Elaine Epstein says that winning Hot Docs Forum’s top First Look prize of Can $20,000 cash for her film “Arrest the Midwife” is a “game changer.”
The project, which has been on a close to year-long hiatus, will now finally be able to resume due to the award.
“The last money we raised was 10 months ago,” Epstein said. “So it’s been a while. We raised money and then things stopped.”
“Arrest the Midwife” was one of 20 projects presented to key funders and decision-makers as well as filmmakers, producers and other observers at the 25th edition of the two-day Forum pitch event.
Produced through Epstein’s Underdog Films (U.S.), with producer Robin Hessman and executive producer Ruth Ann Harnisch, the doc chronicles the arrest of three midwives serving Amish and Mennonite communities. When a Mennonite baby died after being attended to by a homebirth midwife, an unprecedented legal drama ensued.
The project, which has been on a close to year-long hiatus, will now finally be able to resume due to the award.
“The last money we raised was 10 months ago,” Epstein said. “So it’s been a while. We raised money and then things stopped.”
“Arrest the Midwife” was one of 20 projects presented to key funders and decision-makers as well as filmmakers, producers and other observers at the 25th edition of the two-day Forum pitch event.
Produced through Epstein’s Underdog Films (U.S.), with producer Robin Hessman and executive producer Ruth Ann Harnisch, the doc chronicles the arrest of three midwives serving Amish and Mennonite communities. When a Mennonite baby died after being attended to by a homebirth midwife, an unprecedented legal drama ensued.
- 5/4/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
If the Academy judged features by the same standards that they do live action shorts, the best picture ballot would be full of starry, quasi-political issue movies: well-meaning but manipulative films like “Father Stu” and “The Janes.” In this category, it’s the message that matters to Oscar voters, which makes this year’s “2024 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Live Action” program (available exclusively in theaters from ShortsTV) one of the most frustrating lineups in recent memory. Or it would, if not for the presence of one genuinely brilliant, liberatingly unserious nominee among them. That would be “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” the best of several delightful Roald Dahl adaptations director Wes Anderson cooked up for Netflix … but we’ll come to that in due time.
The slate opens with a far inferior Netflix short, “The After,” a risibly manipulative portrait of grief and finding the strength to move...
The slate opens with a far inferior Netflix short, “The After,” a risibly manipulative portrait of grief and finding the strength to move...
- 3/4/2024
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
HBO Max’s The Janes was among the top winners at the 44th annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards on Wednesday, with the film — centered on a pre-Roe v. Wade abortion network in Chicago — taking home best documentary as well as best social issue documentary.
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) presented the Documentary category winners during a live ceremony at the Palladium Times Square in New York City and streamed live on NATAS’ viewing platform powered by Vimeo, the second of a two-night celebration. The News category winners were announced in a ceremony held at the Palladium on Wednesday.
Scheduled presenters at the Thursday night Docs ceremony included HBO Documentary & Family Programming’s Nancy Abraham and Lisa Heller, reporter Jelani Cobb, Nothing Compares director Kathryn Ferguson, NPR host and Is That Black Enough for You?!? writer-director Elvis Mitchell, Doc NYC co-founder Thom Powers and National Geographic correspondent Mariana van Zeller.
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) presented the Documentary category winners during a live ceremony at the Palladium Times Square in New York City and streamed live on NATAS’ viewing platform powered by Vimeo, the second of a two-night celebration. The News category winners were announced in a ceremony held at the Palladium on Wednesday.
Scheduled presenters at the Thursday night Docs ceremony included HBO Documentary & Family Programming’s Nancy Abraham and Lisa Heller, reporter Jelani Cobb, Nothing Compares director Kathryn Ferguson, NPR host and Is That Black Enough for You?!? writer-director Elvis Mitchell, Doc NYC co-founder Thom Powers and National Geographic correspondent Mariana van Zeller.
- 9/29/2023
- by Tyler Coates
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The 44th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards completed the second of two nights of awards with its doc prizes — awarding the outstanding documentary Emmy to HBO Max’s “The Janes.” The film also received the award for outstanding documentary direction and social issue documentary, among other categories.
Amazon Prime Video’s “Good Night Oppy” won for outstanding documentary writing. And Nat Geo’s “Retrograde” won several Emmys, including for cinematography, editing and current affairs documentary.
The kudos kicked off the first of two nights on Wednesday in New York, with CNN, Vice and the New York Times as among the big winners. CNN led the news portion of the Emmys, with ten wins — followed closely by Vice, with nine, and then the Nyt with five.
Vice’s wins were bittersweet: Eight of them were for the now-canceled groundbreaking program “Vice News Tonight.”
CBS’ “Sunday Morning” won for recorded news program,...
Amazon Prime Video’s “Good Night Oppy” won for outstanding documentary writing. And Nat Geo’s “Retrograde” won several Emmys, including for cinematography, editing and current affairs documentary.
The kudos kicked off the first of two nights on Wednesday in New York, with CNN, Vice and the New York Times as among the big winners. CNN led the news portion of the Emmys, with ten wins — followed closely by Vice, with nine, and then the Nyt with five.
Vice’s wins were bittersweet: Eight of them were for the now-canceled groundbreaking program “Vice News Tonight.”
CBS’ “Sunday Morning” won for recorded news program,...
- 9/28/2023
- by Michael Schneider
- Variety Film + TV
The nominations are out for the 44th annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards, and CNN leads the way with a commanding 45 noms ahead of Vice (30) and ABC and PBS (26 each). See the list of nominees in all 62 categories below or click here.
Vice’s Vice News Tonight — which wrapped its eight-season run in May — scored a dominant 28 noms, more than doubling its closest program rival, CBS stalwart 60 Minutes, which landed 11. ABC’s Nightline, PBS’ Frontline and National Geographic’s Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller are next with nine apiece, followed by CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 and PBS’ Pov with seven apiece.
As for the marquee categories, vying for Outstanding Live News Program are ABC World News Tonight with David Muir (ABC), Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN), CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell (CBS), CBS Mornings (CBS) and Nightly News with Lester Holt (NBC). Up for Best Documentary are Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain...
Vice’s Vice News Tonight — which wrapped its eight-season run in May — scored a dominant 28 noms, more than doubling its closest program rival, CBS stalwart 60 Minutes, which landed 11. ABC’s Nightline, PBS’ Frontline and National Geographic’s Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller are next with nine apiece, followed by CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 and PBS’ Pov with seven apiece.
As for the marquee categories, vying for Outstanding Live News Program are ABC World News Tonight with David Muir (ABC), Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN), CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell (CBS), CBS Mornings (CBS) and Nightly News with Lester Holt (NBC). Up for Best Documentary are Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain...
- 7/27/2023
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
“Seven Winters in Tehran,” about a 19-year-old Iranian woman sentenced to death for killing the man who tried to rape her, will open the 34th annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival on May 31 in New York City.
The festival, co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the IFC Center, will feature 10 documentaries about humanitarian challenges around the world. This year’s edition spotlights themes and topics including the Ukraine conflict (“When Spring Came to Bucha”), climate gentrification and justice (“Razing Liberty Square”), women’s rights (“Draw Me Egypt”) transgender rights (“Into My Name”) freedom of the press (“The Etilaat Roz”) and access to health care in the United States (“Pay or Die”).
“From the war in Ukraine to women’s rights and bodily autonomy, to environmental gentrification and freedom of the press, these films span some of the most pressing human rights issues of our time,” says John Biaggi,...
The festival, co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the IFC Center, will feature 10 documentaries about humanitarian challenges around the world. This year’s edition spotlights themes and topics including the Ukraine conflict (“When Spring Came to Bucha”), climate gentrification and justice (“Razing Liberty Square”), women’s rights (“Draw Me Egypt”) transgender rights (“Into My Name”) freedom of the press (“The Etilaat Roz”) and access to health care in the United States (“Pay or Die”).
“From the war in Ukraine to women’s rights and bodily autonomy, to environmental gentrification and freedom of the press, these films span some of the most pressing human rights issues of our time,” says John Biaggi,...
- 4/27/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Davis Guggenheim’s “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” will open the eighth edition of Chicago’s Doc10 documentary film festival on May 4.
About Fox’s life, career and work as a public advocate for Parkinson’s research, “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” debuted at Sundance in January. Guggenheim, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind “An Inconvenient Truth” will be at Doc10 to participate in a post-screening conversation.
Doc10, a four-day fest running May 4-7, features a selection of 10 of this year’s most acclaimed documentaries and a package of prestigious doc shorts. Dedicated to supporting social-impact documentary films, the fest is hosted by Chicago Media Project, a company that raises funds for and produces docus including “Crip Camp” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
In addition to “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” Doc10 will screen: Penny Lane’s “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” Nicole Newnham’s “The Disappearance of the Shere Hite,...
About Fox’s life, career and work as a public advocate for Parkinson’s research, “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” debuted at Sundance in January. Guggenheim, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind “An Inconvenient Truth” will be at Doc10 to participate in a post-screening conversation.
Doc10, a four-day fest running May 4-7, features a selection of 10 of this year’s most acclaimed documentaries and a package of prestigious doc shorts. Dedicated to supporting social-impact documentary films, the fest is hosted by Chicago Media Project, a company that raises funds for and produces docus including “Crip Camp” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
In addition to “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” Doc10 will screen: Penny Lane’s “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” Nicole Newnham’s “The Disappearance of the Shere Hite,...
- 3/27/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Columbia University revealed its winners for the 2023 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Awards Monday night. The annual awards honor the best in broadcast journalism, documentary and digital reporting.
CBS Evening News Anchor and Managing Editor Norah O’Donnell and Co-Anchor of PBS NewsHour Amna Nawaz hosted the ceremony in person in New York City at the Low Memorial Library for the first time in three years.
“Tonight’s honorees are recognized for the quality of their work … this truly phenomenal journalism,” O’Donnell said in her opening remarks. “But we also want to recognize the courage it took to embark on reporting these difficult stories and the doggedness to complete them. As any journalist knows, this type of journalism is met with resistance — but you never gave up!”
She continued, “Know this: The work that you do is more important than ever. In the era of the 24-hour news cycle, the painstaking reporting and storytelling — is vital.
CBS Evening News Anchor and Managing Editor Norah O’Donnell and Co-Anchor of PBS NewsHour Amna Nawaz hosted the ceremony in person in New York City at the Low Memorial Library for the first time in three years.
“Tonight’s honorees are recognized for the quality of their work … this truly phenomenal journalism,” O’Donnell said in her opening remarks. “But we also want to recognize the courage it took to embark on reporting these difficult stories and the doggedness to complete them. As any journalist knows, this type of journalism is met with resistance — but you never gave up!”
She continued, “Know this: The work that you do is more important than ever. In the era of the 24-hour news cycle, the painstaking reporting and storytelling — is vital.
- 2/7/2023
- by Carly Thomas
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
CNN and PBS took home two prizes apiece, headlining Monday’s duPont-Columbia Awards handed out by Columbia Journalism School.
Founded in 1942, the awards aim to uphold journalism standards, inform the public about accomplishments by video and audio journalists, and support journalism education and innovation.
CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell and co-anchor of PBS NewsHour Amna Nawaz hosted the award ceremony, which returned to an in-person event for the first time in three years. A video stream of the 90-minute event is available here.
“Tonight’s honorees are recognized for the quality of their work,” O’Donnell said at the start of the show. “This truly phenomenal journalism. But we also want to recognize the courage it took to embark on reporting these difficult stories and the doggedness to complete them.”
Nawaz gave a shout-out to her father, who graduated from Columbia’s journalism school. “He taught
me to always ask tough questions,...
Founded in 1942, the awards aim to uphold journalism standards, inform the public about accomplishments by video and audio journalists, and support journalism education and innovation.
CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell and co-anchor of PBS NewsHour Amna Nawaz hosted the award ceremony, which returned to an in-person event for the first time in three years. A video stream of the 90-minute event is available here.
“Tonight’s honorees are recognized for the quality of their work,” O’Donnell said at the start of the show. “This truly phenomenal journalism. But we also want to recognize the courage it took to embark on reporting these difficult stories and the doggedness to complete them.”
Nawaz gave a shout-out to her father, who graduated from Columbia’s journalism school. “He taught
me to always ask tough questions,...
- 2/7/2023
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
Elizabeth Banks in Phyllis Nagy’s Call Jane. Photo: Roadside Attractions Timing is everything, as they say, a tired phrase given fresh relevancy in Phyllis Nagy’s restrained yet inspiring Call Jane, based on the true story of an underground network of Chicago activists in the late ’60s and early...
- 10/26/2022
- by Mark Keizer
- avclub.com
Click here to read the full article.
Actress and Honest Company founder Jessica Alba, Crazy Rich Asians star and author Constance Wu, and Rutherford Falls writer and showrunner Sierra Teller Ornelas are among the lineup for the 2022 Makers Conference.
Additional entertainment industry talent set to appear at the global leadership event are Ms. Marvel executive producer Sana Amanat and star Iman Vellani, The Janes directors Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes, and former All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Player and inspiration behind Amazon Prime Video’s A League of Their Own Maybelle Blair.
The initial list of guests, speakers and leaders set to appear at the eighth edition of the annual conference produced by Yahoo media brand Makers — a community focused on women’s equity in the workplace and beyond — was announced Monday. The conference, which is slated to return to the Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, California,...
Actress and Honest Company founder Jessica Alba, Crazy Rich Asians star and author Constance Wu, and Rutherford Falls writer and showrunner Sierra Teller Ornelas are among the lineup for the 2022 Makers Conference.
Additional entertainment industry talent set to appear at the global leadership event are Ms. Marvel executive producer Sana Amanat and star Iman Vellani, The Janes directors Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes, and former All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Player and inspiration behind Amazon Prime Video’s A League of Their Own Maybelle Blair.
The initial list of guests, speakers and leaders set to appear at the eighth edition of the annual conference produced by Yahoo media brand Makers — a community focused on women’s equity in the workplace and beyond — was announced Monday. The conference, which is slated to return to the Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, California,...
- 9/19/2022
- by Abbey White
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It’s been a good year for several documentary filmmakers who sought and found distribution for independently made projects at major festivals. But for many nonfiction helmers, this year’s festival circuit hasn’t proven to be as fruitful as it once was.
Pre-pandemic, streaming services went to film fests to fill their slates, but now with media conglomerates consolidating, brands merging, and Netflix tightening its wallet, film fest documentary shopping sprees have slowed down. On top of mergers and economic unease, there’s been an increase in streamers like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Apple, and Disney either pre-buying docus or commissioning their own nonfiction projects.
Some of this year’s fest favorites were commissioned docus, including Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes’ ‘The Janes” (HBO), W. Kamau Bell’s “We Need to Talk About Cosby” (Showtime), Rory Kennedy’s “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing” (Netflix), and Ron Howard’s “We Feed People...
Pre-pandemic, streaming services went to film fests to fill their slates, but now with media conglomerates consolidating, brands merging, and Netflix tightening its wallet, film fest documentary shopping sprees have slowed down. On top of mergers and economic unease, there’s been an increase in streamers like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Apple, and Disney either pre-buying docus or commissioning their own nonfiction projects.
Some of this year’s fest favorites were commissioned docus, including Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes’ ‘The Janes” (HBO), W. Kamau Bell’s “We Need to Talk About Cosby” (Showtime), Rory Kennedy’s “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing” (Netflix), and Ron Howard’s “We Feed People...
- 9/15/2022
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Eight years ago, Edward Snowden became the centerpiece of the Oscar race for Best Documentary as the subject of director Laura Poitras’ eventual winner “Citizenfour.” This time, that centerpiece slot goes to Nan Goldin, the photographer and activist hero of Poitras’ “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed.”
The movie launched to rave reviews at Venice over the weekend and sneaked into a morning Tba slot on the last day of the Telluride Film Festival, where many audience members emerged in tears. That response is likely to continue as the movie travels to the Toronto International Film Festival and later New York, where it will be — appropriately enough — the festival’s centerpiece selection.
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” is in good hands. Participant Media produced the project and will release it October 7 with Neon, which previously distributed her Julian Assange documentary “Risk.” Neon CEO Tom Quinn also spearheaded the successful “Citizenfour” campaign at Radius-twc.
The movie launched to rave reviews at Venice over the weekend and sneaked into a morning Tba slot on the last day of the Telluride Film Festival, where many audience members emerged in tears. That response is likely to continue as the movie travels to the Toronto International Film Festival and later New York, where it will be — appropriately enough — the festival’s centerpiece selection.
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” is in good hands. Participant Media produced the project and will release it October 7 with Neon, which previously distributed her Julian Assange documentary “Risk.” Neon CEO Tom Quinn also spearheaded the successful “Citizenfour” campaign at Radius-twc.
- 9/5/2022
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Abramorama and Roco Films have co-acquired U.S. distribution rights to Cynthia Lowen’s abortion documentary “Battleground.” The film premiered in the documentary competition category at the Tribeca Festival in June. The doc follows three women in charge of anti-abortion organizations devoted to overturning Roe v. Wade.
Abramorama and Roco Films will co-release “Battleground” in hundreds of theaters across the country beginning Oct. 7 for an official Academy Award qualifying run. The film will also be simultaneously released in schools, non-profit spaces and corporate board rooms, both in-person and virtually. In addition, impact agencies Together Films and Red Owl will deliver a comprehensive national impact campaign alongside the release.
The doc is timely given the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June, effectively striking down the ruling that has guaranteed basic abortion rights in the U.S. since 1973.
“We are at a profound turning point in American...
Abramorama and Roco Films will co-release “Battleground” in hundreds of theaters across the country beginning Oct. 7 for an official Academy Award qualifying run. The film will also be simultaneously released in schools, non-profit spaces and corporate board rooms, both in-person and virtually. In addition, impact agencies Together Films and Red Owl will deliver a comprehensive national impact campaign alongside the release.
The doc is timely given the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June, effectively striking down the ruling that has guaranteed basic abortion rights in the U.S. since 1973.
“We are at a profound turning point in American...
- 8/29/2022
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
The panels have been announced for the 2022 Gotham Week Conference, the first time the event will occur in person since 2019. The panelists include Jenny Slate and other team members behind Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, director of Bodies Bodies Bodies Halina Reijn and co-directors of The Janes Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes. Slate, who voiced the title character and co-wrote the script, will be joined by Marcel director Dean Fleischer Camp and animation director Kirsten Lepore. Other panelists at the 2022 Gotham Week Conference include Adamma and Adanne Ebo, the respective director and producer of Honk For Jesus. […]
The post Gotham Week 2022 to Feature Panels with Jenny Slate and Directors of Bodies Bodies Bodies and The Janes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Gotham Week 2022 to Feature Panels with Jenny Slate and Directors of Bodies Bodies Bodies and The Janes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 8/19/2022
- by Natalia Keogan
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Click here to read the full article.
The 2022 Gotham Week Conference will feature panels with Jenny Slate and more of the team behind Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, Bodies Bodies Bodies director Halina Reijn and the directors of timely abortion documentary The Janes, Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes.
Slate, the co-writer of the film and voice of Marcel, will be joined by writer and director Dean Fleischer Camp and animation director Kirsten Lepore to discuss developing IP.
Other public panels at the New York event, returning in person for the first time since 2019, will feature panels with the director and producer, respectively, of Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul, Adamma and Adanne Ebo, and Nanny director Nikyatu Jusu and producer Nikkia Moulterie. Both Honk for Jesus and Nanny are alums of the 2019 Gotham Week Project Market.
The Conference will also feature conversations about incorporating sustainable practices into filmmaking in partnership with The Green Shot,...
The 2022 Gotham Week Conference will feature panels with Jenny Slate and more of the team behind Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, Bodies Bodies Bodies director Halina Reijn and the directors of timely abortion documentary The Janes, Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes.
Slate, the co-writer of the film and voice of Marcel, will be joined by writer and director Dean Fleischer Camp and animation director Kirsten Lepore to discuss developing IP.
Other public panels at the New York event, returning in person for the first time since 2019, will feature panels with the director and producer, respectively, of Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul, Adamma and Adanne Ebo, and Nanny director Nikyatu Jusu and producer Nikkia Moulterie. Both Honk for Jesus and Nanny are alums of the 2019 Gotham Week Project Market.
The Conference will also feature conversations about incorporating sustainable practices into filmmaking in partnership with The Green Shot,...
- 8/19/2022
- by Hilary Lewis
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Even though her own life depended on it, Elizabeth Banks’ character Joy had to search for an underground abortion clinic to end her possibly fatal pregnancy in the upcoming movie Call Jane. On Tuesday, Roadside Attractions released the official trailer for the 1960s-set film, which is based on true events and follows a housewife named Joy as she fights to get an abortion and joins the Jane Collective. And boy… is the film timely.
“What’s the treatment?” asks Joy’s husband in an opening scene. “To not be pregnant,...
“What’s the treatment?” asks Joy’s husband in an opening scene. “To not be pregnant,...
- 8/16/2022
- by Tomás Mier
- Rollingstone.com
"We are of use! Yeah it's not perfect, but it works." Roadside Attr. has unveiled the first official trailer for the drama Call Jane, which originally premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. This film is a dramatized, fictional version of the story of "The Janes", the underground abortion network that ran in the late 60s / early 70s in Chicago. The real story is told in the documentary called The Janes, which was already released by HBO. In this film, the story follows a married woman with an unwanted pregnancy lives in a time in America where she can't get a legal abortion and works with a group of suburban women to find help. After her own procedure she begins to work with them to help other women get safe abortions. "Inspired by true events, director Phyllis Nagy's film captures the essence of late-60s social change...
- 8/16/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Click here to read the full article.
In the first trailer for the drama, Call Jane, Elizabeth Banks plays a woman whose dangerous pregnancy leads her to seek an illegal abortion as she ultimately joins forces with the underground Jane collective in 1968 Chicago.
The film, which premiered at Sundance, has become even more timely since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion and allowing states to regulate the procedure.
Directed by Phyllis Nagy and inspired by true events, Call Jane stars Banks as suburban housewife Joy, whose pregnancy leads to a life-threatening heart condition. Told that the only treatment is “to not be pregnant” but facing barriers to that procedure, Joy stumbles across an ad for Jane, the clandestine Chicago group that helped women obtain safe, affordable abortions in the late ’60s and early ’70s when the procedure was a crime in Illinois and other states.
In the first trailer for the drama, Call Jane, Elizabeth Banks plays a woman whose dangerous pregnancy leads her to seek an illegal abortion as she ultimately joins forces with the underground Jane collective in 1968 Chicago.
The film, which premiered at Sundance, has become even more timely since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion and allowing states to regulate the procedure.
Directed by Phyllis Nagy and inspired by true events, Call Jane stars Banks as suburban housewife Joy, whose pregnancy leads to a life-threatening heart condition. Told that the only treatment is “to not be pregnant” but facing barriers to that procedure, Joy stumbles across an ad for Jane, the clandestine Chicago group that helped women obtain safe, affordable abortions in the late ’60s and early ’70s when the procedure was a crime in Illinois and other states.
- 8/16/2022
- by Hilary Lewis
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"I hope you guys aren't mixed up with this stuff. This is a whole other level of mixed up." AMC / Creator+ have revealed an official trailer for an indie paranoia thriller titled Jane, marking the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Sabrina Jaglom. Not to be confused with the other "Jane" films this year - Call Jane and The Janes (about the underground abortion network in the 70s) - this is something else. Seemingly perfect high school senior, Olivia, struggles with grief from the recent loss of a friend. When she gets deferred from her dream college she begins to spiral and experiences a series of increasingly frightening panic attacks. In an attempt to regain some sense of control, she embarks on a social media rampage against those that stand in the way of her success but, as things escalate, she is forced to confront – and soon embrace – her darkest impulses to get ahead.
- 8/10/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
By the end of June last year, 13 movies that would go on to receive Academy Award nominations had already premiered, including Best Picture nominee “Drive My Car” and the Oscar night’s big winner, “Coda.”
The first six months of 2022 don’t seem to be a particularly fruitful time for awards films, but it’s conceivable that a similar number of future nominees have already premiered. Between wide releases like “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Elvis” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Cannes titles including “Triangle of Sadness” and “Three Thousand Years of Longing” and just enough international films, documentaries and animated features, a year that so far looks middling could end up supplying a handful or more of nominees, though at this point most of them are longshots.
Certainly, the vast majority of this year’s nominees will come from the second half of the year, and particularly from the stretch...
The first six months of 2022 don’t seem to be a particularly fruitful time for awards films, but it’s conceivable that a similar number of future nominees have already premiered. Between wide releases like “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Elvis” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Cannes titles including “Triangle of Sadness” and “Three Thousand Years of Longing” and just enough international films, documentaries and animated features, a year that so far looks middling could end up supplying a handful or more of nominees, though at this point most of them are longshots.
Certainly, the vast majority of this year’s nominees will come from the second half of the year, and particularly from the stretch...
- 6/30/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Back in 2016, after Donald Trump was elected president, documentary producers Emma Pildes and her brother Daniel Arcana had a bad feeling about Trump packing the Supreme Court. The time was right, they decided, to develop a movie about his mother Judith’s late 1960s involvement in Chicago with the underground Abortion Counseling Service of Women’s Liberation, known as The Janes, which provided abortions for some 11,000 women between 1969 and 1972. Seven of the leaders were arrested and were facing a possible 110 years in prison — until the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision came down.
After Brett Kavanaugh was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2018, Pildes approached Oscar-nominated documentarian Tia Lessin (“Trouble the Water”) to co-direct; HBO Documentary Films agreed to back “The Janes,” which started filming in 2019 and debuted at Sundance 2022. It’s currently streaming on HBO Max and Hulu.
Slowly but surely the filmmakers found Janes willing to speak on the record.
After Brett Kavanaugh was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2018, Pildes approached Oscar-nominated documentarian Tia Lessin (“Trouble the Water”) to co-direct; HBO Documentary Films agreed to back “The Janes,” which started filming in 2019 and debuted at Sundance 2022. It’s currently streaming on HBO Max and Hulu.
Slowly but surely the filmmakers found Janes willing to speak on the record.
- 6/28/2022
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Filmmakers Ricki Stern and Anne Lundberg have seen this day coming. For a long time.
Their 2108 Netflix documentary Reversing Roe examined how right-wing activists, politicians and jurists were steadily chipping away at abortion rights across the country, with the goal of eventually overturning Roe v. Wade. Today it happened, in a 6-3 Supreme Court decision that tossed out Roe, permitting states to ban or severely restrict abortion.
“I think there was no surprise,” Stern said in an interview with Deadline after the ruling was announced. She said she felt “just absolute sadness and just despair, truly, because it’s the beginning of many, many kinds of Supreme Court decisions that, personally, I think are going to set us back. And as the film illustrates, this is a very politically charged issue, abortion rights. This is really about power and [ignores] the lives of many women who are going to be hurt by this decision.
Their 2108 Netflix documentary Reversing Roe examined how right-wing activists, politicians and jurists were steadily chipping away at abortion rights across the country, with the goal of eventually overturning Roe v. Wade. Today it happened, in a 6-3 Supreme Court decision that tossed out Roe, permitting states to ban or severely restrict abortion.
“I think there was no surprise,” Stern said in an interview with Deadline after the ruling was announced. She said she felt “just absolute sadness and just despair, truly, because it’s the beginning of many, many kinds of Supreme Court decisions that, personally, I think are going to set us back. And as the film illustrates, this is a very politically charged issue, abortion rights. This is really about power and [ignores] the lives of many women who are going to be hurt by this decision.
- 6/25/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
It was less than four hours after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion in the U.S., when The Hollywood Reporter talked to the directors of underground abortion network documentary The Janes, but to one of the filmmakers, Emma Pildes, that stretch felt like “a lifetime.”
“It just feels like a nightmare but also this weird dream state because I don’t think we’re surprised,” Pildes told THR by phone on Friday. “We’d been so wrapped up in the topic for so long and so hyper-aware of everything that’s going on.”
Pildes and Tia Lessin’s film The Janes, which has been streaming on HBO Max since earlier this month after premiering at Sundance, features firsthand accounts from the women at the center of Jane, a clandestine Chicago group that helped women obtain safe,...
It was less than four hours after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion in the U.S., when The Hollywood Reporter talked to the directors of underground abortion network documentary The Janes, but to one of the filmmakers, Emma Pildes, that stretch felt like “a lifetime.”
“It just feels like a nightmare but also this weird dream state because I don’t think we’re surprised,” Pildes told THR by phone on Friday. “We’d been so wrapped up in the topic for so long and so hyper-aware of everything that’s going on.”
Pildes and Tia Lessin’s film The Janes, which has been streaming on HBO Max since earlier this month after premiering at Sundance, features firsthand accounts from the women at the center of Jane, a clandestine Chicago group that helped women obtain safe,...
- 6/24/2022
- by Hilary Lewis
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
Some of the most powerful, viscerally emotional films in recent months have been pleas for abortion rights, from the 1960s-set French drama Happening to the documentary The Janes, about an underground network of illegal abortion providers.
Cynthia Lowen takes the opposite approach in her coolly cerebral pro-choice documentary, Battleground, which journeys inside the anti-abortion movement in order to show reproductive rights advocates what they’re up against today. With the subjects’ willing participation, and without any voiceover to lead viewers’ opinions, the filmmakers unobtrusively go along to rallies, listen in on strategy sessions and interview leaders of top anti-abortion groups. The results are far from cheap and easy caricatures. Lowen (director of the documentaries Bully and Netizens, about online harassment of women) does not find rabid zealots, but sincere, media-savvy, well-organized women — presented respectfully throughout — who have been playing the long game for...
Some of the most powerful, viscerally emotional films in recent months have been pleas for abortion rights, from the 1960s-set French drama Happening to the documentary The Janes, about an underground network of illegal abortion providers.
Cynthia Lowen takes the opposite approach in her coolly cerebral pro-choice documentary, Battleground, which journeys inside the anti-abortion movement in order to show reproductive rights advocates what they’re up against today. With the subjects’ willing participation, and without any voiceover to lead viewers’ opinions, the filmmakers unobtrusively go along to rallies, listen in on strategy sessions and interview leaders of top anti-abortion groups. The results are far from cheap and easy caricatures. Lowen (director of the documentaries Bully and Netizens, about online harassment of women) does not find rabid zealots, but sincere, media-savvy, well-organized women — presented respectfully throughout — who have been playing the long game for...
- 6/13/2022
- by Caryn James
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A HBO documentary looks to the past – a secret, women-run network of abortion providers in the late 1960s – as a window into the future of restricted reproductive rights in the US
Regardless of whether the supreme court fully overturns Roe v Wade later this month, as indicated by the majority draft opinion leaked in May, or merely allows it to be gutted at the state level, the US will continue its years-long march backwards on reproductive rights. Abortion access in the US in 2022 mirrors 1972, the year before the supreme court ensured a woman’s right to an abortion with Roe v Wade, and a time when a sparse patchwork of legalization in a few states forced many women to seek care from dubious illegal providers or dangerous at-home methods.
The Janes, a new HBO documentary on an underground network of abortion providers in Chicago in the years just before legalization,...
Regardless of whether the supreme court fully overturns Roe v Wade later this month, as indicated by the majority draft opinion leaked in May, or merely allows it to be gutted at the state level, the US will continue its years-long march backwards on reproductive rights. Abortion access in the US in 2022 mirrors 1972, the year before the supreme court ensured a woman’s right to an abortion with Roe v Wade, and a time when a sparse patchwork of legalization in a few states forced many women to seek care from dubious illegal providers or dangerous at-home methods.
The Janes, a new HBO documentary on an underground network of abortion providers in Chicago in the years just before legalization,...
- 6/8/2022
- by Adrian Horton
- The Guardian - Film News
This review of “The Janes” was first published Jan. 24, 2022, after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
They had names like Heather, Martha, Marie, Jody and Judith. But they called themselves the Janes. And between 1968 and 1973, they performed approximately 11,000 underground abortions in Chicago. Their stories, which they share in Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes’ powerfully forthright documentary, “The Janes,” remain stunning five decades later. (The group also inspired a fictional movie that premiered at Sundance this year titled “Call Jane.”)
They weren’t medical professionals, and their work was flatly illegal. But the alternatives for women who wanted an abortion were to go to the mob and assume they might be sexually assaulted before or after a procedure, or to try to end a pregnancy alone, at home. The situation was so grim, in fact, that one local hospital had a septic ward designed purely for those who came to...
They had names like Heather, Martha, Marie, Jody and Judith. But they called themselves the Janes. And between 1968 and 1973, they performed approximately 11,000 underground abortions in Chicago. Their stories, which they share in Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes’ powerfully forthright documentary, “The Janes,” remain stunning five decades later. (The group also inspired a fictional movie that premiered at Sundance this year titled “Call Jane.”)
They weren’t medical professionals, and their work was flatly illegal. But the alternatives for women who wanted an abortion were to go to the mob and assume they might be sexually assaulted before or after a procedure, or to try to end a pregnancy alone, at home. The situation was so grim, in fact, that one local hospital had a septic ward designed purely for those who came to...
- 6/7/2022
- by Elizabeth Weitzman
- The Wrap
It is a grim coincidence that the same week that HBO premieres the The Janes — a documentary about the young women who established an underground network to provide women with affordable and safe abortion care in the years before Roe v. Wade — the current Supreme Court may actually overturn that very decision that rendered the Janes services largely unnecessary nearly 50 years ago.
The Janes, which debuts on Wed., June 8, has the colorful characters, quick pacing, and twists and turns of a heist film. The directors, Oscar-nominee Tia Lessin (Trouble the...
The Janes, which debuts on Wed., June 8, has the colorful characters, quick pacing, and twists and turns of a heist film. The directors, Oscar-nominee Tia Lessin (Trouble the...
- 6/7/2022
- by Lisa Tozzi
- Rollingstone.com
First published May 7th, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.
Don’t spend hours scrolling the menus at Netflix, Amazon Prime, and other movie services. I point you to the best new films and hidden gems to stream.
Movies included here may be available on services other than those mentioned, and in other regions, too. JustWatch and Reelgood are great for finding which films are on what streamers; you can customize each site so that it shows you only those services you have access to.
When you rent or purchase a film through the Amazon and Apple links here, I get a small affiliate fee that helps support my work. Please use them if you can! (Affiliate fees do not increase your cost.)
both sides of the pond
It’s not often that collective cultural amnesia is a good thing, and it certainly isn’t now that it looks like reproductive rights...
Don’t spend hours scrolling the menus at Netflix, Amazon Prime, and other movie services. I point you to the best new films and hidden gems to stream.
Movies included here may be available on services other than those mentioned, and in other regions, too. JustWatch and Reelgood are great for finding which films are on what streamers; you can customize each site so that it shows you only those services you have access to.
When you rent or purchase a film through the Amazon and Apple links here, I get a small affiliate fee that helps support my work. Please use them if you can! (Affiliate fees do not increase your cost.)
both sides of the pond
It’s not often that collective cultural amnesia is a good thing, and it certainly isn’t now that it looks like reproductive rights...
- 6/6/2022
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Well, we survived the great content crush of spring 2022. Now we can just sit back, take a nice little breather and … wait, what’s that you say? There’s still tons of great television, streaming every week, including this week which contains the return of “For All Mankind,” the launch of a terrific Marvel Studios series on Disney+ and a new Adam Sandler sports drama on Netflix? All the better! May the content crush never end!
On with the television!
“For All Mankind”
Friday, June 10, Apple TV+
Apple TV+
“For All Mankind” has been heralded as one of the greatest shows on TV. And that isn’t an unfair assessment. It’s an alternate history look at the space race. Instead of beating Russia to the moon, the U.S. followed them. Real-life heroes are dramatized alongside wholly made-up characters. And everything is rendered in such vivid detail, both conceptually and emotionally,...
On with the television!
“For All Mankind”
Friday, June 10, Apple TV+
Apple TV+
“For All Mankind” has been heralded as one of the greatest shows on TV. And that isn’t an unfair assessment. It’s an alternate history look at the space race. Instead of beating Russia to the moon, the U.S. followed them. Real-life heroes are dramatized alongside wholly made-up characters. And everything is rendered in such vivid detail, both conceptually and emotionally,...
- 6/4/2022
- by Drew Taylor
- The Wrap
This June on HBO and HBO Max will play host to a new season of “Westworld,” a new adaptation of “Father of the Bride” and much more.
The big new Warner Bros. release on HBO and HBO Max this month is “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” which actually debuted on the HBO Max streaming service on May 30. The third film in the Wizarding World prequel franchise first hit theaters in April, and is now available to stream in 4K.
There’s also the updated version of “Father of the Bride” premiering on June 16, while a pair of noteworthy documentaries are coming on the early side this month: “The Janes” premieres June 8 and follows unlikely outlaws in pre-Roe v. Wade America who defied state legislation that banned abortion, while “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain” debuts on June 9.
As for original series, the fourth season of “Westworld” premieres on June...
The big new Warner Bros. release on HBO and HBO Max this month is “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” which actually debuted on the HBO Max streaming service on May 30. The third film in the Wizarding World prequel franchise first hit theaters in April, and is now available to stream in 4K.
There’s also the updated version of “Father of the Bride” premiering on June 16, while a pair of noteworthy documentaries are coming on the early side this month: “The Janes” premieres June 8 and follows unlikely outlaws in pre-Roe v. Wade America who defied state legislation that banned abortion, while “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain” debuts on June 9.
As for original series, the fourth season of “Westworld” premieres on June...
- 6/1/2022
- by Adam Chitwood
- The Wrap
With its list of new releases for June 2022, HBO Max is joining in what should be a TV summer to remember.
Not content to let Netflix’s Stranger Things or Prime Video’s The Boys to dominate the summer TV landscape, HBO is coming through with a new season of one of its big hits. Westworld season 4 is set to premiere June 26 on both HBO and HBO Max. What will this season of the increasingly confusing sci-fi drama be about? Per HBO’s synopsis it will be “A dark odyssey about the fate of sentient life on earth.” So you know, only that.
Irma Vep is the only other Max Original of note this month. Based on a 1996 cult classic of the same name, this limited series stars Alicia Vikander as a disillusioned movie star looking to remake the early 20th century French silent film serial Les Vampires.
It’s...
Not content to let Netflix’s Stranger Things or Prime Video’s The Boys to dominate the summer TV landscape, HBO is coming through with a new season of one of its big hits. Westworld season 4 is set to premiere June 26 on both HBO and HBO Max. What will this season of the increasingly confusing sci-fi drama be about? Per HBO’s synopsis it will be “A dark odyssey about the fate of sentient life on earth.” So you know, only that.
Irma Vep is the only other Max Original of note this month. Based on a 1996 cult classic of the same name, this limited series stars Alicia Vikander as a disillusioned movie star looking to remake the early 20th century French silent film serial Les Vampires.
It’s...
- 6/1/2022
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.
Whether heading out to theaters or surfing through streaming services, there’s a lot to watch this June. These include a pair from arthouse favorites Terrence Davies and David Cronenberg, a TV miniseries from one of France’s best directors, a Jennifer Lopez double feature and… did we mention dinosaurs? There will also be dinosaurs. But first, let’s hit the beach.
Fire Island (Hulu, June 3)
Comedian and...
Whether heading out to theaters or surfing through streaming services, there’s a lot to watch this June. These include a pair from arthouse favorites Terrence Davies and David Cronenberg, a TV miniseries from one of France’s best directors, a Jennifer Lopez double feature and… did we mention dinosaurs? There will also be dinosaurs. But first, let’s hit the beach.
Fire Island (Hulu, June 3)
Comedian and...
- 5/31/2022
- by Keith Phipps
- Rollingstone.com
New to HBO Max in June 2022 — HBO Max has released a list of its original content, HBO originals, documentaries, and movies that will be airing on the streaming service in June 2022. Highlights of this programming includes: Westworld, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Father of the Bride, The Janes, and [...]
Continue reading: New to HBO Max in June 2022 – Movies and TV Shows: Westworld, Fantastic Beasts: The Secret Of Dumbledore, Father Of The Bride, & More...
Continue reading: New to HBO Max in June 2022 – Movies and TV Shows: Westworld, Fantastic Beasts: The Secret Of Dumbledore, Father Of The Bride, & More...
- 5/27/2022
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
The Janes, which closes this year’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival in-person May 26, followed by an HBO premiere June 8, is one woefully prescient walk down pre-Roe memory lane. Directed by Academy Award nominee Tia Lessin and Emmy nominee Emma Pildes, the doc tells the illicit tale of the titular underground network of college-age activists who defied the law and male expectations to provide women in Chicago with safe, shame-free […]
The post “The Way the Janes Approached This, One Woman at a Time, Helped 11,000 Women Get Safe Abortion Care”: Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes on “The Janes” first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “The Way the Janes Approached This, One Woman at a Time, Helped 11,000 Women Get Safe Abortion Care”: Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes on “The Janes” first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/25/2022
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
The Janes, which closes this year’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival in-person May 26, followed by an HBO premiere June 8, is one woefully prescient walk down pre-Roe memory lane. Directed by Academy Award nominee Tia Lessin and Emmy nominee Emma Pildes, the doc tells the illicit tale of the titular underground network of college-age activists who defied the law and male expectations to provide women in Chicago with safe, shame-free […]
The post “The Way the Janes Approached This, One Woman at a Time, Helped 11,000 Women Get Safe Abortion Care”: Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes on “The Janes” first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “The Way the Janes Approached This, One Woman at a Time, Helped 11,000 Women Get Safe Abortion Care”: Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes on “The Janes” first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/25/2022
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Following Doc10 Film Festival’s opening night screening of “The Janes” on May 19, several original members The Jane Collective — an underground abortion clinic led by women in the pre-Roe v. Wade era — urged audience members to take to the streets and get focused on protecting women’s reproductive rights, now believed to be at risk with a new Supreme Court ruling in the works.
“The fight is not over,” said Marie Leaner, a former Jane. “It’s only just begun.”
“The Janes” is one of 10 docus that will screen during the four-day Chicago-based festival. The Doc10 screening of “The Janes,” which will debut on HBO June 8, drew more than 250 people — the festival’s largest crowd in its seven-year history. Ten former Janes were in attendance alongside the doc’s directors, Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes. The screening occurred just 17 days after a leaked Supreme Court opinion suggesting that Roe v.
“The fight is not over,” said Marie Leaner, a former Jane. “It’s only just begun.”
“The Janes” is one of 10 docus that will screen during the four-day Chicago-based festival. The Doc10 screening of “The Janes,” which will debut on HBO June 8, drew more than 250 people — the festival’s largest crowd in its seven-year history. Ten former Janes were in attendance alongside the doc’s directors, Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes. The screening occurred just 17 days after a leaked Supreme Court opinion suggesting that Roe v.
- 5/20/2022
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Chicago – Doc10, the annual Chicago ten-film-documentary festival, opens on May 19th, 2022, with a ripped-from-the-headlines event. “The Janes” is the story of a Chicago collective from the late 1960s to early ‘70s that provided abortions in the pre-Roe v. Wade era. Click DOC10 for details and the complete list of films.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
”The Janes” concern The Jane Collective of Chicago, operating from 1968 through 1973. The feminist group began setting up safe and available abortions for women through underground channels, during a period of time when the procedure was illegal in Illinois (and most of America until Roe v Wade), through laws determined by the patriarchy. Using a male practitioner, and then learning to do abortions themselves, the former “Janes” tell the story of a period for woman’s health that now seems stone age … except when looking at the repressive laws against women being perpetuated Again by the patriarchy. The issue is...
Rating: 4.5/5.0
”The Janes” concern The Jane Collective of Chicago, operating from 1968 through 1973. The feminist group began setting up safe and available abortions for women through underground channels, during a period of time when the procedure was illegal in Illinois (and most of America until Roe v Wade), through laws determined by the patriarchy. Using a male practitioner, and then learning to do abortions themselves, the former “Janes” tell the story of a period for woman’s health that now seems stone age … except when looking at the repressive laws against women being perpetuated Again by the patriarchy. The issue is...
- 5/18/2022
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
"Sometimes you need to stand up to illegitimate authority." HBO has revealed the trailer for an acclaimed documentary film titled The Janes, a remarkably important film about a remarkably true story from the 1970s. This premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and it will be streaming on HBO starting in June this summer. "We had to go underground." Police arrested seven women who were part of a clandestine network. Using code names, blindfolds and safe houses, they built an underground service for women seeking safe, affordable, illegal abortions calling themselves "Jane". The Janes tells the revelatory story of a group of unlikely outlaws. Defying state legislature that outlawed abortion, the Catholic Church that condemned it, and the Chicago Mob that was profiting from it, the members of "Jane" offer first-hand accounts, many speaking on the record for the first time. This has become an extraordinarily timely film...
- 5/11/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
How far would you go for something you believe in? A network of women banded together to help others in their community seeking safe abortions in a super new and timely documentary given the current Roe V. Wade threat. HBO Documentary Films’ “The Janes” recounts their remarkable story, told from the perspectives of those who were there. Not only evading the law, these heroines also risked the wrath of the Catholic Church and an unlikely enemy in the Chicago Mob.
Continue reading ‘The Janes’ Trailer: Ordinary Women Try & Save Lives In Timely Underground Abortion Documentary at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘The Janes’ Trailer: Ordinary Women Try & Save Lives In Timely Underground Abortion Documentary at The Playlist.
- 5/11/2022
- by Valerie Thompson
- The Playlist
Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes were devastated to learn that the Supreme Court may soon overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling legalizing abortion. The filmmakers had just screened “The Janes,” their documentary about abortion activists in the pre-Roe v. Wade era, at the San Francisco Intl. Film Festival when they learned about the leaked majority opinion that would turn back the clock on women’s reproductive rights nearly 50 years.
“I burst into tears when I found out” says Lessin, who with Pildes has been screening “The Janes” around the country since its Sundance premiere. “While I expected some sort of erosion of Roe and some people were even expecting the overturning of Roe, this decision was pretty shocking even to people who were in the know.”
The documentary, which will debut on HBO June 8, revolves around the Jane Collective, an underground organization that provided illegal abortion services in Chicago...
“I burst into tears when I found out” says Lessin, who with Pildes has been screening “The Janes” around the country since its Sundance premiere. “While I expected some sort of erosion of Roe and some people were even expecting the overturning of Roe, this decision was pretty shocking even to people who were in the know.”
The documentary, which will debut on HBO June 8, revolves around the Jane Collective, an underground organization that provided illegal abortion services in Chicago...
- 5/10/2022
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Emma Pildes, the co-director of the upcoming 1970s abortion documentary “The Janes,” got a call from co-director Tia Lessin on Monday night in which she was in “floods of tears” after learning about the leaked draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn the pivotal abortion decision Roe v. Wade.
That’s because both Lessin and Pildes in making their film “The Janes” know all too well of the shocking past, often disturbing present and even scarier future for what an America would look like should Roe v. Wade officially be struck down by the court. They warn that much of what is depicted in their film from 50 years ago could come racing back, immediately threatening the health and lives of women but also laying the ground work to potentially strip women of other rights and have numerous ripple effects.
“We’ve been so steeped in the realities of what this...
That’s because both Lessin and Pildes in making their film “The Janes” know all too well of the shocking past, often disturbing present and even scarier future for what an America would look like should Roe v. Wade officially be struck down by the court. They warn that much of what is depicted in their film from 50 years ago could come racing back, immediately threatening the health and lives of women but also laying the ground work to potentially strip women of other rights and have numerous ripple effects.
“We’ve been so steeped in the realities of what this...
- 5/3/2022
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
“Fahrenheit 11/9” producers and Academy Award nominees Carl Deal and Tia Lessin (“Trouble the Water”) are developing a documentary that explores the world of climate profiteering and how the planet’s wealthiest are planning to weather the uncertain century ahead.
The duo will be pitching their project during Cph:forum, the international financing and co-production event held during the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (Cph:dox), which runs March 21-April 3.
“Sink or $wim” is inspired by journalist McKenzie Funk’s bestseller “Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming,” which details how a growing legion of corporations, high-stakes gamblers and entrepreneurs are cashing in on the climate crisis.
“We’ve all seen a lot of movies about climate change. And there are a lot of movies that offer solutions,” Deal tells Variety. “We think it’s time to tell a new kind of climate story, to take an audience on a rollicking journey...
The duo will be pitching their project during Cph:forum, the international financing and co-production event held during the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (Cph:dox), which runs March 21-April 3.
“Sink or $wim” is inspired by journalist McKenzie Funk’s bestseller “Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming,” which details how a growing legion of corporations, high-stakes gamblers and entrepreneurs are cashing in on the climate crisis.
“We’ve all seen a lot of movies about climate change. And there are a lot of movies that offer solutions,” Deal tells Variety. “We think it’s time to tell a new kind of climate story, to take an audience on a rollicking journey...
- 3/24/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Copenhagen Intl. Documentary Film Festival, which runs March 21-April 3, has revealed the lineup for its international financing and co-production event Cph:forum.
Women are taking central stage in the lineup both as characters and storytellers, and the Forum will feature new projects by Jialing Zhang (“One Child Nation”), Ilinca Calugareanu (“Chuck Norris vs. Communism”), Tova Mozard (“Psychic”), Elizabeth Lo (“Stray”) and Lana Wilson (“Miss Americana”) among others.
The selection of 30 projects in this year’s Cph:forum represents a variety of topics, genres and artistic approaches from a diverse group of filmmakers. According to the festival, “Seeking to demonstrate the richness and heterogeneity of the documentary genre, Cph:forum presents a curated slate of films that speak to the major issues of the world we live in.”
Topics of race, equity and colonial legacy connect a personal film of Barbadian filmmaker Jason Fitzroy Jeffers (“Papa Machete”), and the newest project of the Dutch...
Women are taking central stage in the lineup both as characters and storytellers, and the Forum will feature new projects by Jialing Zhang (“One Child Nation”), Ilinca Calugareanu (“Chuck Norris vs. Communism”), Tova Mozard (“Psychic”), Elizabeth Lo (“Stray”) and Lana Wilson (“Miss Americana”) among others.
The selection of 30 projects in this year’s Cph:forum represents a variety of topics, genres and artistic approaches from a diverse group of filmmakers. According to the festival, “Seeking to demonstrate the richness and heterogeneity of the documentary genre, Cph:forum presents a curated slate of films that speak to the major issues of the world we live in.”
Topics of race, equity and colonial legacy connect a personal film of Barbadian filmmaker Jason Fitzroy Jeffers (“Papa Machete”), and the newest project of the Dutch...
- 2/10/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Roadside Attractions has scooped up the U.S. rights to “Call Jane,” the period piece abortion drama that stars Elizabeth Banks and made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year.
Phyllis Nagy (“Carol”) directed the film that also stars Sigourney Weaver. Roadside is planning a theatrical release for the film this fall.
“Call Jane” is set in Chicago in 1968 and follows a suburban housewife named Joy who has a life-threatening heart condition as a result of her pregnancy and finds an all-male medical establishment is unwilling to assist in her abortion. Her journey for a solution leads her to two women who are committed to women’s health and have the dream of giving all women access to abortions, and together they form an underground abortion service for women that puts every aspect of her own life on the line.
The film is based on a true story,...
Phyllis Nagy (“Carol”) directed the film that also stars Sigourney Weaver. Roadside is planning a theatrical release for the film this fall.
“Call Jane” is set in Chicago in 1968 and follows a suburban housewife named Joy who has a life-threatening heart condition as a result of her pregnancy and finds an all-male medical establishment is unwilling to assist in her abortion. Her journey for a solution leads her to two women who are committed to women’s health and have the dream of giving all women access to abortions, and together they form an underground abortion service for women that puts every aspect of her own life on the line.
The film is based on a true story,...
- 2/4/2022
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Roadside Attractions is taking U.S. distribution rights to Oscar-Nominee Phyllis Nagy’s theatrical feature directorial debut, Call Jane. A theatrical release is planned for the film this year.
Chicago, 1968. As the city and the nation are poised on the brink of political upheaval, suburban housewife Joy (Elizabeth Banks) leads an ordinary life with her husband and daughter. When Joy’s pregnancy leads to a life-threatening heart condition, she must navigate an all-male medical establishment unwilling to terminate her pregnancy in order to save her life. Her journey for a solution leads her to Virginia (Sigourney Weaver), an independent visionary fiercely committed to women’s health, and Gwen (Wunmi Mosaku), an activist who dreams of a day when all women will have access to abortion, regardless of their ability to pay. Joy is so inspired by their work, she decides to join forces with them, putting every aspect of her life on the line.
Chicago, 1968. As the city and the nation are poised on the brink of political upheaval, suburban housewife Joy (Elizabeth Banks) leads an ordinary life with her husband and daughter. When Joy’s pregnancy leads to a life-threatening heart condition, she must navigate an all-male medical establishment unwilling to terminate her pregnancy in order to save her life. Her journey for a solution leads her to Virginia (Sigourney Weaver), an independent visionary fiercely committed to women’s health, and Gwen (Wunmi Mosaku), an activist who dreams of a day when all women will have access to abortion, regardless of their ability to pay. Joy is so inspired by their work, she decides to join forces with them, putting every aspect of her life on the line.
- 2/4/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
In another era, traditional movie studios would have exhaustively battled to buy a Sundance Film Festival crowd-pleaser like “Cha Cha Real Smooth” in the hopes of turning critical raves into the next theatrical hit.
“Cha Cha Real Smooth,” writer-director Cooper Raiff’s charming story about a budding friendship between an aimless college grad and a young mother, seemed tailor-made to charm the snow boots off Sundance buyers — and it did. Apple TV Plus outbid competitors and bought the movie for $15 million, the biggest sale at this year’s festival. But unlike perennial Sundance favorite “Little Miss Sunshine,” Kumail Nanjiani’s unconventional rom-com “The Big Sick,” the Mister Rogers documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” and other indie darlings that came before it, “Cha Cha Real Smooth” wasn’t sold to a conventional movie studio and therefore won’t require box office dollars to justify its price tag. If the...
“Cha Cha Real Smooth,” writer-director Cooper Raiff’s charming story about a budding friendship between an aimless college grad and a young mother, seemed tailor-made to charm the snow boots off Sundance buyers — and it did. Apple TV Plus outbid competitors and bought the movie for $15 million, the biggest sale at this year’s festival. But unlike perennial Sundance favorite “Little Miss Sunshine,” Kumail Nanjiani’s unconventional rom-com “The Big Sick,” the Mister Rogers documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” and other indie darlings that came before it, “Cha Cha Real Smooth” wasn’t sold to a conventional movie studio and therefore won’t require box office dollars to justify its price tag. If the...
- 1/31/2022
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
As this year’s Sundance Film Festival comes to a close, the mostly virtual event introduced a hefty number of films worth getting excited about beyond the festival. The hope was this year would have marked a return to an in-person Sundance, but this year’s festival still played home to a wide variety of wonderful films.
From new works from some of our favorite filmmakers to rising stars making their debuts, our favorites include the latest from SXSW winner Cooper Raiff (the charming “Cha Cha Real Smooth”), Aubrey Plaza’s latest leading-lady evolution (“Emily the Criminal”), a pair of character-centric dramedies starring some of our greatest living actors, provocative documentaries, the inevitable Kanye West deep dive (“jeen-yuhs”), and at least one movie about a very big egg and the girl that loves it.
At publication, a number of these films have already been picked up for distribution; some even have release dates ready.
From new works from some of our favorite filmmakers to rising stars making their debuts, our favorites include the latest from SXSW winner Cooper Raiff (the charming “Cha Cha Real Smooth”), Aubrey Plaza’s latest leading-lady evolution (“Emily the Criminal”), a pair of character-centric dramedies starring some of our greatest living actors, provocative documentaries, the inevitable Kanye West deep dive (“jeen-yuhs”), and at least one movie about a very big egg and the girl that loves it.
At publication, a number of these films have already been picked up for distribution; some even have release dates ready.
- 1/29/2022
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
From “Call Jane” to “The Janes,” this year’s Sundance lineup is shining a spotlight on reproductive rights, reflecting a national moment in which the right to choose is increasingly under attack.
With “Happening” (“L’evenement”), writer-director Audrey Diwan adds an international dimension to the conversation. Based on Annie Ernaux’s novel, the film explores how anti-choice policies manifest on a profoundly personal level.
The film centers on Anne (Anamaria Vartolomei), an intelligent young student living in 1960s France, where abortion is strictly prohibited. When she discovers that she’s pregnant, she must navigate a series of difficult choices to avoid social alienation and remain in school.
“When I discovered the book, it was soon after having an abortion, and I realized the huge gap between this legalized, medicalized process and the illegal abortions,” Diwan told Sharon Waxman at TheWrap’s virtual Sundance studio.
“I thought I knew what it was,...
With “Happening” (“L’evenement”), writer-director Audrey Diwan adds an international dimension to the conversation. Based on Annie Ernaux’s novel, the film explores how anti-choice policies manifest on a profoundly personal level.
The film centers on Anne (Anamaria Vartolomei), an intelligent young student living in 1960s France, where abortion is strictly prohibited. When she discovers that she’s pregnant, she must navigate a series of difficult choices to avoid social alienation and remain in school.
“When I discovered the book, it was soon after having an abortion, and I realized the huge gap between this legalized, medicalized process and the illegal abortions,” Diwan told Sharon Waxman at TheWrap’s virtual Sundance studio.
“I thought I knew what it was,...
- 1/29/2022
- by Harper Lambert
- The Wrap
The usual prep for Sundance involves a good deal of packing (warm coats, snow-ready boots, a dozen thermals and a lot of Theraflu) and several weeks of intense physical training (wind sprints to better catch fast-moving shuttles, long stairmaster sessions for those screenings at the fourth floor Library theater, extreme-cold endurance tests for long waits to enter the Eccles). This year, the suitcases sat gathering dust in the corner and the regimen was simpler: Practice opening your laptop. Now, close it. Repeat several times a day. Press remote button on,...
- 1/28/2022
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
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