By Patrick Shanley
Managing Editor
This year’s best documentary feature nominees continues a long trend of music docs being recognized by the Academy, as two music-related films have earned nominations at this year’s Oscars.
Amy, which tells the story of late songstress Amy Winehouse in her own words through never-before-seen archival footage and unreleased tracks and is nominated for best doc this year, earned nominations for the Queer Palm and Golden Eye awards at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival for director Asif Kapadia.
Filmmaker Liz Garbus earned the second nomination of her career with the Netflix documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone? The film focuses on the life of iconic R&B singer Nina Simone and her life as a singer, mother, and civil rights activist. Garbus earned her first Oscar nomination in 1998 for her documentary The Farm: Angola, USA.
Music-related docs have been a hot topic for the Academy in years past,...
Managing Editor
This year’s best documentary feature nominees continues a long trend of music docs being recognized by the Academy, as two music-related films have earned nominations at this year’s Oscars.
Amy, which tells the story of late songstress Amy Winehouse in her own words through never-before-seen archival footage and unreleased tracks and is nominated for best doc this year, earned nominations for the Queer Palm and Golden Eye awards at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival for director Asif Kapadia.
Filmmaker Liz Garbus earned the second nomination of her career with the Netflix documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone? The film focuses on the life of iconic R&B singer Nina Simone and her life as a singer, mother, and civil rights activist. Garbus earned her first Oscar nomination in 1998 for her documentary The Farm: Angola, USA.
Music-related docs have been a hot topic for the Academy in years past,...
- 1/22/2016
- by Patrick Shanley
- Scott Feinberg
By Anjelica Oswald
Managing Editor
Keep on Keepin’ On, director Alan Hicks’ debut film, follows four years of the friendship and mentorship between jazz legend and trumpeter Clark Terry, who played with Count Basie and Duke Ellington and taught a young Quincy Jones how to play, and Justin Kauflin, a talented 23-year-old blind pianist. The two musicians support each other as Terry begins to lose his eyesight due to health issues and as Kauflin deals with stage fright as a semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. The film is one of 15 films on the Oscar documentary shortlist, five of which will be nominated on Jan. 15.
The Academy is particularly fond of music-related documentaries, nominating 17 since 1942, with eight winning. Keep on Keepin’ On could join the following Oscar-nominated films:
Festival (1967)
Director Murray Lerner’s black-and-white documentary offers a glimpse into three years (1963-1966) of the Newport Folk Festival, which...
Managing Editor
Keep on Keepin’ On, director Alan Hicks’ debut film, follows four years of the friendship and mentorship between jazz legend and trumpeter Clark Terry, who played with Count Basie and Duke Ellington and taught a young Quincy Jones how to play, and Justin Kauflin, a talented 23-year-old blind pianist. The two musicians support each other as Terry begins to lose his eyesight due to health issues and as Kauflin deals with stage fright as a semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. The film is one of 15 films on the Oscar documentary shortlist, five of which will be nominated on Jan. 15.
The Academy is particularly fond of music-related documentaries, nominating 17 since 1942, with eight winning. Keep on Keepin’ On could join the following Oscar-nominated films:
Festival (1967)
Director Murray Lerner’s black-and-white documentary offers a glimpse into three years (1963-1966) of the Newport Folk Festival, which...
- 1/8/2015
- by Anjelica Oswald
- Scott Feinberg
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today the 276 members of the entertainment industry invited to join organization. The list includes actors, directors, documentarians, executives, film editors, producers and more. Of those listed below, those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy's membership in 2013. "These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today," said Academy President Hawk Koch in a press release. "Their talent and creativity have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and I am proud to welcome each of them to the Academy." Koch also told Variety, "In the past eight or nine years, each branch could only bring in X amount of members. There were people each branch would have liked to get in but couldn't. We asked them to be more inclusive of the best of the best, and each branch was excited, because they got...
- 6/28/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The Academy just added 276 Oscar voters.
That’s 100 more than last year, and part of an easing of a longstanding cap on the number of new members allowed to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences each year.
AMPAS usually adds between 130 and 180 new members, replacing those who have quit or passed away. The membership now stands around 6,000.
Jason Bateman, Jennifer Lopez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emmanuelle Riva, and Chris Tucker are among the actors who have been invited to join, the organization announced today.
Other interesting additions: the musician Prince, Girls and Tiny Furniture writer/director/actress Lena Dunham,...
That’s 100 more than last year, and part of an easing of a longstanding cap on the number of new members allowed to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences each year.
AMPAS usually adds between 130 and 180 new members, replacing those who have quit or passed away. The membership now stands around 6,000.
Jason Bateman, Jennifer Lopez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emmanuelle Riva, and Chris Tucker are among the actors who have been invited to join, the organization announced today.
Other interesting additions: the musician Prince, Girls and Tiny Furniture writer/director/actress Lena Dunham,...
- 6/28/2013
- by Anthony Breznican
- EW - Inside Movies
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 276 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2013.
“These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today,” said Academy President Hawk Koch. “Their talent and creativity have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and I am proud to welcome each of them to the Academy.”
The 2013 invitees are:
Actors
Jason Bateman – “Up in the Air,” “Juno”
Miriam Colon – “City of Hope,” “Scarface”
Rosario Dawson – “Rent,” “Frank Miller’s Sin City”
Kimberly Elise – “For Colored Girls,” “Beloved”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – “Lincoln,” “The Dark Knight Rises”
Charles Grodin – “Midnight Run,” “The Heartbreak Kid”
Rebecca Hall – “Iron Man 3,” “The Town”
Lance Henriksen – “Aliens,” “The Terminator”
Jack Huston – “Not Fade Away,” “Factory Girl”
Milla Jovovich – “Resident Evil,...
“These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today,” said Academy President Hawk Koch. “Their talent and creativity have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and I am proud to welcome each of them to the Academy.”
The 2013 invitees are:
Actors
Jason Bateman – “Up in the Air,” “Juno”
Miriam Colon – “City of Hope,” “Scarface”
Rosario Dawson – “Rent,” “Frank Miller’s Sin City”
Kimberly Elise – “For Colored Girls,” “Beloved”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – “Lincoln,” “The Dark Knight Rises”
Charles Grodin – “Midnight Run,” “The Heartbreak Kid”
Rebecca Hall – “Iron Man 3,” “The Town”
Lance Henriksen – “Aliens,” “The Terminator”
Jack Huston – “Not Fade Away,” “Factory Girl”
Milla Jovovich – “Resident Evil,...
- 6/28/2013
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
As the documentary festival enters its 20th year with a record number of film submissions, Daniel Dylan Wray guides you through the programme and events
Last year's festival featured a surprise performance by the star of a film that would go on to win an Oscar, so you would think the organisers of 2013's Sheffield Doc/Fest would be feeling the pressure just one month from curtains-up.
But the festival's programmer, Hussain Currimbhoy, seems relatively calm on deadline day for the event's 20th anniversary programme. "It's pressure every year," he says. "We pressure ourselves to make it the best programme every year and the best festival every year".
That task is made harder by the festival's swelling attendance and growing film submissions, which this year topped 2,000 for the first time. These are whittled down to just 120 (including crossover platforms and shorts); only 80 of these will make it through as feature films.
Last year's festival featured a surprise performance by the star of a film that would go on to win an Oscar, so you would think the organisers of 2013's Sheffield Doc/Fest would be feeling the pressure just one month from curtains-up.
But the festival's programmer, Hussain Currimbhoy, seems relatively calm on deadline day for the event's 20th anniversary programme. "It's pressure every year," he says. "We pressure ourselves to make it the best programme every year and the best festival every year".
That task is made harder by the festival's swelling attendance and growing film submissions, which this year topped 2,000 for the first time. These are whittled down to just 120 (including crossover platforms and shorts); only 80 of these will make it through as feature films.
- 5/9/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
Irving Saraf, a producer, editor and director who won an Academy Award for producing the 1991 feature documentary In the Shadow of the Stars, has died. He was 80. Born in Poland and raised and educated in Israel, Saraf died Dec. 26 at his home in San Francisco after a three-year battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease. One of his sons is Peter Saraf, the Oscar-nominated producer whose résumé includes Adaptation (2002), Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and Our Idiot Brother (2011). Saraf, who came to the U.S. in 1952, founded the film unit of San Francisco public TV
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- 12/30/2012
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Irving Saraf, an Oscar- and Emmy-winning documentary film director, editor, cinematographer and producer, died Saturday at his home in San Francisco. He was 80 years old and had been battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Als) for three years. Saraf helped start the Special Projects department at San Francisco public television station Kqed and was tapped by Saul Zaentz to help form Fantasy Films. With his wife, Allie Light (photo), he made the Academy Award winning documentary, "In The Shadow of the Stars," and the Emmy Award-winning, "Dialogues With Mad Women." Also read: Notable Celebrity...
- 12/30/2012
- by Todd Cunningham
- The Wrap
Academy award winning filmmaker Irving Saraf died December 26 at his home in San Francisco. Saraf, 80, succumbed to Als, which he battled for the last three years. He is the father of Peter Saraf, producer of such films as Little Miss Sunshine and partner with Marc Turtletaub in the film financier/production company Big Beach. Irving Saraf was a long time fixture in the Bay Area film community. After helping to start the Special Projects department at San Francisco public television station Kqed, Saraf formed Fantasy Films for Saul Zaentz. With his second wife, Allie Light, Saraf made the Academy Award winning docu, In The Shadow of the Stars and the Emmy award winning Dialogues With Mad Women. Born Ignatz Szcharfertz in Lodz Poland in 1932, Saraf and family fled the Nazis in 1939 when he was 7. The family eventually settled in Palestine, where Saraf took the Hebrew first name of Itzhac. He...
- 12/30/2012
- by MIKE FLEMING JR.
- Deadline
David Weissman moved to San Francisco in 1976 and has been a fixture of the filmmaking community there, working on films like Crumb and In the Shadow of the Stars before directing his own movie (with Bill Weber), The Cockettes, a documentary chronicle of the legendary Bay Area performance group. With his latest, We Were Here, Weissman again digs into the history of the city, this time capturing the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. The following short conversation was conducted at Sundance before the first screening of his film.
We Were Here opens in New York at the Angelika Film Center on Friday, September 9, and in Los Angeles on September 16 at the Arclight Hollywood.
Filmmaker: Tell me about the film.
Weissman: Well, the movie is We Were Here, a documentary about the human and community experience of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco. It’s the first film...
We Were Here opens in New York at the Angelika Film Center on Friday, September 9, and in Los Angeles on September 16 at the Arclight Hollywood.
Filmmaker: Tell me about the film.
Weissman: Well, the movie is We Were Here, a documentary about the human and community experience of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco. It’s the first film...
- 9/1/2011
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
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