Each year, IndieWire partners with MIT’s Open Documentary Lab to offer a deeper look at Sundance’s New Frontier section. Here, Ambar Reyes explores two projects that tackled social injustice using magical realism.
You can be asked to play the role of a young man who ends up in a Bolivian prison after his first job as a mule transporting la Blanca. Or you can be located in present-day New Jersey, and time travel to witness the connected historical experiences of racial injustices in the United States. You can actually be yourself, stepping into a garden and encountering oral histories from African American Women. In the New Frontier selection at Sundance 2021, a world of magic realism pulls you in and demonstrates the power of virtual reality (VR) to motivate inquiry into social injustices.
As a Latin American woman growing up reading magical realism, I found it fascinating to learn...
You can be asked to play the role of a young man who ends up in a Bolivian prison after his first job as a mule transporting la Blanca. Or you can be located in present-day New Jersey, and time travel to witness the connected historical experiences of racial injustices in the United States. You can actually be yourself, stepping into a garden and encountering oral histories from African American Women. In the New Frontier selection at Sundance 2021, a world of magic realism pulls you in and demonstrates the power of virtual reality (VR) to motivate inquiry into social injustices.
As a Latin American woman growing up reading magical realism, I found it fascinating to learn...
- 2/7/2021
- by Ambar Reyes
- Indiewire
The Australian International Documentary Conference (Aidc) has revealed the 15 teams that will take part in its international pitching showcase, The FACTory.
Now in its sixth year, the annual event for new documentary and factual projects will be held online, giving selected participants the opportunity to present their work in front of the largest contingent of international decision-makers to participate in Aidc, including funders, buyers, broadcasters, sales agents, and distributors.
Shortlisted teams for The FACTory will pitch across three strands: Central Showcase, New Talent Showcase and Rough Cut Showcase.
Alice Burgin, Aidc CEO and conference director, said the 15 projects selected for 2021 were “exceptionally strong and exciting”.
“Our aim is to help these teams make valuable connections with our international decision-makers and take the first or second step towards making these ambitious factual productions,” she said.
All projects in The FACTory 2021 will be eligible to win pitch prizes, including the Finch Prize,...
Now in its sixth year, the annual event for new documentary and factual projects will be held online, giving selected participants the opportunity to present their work in front of the largest contingent of international decision-makers to participate in Aidc, including funders, buyers, broadcasters, sales agents, and distributors.
Shortlisted teams for The FACTory will pitch across three strands: Central Showcase, New Talent Showcase and Rough Cut Showcase.
Alice Burgin, Aidc CEO and conference director, said the 15 projects selected for 2021 were “exceptionally strong and exciting”.
“Our aim is to help these teams make valuable connections with our international decision-makers and take the first or second step towards making these ambitious factual productions,” she said.
All projects in The FACTory 2021 will be eligible to win pitch prizes, including the Finch Prize,...
- 1/20/2021
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
Roadshow’s The Dry has enjoyed a stellar run since its release on New Year’s Day, taking in nearly $7 million to date.
Robert Connolly’s adaption of Jane Harper’s best-selling novel returned to the top of the box office last weekend with takings of more than $2 million, bringing its overall total to $6.9 million.
It comes after the film grossed $3.5 million on its opening weekend, joining Happy Feet and Mad Max as one of the biggest box office debuts for an Australian film.
Roadshow Films CEO Joel Pearlman said the results “absolutely confirm” Australian films can deliver blockbuster results alongside their Hollywood counterparts.
“This result is an incredible example of just how willing Australian audiences are to support their own cinema and stories and how important it is for the local filmmaking community to continue to be provided with opportunities to create great works of cinema for Australians to delight in,...
Robert Connolly’s adaption of Jane Harper’s best-selling novel returned to the top of the box office last weekend with takings of more than $2 million, bringing its overall total to $6.9 million.
It comes after the film grossed $3.5 million on its opening weekend, joining Happy Feet and Mad Max as one of the biggest box office debuts for an Australian film.
Roadshow Films CEO Joel Pearlman said the results “absolutely confirm” Australian films can deliver blockbuster results alongside their Hollywood counterparts.
“This result is an incredible example of just how willing Australian audiences are to support their own cinema and stories and how important it is for the local filmmaking community to continue to be provided with opportunities to create great works of cinema for Australians to delight in,...
- 1/13/2021
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
Ben Mendelsohn in ‘Babyteeth’, cast by Kirsty McGregor.
Actor Ben Mendelsohn, casting director Kirsty McGregor, Australian Cinematographers Society (Acs) national president Ron Johanson and the ABC’s Sally Riley are among the Aussies recently invited to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science (AMPAS).
Other invitees include Dop Nicola Daley, UTA partner Bec Smith and documentary filmmaker Violeta Ayala.
In total, the Oscars body invited 819 people to join its ranks this year, 45 per cent of which were women, 36 per cent from underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and 49 per cent from outside the Us.
The Academy has been on quest to widen its membership base since 2016. In 2015, only 1446 or 25 per cent of its membership base were women, with the figure now at 3179, or 33 per cent. In 2015, only 10 per cent of, or 554, members were people of colour; that now stands at 1787, or 19 per cent.
The organisation has also tripled the number...
Actor Ben Mendelsohn, casting director Kirsty McGregor, Australian Cinematographers Society (Acs) national president Ron Johanson and the ABC’s Sally Riley are among the Aussies recently invited to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science (AMPAS).
Other invitees include Dop Nicola Daley, UTA partner Bec Smith and documentary filmmaker Violeta Ayala.
In total, the Oscars body invited 819 people to join its ranks this year, 45 per cent of which were women, 36 per cent from underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and 49 per cent from outside the Us.
The Academy has been on quest to widen its membership base since 2016. In 2015, only 1446 or 25 per cent of its membership base were women, with the figure now at 3179, or 33 per cent. In 2015, only 10 per cent of, or 554, members were people of colour; that now stands at 1787, or 19 per cent.
The organisation has also tripled the number...
- 7/2/2020
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
”We vow to trust each other, trust ourselves, and be courageous.”
Canada-based filmmaker Ingrid Veninger has thrown down the challenge to a team of 10 female filmmakers to make an anthology of 10-minute shorts shot from isolation amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Veninger, of Toronto-based pUNK Films, has recruited nine international collaborators to work on Exquisite Cadaver Project and established a set of rules that embraces available technology and speaks to the unprecedented contemporary times.
The 10 guiding principles, which recall the Dogme 95 manifesto by Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg that originated in Denmark, prescribe impulsive and current content in any genre...
Canada-based filmmaker Ingrid Veninger has thrown down the challenge to a team of 10 female filmmakers to make an anthology of 10-minute shorts shot from isolation amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Veninger, of Toronto-based pUNK Films, has recruited nine international collaborators to work on Exquisite Cadaver Project and established a set of rules that embraces available technology and speaks to the unprecedented contemporary times.
The 10 guiding principles, which recall the Dogme 95 manifesto by Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg that originated in Denmark, prescribe impulsive and current content in any genre...
- 3/31/2020
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
Warwick Thornton.
Director Warwick Thornton will turn his back on the limelight to experience life on an isolated beach in the remote Dampier Peninsula for Nitv series The Beach, one of seven documentary projects recently backed by Screen Australia.
The federal agency today announced that $965,000 of production was recently allocated through its Producer program and $720,000 through the Commissioned program. The agency also supported an additional 11 projects in its recent development round, including two natural history projects, a Vr production and two original format series.
“The Beach is one of the most important projects of my life. It’s about my life. It is my life,” said Thornton.
Other projects to receive production funding include a feature film about shark fanatic and filmmaker Valerie Taylor in The Real Jaws: The Valerie Taylor Story and an online animated series about the untold history of soccer, A Game of Three Halves.
‘The Real...
Director Warwick Thornton will turn his back on the limelight to experience life on an isolated beach in the remote Dampier Peninsula for Nitv series The Beach, one of seven documentary projects recently backed by Screen Australia.
The federal agency today announced that $965,000 of production was recently allocated through its Producer program and $720,000 through the Commissioned program. The agency also supported an additional 11 projects in its recent development round, including two natural history projects, a Vr production and two original format series.
“The Beach is one of the most important projects of my life. It’s about my life. It is my life,” said Thornton.
Other projects to receive production funding include a feature film about shark fanatic and filmmaker Valerie Taylor in The Real Jaws: The Valerie Taylor Story and an online animated series about the untold history of soccer, A Game of Three Halves.
‘The Real...
- 4/8/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Amsterdam — Despite divisions in the outside world, the community spirit still thrives in Idfa’s Forum.
It used to be called The Cuban Hat. But now, before the main awards are handed out at Idfa, the festival’s industry arm has a more personal honor to bestow: The Dutch Clog. The business equivalent of the main festival’s audience award, it is given at the Forum’s finale to the best projects presented in the Central Pitch and Round Table Pitch arenas. “We have these Dutch clogs going around where people can put money in,” explains Forum Co-ordinator Yorinde Segale, “so they will win the clogs and also the money that’s in there.” The Forum itself puts €500 in. “But also people put pledges in there,” she adds, “so if you ever go to Sweden, someone might say, ‘You can sleep on my couch for four nights,’ or there are...
It used to be called The Cuban Hat. But now, before the main awards are handed out at Idfa, the festival’s industry arm has a more personal honor to bestow: The Dutch Clog. The business equivalent of the main festival’s audience award, it is given at the Forum’s finale to the best projects presented in the Central Pitch and Round Table Pitch arenas. “We have these Dutch clogs going around where people can put money in,” explains Forum Co-ordinator Yorinde Segale, “so they will win the clogs and also the money that’s in there.” The Forum itself puts €500 in. “But also people put pledges in there,” she adds, “so if you ever go to Sweden, someone might say, ‘You can sleep on my couch for four nights,’ or there are...
- 11/22/2018
- by Damon Wise
- Variety Film + TV
The International Documentary Association has announced their Best Feature and Best Short nominees, as well as the recipients of Creative Recognition awards, for the 2017 Ida Documentary Awards. In the competition categories, the nominees for Best Feature include “City of Ghosts,” “Dina,” “Faces Places,””La 92,” and “Strong Island,” while the Best Short section includes nods for “Edith+Eddie,” “The Fight,” “Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405,” “Long Shot,” “Mr. Connolly Has Als,” and “The Rabbit Hunt.”
“The diverse array of films nominated this year underscore the vibrancy and elasticity of documentary form,” said Simon Kilmurry, Ida’s Executive Director in an official statement. “These films address the most urgent contemporary global matters — and the most intimate emotional territory. All of them demonstrate the courage and ingenuity of nonfiction media makers.”
Read More:2017 Ida Documentary Awards Nominees Announced, Including ‘Icarus,’ ‘The Keepers,’ and ‘The Vietnam War’
The winners for...
“The diverse array of films nominated this year underscore the vibrancy and elasticity of documentary form,” said Simon Kilmurry, Ida’s Executive Director in an official statement. “These films address the most urgent contemporary global matters — and the most intimate emotional territory. All of them demonstrate the courage and ingenuity of nonfiction media makers.”
Read More:2017 Ida Documentary Awards Nominees Announced, Including ‘Icarus,’ ‘The Keepers,’ and ‘The Vietnam War’
The winners for...
- 11/1/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
If you’ve ever watched season three of Prison Break and wondered what was going on with Sona’s weird open air slum-like community barely watched by guards, know that the truth isn’t very far off. Just look at Bolivia’s San Sebastian Prison in Cochabamba, a small concrete establishment that ballooned from 180 inmates to over 700 in less than five years. You have to purchase a cell for $2,100 American dollars of your own money if you don’t want to sleep in the halls. You have to wait months and sometimes years before your trial even occurs. And the majority of those sentenced are merely low-level drug offenders filling a governmental quota so their bosses can remain free and continue feeding the nation’s economy. It’s a world unto itself.
Filmmakers Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw willfully enter this enclosed community posing as aides teaching inmates English. On top...
Filmmakers Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw willfully enter this enclosed community posing as aides teaching inmates English. On top...
- 9/13/2017
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Part of Ifp’s 2013 Project Forum slate, Cocaine Prison is the latest completed work from indigenous Latina filmmaker Violeta Ayala, who’s long been an outspoken critic of the War on Drugs, which not only disproportionately affects low-income folks here in the States, but especially our impoverished neighbors south of the border, from Mexico on down. For this follow-up to 2015’s The Bolivian Case (another tale of South American coke smuggling and its consequences, but with a Norwegian teenagers twist), Ayala, along with filmmaker partner/husband Dan Fallshaw (a producer, cinematographer and editor on Cocaine Prison), have headed back to her birth […]...
- 9/11/2017
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
By Thom Powers
“Resistance is a key theme in this year’s documentaries,” said Tiff Docs Programmer Thom Powers. “We pay witness to rebels challenging the status quo in art, politics, sexuality, religion, fashion, sports and entertainment. They speak powerfully to our times as audiences seek inspirations for battling powerful and corrupt systems.”
Tiff’s 2017 documentary lineup goes deep into the lives of boundary-pushing characters — Grace Jones, Jim Carrey, Jane Goodall, and Eric Clapton, to name only a few of the most famous. But the celebrity factor isn’t enough to make a great film. What sets these docs apart is their directors’ ability to a bring fresh perspective.
Azmaish: A Journey through the SubcontinentBoom For Real The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Then there are figures whose names you may not recognize, but they become unforgettable after you see them on screen. They include Scotty Bowers, who was...
“Resistance is a key theme in this year’s documentaries,” said Tiff Docs Programmer Thom Powers. “We pay witness to rebels challenging the status quo in art, politics, sexuality, religion, fashion, sports and entertainment. They speak powerfully to our times as audiences seek inspirations for battling powerful and corrupt systems.”
Tiff’s 2017 documentary lineup goes deep into the lives of boundary-pushing characters — Grace Jones, Jim Carrey, Jane Goodall, and Eric Clapton, to name only a few of the most famous. But the celebrity factor isn’t enough to make a great film. What sets these docs apart is their directors’ ability to a bring fresh perspective.
Azmaish: A Journey through the SubcontinentBoom For Real The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Then there are figures whose names you may not recognize, but they become unforgettable after you see them on screen. They include Scotty Bowers, who was...
- 8/3/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
ThelmaA selection of films from the 2017 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival has been unveiled, with new films by Sebastián Lelio, Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Darren Aronofsky, Greta Gerwig, Guillermo Del Toro, Joachim Trier, Wim Wenders, and many more.Special PRESENTATIONSOpening Night: Ladybird (Greta Gerwig)Closing Night: Sheikh Jackson (Amr Salama)Battle of the Sexes (Valerie Faris & Jonathan Dayton)Bpm (Beats Per Minute) (Robin Campillo)The Brawler (Anurag Kashyap)The Breadwinner (Nora Twomey)Call Me By Your Name (Luca Guadagnino)Catch the Wind (Gaël Morel)The Children Act (Richard Eyre)The Current War (Alfonso Gomez-Rejon)Disobedience (Sebastián Lelio)Downsizing (Alexander Payne)A Fantastic Woman (Sebastián Lelio)First They Killed My Father (Angelina Jolie)The Guardians (Xavier Beauvois)Hostiles (Scott Cooper)The Hungry (Bornila Chatterjee)I, Tonya (Craig Gillespie)Mother! (Darren Aronofsky)Novitiate (Maggie Betts)Omerta (Hansal Mehta)Plonger (Mélanie Laurent)The Price of Success (Teddy Lussi-Modeste)Professor Marston & the Wonder Women...
- 8/3/2017
- MUBI
Following an initial round of premieres and the announcement that Borg vs. McEnroe will open Toronto International Film Festival 2017, they’ve now announced their lineup for Midnight Madness and Documentaries. Leading the pack of our most-anticipated among midnight tiles is Brawl in Cell Block 99, which is S. Craig Zahler’s follow-up to Bone Tomahawk and will premiere at Venice beforehand. There’s also the latest film from Joseph Kahn, Bodied, which will open the sidebar, and the first trailer has landed.
On the documentary side, there is Frederick Wiseman’s Ex Libris – The New York Public Library, as well as new films from Morgan Spurlock, Heidi Ewing (Jesus Camp), Brett Morgen (Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck), and more. Check out the new additions below, along with images and trailers where available.
Midnight Madness
Midnight Madness Opening Film
Bodied Joseph Kahn, USA
World Premiere
Our #TIFF17 Midnight Madness Opening Night Film is @JosephKahn’s Bodied,...
On the documentary side, there is Frederick Wiseman’s Ex Libris – The New York Public Library, as well as new films from Morgan Spurlock, Heidi Ewing (Jesus Camp), Brett Morgen (Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck), and more. Check out the new additions below, along with images and trailers where available.
Midnight Madness
Midnight Madness Opening Film
Bodied Joseph Kahn, USA
World Premiere
Our #TIFF17 Midnight Madness Opening Night Film is @JosephKahn’s Bodied,...
- 8/2/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Morgan Spurlock re-engages with the food industry, James Franco digs into the ‘worst film ever made’.
Top brass at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) unveiled on Tuesday selections in the Tiff Docs, Midnight Madness, and Short Cuts programmes.
The Canadian titles that are part of this year’s programme will be announced on August 9. The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival is scheduled to run from September 7-17 and will open with Borg/McEnroe.
Tiff Docs
The world premiere of Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! joins a marquee Tiff Docs roster from renowned filmmakers that opens with Sophie Fiennes’ Grace Jones: Bloodlight And Bami.
Selections include Brett Morgen’s profile of primatologist Jane Goodall in Jane; the story of three Hasidic Jews who attempt to join the secular world in One Of Us by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady; Violeta Ayala’s Bolivian drug trade film Cocaine Prison; and Emmanuel Gras’ closing film Makala...
Top brass at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) unveiled on Tuesday selections in the Tiff Docs, Midnight Madness, and Short Cuts programmes.
The Canadian titles that are part of this year’s programme will be announced on August 9. The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival is scheduled to run from September 7-17 and will open with Borg/McEnroe.
Tiff Docs
The world premiere of Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! joins a marquee Tiff Docs roster from renowned filmmakers that opens with Sophie Fiennes’ Grace Jones: Bloodlight And Bami.
Selections include Brett Morgen’s profile of primatologist Jane Goodall in Jane; the story of three Hasidic Jews who attempt to join the secular world in One Of Us by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady; Violeta Ayala’s Bolivian drug trade film Cocaine Prison; and Emmanuel Gras’ closing film Makala...
- 8/1/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
They are two of the Toronto International Film Festival’s wildest sections — for very different reasons — and this year’s slate of both Midnight Madness and Documentary offerings appear to signal another strong lineup for the festival. Thrills, chills, terror, and scares await movie-goers, all care of unbelievable real-life stories and slightly less true tales for genre fans of all stripes.
This year’s Midnight Madness section will open with Joseph Kahn’s provocative World Premiere of “Bodied,” and also offers up the World Premiere of “The Disaster Artist,” directed by James Franco and based on the making of Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 cult film, “The Room.” (The film previously screened as a work-in-progress at SXSW.)
Read MoreTIFF Reveals First Slate of 2017 Titles, Including ‘The Shape of Water,’ ‘Downsizing,’ and ‘Call Me By Your Name’
In his first year as programmer, Peter Kuplowsky is also welcoming back several fest alumni, including David Bruckner,...
This year’s Midnight Madness section will open with Joseph Kahn’s provocative World Premiere of “Bodied,” and also offers up the World Premiere of “The Disaster Artist,” directed by James Franco and based on the making of Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 cult film, “The Room.” (The film previously screened as a work-in-progress at SXSW.)
Read MoreTIFF Reveals First Slate of 2017 Titles, Including ‘The Shape of Water,’ ‘Downsizing,’ and ‘Call Me By Your Name’
In his first year as programmer, Peter Kuplowsky is also welcoming back several fest alumni, including David Bruckner,...
- 8/1/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Documentary festival announces winners.
Matthew Heineman’s City Of Ghosts has won the grand jury award at Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 9-14).
The award, supported by Screen International and Broadcast, comes with a cash prize of £2,000 ($2,800).
The film covers covert citizen journalist group Rbss (Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently), who are exposing the horrors of life under Isis rule via the media. Amazon have picked up worldwide rights to the film.
On behalf of the jury, Paul Mason said, “City of Ghosts is a passionate portrayal of people who took their lives in their hands to fight an evil that looms over the world. In our discussions we wanted the film makers to answer: who created Isis and who sustains it today? A compelling and vital film.”
The jury also included Andrea Arnold and Anand Pathwardan.
There was also special mentions for The Death And The Life of Marsha P. Johnson, [link...
Matthew Heineman’s City Of Ghosts has won the grand jury award at Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 9-14).
The award, supported by Screen International and Broadcast, comes with a cash prize of £2,000 ($2,800).
The film covers covert citizen journalist group Rbss (Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently), who are exposing the horrors of life under Isis rule via the media. Amazon have picked up worldwide rights to the film.
On behalf of the jury, Paul Mason said, “City of Ghosts is a passionate portrayal of people who took their lives in their hands to fight an evil that looms over the world. In our discussions we wanted the film makers to answer: who created Isis and who sustains it today? A compelling and vital film.”
The jury also included Andrea Arnold and Anand Pathwardan.
There was also special mentions for The Death And The Life of Marsha P. Johnson, [link...
- 6/13/2017
- by orlando.parfitt@screendaily.com (Orlando Parfitt)
- ScreenDaily
It’s been a couple months since the last edition of What’s Up Doc? placed Michael Moore’s surprise world premiere of Where To Invade Next at the top of this list and in the meantime much shuffling has taken place and much time has been spent on various new endeavors (namely my Buffalo-based film series, Cultivate Cinema Circle). Finally taking its rightful place at the top, D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hagedus’ Unlocking the Cage is in the midst of being scored by composer James Lavino, according to Lavino’s own personal site. Though the project has been taking shape at its own leisurely pace, I’d expect to see the film making its festival debut in early 2016.
Right behind, the American direct cinema masters is a Texan soon to make his non-fiction debut with Voyage of Time. Just two weeks ago indieWIRE reported that Ennio Morricone, who scored...
Right behind, the American direct cinema masters is a Texan soon to make his non-fiction debut with Voyage of Time. Just two weeks ago indieWIRE reported that Ennio Morricone, who scored...
- 11/5/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
The fall festival rush is upon us. Locarno is currently ramping up. Venice has released their line-up and Thom Powers and the Toronto International Film Festival team have dropped a bomb with a previously unannounced new feature from powerhouse docu-provocateur Michael Moore. It is truly a miracle that the production of a film such as Moore’s upcoming Where To Invade Next (see still above) managed to go completely undetected by the filmmaking community until it was literally announced to world premiere at one of the largest film festivals in the world. Programmed as a one of the key films in the Special Presentations section at Tiff, the film sees Moore telling “the Pentagon to ‘stand down’ — he will do the invading for America from now on.” Also announced to premiere at Tiff was Avi Lewis’ This Changes Everything, which has slowly been rising up this list, as well as...
- 8/7/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
It’s been a surprisingly interesting month of moving and shaking in terms of doc development. Just a month after making his first public funding pitch at Toronto’s Hot Docs Forum, legendary doc filmmaker Frederick Wiseman took to Kickstarter to help cover the remaining expenses for his 40th feature film In Jackson Heights (see the film’s first trailer below). Unrelentingly rigorous in his determination to capture the American institutional landscape on film, his latest continues down this thematic rabbit hole, taking on the immensely diverse New York City neighborhood of Jackson Heights as his latest subject. According to the Kickstarter page, Wiseman is currently editing the 120 hours of rushes he shot with hopes of having the film ready for a fall festival premiere (my guess would be Tiff, where both National Gallery and At Berkeley made their North American debut), though he’s currently quite a ways away from his $75,000 goal.
- 7/6/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Lisa Nichol.s Wide Open Sky has won the Foxtel Movies Audience award for best documentary feature at the Sydney Film Festival.
The doc chronicles the journey of an outback Australian children.s choir from auditions to their end-of-year concert and choir founder Michelle Leonard.s mission to bring a desolate musical landscape back to life.
Nicol has previously directed A Night at Sea with Louis Tillet, Pray Ho'tell and Outback Choir.
Voted as the best narrative feature was Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, the saga of a self-deprecating high school student who is forced to befriend a classmate who's been diagnosed with leukaemia. Foxtel Movies Audience Award for Best Documentary top 5:
1. Wide Open Sky, directed by Lisa Nicol 2. Gayby Baby, directed by Maya Newell 3. The Lost Aviator, directed by Andrew Lancaster 4. The Bolivian Case, directed by Violeta Ayala 5. Sherpa, directed by Jennifer Peedom...
The doc chronicles the journey of an outback Australian children.s choir from auditions to their end-of-year concert and choir founder Michelle Leonard.s mission to bring a desolate musical landscape back to life.
Nicol has previously directed A Night at Sea with Louis Tillet, Pray Ho'tell and Outback Choir.
Voted as the best narrative feature was Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, the saga of a self-deprecating high school student who is forced to befriend a classmate who's been diagnosed with leukaemia. Foxtel Movies Audience Award for Best Documentary top 5:
1. Wide Open Sky, directed by Lisa Nicol 2. Gayby Baby, directed by Maya Newell 3. The Lost Aviator, directed by Andrew Lancaster 4. The Bolivian Case, directed by Violeta Ayala 5. Sherpa, directed by Jennifer Peedom...
- 6/17/2015
- by Staff writer
- IF.com.au
Well folks, after a rather long and brutal winter (at least for me here in Buffalo), we are finally heading into the wonderful warmth of summer, but with that blast of sunshine and steamy humidity comes the mid-year drought of major film fests. After the Sheffield Doc/Fest concludes on June 10th and AFI Docs wraps on June 21st, we likely won’t see any major influx in our charts until Locarno, Venice, Telluride and Tiff announce their line-ups in rapid succession. In the meantime, we can look forward to the intriguing onslaught of films making their debut in Sheffield, including Brian Hill’s intriguing examination of Sweden’s most notorious serial killer, The Confessions of Thomas Quick, and Sean McAllister’s film for which he himself was jailed in the process of making, A Syrian Love Story, the only two films world premiering in the festival’s main competition.
- 6/1/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
More often than we realize, the media plays a powerful role in determining justice in society, by misrepresenting individuals based on gender, race and class. There is an increasing need for more women to not only produce, but also be represented in documentaries, as they give women the opportunity to tell their stories and challenge us to have a different perspective on the world.
Directed by award-winning Australian writer and filmmaker Violeta Ayala and produced by Dan Fallshaw from 2011-2015, the stranger than fiction story, "The Bolivian Case," follows three Norwegian teenage girls who are arrested with 22kg of cocaine in their luggage in a foreign country.
Despite the three girls committing the same crime, the media and public began to shape a misconstrued representation of each girl based on biased interpretations, triggering the biggest media storm in Norway. “Rather than asking the audience to question the guilt or innocence of these women, "The Bolivian Case" aims to challenge and confront viewers on how gender, race and class affects how society assigns guilt. The outcome of the case was based on perception not on evidence; as a result of this failure, we believe the media and the justice system should be on trial”, says Violeta.
"The Bolivian Case" is the first part of United Notions Film’s ‘Drug War Trilogy’ and premiered at the Special Presentation Program at Hot Docs, one of the world’s most prestigious documentary festivals. It will showcase at the Sydney Film Festival on June 7th, 2015 as part of the Australian Documentary Competition for the Documentary Australia Foundation Award.
During the festival Violeta will be speaking at the ‘Can documentaries change the world?’ panel on June 12th, 2015 at 7pm, at the Sydney Town Hall.
The film currently has a Kickstarter campaign to help with post-production and fine-tuning expenses. The campaign ends on Thursday 11th June. You can support the project Here...
Directed by award-winning Australian writer and filmmaker Violeta Ayala and produced by Dan Fallshaw from 2011-2015, the stranger than fiction story, "The Bolivian Case," follows three Norwegian teenage girls who are arrested with 22kg of cocaine in their luggage in a foreign country.
Despite the three girls committing the same crime, the media and public began to shape a misconstrued representation of each girl based on biased interpretations, triggering the biggest media storm in Norway. “Rather than asking the audience to question the guilt or innocence of these women, "The Bolivian Case" aims to challenge and confront viewers on how gender, race and class affects how society assigns guilt. The outcome of the case was based on perception not on evidence; as a result of this failure, we believe the media and the justice system should be on trial”, says Violeta.
"The Bolivian Case" is the first part of United Notions Film’s ‘Drug War Trilogy’ and premiered at the Special Presentation Program at Hot Docs, one of the world’s most prestigious documentary festivals. It will showcase at the Sydney Film Festival on June 7th, 2015 as part of the Australian Documentary Competition for the Documentary Australia Foundation Award.
During the festival Violeta will be speaking at the ‘Can documentaries change the world?’ panel on June 12th, 2015 at 7pm, at the Sydney Town Hall.
The film currently has a Kickstarter campaign to help with post-production and fine-tuning expenses. The campaign ends on Thursday 11th June. You can support the project Here...
- 5/29/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Neil Armfield.s Holding the Man, Simon Stone.s The Daughter, Jeremy Sims. Last Cab to Darwin and Jen Peedom.s feature doc Sherpa will have their world premieres at the Sydney Film Festival.
The festival program unveiled today includes 33 world premieres (including 22 shorts) and 135 Australian premieres (with 18 shorts) among 251 titles from 68 countries.
Among the other premieres will be Daina Reid.s The Secret River, Ruby Entertainment's. ABC-tv miniseries starring Oliver Jackson Cohen and Sarah Snook, and three Oz docs, Marc Eberle.s The Cambodian Space Project — Not Easy Rock .n. Roll, Steve Thomas. Freedom Stories and Lisa Nicol.s Wide Open Sky.
Festival director Nashen Moodley boasted. this year.s event will be far larger than 2014's when 183 films from 47 countries were screened, including 15 world premieres. The expansion is possible in part due to the addition of two new screening venues in Newtown and Liverpool.
As previously announced, Brendan Cowell...
The festival program unveiled today includes 33 world premieres (including 22 shorts) and 135 Australian premieres (with 18 shorts) among 251 titles from 68 countries.
Among the other premieres will be Daina Reid.s The Secret River, Ruby Entertainment's. ABC-tv miniseries starring Oliver Jackson Cohen and Sarah Snook, and three Oz docs, Marc Eberle.s The Cambodian Space Project — Not Easy Rock .n. Roll, Steve Thomas. Freedom Stories and Lisa Nicol.s Wide Open Sky.
Festival director Nashen Moodley boasted. this year.s event will be far larger than 2014's when 183 films from 47 countries were screened, including 15 world premieres. The expansion is possible in part due to the addition of two new screening venues in Newtown and Liverpool.
As previously announced, Brendan Cowell...
- 5/6/2015
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
It should come as no surprise that Cannes Film Festival will play host to Kent Jones’s doc on the touchstone of filmmaking interview tomes, Hitchcock/Truffaut (see photo above). The film has been floating near the top of this list since it was announced last year as in development, while Jones himself has a history with the festival, having co-written both Arnaud Desplechin’s Jimmy P. and Martin Scorsese’s My Voyage To Italy, both of which premiered in Cannes. The film is scheduled to screen as part of the Cannes Classics sidebar alongside the likes of Stig Björkman’s Ingrid Bergman, in Her Own Words, which will play as part of the festival’s tribute to the late starlet, and Gabriel Clarke and John McKenna’s Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans (see trailer below). As someone who grew up watching road races with my dad in Watkins Glen,...
- 5/1/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Award season as come to a close, and we’ve all been witness to what is a historic unprecedented run for one urgent film. The ripple became a wave when we were on hand to witness Laura Poitras collect multiple awards at the Cinema Eye Honors, and as predicted, the Academy Awards capped off a historic awards season run with an Oscar win. Here is our roundup and recap of the previous month’s film festival and award season headlines related to the docu film world.
Academy Awards
While Citizenfour took home the award for best documentary of the year, Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry’s Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 was given the Oscar for best short doc.
Berlin International Film Festival - Germany – February 5th – February 15th
When Darren Aronofsky and his presiding jury members announced the Berlinale winners, Patricio Guzmán’s long awaited follow-up to Nostalgia For The Light,...
Academy Awards
While Citizenfour took home the award for best documentary of the year, Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry’s Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 was given the Oscar for best short doc.
Berlin International Film Festival - Germany – February 5th – February 15th
When Darren Aronofsky and his presiding jury members announced the Berlinale winners, Patricio Guzmán’s long awaited follow-up to Nostalgia For The Light,...
- 3/3/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Now that the busy winter fest schedule of Sundance, Rotterdam and the Berlinale has concluded, we’ve now got our eyes on the likes of True/False and SXSW. While, True/False does not specialize in attention grabbing world premieres, it does provide a late winter haven for cream of the crop non-fiction fare from all the previously mentioned fests and a selection of overlooked genre blending films presented in a down home setting. This year will mark my first trip to the Columbia, Missouri based fest, where I hope to catch a little of everything, from their hush-hush secret screenings, to selections from their Neither/Nor series, this year featuring chimeric Polish cinema of decades past, to a spotlight of Adam Curtis’s incisive oeuvre. But truth be told, it is SXSW, with its slew of high profile world premieres being announced, such as Alex Gibney’s Steve Jobs...
- 2/27/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Turkey or no turkey, these next couple of days lucky filmmakers who’ve been selected to screen as part of the Sundance Film Festival will get the invitation notice straight from John Cooper and the Park City programming team, and thus, those that we’re betting have made the cut have also inched up the list a bit. One of those that seem an obvious choice to premiere at the fest is director Steve Hoover and producer Danny Yourd’s Crocodile Gennadiy. Following up their Grand Jury Prize winning Blood Brother with incredible turnaround time, our new most anticipated film tracks the delicate operations of Gennadiy Mokhnenko, a Ukrainian activist, orphanage manager and savior of countless children whose addict parents favor injected cold medicine and alcohol over them. Part heartwrenching domestic drama, part sleuth thriller, the film looks to use the Ukrainian uprising as a backdrop to highlight its protagonist...
- 11/27/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
It.s taken five years but the makers of Stolen feel their documentary.s revelations of slavery in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria controlled by the Polisario Front have been vindicated. After the world premiere at the 2009 Sydney Film Festival, controversy erupted after one of the women interviewed was flown to Australia by the Polisario to say she wasn't a slave. The Polisario began an international campaign to discredit the film, to the chagrin of writers/directors Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw and producer Tom Zubrycki. Last month Human Rights Watch published a report based on a research mission to the remote camps titled Off the Radar. The report concluded that though slavery is not widespread, nevertheless .some practices of slavery have persisted among Sahrawis... in the Tindouf refugee camps and - perhaps in particular - in the remote areas of Western Sahara under Polisario control.. In 2011 the penal...
- 11/26/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
They often get quite a bit less attention than their fictional brethren, and it doesn’t help that many films fly under the radar while development and filming is underway. To chart this course with a little more precision, I’m launching Ioncinema.com’s latest feature, What’s Up Doc?, our monthly Top 50 Most Anticipated films, a sort of hitlist and/or snapshot of the most alluring, the most promising documentary film projects from the established documentarian guard, the new crop of future voices or the fiction filmmakers who on occasion dip their toes in the form. Curated by me, Jordan M. Smith, you’ll find docu items that are in their beginning stages to being moments away from their film festival berth. Like any such list, we can expect film items to fluctuate in ranking, with the cut-off being publicly items — such recent examples include Laura Poitras’s white hot Edward Snowden project,...
- 10/23/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Organisers behind the Meets Film Market have announced 11 of the 12 projects competing at the Latin American Co-Production Forum, set to run during the third International Film Festival Of Panama from April 7-9.
The announcement was made at the Miami International Film Festival on Thursday (13).
The winner will receive a $25,000 cash prize. The projects were culled from a pool of 128 submissions based on the strength of the proposal, practical feasibility and commercial viability, overall production values and the potential for good development of story.
The 12th project will be chosen at the 10th Ibero-American Co-Production Meeting at the 29th Guadalajara International Film Festival under a special agreement between Guadalajara and Meets.
Meets officials have invited eight other projects from Latin America to take part outside the competition.
The 11 competition projects are:
Dr. Fe, dir Ricardo Coral- Dorado
Colombia
Blood Window (El Aliento Del Lobo), dir Alfonso Acosta
Colombia
The Bolivian Case (El Caso Boliviano), dir Violeta Ayala
Bolivia...
The announcement was made at the Miami International Film Festival on Thursday (13).
The winner will receive a $25,000 cash prize. The projects were culled from a pool of 128 submissions based on the strength of the proposal, practical feasibility and commercial viability, overall production values and the potential for good development of story.
The 12th project will be chosen at the 10th Ibero-American Co-Production Meeting at the 29th Guadalajara International Film Festival under a special agreement between Guadalajara and Meets.
Meets officials have invited eight other projects from Latin America to take part outside the competition.
The 11 competition projects are:
Dr. Fe, dir Ricardo Coral- Dorado
Colombia
Blood Window (El Aliento Del Lobo), dir Alfonso Acosta
Colombia
The Bolivian Case (El Caso Boliviano), dir Violeta Ayala
Bolivia...
- 3/13/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The San Francisco Film Society revealed today their 11 finalists for the 2014 Documentary Film Fund awards totaling over $75,000. The fund supports feature-length documentaries currently in post-production, and finalists were culled from over 200 applications. Previous Film Fund winners, including Oscar-nominee Zachary Heinzerling ("Cutie and the Boxer") and Shaul Schwarz ("Narco Cultura"), have gone far with their projects. This year's winners will be announced in late March. The 2014 finalists are: Anatomy of an American Dream -- John Ryan Johnson, director Antoine Hood is a charismatic 28-year-old former college basketball star and captain in the U.S. Air Force. He is a regional sales manager for Michelin and lives in a beautiful suburban house with his wife and son. For most, this is the American dream, but not for Hood, who could lose all of the above trying to play in the NBA ... and he just might. The Bolivian Case -- Violeta Ayala, director Trying to fly out of.
- 2/6/2014
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
The 2009 documentary "Stolen" was originally slated to air on public broadcasting's World Channel on February 5th as part of the Gabourey Sidibe-hosted fifth season of the "AfroPop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange" film series. But due to controversy surrounding the doc, which started as a portrait of the reunion between a Saharawi refugee and her mother and turned into an exposé about reported modern-day slavery in the Western Sahara, the broadcast of "Stolen" was delayed so that World could produce a wrap-around special to air with the film explaining the complicated issues surrounding it. "Stolen" will be broadcast tonight, February 26th at 7pm Et, on the World Channel, and will be preceeded by a report on the region from journalist Phillip Martin and followed by a panel discussion with filmmakers Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw and Wgbh News' Callie Crossley. Below, Ayala and Fallshaw explain for Indiewire how their...
- 2/26/2013
- by Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw
- Indiewire
Dear Sydney, I wanted to let you know we've just launched a campaign to take the story of Stolen (Isa: Odin's Eye) and slavery in Western Sahara to the world. We would like your support in this campaign because we all know that slavery should be a thing of the past, a taboo that should come to light. Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw spent three years making Stolen and there is still so much to do to get the film out there. Unfortunately the film has faced a well organized political and media campaign to silence it and cover up…...
- 6/23/2011
- Sydney's Buzz
New York – The Tribeca Film Institute (Tfi) today announced several program award winners and grantees at the Tfi Awards Luncheon at Riverpark NYC during the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. Two winners of the Tribeca All Access (Taa) Creative Promise Awards presented by Time Warner; seven new Taa alumni grants and fellowships; four winners of the Latin America Media Arts Fund; and four grantees supported by Insurgent Media for the inaugural Tfi Documentary Fund were all presented today, totaling $125,000 in funds.
“This year’s winners and grantees are true examples of the incredible strength of films and talent resulting from the support of the Tribeca Film Institute,” said Beth Janson, Executive Director of the Tribeca Film Institute. “Our main hope is that these films go on to completion and build strong relationships with audiences.”
During the Tfi Awards Ceremony at Riverpark NYC in Manhattan, the following Tribeca All Access Creative Promise winners...
“This year’s winners and grantees are true examples of the incredible strength of films and talent resulting from the support of the Tribeca Film Institute,” said Beth Janson, Executive Director of the Tribeca Film Institute. “Our main hope is that these films go on to completion and build strong relationships with audiences.”
During the Tfi Awards Ceremony at Riverpark NYC in Manhattan, the following Tribeca All Access Creative Promise winners...
- 4/29/2011
- by The Moving Arts
- The Moving Arts Journal
The Tribeca Film Institute has announced today award winners and grants totaling $1,000,000. Winners included two of the Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Awards, seven new Taa alumni grants, four for the Tfi Documentary Fund, as well as four winners of the Latin America Media Arts Fund. For more details, please read the press release below or visit Tribeca Film.
[New York, NY – April 28, 2011] – The Tribeca Film Institute (Tfi) today announced several program award winners and grantees at the Tfi Awards Luncheon at Riverpark NYC during the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. Two winners of the Tribeca All Access (Taa) Creative Promise Awards presented by Time Warner; seven new Taa alumni grants and fellowships; four winners of the Latin America Media Arts Fund; and four grantees supported by Insurgent Media for the inaugural Tfi Documentary Fund were all presented today, totaling $125,000 in funds.
“This year’s winners and grantees are true examples of the incredible strength of...
[New York, NY – April 28, 2011] – The Tribeca Film Institute (Tfi) today announced several program award winners and grantees at the Tfi Awards Luncheon at Riverpark NYC during the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. Two winners of the Tribeca All Access (Taa) Creative Promise Awards presented by Time Warner; seven new Taa alumni grants and fellowships; four winners of the Latin America Media Arts Fund; and four grantees supported by Insurgent Media for the inaugural Tfi Documentary Fund were all presented today, totaling $125,000 in funds.
“This year’s winners and grantees are true examples of the incredible strength of...
- 4/29/2011
- by Christopher Clemente
- SoundOnSight
The New York African Film Festival begins Today New Yorkers, and the 2011 lineup is an impressive one!
Of note, several films that have been touted on this website (old and new) are scheduled to screen at this year’s festival, including, Andrew Dosunmu’s feature film directorial debut and Sundance 2011 entry, Restless City, in what I believe will be the film’s New York city premiere! I saw the film in January, and found it enchanting. You can read my full review of it Here.
Also, Congolese filmmaker Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s explosive Viva Riva!, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, and swept the African Movie Academy Awards; a film that’s being referred to as “Congolese Avant-Garde.” I saw it a couple of weeks ago, and dug it! Read me review Here.
New Yorkers will also get to see Besouro (a Shadow And Act Film...
Of note, several films that have been touted on this website (old and new) are scheduled to screen at this year’s festival, including, Andrew Dosunmu’s feature film directorial debut and Sundance 2011 entry, Restless City, in what I believe will be the film’s New York city premiere! I saw the film in January, and found it enchanting. You can read my full review of it Here.
Also, Congolese filmmaker Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s explosive Viva Riva!, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, and swept the African Movie Academy Awards; a film that’s being referred to as “Congolese Avant-Garde.” I saw it a couple of weeks ago, and dug it! Read me review Here.
New Yorkers will also get to see Besouro (a Shadow And Act Film...
- 4/6/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
The New York African Film Festival begins tomorrow New Yorkers, and the 2011 lineup is an impressive one!
Of note, several films that have been touted on this website (old and new) are scheduled to screen at this year’s festival, including, Andrew Dosunmu’s feature film directorial debut and Sundance 2011 entry, Restless City, in what I believe will be the film’s New York city premiere! I saw the film in January, and found it enchanting. You can read my full review of it Here.
Also, Congolese filmmaker Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s explosive Viva Riva!, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, and swept the African Movie Academy Awards; a film that’s being referred to as “Congolese Avant-Garde.” I saw it a couple of weeks ago, and dug it! Read me review Here.
New Yorkers will also get to see Besouro (a Shadow And Act Film...
Of note, several films that have been touted on this website (old and new) are scheduled to screen at this year’s festival, including, Andrew Dosunmu’s feature film directorial debut and Sundance 2011 entry, Restless City, in what I believe will be the film’s New York city premiere! I saw the film in January, and found it enchanting. You can read my full review of it Here.
Also, Congolese filmmaker Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s explosive Viva Riva!, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, and swept the African Movie Academy Awards; a film that’s being referred to as “Congolese Avant-Garde.” I saw it a couple of weeks ago, and dug it! Read me review Here.
New Yorkers will also get to see Besouro (a Shadow And Act Film...
- 4/6/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
The New York African Film Festival has announced its 2011 lineup, and it’s an impressive one! I’m excited, and hopefully you will be too, especially if you live in New York.
Of note, several films that have been touted on this website (old and new) are scheduled to screen at this year’s festival, including, Andrew Dosunmu’s feature film directorial debut and Sundance 2011 entry, Restless City, in what I believe will be the film’s New York city premiere! I saw the film at Sundance in January, and found it enchanting. You can read my full review of it Here.
Also, Congolese filmmaker Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s Viva Riva!, which screened at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, and Fespaco last month, where it won some awards; a film that’s being referred to as “Congolese Avant-Garde.” I haven’t seen it, but I’m really looking forward to doing so.
Of note, several films that have been touted on this website (old and new) are scheduled to screen at this year’s festival, including, Andrew Dosunmu’s feature film directorial debut and Sundance 2011 entry, Restless City, in what I believe will be the film’s New York city premiere! I saw the film at Sundance in January, and found it enchanting. You can read my full review of it Here.
Also, Congolese filmmaker Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s Viva Riva!, which screened at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, and Fespaco last month, where it won some awards; a film that’s being referred to as “Congolese Avant-Garde.” I haven’t seen it, but I’m really looking forward to doing so.
- 3/15/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
The line-up for the 18th Raindance Film Festival was announced today at a press launch held at the May Fair Hotel in London. This years line-up includes 77 feature films, 69 UK premieres and 133 short films, special live events, exclusive Q&As and masterclasses.
The festival will run from September 29 – October 10.
Opening the festival on Wednesday 29th September is Jackboots On Whitehall – a satirical animation about an alternative history of World War II where the Nazis seize London and England must band together to prevent a full on invasion. Star voiceover cast includes: Ewan McGregor, Rosamund Pike,Richard E. Grant, Timothy Spall, Tom Wilkinson, Alan Cumming, Richard Griffiths, Stephen Merchant and Richard O’Brien. It will be followed by an after-party with live set from rising Us indie band stars Airborne Toxic Event and DJ set from one of the most influential DJs in the UK – Andrew Weatherall. The following day will...
The festival will run from September 29 – October 10.
Opening the festival on Wednesday 29th September is Jackboots On Whitehall – a satirical animation about an alternative history of World War II where the Nazis seize London and England must band together to prevent a full on invasion. Star voiceover cast includes: Ewan McGregor, Rosamund Pike,Richard E. Grant, Timothy Spall, Tom Wilkinson, Alan Cumming, Richard Griffiths, Stephen Merchant and Richard O’Brien. It will be followed by an after-party with live set from rising Us indie band stars Airborne Toxic Event and DJ set from one of the most influential DJs in the UK – Andrew Weatherall. The following day will...
- 9/7/2010
- by Jamie Neish
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Is it a revelation or a revolution? It’s both! The Revelation Perth International Film Festival is tackling the theme of “Revolution” when its 13th annual edition begins violating Australia on July 8-18. Get set for 11 days filled French zombies, Belgian cowboys, outer space outlaws, Beat poets, cat ladies, gospel musicians and other revolutionaries.
Actually, one of the main features of the festival this year is a slew of music documentaries, mostly spotlighting both American and Australian music. On the U.S. side of things there’s Wheedle’s Groove, a look at the history of Seattle funk; Rejoice and Shout, which examines gospel music’s impact on African-American culture — and vice versa; Tom Dicillo’s Doors documentary When You’re Strange; plus The Family Jams and 72 Musicians. And, from Australia, there’s Megan Simpson-Hubberman’s classic concert film The Night of the Triffids.
There’s lots more than music docs,...
Actually, one of the main features of the festival this year is a slew of music documentaries, mostly spotlighting both American and Australian music. On the U.S. side of things there’s Wheedle’s Groove, a look at the history of Seattle funk; Rejoice and Shout, which examines gospel music’s impact on African-American culture — and vice versa; Tom Dicillo’s Doors documentary When You’re Strange; plus The Family Jams and 72 Musicians. And, from Australia, there’s Megan Simpson-Hubberman’s classic concert film The Night of the Triffids.
There’s lots more than music docs,...
- 7/2/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Director/writer Wanuri Kahiu's "From a Whisper" won the best narrative feature award at the Pan African Film Festival, which concluded Wednesday at the Culver Plaza Theatres in Culver City.
"Whisper" also took home a special award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts/Los Angeles.
The audience favorite narrative award resulted in a three-way tie, in which the films "Soul Diaspora," "A Sting in a Tale" and "Speed-Dating" were all recognized.
The documentary "41st Central: The Untold Story of the L.A Black Panthers" won the audience favorite documentary award.
Violeta Ayala and Daniel Fallshaw's "Stolen" received the jury’s doc feature award.
"Whisper" also took home a special award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts/Los Angeles.
The audience favorite narrative award resulted in a three-way tie, in which the films "Soul Diaspora," "A Sting in a Tale" and "Speed-Dating" were all recognized.
The documentary "41st Central: The Untold Story of the L.A Black Panthers" won the audience favorite documentary award.
Violeta Ayala and Daniel Fallshaw's "Stolen" received the jury’s doc feature award.
- 2/21/2010
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Making a documentary is no easy feat. While it might not demand the same level of production values, or involve masses of special effects, extras and actors that a feature film requires, documentaries have their own extensive list of issues to overcome. In the case of Stolen, the film that proved to be the most controversial at this year's Sydney Film Festival, the creators have had to endure detention, international criticism and public scrutiny after the featured family in the film withdrew their support for the film's claims. Originally Sydney filmmakers Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw [pictured centre] had headed into the refugee camps in Algeria in 2006 to make a film about the family reunions that the Un was organising.
- 11/16/2009
- FilmInk.com.au
- With so much to see and do at Tiff, the five doc titles added to Tiff's Real to Reel section only reminds me that I'll probably leave the festival with that feeling of having "missed out." Word to publicists: keep your screeners handy. Among the five named below, Guo Xiaolu will come to Toronto with a current look on the fascinating country in transition (Once Upon a Time Proletarian: 12 Tales of a Country) and with the buzz of having just won the Golden Leopard Grand Prize at the Locarno International Film Festival for She, A Chinese. Here are the added five. Ahead of Time Bob Richman, USA World Premiere This directorial debut from acclaimed cinematographer Bob Richman (The September Issue, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) creates a vivid portrait of Ruth Gruber. From the time she became the world’s youngest Ph.D. in 1931 at age 20 to her pivotal
- 8/19/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
Toronto -- A day after his documentary "She, a Chinese" picked up the Golden Leopard award at Locarno, the Toronto International Film Festival booked Guo Xiaolu's "Once Upon a Time Proletarian: 12 Tales of a Country" for a North American premiere.
The Chinese novelist-director's portrait of intersecting lives in post-Marxist contemporary China will unspool as part of Toronto's Real to Reel sidebar.
"She, a Chinese," Guo's English- and Chinese-language drama about a young girl's uneasy transition from a sleepy village to the nearest town, was earlier booked for Toronto.
Tiff on Tuesday also added to its September lineup documentaries on Disney animation's 1990s rebirth, Holocaust rescuer Ruth Gruber and stranded Algerian refugees.
Veteran Disney producer Don Hahn will receive a world premiere for "Waking Sleeping Beauty," an inside look at how Walt Disney animation produced a string of hits from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" to "Aladdin" and "The Lion King."
The...
The Chinese novelist-director's portrait of intersecting lives in post-Marxist contemporary China will unspool as part of Toronto's Real to Reel sidebar.
"She, a Chinese," Guo's English- and Chinese-language drama about a young girl's uneasy transition from a sleepy village to the nearest town, was earlier booked for Toronto.
Tiff on Tuesday also added to its September lineup documentaries on Disney animation's 1990s rebirth, Holocaust rescuer Ruth Gruber and stranded Algerian refugees.
Veteran Disney producer Don Hahn will receive a world premiere for "Waking Sleeping Beauty," an inside look at how Walt Disney animation produced a string of hits from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" to "Aladdin" and "The Lion King."
The...
- 8/18/2009
- by By Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.