Oscar-winning documentarian Bryan Fogel has signed for representation with Range Media Partners.
Fogel is best known for his 2018 film “Icarus,” which exposed Russia’s state-sponsored doping program and the whistleblower at its center. The Netflix title won the Academy Award for best documentary, the first such prize for the streamer. Prior to its crowning moment on the Dolby stage, the film sold for $5 million out of the Sundance Film Festival.
Additional laurels for “Icarus” included the special jury prize at that year’s Sundance, the Edward R. Murrow Award for Journalism, and nominations from BAFTA, the television academy and the Directors Guild of America.
Fogel followed “Icarus” with the nonfiction thriller “The Dissident,” about the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. “The Dissident” premiered at Sundance 2020 to near-unanimous critical acclaim and sold distribution rights to Briarcliff Entertainment. In his review for Variety,...
Fogel is best known for his 2018 film “Icarus,” which exposed Russia’s state-sponsored doping program and the whistleblower at its center. The Netflix title won the Academy Award for best documentary, the first such prize for the streamer. Prior to its crowning moment on the Dolby stage, the film sold for $5 million out of the Sundance Film Festival.
Additional laurels for “Icarus” included the special jury prize at that year’s Sundance, the Edward R. Murrow Award for Journalism, and nominations from BAFTA, the television academy and the Directors Guild of America.
Fogel followed “Icarus” with the nonfiction thriller “The Dissident,” about the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. “The Dissident” premiered at Sundance 2020 to near-unanimous critical acclaim and sold distribution rights to Briarcliff Entertainment. In his review for Variety,...
- 4/20/2023
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Bryan Fogel’s work was cut out for him when he chose to direct a follow-up to Icarus, his 2017 deep dive into sports doping and the elaborate system of cheating among Russian Olympians. That film closed with a cliff-hanger. Having turned whistleblower mid-film, Grigory Rodchenkov, the architect of the state-sanctioned doping program, fled Russia and was in hiding stateside. To continue to tell his story, the challenge for Fogel lay not just in the artistic shadow cast by his vividly told Oscar winner. Complicating the making of a sequel was a crucial constraint: To protect the safety of the documentary’s central figure, Fogel wouldn’t be able to interact with him directly.
The solution was to embed a single cameraperson, producer Jake Swantko, with Rodchenkov and his security team. Tracking his life on the lam for nearly five years, Icarus: The Aftermath...
Bryan Fogel’s work was cut out for him when he chose to direct a follow-up to Icarus, his 2017 deep dive into sports doping and the elaborate system of cheating among Russian Olympians. That film closed with a cliff-hanger. Having turned whistleblower mid-film, Grigory Rodchenkov, the architect of the state-sanctioned doping program, fled Russia and was in hiding stateside. To continue to tell his story, the challenge for Fogel lay not just in the artistic shadow cast by his vividly told Oscar winner. Complicating the making of a sequel was a crucial constraint: To protect the safety of the documentary’s central figure, Fogel wouldn’t be able to interact with him directly.
The solution was to embed a single cameraperson, producer Jake Swantko, with Rodchenkov and his security team. Tracking his life on the lam for nearly five years, Icarus: The Aftermath...
- 9/12/2022
- by Sheri Linden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Most of the time, documentaries don’t get sequels, which is strange. Unlike their scripted fiction counterparts, the story doesn’t end when the cameras stop rolling. If you’ve ever attended a filmmaker Q&a after the screening of a great documentary, you know the first question from the audience is almost inevitably either “What’s happened since?” or “Where are they now?” Bryan Fogel must have heard that more times than he can count in the five years since his game-changing Russian sports doping doc “Icarus” won the Academy Award. “Icarus: The Aftermath” is his response, a daring and sure-to-be-divisive movie that’s even more shocking than the 2017 original, even if the big news is already out of the bag.
“The Aftermath” follows Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov — former head of the Russian anti-doping agency Rusada — for five years, embedding itself in the paranoid new reality that awaits him...
“The Aftermath” follows Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov — former head of the Russian anti-doping agency Rusada — for five years, embedding itself in the paranoid new reality that awaits him...
- 9/4/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
For all its discussion of weighty topics such as morality, espionage, and whistleblowing, Bryan Fogel’s Oscar-winning documentary “Icarus” was, at its heart, a buddy comedy. Existential and, at times, terrifying? Sure. But, the oddball relationship between Fogel and Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov — the head of Russia’s anti-doping agency and also the man behind Russia’s vast doping conspiracy — drove the first film all the way to the Academy podium in 2017.
Continue reading ‘Icarus: The Aftermath’ Review: Bryan Fogel’s Follow-Up to His Oscar-Winning Documentary Is An Ambitious Thriller [Telluride] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Icarus: The Aftermath’ Review: Bryan Fogel’s Follow-Up to His Oscar-Winning Documentary Is An Ambitious Thriller [Telluride] at The Playlist.
- 9/3/2022
- by Christian Gallichio
- The Playlist
Vladimir Putin demands absolute fealty to the Russian state, and woe to anyone who defies him.
Oil executive Ravil Maganov, whose company had criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine, took a fatal nosedive earlier this week from the window of a Moscow hospital, in what – charitably – has been termed mysterious circumstances.
Was Maganov’s name engraved on a Kremlin enemies list? Maybe so, maybe not. But one man who can be certain the Kremlin would like him dead is the Russian chemist Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, who used to run his nation’s athletics anti-doping laboratory. As documented in the 2018 Oscar-winning film Icarus, Rodchenkov blew the whistle on Russia’s elaborate scheme to cheat on drug tests before Olympic and other world sporting competitions, a devious system that the chemist himself had implemented.
Rodchenkov fled to the United States and went into hiding in the midst of making the documentary directed by Bryan Fogel.
Oil executive Ravil Maganov, whose company had criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine, took a fatal nosedive earlier this week from the window of a Moscow hospital, in what – charitably – has been termed mysterious circumstances.
Was Maganov’s name engraved on a Kremlin enemies list? Maybe so, maybe not. But one man who can be certain the Kremlin would like him dead is the Russian chemist Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, who used to run his nation’s athletics anti-doping laboratory. As documented in the 2018 Oscar-winning film Icarus, Rodchenkov blew the whistle on Russia’s elaborate scheme to cheat on drug tests before Olympic and other world sporting competitions, a devious system that the chemist himself had implemented.
Rodchenkov fled to the United States and went into hiding in the midst of making the documentary directed by Bryan Fogel.
- 9/3/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Five years ago, Bryan Fogel stumbled into a story that would change his life and help transform the world of international athletics. “Icarus” started as Fogel’s attempt to document whether he could use illegal doping to improve his results as an amateur cyclist. But it turned into something very different when the scientist he went to for advice on how to not be caught, Grigory Rodchenkov, turned out to be a key figure in Russia’s extensive, state-sponsored doping program.
“Icarus” won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, and by the time it came out, Rodchenkov was in hiding in the U.S. and Russia was under investigation by international doping authorities who would ban the country from the 2018 Winter Olympics and subsequent Olympic games (though the band would contain enormous loopholes).
But the story didn’t end there, and Fogel unveiled a sequel, “Icarus: The Aftermath,” on the...
“Icarus” won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, and by the time it came out, Rodchenkov was in hiding in the U.S. and Russia was under investigation by international doping authorities who would ban the country from the 2018 Winter Olympics and subsequent Olympic games (though the band would contain enormous loopholes).
But the story didn’t end there, and Fogel unveiled a sequel, “Icarus: The Aftermath,” on the...
- 9/3/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
You could, rightly, characterize director Bryan Fogel’s Academy Award-winning documentary “Icarus” as the product of dumb luck. It began as one film — a “Super Size Me”-type concept whereby Fogel, a cycling enthusiast, attempted to expose the ease of illegal doping by injecting himself with steroids — that became an arresting investigation into Russia’s decades-long use of performance-enhancing drugs, with the colorful Grigory Rodchenkov, head of the country’s anti-doping laboratory, as the primary whistleblower. With Rodchenkov’s testimony, Fogel made the pervasive rot of Russian sports into an enthralling piece of storytelling.
And yet, despite its envelope-pushing search for the truth, “Icarus” ended as almost all documentaries do: The audience’s eyes are opened and the subject who did the revealing fades into the background. Toward the end of the film, Rodchenkov’s lawyer, Jim Walden, appears to explain that his client is now in hiding, dodging the Russian government’s hit squads.
And yet, despite its envelope-pushing search for the truth, “Icarus” ended as almost all documentaries do: The audience’s eyes are opened and the subject who did the revealing fades into the background. Toward the end of the film, Rodchenkov’s lawyer, Jim Walden, appears to explain that his client is now in hiding, dodging the Russian government’s hit squads.
- 9/2/2022
- by Robert Daniels
- Indiewire
The Telluride Film Festival’s emphasis on documentary has not wavered in recent years. But the prominence of nonfiction fare at the 49th edition has arguably made this year’s Telluride the autumn Sundance, where some of the biggest buzz is for docs.
The lineup, kept under wraps until the eve of the fest’s opening on Sept. 2, includes 16 docs from novice and veteran documentarians, including Steve James (“A Compassionate Spy”), Matthew Heineman (“Retrograde”), Chris Smith (“Sr.”) Ondi Timoner (“Last Flight Home”) and Ryan White (“Good Night Oppy”). (Additional “secret” screenings have yet to be announced.)
The rising level of documentaries at the Colorado fest is largely due to the influence of Telluride executive director Julie Huntsinger.
“This year, there is almost parity with the narrative features in the [main feature] program,” says Huntsinger, who co-directs Telluride with Tom Luddy. “It’s not us actively seeking it. For lack of a better word,...
The lineup, kept under wraps until the eve of the fest’s opening on Sept. 2, includes 16 docs from novice and veteran documentarians, including Steve James (“A Compassionate Spy”), Matthew Heineman (“Retrograde”), Chris Smith (“Sr.”) Ondi Timoner (“Last Flight Home”) and Ryan White (“Good Night Oppy”). (Additional “secret” screenings have yet to be announced.)
The rising level of documentaries at the Colorado fest is largely due to the influence of Telluride executive director Julie Huntsinger.
“This year, there is almost parity with the narrative features in the [main feature] program,” says Huntsinger, who co-directs Telluride with Tom Luddy. “It’s not us actively seeking it. For lack of a better word,...
- 9/2/2022
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
A tribute to Cate Blanchett, a Sam Mendes romance set in a cinema house and a bumper crop of documentaries are on the agenda at the 49th edition of the Telluride Film Festival, which kicks off Friday in the Rockies and runs through Monday.
The intimate Colorado event serves as the unofficial stateside kickoff of awards season, but Telluride may be most notable this year for the arguments its movies start, says festival executive director Julie Huntsinger.
“There’s so many more divisive films,” says Huntsinger, who programs Telluride together with the festival’s sr. consultant, Tom Luddy. “There’s so much more angst. There’s just tumult and upheaval in the world, and it’s reflected in the films. People will fight about movies this year more than they ever have.”
Among the movies screening at Telluride that may spark furious debates...
A tribute to Cate Blanchett, a Sam Mendes romance set in a cinema house and a bumper crop of documentaries are on the agenda at the 49th edition of the Telluride Film Festival, which kicks off Friday in the Rockies and runs through Monday.
The intimate Colorado event serves as the unofficial stateside kickoff of awards season, but Telluride may be most notable this year for the arguments its movies start, says festival executive director Julie Huntsinger.
“There’s so many more divisive films,” says Huntsinger, who programs Telluride together with the festival’s sr. consultant, Tom Luddy. “There’s so much more angst. There’s just tumult and upheaval in the world, and it’s reflected in the films. People will fight about movies this year more than they ever have.”
Among the movies screening at Telluride that may spark furious debates...
- 9/1/2022
- by Rebecca Keegan
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The absence of live sports during the novel coronavirus pandemic doesn’t mean a dearth of interesting sports narratives. There’s a whole ecosystem of documentaries telling tales from in and around the world of athletics that many sports fans have yet to discover.
The Last Dance, ESPN’s 10-part saga chronicling the final season of Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls championship dynasty, already has its hooks into hungry hoop heads. Den of Geek also recently offered choice selections from the meaty back catalog of docs available on ESPN+.
The 30 for 30 collection from ESPN is great and all, but the Worldwide Leader hasn’t cornered the market on brilliant non-fiction sports storytelling. Consider these 10 must-watch sports documentaries, all of which can be found either for free or included in streaming subscriptions, if you’re looking for more fascinating sports stories until the live action resumes.
Hoop Dreams
Streaming on HBO Now...
The Last Dance, ESPN’s 10-part saga chronicling the final season of Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls championship dynasty, already has its hooks into hungry hoop heads. Den of Geek also recently offered choice selections from the meaty back catalog of docs available on ESPN+.
The 30 for 30 collection from ESPN is great and all, but the Worldwide Leader hasn’t cornered the market on brilliant non-fiction sports storytelling. Consider these 10 must-watch sports documentaries, all of which can be found either for free or included in streaming subscriptions, if you’re looking for more fascinating sports stories until the live action resumes.
Hoop Dreams
Streaming on HBO Now...
- 4/30/2020
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
It was November 2018 and Nanfu Wang had four weeks before picture-lock on her third feature documentary, “One Child Nation.” The film, which Wang co-directed and edited, had already been accepted to the 2019 Sundance Film Festival but wasn’t quite ready.
“I was debating and really struggling with what note to end the film on,” Wang says. “I needed a fresh set of eyes.”
Enter the documentary whisperer, Mark Monroe.
The University of Oklahoma journalism graduate has been the doc industry’s go-to guy for the past decade. His writing on the 2009 Academy Award-winning “The Cove” put him on the map.
“The Cove,” which received equity money from Impact Partners, was Louie Psihoyos’ first film.
“The Cove” producer “Fisher Stevens wanted to bring Mark on to help restructure the film,” says Geralyn White Dreyfous, co-founder and executive producer of Impact Partners. “At the time, Louie’s film was so linear and just straight storytelling.
“I was debating and really struggling with what note to end the film on,” Wang says. “I needed a fresh set of eyes.”
Enter the documentary whisperer, Mark Monroe.
The University of Oklahoma journalism graduate has been the doc industry’s go-to guy for the past decade. His writing on the 2009 Academy Award-winning “The Cove” put him on the map.
“The Cove,” which received equity money from Impact Partners, was Louie Psihoyos’ first film.
“The Cove” producer “Fisher Stevens wanted to bring Mark on to help restructure the film,” says Geralyn White Dreyfous, co-founder and executive producer of Impact Partners. “At the time, Louie’s film was so linear and just straight storytelling.
- 1/7/2020
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
For Icarus director Bryan Fogel, winning the Oscar for Best Documentary in March by no means marked the end of his awards season run. Six months after he earned the statuette for his film that exposed Russia’s vast athletics doping program, he finds himself in the running for multiple Emmy Awards.
To borrow a sports term, Icarus scored a hat trick, with nominations in three documentary/nonfiction categories—Outstanding Special, Outstanding Directing and Outstanding Writing.
“It’s exciting, and I’m very honored,” Fogel tells Deadline. “It’s been a wonderful ride with this film, and so to be able to go from the Oscars, and then being recognized by the Television Academy, is a very wonderful thing. Whatever the outcome, I’m grateful.”
Fogel dedicated his Oscar victory to the hero of Icarus, Grigory Rodchenkov, the chemist who once ran Moscow’s anti-doping lab. In the film, Rodchenkov...
To borrow a sports term, Icarus scored a hat trick, with nominations in three documentary/nonfiction categories—Outstanding Special, Outstanding Directing and Outstanding Writing.
“It’s exciting, and I’m very honored,” Fogel tells Deadline. “It’s been a wonderful ride with this film, and so to be able to go from the Oscars, and then being recognized by the Television Academy, is a very wonderful thing. Whatever the outcome, I’m grateful.”
Fogel dedicated his Oscar victory to the hero of Icarus, Grigory Rodchenkov, the chemist who once ran Moscow’s anti-doping lab. In the film, Rodchenkov...
- 8/23/2018
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
From the confines of the Witness Protection Program, “Icarus” co-star Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov filed an April 30 lawsuit against Mikhail Prokhorov, the billionaire owner of the Brooklyn Nets. Both men hail from Russia, where Rodchenkov — tasked with overseeing the Olympic Anti-Doping Laboratory in 2014 — says the government ordered him to help dozens of their nation’s cheating athletes bypass testing for performance-enhancing drugs. Rodchenkov’s mea culpa came via The New York Times and the aforementioned Bryan Fogel film, which won Netflix this year’s Best Documentary Oscar.
Three Russian athletes accused of doping in Sochi — Olga Zaytseva, Yana Romanova, and Olga Vilukhina, who were stripped of their silver biathalon medals and banned from future Olympic competition — sued Rodchenkov for libel in February. Prokhorov is paying the biathletes’ legal fees for the New York State Supreme Court case.
In a Monday-morning call with journalists, Rodchenkov’s lawyer, Jim Walden of Walden, Macht & Haran,...
Three Russian athletes accused of doping in Sochi — Olga Zaytseva, Yana Romanova, and Olga Vilukhina, who were stripped of their silver biathalon medals and banned from future Olympic competition — sued Rodchenkov for libel in February. Prokhorov is paying the biathletes’ legal fees for the New York State Supreme Court case.
In a Monday-morning call with journalists, Rodchenkov’s lawyer, Jim Walden of Walden, Macht & Haran,...
- 4/30/2018
- by Jenna Marotta
- Indiewire
‘Icarus’ Oscar Winner Bryan Fogel Calls For Resignation of International Olympic Committee President
Moments after accepting the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award for “Icarus” — a film that began as an amateur cycling experiment before unearthing decades of performance-enhancing drug abuse by Russian athletes — director and co-producer Bryan Fogel called for the resignation of International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.
Fogel dedicated his trophy to his “Icarus” co-star Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, who escaped Russia and is now enrolled in America’s witness protection program. Rodchenkov risked his life by blowing the whistle on the the state-sponsored conspiracy he engineered for the previous Winter Olympics as the former director of Russia’s national anti-doping laboratory.
Swayed in part by evidence from Rodchenkov, in early December the Ioc banned Russia from partaking in the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. However, 169 Russian athletes were ultimately allowed to compete under the banner of “Olympic Athletes From Russia,” a coalition that won 17 medals.
“Plain and simple, Thomas Bach needs to resign,...
Fogel dedicated his trophy to his “Icarus” co-star Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, who escaped Russia and is now enrolled in America’s witness protection program. Rodchenkov risked his life by blowing the whistle on the the state-sponsored conspiracy he engineered for the previous Winter Olympics as the former director of Russia’s national anti-doping laboratory.
Swayed in part by evidence from Rodchenkov, in early December the Ioc banned Russia from partaking in the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. However, 169 Russian athletes were ultimately allowed to compete under the banner of “Olympic Athletes From Russia,” a coalition that won 17 medals.
“Plain and simple, Thomas Bach needs to resign,...
- 3/5/2018
- by Jenna Marotta
- Indiewire
“Icarus” took home top honors at the 2018 Academy Awards, winning the trophy for Best Documentary Feature. Director Bryan Fogel accepted the award, along with producer Dan Cogan. This marks the first Oscar win and nomination for Fogel, previously best known as a playwright for the comedy “Jewtopia.” It is also the first win for Cogan, who previously served as executive producer for David France’s Oscar-nominated AIDS documentary “How to Survive a Plague.”
“We dedicate this award to Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, our fearless whistleblower who now lives in grave danger,” Fogel said, accepting the award. “We hope ‘Icarus’ is a wake-up call — yes, about Russia — but more than that, about the importance of telling the truth.”
“Icarus” beat out fellow nominees “Faces Places” (Agnès Varda and Jr), “Last Men in Aleppo” (Feras Fayyad), “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail” (Steve James), and “Strong Island” (Yance Ford). The film follows Fogel as...
“We dedicate this award to Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, our fearless whistleblower who now lives in grave danger,” Fogel said, accepting the award. “We hope ‘Icarus’ is a wake-up call — yes, about Russia — but more than that, about the importance of telling the truth.”
“Icarus” beat out fellow nominees “Faces Places” (Agnès Varda and Jr), “Last Men in Aleppo” (Feras Fayyad), “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail” (Steve James), and “Strong Island” (Yance Ford). The film follows Fogel as...
- 3/5/2018
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Icarus took home the Academy Award for best documentary feature Sunday night, beating out Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, Faces Places, Last Men in Aleppo and Strong Island.
Producers Bryan Fogel and Dan Cogan thanked Netflix, UTA and fellow filmmakers Jim Schwartz and David Fialkow. The two dedicated the award to the documentary's subject, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov.
"We hope this is about the important of telling the truth, now more than ever," Fogel said.
A Netflix spokesperson applauded Icarus, its producers and Rodchenkov in a statement: "Netflix congratulates Bryan Fogel and Dan Cogan on their Academy Award for the groundbreaking documentary Icarus, the first Netflix...
Producers Bryan Fogel and Dan Cogan thanked Netflix, UTA and fellow filmmakers Jim Schwartz and David Fialkow. The two dedicated the award to the documentary's subject, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov.
"We hope this is about the important of telling the truth, now more than ever," Fogel said.
A Netflix spokesperson applauded Icarus, its producers and Rodchenkov in a statement: "Netflix congratulates Bryan Fogel and Dan Cogan on their Academy Award for the groundbreaking documentary Icarus, the first Netflix...
- 3/4/2018
- by Allison Crist
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
MaryAnn’s quick take… Perfectly illustrative of the serendipitous nature of documentary filmmaking as it pivots from a personal investigation of doping in sports into a thriller with global geopolitical ramifications. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto) women’s participation in this film
(learn more about this)
Has there ever been a documentary filmmaker as fortuitous as Bryan Fogel? I don’t mean to denigrate his work by suggesting it was all just dumb luck that resulted in his debut documentary, Icarus, ending up as explosive as it does: he definitely picked a topic with lots of potential for unearthing explosive things. But he cannot possibly have anticipated what would actually happen… and, indeed, the film itself depicts this when we watch him onscreen, dumbfounded, watching news events unfold that not only directly impact the...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto) women’s participation in this film
(learn more about this)
Has there ever been a documentary filmmaker as fortuitous as Bryan Fogel? I don’t mean to denigrate his work by suggesting it was all just dumb luck that resulted in his debut documentary, Icarus, ending up as explosive as it does: he definitely picked a topic with lots of potential for unearthing explosive things. But he cannot possibly have anticipated what would actually happen… and, indeed, the film itself depicts this when we watch him onscreen, dumbfounded, watching news events unfold that not only directly impact the...
- 2/28/2018
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Director Bryan Fogel, 45, set out with the intention of using himself as a guinea pig while investigating illegal doping in sports, but as he was making his documentary Icarus, he built a relationship with Grigory Rodchenkov, the Russian doctor who ended up blowing the whistle on his country’s extensive state-sanctioned doping program (the results of which were recently seen when Russia was banned from the Winter Olympics).
When did you realize the story had become bigger than your own?
That was a slow process. I met [Rodchenkov] in February 2014, and he came under investigation after the Ard...
When did you realize the story had become bigger than your own?
That was a slow process. I met [Rodchenkov] in February 2014, and he came under investigation after the Ard...
- 2/25/2018
- by Tara Bitran
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
When director/producer Bryan Fogel first set out to make “Icarus,” it was to investigate his hypothesis that “the global anti-doping system in sports was a fraud.” An avid cyclist, he was intrigued by the fact that seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong “had managed to evade ever testing positive on over 500 drug tests throughout his career,” despite his long-term use of performance-enhancing drugs. Deciding to use himself as a guinea pig in what was meant to be a “Super Size Me”-style documentary about how to game the Olympics, he sought out Grigory Rodchenkov, former head of the Anti-Doping Center in Moscow, and that’s when things took a bizarre turn. Watch our exclusive video interview with Fogel and producer Dan Cogan above.
See Best Documentary Feature Oscar predictions: Can ‘Icarus’ get an Olympics-sized boost?
It turns out that Rodchenkov was in charge of a state-sponsored effort to...
See Best Documentary Feature Oscar predictions: Can ‘Icarus’ get an Olympics-sized boost?
It turns out that Rodchenkov was in charge of a state-sponsored effort to...
- 2/9/2018
- by Zach Laws
- Gold Derby
In an unprecedented move, the International Olympic Committee has banned Russia from the 2018 Olympic Games. Per the New York Times, “Russia’s Olympic team has been barred from the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The country’s government officials are forbidden to attend, its flag will not be displayed at the opening ceremony and its anthem will not sound. Any athletes from Russia who receive special dispensation to compete will do so as individuals wearing a neutral uniform, and the official record books will forever show that Russia won zero medals.”
The outlet adds that the I.O.C., “after completing its own prolonged investigations that reiterated what had been known for more than a year, handed Russia penalties for doping so severe they were without precedent in Olympics history. The ruling cemented that the nation was guilty of executing an extensive state-backed doping program.”
In December 2016, the I.
The outlet adds that the I.O.C., “after completing its own prolonged investigations that reiterated what had been known for more than a year, handed Russia penalties for doping so severe they were without precedent in Olympics history. The ruling cemented that the nation was guilty of executing an extensive state-backed doping program.”
In December 2016, the I.
- 12/5/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
The nonfiction organization Cinema Eye and its nominations committee of top international documentary film programmers, curators, and filmmakers has picked their annual list of “Unforgettables” who helped to define documentary cinema in 2017. They selected 30 individuals from 15 different films to be in the running for this year’s Cinema Eye awards. Like the Doc NYC shortlist, many of the films on this curated list are in the running for the year’s top awards, including the Oscar. “Jane,” “Faces Places,” “City of Ghosts,” and “Strong Island” continue to lead the documentary awards pack.
The full slate of Cinema Eye nominations for nonfiction feature, short, and broadcast films/series will be be announced on Friday, November 3 in San Francisco at Sffilm’s Doc Stories event. Awards will be presented in New York City at the Museum of the Moving Image on Thursday, January 11, 2018.
Read More:doc NYC Announces Its Awards Short List, Including ‘Icarus,...
The full slate of Cinema Eye nominations for nonfiction feature, short, and broadcast films/series will be be announced on Friday, November 3 in San Francisco at Sffilm’s Doc Stories event. Awards will be presented in New York City at the Museum of the Moving Image on Thursday, January 11, 2018.
Read More:doc NYC Announces Its Awards Short List, Including ‘Icarus,...
- 10/18/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
The nonfiction organization Cinema Eye and its nominations committee of top international documentary film programmers, curators, and filmmakers has picked their annual list of “Unforgettables” who helped to define documentary cinema in 2017. They selected 30 individuals from 15 different films to be in the running for this year’s Cinema Eye awards. Like the Doc NYC shortlist, many of the films on this curated list are in the running for the year’s top awards, including the Oscar. “Jane,” “Faces Places,” “City of Ghosts,” and “Strong Island” continue to lead the documentary awards pack.
The full slate of Cinema Eye nominations for nonfiction feature, short, and broadcast films/series will be be announced on Friday, November 3 in San Francisco at Sffilm’s Doc Stories event. Awards will be presented in New York City at the Museum of the Moving Image on Thursday, January 11, 2018.
Read More:doc NYC Announces Its Awards Short List, Including ‘Icarus,...
The full slate of Cinema Eye nominations for nonfiction feature, short, and broadcast films/series will be be announced on Friday, November 3 in San Francisco at Sffilm’s Doc Stories event. Awards will be presented in New York City at the Museum of the Moving Image on Thursday, January 11, 2018.
Read More:doc NYC Announces Its Awards Short List, Including ‘Icarus,...
- 10/18/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Bryan Fogel’s original goal for his first documentary, “Icarus,” was to expose a doping epidemic in professional sports. The amateur cyclist planned to use himself as a guinea pig to pass doping controls, and in the process reveal the deep flaws of current anti-doping systems.
“I approached it… that I was setting out on an investigative journey and was taking risks to explore what I saw as a broken system,” Fogel told the audience after a screening at the International Documentary Association’s annual screening series in Los Angeles. “I didn’t set out with an idea of, ‘Oh, I’m cheating or doing something wrong,’ it was more like, ‘Hey, what is wrong with this system that is being sold to planet Earth as working but clearly it doesn’t?'”
He planned on outing himself, so he never really viewed it as cheating.
“I wasn’t trying...
“I approached it… that I was setting out on an investigative journey and was taking risks to explore what I saw as a broken system,” Fogel told the audience after a screening at the International Documentary Association’s annual screening series in Los Angeles. “I didn’t set out with an idea of, ‘Oh, I’m cheating or doing something wrong,’ it was more like, ‘Hey, what is wrong with this system that is being sold to planet Earth as working but clearly it doesn’t?'”
He planned on outing himself, so he never really viewed it as cheating.
“I wasn’t trying...
- 9/22/2017
- by Jean Bentley
- Indiewire
When Bryan Fogel set out to make his documentary “Icarus,” he already had a ready-made gimmick that sounded like the next great step in “Super Size Me”-style filmmaking: in order to understand how professional athletes dope and still avoid detection, he’d try it out for himself. Fogel, a comedian and amateur bike racer, cooked up a plan to dope himself, see how it altered his athletic performance, and then see if he could avoid detection when it came to drug testing.
It was a buzzy, compelling idea. And then it got even crazier.
Read More:How ‘Icarus’ Turned a Standup Comic Into an Investigative Journalist With a Netflix Deal
Fogel soon hooked up with “renegade Russian scientist” Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, who would guide him through the process of avoiding detection, and the pair bonded over hours and hours spent discussing and cracking Fogel’s crazy plan. Dr. Rodchenkov, it seemed,...
It was a buzzy, compelling idea. And then it got even crazier.
Read More:How ‘Icarus’ Turned a Standup Comic Into an Investigative Journalist With a Netflix Deal
Fogel soon hooked up with “renegade Russian scientist” Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, who would guide him through the process of avoiding detection, and the pair bonded over hours and hours spent discussing and cracking Fogel’s crazy plan. Dr. Rodchenkov, it seemed,...
- 8/17/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
If you want two good indicators of how smart the documentary Icarus truly is, look at the poster. First, note the shadow of the hammer and sickle underneath the outline of the athlete. This movie is about Russia, which has not been communist for nearly 30 years. Secondly, there’s the title itself, whose vacuity becomes apparent once you’ve seen the film and realized that there’s no person or institution in it that could credibly be identified as an actual Icarus-like figure. Presumably it’s supposed to be main subject Grigory Rodchenkov, the Russian doping architect turned whistleblower. But he can’t really said to have been brought down by his own hubris or lack of caution so much as the routine shifting of fortunes in Russian politics. Icarus is injected full of portent that it does not do much to earn.
The documentary is aesthetically ambitious, coming...
The documentary is aesthetically ambitious, coming...
- 8/3/2017
- by Daniel Schindel
- The Film Stage
Since conspiracy and controversy in regards to Russia hasn’t dominated the airwaves enough, a new Netflix-distributed documentary, Icarus, takes a different angle. Focusing on the journey of director Bryan Fogel as he tries to uncover an Olympic doping scandal, the documentary looks to try and blend classical documentary form with a slight genre twist. Complete with a hefty list of praising quotes, Icarus could impact a wide audience of sports lovers and cinephiles alike, and the first trailer has now arrived.
“Hand-drawn animation, zippy computer graphics and an intense string-driven score make for a batch of styles, while lacking a key sense of personality in the process,” our friend Nick Allen says at RogerEbert.com. “The movie is less the announcement of an exciting new director, but a competently made thriller with a gripping assembly of events. As I am sure it will when the film stuns viewers beyond those at Sundance,...
“Hand-drawn animation, zippy computer graphics and an intense string-driven score make for a batch of styles, while lacking a key sense of personality in the process,” our friend Nick Allen says at RogerEbert.com. “The movie is less the announcement of an exciting new director, but a competently made thriller with a gripping assembly of events. As I am sure it will when the film stuns viewers beyond those at Sundance,...
- 7/11/2017
- by Mike Mazzanti
- The Film Stage
Icarus Trailer for Russia’s Sports Doping Documentary Bryan Fogel‘s Icarus (2017) movie trailer stars Bryan Fogel and Grigory Rodchenkov. Icarus‘ plot synopsis: “In the truly audacious documentary Icarus, director Bryan Fogel’s bold gambit was this: to investigate doping in sports, Fogel (an amateur bike racer) would dope himself, observe the changes in his [...]
Continue reading: Icarus (2017) Movie Trailer: A Doc on Russia’s State-sponsored Olympic Doping Program...
Continue reading: Icarus (2017) Movie Trailer: A Doc on Russia’s State-sponsored Olympic Doping Program...
- 7/6/2017
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
"It's worse than we thought..." Netflix has debuted a trailer for the documentary Icarus, a remarkably eye-opening, can't-believe-it's-true story about the Russian sports doping controversy. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews, and deserves your time and attention for being so bold and brave in telling the truth. Directed by Bryan Fogel, the film follows Fogel as he initially begins training for cycling competitions, recruiting Russian expert Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov to help him take performance enhancing drugs in an attempt to pull it off. Along the way he falls into a crazy story of deception and friendship as the two work together to tell the truth about Russia's program and its gold medal wins at the Sochi Olympics in 2014. I saw this film at Sundance and it's fascinating, I can't recommend it enough to everyone. Take a look. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Bryan Fogel's documentary Icarus,...
- 7/6/2017
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
“Were you the mastermind that cheated the Olympics?” filmmaker Bryan Fogel asks at the start of this new trailer for Netflix’s Icarus. And with the one-word answer from Russian scientist Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov — “Yes” — the doping exposé is off to the races. Icarus nabbed the Sundance Film Festival’s inaugural Orwell Award this year, and last month it opened the 2017 AFI Docs fest in Washington, D.C. The film won an audience award at Sundance London. The film chronicles…...
- 7/6/2017
- Deadline TV
“Were you the mastermind that cheated the Olympics?” filmmaker Bryan Fogel asks at the start of this new trailer for Netflix’s Icarus. And with the one-word answer from Russian scientist Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov — “Yes” — the doping exposé is off to the races. Icarus nabbed the Sundance Film Festival’s inaugural Orwell Award this year, and last month it opened the 2017 AFI Docs fest in Washington, D.C. The film won an audience award at Sundance London. The film chronicles…...
- 7/6/2017
- Deadline
Bryan Fogel’s sports doping film also won the Us documentary prize in Park City.
Sports documentary Icarus, directed by Bryan Fogel, has won the first ever audience award at the Sundance Film Festival: London.
Thousands of festivalgoers voted for their favourite films across the four-day event at Picturehouse Central, which ran June 1-4.
Icarus had its UK premiere at the event and won the U.S. documentary special jury award following its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City.
In the film, amateur cyclist Fogel takes a variety of banned steroids and tries to slip through the net of anti-doping tests.
While doing so he uncovers a huge conspiracy after he reaches out to Russian scientist Grigory Rodchenkov, who admits to orchestrating a state-sanctioned Olympics doping program.
Other films at this year’s Sundance Film Festival: London included Patti Cake$, Beatriz At Dinner and A Ghost Story.
Read more:
Sundance...
Sports documentary Icarus, directed by Bryan Fogel, has won the first ever audience award at the Sundance Film Festival: London.
Thousands of festivalgoers voted for their favourite films across the four-day event at Picturehouse Central, which ran June 1-4.
Icarus had its UK premiere at the event and won the U.S. documentary special jury award following its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City.
In the film, amateur cyclist Fogel takes a variety of banned steroids and tries to slip through the net of anti-doping tests.
While doing so he uncovers a huge conspiracy after he reaches out to Russian scientist Grigory Rodchenkov, who admits to orchestrating a state-sanctioned Olympics doping program.
Other films at this year’s Sundance Film Festival: London included Patti Cake$, Beatriz At Dinner and A Ghost Story.
Read more:
Sundance...
- 6/5/2017
- by orlando.parfitt@screendaily.com (Orlando Parfitt)
- ScreenDaily
Laura Poitras has been announced as the 2017 Charles Guggenheim Symposium honoree.
Poitras helmed the Edward Snowden doc Citizenfour and recently released her Julian Assange nonfiction feature Risk, a six-year project. Out of Cannes, it was announced that she will executive produce the Chelsea Manning doc, Xy Chelsea.
Past Guggenheim honorees include Werner Herzog, Errol Morris and Alex Gibney.
As previously announced, opening the Washington, D.C.-based fest is Bryan Fogel's Icarus, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival and follows Russian "anti-doping" doctor Grigory Rodchenkov, who became a whistle-blower, detailing Russia’s state-sponsored Olympic doping program that took place ahead of the...
Poitras helmed the Edward Snowden doc Citizenfour and recently released her Julian Assange nonfiction feature Risk, a six-year project. Out of Cannes, it was announced that she will executive produce the Chelsea Manning doc, Xy Chelsea.
Past Guggenheim honorees include Werner Herzog, Errol Morris and Alex Gibney.
As previously announced, opening the Washington, D.C.-based fest is Bryan Fogel's Icarus, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival and follows Russian "anti-doping" doctor Grigory Rodchenkov, who became a whistle-blower, detailing Russia’s state-sponsored Olympic doping program that took place ahead of the...
- 5/23/2017
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
AFI on Friday unveiled the lineup for the Washington-based documentary festival AFI Docs 2017.
Opening the event is Bryan Fogel's Icarus, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival and follows Russian "anti-doping" doctor Grigory Rodchenkov, who became a whistle-blower, detailing Russia’s state-sponsored Olympic doping program that took place ahead of the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The five-day fest will close out with Year of the Scab from John Dorsey, which follows the 1987 NFL season when football players participated in a union strike, leading to "scab" replacement players taking the field.
The 15th edition of AFI Docs will...
Opening the event is Bryan Fogel's Icarus, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival and follows Russian "anti-doping" doctor Grigory Rodchenkov, who became a whistle-blower, detailing Russia’s state-sponsored Olympic doping program that took place ahead of the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The five-day fest will close out with Year of the Scab from John Dorsey, which follows the 1987 NFL season when football players participated in a union strike, leading to "scab" replacement players taking the field.
The 15th edition of AFI Docs will...
- 5/12/2017
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Bryan Fogel’s Sundance documentary “Icarus,” debuted to instant buzz and bidding, ultimately going to Netflix for $5 million, one of the largest buys ever for a nonfiction film. Fogel explained that the film was inspired by Lance Armstrong’s evasion of doping detection and was originally meant to be a bit lighter in tone. “I started out to kind of make a ‘Super Size Me’ doc, that I was gonna be a guinea pig and see whether or not the anti-doping system worked … In the process of doing this, I get put in touch with this guy, Grigory Rodchenkov.” Also Read: Netflix.
- 2/1/2017
- by Matt Hejl
- The Wrap
Conceived and created before the Presidency of Donald J. Trump, Sundance’s documentaries straddle one of the most profound cultural and political shifts in the United States’ recent history.
As the country is forced to grapple with a new range of issues in the post-Obama age, documentarians are also now straining to catch up. You could see it on the screen at Sundance, where last-act codas and recent news snippets suggested how the triumph of Trump had impacted, and in some cases, undermined the stories being told. The story of the election is explicitly told in “Trumped: Inside the Greatest Political Upset of All Time,” but even when Trump wasn’t presented, the country’s conservative turn—and the pain and fractures it has caused among many of its citizens—may influence the way these films are received and understood.
A People Divided
How are this year’s nonfiction stories,...
As the country is forced to grapple with a new range of issues in the post-Obama age, documentarians are also now straining to catch up. You could see it on the screen at Sundance, where last-act codas and recent news snippets suggested how the triumph of Trump had impacted, and in some cases, undermined the stories being told. The story of the election is explicitly told in “Trumped: Inside the Greatest Political Upset of All Time,” but even when Trump wasn’t presented, the country’s conservative turn—and the pain and fractures it has caused among many of its citizens—may influence the way these films are received and understood.
A People Divided
How are this year’s nonfiction stories,...
- 1/26/2017
- by Anthony Kaufman
- Indiewire
A Ghost StoryDear Lawrence,Almost every major festival has a hidden holy grail, the one film that will justify trudging through thick snow, the one film that will sustain us through less than ideal conditions, and the one film that will remain in our memory long after the festival is over. But because of how Sundance is programmed, marketed and covered, finding that film is impossible without trial and error, as you probably know all too well by now. Almost everything is positioned as the next something-or-other: the next all-timer, the next Best Picture winner, or the next Juno, Little Miss Sunshine or what have you. Have you been checking Twitter, reading the press releases, keeping up with all the “takes”? When I was here last year, there was the big hoopla over Birth of a Nation, which garnered universal acclaim and was the most expensive acquisition of the festival’s history.
- 1/25/2017
- MUBI
Bryan Fogel’s “Icarus” starts off like a Morgan Spurlock documentary as the director, a competitive amateur cyclist, explores what will happen if he follows Lance Armstrong’s performance enhancing drug (PEDs) regimen. Can he vastly improve his cycling speed, while also passing drug tests, just like Armstrong did?
His guide through this journey is Grigory Rodchenkov, the Russian scientist who runs Russia’s Olympic Ped testing lab. What Fogel doesn’t know is that Rodchenkov is the key player in President Putin’s secret efforts to dope Russian athletes and is about to become the center of storm of controversy. What’s most fascinating about Fogel’s film is how, mid-way through its already fascinating plot, it changes gears and becomes a completely different movie as Fogel finds himself in middle of a huge story and his coach/friend finds himself in danger.
We’ll be talking about what...
His guide through this journey is Grigory Rodchenkov, the Russian scientist who runs Russia’s Olympic Ped testing lab. What Fogel doesn’t know is that Rodchenkov is the key player in President Putin’s secret efforts to dope Russian athletes and is about to become the center of storm of controversy. What’s most fascinating about Fogel’s film is how, mid-way through its already fascinating plot, it changes gears and becomes a completely different movie as Fogel finds himself in middle of a huge story and his coach/friend finds himself in danger.
We’ll be talking about what...
- 1/24/2017
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Netflix has acquired the worldwide rights to the Russian doping documentary “Icarus” after its screening at the Sundance Film Festival, TheWrap has learned. The film follows Bryan Fogel, an endurance cyclist who sets out to investigate doping in sports by doping himself, documenting the changes in his performance over a pair of races, seeing if he can avoid detection. Over the course of his investigation however, Fogel meets Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the head of Russia’s government anti-doping program. Over dozens of Skype calls in which the Russian expert instructs Fogel how to meet his goals, the two forge a deeply personal bond.
- 1/24/2017
- by Joe Otterson
- The Wrap
“Icarus” starts out as one kind of movie, and then becomes a much better one. At first, director Bryan Fogel seems intent on making the sporting world’s answer to “Super Size Me,” by subjecting himself to performance-enhancing drugs to see if he can avoid detection. But then he stumbles into shocking revelations about Russia’s massive doping conspiracy and the scenario gets dark, gripping, and altogether more important.
The jarring shift doesn’t quite rescue the movie from uneven storytelling and murky research, but “Icarus” undoubtedly succeeds at emphasizing the shocking nature of Russia’s cover-up — and the dangerous reverberations it has for a key whistleblower.
That would be Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the antidoping laboratory chief who eventually fled to the United States and leaked information about Russia’s tactics for burying its athletes’ use of performance-enhancing drugs to a group of New York Times reporters in early 2016. Fogel...
The jarring shift doesn’t quite rescue the movie from uneven storytelling and murky research, but “Icarus” undoubtedly succeeds at emphasizing the shocking nature of Russia’s cover-up — and the dangerous reverberations it has for a key whistleblower.
That would be Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the antidoping laboratory chief who eventually fled to the United States and leaked information about Russia’s tactics for burying its athletes’ use of performance-enhancing drugs to a group of New York Times reporters in early 2016. Fogel...
- 1/20/2017
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Bidding wars have already begun for the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Buyers snapped up six titles in the days leading up to the fest, including one that A24 purchased sight unseen: David Lowery’s “A Ghost Story,” starring Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara. Other movies acquired in the past two weeks are “Berlin Syndrome” (Netflix), “Call Me By Your Name” (Sony Pictures Classics), “Casting JonBenet” (Netflix), “Cries From Syria” (HBO for television rights) and “Long Strange Trip” (Amazon).
Read More: Sundance 2017: Netflix, Vertical Acquire ‘Berlin Syndrome’
With 120 features playing at Sundance, there are plenty of hot titles remaining for acquisition executive, though it will be tough for any film to exceed last year’s $17.5 million purchase of “The Birth of a Nation” by Fox Searchlight, the biggest deal in the festival’s history.
Which movies are likely to have buyers lining up in the cold this year? Here are 14 hot...
Read More: Sundance 2017: Netflix, Vertical Acquire ‘Berlin Syndrome’
With 120 features playing at Sundance, there are plenty of hot titles remaining for acquisition executive, though it will be tough for any film to exceed last year’s $17.5 million purchase of “The Birth of a Nation” by Fox Searchlight, the biggest deal in the festival’s history.
Which movies are likely to have buyers lining up in the cold this year? Here are 14 hot...
- 1/18/2017
- by Graham Winfrey
- Indiewire
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