Updated with amended description of documentary My Sweet Land. Sheffield DocFest, the U.K.’s premiere nonfiction film festival, today revealed the full lineup for its 31st edition running June 12-17. Among the highlights: the world premiere of Tilda Swinton’s feature directorial debut, The Hexagonal Hive and a Mouse in a Maze, co-directed by Bartek Dziadosz.
In the film, premiering in International Competition, Swinton and Dziadosz “travel the world to understand what it means to learn, and along the way uncover playful food for thought – for adults and young people alike.” Swinton previously directed segments in the documentaries The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger (2016) and The New Ten Commandments (2008).
‘Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color’
Sheffield 2024 will not lack for star power. In addition to Oscar winner Swinton, Idris Elba and the team behind the upcoming National Geographic Documentary series Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color...
In the film, premiering in International Competition, Swinton and Dziadosz “travel the world to understand what it means to learn, and along the way uncover playful food for thought – for adults and young people alike.” Swinton previously directed segments in the documentaries The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger (2016) and The New Ten Commandments (2008).
‘Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color’
Sheffield 2024 will not lack for star power. In addition to Oscar winner Swinton, Idris Elba and the team behind the upcoming National Geographic Documentary series Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color...
- 5/8/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
This is not the documentary renaissance we hoped for. Despite its 2023 Oscar win for “Navalny,” CNN pulled back on non-fiction production. Non-fiction programming at Showtime Networks, which produced Oscar-nominated “Attica” in 2022, is no more.
“The New York Times Presents” series, which produced titles like “The Killing of Breonna Taylor” and “Framing Britney Spears,” is being phased out in favor of integrating non-fiction video into the media brand. Hot Docs is on the ropes; Participant, which produced documentaries like “An Inconvenient Truth,” “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” and “American Factory,” closed last month.
And then there’s Netflix, which is still very much in the documentary game under Adam Del Deo, Netflix VP of original documentary films and limited series — and can afford to be with nearly 270 million global subscribers. However, it’s a specific sort of gameplay: For tight, high-quality nonfiction work that’s heartwarming, or thrilling, or stars a celebrity,...
“The New York Times Presents” series, which produced titles like “The Killing of Breonna Taylor” and “Framing Britney Spears,” is being phased out in favor of integrating non-fiction video into the media brand. Hot Docs is on the ropes; Participant, which produced documentaries like “An Inconvenient Truth,” “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” and “American Factory,” closed last month.
And then there’s Netflix, which is still very much in the documentary game under Adam Del Deo, Netflix VP of original documentary films and limited series — and can afford to be with nearly 270 million global subscribers. However, it’s a specific sort of gameplay: For tight, high-quality nonfiction work that’s heartwarming, or thrilling, or stars a celebrity,...
- 5/6/2024
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
DC/Dox has unveiled the lineup for its second annual edition, which takes place in Washington, D.C., from June 13-16. The documentary festival will kick things off with “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story,” the Warner Bros. Discovery film that premiered at Sundance earlier this year.
The second edition of the fest includes 51 features and 47 shorts from 17 countries. That’s up from last year’s state of 31 features and 21 shorts from eight countries. This year’s lineup is made of 60% of filmmakers identifying as women or non-binary. Films will screen at venues including Smithsonian’s Museum of American History, the Burke Theatre at the U.S. Navy Memorial, and the National Archives.
“The films on the 2024 slate highlight the remarkable breadth and depth of documentary storytelling today,” says DC/Dox co-founder and festival director Sky Sitney. “From filmmakers around the world, these works recalibrate the past through archival footage, immerse themselves...
The second edition of the fest includes 51 features and 47 shorts from 17 countries. That’s up from last year’s state of 31 features and 21 shorts from eight countries. This year’s lineup is made of 60% of filmmakers identifying as women or non-binary. Films will screen at venues including Smithsonian’s Museum of American History, the Burke Theatre at the U.S. Navy Memorial, and the National Archives.
“The films on the 2024 slate highlight the remarkable breadth and depth of documentary storytelling today,” says DC/Dox co-founder and festival director Sky Sitney. “From filmmakers around the world, these works recalibrate the past through archival footage, immerse themselves...
- 5/1/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
MipDoc keynote speaker Dawn Porter is coming to Cannes to discuss not only the challenging doc marketplace, but also how to work and prosper within it.
In the last few years the doc industry has favored a handful of big-name filmmakers, like Porter, who are commissioned to make one-off films or docuseries. Over the last 12 months two of Porter’s docus were released: “Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court” which was financed and distributed by Showtime and “The Lady Bird Diaries,” which was financed and distributed by Hulu/ABC News.
But budgets for commissioned projects, even those with well-known documentarians attached, have diminished significantly since the pandemic, due in part to corporate consolidation. The shrinking number of nonfiction distributors has hit directors of independently made docs especially hard. The major streaming services, who were spending millions to acquire indie fare five years ago, lost interest in garnering titles out of festivals.
In the last few years the doc industry has favored a handful of big-name filmmakers, like Porter, who are commissioned to make one-off films or docuseries. Over the last 12 months two of Porter’s docus were released: “Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court” which was financed and distributed by Showtime and “The Lady Bird Diaries,” which was financed and distributed by Hulu/ABC News.
But budgets for commissioned projects, even those with well-known documentarians attached, have diminished significantly since the pandemic, due in part to corporate consolidation. The shrinking number of nonfiction distributors has hit directors of independently made docs especially hard. The major streaming services, who were spending millions to acquire indie fare five years ago, lost interest in garnering titles out of festivals.
- 4/6/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Chris Smith’s “Devo” will open the ninth edition of Chicago’s Doc10 documentary film festival on May 2.
The film, which premiered at Sundance 2024, charts the life of the art-movement-turned-band Devo from Akron, Ohio, through archival footage of the band and candid sit-down interviews with band members. Smith follows the band on their journey from Dadaist, Kent State radicals to unlikely icons of 1980s MTV. Currently celebrating their 50 years of De-Evolution Tour, Devo band members will join Doc10 in a live, virtual Q&a moderated by Wxrt’s Marty Lennartz.
Doc10, a four-day fest running May 2-5, features a selection of 10 documentaries making their Chicago premieres along with a package of 10 prestigious documentary shorts. The fest is hosted by Chicago Media Project, a company that has generated more than $8.5 million in funding for documentary projects. Cmp has directly supported over 150 films including “Icarus,” “Crip Camp” and most recently “Gaucho, Gaucho,...
The film, which premiered at Sundance 2024, charts the life of the art-movement-turned-band Devo from Akron, Ohio, through archival footage of the band and candid sit-down interviews with band members. Smith follows the band on their journey from Dadaist, Kent State radicals to unlikely icons of 1980s MTV. Currently celebrating their 50 years of De-Evolution Tour, Devo band members will join Doc10 in a live, virtual Q&a moderated by Wxrt’s Marty Lennartz.
Doc10, a four-day fest running May 2-5, features a selection of 10 documentaries making their Chicago premieres along with a package of 10 prestigious documentary shorts. The fest is hosted by Chicago Media Project, a company that has generated more than $8.5 million in funding for documentary projects. Cmp has directly supported over 150 films including “Icarus,” “Crip Camp” and most recently “Gaucho, Gaucho,...
- 4/3/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Carla Gutiérrez’s documentary Frida about the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo will open the inaugural Sundance Film Festival Cdmx 2024 in Mexico City.
Running April 25-28 in partnership with exhibition giant Cinépolis, the event will present 12 features in total. Selections include Alessandra Lacorazza’s Grand Jury Prize U.S. Dramatic Competition winner In The Summers, and Angela Patton and Natalie Rae’s Daughters, winner of the Audience Award: U.S. Documentary and Festival Favorite Award.
Mstyslav Chernov’s best documentary feature Oscar winner 20 Days In Mariupol and Rose Glass’s Love Lies Bleeding starring Kristen Stewart will also screen.
Sundance...
Running April 25-28 in partnership with exhibition giant Cinépolis, the event will present 12 features in total. Selections include Alessandra Lacorazza’s Grand Jury Prize U.S. Dramatic Competition winner In The Summers, and Angela Patton and Natalie Rae’s Daughters, winner of the Audience Award: U.S. Documentary and Festival Favorite Award.
Mstyslav Chernov’s best documentary feature Oscar winner 20 Days In Mariupol and Rose Glass’s Love Lies Bleeding starring Kristen Stewart will also screen.
Sundance...
- 4/2/2024
- ScreenDaily
The South by Southwest debut of “Stormy” was not your typical Imagine Documentaries premiere.
About adult film star Stormy Daniels’ alleged affair with former President Donald Trump, the film drew an eclectic crowd that included porn stars and “Muppet” director-producer Frank Oz, who sat in the same row as Daniels and her entourage made up mainly of buff bodyguards. Dogs sniffed Austin’s Stateside Theater prior to the screening. After it unspooled, Daniels spoke to the SXSW audience, revealing that she first met “Stormy” exec producer Judd Apatow when he hired her for a small part in his 2005 film “40 Year-Old Virgin.” When she was a no-show due to a death in the family, Apatow sent her flowers and rescheduled her shoot date.
“I thought he would replace me,” Daniels, who would go on to appear in “Knocked Up” for the filmmaker, told the crowd, with director Sarah Gibson standing nearby.
About adult film star Stormy Daniels’ alleged affair with former President Donald Trump, the film drew an eclectic crowd that included porn stars and “Muppet” director-producer Frank Oz, who sat in the same row as Daniels and her entourage made up mainly of buff bodyguards. Dogs sniffed Austin’s Stateside Theater prior to the screening. After it unspooled, Daniels spoke to the SXSW audience, revealing that she first met “Stormy” exec producer Judd Apatow when he hired her for a small part in his 2005 film “40 Year-Old Virgin.” When she was a no-show due to a death in the family, Apatow sent her flowers and rescheduled her shoot date.
“I thought he would replace me,” Daniels, who would go on to appear in “Knocked Up” for the filmmaker, told the crowd, with director Sarah Gibson standing nearby.
- 3/21/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Steve Buscemi’s “The Listener” is heading to the Sarasota Film Festival.
The 26th edition of the Florida fest will feature live and in-person screenings and events that will take place across Sarasota beginning on April 5. The 10-day fest will feature 23 narrative features, 41 documentary features and 81 short films.
Buscemi will be in Sarasota to participate in a Q&a following the screening of “The Listener,” which will serve as the closing night film. About a crisis hotline worker enduring the pressures of her job, the film starring Tessa Thompson made its world premiere at Venice Film Festival in 2022.
Lynn Dow’s “Bull Street,” starring Loretta Devine and Amy Madigan, will open the fest on April 5. The drama centers on a South Carolina small-town lawyer (Malynda Hale) as she faces local politics and an unwavering judge (Madigan) when her estranged father’s family tries to evict her and her grandmother (Devine) from her home.
The 26th edition of the Florida fest will feature live and in-person screenings and events that will take place across Sarasota beginning on April 5. The 10-day fest will feature 23 narrative features, 41 documentary features and 81 short films.
Buscemi will be in Sarasota to participate in a Q&a following the screening of “The Listener,” which will serve as the closing night film. About a crisis hotline worker enduring the pressures of her job, the film starring Tessa Thompson made its world premiere at Venice Film Festival in 2022.
Lynn Dow’s “Bull Street,” starring Loretta Devine and Amy Madigan, will open the fest on April 5. The drama centers on a South Carolina small-town lawyer (Malynda Hale) as she faces local politics and an unwavering judge (Madigan) when her estranged father’s family tries to evict her and her grandmother (Devine) from her home.
- 3/21/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck and Canadian cinematographer Iris Ng will be honoured at the 25th edition of Canada’s documentary festival Hot Docs (April 30 – May 1).
Peck, best known for the Oscar-nominated documentary I Am Not Your Negro, will be presented with the outstanding achievement award. His other credits include Lumumba, HBO miniseries Exterminate All The Brutes and most recently Silver Dollar Road.
A selection of Peck’s work will be shown at the festival where the director will participate in several post-screening Q&a’s.
Previous recipients of the outstanding achievement award include Werner Herzog, Patricio Guzmán and Tony Palmer.
Peck, best known for the Oscar-nominated documentary I Am Not Your Negro, will be presented with the outstanding achievement award. His other credits include Lumumba, HBO miniseries Exterminate All The Brutes and most recently Silver Dollar Road.
A selection of Peck’s work will be shown at the festival where the director will participate in several post-screening Q&a’s.
Previous recipients of the outstanding achievement award include Werner Herzog, Patricio Guzmán and Tony Palmer.
- 3/20/2024
- ScreenDaily
Sundance is asking you to save the date! Sundance Institute has announced the dates for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, its 41st edition, which will run January 23 through February 2, 2025 in both Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah.
Further details will be announced in the coming months, and filmmakers can start submitting later this spring. This edition of the festival will be the second go-round for director of the Sundance Film Festival and public programming Eugene Hernandez (also the co-founder of IndieWire) at the helm. He’s taking planning into his own hands (literally) and is so excited for next year that you can see him above atop the Egyptian Theater marquee swapping out the “4” for a “5.” In a statement he even added “that photo isn’t Photoshopped!”
“While the next Sundance Film Festival is still 10 months away, we’re already laying the foundation for the 2025 edition, looking ahead to sharing...
Further details will be announced in the coming months, and filmmakers can start submitting later this spring. This edition of the festival will be the second go-round for director of the Sundance Film Festival and public programming Eugene Hernandez (also the co-founder of IndieWire) at the helm. He’s taking planning into his own hands (literally) and is so excited for next year that you can see him above atop the Egyptian Theater marquee swapping out the “4” for a “5.” In a statement he even added “that photo isn’t Photoshopped!”
“While the next Sundance Film Festival is still 10 months away, we’re already laying the foundation for the 2025 edition, looking ahead to sharing...
- 3/19/2024
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
It’s been less than two months since the end of the 2024 edition, but this morning the Sundance Institute revealed the dates for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. This year’s event will run from Thursday, January 23 through Sunday, February 2nd. And, as expected, Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah will house the main in-person venues for the festival.
Read More: “In the Summers” and “Daughters” top 2024 Sundance Film Festival Awards
In a statement, Eugene Hernandez, Director, Sundance Film Festival and Public Programming noted, “While the next Sundance Film Festival is still 10 months away, we’re already laying the foundation for the 2025 edition, looking ahead to sharing a new group of artists’ work with audiences at the start of next year.
Continue reading Sundance Announces Dates For 2025 Film Festival at The Playlist.
Read More: “In the Summers” and “Daughters” top 2024 Sundance Film Festival Awards
In a statement, Eugene Hernandez, Director, Sundance Film Festival and Public Programming noted, “While the next Sundance Film Festival is still 10 months away, we’re already laying the foundation for the 2025 edition, looking ahead to sharing a new group of artists’ work with audiences at the start of next year.
Continue reading Sundance Announces Dates For 2025 Film Festival at The Playlist.
- 3/19/2024
- by Gregory Ellwood
- The Playlist
After a year-long hiatus the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its 26th edition, which will take place in Durham, N.C., from April 4-7. The festival will kick things off with “Girls State,” the Apple Original docu that premiered at Sundance earlier this year.
It’s been five years since Full Frame, often referred to as “a filmmaker’s festival,” was held as an in-person event. Full Frame was held entirely online for the 2020–22 festivals due to Covid-19. Then in 2023 the festival was put on hold last year due to financial struggles and leadership turnover at Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies (Cds), a nonprofit affiliate of the university that puts on the fest. Notably, Cds executive director Opeyemi Olukemi resigned last year. As reported by The Assembly, Olukemi, who took the role in 2021, was criticized as the Cds staff shrank and a bulk of...
It’s been five years since Full Frame, often referred to as “a filmmaker’s festival,” was held as an in-person event. Full Frame was held entirely online for the 2020–22 festivals due to Covid-19. Then in 2023 the festival was put on hold last year due to financial struggles and leadership turnover at Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies (Cds), a nonprofit affiliate of the university that puts on the fest. Notably, Cds executive director Opeyemi Olukemi resigned last year. As reported by The Assembly, Olukemi, who took the role in 2021, was criticized as the Cds staff shrank and a bulk of...
- 3/14/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
As always, the 2024 Sundance Film Festival gave us several likely Oscar nominees. Keiran Culkin for “A Real Pain,” documentaries “Union” or “Daughters“,” and, potentially, Sebastian Stan for “A Different Man.” But there was no Best Picture player in the vein of “Past Lives” or “Coda” in Park City last month, at least, there didn’t seem to be.
Continue reading Yes, ‘Dune: Part Two’ Is The First Major Best Picture Player Of 2025 at The Playlist.
Continue reading Yes, ‘Dune: Part Two’ Is The First Major Best Picture Player Of 2025 at The Playlist.
- 2/21/2024
- by Gregory Ellwood
- The Playlist
Over 60 films came into this year’s Sundance Film Festival looking for buyers, but many of the key players on the indie film market already had movies premiering in the festival, with many of those among the most commercial and star-studded movies making their debuts.
Last year’s market was slow, especially for documentaries, but this year’s festival market was nothing but robust in 2024. We’re tracking everything that already has a home and will update this space throughout the month with every sale that comes in.
“Good One”
Section: U.S. Dramatic
Director: India Donaldson
Buyer: Metrograph Pictures
Cast: Lily Collias, James Le Gros, Danny McCarthy
Release Plans: Theatrical in Summer 2024
Buzz: India Donaldson’s “Good One” will be the first title acquired by Metrograph Pictures, as the company known for its film restorations and SVOD platform is now getting into theatrical distribution. And they picked a good one too.
Last year’s market was slow, especially for documentaries, but this year’s festival market was nothing but robust in 2024. We’re tracking everything that already has a home and will update this space throughout the month with every sale that comes in.
“Good One”
Section: U.S. Dramatic
Director: India Donaldson
Buyer: Metrograph Pictures
Cast: Lily Collias, James Le Gros, Danny McCarthy
Release Plans: Theatrical in Summer 2024
Buzz: India Donaldson’s “Good One” will be the first title acquired by Metrograph Pictures, as the company known for its film restorations and SVOD platform is now getting into theatrical distribution. And they picked a good one too.
- 2/13/2024
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
Angela Patton has dedicated her life to the empowerment of Black girls. As the CEO of the nonprofit organization Girls for a Change, which works to close opportunity gaps and mold future leaders, Patton devotes her time and energy to developing initiatives that meet the unique needs of her community — like Date with Dad, a program that fosters father-daughter bonding for families separated by the carceral system. Fathers in the program take part in therapy sessions before the final event: a daddy-daughter dance in which the men trade their state-issued clothing for semiformal attire and reunite with their daughters for a sweet moment of familial closeness.
After a 2012 TEDWomen talk about Date with Dad went viral, filmmaker Natalie Rae approached Patton about chronicling the program on camera. Patton agreed, and after eight years of filming, Daughters will be soon be available on Netflix. The critically acclaimed documentary premiered...
After a 2012 TEDWomen talk about Date with Dad went viral, filmmaker Natalie Rae approached Patton about chronicling the program on camera. Patton agreed, and after eight years of filming, Daughters will be soon be available on Netflix. The critically acclaimed documentary premiered...
- 2/5/2024
- by Roxanne Fequiere
- Tudum - Netflix
Netflix has acquired Sundance documentary Will & Harper, in which Will Ferrell embarks on a road trip with his longtime friend Harper who is coming out as a trans woman.
Josh Greenbaum’s film played in Premieres and earned a strong reception at its world premiere at The Eccles Theatre.
Ferrell produced with Rafael Marmor, Jessica Elbaum, Greenbaum, and Christopher Leggett
Netflix previously acquired It’s What’s Inside in the marquee deal of the festival at a reported $17m, as well as Daughters, and Ibelin.
More to follow…...
Josh Greenbaum’s film played in Premieres and earned a strong reception at its world premiere at The Eccles Theatre.
Ferrell produced with Rafael Marmor, Jessica Elbaum, Greenbaum, and Christopher Leggett
Netflix previously acquired It’s What’s Inside in the marquee deal of the festival at a reported $17m, as well as Daughters, and Ibelin.
More to follow…...
- 2/1/2024
- ScreenDaily
“Will & Harper,” a heartfelt and heartbreaking documentary about Will Ferrell’s cross-country road trip with his best friend Harper Steele, who recently came out as transgender, sold to Netflix after its Sundance Film Festival debut. Financial terms of the pact were not disclosed, but “Will & Harper” was drawing interest from several buyers.
The film, directed by “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar” filmmaker Josh Greenbaum, was warmly embraced in Park City with two standing ovations after the credits rolled.
“We are thrilled about how audiences received the movie with open arms at Sundance,” the filmmakers said in a statement. “It’s a movie about the power of friendship and acceptance, that we hope can help shift the culture, and so we are excited to have a partner in Netflix that has the ability to reach the largest possible audience worldwide.”
Ferrell and Steele were hired at...
The film, directed by “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar” filmmaker Josh Greenbaum, was warmly embraced in Park City with two standing ovations after the credits rolled.
“We are thrilled about how audiences received the movie with open arms at Sundance,” the filmmakers said in a statement. “It’s a movie about the power of friendship and acceptance, that we hope can help shift the culture, and so we are excited to have a partner in Netflix that has the ability to reach the largest possible audience worldwide.”
Ferrell and Steele were hired at...
- 2/1/2024
- by Rebecca Rubin and Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
The Sundance documentary Daughters has landed at Netflix.
The feature follows four young girls as they prepare for a daddy-daughter dance, which is a chance to reunite with their incarcerated fathers as part of a fatherhood program in a Washington, D.C., prison. Daughters took home the audience award in the documentary competition and earned the festival favorite award.
Directors Angela Patton and Natalie Rae are behind the feature. Patton is the CEO of Girls for a Change, a nonprofit that launched the Date With Dad Program, which holds a dance for the daughters of men incarcerated in a D.C. prison. The documentary details a ten-week program the men enter upon in preparation for the dance, as well as the anticipation the girls feel for the big day.
“Daughters peaks an hour in with the father-daughter dance, which is astonishing and as potent as you could hope for. From the preparations for the dance,...
The feature follows four young girls as they prepare for a daddy-daughter dance, which is a chance to reunite with their incarcerated fathers as part of a fatherhood program in a Washington, D.C., prison. Daughters took home the audience award in the documentary competition and earned the festival favorite award.
Directors Angela Patton and Natalie Rae are behind the feature. Patton is the CEO of Girls for a Change, a nonprofit that launched the Date With Dad Program, which holds a dance for the daughters of men incarcerated in a D.C. prison. The documentary details a ten-week program the men enter upon in preparation for the dance, as well as the anticipation the girls feel for the big day.
“Daughters peaks an hour in with the father-daughter dance, which is astonishing and as potent as you could hope for. From the preparations for the dance,...
- 1/31/2024
- by Aaron Couch
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sundance documentaries are alive and well. And it looks like there’s some acquisition action this year, too. Which Sundance documentaries have the best shot at landing in Oscar contention this year? It helps to get bought early or to have an international footprint.
A rickety theatrical market for non-fiction features and a dwindling number of active documentary buyers meant that many Sundance 2023 films did not get picked up for distribution, or met serious delays before companies came through. As the top American film festival for docs, Sundance usually supplies as many as four out of the final five Oscar nominees each year.
And usually, by late summer, Oscar promotion is well underway. But last year, “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” which was rumored to be an HBO Documentary Films pickup for months, wasn’t announced until August 29, when other Sundance grads had been campaigning all summer.
One...
A rickety theatrical market for non-fiction features and a dwindling number of active documentary buyers meant that many Sundance 2023 films did not get picked up for distribution, or met serious delays before companies came through. As the top American film festival for docs, Sundance usually supplies as many as four out of the final five Oscar nominees each year.
And usually, by late summer, Oscar promotion is well underway. But last year, “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” which was rumored to be an HBO Documentary Films pickup for months, wasn’t announced until August 29, when other Sundance grads had been campaigning all summer.
One...
- 1/31/2024
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
When the Oscar nominations came out last week, the Best Documentary Feature category contained some bombshells: no recognition for two of the most decorated nonfiction films of the year.
In the latest edition of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast, co-hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey drill down on the nominations, examining the snubs of American Symphony and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie. And they explore why the Academy’s documentary branch, which determines the nominees, went for five internationally themed films, bypassing American-focused stories entirely.
Plus Carey, Deadline’s Documentary Editor, reports from the just-concluded 2024 Sundance Film Festival, talking with Best Director winners Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie of Sugarcane, Rory Kennedy and Mark Bailey of the explosive series The Synanon Fix, EP Kerry Washington and two of the main participants in Daughters, Will Ferrell and Harper Steele of Will & Harper, and more.
Daughters, winner of both the Audience Award for U.
In the latest edition of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast, co-hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey drill down on the nominations, examining the snubs of American Symphony and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie. And they explore why the Academy’s documentary branch, which determines the nominees, went for five internationally themed films, bypassing American-focused stories entirely.
Plus Carey, Deadline’s Documentary Editor, reports from the just-concluded 2024 Sundance Film Festival, talking with Best Director winners Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie of Sugarcane, Rory Kennedy and Mark Bailey of the explosive series The Synanon Fix, EP Kerry Washington and two of the main participants in Daughters, Will Ferrell and Harper Steele of Will & Harper, and more.
Daughters, winner of both the Audience Award for U.
- 1/31/2024
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline Film + TV
Netflix has confirmed its acquisition of Daughters, winner of Sundance’s Festival Favorite and Audience Award: US Documentary awards.
‘Daughters’: Sundance Review
Angela Patton and Natalie Rae co-directed the film, which follows four young girls as they prepare for a Daddy Daughter Dance with their incarcerated fathers as part of a prison fatherhood programme in Washington, D.C.
Lisa Mazzotta, Rae, Justin Benoliel, Mindy Goldberg, Sam Bisbee, Kathryn Everett, Laura Choi Raycroft, and James Cunningham served as producers. Kerry Washington Patton, and Joel Edgerton are among the executive producers.
This marks the third Netflix buy out of Sundance after...
‘Daughters’: Sundance Review
Angela Patton and Natalie Rae co-directed the film, which follows four young girls as they prepare for a Daddy Daughter Dance with their incarcerated fathers as part of a prison fatherhood programme in Washington, D.C.
Lisa Mazzotta, Rae, Justin Benoliel, Mindy Goldberg, Sam Bisbee, Kathryn Everett, Laura Choi Raycroft, and James Cunningham served as producers. Kerry Washington Patton, and Joel Edgerton are among the executive producers.
This marks the third Netflix buy out of Sundance after...
- 1/31/2024
- ScreenDaily
Plot: The true story of Rob Peace (Jay Will), a promising academic who, in a desperate attempt to raise money for his incarcerated father (Chiwetel Ejiofor) started a marijuana business that put his future in jeopardy.
Review: One of the recurring themes of this year’s Sundance was fatherhood. It’s a theme that cropped up in one of the fest’s most popular documentaries, Daughters, and was also prominent in films like Freaky Tales, Love Lies Bleeding, and Exhibiting Forgiveness. Most of the relationships were depicted as at least somewhat dysfunctional, and Rob Peace, in some measure, follows suit.
It begs the question, what would you sacrifice to save your father? Most movies – when they ask this question – do the reverse. We’re used to seeing stories about parents sacrificing things for their children, but not the reverse. In Rob Peace, which is based on a story that’s all too tragically true,...
Review: One of the recurring themes of this year’s Sundance was fatherhood. It’s a theme that cropped up in one of the fest’s most popular documentaries, Daughters, and was also prominent in films like Freaky Tales, Love Lies Bleeding, and Exhibiting Forgiveness. Most of the relationships were depicted as at least somewhat dysfunctional, and Rob Peace, in some measure, follows suit.
It begs the question, what would you sacrifice to save your father? Most movies – when they ask this question – do the reverse. We’re used to seeing stories about parents sacrificing things for their children, but not the reverse. In Rob Peace, which is based on a story that’s all too tragically true,...
- 1/31/2024
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Last year may have been the official return of the Sundance Film Festival to an in-person experience, but the just-concluded 2024 edition felt even more lively: This wasn’t just back to business, this was a full-on coming-out party, with A-list talent on-hand even beyond what you could have expected from the festival in its last couple pre-covid years.
The best movies of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, as determined by IndieWire’s annual critics survey, are an eclectic mix, full of starpower and starmaking turns. And undoubtedly, having all the competition titles screen virtually in the last five days of the fest buoyed the visibility of some — if the celebrities all descended on Park City, Utah, this year, some journalists who used to be in-person regulars opted instead for just the online experience.
If the journalists who responded to IndieWire’s survey, 166 in total, are fewer in number than the past,...
The best movies of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, as determined by IndieWire’s annual critics survey, are an eclectic mix, full of starpower and starmaking turns. And undoubtedly, having all the competition titles screen virtually in the last five days of the fest buoyed the visibility of some — if the celebrities all descended on Park City, Utah, this year, some journalists who used to be in-person regulars opted instead for just the online experience.
If the journalists who responded to IndieWire’s survey, 166 in total, are fewer in number than the past,...
- 1/31/2024
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
Natalie Rae and Angela Patton’s “Daughters,” an acclaimed documentary about a program that allows young girls to participate in a special dance with their incarcerated fathers, is finalizing a sale to Netflix. If the deal closes, it is expected to be in the seven-figure range. It was a competitive situation with at least three companies circling the picture.
“Daughters” premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award in Documentary Competition and was named overall Festival Favorite. The film took eight years to produce.
In a rave review in Variety, Lisa Kennedy praised “Daughters,” writing that the film adds “depth and dimension to stories of incarceration.” Kennedy added: “The film is rife with visually lyrical moments that connect viewers with the young ones’ sorrows, fears, insights and hopes. In the hands of the directors, cinematographer Michael Cambio Fernandez and editors Troy Lewis and Adelina Bichis,...
“Daughters” premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award in Documentary Competition and was named overall Festival Favorite. The film took eight years to produce.
In a rave review in Variety, Lisa Kennedy praised “Daughters,” writing that the film adds “depth and dimension to stories of incarceration.” Kennedy added: “The film is rife with visually lyrical moments that connect viewers with the young ones’ sorrows, fears, insights and hopes. In the hands of the directors, cinematographer Michael Cambio Fernandez and editors Troy Lewis and Adelina Bichis,...
- 1/30/2024
- by Brent Lang and Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
Back at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, Celine Song’s debut feature, “Past Lives,” premiered to rave reviews and early speculation about its awards chances. That turned out to be prescient. One year later, “Past Lives” is a 2024 Oscars Best Picture nominee, while Song is a nominee for Best Original Screenplay. So with the 2024 Sundance Film Festival at its end, what better time than now to speculate about what next year’s “Past Lives” will be? Whether anything on 2024’s Sundance roster can scale those heights is up for debate, but plenty of promising titles could compete for acting and screenplay prizes. The documentary lineup was robust this year, which makes sense: Six of the last 10 Best Documentary Feature Film winners got their start at Sundance.
Below is a sample of Sundance highlights that could be award contenders this time next year.
Narrative features
“Between the Temples”: It’s hard to fathom,...
Below is a sample of Sundance highlights that could be award contenders this time next year.
Narrative features
“Between the Temples”: It’s hard to fathom,...
- 1/29/2024
- by Matthew Jacobs
- Gold Derby
Updated throughout with new buys. Despite some initial trepidation, big sales were not in short supply at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, with Netflix spending big on everything from “It’s What’s Inside” to “Skywalkers: A Love Story,” Searchlight Pictures going for “A Real Pain,” Amazon MGM getting in on the “My Old Ass” action, Neon wisely snapping up “Presence,” and Sony Pictures Classics getting down with “Kneecap”, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of superior films still looking for homes.
Of the still-for-sale titles that premiered at this year’s festival, there’s plenty to intrigue all sorts of buyers, from those looking for films with excellent performances that could inspire major awards pushes (like Saoirse Ronan in “The Outrun”), those in search of the next big director, or documentary lovers looking for films with incredible real world impact and fascinating true stories.
And while it’s still early days,...
Of the still-for-sale titles that premiered at this year’s festival, there’s plenty to intrigue all sorts of buyers, from those looking for films with excellent performances that could inspire major awards pushes (like Saoirse Ronan in “The Outrun”), those in search of the next big director, or documentary lovers looking for films with incredible real world impact and fascinating true stories.
And while it’s still early days,...
- 1/29/2024
- by Kate Erbland, David Ehrlich and Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
The Sundance Film Festival returned to Park City this year, bringing with it a cavalcade of new films, many of which we'll probably be talking about throughout the rest of 2024. We've rounded up looks at every film we watched at Sundance this year, bringing you insight into the best, the worst, and everything in between. As always, we urge you to seek out these films for yourself. Movies live and die by their audience, and many of the films at Sundance are small affairs that need to find viewers in order to thrive. So don't just take our word for it — give yourself over to a new movie, one you might not even have noticed. There are more than big studio blockbusters in the film world, and they need your help. Our list below is merely a guide, it's up to you to take the journey.
Read more: These Are...
Read more: These Are...
- 1/29/2024
- by SlashFilm Staff
- Slash Film
The Sundance Film Festival has wrapped in snowy Park City, and Deadline was on the ground to watch all of the key films. Here is a compilation of our reviews from the fest, which include festival award winners like Daughters, the documentary that took the Festival Favorite Award, and A Real Pain, which won the Waldo Salt Screenwriter Award for its writer-director-star Jesse Eisenberg.
Other pics include several that were scooped up by distributors, led by Steven Soderbergh’s ghost story Presence selling to Neon, A Real Pain going to Searchlight, Ghostlight to IFC Films, and Netflix’s smash $17 million deal for It’s What’s Inside.
Check out the reviews below, click on the titles to read them in full, and keep checking back as we add more.
The American Society of Magical Negroes (L-r) Justice Smith and David Alan Grier in ‘The American Society of Magical Negroes’
Section: Premieres
Director-screenwriter: Kobi Libii
Cast: Justice Smith,...
Other pics include several that were scooped up by distributors, led by Steven Soderbergh’s ghost story Presence selling to Neon, A Real Pain going to Searchlight, Ghostlight to IFC Films, and Netflix’s smash $17 million deal for It’s What’s Inside.
Check out the reviews below, click on the titles to read them in full, and keep checking back as we add more.
The American Society of Magical Negroes (L-r) Justice Smith and David Alan Grier in ‘The American Society of Magical Negroes’
Section: Premieres
Director-screenwriter: Kobi Libii
Cast: Justice Smith,...
- 1/29/2024
- by Damon Wise, Valerie Complex and Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Daughters is Natalie Rae and Angela Patton’s odyssey documenting Patton’s program that empowers girls of incarcerated men yields insight through the subjects themselves — carefree tweens enjoying their chance to just be kids.
Aubrey, Santana, Raziah and Ja’Ana open up on camera about cherishing lifelong connections to jailed fathers some rarely visit. Their reflections on maintaining hope with imperfect parental bonds defy assumptions around what families touched by long-term sentences or flawed rehabilitation systems need most. Moments defending and questioning their dads in the same breath showcase conflicting loyalties beyond most youths’ years.
The lens of Daughters hands the mic to the girls at its center. Rather than a parade of expositional interviews, we witness the girls of varying ages and their suppression of anger over feeling deprived of fatherly support. Their vulnerability and confusion rings out through self-aware proclamations far beyond childhood. The emotional aftermath also means...
Aubrey, Santana, Raziah and Ja’Ana open up on camera about cherishing lifelong connections to jailed fathers some rarely visit. Their reflections on maintaining hope with imperfect parental bonds defy assumptions around what families touched by long-term sentences or flawed rehabilitation systems need most. Moments defending and questioning their dads in the same breath showcase conflicting loyalties beyond most youths’ years.
The lens of Daughters hands the mic to the girls at its center. Rather than a parade of expositional interviews, we witness the girls of varying ages and their suppression of anger over feeling deprived of fatherly support. Their vulnerability and confusion rings out through self-aware proclamations far beyond childhood. The emotional aftermath also means...
- 1/29/2024
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
With Sugarcane, filmmakers Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie deliver a multilayered film that invites audiences to confront questions about morality and justice, and to bear witness to the lasting intergenerational trauma of the Williams Lake First Nations (Secwepemc or Shuswap Nation) people stemming from the residential school system that included forced family separation, physical and sexual abuse, and the destruction of First Nation culture and language. Drawing on their backgrounds in activism and journalism — as well as NoiseCat’s own personal connection to the story and community — the filmmakers deftly weave together multiple strands to form this compelling, heartbreaking narrative.
Demonstrating unparalleled humanity, and compassion for the affected First Nation communities in North America, the powerful documentary operates from a place of pure and total empathy. At the same time, NoiseCat and Kassie recognize the resilience of the survivors and their descendants, and their determination to seek answers to long-buried secrets.
Demonstrating unparalleled humanity, and compassion for the affected First Nation communities in North America, the powerful documentary operates from a place of pure and total empathy. At the same time, NoiseCat and Kassie recognize the resilience of the survivors and their descendants, and their determination to seek answers to long-buried secrets.
- 1/29/2024
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
That’s almost a wrap, folks, as this year’s Sundance Film Festival concludes its eleven-day run tomorrow. While Team IndieWire has already decamped back to their various home bases (eleven is a lot of days), we’re all still enjoying what this year’s festival has to offer through both its virtual screening platform and our already-fond memories of the best films we saw at this year’s festival.
And what films are those, you might ask? We’re all too happy to share, care of the following list of 17 standout features from this year’s festival, hereby termed the best of the fest. The following list includes over a dozen films one IndieWire staffer really wanted to highlight. Narratives and documentaries, first-time filmmakers and old favorites, comedies, dramas, horror films, and so much more, this list also captures the breadth of filmmaking prowess put on display at this year’s festival.
And what films are those, you might ask? We’re all too happy to share, care of the following list of 17 standout features from this year’s festival, hereby termed the best of the fest. The following list includes over a dozen films one IndieWire staffer really wanted to highlight. Narratives and documentaries, first-time filmmakers and old favorites, comedies, dramas, horror films, and so much more, this list also captures the breadth of filmmaking prowess put on display at this year’s festival.
- 1/27/2024
- by Kate Erbland, David Ehrlich and Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
The Sundance Film Festival announced its 2024 winners on January 26, two days before the festival’s end date. The Awards Ceremony took place at The Ray Theater in Park City, Utah. This year marks its 40th annual festival run taking place from January 18 to January 28.
In the Summer, a film director Alessandra Lacorazza, won the top honor, U.S. Grand Jury Prize, starring Lio Mehiel.
Last year, Mehiel told uInterview exclusively about the importance of trans representation.
“Whenever there is an uptick of queer or trans representation in the media, there is an equal and perhaps greater response from the other side … that are looking to suppress trans rights, trans agency [and] queer liberation,” Mehiel told uInterview founder Erik Meers. “While in Hollywood we are seeing trans representation and this film is able to be part of that movement, this film is more important now than ever because even just in Utah,...
In the Summer, a film director Alessandra Lacorazza, won the top honor, U.S. Grand Jury Prize, starring Lio Mehiel.
Last year, Mehiel told uInterview exclusively about the importance of trans representation.
“Whenever there is an uptick of queer or trans representation in the media, there is an equal and perhaps greater response from the other side … that are looking to suppress trans rights, trans agency [and] queer liberation,” Mehiel told uInterview founder Erik Meers. “While in Hollywood we are seeing trans representation and this film is able to be part of that movement, this film is more important now than ever because even just in Utah,...
- 1/27/2024
- by Ann Hoang
- Uinterview
The 40th edition of Sundance proved that despite corporate consolidation, there is still a market for independently made documentaries. While there haven’t been many sales so far, there has been strong buyer interest in two celeb-focused docs — “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” and “Will & Harper,” featuring Will Ferrell — and healthy interest in others.
“The market didn’t have a pulse six months ago,” says Submarine Entertainment sales agent Josh Braun, who came to the festival with nine documentaries seeking distribution, including “Daughters,” “Gaucho Gaucho” and “Union.” “So there was a reason to be a little bit fearful coming into Sundance. But now we are feeling a pulse. We are heading in a good direction. The patient still needs some treatment, but we are no longer in a Doa situation.”
While Submarine has not yet closed deals for any of the titles, Braun is optimistic, given the fact a...
“The market didn’t have a pulse six months ago,” says Submarine Entertainment sales agent Josh Braun, who came to the festival with nine documentaries seeking distribution, including “Daughters,” “Gaucho Gaucho” and “Union.” “So there was a reason to be a little bit fearful coming into Sundance. But now we are feeling a pulse. We are heading in a good direction. The patient still needs some treatment, but we are no longer in a Doa situation.”
While Submarine has not yet closed deals for any of the titles, Braun is optimistic, given the fact a...
- 1/27/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
The official awards for the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, held in Park City, Utah every January, were announced this morning with a small ceremony held in person in Utah. This always marks the end of the fest, with a few days of screenings left. The festival played on this week with an at-home online series of viewings in addition to all the in-person premieres. It was a fairly impressive year, with a handful of terrific films, along with plenty of duds as well – and a smaller line-up with only around 92 new films premiering (compared to over 100 last year). The main winners for 2024 include In the Summers, taking home Grand Jury Prize & Directing Award; along with Sean Wang's Dìdi (弟弟) winning the coveted Audience Award and a U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble. In addition, the festival favorite is the documentary titled Daughters, playing in the U.S. Doc competition section.
- 1/26/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Sundance announced its winners on Friday morning, with Alessandra Lacorazza’s In The Summers took the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and Brendan Bellomo’s Porcelain War the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary.
Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s A New Kind Of Wilderness won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, while Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez earned the corresponding world cinema dramatic prize for Sujo.
The pair collaborated as writers on the 2020 World Cinema – Dramatic prize winner Identifying Features directed by Valadez.
The Festival Favorite Award went to Daughters by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae, whose film also...
Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s A New Kind Of Wilderness won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, while Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez earned the corresponding world cinema dramatic prize for Sujo.
The pair collaborated as writers on the 2020 World Cinema – Dramatic prize winner Identifying Features directed by Valadez.
The Festival Favorite Award went to Daughters by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae, whose film also...
- 1/26/2024
- ScreenDaily
Sundance announced its winners on Friday morning, with Alessandra Lacorazza’s In The Summers took the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and Brendan Bellomo’s Porcelain War the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary.
Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s A New Kind Of Wilderness won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, while Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez earned the corresponding world cinema dramatic prize for Sujo.
The pair collaborated as writers on the 2020 World Cinema – Dramatic prize winner Identifying Features directed by Valadez.
The Festival Favorite Award went to Daughters by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae, whose film also...
Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s A New Kind Of Wilderness won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, while Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez earned the corresponding world cinema dramatic prize for Sujo.
The pair collaborated as writers on the 2020 World Cinema – Dramatic prize winner Identifying Features directed by Valadez.
The Festival Favorite Award went to Daughters by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae, whose film also...
- 1/26/2024
- ScreenDaily
The Sundance Film Festival 2024, beloved by independent film enthusiasts, opens the film festival circuit with a bustling calendar of parties, thought-provoking panels, and red-carpet premieres.
Celebrating its 40th milestone, the lineup boasts diversity across various categories, featuring 53 short films, 35 documentary features, and 83 feature films. The award-winning films for the 2024 Sundance Film Festival were announced today at The Ray Theatre in Park City during a ceremony.
The jury and audience-awarded prizes include Grand Jury Prizes awarded to In The Summers (U.S. Dramatic Competition), Porcelain War (U.S. Documentary Competition), Sujo (World Cinema Dramatic Competition), and A New Kind of Wilderness (World Cinema Documentary Competition). The Next Innovator Award presented by Adobe was awarded to Little Death.
Related: Sundance Film Festival Awards: ‘In The Summers’, ‘Didi’, ‘Daughters’ Top Winners List
Audiences came together in person over the weekend in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Sundance Resort with talent that included June Squibb,...
Celebrating its 40th milestone, the lineup boasts diversity across various categories, featuring 53 short films, 35 documentary features, and 83 feature films. The award-winning films for the 2024 Sundance Film Festival were announced today at The Ray Theatre in Park City during a ceremony.
The jury and audience-awarded prizes include Grand Jury Prizes awarded to In The Summers (U.S. Dramatic Competition), Porcelain War (U.S. Documentary Competition), Sujo (World Cinema Dramatic Competition), and A New Kind of Wilderness (World Cinema Documentary Competition). The Next Innovator Award presented by Adobe was awarded to Little Death.
Related: Sundance Film Festival Awards: ‘In The Summers’, ‘Didi’, ‘Daughters’ Top Winners List
Audiences came together in person over the weekend in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Sundance Resort with talent that included June Squibb,...
- 1/26/2024
- by Robert Lang
- Deadline Film + TV
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival is almost at an end, but there are still films to screen in the online portion of the festival and, almost as importantly, awards to hand out to happy independent filmmakers. The big winners at this year’s awards ceremony were Alessandra Lacorazza’s “In the Summers” which won the Grand Jury Prize U.S. Dramatic and the Directing Award in that category; Sean Wang’s “Didi,” and Angela Patton and Natalie Rae’s “Daughters.” “Didi” took the Audience Awards in the U.S.
Continue reading ‘In The Summers,’ Didi,’ & ‘Daughters’ Top 2024 Sundance Film Festival Awards at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘In The Summers,’ Didi,’ & ‘Daughters’ Top 2024 Sundance Film Festival Awards at The Playlist.
- 1/26/2024
- by Gregory Ellwood
- The Playlist
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival has announced its winners, with In the Summers taking the Grand Jury prize for U.S. Dramatic Competition and Porcelain War landing the award for U.S. Documentary Competition.
Sujo won the jury prize for the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section, and A New Kind of Wilderness won for World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Audience awards went to Sean Wang’s Dìdi (弟弟) in the U.S. Dramatic Competition and Daughters in the U.S. Documentary Competition, with the latter also earning the Festival Favorite Award selected by audiences across all new feature films presented at the fest. Girls Will Be Girls landed the audience award for World Cinema Dramatic Competition, and Ibelin won it in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Elsewhere, the Next innovator award went to Little Death, with Irish rap biopic Kneecap winning the audience award for the Next section.
Sundance CEO Joana Vicente said,...
Sujo won the jury prize for the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section, and A New Kind of Wilderness won for World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Audience awards went to Sean Wang’s Dìdi (弟弟) in the U.S. Dramatic Competition and Daughters in the U.S. Documentary Competition, with the latter also earning the Festival Favorite Award selected by audiences across all new feature films presented at the fest. Girls Will Be Girls landed the audience award for World Cinema Dramatic Competition, and Ibelin won it in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Elsewhere, the Next innovator award went to Little Death, with Irish rap biopic Kneecap winning the audience award for the Next section.
Sundance CEO Joana Vicente said,...
- 1/26/2024
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival awards ceremony revealed winners Friday honoring the best of this year’s lineup in Park City.
The U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury prize went to Alessandra Lacorazza’s In the Summers, about two sisters who navigate their loving but volatile father during their yearly summer visits to his home in Las Cruces, Nm. Lacorazza also won a special jury prize for directing.
See the full list of winners below.
Other Grand Jury winners unveiled today in the ceremony at the Ray Theatre included Porcelain War in the U.S. Documentary competition, A New Kind of Wilderness in the World Cinema Documentary competition, and Sujo in the World Cinema Dramatic competition.
Angela Patton and Natalie Rae’s documentary Daughters received the Festival Favorite Award, which Park City audiences select across all new feature films presented at the festival, as well as the Audience Award for the U.
The U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury prize went to Alessandra Lacorazza’s In the Summers, about two sisters who navigate their loving but volatile father during their yearly summer visits to his home in Las Cruces, Nm. Lacorazza also won a special jury prize for directing.
See the full list of winners below.
Other Grand Jury winners unveiled today in the ceremony at the Ray Theatre included Porcelain War in the U.S. Documentary competition, A New Kind of Wilderness in the World Cinema Documentary competition, and Sujo in the World Cinema Dramatic competition.
Angela Patton and Natalie Rae’s documentary Daughters received the Festival Favorite Award, which Park City audiences select across all new feature films presented at the festival, as well as the Audience Award for the U.
- 1/26/2024
- by Anthony D'Alessandro and Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
A striking film that evokes a wave of emotions, Natalie Rae and Angela Patton’s Daughters is another picture––à la Rudy Valdez’s The Sentence, Garrett Bradley’s Time, and Zara Katz and Lisa Riordan Seville’s A Women on the Outside––focusing directly on the impact prison sentences have on families. All three films discuss the direct and indirect costs of keeping in touch with loved ones “inside,” from visiting far-flung facilities across the state or country to the exorbitant rates charged by companies (e.g. Secures Technologies) for video visits and emails. Daughters is an oft-poetic look at the impact this separation has on four girls, ages five to 15: Aubrey, Santana, Ja’Anna, and Raziah.
Early on we learn from Clinique Chapman, a prison social worker overseeing this project, that a group of girls have petitioned the local sheriff overseeing the prison in Washington, DC, for...
Early on we learn from Clinique Chapman, a prison social worker overseeing this project, that a group of girls have petitioned the local sheriff overseeing the prison in Washington, DC, for...
- 1/26/2024
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival awards were announced today at The Ray Theatre in Park City, Utah.
See the list of 2024 winners below, and congrats to all the winners.
Festival Favorite Award
Daughters (USA) – Angela Patton and Natalie Rae
U.S. Dramatic Competition
Grand Jury Prize
In the Summers (USA) – Alessandra Lacorazza
Directing Award
In the Summers (USA) – Alessandra Lacorazza
The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg
Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance
Suncoast (USA) – Nico Parker
Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble
Dìdi – Sean Wang
Audience Award
Dìdi – Sean Wang
U.S. Documentary Competition
Grand Jury Prize
Porcelain War – Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev
Directing Award
Sugarcane – Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie
Special Jury Award for Sound
Gaucho Gaucho (USA, Argentina) – Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw
Special Jury Award for The Art of Change
Union (USA) – Stephen Maing and Brett Story
Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award
Frida...
See the list of 2024 winners below, and congrats to all the winners.
Festival Favorite Award
Daughters (USA) – Angela Patton and Natalie Rae
U.S. Dramatic Competition
Grand Jury Prize
In the Summers (USA) – Alessandra Lacorazza
Directing Award
In the Summers (USA) – Alessandra Lacorazza
The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg
Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance
Suncoast (USA) – Nico Parker
Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble
Dìdi – Sean Wang
Audience Award
Dìdi – Sean Wang
U.S. Documentary Competition
Grand Jury Prize
Porcelain War – Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev
Directing Award
Sugarcane – Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie
Special Jury Award for Sound
Gaucho Gaucho (USA, Argentina) – Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw
Special Jury Award for The Art of Change
Union (USA) – Stephen Maing and Brett Story
Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award
Frida...
- 1/26/2024
- by Prem
- Talking Films
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival winners are in, with films like “In the Summers,” “Didi,” and “Daughters” dominating across the categories. “In the Summers” filmmaker Alessandra Lacorazza, whose film centers on a fractured family in New Mexico, also won the Directing prize in U.S. Dramatic.
On Friday, January 26, the winners of juried prizes were shared out of the competition sections, including the U.S. Dramatic Competition, U.S. Documentary Competition, World Cinema Dramatic Competition, World Cinema Documentary Competition, and the Next lineup.
The 2024 Sundance jury consisted of 16 filmmakers and artists across all sections, with the U.S. Dramatic Competition jury made up of “Winter’s Bone” director/co-writer Debra Granik, “Shortcomings” screenwriter Adrian Tomine, and “Master of None” producer Lena Waithe.
“Navalny” producer Shane Boris, “The Disappearance of Shere Hite” director Nicole Newnham, and “The Sentence” director Rudy Valdez serve on the U.S. Documentary Competition jury, with “The Babadook” director Jennifer Kent,...
On Friday, January 26, the winners of juried prizes were shared out of the competition sections, including the U.S. Dramatic Competition, U.S. Documentary Competition, World Cinema Dramatic Competition, World Cinema Documentary Competition, and the Next lineup.
The 2024 Sundance jury consisted of 16 filmmakers and artists across all sections, with the U.S. Dramatic Competition jury made up of “Winter’s Bone” director/co-writer Debra Granik, “Shortcomings” screenwriter Adrian Tomine, and “Master of None” producer Lena Waithe.
“Navalny” producer Shane Boris, “The Disappearance of Shere Hite” director Nicole Newnham, and “The Sentence” director Rudy Valdez serve on the U.S. Documentary Competition jury, with “The Babadook” director Jennifer Kent,...
- 1/26/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson and Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
The Sundance Film Festival welcomed a new class of indie film stars on Friday, handing out its annual awards in Park City, Utah.
Taking the festival’s grand jury prize in the U.S. dramatic competition was “In the Summers” from writer-director Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio. The film tells of two daughters who come of age navigating a turbulent but loving father during yearly visits to his home in New Mexico. “Porcelain War” won the U.S. Documentary competition, for its portrait of artists-turned-soldiers in the Ukraine.
Top prizes in the world cinematic category went to “A New Kind of Wilderness” for documentary, the tale of a wild-living family who must return to the modern world after an untimely death; “Sujo” won for narrative feature, about a 4-year-old orphan who may find it impossible to escape a future working for a drug cartel.
Incoming Sundance Film Festival director Eugene Hernandez began...
Taking the festival’s grand jury prize in the U.S. dramatic competition was “In the Summers” from writer-director Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio. The film tells of two daughters who come of age navigating a turbulent but loving father during yearly visits to his home in New Mexico. “Porcelain War” won the U.S. Documentary competition, for its portrait of artists-turned-soldiers in the Ukraine.
Top prizes in the world cinematic category went to “A New Kind of Wilderness” for documentary, the tale of a wild-living family who must return to the modern world after an untimely death; “Sujo” won for narrative feature, about a 4-year-old orphan who may find it impossible to escape a future working for a drug cartel.
Incoming Sundance Film Festival director Eugene Hernandez began...
- 1/26/2024
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
An enormously moving documentary made all the more effective by co-directors Angela Patton and Natalie Rae’s steadfast refusal to settle for easy sentiment in the face of difficult outcomes, “Daughters” has as much ugly-cry potential as any film in recent memory. But the most lasting power of this film about a unique father-daughter dance for D.C.-area Black girls whose fathers are in jail comes in a final act that wipes those tears away to examine the hurt they leave behind.
Like Garrett Bradley’s similarly lilting and delicate “Time” before it, “Daughters” conveys the destructive inhumanity of America’s prison system by pointing our attention toward its collateral victims: in this case, the children denied a meaningful relationship with their dads. “Daughters” doesn’t absolve the inmates of their role in that process, but it also doesn’t tell us what they’ve done to deserve their sentences.
Like Garrett Bradley’s similarly lilting and delicate “Time” before it, “Daughters” conveys the destructive inhumanity of America’s prison system by pointing our attention toward its collateral victims: in this case, the children denied a meaningful relationship with their dads. “Daughters” doesn’t absolve the inmates of their role in that process, but it also doesn’t tell us what they’ve done to deserve their sentences.
- 1/25/2024
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
In “Daughters,” a group of men gathers in a sunny, brightly hued prison meeting room. Each man wears an orange jumpsuit and has signed on for a 10-week course about fatherhood with life coach Chad Morris in directors Natalie Rae and Angela Patton’s entrancing documentary, debuting at the Sundance Film Festival. The body language in the room is instructive, not least because it will change over time. Show-me postures will give way to leaning in. Crickets become questions and confessions as the day nears when the men will attend a dance and luncheon in the repurposed prison gymnasium, reunited with the daughters from whom they’ve been separated.
As interesting as the goings-on in that prison room will be, the stars of “Daughters” are the titular girls: Aubrey Smith, 5, Santana Stewart, 10, Ja’Ana Crudup, 11, and Raziah Lewis, 15. “One thing I know from working over a decade with girls is they know what they need,...
As interesting as the goings-on in that prison room will be, the stars of “Daughters” are the titular girls: Aubrey Smith, 5, Santana Stewart, 10, Ja’Ana Crudup, 11, and Raziah Lewis, 15. “One thing I know from working over a decade with girls is they know what they need,...
- 1/23/2024
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
Angela Patton and Natalie Rae’s Daughters targets viewers squarely and simultaneously in the head and the heart, succeeding much more effectively at the latter, presumably with the hope that the former will follow.
It isn’t ineffective. It’s a documentary that is almost certain to make viewers cry — not from sadness, but from a surplus of complicated emotions — with a crescendo two-thirds of the way through that’s rather devastating. The key points of advocacy are more complicated, and while they come through, a series of questionable decisions regarding structure and aesthetics makes it perhaps less effective than it could be.
Patton, the CEO of Girls for a Change, established the Date With Dad program, where the daughters of inmates at a D.C. prison and their fathers are brought together for a dance.
“Our daddies are our mirrors that we reflect back on when we decide about...
It isn’t ineffective. It’s a documentary that is almost certain to make viewers cry — not from sadness, but from a surplus of complicated emotions — with a crescendo two-thirds of the way through that’s rather devastating. The key points of advocacy are more complicated, and while they come through, a series of questionable decisions regarding structure and aesthetics makes it perhaps less effective than it could be.
Patton, the CEO of Girls for a Change, established the Date With Dad program, where the daughters of inmates at a D.C. prison and their fathers are brought together for a dance.
“Our daddies are our mirrors that we reflect back on when we decide about...
- 1/23/2024
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
By Monday afternoon, the buzz hit Main Street: the Seinfelds have arrived at the Sundance Film Festival.
The superstar comedian accompanied his wife, Jessica Seinfeld, to Park City for the world premiere of her Sundance documentary Daughters, held just after noon Monday at the Ray Theatre. And what an event it proved to be. “Daughters received multiple standing ovations at our sold-out premiere today,” Jessica shared on Instagram Stories along with a video showing a packed crowd on its feet. The film marks the entrepreneur, author and philanthropist’s first feature film.
Daughters, directed by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae, focuses a lens on four young girls — Aubrey, Santana, Raziah and Ja’Ana — as they prep for a special daddy-daughter dance with their incarcerated fathers as part of a unique program in a Washington D.C. jail. Per Sundance literature, Daughters is a result of an eight-year doc journey for its filmmakers.
The superstar comedian accompanied his wife, Jessica Seinfeld, to Park City for the world premiere of her Sundance documentary Daughters, held just after noon Monday at the Ray Theatre. And what an event it proved to be. “Daughters received multiple standing ovations at our sold-out premiere today,” Jessica shared on Instagram Stories along with a video showing a packed crowd on its feet. The film marks the entrepreneur, author and philanthropist’s first feature film.
Daughters, directed by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae, focuses a lens on four young girls — Aubrey, Santana, Raziah and Ja’Ana — as they prep for a special daddy-daughter dance with their incarcerated fathers as part of a unique program in a Washington D.C. jail. Per Sundance literature, Daughters is a result of an eight-year doc journey for its filmmakers.
- 1/23/2024
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It’s safe to assume that, were one to simply look at the film’s runtime or consider the basic concept surrounding the documentary “Daughters,“ there’s presumably much more to this than a simple film about a Father-Daughter dance organized for one particular group of incarcerated men and their children, separated by prison walls and an ocean of distance both physically as much as emotionally. Such dance events are commonplace; normally held annually as a way for fathers to bond with their young girls within a setting not unlike a homecoming dance or prom, most could be seen as little more than an excuse for a large group of children to burn off energy as they dash around a gymnasium to any number of DJ-provided pop hits, but there are equal parts undeniable connections made throughout the course of the evening as well as a memory both will, in all likelihood,...
- 1/23/2024
- by Brian Farvour
- The Playlist
Filmed over a remarkable eight years, Natalie Rae and Angela Patton’s Sundance-premiering Daughters is an on-the-ground (and behind the bars) look at the preparations — physical, mental and above all emotional — leading up to the DC-jail-based Daddy Daughter Dance, the culmination of a fatherhood program for the incarcerated. Following Aubrey, Santana, Raziah, and Ja’Ana — four “at-promise” girls ranging from tiny to teenage — and the respective dads who are desperate to bond with them (and are serving sentences that likewise range in years) the doc is every bit as inspiring as one would expect from a co-director (Patton) […]
The post “There Was No Backup Plan Other Than We’d Make It Happen Somehow”: Natalie Rae and Angela Patton on Their Sundance-Debuting Daughters first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “There Was No Backup Plan Other Than We’d Make It Happen Somehow”: Natalie Rae and Angela Patton on Their Sundance-Debuting Daughters first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/22/2024
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
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