Kino Lorber has picked up U.S. rights to Johan Grimonprez’s Sundance-winning documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, which traces how the U.S. used “Jazz Ambassadors” like Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone and Duke Ellington, to build goodwill during the Cold War all while orchestrating clandestine operations to destabilize the Congo.
Kino Lorber will partner with specialist streamer Kanopy on the U.S. release of the film. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat marks Lorber’s second collaboration with Grimonprez following their 2010 release of his hybrid doc-drama Double Take, which stitches together clips from Alfred Hitchcock’s films and TV work, together with 50s news footage and commercials, to tell a fictional story of Cold War paranoia.
“Johan Grimonprez is a master of making political history feel newly alive and utterly fascinating, and he’s done it again with his latest film Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,” said Richard Lorber,...
Kino Lorber will partner with specialist streamer Kanopy on the U.S. release of the film. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat marks Lorber’s second collaboration with Grimonprez following their 2010 release of his hybrid doc-drama Double Take, which stitches together clips from Alfred Hitchcock’s films and TV work, together with 50s news footage and commercials, to tell a fictional story of Cold War paranoia.
“Johan Grimonprez is a master of making political history feel newly alive and utterly fascinating, and he’s done it again with his latest film Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,” said Richard Lorber,...
- 5/21/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kino Lorber has acquired US rights in the Cannes market to Sundance documentary Soundtrack To A Coup d’Etat, while Mediawan Rights has closed key territory sales.
Johan Grimonprez’s film unravels colonial power dynamics in Africa and re-examines the 1961 assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, set against a soundtrack of American jazz greats.
The film includes eyewitness accounts, official government memos, testimonies from mercenaries and CIA operatives, and speeches from Lumumba himself.
Kino Lorber plans a theatrical release later this year followed by a home video, educational, and digital release on all major platforms. The distributor is partnering with public...
Johan Grimonprez’s film unravels colonial power dynamics in Africa and re-examines the 1961 assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, set against a soundtrack of American jazz greats.
The film includes eyewitness accounts, official government memos, testimonies from mercenaries and CIA operatives, and speeches from Lumumba himself.
Kino Lorber plans a theatrical release later this year followed by a home video, educational, and digital release on all major platforms. The distributor is partnering with public...
- 5/21/2024
- ScreenDaily
Mediawan Rights, the distribution arm of the wider media group, manages scripted, unscripted, format and feature documentary sales, keying European content onto international airwaves. And if initially heritage titles, foreign-language fare and time-tested perennials made up much of the catalogue, the group’s expanding footprint and well-capitalized partnerships promise a new yield of premium fare developed in-house and marked by global ambitions.
“We’ve seen a radical shift,” says Mediawan Rights CEO Valérie Vleeschhouwer. “Our catalogue from six years ago has little in common with that of today. We really wanted to move upmarket, to increase our own creative output in both fiction and documentary distribution to better respond to global demand. [In doing so] we’ve gone from being a local player to a truly international one.”
As distribution titles like the Emmy-winning doc “Kubrick by Kubrick” and the Dutch thriller “The Golden Hour” travel far and wide – with the former selling...
“We’ve seen a radical shift,” says Mediawan Rights CEO Valérie Vleeschhouwer. “Our catalogue from six years ago has little in common with that of today. We really wanted to move upmarket, to increase our own creative output in both fiction and documentary distribution to better respond to global demand. [In doing so] we’ve gone from being a local player to a truly international one.”
As distribution titles like the Emmy-winning doc “Kubrick by Kubrick” and the Dutch thriller “The Golden Hour” travel far and wide – with the former selling...
- 5/16/2024
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
"But did he have rhythm?" Madman Films has revealed the first look trailer for an acclaimed documentary film titled Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat, made by Belgian filmmaker Johan Grimonprez. This film is an entrancing look back at a major moment in global politics during the Cold War, intertwining music history & pop culture with these events. Jazz & decolonization are entwined in this historical rollercoaster that led musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach to crash the Un Security Council in protest against the murder of Patrice Lumumba. After Lumumba was murdered in 1961, the US State Department swings into action by sending jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to Congo to deflect attention from the CIA-backed coup in the country. The doc features excerpts from My Country, Africa by Andrée Blouin (narrated by Marie Daulne aka Zap Mama), Congo Inc. by In Koli Jean Bofane, To Katanga & Back by Conor Cruise O’Brien (narrated...
- 5/5/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
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
Mexican directors Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez’s Sujo won the Grand Prix at this year’s Sofia International Film Festival (March 13-24).
The Mexican-French-us co-production about a boy who must fight against the temptation of local gangs premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize, and is being handled internationally by Alpha Violet.
The festival’s top prize has gone to a film from Mexico for the second year running after Carlos Eichelmann Kaiser’s Red Shoes won last year.
The international jury, presided over by Hungarian actor-writer-director Szabolcs Hadju and including outgoing EFM director Dennis Ruh,...
The Mexican-French-us co-production about a boy who must fight against the temptation of local gangs premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize, and is being handled internationally by Alpha Violet.
The festival’s top prize has gone to a film from Mexico for the second year running after Carlos Eichelmann Kaiser’s Red Shoes won last year.
The international jury, presided over by Hungarian actor-writer-director Szabolcs Hadju and including outgoing EFM director Dennis Ruh,...
- 3/26/2024
- ScreenDaily
Juxtaposing the story of the murder of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba with a musical tour of jazzman Louis Armstrong and with the expansion of the United Nations after the independence of many African countries in the 1960s might be tall order. Trickier still would be telling this complex story, full of many characters and plot swerves, in a nonlinear manner while filling the screen with written clues providing context like a bibliography of an academic thesis. Writer and director Johan Grimonprez sets himself a difficult task with “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,” yet accomplishes it with astonishing success. The film plays like both a dense historical text and a lively jazz concert while proving itself to be an invigorating piece of documentary filmmaking.
Touching on far more than the decolonization of Africa, Grimonprez’s ambitious essay film encompasses the political and historical upheavals the world over — including the alleged involvement...
Touching on far more than the decolonization of Africa, Grimonprez’s ambitious essay film encompasses the political and historical upheavals the world over — including the alleged involvement...
- 3/11/2024
- by Murtada Elfadl
- Variety Film + TV
Filmmakers Alex Gibney, Johan Grimonprez and Laura Huertas Millan, along with industry figures Jessica Harrop from Sandbox and Marie Nelson from Hot Docs will be among the speakers at Cph:conference, the discussion program at documentary festival Cph:dox.
The program, which is curated in partnership with the training initiative Documentary Campus, has the theme “rebuilding narratives.”
The conference will kick off on March 18 with a collaboration with the Disco Network – made up of Ambulante, Aflamuna, DocsMX, Doc Society, DocSP, Docubox, In-Docs and India Docs – who will present and workshop “Our Declaration of Independence.” This session, led by Jad Abi-Khalil (Aflamuna) and Beadie Finzi (Doc Society), is a result of an initiative aiming to “articulate the importance of independent documentaries to culture, society and democracy, and to advocate for the resources and platforms they deserve.”
In the mornings of March 19-21, there will be thought-provoking conversations with filmmakers featured in this year’s Cph:dox program.
The program, which is curated in partnership with the training initiative Documentary Campus, has the theme “rebuilding narratives.”
The conference will kick off on March 18 with a collaboration with the Disco Network – made up of Ambulante, Aflamuna, DocsMX, Doc Society, DocSP, Docubox, In-Docs and India Docs – who will present and workshop “Our Declaration of Independence.” This session, led by Jad Abi-Khalil (Aflamuna) and Beadie Finzi (Doc Society), is a result of an initiative aiming to “articulate the importance of independent documentaries to culture, society and democracy, and to advocate for the resources and platforms they deserve.”
In the mornings of March 19-21, there will be thought-provoking conversations with filmmakers featured in this year’s Cph:dox program.
- 2/14/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Going Clear director Alex Gibney and The Mother Of All Lies filmmaker Asmae El Moudir are among the speakers confirmed for the 2024 Cph:Conference, the industry talks programme of Cph:dox film festival in Copenhagen (March 13-24).
US director Gibney and Moroccan director El Moudir will both participate in ‘A Morning With’ sessions, alongside Belgian filmmaker Johan Grimonprez.
The ‘Morning’ sessions will be followed by ‘Film:Makers In Dialogue’ events, where filmmakers behind two festival titles will engage in discussions about their latest projects.
The Conference will begin on March 18 with ‘Our Declaration Of Independence, a new session aiming to articulate the importance of independent documentaries to culture,...
US director Gibney and Moroccan director El Moudir will both participate in ‘A Morning With’ sessions, alongside Belgian filmmaker Johan Grimonprez.
The ‘Morning’ sessions will be followed by ‘Film:Makers In Dialogue’ events, where filmmakers behind two festival titles will engage in discussions about their latest projects.
The Conference will begin on March 18 with ‘Our Declaration Of Independence, a new session aiming to articulate the importance of independent documentaries to culture,...
- 2/14/2024
- ScreenDaily
Sundance Review: Soundtrack to a Coup d’État is a Vibrant, Complex, and Jazz-Infused Political Essay
It was Mark Twain who said, “History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes,” which is one way of approaching Belgian filmmaker and multimedia artist Johan Grimonprez’s sprawling, jazz-infused Soundtrack to a Coup d’État. The political essay revisits 1960, a turbulent year in global affairs: Patrice Lumumba rises to power in Congo just as the United States, through the CIA-backed Voice of America radio network, aims to soften America’s image aboard, sending jazz musicians Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Nina Simone, Dizzy Gillespie, Abbey Lincoln, and Max Roach to tour the world. The film positions the jazz musicians as a kind of political cabinet while Gillespie envisions his own run for the White House on TV talk shows back home. It proceeds with a rather kinetic, defiant tone in which the jazz, breaking news, citations, and quotes interrupt the historical footage a more standard documentary may have primarily focused on.
- 2/9/2024
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
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
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 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
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 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
A formally rigorous and free-associative dive into a decade’s worth of political fighting in the Congo, from roughly 1955 to 1965, Johan Grimonprez’s “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” is a fascinating and sprawling historical overview. Eschewing the usual mix of contextual talking heads, the Belgian filmmaker and multimedia artist instead adopts its narrative approach from the jazz that flows freely throughout the film and helps frame the political struggles of the Congo.
Continue reading ‘Soundtrack To A Coup d’Etat’ Review: Experimental Documentary Deftly Explores The Connections Between Jazz & The Congo [Sundance] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Soundtrack To A Coup d’Etat’ Review: Experimental Documentary Deftly Explores The Connections Between Jazz & The Congo [Sundance] at The Playlist.
- 1/24/2024
- by Christian Gallichio
- The Playlist
Belgian filmmaker Johan Grimonprez’s first feature, 1997’s Dial H-i-s-t-o-r-y, intertwined news footage of plane hijackings with voiceover readings of passages from Don DeLillo’s White Noise and Mao II—he’s no stranger to rendering sweeping diagnoses within unorthodox historical frameworks. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat re-examines the assassination of Patrice Lumumba; the Soundtrack portion of the title points to the film’s other main strand, the political roles of American jazz musicians during the period, ranging from unwittingly complicit—Louis Armstrong performed a show in the Congo unaware that he was providing cover for CIA actions—to actively dissident, with the film bookended by vocalist […]
The post Sundance 2024: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, Nocturnes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Sundance 2024: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, Nocturnes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/23/2024
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Belgian filmmaker Johan Grimonprez’s first feature, 1997’s Dial H-i-s-t-o-r-y, intertwined news footage of plane hijackings with voiceover readings of passages from Don DeLillo’s White Noise and Mao II—he’s no stranger to rendering sweeping diagnoses within unorthodox historical frameworks. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat re-examines the assassination of Patrice Lumumba; the Soundtrack portion of the title points to the film’s other main strand, the political roles of American jazz musicians during the period, ranging from unwittingly complicit—Louis Armstrong performed a show in the Congo unaware that he was providing cover for CIA actions—to actively dissident, with the film bookended by vocalist […]
The post Sundance 2024: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, Nocturnes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Sundance 2024: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, Nocturnes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/23/2024
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
“The Belgians cut off my hands in the Congo,” Langston Hughes wrote in his poem “Negro.” “They lynch me now in Texas.” The year was 1922, and racial segregation was the norm in the United States. Anti-Black racism in the South was such a millstone that the U.S. Senate failed to pass an NAACP-sponsored anti-lynching bill in January of that year, a list of simple protections that was prevented from coming to a vote due to filibusters.
Hughes’s poem is one piece of ephemera that comprises the massive tapestry that is Soundtrack to a Coup d’État. Director Johan Grimonprez’s documentary is primarily focused on the Democratic Republic of Congo and its struggle for independence from Belgian colonialism, during which time our government was using Black jazz musicians to, in its diplomatic tango with the Soviet Union, paint a portrait of American liberalism as benevolent.
The documentary focuses on...
Hughes’s poem is one piece of ephemera that comprises the massive tapestry that is Soundtrack to a Coup d’État. Director Johan Grimonprez’s documentary is primarily focused on the Democratic Republic of Congo and its struggle for independence from Belgian colonialism, during which time our government was using Black jazz musicians to, in its diplomatic tango with the Soviet Union, paint a portrait of American liberalism as benevolent.
The documentary focuses on...
- 1/23/2024
- by Greg Nussen
- Slant Magazine
Premiering out of Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary Competition, the impressionistic essay film “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” refracts the plot against Patrice Lumumba through a kaleidoscopic lens. Cutting between historical footage of the Un General Assembly and home movies shot in liberation-era Congo, weaving in a diverse set of perspectives, and setting the pace to a non-stop rhythm of bebop, rumba and classic jazz, director Johan Grimonprez evokes the euphoria of post-colonial possibility and the heartbreak of the dashed hopes and violent reprisals that would ensue.
“At first, I wanted to explore the colonial legacy of my own country,” says the Belgium-born Grimonprez. “I was already mesmerized by the story of Andrée Blouin, who was an independence leader, an advisor to [Ghana president] Kwame Nkrumah and chief of protocol for [first Congolese prime minister] Patrice Lumumba, but who was almost written out of history. And as a filmmaker, I like to explore those intimate stories within a wider,...
“At first, I wanted to explore the colonial legacy of my own country,” says the Belgium-born Grimonprez. “I was already mesmerized by the story of Andrée Blouin, who was an independence leader, an advisor to [Ghana president] Kwame Nkrumah and chief of protocol for [first Congolese prime minister] Patrice Lumumba, but who was almost written out of history. And as a filmmaker, I like to explore those intimate stories within a wider,...
- 1/17/2024
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
In this critically agile film, Hitchcock supposedly narrates from beyond the grave, using movie clips to reveal techniques and meanings in his work
Only a cinephile as passionate as Mark Cousins could have got away with this film, in all its hilarious presumption and cheek. It is a study of Alfred Hitchcock’s work, illustrated with clips chosen with tremendous insight and connoisseurship – and supposedly narrated from beyond the grave by Hitchcock himself, pointing out techniques, resonances, images, meanings and occasionally breaking off to check something with Cousins who will answer, off-mic: “Yes Mr Hitchcock.”
However, the script is Cousins’ own and the master himself is faked by the comic Alistair McGowan, whose vocal impersonation is just so eerily good that after a while I thought Cousins really had made this by sitting alone in some darkened Edwardian parlour with his tape recorder and Ouija board. But of course the...
Only a cinephile as passionate as Mark Cousins could have got away with this film, in all its hilarious presumption and cheek. It is a study of Alfred Hitchcock’s work, illustrated with clips chosen with tremendous insight and connoisseurship – and supposedly narrated from beyond the grave by Hitchcock himself, pointing out techniques, resonances, images, meanings and occasionally breaking off to check something with Cousins who will answer, off-mic: “Yes Mr Hitchcock.”
However, the script is Cousins’ own and the master himself is faked by the comic Alistair McGowan, whose vocal impersonation is just so eerily good that after a while I thought Cousins really had made this by sitting alone in some darkened Edwardian parlour with his tape recorder and Ouija board. But of course the...
- 7/18/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Connext is a crucial promotional event for Flanders filmmakers and projects.
Connext, the annual industry showcase for new films and TV dramas made in Flanders and Brussels, will present new projects from some of the region’s leading filmmakers including Kevin Janssens, Veerle Baetens, and Fien Troch.
The 2022 hybrid edition will run onsite in Antwerp from October 9-11 and online from October 10-24.
The 82 titles being presented range from project pitches to works in progress through completed films and series.
Many familiar names from Flemish film and TV are participating. Janssens will be pitching his new TV series Breendonk, a...
Connext, the annual industry showcase for new films and TV dramas made in Flanders and Brussels, will present new projects from some of the region’s leading filmmakers including Kevin Janssens, Veerle Baetens, and Fien Troch.
The 2022 hybrid edition will run onsite in Antwerp from October 9-11 and online from October 10-24.
The 82 titles being presented range from project pitches to works in progress through completed films and series.
Many familiar names from Flemish film and TV are participating. Janssens will be pitching his new TV series Breendonk, a...
- 10/4/2022
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Flanders Image, the promotional arm of the Vaf film fund of Belgium’s Flemish-speaking community, has unveiled the 80 projects selected for its annual Connext showcase, running as a hybrid event from October 10-24.
The showcase, which will hold a physical component in Antwerp from October 9-11, unfolds against the backdrop of a high-profile year for Belgian film and the cinema of its Flemish-speaking community in particular.
Lukas Dhont’s Close won Cannes Grand Prize and is now a frontrunner in the best international film category of the Oscars as Belgium’s submission; while Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch clinched Cannes Jury Prize for Italian-language drama The Eight Mountains (ex-acquo with Jerzy Skolimowski’s Eo).
Rebel, the homecoming film of Bad Boys For Life directorial duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, has also been making waves internationally after debuting Out of Competition at Cannes.
These films were all showcased at previous editions of Connext.
The showcase, which will hold a physical component in Antwerp from October 9-11, unfolds against the backdrop of a high-profile year for Belgian film and the cinema of its Flemish-speaking community in particular.
Lukas Dhont’s Close won Cannes Grand Prize and is now a frontrunner in the best international film category of the Oscars as Belgium’s submission; while Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch clinched Cannes Jury Prize for Italian-language drama The Eight Mountains (ex-acquo with Jerzy Skolimowski’s Eo).
Rebel, the homecoming film of Bad Boys For Life directorial duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, has also been making waves internationally after debuting Out of Competition at Cannes.
These films were all showcased at previous editions of Connext.
- 10/3/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
A total of 46 films and 27 series will be showcased at the online-only event.
Lukas Dhont’s second feature Close and Olga Lucovnicova’s Last Letters From My Grandma are among the 46 feature and 27 series projects to be showcased at Re>Connext, the annual showcase for films and TV series made in Flanders and Brussels, Belgium.
Close is filmmaker Dhont’s follow-up to Girl, which won the Camera d’Or following its premiere in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2018. Last year, the project was pitched at Re>Connext under the title The Invisible.
For this edition, drama Close returns as a work in progress,...
Lukas Dhont’s second feature Close and Olga Lucovnicova’s Last Letters From My Grandma are among the 46 feature and 27 series projects to be showcased at Re>Connext, the annual showcase for films and TV series made in Flanders and Brussels, Belgium.
Close is filmmaker Dhont’s follow-up to Girl, which won the Camera d’Or following its premiere in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2018. Last year, the project was pitched at Re>Connext under the title The Invisible.
For this edition, drama Close returns as a work in progress,...
- 9/27/2021
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Belgian filmmaker Johan Grimonprez, who examined the ties between the international arms industry and Western political establishments in his recent documentaries, the award-winning “Shadow World” and “Blue Orchids,” is set to explore its impact in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in his new project, “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat.”
Grimonprez and producer Daan Milius are presenting the project at the Copenhagen Documentary Film Festival’s Cph:Forum financing and co-production event, which runs April 26-30.
“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” looks back at the hopeful rise of Patrice Lumumba, who became the first prime minister of the newly independent Congo in 1960, only to be deposed a few months later and executed the following year. Lumumba, who is also the subject of a new feature film project, had alarmed Belgium and the United States with his assertions that Congo’s riches should belong to the country’s people. He...
Grimonprez and producer Daan Milius are presenting the project at the Copenhagen Documentary Film Festival’s Cph:Forum financing and co-production event, which runs April 26-30.
“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” looks back at the hopeful rise of Patrice Lumumba, who became the first prime minister of the newly independent Congo in 1960, only to be deposed a few months later and executed the following year. Lumumba, who is also the subject of a new feature film project, had alarmed Belgium and the United States with his assertions that Congo’s riches should belong to the country’s people. He...
- 4/24/2021
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Line-up also includes the new project from two-time Oscar nominee Lucy Walker.
Danish documentary festival Cph:dox has revealed the 35 projects set to be presented at Cph:forum, its financing and co-production event that will take place online-only from April 26-30.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The selection includes new projects from two-time Oscar nominee Lucy Walker (Waste Land), Sundance winners Mads Brügger (Cold Case Hammarskjöld) and Eugene Jarecki (The House I Live In), Berlin Crystal Bear winner Geneviève Dulude-De Celle (A Colony) and Venice Horizons winner Lech Kowalski (East Of Paradise).
Further notable filmmakers include Radu Ciorniciuc, whose Acasa,...
Danish documentary festival Cph:dox has revealed the 35 projects set to be presented at Cph:forum, its financing and co-production event that will take place online-only from April 26-30.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The selection includes new projects from two-time Oscar nominee Lucy Walker (Waste Land), Sundance winners Mads Brügger (Cold Case Hammarskjöld) and Eugene Jarecki (The House I Live In), Berlin Crystal Bear winner Geneviève Dulude-De Celle (A Colony) and Venice Horizons winner Lech Kowalski (East Of Paradise).
Further notable filmmakers include Radu Ciorniciuc, whose Acasa,...
- 3/3/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
The global arms trade makes billions of profit each year off the backs of countless human lives, all while fostering corruption, controlling international policy and creating suffering around the world. Johan Grimonprez’s (“Double Take”) new documentary “Shadow World” examines the shady world of the arms trade in order to shed light on the malfeasance that occurs right under our noses every single day.
Read More: Watch: ‘Shadow World’ Trailer Shines a Light on Hard Truths the Government Doesn’t Want You to Know About
Based on Andrew Feinstein’s book “The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade” and produced by Joslyn Barnes (Louverture Films) and Anadil Hossain (Dillywood, Inc), the film unravels some of the world’s largest arms deals via those involved in perpetrating and investigating them, exploring how it operates under the guise of legality and why high-level leaders are never prosecuted for their crimes.
Read More: Watch: ‘Shadow World’ Trailer Shines a Light on Hard Truths the Government Doesn’t Want You to Know About
Based on Andrew Feinstein’s book “The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade” and produced by Joslyn Barnes (Louverture Films) and Anadil Hossain (Dillywood, Inc), the film unravels some of the world’s largest arms deals via those involved in perpetrating and investigating them, exploring how it operates under the guise of legality and why high-level leaders are never prosecuted for their crimes.
- 10/12/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
Ali Jaberansari’s Tehran, City Of Love also received an award at the industry event.
This year’s Holland Film Meeting in Utrecht awarded The Religion Of Night Walks from Serbian director Nikola Ležaić with the Cam-a-lot & Filmmore Cinema Emerging Talent Prize for Best Project (valued at €10,000 in camera and post-production facilities). Already backed by Film Center Serbia and Propeler Film (Croatia), the film is about a Yugoslavian engineer working on the construction of the first wind farm in Iran in the early 1980s.
Ali Jaberansari’s Tehran, City Of Love - a BoostNL 2016 selection - picked up the WarnierPosta Prize (€5,000 towards use of audio post-production facilities). The story follows three characters, a religious singer, an office singer and a personal trainer, looking for love in Tehran. Babak Jalali is producer of the film, which is being made through Here & There Productions (UK), Viking Film (Netherlands) and Mandra Films (France.)
Meanwhile, the Hfm...
This year’s Holland Film Meeting in Utrecht awarded The Religion Of Night Walks from Serbian director Nikola Ležaić with the Cam-a-lot & Filmmore Cinema Emerging Talent Prize for Best Project (valued at €10,000 in camera and post-production facilities). Already backed by Film Center Serbia and Propeler Film (Croatia), the film is about a Yugoslavian engineer working on the construction of the first wind farm in Iran in the early 1980s.
Ali Jaberansari’s Tehran, City Of Love - a BoostNL 2016 selection - picked up the WarnierPosta Prize (€5,000 towards use of audio post-production facilities). The story follows three characters, a religious singer, an office singer and a personal trainer, looking for love in Tehran. Babak Jalali is producer of the film, which is being made through Here & There Productions (UK), Viking Film (Netherlands) and Mandra Films (France.)
Meanwhile, the Hfm...
- 9/26/2016
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
The winners have been announced at the 70th Edinburgh International Film Festival.
The festival’s top prizes were awarded to Ben Sharrock’s Pikadero (UK-Spain), which took the Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film, Argyris Papadimitropoulos’s Suntan (Greece) which won Best International Feature Film, and Johan Grimonprez’s Shadow World (Us), which won Best Documentary Feature Film.
The Michael Powell jury, which included actress Kim Cattrall, Spanish filmmaker Iciar Bollain and actor Clancy Brown, also gave a special mention to Mercedes Grower’s Brakes.
On their selection of Scottish film-maker Sharrock’s Basque-language debut about a young Spanish couple’s attempt to navigate their country’s economic crisis, the Michael Powell jury said: “We wanted to recognise the very personal and individual voice on director Ben Sharrock for his film Pikadero. In a year when the jury viewed a selection of very distinctive and different films, his film really stood out.”
On handing...
The festival’s top prizes were awarded to Ben Sharrock’s Pikadero (UK-Spain), which took the Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film, Argyris Papadimitropoulos’s Suntan (Greece) which won Best International Feature Film, and Johan Grimonprez’s Shadow World (Us), which won Best Documentary Feature Film.
The Michael Powell jury, which included actress Kim Cattrall, Spanish filmmaker Iciar Bollain and actor Clancy Brown, also gave a special mention to Mercedes Grower’s Brakes.
On their selection of Scottish film-maker Sharrock’s Basque-language debut about a young Spanish couple’s attempt to navigate their country’s economic crisis, the Michael Powell jury said: “We wanted to recognise the very personal and individual voice on director Ben Sharrock for his film Pikadero. In a year when the jury viewed a selection of very distinctive and different films, his film really stood out.”
On handing...
- 6/24/2016
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Paris-based documentary specialist kicking off European sales on arms trade exposé at Cannes.
Paris-based documentary specialist Wide House has closed North American rights on Johan Grimonprez’s arms trade exposé Shadow World following its premiere at Tribeca in April.
TriCoast has taken Us rights while Kinosmith will release the documentary in Canada.
I Wonder Pictures has acquired the film for Italy and other European territories are expected to follow suit in Cannes.
Wide House chief Anais Clanet is also reporting strong interest on Harold And Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story about the romantic and creative partnership between storyboard artist Harold Michelson and his wife Lillian.
Japan’s Digital Works Entertainment Inc. acquired it in Cannes and Canal+ has also taken rights for Spain.
Other titles on Wide House’s slate include Claire Simon’s The Graduation and The Last Resort which premieres in a Special Screening at Cannes.
Paris-based documentary specialist Wide House has closed North American rights on Johan Grimonprez’s arms trade exposé Shadow World following its premiere at Tribeca in April.
TriCoast has taken Us rights while Kinosmith will release the documentary in Canada.
I Wonder Pictures has acquired the film for Italy and other European territories are expected to follow suit in Cannes.
Wide House chief Anais Clanet is also reporting strong interest on Harold And Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story about the romantic and creative partnership between storyboard artist Harold Michelson and his wife Lillian.
Japan’s Digital Works Entertainment Inc. acquired it in Cannes and Canal+ has also taken rights for Spain.
Other titles on Wide House’s slate include Claire Simon’s The Graduation and The Last Resort which premieres in a Special Screening at Cannes.
- 5/16/2016
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Netflix to launch Us-Danish documentary Knox in autumn; Screen speaks to key doc companies about their lineups.
The Danish documentary world has been going from strength to strength – and not just Joshua Oppenheimer’s Danish productions The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence.
Screen spoke to three of Denmark’s most prominent documentary production companies last week in Copenhagen, to talk about their slates, which include a new Netflix title with exclusive access to Amanda Knox, two Syrian documentaries, and a Tribeca premiere about insects as a sustainable food source.
All the companies said Danish documentaries were booming thanks in part to generous support systems from the Danish Film Institute, which has specialist documentary funding consultants, to help them create such a range of work now.
As Signe Byrge Sorensen of Final Cut For Real says: “There is a long tradition here for documentary, and its also very diverse. People do all...
The Danish documentary world has been going from strength to strength – and not just Joshua Oppenheimer’s Danish productions The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence.
Screen spoke to three of Denmark’s most prominent documentary production companies last week in Copenhagen, to talk about their slates, which include a new Netflix title with exclusive access to Amanda Knox, two Syrian documentaries, and a Tribeca premiere about insects as a sustainable food source.
All the companies said Danish documentaries were booming thanks in part to generous support systems from the Danish Film Institute, which has specialist documentary funding consultants, to help them create such a range of work now.
As Signe Byrge Sorensen of Final Cut For Real says: “There is a long tradition here for documentary, and its also very diverse. People do all...
- 4/13/2016
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Interest also building on arms trade expose Shadow World ahead of buyers-only screening.
Paris-based documentary specialist Wide House is reporting strong interest in Carmine Amoroso’s documentary Porno e Liberta, exploring the growth of the Italian porn industry from the 1970s onwards.
Following its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) in January, Munich-based Donau Films has acquired German and Austrian rights and Scandinavian rights have gone to Swedish Njuta Films.
Amoroso’s documentary traces the growth of Italy’s porn industry from the 1970s onwards, interviewing pornographers such as Riccardo Schicchi and touching on issues such as censorship, sexual revolution and popularisation of some of its stars such as Ilona Staller, aka Cicciolina, who was elected to parliament in 1987.
In other deals, Johan Grimonprez’s arms trade exposé Shadow World, based on Andrew Feinstein’s factual best-seller The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade, has sold to...
Paris-based documentary specialist Wide House is reporting strong interest in Carmine Amoroso’s documentary Porno e Liberta, exploring the growth of the Italian porn industry from the 1970s onwards.
Following its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) in January, Munich-based Donau Films has acquired German and Austrian rights and Scandinavian rights have gone to Swedish Njuta Films.
Amoroso’s documentary traces the growth of Italy’s porn industry from the 1970s onwards, interviewing pornographers such as Riccardo Schicchi and touching on issues such as censorship, sexual revolution and popularisation of some of its stars such as Ilona Staller, aka Cicciolina, who was elected to parliament in 1987.
In other deals, Johan Grimonprez’s arms trade exposé Shadow World, based on Andrew Feinstein’s factual best-seller The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade, has sold to...
- 2/12/2016
- ScreenDaily
Picture about Danish artist Per Kirkeby opened Cph:dox.
Paris-based documentary specialist Wide house has picked up world rights to Anne Wivel’s Man Falling, about renowned Danish artist Per Kirkeby’s struggle to paint again after a debilitating accident, which opened Cph:dox at the beginning of November.
Wide House chief Anais Clanet said she acquired the film at the Toronto International Film Festival but launched sales at Idfa.
Following its Cph:dox premiere, the work has been playing in Idfa’s Sounds Real section, devoted to the use of sound in documentary.
Clanet was also at Idfa with Danish Lea Glob’s upcoming solo feature documentary Apolonia, Apolonia which was presented at the festival’s co-financing event, the Forum.
It is described in the Forum catalogue as “a coming of age story and existential voyage into the mind of a young woman’s thoughts on sexuality, art, idealism and love”, revolving around the figure of Apolonia who has...
Paris-based documentary specialist Wide house has picked up world rights to Anne Wivel’s Man Falling, about renowned Danish artist Per Kirkeby’s struggle to paint again after a debilitating accident, which opened Cph:dox at the beginning of November.
Wide House chief Anais Clanet said she acquired the film at the Toronto International Film Festival but launched sales at Idfa.
Following its Cph:dox premiere, the work has been playing in Idfa’s Sounds Real section, devoted to the use of sound in documentary.
Clanet was also at Idfa with Danish Lea Glob’s upcoming solo feature documentary Apolonia, Apolonia which was presented at the festival’s co-financing event, the Forum.
It is described in the Forum catalogue as “a coming of age story and existential voyage into the mind of a young woman’s thoughts on sexuality, art, idealism and love”, revolving around the figure of Apolonia who has...
- 11/25/2015
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Docu-drama selected for BFI London Film Festival.
Artscope has taken on international sales of UK artist and experimental director Ben Rivers’ Morocco-set The Sky Trembles And The Earth Is Afraid And The Two Eyes Are Not Brothers, a picture which explores the act of film-making.
Shot against the backdrop of the Atlas Mountains and the Moroccan Desert, the multi-layered film combines an adaptation of the late Tangiers-based, Us writer Peter Bowles’s 1947 short story A Distant Episode with footage of contemporary films sets.
“Part documentary, part fiction, we believe the film will not only speak to audiences familiar with Ben’s work as an artist but also to cinephiles and festival-goers eager to be shaken by different forms of expression,” said Sata Cissokho, head of Artscope, the specialist art film label of Paris-based Memento Films International.
The BFI London Film Festival (Lff) announced on Tuesday that the film would screen in its line-up in October. The feature...
Artscope has taken on international sales of UK artist and experimental director Ben Rivers’ Morocco-set The Sky Trembles And The Earth Is Afraid And The Two Eyes Are Not Brothers, a picture which explores the act of film-making.
Shot against the backdrop of the Atlas Mountains and the Moroccan Desert, the multi-layered film combines an adaptation of the late Tangiers-based, Us writer Peter Bowles’s 1947 short story A Distant Episode with footage of contemporary films sets.
“Part documentary, part fiction, we believe the film will not only speak to audiences familiar with Ben’s work as an artist but also to cinephiles and festival-goers eager to be shaken by different forms of expression,” said Sata Cissokho, head of Artscope, the specialist art film label of Paris-based Memento Films International.
The BFI London Film Festival (Lff) announced on Tuesday that the film would screen in its line-up in October. The feature...
- 9/1/2015
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Ballet movie sells for Wide House, who are also beginning pre-sales on Unpleasant Truths directed by Marcel Opuls.
Wide House has concluded an eye-catching deal on its new ballet movie Ulyana Lopatkina.
The film, directed by Marlene Ionesco, follows the twists and turns, ups and downs, in the career of Ulyana Lopatkina, a prima ballerina at the Kirov Ballet/Mariinsky Theatre. It has been picked up for Japan by Showgate in an all rights deal.
At Berlin’s European Film Market (Efm), the company is also beginning pre-sales on what promises to be a highly controversial new doc from Marcel Opuls (the French director of The Sorrow And The Pity).
The new film, entitled Unpleasant Truths and made by Ophuls and Eyal Sivan, asks whether “Islamophobia is the new anti-Semitism” and also explores “the very strange linkage between the far right in Europe and Israel.”
Just prior to the Efm, Wide sold its...
Wide House has concluded an eye-catching deal on its new ballet movie Ulyana Lopatkina.
The film, directed by Marlene Ionesco, follows the twists and turns, ups and downs, in the career of Ulyana Lopatkina, a prima ballerina at the Kirov Ballet/Mariinsky Theatre. It has been picked up for Japan by Showgate in an all rights deal.
At Berlin’s European Film Market (Efm), the company is also beginning pre-sales on what promises to be a highly controversial new doc from Marcel Opuls (the French director of The Sorrow And The Pity).
The new film, entitled Unpleasant Truths and made by Ophuls and Eyal Sivan, asks whether “Islamophobia is the new anti-Semitism” and also explores “the very strange linkage between the far right in Europe and Israel.”
Just prior to the Efm, Wide sold its...
- 2/8/2015
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
Other titles on Toronto slate include Billy Pols’ bio-doc Zombie [pictured] about cult skateboarder Tim Zom and Johan Grimonprez’s upcoming arms trade exposé Shadow Land.
Paris-based documentary specialist Wide House has acquired a trio of new titles ahead of Toronto including Claire Simon’s Place Aux Jeunes, a portrait of France’s world famous La Fémis film school.
It is the latest documentary from French director Simon, whose Gare du Nord - going behind-the-scenes of Paris’s biggest train station - recently competed at Locarno.
Other new acquisitions include Zombie: The Resurrection of Tim Zom by Dutch filmmaker Billy Pols, about a Rotterdam-born skateboarding star with a dark childhood. The documentary, featuring footage of Zom in action, premiered at Rotterdam earlier this year.
Wide, which has a growing arts and culture line, has also acquired Juan Alvarez Neme’s Avant about celebrated Argentine dancer Julio Bocca and his work rebuilding Uruguay’s National Ballet Company.
The company...
Paris-based documentary specialist Wide House has acquired a trio of new titles ahead of Toronto including Claire Simon’s Place Aux Jeunes, a portrait of France’s world famous La Fémis film school.
It is the latest documentary from French director Simon, whose Gare du Nord - going behind-the-scenes of Paris’s biggest train station - recently competed at Locarno.
Other new acquisitions include Zombie: The Resurrection of Tim Zom by Dutch filmmaker Billy Pols, about a Rotterdam-born skateboarding star with a dark childhood. The documentary, featuring footage of Zom in action, premiered at Rotterdam earlier this year.
Wide, which has a growing arts and culture line, has also acquired Juan Alvarez Neme’s Avant about celebrated Argentine dancer Julio Bocca and his work rebuilding Uruguay’s National Ballet Company.
The company...
- 8/20/2014
- ScreenDaily
The director talks artists' film and video, from advances in technology to moving-image art being taken more seriously
Hi Steven, can you tell us a little bit about Film and Video Umbrella?
Film and Video Umbrella (Fvu) produces, presents and promotes artists' work with the moving image. The projects we commission are made more for gallery exhibitions than the cinema circuit, and by people who probably went to art school rather than film school! But that distinction aside (and it's not an absolutely hard-and-fast one) our brief is pretty wide-ranging, stretching from the experimental fringes of the film avant-garde to the new horizons opened up by the internet, social media and digital technology.
I've been director for just over 20 years and, in that time, the organisation has grown from a small-scale two-person operation to become the leading commissioners of artists' film and video in the country, with almost 200 projects to our name now,...
Hi Steven, can you tell us a little bit about Film and Video Umbrella?
Film and Video Umbrella (Fvu) produces, presents and promotes artists' work with the moving image. The projects we commission are made more for gallery exhibitions than the cinema circuit, and by people who probably went to art school rather than film school! But that distinction aside (and it's not an absolutely hard-and-fast one) our brief is pretty wide-ranging, stretching from the experimental fringes of the film avant-garde to the new horizons opened up by the internet, social media and digital technology.
I've been director for just over 20 years and, in that time, the organisation has grown from a small-scale two-person operation to become the leading commissioners of artists' film and video in the country, with almost 200 projects to our name now,...
- 9/12/2013
- by Matthew Caines
- The Guardian - Film News
French sales outfit Wide Management has added a slew of titles in recent months.
Tiff contemporary world cinema premiere Ningen, about a Japanese CEO under pressure to save his company, is the second feature from Noor directors Cagla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti.
Portuguese drama Bobo, by Ines Oliveira, plays in the Tiff discovery programme. The feature follows two women who unite over their mutual desire to protect a child.
Vinko Bresan’s Karlovy Vary competition comedy The Priest’s Children has sold to a number of European territories while Jean-Louis Daniel’s Paris-set Shanghai Belle, also in-demand, tells the story of young models discovering a life of drugs, sex and prostitution.
Also on the slate are Snails in the Rain by Yariv Mozer, Letters of a Portuguese Nun, Rene Feret’s The Film to Come, and Us comedy Only in New York, in which a stand-up has a novel take on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Wide has also...
Tiff contemporary world cinema premiere Ningen, about a Japanese CEO under pressure to save his company, is the second feature from Noor directors Cagla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti.
Portuguese drama Bobo, by Ines Oliveira, plays in the Tiff discovery programme. The feature follows two women who unite over their mutual desire to protect a child.
Vinko Bresan’s Karlovy Vary competition comedy The Priest’s Children has sold to a number of European territories while Jean-Louis Daniel’s Paris-set Shanghai Belle, also in-demand, tells the story of young models discovering a life of drugs, sex and prostitution.
Also on the slate are Snails in the Rain by Yariv Mozer, Letters of a Portuguese Nun, Rene Feret’s The Film to Come, and Us comedy Only in New York, in which a stand-up has a novel take on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Wide has also...
- 8/30/2013
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Tribeca Film Institute and Gucci announced the recipients of the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund on Thursday [13].
The fund, now in its sixth year, is led by Tribeca’s director of documentary programming Ryan Harrington. Projects receive production and finishing funds totalling $150,000 as well as year-round support.
The Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund Recipients are: Marshall Curry for Run And Gun; Jeremy Williams for On A Knife Edge; Ryan White and Ben Cotner for Perry V Schwarzenegger; Johan Grimonprez for The Shadow World; James Spione for Silenced; and Da Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus for Unlocking The Cage.
The Spotlighting Women Documentary award, presented for the third year in a row by the Kering Foundation, is given to documentaries that accent the courage and strength of character of women across the globe. Recipients are: Andreas Dalsgaard, Nicolas Servide and Viviana Gomez for Democrazy; Pamela Yates for Disruption; and Beth Murphy for What Tomorrow Brings.
The projects...
The fund, now in its sixth year, is led by Tribeca’s director of documentary programming Ryan Harrington. Projects receive production and finishing funds totalling $150,000 as well as year-round support.
The Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund Recipients are: Marshall Curry for Run And Gun; Jeremy Williams for On A Knife Edge; Ryan White and Ben Cotner for Perry V Schwarzenegger; Johan Grimonprez for The Shadow World; James Spione for Silenced; and Da Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus for Unlocking The Cage.
The Spotlighting Women Documentary award, presented for the third year in a row by the Kering Foundation, is given to documentaries that accent the courage and strength of character of women across the globe. Recipients are: Andreas Dalsgaard, Nicolas Servide and Viviana Gomez for Democrazy; Pamela Yates for Disruption; and Beth Murphy for What Tomorrow Brings.
The projects...
- 6/13/2013
- ScreenDaily
The Tribeca Film Institute and Gucci announced today the nine recipients of their Documentary Fund. Now in its sixth year, the Fund provides production and finishing finances to documentary filmmakers from around the world with feature-length films that tackle critical social issues. Nine films have been selected out of the 500 submissions from 60 countries, receiving a total of $150,000 in funds. The films this year come from a group of filmmakers that reflect an expansive range of experience. Established directors such as Marshall Curry ("Run and Gun") and Da Pennebaker & Chris Hagedus ("Unlocking The Cage") are a few of this year's recipients. Others include the emerging talents of Jeremy Williams ("On a Knife Edge"), Johan Grimonprez ("The Shadow World"), James Spione ("Silenced"), and Ryan White & Ben Cotner ("Perry v. Schwarzenegger"). The range of subject matter presented in these projects is just as varied, covering issues such as the libyan revolution, gay...
- 6/13/2013
- by Julia Selinger
- Indiewire
A pair of titles in our Most Anticipated Films for 2012 in #39. Andrew Dosunmu (Ma George) and #30. Mark Jackson (Untitled Sicily Project) are two of the lucky fifteen filmmakers to have received coin in the shape of 2012 Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute grants. Recipients include a trio of titles that we caught in Park City back in January in Terence Nance’s An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, Ira Sach’s Keep the Lights On, and Destin Daniel Cretton’s I Am Not a Hipster. Here’s the press release.
Post-Production Feature Film Grants
Keep the Lights On
Writer/director: Ira Sachs
The story of a tumultuous, decade-long relationship between two men in New York City. Keep the Lights On premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.
Ira Sachs is a writer and director based in New York City. His films include Married Life (2007), The Delta (1997) and the 2005 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize-winning Forty Shades of Blue.
Post-Production Feature Film Grants
Keep the Lights On
Writer/director: Ira Sachs
The story of a tumultuous, decade-long relationship between two men in New York City. Keep the Lights On premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.
Ira Sachs is a writer and director based in New York City. His films include Married Life (2007), The Delta (1997) and the 2005 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize-winning Forty Shades of Blue.
- 6/6/2012
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
From 7 Up to Towie, Andy Warhol to the Maysles brothers, I am influenced by films that highlight human reality and interaction
When people consider the art of the moving image, documentary is most often seen as the poor cousin of the feature film. But the inception of film started with the documentary, whether it was a horse galloping or a train coming through a tunnel.
Documentaries have influenced how actors can perform more naturally, or film-makers create mises-en-scène convincingly. But more than anything, they have changed us all, allowed us to understand others we have never met or will never have the chance to meet. They have changed our social ways as we pick up on how other people live and, in some cases, adopt manners and behaviours. My work has been influenced by documentaries, particularly those from the 1970s, where new ideas were being explored in programmes like The Family and 7 Up.
When people consider the art of the moving image, documentary is most often seen as the poor cousin of the feature film. But the inception of film started with the documentary, whether it was a horse galloping or a train coming through a tunnel.
Documentaries have influenced how actors can perform more naturally, or film-makers create mises-en-scène convincingly. But more than anything, they have changed us all, allowed us to understand others we have never met or will never have the chance to meet. They have changed our social ways as we pick up on how other people live and, in some cases, adopt manners and behaviours. My work has been influenced by documentaries, particularly those from the 1970s, where new ideas were being explored in programmes like The Family and 7 Up.
- 3/29/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
Gulabi (India / Norway) to be directed by Nishtha Jain has received a $25,000 grant from the Sundance Documentary Film Program. The documentary traces Sampat Pal and the fiery women of her Gulabi Gang who take up the fight against gender violence, caste oppression and widespread corruption in Bundelkhand.
Gulabi is one among the 29 feature-length documentary films that will receive the grant.
The Documentary Film Program celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2012 and since its inception has awarded grants to more than 300 documentary filmmakers in 61 countries.
Complete list:
Development
The Bill (U.S. / Philippines)
Director: Ramona Diaz
A political firestorm hits the Philippines when “The Bill,” a reproductive health bill that could legalize birth control in the world’s 12th most populous nation, pits tradition against reform and brings the culture war into the streets and churches.
Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield (U.S.)
Director: Richard Rowley
Reporting from the battlefields of the war on terror,...
Gulabi is one among the 29 feature-length documentary films that will receive the grant.
The Documentary Film Program celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2012 and since its inception has awarded grants to more than 300 documentary filmmakers in 61 countries.
Complete list:
Development
The Bill (U.S. / Philippines)
Director: Ramona Diaz
A political firestorm hits the Philippines when “The Bill,” a reproductive health bill that could legalize birth control in the world’s 12th most populous nation, pits tradition against reform and brings the culture war into the streets and churches.
Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield (U.S.)
Director: Richard Rowley
Reporting from the battlefields of the war on terror,...
- 11/23/2011
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
In the 10 years since the September 11 terrorist attacks, film directors have responded in myriad ways. Peter Bradshaw charts the rise and fall of the 9/11 movie
At the Venice film festival last week, George Clooney unveiled his new backstairs political drama, The Ides of March, about a Democratic presidential candidate getting bogged down in compromise, backstabbing and the dark political arts. Clooney said that he could conceivably have completed the film before now, but President Obama had been doing too well, and therefore the time wasn't right.
Perhaps Clooney was being serious and perhaps he wasn't. But the remark typifies the dwindling of the memory of 9/11 in Hollywood cinema. The Obama presidency, ushered in by the catastrophe of the Bush reign, is now perceived to be in trouble, and this enables a prominent Hollywood liberal to make the kind of savvy, ahistorically pessimistic political movie that could have been produced at...
At the Venice film festival last week, George Clooney unveiled his new backstairs political drama, The Ides of March, about a Democratic presidential candidate getting bogged down in compromise, backstabbing and the dark political arts. Clooney said that he could conceivably have completed the film before now, but President Obama had been doing too well, and therefore the time wasn't right.
Perhaps Clooney was being serious and perhaps he wasn't. But the remark typifies the dwindling of the memory of 9/11 in Hollywood cinema. The Obama presidency, ushered in by the catastrophe of the Bush reign, is now perceived to be in trouble, and this enables a prominent Hollywood liberal to make the kind of savvy, ahistorically pessimistic political movie that could have been produced at...
- 9/9/2011
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
A look at what's new on DVD today:
"Gasland" (2010)
Directed by Josh Fox
Released by New Video Group
"Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work"
Directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg
Released by Mpi Home Video
"Exit Through the Gift Shop" (2010)
Directed by Banksy
Released by Oscilloscope Laboratories
If you haven't caught up on the year's best documentaries in time to fill out your top 10 list, three of them will be hitting DVD shelves this week, beginning with Josh Fox's Sundance award-winning "Gasland," an exploration of the "hydraulic fracturing" going on in own backyard, a type of drilling that has spread to 34 states in the U.S. and has left a host of reservoirs of toxic waste and frequent gas explosions along the way. For something less serious, but equally compelling, there is also Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg's "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work," which follows the...
"Gasland" (2010)
Directed by Josh Fox
Released by New Video Group
"Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work"
Directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg
Released by Mpi Home Video
"Exit Through the Gift Shop" (2010)
Directed by Banksy
Released by Oscilloscope Laboratories
If you haven't caught up on the year's best documentaries in time to fill out your top 10 list, three of them will be hitting DVD shelves this week, beginning with Josh Fox's Sundance award-winning "Gasland," an exploration of the "hydraulic fracturing" going on in own backyard, a type of drilling that has spread to 34 states in the U.S. and has left a host of reservoirs of toxic waste and frequent gas explosions along the way. For something less serious, but equally compelling, there is also Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg's "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work," which follows the...
- 12/12/2010
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
Summary: Although it’s hard to follow in parts, 'Double Take' is terrifically smart and appropriately wry--and elicits more than a few goosebumps.
Johan Grimonprez blends satire, capitalism, and history in Double Take, his examination on society’s dualities and the life and work of Alfred Hitchcock. One man alone cannot properly tell this story—and so it is that Grimonprez tracks down Ron Burrage, a famous Hitchcock lookalike in his twilight years, and voice artist Mark Perry. The film cuts between Burrage’s TV gigs and a fictional account by novelist Tom McCarthy, in which Hitchcock encounters his older self on the set of The Birds in 1962. “If you meet your double,” Hitchcock intones, “you should kill him.” He and his shadowy doppelganger regard each other with a mixture of revulsion and confusion, both knowing how the encounter must end.
Screen
read more...
Johan Grimonprez blends satire, capitalism, and history in Double Take, his examination on society’s dualities and the life and work of Alfred Hitchcock. One man alone cannot properly tell this story—and so it is that Grimonprez tracks down Ron Burrage, a famous Hitchcock lookalike in his twilight years, and voice artist Mark Perry. The film cuts between Burrage’s TV gigs and a fictional account by novelist Tom McCarthy, in which Hitchcock encounters his older self on the set of The Birds in 1962. “If you meet your double,” Hitchcock intones, “you should kill him.” He and his shadowy doppelganger regard each other with a mixture of revulsion and confusion, both knowing how the encounter must end.
Screen
read more...
- 11/16/2010
- by Natalie Zutter
- Filmology
Is it a revelation or a revolution? It’s both! The Revelation Perth International Film Festival is tackling the theme of “Revolution” when its 13th annual edition begins violating Australia on July 8-18. Get set for 11 days filled French zombies, Belgian cowboys, outer space outlaws, Beat poets, cat ladies, gospel musicians and other revolutionaries.
Actually, one of the main features of the festival this year is a slew of music documentaries, mostly spotlighting both American and Australian music. On the U.S. side of things there’s Wheedle’s Groove, a look at the history of Seattle funk; Rejoice and Shout, which examines gospel music’s impact on African-American culture — and vice versa; Tom Dicillo’s Doors documentary When You’re Strange; plus The Family Jams and 72 Musicians. And, from Australia, there’s Megan Simpson-Hubberman’s classic concert film The Night of the Triffids.
There’s lots more than music docs,...
Actually, one of the main features of the festival this year is a slew of music documentaries, mostly spotlighting both American and Australian music. On the U.S. side of things there’s Wheedle’s Groove, a look at the history of Seattle funk; Rejoice and Shout, which examines gospel music’s impact on African-American culture — and vice versa; Tom Dicillo’s Doors documentary When You’re Strange; plus The Family Jams and 72 Musicians. And, from Australia, there’s Megan Simpson-Hubberman’s classic concert film The Night of the Triffids.
There’s lots more than music docs,...
- 7/2/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Los Angeles may be considered the film capital of the world, but what is “film” these days anyway? A new L.A-based festival has just popped up that addresses and celebrates all of the unique forms that visual storytelling can take in our new media world.
The inaugural New Media Film Festival will run the course of one weekend, June 11-13, at the Downtown Independent theater and show a mix of Internet-based short films, “webisodes,” documentaries that deal with the way media influences and is influenced by real world affairs and feature films in which new media figures as a major story element.
While the festival is strictly concerned with new media, I do want to note that there is a slight “underground” connection. While the fest was founded by Susan Johnston, the event’s Artistic Director is David Kleiler, who founded the Boston Underground Film Festival way back in 1998. Plus,...
The inaugural New Media Film Festival will run the course of one weekend, June 11-13, at the Downtown Independent theater and show a mix of Internet-based short films, “webisodes,” documentaries that deal with the way media influences and is influenced by real world affairs and feature films in which new media figures as a major story element.
While the festival is strictly concerned with new media, I do want to note that there is a slight “underground” connection. While the fest was founded by Susan Johnston, the event’s Artistic Director is David Kleiler, who founded the Boston Underground Film Festival way back in 1998. Plus,...
- 6/10/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
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