Visit Films has acquired worldwide sales rights for “Realm of Satan,” the feature film debut of seasoned editor Scott Cummings. The film, a documentary about Satanists, will have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, and also plays at Cph:dox. On its website, the festival warns potential viewers: “This film contains graphic sexual content.”
Cummings previously directed short film “Buffalo Juggalos,” which won the grand jury prize for live action short at AFI Fest. He has served as the editor on several films that premiered at Sundance including “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” “Monsters and Men,” “Menashe” and “Wendy.”
“Realm of Satan” is a portrait of Satanists in both everyday and extraordinary situations. Visit Films describes the film as “a ritualistic documentary that casts a spell on viewers, luring them into a mystical world of magic, mystery and misanthropy.”
“Realm of Satan”
Cummings worked in collaboration with members of the...
Cummings previously directed short film “Buffalo Juggalos,” which won the grand jury prize for live action short at AFI Fest. He has served as the editor on several films that premiered at Sundance including “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” “Monsters and Men,” “Menashe” and “Wendy.”
“Realm of Satan” is a portrait of Satanists in both everyday and extraordinary situations. Visit Films describes the film as “a ritualistic documentary that casts a spell on viewers, luring them into a mystical world of magic, mystery and misanthropy.”
“Realm of Satan”
Cummings worked in collaboration with members of the...
- 1/8/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
This film tells the story of concrete slabs that have been rehomed thousands of miles away in bizarre yet unremarkable locations
Tracking down various segments of the Berlin Wall scattered all over the US, this eccentric yet down-to-earth documentary from Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez traces how a historic artefact can mutate and splinter into myriad meanings. Transformed by their surroundings as well as the film-makers’ gaze, these concrete slabs are more than a symbol of the cold war; they have come to represent something quintessentially American.
From the midwest to California, state department halls to roadside restaurants, chunks of the wall can be found in the most unlikely of places. Most often positioned as a commemoration of history – and that loaded concept of “freedom” – the fragments are occasionally entirely untethered from their context, re-erected decoratively inside a Microsoft office or in the home of a private collector.
Continue reading.
Tracking down various segments of the Berlin Wall scattered all over the US, this eccentric yet down-to-earth documentary from Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez traces how a historic artefact can mutate and splinter into myriad meanings. Transformed by their surroundings as well as the film-makers’ gaze, these concrete slabs are more than a symbol of the cold war; they have come to represent something quintessentially American.
From the midwest to California, state department halls to roadside restaurants, chunks of the wall can be found in the most unlikely of places. Most often positioned as a commemoration of history – and that loaded concept of “freedom” – the fragments are occasionally entirely untethered from their context, re-erected decoratively inside a Microsoft office or in the home of a private collector.
Continue reading.
- 6/26/2023
- by Phuong Le
- The Guardian - Film News
What will be your first movie of 2023? If you’re reading this it’s likely you put some (let’s be honest: too much) thought into what commences the cinematic year. The Criterion Channel’s January lineup will put some good things front and center: they’re launching a 20-film cinema verité series that highlights all major figures of the form; an eight-film Mike Leigh retrospective that focuses on his little-seen, lesser-discussed BBC features produced between 1973 and 1984; a series on Abbas Kiarostami’s studies of childhood; and because you’ve either seen Eo or have it marked to watch, Jerzy Skolimowski’s three most-acclaimed films should be of equal note.
Another 2022 favorite, Il Buco, will have its streaming premiere alongside Kamikaze Hearts, the Depardieu-led Cyrano de Bergerac, and the recent restoration of Lodge Kerrigan’s Keane. The sole Criterion Edition for this month is 3 Women, while some notable recent documentaries—The American Sector,...
Another 2022 favorite, Il Buco, will have its streaming premiere alongside Kamikaze Hearts, the Depardieu-led Cyrano de Bergerac, and the recent restoration of Lodge Kerrigan’s Keane. The sole Criterion Edition for this month is 3 Women, while some notable recent documentaries—The American Sector,...
- 12/20/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Closing out the summer, Mubi has unveiled their August 2021 lineup, kicking off most fittingly with Brett Story’s acclaimed recent documentary The Hottest August. Also among the lineup is Akira Kurosawa’s epic Ran, Fritz Lang’s hugely entertaining two-parter The Tiger of Eschnapur and The Indian Tomb. As his latest films arrive, Pablo Larraín’s The Club is also part of the lineup.
Xinyuan Zheng Lu’s Rotterdam winner The Cloud in Her Room is coming to Mubi in August, plus a “late film” special featuring Manoel de Olviera’s Gebo and the Shadow and The Last Sentence by Jan Troell. There will also be a canine double feature of Heddy Honigmann’s Buddy and Los Reyes by Bettina Perut and Ivan Osnovikoff.
See the lineup below and get 30 days of Mubi free here.
August 1 | The Hottest August | Brett Story
August 2 | Gebo and the Shadow | Manoel de Oliveria | Twilight...
Xinyuan Zheng Lu’s Rotterdam winner The Cloud in Her Room is coming to Mubi in August, plus a “late film” special featuring Manoel de Olviera’s Gebo and the Shadow and The Last Sentence by Jan Troell. There will also be a canine double feature of Heddy Honigmann’s Buddy and Los Reyes by Bettina Perut and Ivan Osnovikoff.
See the lineup below and get 30 days of Mubi free here.
August 1 | The Hottest August | Brett Story
August 2 | Gebo and the Shadow | Manoel de Oliveria | Twilight...
- 7/19/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Alice (Josephine Mackerras)
It makes no sense. The night before saw Alice Ferrand’s (Emilie Piponnier) husband François (Martin Swabey) going out of his way to passionately make-out with her in front of their friends at a dinner party and now he won’t answer her calls. Despite his running out of the house earlier than usual without any explanation, however, there’s nothing to make her think something is wrong until a trip to the drugstore exposes a freeze on their finances. One credit card won’t work. Then another. The Atm won’t accept her sign-in and François still isn’t picking up his phone. Alice has no other option but to set a meeting with the bank and figure...
Alice (Josephine Mackerras)
It makes no sense. The night before saw Alice Ferrand’s (Emilie Piponnier) husband François (Martin Swabey) going out of his way to passionately make-out with her in front of their friends at a dinner party and now he won’t answer her calls. Despite his running out of the house earlier than usual without any explanation, however, there’s nothing to make her think something is wrong until a trip to the drugstore exposes a freeze on their finances. One credit card won’t work. Then another. The Atm won’t accept her sign-in and François still isn’t picking up his phone. Alice has no other option but to set a meeting with the bank and figure...
- 6/18/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Metrograph Launches New TV App to Serve Movie-Loving Patrons, Readies to Reopen Theater in September
New York City’s Metrograph has today announced the launch of the Metrograph TV App, designed to allow its members nationwide access to all Metrograph live streams and on-demand programming directly via their TV remote. The Metrograph TV App is available starting today at no cost on Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku, with an Android TV launch coming soon.
Like most other NYC theaters, the Metrograph closed its doors in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but is now readying for a September re-opening. The two-screen theater, located on Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side, has yet to announce its full release plans as other NYC-area theaters continue to reopen, but today’s launch of the app makes it clear that a digital component will be part of its plans moving forward.
“Metrograph’s digital expansion this past year has brought our programming to a nationwide audience, and...
Like most other NYC theaters, the Metrograph closed its doors in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but is now readying for a September re-opening. The two-screen theater, located on Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side, has yet to announce its full release plans as other NYC-area theaters continue to reopen, but today’s launch of the app makes it clear that a digital component will be part of its plans moving forward.
“Metrograph’s digital expansion this past year has brought our programming to a nationwide audience, and...
- 6/2/2021
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Full list of awards at Swiss documentary festival revealed.
Jessica Beshir’s feature debut Faya Dayi has won the grand jury prize at Swiss documentary festival Visions Du Réel (April 15-24).
The award, which includes 20,000Chf, was announced at a ceremony in the Swiss lakeside town on Nyon on Saturday (April 24).
Faya Dayi, which explores the role that the narcotic khat plant plays in the economy and culture of Ethiopia, also picked up the Fipresci award.
Scroll down for more winners
The US-Ethiopia-Qatar co-production marks the directorial debut of US-based Mexican-Ethiopian director Beshir and previously premiered in competition at Sundance.
Jessica Beshir’s feature debut Faya Dayi has won the grand jury prize at Swiss documentary festival Visions Du Réel (April 15-24).
The award, which includes 20,000Chf, was announced at a ceremony in the Swiss lakeside town on Nyon on Saturday (April 24).
Faya Dayi, which explores the role that the narcotic khat plant plays in the economy and culture of Ethiopia, also picked up the Fipresci award.
Scroll down for more winners
The US-Ethiopia-Qatar co-production marks the directorial debut of US-based Mexican-Ethiopian director Beshir and previously premiered in competition at Sundance.
- 4/24/2021
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Swiss documentary film festival Visions du Réel (VdR) has revealed the full lineup for its 52nd edition, which, for the second year running, will screen as a online event, this round round over April 15-25.
The program, which comprises of 142 films originating from 58 countries, was revealed live in a Zoom press conference this morning, broadcast from the Cinéma Capitole in the festival’s host town of Nyon, Switzerland.
Among the 13 titles competing in VdR’s main, a doc feature exploring a health system in the throes of change. The zeigeisty debut feature of Swiss filmmaker Marie-Eve Hildbrand will also open the festival on 15 April.
The festival also announced 37 medium-to-short films from first-time directors. In a statement Emilie Bujès, artistic director of Visions du Réel praised this year’s “powerful and eclectic” selection.
“It will once again enable us to take into account the independence and the emancipation of contemporary documentary filmmaking,...
The program, which comprises of 142 films originating from 58 countries, was revealed live in a Zoom press conference this morning, broadcast from the Cinéma Capitole in the festival’s host town of Nyon, Switzerland.
Among the 13 titles competing in VdR’s main, a doc feature exploring a health system in the throes of change. The zeigeisty debut feature of Swiss filmmaker Marie-Eve Hildbrand will also open the festival on 15 April.
The festival also announced 37 medium-to-short films from first-time directors. In a statement Emilie Bujès, artistic director of Visions du Réel praised this year’s “powerful and eclectic” selection.
“It will once again enable us to take into account the independence and the emancipation of contemporary documentary filmmaking,...
- 3/25/2021
- by Ann-Marie Corvin
- Variety Film + TV
Two Sisters Go on a Road Trip to Save Grandma from a Nursing Home in the First Hilarious Covid Movie
Life is full of surprises. Just last March — to pick one random example that you might remember — the entire world shut down because a coronavirus decided that it didn’t want to live inside a bat anymore. What a twist! Aside from the many scientists who saw it coming and repeatedly tried to sound the alarm, literally no one saw it coming. And now, just a year after the Covid-19 pandemic slowed the planet to a standstill, we’re in for another system shock that might be even harder to swallow: Someone has managed to make a funny movie about it. Like, actually funny, and not just “I understand that reference about decontaminating groceries” funny or “I haven’t had human contact with anyone outside my home in over 12 months” funny or “I’m only laughing so that my brain is tricked into releasing the last drops of serotonin that...
- 3/18/2021
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Out of the 30-some diverse subjects that make up Searchers, a documentary about New Yorkers navigating online dating, Robert, 75, and Arthur, 78, are the most fun to be around. They’re single and use Match.com, but have differing stances on how they like to use it and whether it will bring them a real companion. What they do agree on is that using the app is a job. It takes up time and money. “The whole thing is a pain in the ass,” Robert says. And then Arthur counters with a regretful shrug. “What’s the alternative?”
This is about as close to a thesis as director Pacho Velez can deliver. Though finding love on dating apps can often feel hopeless, they also remain a virtual source of hope, a paradox that—especially in the midst of a pandemic when physical connection is at a premium—fits the tone of this ambiguous exploration.
This is about as close to a thesis as director Pacho Velez can deliver. Though finding love on dating apps can often feel hopeless, they also remain a virtual source of hope, a paradox that—especially in the midst of a pandemic when physical connection is at a premium—fits the tone of this ambiguous exploration.
- 2/1/2021
- by Jake Kring-Schreifels
- The Film Stage
Dating’s complicated arc during the pandemic has been lovingly captured in Pacho Velez’s documentary Searchers. Whether on Grindr, Tinder, or any other app, the question “what are you looking for?” varies from person to person amid the chaos of mid-covid New York City. Editor Hannah Buck addresses the challenge of introducing the director as a subject of the film and the value of mediated experiences. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? Buck: In 2019 I was the consulting […]
The post "The Subjects in Our Film Brought a Lot of Life Back to My World": Editor Hannah Buck on Searchers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post "The Subjects in Our Film Brought a Lot of Life Back to My World": Editor Hannah Buck on Searchers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/31/2021
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Dating’s complicated arc during the pandemic has been lovingly captured in Pacho Velez’s documentary Searchers. Whether on Grindr, Tinder, or any other app, the question “what are you looking for?” varies from person to person amid the chaos of mid-covid New York City. Editor Hannah Buck addresses the challenge of introducing the director as a subject of the film and the value of mediated experiences. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? Buck: In 2019 I was the consulting […]
The post "The Subjects in Our Film Brought a Lot of Life Back to My World": Editor Hannah Buck on Searchers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post "The Subjects in Our Film Brought a Lot of Life Back to My World": Editor Hannah Buck on Searchers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/31/2021
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
The lengthiest interview in “Searchers” takes place toward the conclusion of director Pacho Velez’s warm and well-executed Sundance doc, which focuses on an array of New Yorkers and the dating apps they use.
Earlier, when the film introduces 55-year-old Ron, he’s offering a running commentary while scrolling through profiles with little pause: “He looks like Freddie Mercury of Queen. No, thank you,” he says of one. “Pass. Pass. Pass,“ he continues, zipping through profiles. “I’m never going to find anybody.”
Now, here he is recounting at the director’s behest his best online date, and it’s a more sweet than bitter bit of business. The story may not eliminate his sense that he’ll never find that special someone, but it does at least suggest that it’s possible. “Seek so that ye might find” could be the takeaway; that or, you gotta be in it to win it.
Earlier, when the film introduces 55-year-old Ron, he’s offering a running commentary while scrolling through profiles with little pause: “He looks like Freddie Mercury of Queen. No, thank you,” he says of one. “Pass. Pass. Pass,“ he continues, zipping through profiles. “I’m never going to find anybody.”
Now, here he is recounting at the director’s behest his best online date, and it’s a more sweet than bitter bit of business. The story may not eliminate his sense that he’ll never find that special someone, but it does at least suggest that it’s possible. “Seek so that ye might find” could be the takeaway; that or, you gotta be in it to win it.
- 1/31/2021
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
Pacho Velez’s breakthrough documentary “Manakamana,” which he co-directed, consists entirely of people (and goats) riding a cable car up and down a Nepalese mountain. So while he might not seem like the most natural candidate to make a light-hearted documentary about internet dating, “Searchers” dismantles that dumb assumption from its very first shot. Velez is fascinated by how people perform the idea of themselves, whether they’re crammed into a gondola suspended hundreds of feet above a wild valley or swiping through Tinder on their bed in Brooklyn.
By focusing his camera on the faces of 30 (or so) app users as they peruse the digital meat market and reflect on their perfect match, Velez allows their phones to become as much of a looking glass as they are a portal. The result of his little experiment is that flirts with modern ironies and asks timeless questions (“u up?”) in...
By focusing his camera on the faces of 30 (or so) app users as they peruse the digital meat market and reflect on their perfect match, Velez allows their phones to become as much of a looking glass as they are a portal. The result of his little experiment is that flirts with modern ironies and asks timeless questions (“u up?”) in...
- 1/31/2021
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Dating’s complicated arc during the pandemic has been lovingly captured in Pacho Velez’s documentary Searchers. Whether on Grindr, Tinder, or any other app, the question “what are you looking for?” varies from person to person amid the chaos of mid-covid New York City. DPs Martin Dicicco and Daniel Claridge tell us how they framed Velez as one of the film’s most vital subjects as well as the parallels between film and dating profiles. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this […]
The post "Online Dating Operates Through a Skein of Lenses": DPs Martin Dicicco and Daniel Claridge on Searchers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post "Online Dating Operates Through a Skein of Lenses": DPs Martin Dicicco and Daniel Claridge on Searchers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/30/2021
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Dating’s complicated arc during the pandemic has been lovingly captured in Pacho Velez’s documentary Searchers. Whether on Grindr, Tinder, or any other app, the question “what are you looking for?” varies from person to person amid the chaos of mid-covid New York City. DPs Martin Dicicco and Daniel Claridge tell us how they framed Velez as one of the film’s most vital subjects as well as the parallels between film and dating profiles. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this […]
The post "Online Dating Operates Through a Skein of Lenses": DPs Martin Dicicco and Daniel Claridge on Searchers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post "Online Dating Operates Through a Skein of Lenses": DPs Martin Dicicco and Daniel Claridge on Searchers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/30/2021
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
As someone who came of age at a time when looking for a potential partner(s), be it for a lifetime or one night, was less a neat calculated exercise and more a messy spontaneous surprise, I’ve never quite understood the appeal of online dating. Seeking love and/or sex via swipe just always seemed creepily clinical and controlled, cold and robotic — about as sexy as in vitro fertilization to my mind. And yet watching Pacho Velez’s Searchers, an exploration of online connecting through the eyes (literally, as Velez’s Interrotron-style setup allows his characters to look directly at us as they […]
The post “I Wanted the Film to Feel Like an Online Dating Hall of Mirrors”: Pacho Velez on his Sundance-Debuting Searchers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “I Wanted the Film to Feel Like an Online Dating Hall of Mirrors”: Pacho Velez on his Sundance-Debuting Searchers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/30/2021
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
As someone who came of age at a time when looking for a potential partner(s), be it for a lifetime or one night, was less a neat calculated exercise and more a messy spontaneous surprise, I’ve never quite understood the appeal of online dating. Seeking love and/or sex via swipe just always seemed creepily clinical and controlled, cold and robotic — about as sexy as in vitro fertilization to my mind. And yet watching Pacho Velez’s Searchers, an exploration of online connecting through the eyes (literally, as Velez’s Interrotron-style setup allows his characters to look directly at us as they […]
The post “I Wanted the Film to Feel Like an Online Dating Hall of Mirrors”: Pacho Velez on his Sundance-Debuting Searchers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “I Wanted the Film to Feel Like an Online Dating Hall of Mirrors”: Pacho Velez on his Sundance-Debuting Searchers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/30/2021
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
How did events of 2020—any of them—change your film, either in the way you approached it, produced it, post-produced it, or are now thinking about it? I imagine that many directors are writing about Covid or the BLM protests, and both of those events shaped Searchers, but I also experienced a more personal milestone—my fortieth birthday. I usually avoid celebrating birthdays, but it felt important to embrace this one. Then came the pandemic, and I spent the day like every other lockdown day, reading the news, listening to podcasts, and experimenting in the kitchen. Besides the symbolic weight of forty, […]
The post "I Usually Avoid Celebrating Birthdays, But it Felt Important to Embrace This One": Director Pacho Velez | Searchers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post "I Usually Avoid Celebrating Birthdays, But it Felt Important to Embrace This One": Director Pacho Velez | Searchers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/30/2021
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
How did events of 2020—any of them—change your film, either in the way you approached it, produced it, post-produced it, or are now thinking about it? I imagine that many directors are writing about Covid or the BLM protests, and both of those events shaped Searchers, but I also experienced a more personal milestone—my fortieth birthday. I usually avoid celebrating birthdays, but it felt important to embrace this one. Then came the pandemic, and I spent the day like every other lockdown day, reading the news, listening to podcasts, and experimenting in the kitchen. Besides the symbolic weight of forty, […]
The post "I Usually Avoid Celebrating Birthdays, But it Felt Important to Embrace This One": Director Pacho Velez | Searchers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post "I Usually Avoid Celebrating Birthdays, But it Felt Important to Embrace This One": Director Pacho Velez | Searchers first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/30/2021
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
With such a wide array of potential awards contenders in film and television, awards groups like the Cinema Eye Honors help to cull the field. This year, HBO Documentary Films leads the broadcast categories with 10 nominations, including three each for Liz Garbus’ serial killer series “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” and David France’s Oscar contender “Welcome to Chechnya.” Cinema Eye also unveiled 10 short documentary semifinalists for the short filmmaking honors.
The Outstanding Broadcast Film nominees also include “Bully. Coward. Victim.: The Story of Roy Cohn,” directed by Ivy Meeropol, 2020 Oscar winner “Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl),” directed by Carol Dysinger, “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese,” and “Sea of Shadows,” directed by Richard Ladkani.
Outstanding Series Nominees include “Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children,” directed by Joshua Bennett, Maro Chermayeff, Jeff Dupre, and Sam Pollard, “Hillary,...
The Outstanding Broadcast Film nominees also include “Bully. Coward. Victim.: The Story of Roy Cohn,” directed by Ivy Meeropol, 2020 Oscar winner “Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl),” directed by Carol Dysinger, “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese,” and “Sea of Shadows,” directed by Richard Ladkani.
Outstanding Series Nominees include “Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children,” directed by Joshua Bennett, Maro Chermayeff, Jeff Dupre, and Sam Pollard, “Hillary,...
- 11/19/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
With such a wide array of potential awards contenders in film and television, awards groups like the Cinema Eye Honors help to cull the field. This year, HBO Documentary Films leads the broadcast categories with 10 nominations, including three each for Liz Garbus’ serial killer series “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” and David France’s Oscar contender “Welcome to Chechnya.” Cinema Eye also unveiled 10 short documentary semifinalists for the short filmmaking honors.
The Outstanding Broadcast Film nominees also include “Bully. Coward. Victim.: The Story of Roy Cohn,” directed by Ivy Meeropol, 2020 Oscar winner “Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl),” directed by Carol Dysinger, “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese,” and “Sea of Shadows,” directed by Richard Ladkani.
Outstanding Series Nominees include “Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children,” directed by Joshua Bennett, Maro Chermayeff, Jeff Dupre, and Sam Pollard, “Hillary,...
The Outstanding Broadcast Film nominees also include “Bully. Coward. Victim.: The Story of Roy Cohn,” directed by Ivy Meeropol, 2020 Oscar winner “Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl),” directed by Carol Dysinger, “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese,” and “Sea of Shadows,” directed by Richard Ladkani.
Outstanding Series Nominees include “Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children,” directed by Joshua Bennett, Maro Chermayeff, Jeff Dupre, and Sam Pollard, “Hillary,...
- 11/19/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
David France’s “Welcome to Chechnya,” a documentary about LGBTQ activists trying to help during the Chechnya government’s brutal crackdown on gays and lesbians, leads all films in nominations in the Cinema Eye Honors’ broadcast categories, which were announced on Thursday during a virtual edition of its annual fall lunch.
Cinema Eye, a New York-based organization founded in 2007 to recognize all aspects of nonfiction filmmaking, also announced its new Stay Focused initiative. The program spotlights 12 films by up-and-coming filmmakers who lost the chance for theatrical exhibition and film-festival exposure because of the coronavirus pandemic. Cinema Eye has pledged to find “in-person opportunities” for the filmmakers once the pandemic subsides, starting with theatrical screenings at the new Vidiots Theatre in Los Angeles in late 2021.
The 12 films include Cecilia Aldorondo’s “Landfall,” which recently won a jury award at Doc NYC; David Osit’s “Mayor,” about the Christian mayor of a...
Cinema Eye, a New York-based organization founded in 2007 to recognize all aspects of nonfiction filmmaking, also announced its new Stay Focused initiative. The program spotlights 12 films by up-and-coming filmmakers who lost the chance for theatrical exhibition and film-festival exposure because of the coronavirus pandemic. Cinema Eye has pledged to find “in-person opportunities” for the filmmakers once the pandemic subsides, starting with theatrical screenings at the new Vidiots Theatre in Los Angeles in late 2021.
The 12 films include Cecilia Aldorondo’s “Landfall,” which recently won a jury award at Doc NYC; David Osit’s “Mayor,” about the Christian mayor of a...
- 11/19/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Art of the Real 2020
Art of the Real, Film at Lincoln Center’s annual showcase of boundary-pushing non-fiction work, is now underway virtually nationwide. Featuring work by Joshua Bonnetta, Sky Hopinka, Hassen Ferhani, Ignacio Agüero, Lisa Marie Malloy and J.P. Sniadecki, Sérgio da Costa and Maya Kosa, Jonathan Perel, Jessica Sarah Rinland, Pacho Velez and Courtney Stephens, and more, the slate provides a comprehensive survey for finding new cinematic ways to look at the world.
Where to Stream: Film at Lincoln Center’s Virtual Cinema
Coded Bias (Shalini Kantayya)
Starting with the work of Joy Buolamwini of the MIT Media Lab, Shalini Kantayya’s Coded Bias is an alarming...
Art of the Real 2020
Art of the Real, Film at Lincoln Center’s annual showcase of boundary-pushing non-fiction work, is now underway virtually nationwide. Featuring work by Joshua Bonnetta, Sky Hopinka, Hassen Ferhani, Ignacio Agüero, Lisa Marie Malloy and J.P. Sniadecki, Sérgio da Costa and Maya Kosa, Jonathan Perel, Jessica Sarah Rinland, Pacho Velez and Courtney Stephens, and more, the slate provides a comprehensive survey for finding new cinematic ways to look at the world.
Where to Stream: Film at Lincoln Center’s Virtual Cinema
Coded Bias (Shalini Kantayya)
Starting with the work of Joy Buolamwini of the MIT Media Lab, Shalini Kantayya’s Coded Bias is an alarming...
- 11/13/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Following its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year, Cinema Guild has acquired all North American distribution rights to Joshua Bonnetta’s The Two Sights. Set to make its U.S. premiere next month as part of Film at Lincoln Center’s Art of the Real, the film will then open in theaters in 2021.
The first solo feature from Bonnetta, The Two Sights (An Dà Shealladh) explores the disappearing tradition of second sight in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. As we listen to locals’ accounts of haunting experiences—phantom horses, ghost voices and other supernatural phenomena—Bonnetta connects their testimonies with striking 16mm images and a carefully-curated sonic montage of the physical and aural environment of these enchanted islands. The Two Sights is an ethnographic marvel of non-fiction filmmaking that thrills the eyes and ears and invites us into the extra-sensory beyond.
“We’re so excited to...
The first solo feature from Bonnetta, The Two Sights (An Dà Shealladh) explores the disappearing tradition of second sight in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. As we listen to locals’ accounts of haunting experiences—phantom horses, ghost voices and other supernatural phenomena—Bonnetta connects their testimonies with striking 16mm images and a carefully-curated sonic montage of the physical and aural environment of these enchanted islands. The Two Sights is an ethnographic marvel of non-fiction filmmaking that thrills the eyes and ears and invites us into the extra-sensory beyond.
“We’re so excited to...
- 10/28/2020
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
This week, French actor Juliette Binoche wins Zurich’s Icon Award, Grasshopper takes “The American Sector” for North America, “Killing Eve” writer Rob Williams creates “Screw” for the U.K.’s Channel 4, and the World Economic Forum at Davos is postponed.
The 16th annual Zurich Film Festival, running from Sept. 24 to Oct. 4, will award its most prestigious prize to French actor Juliette Binoche. The Academy Award winner, who is presenting her recent film “La Bonne Épouse” at the fest, will receive the Golden Icon Award, marking the first time the prize has gone to a French actress.
Binoche has appeared in more than 75 movies to date, working with the likes of Jean-Luc Godard, Louis Malle, André Téchiné, Leos Carax, Kryszstof Kieslowski, Abbas Kiarostami, Claire Denis and Olivier Assayas. “In the year that France is our guest country, it’s a great pleasure to honour a true icon of French cinema,...
The 16th annual Zurich Film Festival, running from Sept. 24 to Oct. 4, will award its most prestigious prize to French actor Juliette Binoche. The Academy Award winner, who is presenting her recent film “La Bonne Épouse” at the fest, will receive the Golden Icon Award, marking the first time the prize has gone to a French actress.
Binoche has appeared in more than 75 movies to date, working with the likes of Jean-Luc Godard, Louis Malle, André Téchiné, Leos Carax, Kryszstof Kieslowski, Abbas Kiarostami, Claire Denis and Olivier Assayas. “In the year that France is our guest country, it’s a great pleasure to honour a true icon of French cinema,...
- 8/27/2020
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Magnolia Pictures has acquired the worldwide rights, excluding Canada, to Lance Oppenheim’s documentary feature debut “Some Kind of Heaven.”
The film, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, was produced by Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa and Los Angeles Media Fund, which also financed the film.
“Some Kind of Heaven” profiles The Villages, the nation’s largest retirement community, located in Central Florida. The Villages is often called the “Disneyland for Retirees,” and the film follows a married couple, a widow and a bachelor who search for Eden.
Also Read: Frank Zappa Documentary From Alex Winter Acquired by Magnolia
Magnolia is planning an early 2021 release.
“‘Some Kind of Heaven’ is a remarkable achievement from a striking new voice in film,” Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles said. “Lance Oppenheim demonstrates an incredible command of his craft and more importantly, a clear-eyed vision of the world around him. It also makes me want to learn pickleball.
The film, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, was produced by Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa and Los Angeles Media Fund, which also financed the film.
“Some Kind of Heaven” profiles The Villages, the nation’s largest retirement community, located in Central Florida. The Villages is often called the “Disneyland for Retirees,” and the film follows a married couple, a widow and a bachelor who search for Eden.
Also Read: Frank Zappa Documentary From Alex Winter Acquired by Magnolia
Magnolia is planning an early 2021 release.
“‘Some Kind of Heaven’ is a remarkable achievement from a striking new voice in film,” Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles said. “Lance Oppenheim demonstrates an incredible command of his craft and more importantly, a clear-eyed vision of the world around him. It also makes me want to learn pickleball.
- 8/17/2020
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
Exclusive: Magnolia Pictures have acquired worldwide rights excluding Canada to the Sundance breakout Some Kind of Heaven. The documentary marks the documentary feature debut of Lance Oppenheim and puts a Floridian sun-kissed spotlight on the surreal world of The Villages, the nation’s largest retirement community. Some Kind of Heaven is produced by Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Media Fund. Magnolia is planning an early 2021 release.
After bowing at Sundance in January, the docu received love from critics and audiences alike before hitting the festival circuit. The Villages is sometimes referred to as the “Disneyland for Retirees”. Some Kind of Heaven follows retirees newly arrived at the fountain of youth including a married couple, a widow, and a bachelor search for Eden and a second bite at the apple, only to discover each of the deadly sins out on full display. From synchronized swimming to pickleball,...
After bowing at Sundance in January, the docu received love from critics and audiences alike before hitting the festival circuit. The Villages is sometimes referred to as the “Disneyland for Retirees”. Some Kind of Heaven follows retirees newly arrived at the fountain of youth including a married couple, a widow, and a bachelor search for Eden and a second bite at the apple, only to discover each of the deadly sins out on full display. From synchronized swimming to pickleball,...
- 8/17/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
I had just returned from the Cubix Cinema in East Berlin where we saw The American Sector, an urban archeological exploration of where parts of the Berlin Wall have ended up in America and why. Screen’s excellent review says “in their brisk yet profound documentary, filmmakers Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez argue that, even in the fragments that remain — and they concentrate on over 60 huge sections that are now displayed across the United States — the Berlin Wall continues to cast a long and complex shadow.”
After this very well-received film which filled the theater to capacity, we walked around the old East Berlin a bit. I saw that the old Prussian palace (called Stadtschloss) had been rebuilt according to a plan that been the center of controversy for years in Berlin. It displays the old façade, but the rest of the building is a pure unadorned rectangle. I found...
After this very well-received film which filled the theater to capacity, we walked around the old East Berlin a bit. I saw that the old Prussian palace (called Stadtschloss) had been rebuilt according to a plan that been the center of controversy for years in Berlin. It displays the old façade, but the rest of the building is a pure unadorned rectangle. I found...
- 4/13/2020
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez’s documentary The American Sector announces its intentions from the very beginning, starting with its first three juxtaposed images. The first is of what appears to be a nondescript block of concrete, with splattered paint and a caterpillar crawling upon it; the second reveals the block to be a segment of the Berlin Wall in a large forest–specified in the chyrons as unincorporated land in Western Pennsylvania–with the sound of chainsaws off-camera; the third suddenly jumps to a much different, more sterile setting: the Hilton Hotel in Dallas, Texas, where two sections of the Wall have been installed. Aside from brief interviews, a few instances of archival footage, and an epigraph from “The Monument” by poet Elizabeth Bishop, this deliberate foregrounding of incongruity in both specific and relative location created by editing is all the contextualization that the documentary provides, or needs.
As...
As...
- 2/29/2020
- by Ryan Swen
- The Film Stage
This year’s Berlin International Film Festival brought a lot of anticipation. The first edition assembled by artistic director Carlo Chatrian and executive director Mariette Rissenbeek required the team to push back on several years of backlash to lackluster programming while competing with a busy festival circuit.
The Berlinale isn’t Cannes or Sundance, but it turns out it didn’t need to chase either mold: In its 70th year, Berlin provided a range of international offerings large and small, more than enough to make the selection worth following across the 10-day event. Here are 10 highlights.
“The American Sector” (Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez)
Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez’s “The American Sector” may not have time to visit every section of the Berlin Wall that’s been imported to the country (the film runs a breezy 65 minutes without credits), but this light and thoughtful documentary road trip still manages...
The Berlinale isn’t Cannes or Sundance, but it turns out it didn’t need to chase either mold: In its 70th year, Berlin provided a range of international offerings large and small, more than enough to make the selection worth following across the 10-day event. Here are 10 highlights.
“The American Sector” (Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez)
Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez’s “The American Sector” may not have time to visit every section of the Berlin Wall that’s been imported to the country (the film runs a breezy 65 minutes without credits), but this light and thoughtful documentary road trip still manages...
- 2/29/2020
- by Eric Kohn, Anne Thompson and David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Three key films at the Berlinale take the form of landscape documentaries made in the Americas, and as such make the unavoidable point that you cannot film the land without engaging in a nation’s politics. This is most clear in the direct accusation made by Jonathan Perel’s vividly unsettling Corporate Accountability. The director films through his car window the exteriors of various companies, flourishing or defunct, across Argentina that had deep ties to the country’s dictatorship. As we watch the images of company plants, gates, and signage, all seemingly shot in the dusk or dawn, with a sinister, insomniac color palette and framing that suggest an imminent need to flee the scene, we hear Perel in voiceover recount details from a report put together by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.His voice tells us of union repression, military collaboration, torture, and disappearances. The term “victims...
- 2/28/2020
- MUBI
The Berlin Wall may have “fallen” in November 1989, but it was never destroyed — only dismantled. More than 30 years later, fragments of the concrete border that once separated East and West Germany are now scattered around the world; these lonely slabs of rock stick out of the ground like cold, gray monoliths, and radiate with the knowledge of another time. Dozens and dozens can be found in the United States alone. One hides in the verdant forests of Pennsylvania’s Unincorporated Land. Another is on display at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas. A Hilton Hotel in Dallas keeps a fragment in the lobby, where people walk by without looking twice. There’s even one at Universal Studios in Florida — right behind the Hard Rock Cafe.
Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez’s “The American Sector” may not have time to visit every section of the Berlin Wall that...
Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez’s “The American Sector” may not have time to visit every section of the Berlin Wall that...
- 2/28/2020
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Jacob Junior Nayinggul and Simon Baker in ‘High Ground.’
Stephen Johnson’s Aussie Western High Ground will have its world premiere in the Berlinale Special screenings section of the Berlin International Film Festival.
Inspired by true events and scripted by Chris Anastassiades, the 1930s-set action thriller stars Simon Baker, Callan Mulvey, Jack Thompson, Aaron Pedersen and newcomer Jacob Junior Nayinggul.
Baker plays Travis, a bounty hunter and former soldier who enlists the help of Gutjuk (Nayinggul) a young Aboriginal orphan, to track down the most dangerous outlaw in the Territory – his uncle. During the manhunt a secret is revealed which ultimately pits them against each other.
Thompson is Moran, the head of the police outpost, with Mulvey as Ambrose, a police officer who fought with Travis in World War One, and Petersen as a lethal black tracker from Queensland.
The cast also includes Caren Pistorious as Claire, the mission manager and teacher,...
Stephen Johnson’s Aussie Western High Ground will have its world premiere in the Berlinale Special screenings section of the Berlin International Film Festival.
Inspired by true events and scripted by Chris Anastassiades, the 1930s-set action thriller stars Simon Baker, Callan Mulvey, Jack Thompson, Aaron Pedersen and newcomer Jacob Junior Nayinggul.
Baker plays Travis, a bounty hunter and former soldier who enlists the help of Gutjuk (Nayinggul) a young Aboriginal orphan, to track down the most dangerous outlaw in the Territory – his uncle. During the manhunt a secret is revealed which ultimately pits them against each other.
Thompson is Moran, the head of the police outpost, with Mulvey as Ambrose, a police officer who fought with Travis in World War One, and Petersen as a lethal black tracker from Queensland.
The cast also includes Caren Pistorious as Claire, the mission manager and teacher,...
- 1/21/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
The section will also showcase the world premiere of Srdan Golubović’s Father
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 20-Mar 1) has completed the line-up of its Panorama strand with a further 15 world premieres.
The newly announced titles take the Panorama total to 35, after a first wave of features for the strand were announced last month.
They include the world premiere of Bassam Tariq’s Mogul Mowgli (previously titlted Mughal Mowgli), which stars Riz Ahmed as a UK rapper on the verge of international stardom when a crippling illness strikes him down, and he is forced to move back in with his family.
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 20-Mar 1) has completed the line-up of its Panorama strand with a further 15 world premieres.
The newly announced titles take the Panorama total to 35, after a first wave of features for the strand were announced last month.
They include the world premiere of Bassam Tariq’s Mogul Mowgli (previously titlted Mughal Mowgli), which stars Riz Ahmed as a UK rapper on the verge of international stardom when a crippling illness strikes him down, and he is forced to move back in with his family.
- 1/21/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
10 Great ‘Small’ Movies You Might Have Missed in the 2010s, From ‘Manakamana’ to ‘The Fits’ (Photos)
The films on this admittedly non-comprehensive list were not distributed by major studios, but by smaller specialty companies. They played for a couple of weeks (or less) in big cities, maybe even just one night in a museum. They weren’t on the multiplex radar at all. But to adventurous film audiences, they were a vital part of any discussion about cinema. They told complex stories ignored by major studios. The dug deeper into abstraction or discomfort. And they pushed at the edges of filmmaking practice in ways that will influence the mainstream in the future.
“Cemetery of Splendor” (2015)
A makeshift hospital on an ancient royal burial ground houses soldiers overcome with a mysterious sleeping sickness. Then they begin psychically communicating with the women who work there. Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s oblique, delicate story of historical memory and collective awakening that plays out like a dream.
“Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun?...
“Cemetery of Splendor” (2015)
A makeshift hospital on an ancient royal burial ground houses soldiers overcome with a mysterious sleeping sickness. Then they begin psychically communicating with the women who work there. Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s oblique, delicate story of historical memory and collective awakening that plays out like a dream.
“Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun?...
- 12/11/2019
- by Dave White
- The Wrap
Martin Scorsese's After Hours starring Griffin Dunne will have a free screening on Governors Island Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Film at Lincoln Center and the Trust for Governors Island have announced free summer screenings with the programme titled Escape in New York that will be produced by Rooftop Films. Barry Sonnenfeld's Men In Black, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, preceded by Pacho Velez & Yoni Brook's Mr. Yellow Sweatshirt; Martin Scorsese's After Hours, preceded by Eleanore Pienta's Ada, and Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind with Kate Winslet, Jim Carrey, Kirsten Dunst and Mark Ruffalo, preceded by Michael Almereyda on Kenneth Koch’s To The Unknown will screen on Governors Island.
Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind to close Escape in New York Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
“In 2018, our inaugural film series presented in partnership with Film at Lincoln Center was a huge success,...
Film at Lincoln Center and the Trust for Governors Island have announced free summer screenings with the programme titled Escape in New York that will be produced by Rooftop Films. Barry Sonnenfeld's Men In Black, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, preceded by Pacho Velez & Yoni Brook's Mr. Yellow Sweatshirt; Martin Scorsese's After Hours, preceded by Eleanore Pienta's Ada, and Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind with Kate Winslet, Jim Carrey, Kirsten Dunst and Mark Ruffalo, preceded by Michael Almereyda on Kenneth Koch’s To The Unknown will screen on Governors Island.
Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind to close Escape in New York Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
“In 2018, our inaugural film series presented in partnership with Film at Lincoln Center was a huge success,...
- 5/30/2019
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Tribeca Film Institute has selected 14 scripted and documentary projects for the 16th annual Tribeca All Access program which amplifies stories from historically underrepresented voices.
The Tribeca All Access program has supported over 560 filmmakers since it was first established in 2004. It is the Institute’s longest-running filmmaker program. Filmmakers supported by the program include Roger Ross Williams (God Loves Uganda, Traveling While Black), RaMell Ross( Hale County This Morning, This Evening), Natalia Almada (Al Otro Lado), Pacho Velez (The Reagan Show), and Tchaiko Omawale (Solace). Some recent supported films include some of the most critically acclaimed festival favorites including Monsters and Men, Midnight Traveler, Pahokee, Building the American Dream, Selah and the Spades, Whose Streets?, Always in Season and The Unafraid.
This year, The Short History of the Long Road, Stray Dolls and A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem will make their debut at the Tribeca Film Festival...
The Tribeca All Access program has supported over 560 filmmakers since it was first established in 2004. It is the Institute’s longest-running filmmaker program. Filmmakers supported by the program include Roger Ross Williams (God Loves Uganda, Traveling While Black), RaMell Ross( Hale County This Morning, This Evening), Natalia Almada (Al Otro Lado), Pacho Velez (The Reagan Show), and Tchaiko Omawale (Solace). Some recent supported films include some of the most critically acclaimed festival favorites including Monsters and Men, Midnight Traveler, Pahokee, Building the American Dream, Selah and the Spades, Whose Streets?, Always in Season and The Unafraid.
This year, The Short History of the Long Road, Stray Dolls and A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem will make their debut at the Tribeca Film Festival...
- 3/21/2019
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
The Tribeca Film Institute has announced the 14 films to be honored with grants at the 16th annual Tribeca All Access program, which amplifies stories from underrepresented voices.
Seven films and seven documentaries will earn grants from the program to aid their productions, many of them having not received previous funding. The filmmakers will attend the Tfi Network event during the Tribeca Film Festival to meet distributors, funders, programmers and mentors in the film industry.
Several Taa projects have gone on to premiere at the film festival, like “The Short History of the Long Road,” “Stray Dolls” and “The NFL’s Cheerleader Program.” Since 2004, the Taa has supported filmmakers like Roger Ross Williams, RaMell Ross, Natalia Almada, Pacho Velez and Tchaiko Omawale.
“I am thrilled to be welcoming these filmmakers into the Tfi family, and into a larger community of their peers during the three days of the Tfi Network,” said Amy Hobby,...
Seven films and seven documentaries will earn grants from the program to aid their productions, many of them having not received previous funding. The filmmakers will attend the Tfi Network event during the Tribeca Film Festival to meet distributors, funders, programmers and mentors in the film industry.
Several Taa projects have gone on to premiere at the film festival, like “The Short History of the Long Road,” “Stray Dolls” and “The NFL’s Cheerleader Program.” Since 2004, the Taa has supported filmmakers like Roger Ross Williams, RaMell Ross, Natalia Almada, Pacho Velez and Tchaiko Omawale.
“I am thrilled to be welcoming these filmmakers into the Tfi family, and into a larger community of their peers during the three days of the Tfi Network,” said Amy Hobby,...
- 3/21/2019
- by Jordan Moreau
- Variety Film + TV
We here at IndieWire care deeply about animals. So much so, in fact, that we racked our brains, debated among ourselves, and got into shouting matches over the relative merits of our favorite four-legged movie characters (okay, maybe not that last part).
A few ground rules came into play when whittling down our selections. Live-action animals made the cut, as did CGI creations in live-action films; fully animated productions, however, did not (sorry, Dante from “Coco”). We’ve been blessed with many great cinematic creatures in recent years, some of whom are no longer with us. Lucky, then, that their work is immortalized onscreen.
20. Marvin, “Paterson”
There are many reasons why Jim Jarmusch’s remarkable “Paterson” shouldn’t have worked, but principal among them is its heavy reliance on an actual performance from an English Bulldog. The story of a bus-driving poet (Adam Driver) from New Jersey, the film follows...
A few ground rules came into play when whittling down our selections. Live-action animals made the cut, as did CGI creations in live-action films; fully animated productions, however, did not (sorry, Dante from “Coco”). We’ve been blessed with many great cinematic creatures in recent years, some of whom are no longer with us. Lucky, then, that their work is immortalized onscreen.
20. Marvin, “Paterson”
There are many reasons why Jim Jarmusch’s remarkable “Paterson” shouldn’t have worked, but principal among them is its heavy reliance on an actual performance from an English Bulldog. The story of a bus-driving poet (Adam Driver) from New Jersey, the film follows...
- 3/30/2018
- by Michael Nordine, Kate Erbland, David Ehrlich, Jenna Marotta, Jamie Righetti, Chris O'Falt, Anne Thompson and Steve Greene
- Indiewire
It’s been an interesting run-up to the Toronto International Film Festival, and in terms of the survival of the species, the good ol’ U.S.A. has been something of a race to the bottom. What would do us in first: violent neo-Nazis whose activities are almost explicitly condoned by the Klansman In Chief? Or a 1,000-year weather event on the Gulf Coast whose magnitude surely owes something to global climate change, and whose aftermath of collapsing dams and exploding chemical factories has everything to do with systematic neglect?Given the state of things down here, who wouldn’t want to repair to Canada for some challenging cinema? As always, the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) is the place to be in September, and Wavelengths once again features the best of the fest. This is because the films selected for Wavelengths are the opposite of escapism. Whether they tackle...
- 9/7/2017
- MUBI
Our bi-weekly Film Festival Roundup column explores notable stories and news updates from the circuit.
Long before Barry Jenkins or Laura Poitras won their first Oscars or Robert Eggers made one of 2016’s highest-grossing indies, or Denis Villeneuve graduated to Hollywood’s A-list, they were still just independent filmmakers with a dream — a dream that needed to be packaged, sold, and produced. Enter Ifp Film Week, home of one of the world’s most forward-thinking film markets, and the U.S.’s only market that presents new works across all platforms, all the better to serve their creator’s visions.
This year’s 2017 Ifp Film Week, presented by the Independent Film Project, has unveiled its slate for this year’s film project section. The lineup includes 110 narrative and documentary projects in development from over 15 countries. Curated by Ifp’s Deputy Director/Head of Programming Amy Dotson and Senior Director of Programming Milton Tabbot,...
Long before Barry Jenkins or Laura Poitras won their first Oscars or Robert Eggers made one of 2016’s highest-grossing indies, or Denis Villeneuve graduated to Hollywood’s A-list, they were still just independent filmmakers with a dream — a dream that needed to be packaged, sold, and produced. Enter Ifp Film Week, home of one of the world’s most forward-thinking film markets, and the U.S.’s only market that presents new works across all platforms, all the better to serve their creator’s visions.
This year’s 2017 Ifp Film Week, presented by the Independent Film Project, has unveiled its slate for this year’s film project section. The lineup includes 110 narrative and documentary projects in development from over 15 countries. Curated by Ifp’s Deputy Director/Head of Programming Amy Dotson and Senior Director of Programming Milton Tabbot,...
- 7/20/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Ben & Joshua Safdie's Good TimeThe lineup for the 2017 festival has been revealed, including new films by Wang Bing, Radu Jude, Raúl Ruiz and others, alongside retrospectives and tributes dedicated to Jean-Marie Straub, Jacques Tourneur and much more.Piazza GRANDEAmori che non sonno stare al mondo (Francesca Comencini, Italy)Atomic Blonde (David Leitch, USA)Chien (Samuel Benchetrit, France/Belgium)Demain et tous les autres jours (Noémie Lvovsky, France)Drei Zinnen (Jan Zabeil, Germany/Italy)Good Time (Ben & Joshua Safdie, USA)Gotthard - One Life, One Soul (Kevin Merz, Switzerland)I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, USA)Iceman (Felix Randau, Germany/Italy/Austria)Laissez bronzer les cadavres (Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani, Belgium/France)Lola Pater (Nadir Moknèche, France/Belgium)Sicilia! (Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet, Italy/France/Germany)Sparring (Samuel Jouy, France)The Big Sick (Michael Showalter, USA)The Song of Scorpions (Anup Singh, Switzerland/France/Singapore)What Happed to Monday (Tommy Wirkola,...
- 7/12/2017
- MUBI
Ronald Reagan was the most videoed President by the time he left office in 1989. As told to us in The Reagan Show, there was more video taken of Reagan than the five Presidents before him combined. Sierra Pettengill and Pacho Velez’s documentary is a compilation of this footage, taken by personal videographers as he filmed televised addresses, walked the grounds of the White House and attended events, as well as news footage from the era. Whether one agrees with the controversial President or not – and, fair admission, I do not – there’s something interesting in the cinematic trawling through this video content and through this film’s early passages, I was pleasantly enthralled by the backstage pass to an old Presidency.
However, the title “The Reagan Show” suggests something that the film ultimately does not deliver. Across its brief 75-minute runtime, The Reagan Show veers away from a broad path of general observation,...
However, the title “The Reagan Show” suggests something that the film ultimately does not deliver. Across its brief 75-minute runtime, The Reagan Show veers away from a broad path of general observation,...
- 7/11/2017
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
Seen as a God figure in many Republican circles, former President Ronald Reagan may not seem like an apt comparison to our current Commander-in-Chief, until you leave the realm of any real policy discussion. Himself, like Donald Trump, a performer at heart, Reagan was ultimately able to not only transcend that and become a beloved political figure, but use that to his own advantage.
This is ostensibly the thesis of the latest film from directors Pacho Velez and Sierra Pettengill’s, The Reagan Show. Told entirely through archival materials that include both actual news broadcasts as well as videos produced by the White House and Reagan’s staff, the film takes a hard look at the president’s use of media and public relations to not only get him into the good graces of the country writ large, but also to help combat one of his greatest rivals, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
This is ostensibly the thesis of the latest film from directors Pacho Velez and Sierra Pettengill’s, The Reagan Show. Told entirely through archival materials that include both actual news broadcasts as well as videos produced by the White House and Reagan’s staff, the film takes a hard look at the president’s use of media and public relations to not only get him into the good graces of the country writ large, but also to help combat one of his greatest rivals, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
- 6/30/2017
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
It’s almost impossible to watch Sierra Pettengill and Pacho Velez’s found-footage docu-essay The Reagan Show without thinking about the White House’s current occupant. The connections are intentional. Pettengill and Velez constructed The Reagan Show entirely from old media coverage of Ronald Reagan, using interviews, punditry, and amusing flubs and outtakes to paint a picture of a presidency that traded on the celebrity of its chief executive to sell simple, reactionary ideas about taxes, social welfare programs, and national defense to fiercely devoted supporters. In the opening minutes, the film even has a clip of President Reagan speaking to backers about his vision for the country, and promising, “Together, we’ll make America great again.” The message is clear: The voters just elected a man who invoked nostalgia for a man who invoked nostalgia.
But it’d be wrong to think of The Reagan Show as some kind...
But it’d be wrong to think of The Reagan Show as some kind...
- 6/28/2017
- by Noel Murray
- avclub.com
Since the advent of television, a president’s charisma has been a deciding factor in an election and few had more of this quality than Ronald Reagan. Thanks to his early days as an announcer then as a Hollywood actor, he was well-equipped to appeal to the public and a new documentary, The Reagan Show, uses archival footage to showcase his performance as a president.
Directed by Pacho Velez (co-helmer of the brilliant Manakamana) and Sierra Pettengill (producer of Cutie and the Boxer), we’re pleased debut an exclusive clip from the film, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year and will arrive in theaters this Friday. In the preview, we find the president dealing with a turkey (almost) on the loose, as well as commenting on the difficulty of being the leader of the free world vs. an actor.
Check out our exclusive clip below, along with the trailer,...
Directed by Pacho Velez (co-helmer of the brilliant Manakamana) and Sierra Pettengill (producer of Cutie and the Boxer), we’re pleased debut an exclusive clip from the film, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year and will arrive in theaters this Friday. In the preview, we find the president dealing with a turkey (almost) on the loose, as well as commenting on the difficulty of being the leader of the free world vs. an actor.
Check out our exclusive clip below, along with the trailer,...
- 6/27/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Reagan Show Gravitas Ventures Director: Pacho Velez, Sierra Pettengill Written by: Josh Alexander, Pacho Velez Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 6/18/17 Opens: June 30 in NY and La; July 4 on VOD Elderly woman to General Secretary Gorbachev of the Soviet Union: Woman: “Who invented Communism: a politician or a scientist?” Gorbachev: “A politician.” […]
The post The Reagan Show Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post The Reagan Show Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 6/19/2017
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
According to Pacho Velez and Sierra Pettengill's The Reagan Show, the administration of America's first entertainer-turned-president shot more film and video than the previous five administrations combined. Harvesting both bloopers and well-rehearsed sound bites, the two comb through this massive trove in a documentary composed entirely of vintage source material, letting the era speak for itself and the "Great Communicator" show, oddly, both more and less of himself than intended. The film will be a peculiar artifact in its likely limited art house run, both quaint and full of painful reminders of our current Bedtime for Bonzo moment.
The doc...
The doc...
- 5/9/2017
- by John DeFore
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Chicago – The 16th Tribeca Film Festival wrapped last Sunday (April 30, 2017) and the award-winning films of the festival have been named. Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com was there for the first week of Tribeca and files his personal best of the films he experienced.
This is Patrick switching to first person, and I was able to see 13 media and film works, and took a turn in the “Immersive” or Virtual Reality arcade (there will a separate article on that experience). I sampled TV, short films, documentaries and narrative films, and rank them from first preferred on down, but honestly I didn’t see anything that I didn’t like, which is a testament to the programmers of this iconic film festival.
The following are the prime 13, and an indication of when they are scheduled to release…
“Flower”
’Flower,’ Directed by Max Winkler
Photo credit: Tribeca Film Festival
What seems like a “Juno” rip-off,...
This is Patrick switching to first person, and I was able to see 13 media and film works, and took a turn in the “Immersive” or Virtual Reality arcade (there will a separate article on that experience). I sampled TV, short films, documentaries and narrative films, and rank them from first preferred on down, but honestly I didn’t see anything that I didn’t like, which is a testament to the programmers of this iconic film festival.
The following are the prime 13, and an indication of when they are scheduled to release…
“Flower”
’Flower,’ Directed by Max Winkler
Photo credit: Tribeca Film Festival
What seems like a “Juno” rip-off,...
- 5/7/2017
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
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