This review originally ran Sept. 3, 2022, in conjunction with the film’s world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival.
“Retrograde,” director Matthew Heineman’s searing, intimate look at the United States’ chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, opens with an aural collage of speeches from four U.S. Presidents, which offers a stark reminder of the two decades of this “forever war,” a time period starkly underlined when a Green Beret asks a 20-year-old soldier if he was even born when this war started.
That 20 years was abruptly cut short in 2021 when President Biden was inaugurated and swore to bring the troops home. While it sounds good on paper, or in a political speech, as we found out, and as Heineman’s film — making its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival — carefully details, it was far, far more complicated, and tragic, in practice.
It’s the faces that stand out in “Retrograde,...
“Retrograde,” director Matthew Heineman’s searing, intimate look at the United States’ chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, opens with an aural collage of speeches from four U.S. Presidents, which offers a stark reminder of the two decades of this “forever war,” a time period starkly underlined when a Green Beret asks a 20-year-old soldier if he was even born when this war started.
That 20 years was abruptly cut short in 2021 when President Biden was inaugurated and swore to bring the troops home. While it sounds good on paper, or in a political speech, as we found out, and as Heineman’s film — making its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival — carefully details, it was far, far more complicated, and tragic, in practice.
It’s the faces that stand out in “Retrograde,...
- 12/8/2022
- by Katie Walsh
- The Wrap
Matthew Heineman likes risk. The documentarian donned protective gear to film inside overwhelmed Long Island Covid wards for 2021’s “The First Wave,” embedded himself with gangs and corrupt police in Mexico for the Oscar-nominated 2016 documentary “Cartel Land,” and shot inside war-torn Syria for “City of Ghosts.” For his latest, “Retrograde,” which chronicles the last nine months of the 20-year U.S. war in Afghanistan, Heineman was lucky to survive.
An extraordinary record of Afghanistan’s fall after the American withdrawal, “Retrograde” launched in Telluride, was nominated for Best Political Documentary at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, and won the Producing Award at Doc NYC Feature. It also appears on the festival’s often Oscar-predictive Short List.
What lures Heineman to these dangerous situations? “I feel this enormous responsibility to tackle these issues,” said Heineman on a recent Zoom call with IndieWire. “Throughout my career I felt this way, to take on these large,...
An extraordinary record of Afghanistan’s fall after the American withdrawal, “Retrograde” launched in Telluride, was nominated for Best Political Documentary at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, and won the Producing Award at Doc NYC Feature. It also appears on the festival’s often Oscar-predictive Short List.
What lures Heineman to these dangerous situations? “I feel this enormous responsibility to tackle these issues,” said Heineman on a recent Zoom call with IndieWire. “Throughout my career I felt this way, to take on these large,...
- 12/5/2022
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Click here to read the full article.
If “documentary-style” has become shorthand for a certain kind of blandly flat aesthetic that viewers have learned to code as “reality,” you can’t blame Matthew Heineman.
In only a decade of directing docs, Heineman has set a template for astonishingly well-shot films marked by impeccably intimate access and the sort of eye for compositional detail you’d expect from a feature film with the budget and time for elaborate set-ups and uncannily placed lighting, not a seat-of-your-pants shoot in some of the most precarious situations imaginable. Put more simply, from Cartel Land to City of Ghosts to his TV work on The Trade, Heineman makes films that are both pretty and pretty unnerving.
A more negative interpretation would be that I’m frequently so impressed with the look of Heineman’s films — and his ability to somehow have cameras in places cameras...
If “documentary-style” has become shorthand for a certain kind of blandly flat aesthetic that viewers have learned to code as “reality,” you can’t blame Matthew Heineman.
In only a decade of directing docs, Heineman has set a template for astonishingly well-shot films marked by impeccably intimate access and the sort of eye for compositional detail you’d expect from a feature film with the budget and time for elaborate set-ups and uncannily placed lighting, not a seat-of-your-pants shoot in some of the most precarious situations imaginable. Put more simply, from Cartel Land to City of Ghosts to his TV work on The Trade, Heineman makes films that are both pretty and pretty unnerving.
A more negative interpretation would be that I’m frequently so impressed with the look of Heineman’s films — and his ability to somehow have cameras in places cameras...
- 9/3/2022
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Michaela Coel, Lenny Abrahamson’s “Normal People” and “The Masked Singer” were among the winners of the U.K.’s Royal Television Society (Rts) Craft & Design Awards.
Coel won the 2020 Rts special award for her groundbreaking BBC/HBO show “I May Destroy You.” In presenting the award to Coel, the judges said: “This piece sits in the true spirit of the craft and design Awards. The astonishing level of detail in all aspects of this production was humbling to see. A truly distinctive, highly creative and exemplary piece of work, in which the winner had also corralled outstanding demonstrations of expert craft skills across all the production disciplines.”
Lenny Abrahamson won best director of drama for smash hit BBC/Hulu show “Normal People.” “Beautiful, stylish and confident. This was the work of an elite director, skilfully providing the space for his actors to shine and their chemistry to transmit through the lens.
Coel won the 2020 Rts special award for her groundbreaking BBC/HBO show “I May Destroy You.” In presenting the award to Coel, the judges said: “This piece sits in the true spirit of the craft and design Awards. The astonishing level of detail in all aspects of this production was humbling to see. A truly distinctive, highly creative and exemplary piece of work, in which the winner had also corralled outstanding demonstrations of expert craft skills across all the production disciplines.”
Lenny Abrahamson won best director of drama for smash hit BBC/Hulu show “Normal People.” “Beautiful, stylish and confident. This was the work of an elite director, skilfully providing the space for his actors to shine and their chemistry to transmit through the lens.
- 11/23/2020
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Triple F-Rated feature named Film of the Festival.
Alexandra Kotcheff and Hannah Leder’s Triple F-Rated feature The Planters - the rating given to films directed and/or written by women, which also includes women in significant roles on screen – has been named Film of the Festival at the UK’s Raindance Film Festival (September 18-29).
Written, directed and starring Kotcheff and Leder, The Planters is a dark comedy about a reclusive telemarketer who befriends a homeless woman with multiple personalities.
Scroll down for the full list of winners
Mary Jimenez and Bénédicte Liénarddocumentary By the Name of Tania, another F-Rated winner,...
Alexandra Kotcheff and Hannah Leder’s Triple F-Rated feature The Planters - the rating given to films directed and/or written by women, which also includes women in significant roles on screen – has been named Film of the Festival at the UK’s Raindance Film Festival (September 18-29).
Written, directed and starring Kotcheff and Leder, The Planters is a dark comedy about a reclusive telemarketer who befriends a homeless woman with multiple personalities.
Scroll down for the full list of winners
Mary Jimenez and Bénédicte Liénarddocumentary By the Name of Tania, another F-Rated winner,...
- 9/27/2019
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: UK-u.S. documentary On The President’s Orders, which chronicles Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s violent ‘war on drugs’, is to be used as evidence by the International Criminal Court (Icc) as part of its ongoing investigation into the government-sanctioned killings.
The film’s Emmy-winning co-directors James Jones and Olivier Sarbil confirmed to us that the Icc asked for the film to be submitted as evidence after the organization opened preliminary investigations last year.
Duterte’s controversial campaign, which includes extrajudicial violence as a crime solution, has stoked international ire. The official death toll of the three-year campaign is put by the country’s government at around 5,000 but activists claim it could be as high as 27,000. The U.N. Human Rights Council is also investigating the purge.
Earlier this year, the Philippines became only the second country to withdraw from the International Criminal Court. The organization continues to build...
The film’s Emmy-winning co-directors James Jones and Olivier Sarbil confirmed to us that the Icc asked for the film to be submitted as evidence after the organization opened preliminary investigations last year.
Duterte’s controversial campaign, which includes extrajudicial violence as a crime solution, has stoked international ire. The official death toll of the three-year campaign is put by the country’s government at around 5,000 but activists claim it could be as high as 27,000. The U.N. Human Rights Council is also investigating the purge.
Earlier this year, the Philippines became only the second country to withdraw from the International Criminal Court. The organization continues to build...
- 9/24/2019
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Warner Bros. has screened Joker the reactions and reviews for the film have been pouring out online. I know a lot of people aren’t sold on this movie, but for those of who have been waiting for the reviews to drop before you decide if you want to see it or not, you might be interested to know that the critics and fans are singing its praises.
There are comments like, “ Joker will change superhero cinema forever”, “It transcends being a comic book film”, it’s ferociously unique”, and that it’s “a masterpiece”. Of course, everyone also thinks Joaquin Phoenix’s performance is incredible and Oscar worthy.
I’ve been looking forward to seeing this movie and as I’ve read through these reviews my excitement for it has grown! This is gonna be a great film!
Read the reactions and excerpts from several reviews below and let us know what you think!
There are comments like, “ Joker will change superhero cinema forever”, “It transcends being a comic book film”, it’s ferociously unique”, and that it’s “a masterpiece”. Of course, everyone also thinks Joaquin Phoenix’s performance is incredible and Oscar worthy.
I’ve been looking forward to seeing this movie and as I’ve read through these reviews my excitement for it has grown! This is gonna be a great film!
Read the reactions and excerpts from several reviews below and let us know what you think!
- 8/31/2019
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Even after a second trailer for Todd Phillips’ Joker movie dropped just days ago, the public at large still doesn’t know what to make of the upcoming picture. And in my view, that’s a good thing, because it actually has people talking. If there’s one thing we can say for certain about this flick, it’s that it most definitely isn’t your usual comic book movie.
To put it bluntly, you should in no way expect a delightful romp for the whole family. Instead, you’re to anticipate a man’s gradual descent into madness that’s often been likened to Taxi Driver, and I’d say that’s a pretty apt analogy. In fact, the director of the Toronto International Film Festival has said this is the performance of Joaquin Phoenix’s career, not to mention the early Oscar buzz that’s been circulating around the acclaimed actor.
To put it bluntly, you should in no way expect a delightful romp for the whole family. Instead, you’re to anticipate a man’s gradual descent into madness that’s often been likened to Taxi Driver, and I’d say that’s a pretty apt analogy. In fact, the director of the Toronto International Film Festival has said this is the performance of Joaquin Phoenix’s career, not to mention the early Oscar buzz that’s been circulating around the acclaimed actor.
- 8/31/2019
- by Eric Joseph
- We Got This Covered
In 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte announced a “War on Drugs” in the Philippines, launching a wave of violence and murder targeting thousands of suspected drug dealers and users, which, just in its first year, resulted in more than 3000 dead. Directors James Jones and Olivier Sabil were granted unprecedented, intimate access both to police officials implicated in the killings and the families destroyed as the result of Duterte’s deadly campaign, and their effort resulted in a quite thorough, analytical, but most of all, shocking documentary.
“On the President’s Orders” is screening in Human Rights Watch Film Festival
The “story” begins with the appointment of Chief Modequillo in one of the toughest districts in the country. Modequillo wants to change the police’s tactics, and he tries to teach his men “finger discipline”, not to be so eager to shoot, in an effort that proves quite difficult. The documentarians then deal...
“On the President’s Orders” is screening in Human Rights Watch Film Festival
The “story” begins with the appointment of Chief Modequillo in one of the toughest districts in the country. Modequillo wants to change the police’s tactics, and he tries to teach his men “finger discipline”, not to be so eager to shoot, in an effort that proves quite difficult. The documentarians then deal...
- 6/24/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The BBC has picked up a slew of feature docs including Oscar-nominated Minding The Gap and Sundance titles One Child Nation and Maiden.
This comes as the British public broadcaster has revamped its feature doc strand Storyville with films launching on youth-skewing network BBC Three for the first time as it looks to appeal to younger audiences.
The pick ups were unveiled today at the Sheffield Doc/Fest by BBC Storyville Commissioning Editor Mandy Chang.
Minding the Gap will air on BBC Three alongside true crime doc Roll Red Roll and music doc Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl.
Bing Liu’s Oscar nominated Minding the Gap is the coming-of-age saga of three skateboarding friends in their Rust Belt hometown, hit hard by decades of recession. In his quest to understand why he and his friends ran away from home as teenagers, Bing tracks 23-year-old Zack as he becomes a...
This comes as the British public broadcaster has revamped its feature doc strand Storyville with films launching on youth-skewing network BBC Three for the first time as it looks to appeal to younger audiences.
The pick ups were unveiled today at the Sheffield Doc/Fest by BBC Storyville Commissioning Editor Mandy Chang.
Minding the Gap will air on BBC Three alongside true crime doc Roll Red Roll and music doc Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl.
Bing Liu’s Oscar nominated Minding the Gap is the coming-of-age saga of three skateboarding friends in their Rust Belt hometown, hit hard by decades of recession. In his quest to understand why he and his friends ran away from home as teenagers, Bing tracks 23-year-old Zack as he becomes a...
- 6/9/2019
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
The war on drugs has never taken more literal form than under the command of Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte, who rose to power on a pledge to rid the country of dealers and addicts alike — and delivered on his promise in the bloodiest fashion possible, with police summarily executing thousands of people over an 18-month period. A real-life atrocity ordered by a cartoon dictator, it would, if not grimly factual, feel like the stuff of grotesque dystopian fiction. In their kinetic, pavement-pounding doc “On the President’s Orders,” filmmakers James Jones and Olivier Sarbil play up to that sense of deranged reality as they hit the streets to observe Duterte’s murderous campaign in action: The result, shot and cut with buzzing urgency, plays as a propulsive dirty-cop thriller minus any genre safety nets.
Set for a summer theatrical release through PBS Distribution, “On the President’s Orders” will probably...
Set for a summer theatrical release through PBS Distribution, “On the President’s Orders” will probably...
- 5/2/2019
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
"Who's our target today?" The first festival promo trailer has debuted for a new documentary titled On The President's Orders, a compelling and incredible inside look at the ongoing, controversial drug war in the Philippines. On The President's Orders was just announced as one of the docs premiering in-competition at the prestigious Cph:dox festival in Copenhagen next month. This is the first feature documentary film that investigates the slaughter of thousands of people in Manilla in 2017, led by the country's President Duterte, who launched a bloody campaign against drug dealers and addicts using executions as one of his key tactics. It seems to confirm, once again, that a government-run "war on drugs" is not as positive or as beneficial as it might seem. Looks like a terrifying, eye-opening film - bravo to the filmmakers for bravely telling this story. Here's the first trailer for James Jones & Olivier Sarbil's doc On The President's Orders,...
- 2/22/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Ai Weiwei film is a companion piece to Human Flow.
Copenhagen-based documentary festival Cph:dox (March 20-31) has revealed its line-up of competition titles for 2019.
Notable world premieres include The Rest, the latest feature from Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei. His previous feature, refugee crisis doc Human Flow, premiered at Venice in 2017 and won multiple awards.
The Rest is a parallel work to Human Flow, again focusing on the refugee crisis, but this time in line with the voice and experience of an individual refugee. Edited down from 900 hours of footage, the film depicts those living in political limbo in Europe,...
Copenhagen-based documentary festival Cph:dox (March 20-31) has revealed its line-up of competition titles for 2019.
Notable world premieres include The Rest, the latest feature from Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei. His previous feature, refugee crisis doc Human Flow, premiered at Venice in 2017 and won multiple awards.
The Rest is a parallel work to Human Flow, again focusing on the refugee crisis, but this time in line with the voice and experience of an individual refugee. Edited down from 900 hours of footage, the film depicts those living in political limbo in Europe,...
- 2/22/2019
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
“Dark Money,” “Free Solo,” “Minding the Gap,” “The Silence of Others” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” have been nominated for the top film award at the International Documentary Association’s 2018 Ida Documentary Awards, the Ida announced on Wednesday.
Those five films will be joined in the feature category by another five: “Crime + Punishment,” “Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” “Of Fathers and Sons,” “Sky and Ground” and “United Skates.”
The 10 Ida Documentary Awards feature nominees is the largest number ever nominated in the category, which has typically consisted of five films. Half of the films were directed by women.
Also Read: 'Free Solo' Leads Critics' Choice Documentary Awards Nominations
Missing from the list are a few of the most successful docs of the year, including “Rbg,” “Three Identical Strangers” and “Fahrenheit 11/9.”
In the television categories, nominees include “American Masters,” “Pov” and “Independent Lens” in Curated Series,...
Those five films will be joined in the feature category by another five: “Crime + Punishment,” “Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” “Of Fathers and Sons,” “Sky and Ground” and “United Skates.”
The 10 Ida Documentary Awards feature nominees is the largest number ever nominated in the category, which has typically consisted of five films. Half of the films were directed by women.
Also Read: 'Free Solo' Leads Critics' Choice Documentary Awards Nominations
Missing from the list are a few of the most successful docs of the year, including “Rbg,” “Three Identical Strangers” and “Fahrenheit 11/9.”
In the television categories, nominees include “American Masters,” “Pov” and “Independent Lens” in Curated Series,...
- 10/24/2018
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The International Documentary Assn. announced nominees for the 34th annual Ida Awards Wednesday, spotlighting the best in documentary filmmaking.
Among the feature nominees were mainstays on the circuit so far this year like Hulu’s “Crime + Punishment” and “Minding the Gap,” as well as National Geographic’s “Free Solo” and Focus Features’ “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
In recognition of another banner year for non-fiction cinema, which has been reflected in box office spikes around key titles this year, the Ida expanded the number of nominees in the best feature and short films categories to 10 films.
In “creative recognition” fields, winners and nominees were announced. “Distant Constellation” won the cinematography prize, while “Minding the Gap” took editing. “The Other Side of Everything” won the writing award, and the music category saw a tie, between “Bisbee ’17” and “Hale County This Morning, This Evening.”
Additionally, the Ida’s Courage Under...
Among the feature nominees were mainstays on the circuit so far this year like Hulu’s “Crime + Punishment” and “Minding the Gap,” as well as National Geographic’s “Free Solo” and Focus Features’ “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
In recognition of another banner year for non-fiction cinema, which has been reflected in box office spikes around key titles this year, the Ida expanded the number of nominees in the best feature and short films categories to 10 films.
In “creative recognition” fields, winners and nominees were announced. “Distant Constellation” won the cinematography prize, while “Minding the Gap” took editing. “The Other Side of Everything” won the writing award, and the music category saw a tie, between “Bisbee ’17” and “Hale County This Morning, This Evening.”
Additionally, the Ida’s Courage Under...
- 10/24/2018
- by Kristopher Tapley
- Variety Film + TV
The International Documentary Association is out with the nominees for its 2018 Ida Documentary Awards. Winners of the 34th edition will be announced December 8 duyring a ceremony hosted by Ricki Lake at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. See the full list of nominees below.
Up for Best Feature — which has been expanded to 10 nominees this year — are Stephen Maing’s Crime + Punishment, Kimberly Reed’s Dark Money, E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s Free Solo, RaMell Ross’ Hale County This Morning, This Evening, Bing Liu’s Minding the Gap, Talal Derki’s Of Fathers and Sons, Talya Tibbon and Joshua Bennett’s Sky and Ground, Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar’s The Silence of Others, Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown’s United Skates and Morgan Neville’s Won’t You Be My Neighbor.
“This year’s nominees and winners of the Ida Awards reflects that 2018 has been a remarkable...
Up for Best Feature — which has been expanded to 10 nominees this year — are Stephen Maing’s Crime + Punishment, Kimberly Reed’s Dark Money, E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s Free Solo, RaMell Ross’ Hale County This Morning, This Evening, Bing Liu’s Minding the Gap, Talal Derki’s Of Fathers and Sons, Talya Tibbon and Joshua Bennett’s Sky and Ground, Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar’s The Silence of Others, Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown’s United Skates and Morgan Neville’s Won’t You Be My Neighbor.
“This year’s nominees and winners of the Ida Awards reflects that 2018 has been a remarkable...
- 10/24/2018
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
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