In today’s film news roundup, the Sundance supernatural film “Run Sweetheart Run” finds a home, Sundance programmer David Courier retires and “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice” gets a week of free screenings.
Acquisition
Amazon Studios has bought Shana Feste’s supernatural film, “Run Sweetheart Run,” starring Ella Balinska, from Blumhouse Productions and Automatik. It will launch worldwide exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
The thriller premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival and was set to be shown at SXSW before it was cancelled. Written and directed by Feste, “Run Sweetheart Run” also stars Pilou Asbæk, Aml Ameen, Dayo Okeniyi, Betsy Brandt, Clark Gregg and Shohreh Aghdashloo.
Balinska plays a single mother who goes on a blind date that turns violent and has to get home on foot through Los Angeles as she’s pursued by her date.
“As crazy as audiences may find the film protagonist’s experience,...
Acquisition
Amazon Studios has bought Shana Feste’s supernatural film, “Run Sweetheart Run,” starring Ella Balinska, from Blumhouse Productions and Automatik. It will launch worldwide exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
The thriller premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival and was set to be shown at SXSW before it was cancelled. Written and directed by Feste, “Run Sweetheart Run” also stars Pilou Asbæk, Aml Ameen, Dayo Okeniyi, Betsy Brandt, Clark Gregg and Shohreh Aghdashloo.
Balinska plays a single mother who goes on a blind date that turns violent and has to get home on foot through Los Angeles as she’s pursued by her date.
“As crazy as audiences may find the film protagonist’s experience,...
- 5/27/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
“David’s incredible generosity and fierce support of artists will remain imprinted on our work at Sundance.”
Sundance Film Festival programming stalwart David Courier, who served as Sundance Film Festival: London lead programmer, is to retire on June 30.
Making the announcement on Tuesday (May 26), Sundance Film Festival director of programming Kim Yutani noted Courier had worked at Sundance for “20 impactful years” and had brought documentary programming in particular “to new heights”.
Courier said, ”Programming, especially the discovery of new, exciting voices in film, has been my passion for 20 years and I’m now looking forward to concentrating on a personal...
Sundance Film Festival programming stalwart David Courier, who served as Sundance Film Festival: London lead programmer, is to retire on June 30.
Making the announcement on Tuesday (May 26), Sundance Film Festival director of programming Kim Yutani noted Courier had worked at Sundance for “20 impactful years” and had brought documentary programming in particular “to new heights”.
Courier said, ”Programming, especially the discovery of new, exciting voices in film, has been my passion for 20 years and I’m now looking forward to concentrating on a personal...
- 5/26/2020
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
At this year’s Sundance Film Festival four documentaries spotlight adolescents who inspire change while also holding a mirror up to a society that provoked their pain and path to resistance.
In Kim Snyder’s “Us Kids” the director focuses her lens on a handful of teenagers who survived the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Parkland, Fla. which claimed 17 lives. The docu examines the lasting trauma of gun violence while also chronicling determined young survivors who speak out against the national gun-violence epidemic and develop the March For Our Lives movement.
Snyder, who directed the 2016 doc “Newtown” about Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, as well as the 2018 nonfiction short “Notes from Dunblane: Lesson from a School Shooting,” had no intention of making another film about gun violence.
“I was very weirdly and karmically in Florida the week of the (Parkland) shooting,” recalls Snyder. “Within days...
In Kim Snyder’s “Us Kids” the director focuses her lens on a handful of teenagers who survived the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Parkland, Fla. which claimed 17 lives. The docu examines the lasting trauma of gun violence while also chronicling determined young survivors who speak out against the national gun-violence epidemic and develop the March For Our Lives movement.
Snyder, who directed the 2016 doc “Newtown” about Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, as well as the 2018 nonfiction short “Notes from Dunblane: Lesson from a School Shooting,” had no intention of making another film about gun violence.
“I was very weirdly and karmically in Florida the week of the (Parkland) shooting,” recalls Snyder. “Within days...
- 1/24/2020
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
New arrivals will work closely with non-fiction-focused programming team.
Sudeep Sharma and Ania Trzebiatowska have joined the programming team at Sundance Film Festival, Screen has learned.
Both new arrivals will work closely with non-fiction-focused programmers David Courier, Harry Vaughn, Lauren Cioffi, and Stephanie Owens.
Trzebiatowska has served as artistic director of the Off Camera International Festival of Independent Cinema in Krakow, Poland, since 2008, and has been an executive in film acquisitions and sales for Visit Films and Autlook Filmsales.
Sharma returns to Park City after serving as an associate programmer focusing on documentary for the festival from 2013-2015, and as...
Sudeep Sharma and Ania Trzebiatowska have joined the programming team at Sundance Film Festival, Screen has learned.
Both new arrivals will work closely with non-fiction-focused programmers David Courier, Harry Vaughn, Lauren Cioffi, and Stephanie Owens.
Trzebiatowska has served as artistic director of the Off Camera International Festival of Independent Cinema in Krakow, Poland, since 2008, and has been an executive in film acquisitions and sales for Visit Films and Autlook Filmsales.
Sharma returns to Park City after serving as an associate programmer focusing on documentary for the festival from 2013-2015, and as...
- 7/20/2019
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
It’s not entirely surprising that portrait documentaries dominate this year’s Sundance nonfiction lineup. Two of the biggest nonfiction films of 2018 – “Rbg” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” – are profile films that premiered at last year’s Sundance and later made the Oscar docu shortlist.
The success of both docs could help explain why Sundance senior programmers David Courier and Caroline Libresco were bombarded with nonfiction biopic submissions for Sundance 2019. “The trick is to find those [profile docs] that are really cinematic and that transcend this notion of traditional biopic,” says Libresco.
Both programmers didn’t seem to have a problem doing just that. Case in point, 12 of the 13 films that make up the fest’s Documentary Premieres section are portrait docs. Steve Bannon, Miles Davis and Harvey Weinstein are among the many famous and infamous figures being explored. Bio films are also prevalent in the Docu Competition and Docu World Cinema Competition categories.
The success of both docs could help explain why Sundance senior programmers David Courier and Caroline Libresco were bombarded with nonfiction biopic submissions for Sundance 2019. “The trick is to find those [profile docs] that are really cinematic and that transcend this notion of traditional biopic,” says Libresco.
Both programmers didn’t seem to have a problem doing just that. Case in point, 12 of the 13 films that make up the fest’s Documentary Premieres section are portrait docs. Steve Bannon, Miles Davis and Harvey Weinstein are among the many famous and infamous figures being explored. Bio films are also prevalent in the Docu Competition and Docu World Cinema Competition categories.
- 1/23/2019
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
After hiring veteran festival programmer Kim Yutani to lead its programming team, the Sundance Film Festival has now announced a brand new batch of further programming hires. Yutani, who was previously a senior programmer for the festival and has worked at Sundance since 2006, was hired in May for the Director of Programming job left vacant by long-time programming head Trevor Groth earlier this year. The long-time programmer has now rounded out her team with a number of fresh faces, while also elevating some Sundance stalwarts.
Yutani commented in an official statement, “This year’s record-breaking number of submissions are phenomenally strong: we’re invigorated and inspired by the work we’ve been seeing. Our incredible — and growing! — programming team has refined our curation processes, ensuring that the conversations we have as we program continue to center, as always, on a Festival that represents a wide range of filmmakers and on-screen experiences.
Yutani commented in an official statement, “This year’s record-breaking number of submissions are phenomenally strong: we’re invigorated and inspired by the work we’ve been seeing. Our incredible — and growing! — programming team has refined our curation processes, ensuring that the conversations we have as we program continue to center, as always, on a Festival that represents a wide range of filmmakers and on-screen experiences.
- 11/19/2018
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Festival to run in Utah from January 24-February 3.
Sundance Institute announced changes to its programming team less than two weeks before it unveils the 2019 festival programme, and unveiled several broad innovations under its inclusion policy, as well as the inaugural Sundance Institute Talent Forum.
Introducing new members to its programming team, the festival said it had expanded and refined the team “with an eye towards fresh perspectives and varied decision-making voices”.
Dilcia Barrera joins as programmer, Stephanie Owens as associate programmer, and Sudeep Sharma as shorts programmer. Ana Souza, formerly a programming coordinator, is promoted to manager, programming / associate programmer.
Sundance Institute announced changes to its programming team less than two weeks before it unveils the 2019 festival programme, and unveiled several broad innovations under its inclusion policy, as well as the inaugural Sundance Institute Talent Forum.
Introducing new members to its programming team, the festival said it had expanded and refined the team “with an eye towards fresh perspectives and varied decision-making voices”.
Dilcia Barrera joins as programmer, Stephanie Owens as associate programmer, and Sudeep Sharma as shorts programmer. Ana Souza, formerly a programming coordinator, is promoted to manager, programming / associate programmer.
- 11/19/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The nonfiction organization Cinema Eye and its nominations committee of top international documentary film programmers, curators, and filmmakers has picked their annual list of “Unforgettables” who helped to define documentary cinema in 2017. They selected 30 individuals from 15 different films to be in the running for this year’s Cinema Eye awards. Like the Doc NYC shortlist, many of the films on this curated list are in the running for the year’s top awards, including the Oscar. “Jane,” “Faces Places,” “City of Ghosts,” and “Strong Island” continue to lead the documentary awards pack.
The full slate of Cinema Eye nominations for nonfiction feature, short, and broadcast films/series will be be announced on Friday, November 3 in San Francisco at Sffilm’s Doc Stories event. Awards will be presented in New York City at the Museum of the Moving Image on Thursday, January 11, 2018.
Read More:doc NYC Announces Its Awards Short List, Including ‘Icarus,...
The full slate of Cinema Eye nominations for nonfiction feature, short, and broadcast films/series will be be announced on Friday, November 3 in San Francisco at Sffilm’s Doc Stories event. Awards will be presented in New York City at the Museum of the Moving Image on Thursday, January 11, 2018.
Read More:doc NYC Announces Its Awards Short List, Including ‘Icarus,...
- 10/18/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
The nonfiction organization Cinema Eye and its nominations committee of top international documentary film programmers, curators, and filmmakers has picked their annual list of “Unforgettables” who helped to define documentary cinema in 2017. They selected 30 individuals from 15 different films to be in the running for this year’s Cinema Eye awards. Like the Doc NYC shortlist, many of the films on this curated list are in the running for the year’s top awards, including the Oscar. “Jane,” “Faces Places,” “City of Ghosts,” and “Strong Island” continue to lead the documentary awards pack.
The full slate of Cinema Eye nominations for nonfiction feature, short, and broadcast films/series will be be announced on Friday, November 3 in San Francisco at Sffilm’s Doc Stories event. Awards will be presented in New York City at the Museum of the Moving Image on Thursday, January 11, 2018.
Read More:doc NYC Announces Its Awards Short List, Including ‘Icarus,...
The full slate of Cinema Eye nominations for nonfiction feature, short, and broadcast films/series will be be announced on Friday, November 3 in San Francisco at Sffilm’s Doc Stories event. Awards will be presented in New York City at the Museum of the Moving Image on Thursday, January 11, 2018.
Read More:doc NYC Announces Its Awards Short List, Including ‘Icarus,...
- 10/18/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
The Look Of Silence, Meru, The Wolfpack and Amy all received multiple nominations for this year’s non-fiction awards.Scroll Down For Full List
The 9th Cinema Eye Honours, the international non-fiction awards, were revealed last night at the Cph:dox festival in Copenhagen.
Cartel Land, Matthew Heineman’s film about violence on both sides of the Us-Mexico border, leads the pack with five nominations, including the top prize - Outstanding Achievement in Non-fiction Feature Filmmaking.
Also competing for the main award are: Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look Of Silence, which received four nominations; Asif Kapadia’s Amy, which received three; Crystal Moselle’s The Wolfpack, which also received three; Stevan Riley’s Listen To Me Marlon, which received two; and Camilla Nielsson’s Democrats, which also received two nominations.
This year’s Cinema Eye Honours nominations committee included: Claire Aguilar from Sheffield Doc/Fest; Charlottee Cook from Hot Docs; David Courier from Sundance; and Cara Cusumano from Tribeca...
The 9th Cinema Eye Honours, the international non-fiction awards, were revealed last night at the Cph:dox festival in Copenhagen.
Cartel Land, Matthew Heineman’s film about violence on both sides of the Us-Mexico border, leads the pack with five nominations, including the top prize - Outstanding Achievement in Non-fiction Feature Filmmaking.
Also competing for the main award are: Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look Of Silence, which received four nominations; Asif Kapadia’s Amy, which received three; Crystal Moselle’s The Wolfpack, which also received three; Stevan Riley’s Listen To Me Marlon, which received two; and Camilla Nielsson’s Democrats, which also received two nominations.
This year’s Cinema Eye Honours nominations committee included: Claire Aguilar from Sheffield Doc/Fest; Charlottee Cook from Hot Docs; David Courier from Sundance; and Cara Cusumano from Tribeca...
- 11/12/2015
- ScreenDaily
Documentary festival to focus on
DocAviv, Israel’s top documentary festival, has finalized the selection for its 17th edition (May 7-16).
With a solid reputation to defend, the festival will kick off with Laura Poitras’ Academy Award winner Citizenfour, whose theme, the onging Edward Snowden saga, fits one of the festival’s main concerns - “(un)Free World”.
Some 13 Israeli films have been selected to compete in the Docaviv Isreali Film Competition.
A total 11 world premieres are competing for The Sarah and Michael Sela Prize
The $18,000 (Nis 70,000) award is the largest prize for documentary filmmaking offered anywhere in Israel.
Some 75 Israeli films have been submitted to the Israeli competition. Well known names among the contenders include: Reuven Brodsky with 7 Days in St. Petersburg, whose previous film Home Movie has won the 2012 Docaviv competition, Avigail Sperber produced Girsa De’Yankuta by Noa Roth, Censored Voices by Mor Loushy which premiered in Sundance and Twilight of a Life, which...
DocAviv, Israel’s top documentary festival, has finalized the selection for its 17th edition (May 7-16).
With a solid reputation to defend, the festival will kick off with Laura Poitras’ Academy Award winner Citizenfour, whose theme, the onging Edward Snowden saga, fits one of the festival’s main concerns - “(un)Free World”.
Some 13 Israeli films have been selected to compete in the Docaviv Isreali Film Competition.
A total 11 world premieres are competing for The Sarah and Michael Sela Prize
The $18,000 (Nis 70,000) award is the largest prize for documentary filmmaking offered anywhere in Israel.
Some 75 Israeli films have been submitted to the Israeli competition. Well known names among the contenders include: Reuven Brodsky with 7 Days in St. Petersburg, whose previous film Home Movie has won the 2012 Docaviv competition, Avigail Sperber produced Girsa De’Yankuta by Noa Roth, Censored Voices by Mor Loushy which premiered in Sundance and Twilight of a Life, which...
- 4/2/2015
- by dfainaru@netvision.net.il (Edna Fainaru)
- ScreenDaily
Director of programming to take a documentary role at Sundance.
Sheffield Doc/Fest director of programming Hussain Currimbhoy is stepping down after seven years to join the Sundance Film Festival as a documentary programmer.
His departure was announced earlier this month but his new role has now been confirmed by Sundance.
Currimbhoy told ScreenDaily: “I can not remember the last time I was this excited. Sundance is known for being very positive and supportive of films and filmmakers, and having the best interests of artists at heart.
“That special vibe comes from the Sundance team and I feel very privileged to now be a part of that.”
Reporting to director of programming Trevor Groth, Currimbhoy will relocate from Sheffield to Los Angeles and starts next month.
He will work alongside senior programmers David Courier and Caroline Libresco to select non-fiction features for the festival in Park City, Utah.
Sheffield is expected to announce Currimbhoy’s replacement in the...
Sheffield Doc/Fest director of programming Hussain Currimbhoy is stepping down after seven years to join the Sundance Film Festival as a documentary programmer.
His departure was announced earlier this month but his new role has now been confirmed by Sundance.
Currimbhoy told ScreenDaily: “I can not remember the last time I was this excited. Sundance is known for being very positive and supportive of films and filmmakers, and having the best interests of artists at heart.
“That special vibe comes from the Sundance team and I feel very privileged to now be a part of that.”
Reporting to director of programming Trevor Groth, Currimbhoy will relocate from Sheffield to Los Angeles and starts next month.
He will work alongside senior programmers David Courier and Caroline Libresco to select non-fiction features for the festival in Park City, Utah.
Sheffield is expected to announce Currimbhoy’s replacement in the...
- 9/23/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The name of a Sheffield Doc/Fest session was "The Secret World of Film Festival Programming" and the goal was to demystify how festivals are programmed and provide tips for filmmakers navigating the festival system. Moderated by Adam Benzine, associate editor at Realscreen and featuring Hussain Currimbhoy, Director of Programming at Sheffield Doc/Fest, David Courier, senior programmer, Sundance Film Festival and filmmaker Jeanie Finlay ("The Great Hip Hop Hoax"), the panel delivered on its promise -- and then some. Finlay, whose films have screened at SXSW, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Hot Docs and elsewhere, provided the filmmaker perspective on navigating the film festival circuit, while Currimbhoy and Courier explained the process for applying to and getting accepted into their respective festivals. Here are some of the highlights from the panel: Let's be clear. The odds are not in your favor. Currimbhoy said Sheffield Doc/Fest gets about 2,000 submissions and they screen.
- 6/12/2014
- by Paula Bernstein
- Indiewire
Of the sixteen titles that are listed here there are at least more than half that will be talked about throughout the calendar year up until award season in 2015. It speaks volumes about the quality offerings from American Documentarian filmmakers, but it also says a lot about Sundance programming team David Courier, Caroline Libresco et al. exquisite taste for the form. As is the norm for the Sundance doc-comp, there is plenty of socially conscious films on offer, from Andrew Rossi’s film on the insurmountable rise of student debt, Ivory Tower, to government backed food campaigns that have resulted in massive amounts of American health problems in Stephanie Soechtig’s Fed Up, with plenty of diversity within the program as a whole.
Though our non-fiction guesses have never been stellar, the films themselves look auspicious as all get out. Of this year’s promising batch of American docs, we...
Though our non-fiction guesses have never been stellar, the films themselves look auspicious as all get out. Of this year’s promising batch of American docs, we...
- 12/5/2013
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Independent Film Week wrapped up last night with a closing night party swankier than most of us in the non-profit indie film world are used to. There were lobster rolls. There was paella (seriously, more paella in one place than I’ve seen over my entire life.) And there were three-hundred underfed indie filmmakers. Not a bad deal
This was my third time at Film Week, and easily the best. Over five days, we hosted 2,200 filmmaker/industry meetings, as well as a conference, a screening series and a boatload of other special events. Here are some final photographic highlights:
Writer/Director Thomas Hyungkyun Kim pitches his screenplay The Singing Road during Project Forum on Wednesday morning.
The Sundance Film Festival’s David Courier, Ifp’s Amy Dotson, WithoutaBox’s Christian Gaines, and the Sarasota Film Festival’s Tom Hall at Wednesday’s Festival Forum, a meeting of the minds and...
This was my third time at Film Week, and easily the best. Over five days, we hosted 2,200 filmmaker/industry meetings, as well as a conference, a screening series and a boatload of other special events. Here are some final photographic highlights:
Writer/Director Thomas Hyungkyun Kim pitches his screenplay The Singing Road during Project Forum on Wednesday morning.
The Sundance Film Festival’s David Courier, Ifp’s Amy Dotson, WithoutaBox’s Christian Gaines, and the Sarasota Film Festival’s Tom Hall at Wednesday’s Festival Forum, a meeting of the minds and...
- 9/23/2011
- by Dan Schoenbrun
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
For the independent film industry, January isn’t just the start of a New Year, it’s also exam season. At this very moment, documentary filmmakers around the world are in edit rooms deep into the night, hoping to ace the Sundance finals. The reward for those late night cram sessions is certainly worth it: the most gifted alumni of previous festival’s have been awarded the best graduation gift of all — a career as a working filmmaker. To find out more about this year’s class, I spoke to David Courier, Senior Film Programmer at the Sundance Institute.
Filmmaker: I noticed a lot of names in the catalog this year that I recognized from previous festivals. Do you and your colleagues purposely reserve slots for filmmakers you know and trust?
Courier: It’s interesting you ask that, particularly this year… People love to premiere at our festival because we...
Filmmaker: I noticed a lot of names in the catalog this year that I recognized from previous festivals. Do you and your colleagues purposely reserve slots for filmmakers you know and trust?
Courier: It’s interesting you ask that, particularly this year… People love to premiere at our festival because we...
- 1/19/2011
- by Mary Anderson Casavant
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
For the lucky few who get in, Sundance isn’t just a festival — it’s a resource. Over the years, the festival has nurtured the careers of a number of documentary filmmakers who went on to become what senior programmer David Courier recently termed “master filmmakers” — filmmakers so good and so respected that the festival had to create the out-of-competition category, “Doc Premieres,” to make sure their work didn’t overshadow the greener directors.
It should come as no surprise to anyone in the documentary community to find Liz Garbus’ name in a category reserved for such filmmakers. Garbus’ history with the festival stretches back to 1998 when her feature, The Farm: Angola USA won the Grand Jury Prize. In the 13 years since that debut, Garbus has gone on to direct a number of films that would premiere at the festival, including Girlhood and The Execution of Wanda Jean.
Not content...
It should come as no surprise to anyone in the documentary community to find Liz Garbus’ name in a category reserved for such filmmakers. Garbus’ history with the festival stretches back to 1998 when her feature, The Farm: Angola USA won the Grand Jury Prize. In the 13 years since that debut, Garbus has gone on to direct a number of films that would premiere at the festival, including Girlhood and The Execution of Wanda Jean.
Not content...
- 1/17/2011
- by Mary Anderson Casavant
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Margin Call, a thrilling new film starring Kevin Spacey, will make it’s debut at the Sundance Film Festival on Tuesday, January 25th. And hey… guess what? We have the poster for you to take a gander at below. The trailer isn’t even out yet!
Just by the synopsis and cast what do you guys think?
Synopsis: Set in the high-stakes world of the financial industry, Margin Call is a thriller entangling the key players at an investment firm during one perilous 24-hour period in the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis. When entry-level analyst Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto) unlocks information that could prove to be the downfall of the firm, a roller-coaster ride ensues as decisions both financial and moral catapult the lives of all involved to the brink of disaster. Expanding the parameters of genre, Margin Call is a riveting examination of the human components of a...
Just by the synopsis and cast what do you guys think?
Synopsis: Set in the high-stakes world of the financial industry, Margin Call is a thriller entangling the key players at an investment firm during one perilous 24-hour period in the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis. When entry-level analyst Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto) unlocks information that could prove to be the downfall of the firm, a roller-coaster ride ensues as decisions both financial and moral catapult the lives of all involved to the brink of disaster. Expanding the parameters of genre, Margin Call is a riveting examination of the human components of a...
- 1/10/2011
- by Melissa Howland
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
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