One of the most interesting stories to come out of the Vietnam War is heading to the big screen. Carey Mulligan has been set to star in and produce On The Other Side, a film that will center on Kate Webb, the female war correspondent who was held in captivity for 23 days by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. First Look Media’s entertainment studio Topic will finance the movie and co-produce with Margot Hand of Picture Films and Edet Belzberg of Ebm Productions. A…...
- 6/1/2017
- Deadline
Vietnam War-era film set to begin production in spring 2018.
Topic, the content studio owned by First Look Media, announced on Thursday that it will co-produce and finance On The Other Side.
Carey Mulligan will star in and produce the film, alongside producers Margot Hand of Picture Films and Edet Belzberg of Ebm Productions.
First Look Media’s executive vice-president of programming and content Adam Pincus and senior vice-president of narrative film Annie Marter will oversee for Topic.
Based on the book On The Other Side: 23 Days With The Vietcong, On The Other Side centres on Kate Webb, the female war correspondent who was held in captivity during the Vietnam War. The journalist survived fierce battles and 23 days of captivity in the jungles of Cambodia.
Mulligan was nominated for an Oscar and won a BAFTA for her break out role in An Education. She has gone on to star in films including The Great Gatsby, Drive, and Inside Llewyn Davis...
Topic, the content studio owned by First Look Media, announced on Thursday that it will co-produce and finance On The Other Side.
Carey Mulligan will star in and produce the film, alongside producers Margot Hand of Picture Films and Edet Belzberg of Ebm Productions.
First Look Media’s executive vice-president of programming and content Adam Pincus and senior vice-president of narrative film Annie Marter will oversee for Topic.
Based on the book On The Other Side: 23 Days With The Vietcong, On The Other Side centres on Kate Webb, the female war correspondent who was held in captivity during the Vietnam War. The journalist survived fierce battles and 23 days of captivity in the jungles of Cambodia.
Mulligan was nominated for an Oscar and won a BAFTA for her break out role in An Education. She has gone on to star in films including The Great Gatsby, Drive, and Inside Llewyn Davis...
- 6/1/2017
- ScreenDaily
Mark Whitaker, Ken Burns, Marina Goldman and Matthew Justus with Artemis Joukowsky Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
At the Le Cirque lunch hosted by Dan Abrams, Kerry Kennedy, Lawrence O’Donnell and producers Dan Cogan (Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt's Havana Motor Club; Edet Belzberg's Watchers Of The Sky, featuring Luis Moreno Ocampo), Geralyn Dreyfous (Martha Stephens and Aaron Katz's Land Ho!; Kirby Dick's The Invisible War and The Hunting Ground) and Judith Helfand (Martha Shane and Lana Wilson's After Tiller) for Defying The Nazis: The Sharps' War, I spoke with the directors, Ken Burns and Artemis Joukowsky.
Ken Burns with Artemis Joukowsky: "And this is a feminist tale as well! From the very beginning, she has defied her parents, she has defied her husband, she has defied the Nazis." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Marina Goldman, who gives her voice to Martha Sharp, let me know that she never got to meet Tom Hanks,...
At the Le Cirque lunch hosted by Dan Abrams, Kerry Kennedy, Lawrence O’Donnell and producers Dan Cogan (Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt's Havana Motor Club; Edet Belzberg's Watchers Of The Sky, featuring Luis Moreno Ocampo), Geralyn Dreyfous (Martha Stephens and Aaron Katz's Land Ho!; Kirby Dick's The Invisible War and The Hunting Ground) and Judith Helfand (Martha Shane and Lana Wilson's After Tiller) for Defying The Nazis: The Sharps' War, I spoke with the directors, Ken Burns and Artemis Joukowsky.
Ken Burns with Artemis Joukowsky: "And this is a feminist tale as well! From the very beginning, she has defied her parents, she has defied her husband, she has defied the Nazis." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Marina Goldman, who gives her voice to Martha Sharp, let me know that she never got to meet Tom Hanks,...
- 9/19/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
It must be said how nice it is to be free of the bone chilling cold which I’ve been enduring these last few months back in Buffalo. Stepping onto the tarmac in 30 degree weather after touching down in Columbia, Mo last night was sadly a mild improvement, but today, with all the sunshine and contagiously good spirits that are pervading the small college town streets that play host to True/False Film Festival, my frozen heart has been gratefully thawed. And let’s not forget the films, bands and food that have been making my stay thus far quite a delight. I was greeted bright and early by one of the many lovely Q queens that help keep the reasonable, yet respectable lines that file through alleys and indoor corridors in order, plus that keyboard key covered Buffalo sculpture stationed in the lobby of The Globe made me feel right at home.
- 3/7/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Raphael. Ben. Samantha. Luis. Emmanuel. All are ordinary names for ordinary people who have one thing in common: an extraordinary desire to stop genocide. As explored in Edet Belzberg's documentary Watchers of the Sky, all five individuals recognized that a single individual cannot stop the systematic murder of large groups of people due to their race, ethnicity, nationality, or religious belief. Yet they have all been compelled to do something. And they all share the conviction that genocide can be stopped, even as they acknowledge that it (probably) won't be within their lifetime. Genocide has existed for centuries but it wasn't defined as such until the 20th century. The foundation was laid by Raphael Lemkin, born in 1900, who survived atrocities at a young age....
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 2/24/2015
- Screen Anarchy
By Anjelica Oswald
Managing Editor
This year’s Oscar race could make history with two possible best picture nominees directed by women — Ava DuVernay’s Selma and Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken. If both women are nominated for best director, that would also be a historical moment. But though these accomplishments in the narrative field are possible, more women directors are breaking into the documentary categories. Four of the 15 shortlisted documentaries feature women at the helm: Jennifer Grausman (co-directed with Sam Cullman and Mark Becker) with Art and Craft, Tia Lessin (co-directed with Carl Deal) with Citizen Koch, Laura Poitras with Citizenfour and Rory Kennedy with Last Days in Vietnam. Additionally, three of the eight shortlisted documentary shorts feature female directors: Ellen Goosenberg Kent with Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, Aneta Kopacz with Joanna and Lucy Walker with The Lion’s Mouth Opens. More often than not, women directors tend to...
Managing Editor
This year’s Oscar race could make history with two possible best picture nominees directed by women — Ava DuVernay’s Selma and Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken. If both women are nominated for best director, that would also be a historical moment. But though these accomplishments in the narrative field are possible, more women directors are breaking into the documentary categories. Four of the 15 shortlisted documentaries feature women at the helm: Jennifer Grausman (co-directed with Sam Cullman and Mark Becker) with Art and Craft, Tia Lessin (co-directed with Carl Deal) with Citizen Koch, Laura Poitras with Citizenfour and Rory Kennedy with Last Days in Vietnam. Additionally, three of the eight shortlisted documentary shorts feature female directors: Ellen Goosenberg Kent with Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, Aneta Kopacz with Joanna and Lucy Walker with The Lion’s Mouth Opens. More often than not, women directors tend to...
- 12/16/2014
- by Anjelica Oswald
- Scott Feinberg
Luis Moreno Ocampo told Anne-Katrin Titze that Watchers Of The Sky director Edet Belzberg and Us Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power are the "new Raphael Lemkins." Photo: Susan Norget
Luis Moreno Ocampo was appointed the first Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at the Hague in 2003. During his nine-year term he was responsible for "investigating and prosecuting massive atrocities" and gathering evidence to build a consensus with the member States in order to "enforce the rules".
In New York, a relaxed Luis Moreno Ocampo told me about the day Raphael Lemkin came into his life, the insight Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz gave him, the need for a protocol in the global system, why Star Wars is incredibly smart and how much he enjoys Woody Allen, Visconti and the Coen brothers.
Luis Moreno Ocampo prosecuting at the Argentine 1987 Junta trials: "I had 1600 suspects. I cannot do a case...
Luis Moreno Ocampo was appointed the first Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at the Hague in 2003. During his nine-year term he was responsible for "investigating and prosecuting massive atrocities" and gathering evidence to build a consensus with the member States in order to "enforce the rules".
In New York, a relaxed Luis Moreno Ocampo told me about the day Raphael Lemkin came into his life, the insight Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz gave him, the need for a protocol in the global system, why Star Wars is incredibly smart and how much he enjoys Woody Allen, Visconti and the Coen brothers.
Luis Moreno Ocampo prosecuting at the Argentine 1987 Junta trials: "I had 1600 suspects. I cannot do a case...
- 10/20/2014
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Submarine Entertainment just sold the rights for "Watchers of the Sky" to Music Box Films. Edet Belzberg's documentary about the life of lawyer Raphael Lemkin premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Belzberg stated, "I'm honored to have such notable partners to help bring the film's important story of courage and perseverance to audiences around the world." "'Watchers of the Sky' is... a story replete with ticking clocks, heinous villains, the collusion of apathy, intrepid heroes, provisional victories and ultimately a clear-eyed but hopeful sense of human progress" said Ed Arentz and William Schopf of Music Box Films. "These narrative threads are brilliantly orchestrated by Edet Belzberg and we expect Us audiences, including Academy voters, to be as rapt and moved as we were." Upcoming titles from Music Box Films include Roger Michell's "Le Week-end" starring Jim Broadbent, and five-time Academy Award nominee Jan Troell’s "The Last Sentence.
- 2/11/2014
- by Taylor Lindsay
- Indiewire
Updated: Deals from Java Films, Zodiak, Raven Banner, Silver Sword, m-appeal, Slingshot Films, Rise and Shine, House of Film.
Java flies with Emptying The Skies
Java Films has acquired world rights to Emptying The Skies, Douglass Kass’s feature documentary about migratory song birds. The deal was negotiated by David Koh of Submarine Entertainment and Roger Kass of RingTheJing Entertainment on behalf of the filmmakers and Kathryn Bonnici, Head of Acquisitions for Java Films. Submarine has also sold all rights in Canada to Films We Like and Worldwide Airline rights to Jaguar Distribution.
Music Box acquires Watcher Of The Sky
Music Box Films has struck a deal with CAA and Submarine for Us rights to Propeller Films’ Watchers Of The Sky. Submarine licensed Canadian rights to Films We Like, Australia and New Zealand to Madman, pan-Scandinavia to NonStop Entertainment and worldwide airline rights to Jaguar Distribution. Edet Belzberg directed the story about Raphael Lemkin, who coined...
Java flies with Emptying The Skies
Java Films has acquired world rights to Emptying The Skies, Douglass Kass’s feature documentary about migratory song birds. The deal was negotiated by David Koh of Submarine Entertainment and Roger Kass of RingTheJing Entertainment on behalf of the filmmakers and Kathryn Bonnici, Head of Acquisitions for Java Films. Submarine has also sold all rights in Canada to Films We Like and Worldwide Airline rights to Jaguar Distribution.
Music Box acquires Watcher Of The Sky
Music Box Films has struck a deal with CAA and Submarine for Us rights to Propeller Films’ Watchers Of The Sky. Submarine licensed Canadian rights to Films We Like, Australia and New Zealand to Madman, pan-Scandinavia to NonStop Entertainment and worldwide airline rights to Jaguar Distribution. Edet Belzberg directed the story about Raphael Lemkin, who coined...
- 2/11/2014
- ScreenDaily
I know that the Sundance Film Festival ended over a week ago, but in the six days I was at Sundance (and on screeners in the days before), I saw 25 movies. I wrote full reviews for 13 of them. My Full Sundance reviews: 'The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz' "The Overnighters" "Rudderless" "Fed Up" "Marmato" "Love Child" "Land Ho!" "The Voices" "Happy Valley" "My Prairie Home" "Life Itself" "Mitt" "Web Junkie" But that left 12 movies that I just didn't have the time to write my usual 1000-to-1750 words on. Since getting back from Park City, I've been slowly working my way through capsule reviews for those 12 movies. These are roughly the length of my Take Me To The Pilots entries, which means that in this format, people are going to complain about all of the text and the lack of paragraphs. Sorry. Because I'm just one part of HitFix's awesome Sundance team,...
- 2/5/2014
- by Daniel Fienberg
- Hitfix
"We can’t try everybody who’s guilty of wrongdoing," admits Ben Ferencz at one point during Edet Belzberg's "Watchers of the Sky," a sobering statement from one of the Chief Prosecutors at the Nuremberg Trials following World War II. A reminder of the scope of humanity's flaws, it also concisely encapsulates the enormous task faced by anyone trying to come up with a comprehensive look at genocide. By bringing in perspectives from the media, activists, historians and the refugees themselves, Belzberg presents a view of modern challenges in combating genocide that, while not entirely thorough, is a sobering reminder of the difficulty of those efforts. "Watchers of the Sky" follows the origins, stories and lessons of five periods of genocide in recent global history: Armenia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Sudan and the rise of the Third Reich. With representative voices for each period, from those who covered it to those who survived it,...
- 1/26/2014
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
‘Whiplash’: Sundance Film Festival Awards’ rare double winner (photo: Miles Teller in ‘Whiplash’) Directed by Damien Chazelle — and acquired for domestic distribution by Sony Pictures Classics — Whiplash won the 2014 Sundance Film Festival U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award. The story of a young, ambitious 19-year-old drummer (played by 26-year-old Miles Teller) under the tutelage of a ruthless teacher (J.K. Simmons), Whiplash also features Melissa Benoist, Paul Reiser, Austin Stowell, Nate Lang, Chris Mulkey, and Damon Gupton. Whiplash‘s double Sundance Film Festival win is quite rare. Previous such instances in Sundance’s three-decade history include Tony Bui’s Three Seasons in 1999, Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland’s Quinceañera in 2006, Lee Daniels’ Precious in 2009, and Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station last year. Of these, Precious is — somewhat surprisingly — the only Sundance double winner to have succeeded both at the domestic box office and during awards season,...
- 1/26/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Iskander: Edet Belzberg’s film Children Underground was one of my favorite docs. When I went to meet her for the first time to talk about potentially working on her new film, I was simply excited to meet her and hear about her experiences as a documentary filmmaker. So I was thrilled to be have the opportunity to work with her on Watchers of the Sky. The prospect of traveling to Chad and working closely with Edet was very exciting. Filmmaker: Why do you think you were the right choice to D.P. each film? Iskander: […]...
- 1/22/2014
- by Arielle Grinshpan
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Iskander: Edet Belzberg’s film Children Underground was one of my favorite docs. When I went to meet her for the first time to talk about potentially working on her new film, I was simply excited to meet her and hear about her experiences as a documentary filmmaker. So I was thrilled to be have the opportunity to work with her on Watchers of the Sky. The prospect of traveling to Chad and working closely with Edet was very exciting. Filmmaker: Why do you think you were the right choice to D.P. each film? Iskander: […]...
- 1/22/2014
- by Arielle Grinshpan
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Park City - Even with four critics reviewing movies it's hard to catch everything at a festival as big as Sundance. One movie that we'll be reviewing over the next few days is Edet Belzberg's new documentary "Watchers of the Sky." The film debuted last weekend in the U.S. documentary competition and follows four modern day humanitarians who all owe something to the legendary Raphael Lemkin, the man who first termed the word genocide (and that was just the beginning of his legacy). In an exclusive clip provided to HitFix, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power talks about how Lemkin came up with...
- 1/21/2014
- by Gregory Ellwood
- Hitfix
The horror of genocide simply can't be put into words. An unspeakable act, it leaves its mark across generations, reverberating through history as a stamp of supreme evil. But can justice be found for those marked by such brutal acts of violence? One lawyer thought so and forever laid the groundwork that would allow the Nuremberg trials to happen, along with the formation of the International Criminal Court. Oscar nominated director Edet Belzberg ("Children Underground") brings her latest documentary "Watchers Of The Sky" to the Sundance Film Festival this week, and it will shine light on lawyer Raphael Lemkin. Through reminisces and insight from Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the U.N.; Luis Moreno Ocampo, Icc chief prosecutor; Benjamin Ferencz, Nuremberg prosecutor; and Emmanuel Uwurukundo, U.N. refugee officer, the doc explores how Lemkin created the legal framework that enabled prosecutors to bring crimes of massacre into a courtroom,...
- 1/21/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
The Sundance Film Festival has unveiled its 2014 Competition lineup, made up of several categories. The 30th edition of the event will take place between January 16th-26th in the new year.
U.S. Dramatic Competition
Camp X-Ray (Peter Sattler)
Cold in July (Jim Mickle)
Dear White People (Justin Simien)
Fishing Without Nets (Cutter Hodierne)
John's Pocket (John Slattery)
Happy Christmas (Joe Swanberg)
Hellion (Kat Candler)
Infinitely Polar Bear (Maya Forbes)
Jamie Marks is Dead (Carter Smith)
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (David Zellner)
Life After Beth (Jeff Baena)
Low Down (Joe Preiss)
The Skeleton Twins (Craig Johnson)
The Sleepwalker (Mona Fastvold)
Song One (Kate Barker-Froyland)
Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)
U.S. Documentary Competition
Alive Inside: A Story of Music & Memory (Michael Rossato-Bennett)
All the Beautiful Things (John Harkrider)
Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart (Jeremiah Zagar)
The Case Against 8 (Ben Cotner, Ryan White)
Cesar's Last Fast (Richard Ray Perez, Lorena Parlee...
U.S. Dramatic Competition
Camp X-Ray (Peter Sattler)
Cold in July (Jim Mickle)
Dear White People (Justin Simien)
Fishing Without Nets (Cutter Hodierne)
John's Pocket (John Slattery)
Happy Christmas (Joe Swanberg)
Hellion (Kat Candler)
Infinitely Polar Bear (Maya Forbes)
Jamie Marks is Dead (Carter Smith)
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (David Zellner)
Life After Beth (Jeff Baena)
Low Down (Joe Preiss)
The Skeleton Twins (Craig Johnson)
The Sleepwalker (Mona Fastvold)
Song One (Kate Barker-Froyland)
Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)
U.S. Documentary Competition
Alive Inside: A Story of Music & Memory (Michael Rossato-Bennett)
All the Beautiful Things (John Harkrider)
Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart (Jeremiah Zagar)
The Case Against 8 (Ben Cotner, Ryan White)
Cesar's Last Fast (Richard Ray Perez, Lorena Parlee...
- 12/6/2013
- by Notebook
- MUBI
The 2014 Sundance Film Festival is right around the corner, and the Sundance Institute has released the full line-up for the competition films that will be premiering!
This year there were 12,218 total submissions, and 117 films were accepted from 37 countries around the world. It looks like there's a lot of good selection of films this year.
The Sundance Film Festival 2014 runs from January 16th to the 26th, and the GeekTyrant team will be there to cover as many movies as we possibly can.
U.S. Dramatic Competition
The 16 films in this section are world premieres and, unless otherwise noted, are from the U.S.
“Camp X-Ray” — Directed and written by Peter Sattler. A young female guard at Guantanamo Bay forms an unlikely friendship with one of the detainees. Cast: Kristen Stewart, Payman Maadi, Lane Garrison, J.J. Soria, John Carroll Lynch.
“Cold in July” — Directed by Jim Mickle, written by Nick Damici.
This year there were 12,218 total submissions, and 117 films were accepted from 37 countries around the world. It looks like there's a lot of good selection of films this year.
The Sundance Film Festival 2014 runs from January 16th to the 26th, and the GeekTyrant team will be there to cover as many movies as we possibly can.
U.S. Dramatic Competition
The 16 films in this section are world premieres and, unless otherwise noted, are from the U.S.
“Camp X-Ray” — Directed and written by Peter Sattler. A young female guard at Guantanamo Bay forms an unlikely friendship with one of the detainees. Cast: Kristen Stewart, Payman Maadi, Lane Garrison, J.J. Soria, John Carroll Lynch.
“Cold in July” — Directed by Jim Mickle, written by Nick Damici.
- 12/5/2013
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
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
Kids. Such as Sex, Lies, and Videotape or Reservoir Dogs before it, and such as Winter’s Bone, Blue Valentine and Fruitvale Station after it, Larry Clark & Harmony Korine’s seminal film is forever connected in “spirit” to the lieu where it received its secret midnight premiere screening in 1995. The Sundance Film Festival might be known as the birthplace of U.S indie filmmaking innovation, avant-gardism, a larger definition of the low budgeted film response to Hollywood in not only narrative but in the non-fiction form, but it is a festival made strong by its renewal and familiarity. That close acquaintanceness exists in Kids‘ starlets Rosario Dawson and Chloë Sevigny filmography/career path trajectory and connection to Park City (both have several indie films slated for ’14 – of which I’ve included in our predictions list) and it is that “familiarity” that is visibly noticeable in how I map out my annual predictions list.
- 11/18/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Here's your daily dose of an indie film in progress; at the end of the week, you'll have the chance to vote for your favorite. In the meantime: Is this a movie you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments. "Johnny Physical Lives" Tweetable Logline: 2wks into chemo, 20yr-old Jonathan Neuman (Rip) performed in hospital as Johnny Physical. 10yrs later: a doc. Elevator Pitch: A short film about my younger brother’s experience of leukemia through the eyes of his alter ego— a rock star named “Johnny Physical.” Production Team: Director: Joshua Neuman Producers: Edet Belzberg, Kimya Dawson and Joshua Neuman Cinematographers: Albert Maysles, Joshua Neuman and Oliver Noble Art Directors: Dean Haspiel, Jim Mahfood and Paul Pope Editor: Oliver Noble About the Production: "In the U.S. alone, more than 70,000 young adults are diagnosed with cancer...
- 11/19/2012
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
I like this title, so I found the news.
During our recent interview with Ellis Perez, the Director General of the Dominican Republic's film organization DGCine which you can read tomorrow, he mentioned an interesting factoid about Dr. Aside from its being the site of Christopher Columbus' second landing in 1492 and his naming the country Hispanola, its being the site of the first permanent European settlement in the Americas, its sharing 1/3 of the island with Haiti, and its reign of terror by the dictator Trujillo from 1930 until his assassination in 1961, there was one good act performed by El Jefe. That was his open-door policy which accepted Jewish refugees from Europe, Japanese migration during the 1930s, and exiles from Spain following its civil war. In 1939 Trujillo took in German and Austrian Jewish refugees and gave them a safe haven in Puerto Plata province's town Sosua where many still live or have returned after being educated abroad. Another coincidental connection of the Dr to the Jews is that the current President Leonel Fernandez spent most of his childhood and teenaged years in Washington Heights during its transition from being a German Jewish neighborhood to becoming the Dominican neighborhood it is today.
And speaking of New York, here is a second Jews in the News item which also includes a doc about Sosua!
The New York-based Foundation for Jewish Culture has granted finishing funds to six documentaries.
Finishing funds ranging between $12,000 and $40,000 have recently been granted to six documentaries. The funds are designed to enable the filmmakers to pay licence fees for music and archival footage, complete additional editing and shooting and build audience awareness through outreach and engagement strategies.
The grants fall under the Foundation’s Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film which supports projects expanding understanding of the Jewish experience. 80 projects made applications this year and the final six recipients were selected by a panel including Moma’s Sally Berger, filmmaker Nicole Opper, film critic George Robinson and Daniella Tourgeman from the Jerusalem Cinematheque/ Israel Film Archive.
The fund has supported the completion of over 80 films since 1996 including Waltz With Bashir, Budrus, William Kunstler: Disturbing The Universe and The Rape Of Europa.
The winning projects are:
· Sosua: Dare To Dance Together directed and produced by Peter Miller and Renee Silverman, which follows Jewish and Dominican teenagers over the course of the year as they create a musical theatre piece about German Jews finding refuge in the Dominican Republic in the late 1930s.
How To Re-Establish A Vodka Empire directed by Dan Edelstyn, which traces the history of the film-maker’s Jewish grandmother who fled the Bolshevik revolution and settled in strife-torn Belfast.
· Miss World directed by Cecilia Peck (Shut Up And Sing), which is the story of Israeli beauty pageant queen Linor Abargil and her crusade to combat sexual violence against women.
· My Father Evgeni directed and produced by Andrei Zagdansky, follows the filmmaker’s history working with his father for the Kiev Popular Science Film Studios.
· The Return directed and produced by Adam Zucker (Greensboro: Closer To The Truth), which follows four young Polish women who were raised Catholic only to discover that they were born Jewish.
· Watchers Of The Sky directed by Edet Belzberg (Children Underground) which interweaves stories of four visionaries with the journey of lawyer Raphael Lemkin who drafted and pushed through the Un Genocide Convention.
During our recent interview with Ellis Perez, the Director General of the Dominican Republic's film organization DGCine which you can read tomorrow, he mentioned an interesting factoid about Dr. Aside from its being the site of Christopher Columbus' second landing in 1492 and his naming the country Hispanola, its being the site of the first permanent European settlement in the Americas, its sharing 1/3 of the island with Haiti, and its reign of terror by the dictator Trujillo from 1930 until his assassination in 1961, there was one good act performed by El Jefe. That was his open-door policy which accepted Jewish refugees from Europe, Japanese migration during the 1930s, and exiles from Spain following its civil war. In 1939 Trujillo took in German and Austrian Jewish refugees and gave them a safe haven in Puerto Plata province's town Sosua where many still live or have returned after being educated abroad. Another coincidental connection of the Dr to the Jews is that the current President Leonel Fernandez spent most of his childhood and teenaged years in Washington Heights during its transition from being a German Jewish neighborhood to becoming the Dominican neighborhood it is today.
And speaking of New York, here is a second Jews in the News item which also includes a doc about Sosua!
The New York-based Foundation for Jewish Culture has granted finishing funds to six documentaries.
Finishing funds ranging between $12,000 and $40,000 have recently been granted to six documentaries. The funds are designed to enable the filmmakers to pay licence fees for music and archival footage, complete additional editing and shooting and build audience awareness through outreach and engagement strategies.
The grants fall under the Foundation’s Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film which supports projects expanding understanding of the Jewish experience. 80 projects made applications this year and the final six recipients were selected by a panel including Moma’s Sally Berger, filmmaker Nicole Opper, film critic George Robinson and Daniella Tourgeman from the Jerusalem Cinematheque/ Israel Film Archive.
The fund has supported the completion of over 80 films since 1996 including Waltz With Bashir, Budrus, William Kunstler: Disturbing The Universe and The Rape Of Europa.
The winning projects are:
· Sosua: Dare To Dance Together directed and produced by Peter Miller and Renee Silverman, which follows Jewish and Dominican teenagers over the course of the year as they create a musical theatre piece about German Jews finding refuge in the Dominican Republic in the late 1930s.
How To Re-Establish A Vodka Empire directed by Dan Edelstyn, which traces the history of the film-maker’s Jewish grandmother who fled the Bolshevik revolution and settled in strife-torn Belfast.
· Miss World directed by Cecilia Peck (Shut Up And Sing), which is the story of Israeli beauty pageant queen Linor Abargil and her crusade to combat sexual violence against women.
· My Father Evgeni directed and produced by Andrei Zagdansky, follows the filmmaker’s history working with his father for the Kiev Popular Science Film Studios.
· The Return directed and produced by Adam Zucker (Greensboro: Closer To The Truth), which follows four young Polish women who were raised Catholic only to discover that they were born Jewish.
· Watchers Of The Sky directed by Edet Belzberg (Children Underground) which interweaves stories of four visionaries with the journey of lawyer Raphael Lemkin who drafted and pushed through the Un Genocide Convention.
- 3/4/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
#74. Watchers of the Sky - Edet Belzberg Belzberg won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for Children Underground (2001) and she last attended the fest with The Recruiter in 2008, and while Park City has done Darfur before my feeling is that Watchers of the Sky (which works from a Pulitzer Prize winner and goes about the region via the Pov of modern day heroes aka as humanitarians) will find a slot in the U.S docu or Spotlight Docs section. Gist: Inspired by Samantha Power's Pulitzer Prize winning book "A Problem From Hell", this interweaves the stories of four exceptional humanitarians whose lives and work are linked together by the ongoing crisis in Darfur. Through the stories of these contemporary characters, the film uncovers the forgotten history of the Genocide Convention and its founder Raphael Lemkin, the legendary international lawyer who dedicated his life to the prevention of genocide.
- 11/14/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
Among the dozen documentaries in competition this year at the Tribeca Film Festival's World Documentary Feature section, we find Mona Nicoara and Miruna Coca-Cozma's Our School (Școala noastră), a bitter-sweet story about hope and race, and an elegy about generational prejudice and squandered opportunities. The 94-minute long doc was shot over the course of four years and it follows three Roma (often called Gypsy) children – Alin, Beniamin and Dana – as they struggle to break the barriers of segregation, candidly challenging entrenched stereotypes and trying to make the best of the cards dealt to them by adults along the way. The film begins in 2006, as the children are moved from a dead-end segregated school on the outskirts of Târgu Lăpuș, Romania, into a mainstream school in the center of town, where they will learn together with Romanians. Once in the mainstream school, the children’s hopes and optimism are met...
- 3/17/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
"The Hurt Locker" won big at the 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards at a ceremony held at New York City.s Cipriani Wall Street. The film beat "Amreeka," "Big Fan," "The Maid," and "A Serious Man" for the Best Feature Trophy.
"The Hurt Locker" also won the Best Ensemble Performance Award beating "Adventureland," "Cold Souls," "A Serious Man," and "Sugar."
(For the complete list of nominees, click here)
Presented by Ifp (Independent Filmmaker Project), the Gotham Independent Film Awards. is one of the leading awards for independent film and the first major honors of the film awards season.
A total of 22 films received nominations in six competitive categories, including: Best Feature, Best Documentary, Breakthrough Director, Breakthrough Actor, Best Ensemble Performance and Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You.
For the second year, the recipient of the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You award will...
"The Hurt Locker" also won the Best Ensemble Performance Award beating "Adventureland," "Cold Souls," "A Serious Man," and "Sugar."
(For the complete list of nominees, click here)
Presented by Ifp (Independent Filmmaker Project), the Gotham Independent Film Awards. is one of the leading awards for independent film and the first major honors of the film awards season.
A total of 22 films received nominations in six competitive categories, including: Best Feature, Best Documentary, Breakthrough Director, Breakthrough Actor, Best Ensemble Performance and Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You.
For the second year, the recipient of the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You award will...
- 12/1/2009
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
New York -- The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program will award its fall 2008 grants to 20 films exploring several politically charged topics.
Macky Alston's "The Truth Will Set You Free" follows openly gay bishop Gene Robinson on his journey from New Hampshire to London to fight for gay church leadership. Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer's "Out in the Silence" documents the controversy over the filmmakers' marriage.
Eric Daniel Metzgar's doc "Reporter" follows New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof's trip to meet leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Two other projects also feature notable names and explore genocide: Oscar nominee Edet Belzberg's "Watchers of the Sky" and Pamela Yates' "The Reckoning."
Twelve countries are represented among the slate, including several co-productions. Priya Giri Desai and Ann S. Kim's U.S./Indian "Match +" explores an HIV-positive matchmaking service in India. Patricio Guzman's Chilean/French "Nostalgia de...
Macky Alston's "The Truth Will Set You Free" follows openly gay bishop Gene Robinson on his journey from New Hampshire to London to fight for gay church leadership. Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer's "Out in the Silence" documents the controversy over the filmmakers' marriage.
Eric Daniel Metzgar's doc "Reporter" follows New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof's trip to meet leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Two other projects also feature notable names and explore genocide: Oscar nominee Edet Belzberg's "Watchers of the Sky" and Pamela Yates' "The Reckoning."
Twelve countries are represented among the slate, including several co-productions. Priya Giri Desai and Ann S. Kim's U.S./Indian "Match +" explores an HIV-positive matchmaking service in India. Patricio Guzman's Chilean/French "Nostalgia de...
- 11/26/2008
- by By Gregg Goldstein
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- New works from documentary filmmaker faves in Alex Gibney (Gonzo: The Life and Times of Hunter Thompson), Margaret Brown (The Order of Myths) and Patrick Creadon (I.O.U.S.A.) and many first time doc filmmakers make up the section in this year's documentary Comp lineup. I don't count many Iraq-war related items listed below, telling us that the doc vague of such films is officially D.O.A. Click on the individual links below for more info on each film (including official sites and trailers). Documentary COMPETITIONAn American Soldier directed and written by Edet Belzberg ("Children Underground"), a look at one of the U.S. Army's all-time top recruiters, Sgt. 1st Class Clay Usie.American Teen directed and written by Nanette Burstein ("On the Ropes"), an irreverent, frank account of four Indiana high school seniors.Bigger, Faster, Stronger directed by Christopher Bell and written by Bell, Alexander Buono and Tamsin Rawady,
- 11/28/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
The Sundance Documentary Composers Lab has selected seven docu filmmakers to bring their four film projects to this year's program.
Melanie Judd and Susan Motamed's Ethiopian orphan chronicle Adopt Me Michael Jordan, Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss' Iraq War training camp study Full Battle Rattle, Miguel Salazar and Margarita Martinez's Colombian civil resistance chronicle Peaceful Warriors and Edet Belzberg's The Army Recruiter will be workshopped. This year's creative advisors include My Country, My Country producer Laura Poitras and Protagonist director Jessica Yu.
Melanie Judd and Susan Motamed's Ethiopian orphan chronicle Adopt Me Michael Jordan, Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss' Iraq War training camp study Full Battle Rattle, Miguel Salazar and Margarita Martinez's Colombian civil resistance chronicle Peaceful Warriors and Edet Belzberg's The Army Recruiter will be workshopped. This year's creative advisors include My Country, My Country producer Laura Poitras and Protagonist director Jessica Yu.
- 7/26/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The incredibly true adventures of two 26-year-old women on the road in search of the American dream, "Anthem" is surprisingly worthwhile. This documentary film falls into the same category as Robert Downey Jr.'s "The Last Party" and, although it does not chronicle a particular political or cultural event, the Zeitgeist Films release (playing for one week at the Nuart Theatre in West Los Angeles) reveals the personalities of its makers as it explores the country they range over during one summer.
"Anthem" is the work of Shainee Gabel and Kristin Hahn, who are generally fearless in pursuing famous interview subjects and capable of handling an ever-changing agenda. Gabel was director of programming for the Independent Feature Project/ West and the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, while Hahn has a background in theater and co-founded a Production Company dedicated to socially conscious projects.
Armed with video cameras, Gabel and Hahn "crave the unpublicized" but seek out many public figures -- starting with George Stephanopoulos, who they chat with at the White House. This scene charmingly sets the tone as the filmmakers whisper to each other excitedly when President Clinton interrupts their meeting and is overheard but unseen.
Other memorable encounters include a rare glimpse of the home life of journalist Hunter S. Thompson and conventionally filmed but illuminating interviews with the likes of John Waters, Studs Terkel, Chuck D, Robert Redford and George McGovern. Aside from an early visit with the Christian Coalition's Dr. Ralph Reed, the vast majority of subjects are liberal-minded, and there's shockingly few noteworthy women.
Gabel and Hahn make it clear, however, that their creation is a "time capsule" and not meant to reach profound conclusions or dwell on negative aspects of the current era. Instead, it's to concentrate on approachable people and what they have on their minds. As such, "Anthem" offers several remarkable and thought-provoking moments, particularly when the filmmakers stop to talk with such common folk as an Iowa waitress and a Pennsylvania gas station attendant.
One wonders about those subjects referred to and seen in a montage near the end who did not make it into the final film, but overall, "Anthem" is a rousing success. With contemporary music on the soundtrack and a self-deprecatingly spunky narration, this is a documentary that could easily have been overly self-indulgent or fashionably irreverent but instead appeals to one's intelligence and provides glimpses of a dynamic country cruising peacefully toward the millennium.
ANTHEM
Zeitgeist Films
An Anthem production
Writers-producers-directors Shainee Gabel,
Kristin Hahn
Executive producer Jo Ann Fagan
Associate producers Edet Belzberg,
Andrea Buchanan
Cinematographer Bill Brown
Editor Lucas Platt
Color/stereo
Running time -- 127 minutes
No MPAA rating...
"Anthem" is the work of Shainee Gabel and Kristin Hahn, who are generally fearless in pursuing famous interview subjects and capable of handling an ever-changing agenda. Gabel was director of programming for the Independent Feature Project/ West and the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, while Hahn has a background in theater and co-founded a Production Company dedicated to socially conscious projects.
Armed with video cameras, Gabel and Hahn "crave the unpublicized" but seek out many public figures -- starting with George Stephanopoulos, who they chat with at the White House. This scene charmingly sets the tone as the filmmakers whisper to each other excitedly when President Clinton interrupts their meeting and is overheard but unseen.
Other memorable encounters include a rare glimpse of the home life of journalist Hunter S. Thompson and conventionally filmed but illuminating interviews with the likes of John Waters, Studs Terkel, Chuck D, Robert Redford and George McGovern. Aside from an early visit with the Christian Coalition's Dr. Ralph Reed, the vast majority of subjects are liberal-minded, and there's shockingly few noteworthy women.
Gabel and Hahn make it clear, however, that their creation is a "time capsule" and not meant to reach profound conclusions or dwell on negative aspects of the current era. Instead, it's to concentrate on approachable people and what they have on their minds. As such, "Anthem" offers several remarkable and thought-provoking moments, particularly when the filmmakers stop to talk with such common folk as an Iowa waitress and a Pennsylvania gas station attendant.
One wonders about those subjects referred to and seen in a montage near the end who did not make it into the final film, but overall, "Anthem" is a rousing success. With contemporary music on the soundtrack and a self-deprecatingly spunky narration, this is a documentary that could easily have been overly self-indulgent or fashionably irreverent but instead appeals to one's intelligence and provides glimpses of a dynamic country cruising peacefully toward the millennium.
ANTHEM
Zeitgeist Films
An Anthem production
Writers-producers-directors Shainee Gabel,
Kristin Hahn
Executive producer Jo Ann Fagan
Associate producers Edet Belzberg,
Andrea Buchanan
Cinematographer Bill Brown
Editor Lucas Platt
Color/stereo
Running time -- 127 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 7/28/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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