It is not uncommon to happen upon subversive art in the mainstream. You can find the provocative work of R. Crumb, Andres Serrano and Robert Mapplethorpe smuggled into the background of films, or, in many cases, outright adapted as a feature (à la Ralph Bakshi's take on Crumb's "Fritz the Cat"). What you don't expect is to throw on a network evening soap opera and notice that a character's pillowcase is adorned with a design pattern of unrolled condoms -- especially in the 1990s.
MacArthur "genius grant"-winning artist Mel Chin thought the same thing 30 years ago while teaching art simultaneously at CalTech and the University of Georgia. Inspired by the notion of product placement exploding across movie and television screens all over the world, Chin wondered what would happen if he could sneak a conceptually contentious piece of art into the background of an otherwise apolitical show.
MacArthur "genius grant"-winning artist Mel Chin thought the same thing 30 years ago while teaching art simultaneously at CalTech and the University of Georgia. Inspired by the notion of product placement exploding across movie and television screens all over the world, Chin wondered what would happen if he could sneak a conceptually contentious piece of art into the background of an otherwise apolitical show.
- 12/16/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the year’s most talked-about scripts continues with Nyad, Julia Cox’s adaptation of Diana Nyad’s memoir that was the diving-off point for directors Elizabeth Chai Vásárhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s Netflix movie.
The plot follows the true story of Nyad’s attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida at age 63. Annette Bening plays Nyad, and Jodie Foster her coach Bonnie Stoll. Both recently snagged Golden Globe nominations for their performances.
Nyad attempted the Cuba-Florida swim once at the peak of her long-distance swimming career in 1978, but did not make it. Following her retirement, she covered sports for ABC and NPR among other outlets, but after turning 60 in 2010 she attempted the swim again. She didn’t make it that time, either.
The film shows the several attempts Nyad made to cross the 110 miles from Havana to Key West via the Straits of...
The plot follows the true story of Nyad’s attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida at age 63. Annette Bening plays Nyad, and Jodie Foster her coach Bonnie Stoll. Both recently snagged Golden Globe nominations for their performances.
Nyad attempted the Cuba-Florida swim once at the peak of her long-distance swimming career in 1978, but did not make it. Following her retirement, she covered sports for ABC and NPR among other outlets, but after turning 60 in 2010 she attempted the swim again. She didn’t make it that time, either.
The film shows the several attempts Nyad made to cross the 110 miles from Havana to Key West via the Straits of...
- 12/15/2023
- by Fred Topel
- Deadline Film + TV
Getting Kris Tompkins to participate in the documentary, “Wild Life,” was not an easy task for co-director Jimmy Chin. “She is of the generation where they’re not looking to be famous. They were always about getting the work done and I don’t think, initially, she felt like there was any need to publicize her life or what she had done,” he tells Gold Derby during our recent Meet the Experts panel on TV Documentaries (watch the exclusive video interview above).
Through reassuring Tompkins about how much he commits himself to a project, she was eventually able to come around. “I think Kris took some time to think about it and I think she understood that we had this platform and that this story was one of the hopeful stories about the environment and about how to create change in this world in a meaningful way.”
See over 300 video...
Through reassuring Tompkins about how much he commits himself to a project, she was eventually able to come around. “I think Kris took some time to think about it and I think she understood that we had this platform and that this story was one of the hopeful stories about the environment and about how to create change in this world in a meaningful way.”
See over 300 video...
- 6/2/2023
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
Exclusive: For NASA’s pioneering Black astronauts, gravity wasn’t the only barrier impeding them from reaching the highest heights. They also faced another implacable force, in the form of racial bias.
National Geographic Documentary Films today announced filmmakers Lisa Cortés and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza will direct and produce The Space Race, a feature documentary “that will uncover the little-known stories of the first Black pilots, engineers and scientists to become astronauts” and the obstacles that impacted their trajectory. Frank Marshall and Tony Rosenthal of The Kennedy/Marshall Company will executive produce the film, along with Carolyn Bernstein of National Geographic Documentary Films and Leland Melvin. The project will be produced by Kennedy/Marshall’s Alexandra Bowen and Aly Parker, Diamond Docs’ Mark Monroe and independent producer Keero Birla. Monroe will also serve as the film’s writer.
Astronaut Ed Dwight is interviewed for ‘The Space Race.
National Geographic Documentary Films today announced filmmakers Lisa Cortés and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza will direct and produce The Space Race, a feature documentary “that will uncover the little-known stories of the first Black pilots, engineers and scientists to become astronauts” and the obstacles that impacted their trajectory. Frank Marshall and Tony Rosenthal of The Kennedy/Marshall Company will executive produce the film, along with Carolyn Bernstein of National Geographic Documentary Films and Leland Melvin. The project will be produced by Kennedy/Marshall’s Alexandra Bowen and Aly Parker, Diamond Docs’ Mark Monroe and independent producer Keero Birla. Monroe will also serve as the film’s writer.
Astronaut Ed Dwight is interviewed for ‘The Space Race.
- 3/31/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Legendary astronomer and astrophysicist Carl Sagan, who expanded scientific understanding of the universe and helped millions appreciate the wonders of the cosmos, will be the subject of an upcoming documentary feature from National Geographic Documentary Films.
The Untitled Carl Sagan Film will be produced by Fuzzy Door’s Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins, Emmy and Peabody winner Ann Druyan – Sagan’s life partner – and Academy Award nominee Nanette Burstein, with Burstein directing. Also producing is production company Hungry Man.
Dr. Carl Sagan during an interview with ‘The Tonight Show’ host Johnny Carson on September 16, 1976.
Sagan’s contributions to planetary science were equaled only by his capacity to spread an infectious joy of the marvel and immensity of space. His 1980 book Cosmos became the best-selling science book ever published in English, and he appeared frequently on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (amusing the host and the viewing public with...
The Untitled Carl Sagan Film will be produced by Fuzzy Door’s Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins, Emmy and Peabody winner Ann Druyan – Sagan’s life partner – and Academy Award nominee Nanette Burstein, with Burstein directing. Also producing is production company Hungry Man.
Dr. Carl Sagan during an interview with ‘The Tonight Show’ host Johnny Carson on September 16, 1976.
Sagan’s contributions to planetary science were equaled only by his capacity to spread an infectious joy of the marvel and immensity of space. His 1980 book Cosmos became the best-selling science book ever published in English, and he appeared frequently on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (amusing the host and the viewing public with...
- 3/30/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
With Sara Dosa’s Fire of Love earning a well-deserved Oscar nomination and Laura McGann’s The Deepest Breath getting a buzzy Sundance bow, the documentary subgenre of romances forged against photogenic and death-defying backdrops (sometimes featuring real-life tragedy) continues to thrive.
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, who won an Academy Award for Free Solo, one of the best films of this type, are back on tangentially similar terrain with Wild Life, an SXSW premiere that will get a brief theatrical run before hitting NatGeo. Less an adrenaline-filled suspense piece than Free Solo, Wild Life is a sad and inspiring love story, as well as a portrait of great wealth put to humanity’s common good, even if it glosses over a number of ethical head-scratchers. It’s still beautiful to look at, but I most enjoyed Wild Life as a complicated procedural about land use (don’t expect...
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, who won an Academy Award for Free Solo, one of the best films of this type, are back on tangentially similar terrain with Wild Life, an SXSW premiere that will get a brief theatrical run before hitting NatGeo. Less an adrenaline-filled suspense piece than Free Solo, Wild Life is a sad and inspiring love story, as well as a portrait of great wealth put to humanity’s common good, even if it glosses over a number of ethical head-scratchers. It’s still beautiful to look at, but I most enjoyed Wild Life as a complicated procedural about land use (don’t expect...
- 3/15/2023
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Married in 2013, while Oscar-winning filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin both had been making and shooting films before they met, the power of their collaborative work was instantaneous. 2015’s breathtaking high stakes “Meru” was one of the most harrowing mountain climbing docs ever made up until that point, and they managed to somehow even one-up it with their Oscar-winning doc, the vertiginous and death-defying “Free Solo.”
Read More: SXSW 2023 Preview: 25 Must-See Film & TV Projects To Watch
Since then, the duo has turned their love for the outdoors, the environment and landscape, and their innate curiosity about the natural world into some riveting documentaries, many of them fueled by the same ticking-clock adrenaline of “Meru” and “Free Solo”.
Continue reading ‘Wild Life’ Review: The Directors Of ‘Free Solo’ Craft A Heartfelt Tribute To The Conservationists Behind Patagonia, The North Face & Esprit [SXSW] at The Playlist.
Read More: SXSW 2023 Preview: 25 Must-See Film & TV Projects To Watch
Since then, the duo has turned their love for the outdoors, the environment and landscape, and their innate curiosity about the natural world into some riveting documentaries, many of them fueled by the same ticking-clock adrenaline of “Meru” and “Free Solo”.
Continue reading ‘Wild Life’ Review: The Directors Of ‘Free Solo’ Craft A Heartfelt Tribute To The Conservationists Behind Patagonia, The North Face & Esprit [SXSW] at The Playlist.
- 3/15/2023
- by Rodrigo Perez
- The Playlist
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