heder’s US feel-good family tale Coda – set up after producer Patrick Wachsberger took remake rights to French film La Famille Bélier with him when he left Lionsgate – won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic, U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast, and Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic prizes.
The...
- 2/3/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The mostly virtual 2021 Sundance Film Festival is coming to a close. The festival announced awards winners Tuesday night, trading an in-person ceremony for one broadcast live and hosted by Patton Oswalt. The biggest winner was Sian Heder’s coming of age drama “Coda,” which earned four U.S. Dramatic Competition awards, including the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award. Other Big winners were “Summer of Soul,” which took home the two top U.S. Documentary awards.
Blerta Basholli’s “Hive” won three awards in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition: the Directing and Audience awards and the Grand Jury Prize. Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s “Writing with Fire” earned two World Cinema Documentary awards.
A total of 72 features screened over the last week, along with 50 shorts, four Indie Series, and 14 New Frontier VR/new media projects. Those projects were judged by a jury made up of Zeynep Atakan, Raúl Castillo,...
Blerta Basholli’s “Hive” won three awards in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition: the Directing and Audience awards and the Grand Jury Prize. Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s “Writing with Fire” earned two World Cinema Documentary awards.
A total of 72 features screened over the last week, along with 50 shorts, four Indie Series, and 14 New Frontier VR/new media projects. Those projects were judged by a jury made up of Zeynep Atakan, Raúl Castillo,...
- 2/3/2021
- by Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
The narrative feature “Coda” and the documentary “Summer of Soul” swept the top categories at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, winning the Grand Jury Prizes and also taking the audience awards in the U.S. dramatic and documentary competitions.
“Coda,” director Sian Heder’s coming-of-age story in which Emilia Jones plays the only hearing member of a deaf family, also won an award for its ensemble, many of them deaf actors who performed in ASL. Its wins come three days after the film set a record for the largest sale in Sundance history, a $25 million deal with Apple.
“Summer of Soul,” which like “Coda” screened on the festival’s opening night, is a documentary by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson built around long-unseen concert footage from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, a six-weekend event that first-time director Questlove uses as a launching pad to explore race relations and Black culture in that tumultuous time.
“Coda,” director Sian Heder’s coming-of-age story in which Emilia Jones plays the only hearing member of a deaf family, also won an award for its ensemble, many of them deaf actors who performed in ASL. Its wins come three days after the film set a record for the largest sale in Sundance history, a $25 million deal with Apple.
“Summer of Soul,” which like “Coda” screened on the festival’s opening night, is a documentary by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson built around long-unseen concert footage from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, a six-weekend event that first-time director Questlove uses as a launching pad to explore race relations and Black culture in that tumultuous time.
- 2/3/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The 2021 Sundance Film Festival awards went off at a very fast clip tonight, in an hour’s time. Host Patton Oswalt — or as he billed himself, “Discount Giamatti” — kept the jokes flowing.
Siân Heder’s Coda, which we first told you was swooped up by Apple with a rich $25 million bid, came up big. It won both the U.S. Grand Jury Prize, U.S. Dramatic Audience Award and a Special Jury Ensemble Cast award too. Heder also won Best Director in the U.S. Dramatic section. The movie follows a girl named Ruby. As the only hearing person in an otherwise deaf family, she is divided about staying with them as their fishing business is threatened.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Summer of Soul took the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for Documentary.
Blerta Basholli’s Hive, about a woman in Kosovo who fights against a patriarchal society and whose husband is missing,...
Siân Heder’s Coda, which we first told you was swooped up by Apple with a rich $25 million bid, came up big. It won both the U.S. Grand Jury Prize, U.S. Dramatic Audience Award and a Special Jury Ensemble Cast award too. Heder also won Best Director in the U.S. Dramatic section. The movie follows a girl named Ruby. As the only hearing person in an otherwise deaf family, she is divided about staying with them as their fishing business is threatened.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Summer of Soul took the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for Documentary.
Blerta Basholli’s Hive, about a woman in Kosovo who fights against a patriarchal society and whose husband is missing,...
- 2/3/2021
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
The evocative closing shot in Cusp — a documentary whose aesthetic beauty counterpoints the raw experiences mostly shrugged off by its unguarded subjects — shows three young women at a local swimming hole as one takes a flying leap off the rocks high above the water. The image conjures associations with countless American coming-of-age stories, incisively capturing the exhilaration and fear of having a whole life ahead of you. Debuting directors Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt’s vérité portrait of a tight-knit trio of teenage girlfriends in a small Texas military town has many similar moments of illumination, even if its poignant ...
The evocative closing shot in Cusp — a documentary whose aesthetic beauty counterpoints the raw experiences mostly shrugged off by its unguarded subjects — shows three young women at a local swimming hole as one takes a flying leap off the rocks high above the water. The image conjures associations with countless American coming-of-age stories, incisively capturing the exhilaration and fear of having a whole life ahead of you. Debuting directors Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt’s vérité portrait of a tight-knit trio of teenage girlfriends in a small Texas military town has many similar moments of illumination, even if its poignant ...
There’s something very crass about Cusp, and almost all of that comes from its design. It’s aimless like its subjects, and it’s even more hopeless. Everyone worth sympathizing with is defined by some sort of trauma, and even some of the despicable people in play have their own traumas too. What’s striking, though, is the approach that sympathetic people here don’t fully realize the lasting effects of what they’ve gone through. After all, they’re too busy distracting themselves from it.
Brittney, Aaloni, and Autumn live in rural Texas, and it’s approaching the end of summer. They get drunk and high and hang out with guys, but they don’t really do to pass the time. In some way, shape, or form, they’ve all been abused. Some of the assailants were other kids, some parents’ friends. When they talk about other girls’ rapes,...
Brittney, Aaloni, and Autumn live in rural Texas, and it’s approaching the end of summer. They get drunk and high and hang out with guys, but they don’t really do to pass the time. In some way, shape, or form, they’ve all been abused. Some of the assailants were other kids, some parents’ friends. When they talk about other girls’ rapes,...
- 1/31/2021
- by Matt Cipolla
- The Film Stage
Despite the myriad ways in which teenagers so readily share their lives online these days — Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, surely something else brand-new by the time this is published — there is something distinctly brave about the three subjects at the heart of Isabel Bethencourt and Parker Hill’s intimate documentary “Cusp.” Following a trio of very different friends during a shiftless summer in small-town Texas, the pair’s feature debut And while Bethencourt and Hill’s documentary finds magic during the strange liminal space between childhood and adulthood, “Cusp” also makes the case for a continuing series focused on its compelling subjects.
What’s most enthralling about the material, however, is the sense that its subjects would likely scoff — like all good teens — at the thought that their experiences are somehow unique or worthy of being viewed as anything more than just a slice of their own lives. Such are the...
What’s most enthralling about the material, however, is the sense that its subjects would likely scoff — like all good teens — at the thought that their experiences are somehow unique or worthy of being viewed as anything more than just a slice of their own lives. Such are the...
- 1/31/2021
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Exclusive: The Independent Filmmaker Project on Thursday unveiled 26 feature and series projects set to participate in the indie organization’s three annual yearlong Ifp Filmmaker fellowship programs for first-time filmmakers: The Ifp Filmmaker Labs’ Documentary Lab, Narrative Lab and Episodic Lab.
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, all will take place virtually, with the Documentary Lab now underway and running through Friday. The Episodic Lab, for series projects in development for TV and digital platforms from new creators, will run June 1-5, and the Narrative Lab, for feature films by directors currently in post-production on their debut features, is set for June 15-19.
The Narrative Lab supports fellows through the completion, marketing, and distribution of their debut features, providing support from staff and mentorship from leading filmmakers. The Episodic Lab provides knowledge, resources and mentor support necessary in writing pitches and creating development strategies.
All 2020 projects will participate in...
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, all will take place virtually, with the Documentary Lab now underway and running through Friday. The Episodic Lab, for series projects in development for TV and digital platforms from new creators, will run June 1-5, and the Narrative Lab, for feature films by directors currently in post-production on their debut features, is set for June 15-19.
The Narrative Lab supports fellows through the completion, marketing, and distribution of their debut features, providing support from staff and mentorship from leading filmmakers. The Episodic Lab provides knowledge, resources and mentor support necessary in writing pitches and creating development strategies.
All 2020 projects will participate in...
- 5/21/2020
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
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