Netflix has acquired worldwide rights to the Sundance award-winning documentary “Descendant,” by filmmaker Margaret Brown. Higher Ground, President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s production company, will present the Participant feature alongside Netflix later this year.
The film follows members of Africatown, a small community in Alabama, as they share their personal stories and community history as descendants of the Clotilda, the last known ship carrying enslaved Africans to the United States. The ship arrived in America 40 years after African slave trading became a capital offense. It was promptly burned and its existence denied, but “after a century shrouded in secrecy and speculation, descendants of the Clotilda’s survivors are reclaiming their story” in the film.
“I have been humbled and honored to spend four years with the residents of Africatown as they seek justice and reconciliation for what happened in 1860, and what is still happening today,” Brown said in a statement announcing the acquisition.
The film follows members of Africatown, a small community in Alabama, as they share their personal stories and community history as descendants of the Clotilda, the last known ship carrying enslaved Africans to the United States. The ship arrived in America 40 years after African slave trading became a capital offense. It was promptly burned and its existence denied, but “after a century shrouded in secrecy and speculation, descendants of the Clotilda’s survivors are reclaiming their story” in the film.
“I have been humbled and honored to spend four years with the residents of Africatown as they seek justice and reconciliation for what happened in 1860, and what is still happening today,” Brown said in a statement announcing the acquisition.
- 1/29/2022
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
Sundance 2022 has officially crowned its winners. On Friday, the Sundance Film Festival’s awards were announced on Twitter via @sundancefest. Juries and audience members alike weighed in to select winners across a variety of categories, out of 84 feature films and 59 short films.
The grand jury prizes went to Nikyatu Jusu‘s feature directorial debut “Nanny,” for the coveted U.S. Dramatic title, along with Christine Choy’s “The Exiles” for U.S. Documentary, Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes” for World Cinema Documentary, and Alejando Loayza Grisi’s “Utama” for World Cinema Dramatic.
The Audience Awards were earned by U.S. documentary “Navalny” and Cooper Raiff’s “Cha Cha Real Smooth” for U.S. Dramatic. “Navalny” also won the Festival Favorite Award.
Jusu is the second Black woman ever to win the Grand Jury Prize U.S. Dramatic, following Chinonye Chukwu in 2019 for “Clemency.”
“This year’s entire program has...
The grand jury prizes went to Nikyatu Jusu‘s feature directorial debut “Nanny,” for the coveted U.S. Dramatic title, along with Christine Choy’s “The Exiles” for U.S. Documentary, Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes” for World Cinema Documentary, and Alejando Loayza Grisi’s “Utama” for World Cinema Dramatic.
The Audience Awards were earned by U.S. documentary “Navalny” and Cooper Raiff’s “Cha Cha Real Smooth” for U.S. Dramatic. “Navalny” also won the Festival Favorite Award.
Jusu is the second Black woman ever to win the Grand Jury Prize U.S. Dramatic, following Chinonye Chukwu in 2019 for “Clemency.”
“This year’s entire program has...
- 1/28/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
“Nanny” was the big winner at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, picking up the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Dramatic Competition in a virtual awards ceremony Friday.
Cooper Raiff’s “Cha Cha Real Smooth” was also a winner, nabbing the Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic category, while “Navalny,” a late addition to the festival, won the U.S. Documentary Audience Award. The Sundance jury also recognized “The Exiles” in the documentary category and “Utama” in the World Cinematic category.
This year’s Best of the Fest announcement caps off the second year in a row in which the festival was forced to go virtual amid the pandemic.
Although the awards were announced virtually, the emotion was palpable when juror Chelsea Bernard announced that “Nanny” director and screenwriter Nikyatu Jusu had won for her harrowing story of an undocumented nanny working for a privileged couple in New York...
Cooper Raiff’s “Cha Cha Real Smooth” was also a winner, nabbing the Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic category, while “Navalny,” a late addition to the festival, won the U.S. Documentary Audience Award. The Sundance jury also recognized “The Exiles” in the documentary category and “Utama” in the World Cinematic category.
This year’s Best of the Fest announcement caps off the second year in a row in which the festival was forced to go virtual amid the pandemic.
Although the awards were announced virtually, the emotion was palpable when juror Chelsea Bernard announced that “Nanny” director and screenwriter Nikyatu Jusu had won for her harrowing story of an undocumented nanny working for a privileged couple in New York...
- 1/28/2022
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
The Sundance Institute announced the jury members of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, taking place in hybrid format from Jan. 20 to 30.
Comprising six juries awarding prizes for artistic and cinematic achievement, the jurors include Marielle Heller (“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”), Andrew Haigh (“Looking”), Payman Maadi (“A Separation”) and more.
Chelsea Barnard, a producer on “C’mon C’mon” and “Booksmart,” serves alongside Heller and Maadi on the jury for U.S. dramatic competition. U.S. documentary competition jurors include Garrett Bradley (“Time”), Peter Nicks (“The Force”) and veteran documentary cinematographer Joan Churchill.
Haigh joins Mohamed Hefzy (“The Walls of the Moon”) and film curator La Frances Hui on the world cinema dramatic competition jury, while Cannes artistic adviser Emilie Bujès, former U.S. ambassador Patrick Gaspard and Dawn Porter (“The Way I See It”) will judge the world cinema documentary competition.
Joey Soloway, the creator, writer, director and executive producer of “Transparent,...
Comprising six juries awarding prizes for artistic and cinematic achievement, the jurors include Marielle Heller (“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”), Andrew Haigh (“Looking”), Payman Maadi (“A Separation”) and more.
Chelsea Barnard, a producer on “C’mon C’mon” and “Booksmart,” serves alongside Heller and Maadi on the jury for U.S. dramatic competition. U.S. documentary competition jurors include Garrett Bradley (“Time”), Peter Nicks (“The Force”) and veteran documentary cinematographer Joan Churchill.
Haigh joins Mohamed Hefzy (“The Walls of the Moon”) and film curator La Frances Hui on the world cinema dramatic competition jury, while Cannes artistic adviser Emilie Bujès, former U.S. ambassador Patrick Gaspard and Dawn Porter (“The Way I See It”) will judge the world cinema documentary competition.
Joey Soloway, the creator, writer, director and executive producer of “Transparent,...
- 1/7/2022
- by Ethan Shanfeld
- Variety Film + TV
Now that Sundance has answered the question looming over the 2022 festival by going all-virtual for the second year in a row, it’s full-steam ahead. And today the nonprofit Sundance Institute announced the members of its six juries, including Marielle Heller (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”), Andrew Haigh (“Weekend”), Joey Soloway (“Transparent”), and Payman Maadi (“A Separation”). The 16 jurors will bestow awards upon the festival’s winners January 28, with award-winning movies available for extended online viewing during the festival’s closing weekend.
“These exceptional individuals will come together to offer a collaborative lens on our program,” said Sundance’s Director of Programming Kim Yutani in an official statement. “Their diverse personal perspectives can elevate work above the sum of its parts.” As previously announced, the jury for Alfred P. Sloan jury deliberated in advance of the festival and awarded the prize to “After Yang,” directed by Kogonada.
And audiences will...
“These exceptional individuals will come together to offer a collaborative lens on our program,” said Sundance’s Director of Programming Kim Yutani in an official statement. “Their diverse personal perspectives can elevate work above the sum of its parts.” As previously announced, the jury for Alfred P. Sloan jury deliberated in advance of the festival and awarded the prize to “After Yang,” directed by Kogonada.
And audiences will...
- 1/7/2022
- by Mark Peikert
- Indiewire
Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood), Garrett Bradley (Time), Joey Soloway (Transparent), Andrew Haigh (Lean on Pete) and Dawn Porter (The Me You Can’t See) have been named as jurors for the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, taking place virtually from January 20-30.
Heller, who brought her first feature The Diary of a Teenage Girl to the festival in 2015, will preside over the U.S. Dramatic Competition with C’mon C’mon producer and former Annapurna Pictures exec Chelsea Barnard, and A Separation actor Payman Maadi.
Bradley, whose Sundance-premiering doc Time earned an Oscar nomination in 2021, will oversee the U.S. Documentary Competition with Peter Nicks, the director behind 2021 Sundance title Homeroom, and director-cinematographer Joan Churchill.
Soloway, the Transparent and I Love Dick creator who brought their first feature, Afternoon Delight, to Sundance in 2013, will serve as this year’s sole juror of the Next section, with Reservation Dogs director...
Heller, who brought her first feature The Diary of a Teenage Girl to the festival in 2015, will preside over the U.S. Dramatic Competition with C’mon C’mon producer and former Annapurna Pictures exec Chelsea Barnard, and A Separation actor Payman Maadi.
Bradley, whose Sundance-premiering doc Time earned an Oscar nomination in 2021, will oversee the U.S. Documentary Competition with Peter Nicks, the director behind 2021 Sundance title Homeroom, and director-cinematographer Joan Churchill.
Soloway, the Transparent and I Love Dick creator who brought their first feature, Afternoon Delight, to Sundance in 2013, will serve as this year’s sole juror of the Next section, with Reservation Dogs director...
- 1/7/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Isabella Rossellini has a connection to two Hamptons Doc Fest selections: Roger Sherman’s The Soul Of A Farmer and Stina Gardell’s Movie Man: “She is Stig Björkman’s very good friend over many many years.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
In the second instalment with Artistic Director Karen Arikian we discussed Lisa Hurwitz’s The Automat; Lifetime Achievement Award honouree at the 12th edition of Doc NYC Joan Churchill and her short Shoot From The Heart with Haskell Wexler, Chris Hegedus, and Da Pennebaker; Asaf Galay’s The Adventures Of Saul Bellow; Tasha Van Zandt’s After Antarctica (recipient of the Andrew Sabin Family Foundation Environmental Award); Dom Aprile’s Farming Long Island; Roger Sherman’s The Soul Of A Farmer with a connection to Isabella Rossellini, who is in Stina Gardell’s Movie Man, starring Stig Björkman, director of the Opening Night film Joyce Carol Oates: A Body In...
In the second instalment with Artistic Director Karen Arikian we discussed Lisa Hurwitz’s The Automat; Lifetime Achievement Award honouree at the 12th edition of Doc NYC Joan Churchill and her short Shoot From The Heart with Haskell Wexler, Chris Hegedus, and Da Pennebaker; Asaf Galay’s The Adventures Of Saul Bellow; Tasha Van Zandt’s After Antarctica (recipient of the Andrew Sabin Family Foundation Environmental Award); Dom Aprile’s Farming Long Island; Roger Sherman’s The Soul Of A Farmer with a connection to Isabella Rossellini, who is in Stina Gardell’s Movie Man, starring Stig Björkman, director of the Opening Night film Joyce Carol Oates: A Body In...
- 12/4/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
An array of the most acclaimed documentaries of the last 50 years bear the stamp of one singular talent: Joan Churchill, filmmaker and cinematographer.
Her first credit, in 1970, came as a camera operator on Gimme Shelter, the classic documentary about the Rolling Stones at Altamont directed by the Maysles Brothers and Charlotte Zwerin. She’s been shooting films ever since, including Jimi at Berkeley (1971); Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll (1987); Kurt & Courtney (1998); Biggie & Tupac (2002); Shut Up & Sing, the 2006 doc about the Dixie Chicks, and the Oscar-nominated Last Days in Vietnam (2014).
She also co-directed a number of award-winning films with her former husband Nick Broomfield, including Soldier Girls (1981); Lily Tomlin (1986); Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003), and 2011’s Sarah Palin: You Betcha!
In honor of her career in cinema, Churchill is being recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award at Doc NYC, the country’s largest all-documentary festival, which opens today.
Her first credit, in 1970, came as a camera operator on Gimme Shelter, the classic documentary about the Rolling Stones at Altamont directed by the Maysles Brothers and Charlotte Zwerin. She’s been shooting films ever since, including Jimi at Berkeley (1971); Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll (1987); Kurt & Courtney (1998); Biggie & Tupac (2002); Shut Up & Sing, the 2006 doc about the Dixie Chicks, and the Oscar-nominated Last Days in Vietnam (2014).
She also co-directed a number of award-winning films with her former husband Nick Broomfield, including Soldier Girls (1981); Lily Tomlin (1986); Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003), and 2011’s Sarah Palin: You Betcha!
In honor of her career in cinema, Churchill is being recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award at Doc NYC, the country’s largest all-documentary festival, which opens today.
- 11/11/2021
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
The 12th edition of Doc NYC kicks off today — exactly one month before the AMPAS documentary branch begins voting to determine the 2022 Oscar documentary shortlist.
The nine-day affair, which runs until Nov. 18, will feature over 125 short docus and 127 feature-length nonfiction films that will screen at New York City’s IFC Center, Sva Theater and Cinépolis Chelsea. (The fest will be available online until Nov. 28)
Penny Lane’s “Listening to Kenny G,” will serve as the opening night film while Matthew Heineman’s “The First Wave” will close the festival. Sam Pollard and Rex Miller’s “Citizen Ashe” and Dave Wooley and David Heilbroner’s “Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over” are both fest Centerpiece docs.
Festivities commence with the fest’s annual Visionaries Tribute Honoree luncheon at Gotham Hall. While kudos will be given to cinematographer Joan Churchill, Oscar nominated director Raoul Peck (“I Am Not Your Negro”), Emmy Award-winning...
The nine-day affair, which runs until Nov. 18, will feature over 125 short docus and 127 feature-length nonfiction films that will screen at New York City’s IFC Center, Sva Theater and Cinépolis Chelsea. (The fest will be available online until Nov. 28)
Penny Lane’s “Listening to Kenny G,” will serve as the opening night film while Matthew Heineman’s “The First Wave” will close the festival. Sam Pollard and Rex Miller’s “Citizen Ashe” and Dave Wooley and David Heilbroner’s “Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over” are both fest Centerpiece docs.
Festivities commence with the fest’s annual Visionaries Tribute Honoree luncheon at Gotham Hall. While kudos will be given to cinematographer Joan Churchill, Oscar nominated director Raoul Peck (“I Am Not Your Negro”), Emmy Award-winning...
- 11/10/2021
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler is the subject of Shoot from the Heart, a new documentary short by Joan Churchill and Alan Barker. Shot over a ten-year period, it follows Wexler as he works on a music video, interacts with film students, and accompanies Jane Fonda to a festival screening of Coming Home. A highlight of Shoot from the Heart is a dinner Wexler shares with documentarian D.A. Pennebaker. The meal extends over hours, with additional footage supplied by Chris Hegedus. As the two reminisce about Sally Rand and […]
The post “We Were Inspired by Haskell the Activist, the Person, and Not the Hollywood Legend and Cinematographer”: Cinematographer and Doc NYC Honoree Joan Churchill and Sound Recordist Alan Barker on Their Wexler Doc, Shoot from the Heart first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “We Were Inspired by Haskell the Activist, the Person, and Not the Hollywood Legend and Cinematographer”: Cinematographer and Doc NYC Honoree Joan Churchill and Sound Recordist Alan Barker on Their Wexler Doc, Shoot from the Heart first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 11/9/2021
- by Daniel Eagan
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Morgan Neville will introduce Doc NYC highlight Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Lifetime Achievement Award honoree Joan Churchill and Alan Barker’s Shoot From the Heart on Haskell Wexler; Todd Haynes’s The Velvet Underground; Morgan Neville’s fast-paced Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, and Liz Garbus’s revealing Becoming Cousteau on Jacques-Yves Cousteau are four of the early bird highlights of Doc NYC 2021.
The three highlights in Doc NYC’s Short List programme shed light on the workings of adventurous, troubled men who have been idolised by many and put on a pedestal as role models of independent masculinity. The fourth, the...
Lifetime Achievement Award honoree Joan Churchill and Alan Barker’s Shoot From the Heart on Haskell Wexler; Todd Haynes’s The Velvet Underground; Morgan Neville’s fast-paced Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, and Liz Garbus’s revealing Becoming Cousteau on Jacques-Yves Cousteau are four of the early bird highlights of Doc NYC 2021.
The three highlights in Doc NYC’s Short List programme shed light on the workings of adventurous, troubled men who have been idolised by many and put on a pedestal as role models of independent masculinity. The fourth, the...
- 10/31/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Doc NYC Artistic Director Thom Powers with Anne-Katrin Titze on Lifetime Achievement Award honoree Joan Churchill: “We’re really pleased to be able to put a spotlight on her important work.”
The afternoon before the Short List selections were announced, Betsy West and Julie Cohen’s Julia on Julia Child, Liz Garbus’s Becoming Cousteau, Morgan Neville’s Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, Lucy Walker’s Bring Your Own Brigade, and Todd Haynes’s The Velvet Underground on Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Nico) Doc NYC Artistic Director Thom Powers spoke with me about the 12th edition being back in cinemas. In addition, films will be available online “to reach people who aren’t able to be at the theater.”
In the first instalment Thom and I discussed the Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award honorees Raoul Peck and Joan Churchill, the new juried sections in the festival,...
The afternoon before the Short List selections were announced, Betsy West and Julie Cohen’s Julia on Julia Child, Liz Garbus’s Becoming Cousteau, Morgan Neville’s Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, Lucy Walker’s Bring Your Own Brigade, and Todd Haynes’s The Velvet Underground on Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Nico) Doc NYC Artistic Director Thom Powers spoke with me about the 12th edition being back in cinemas. In addition, films will be available online “to reach people who aren’t able to be at the theater.”
In the first instalment Thom and I discussed the Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award honorees Raoul Peck and Joan Churchill, the new juried sections in the festival,...
- 10/28/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
With the grand in-person return of the New York Film Festival in the rearview mirror, New York’s fall festival season barrels on with Doc NYC, the largest documentary festival in the country. This year’s festival will return to in-person theatrical screenings, with virtual options and passes available as well. The 2021 lineup includes more than 120 feature-length documentaries, including 32 world premieres and 34 U.S. premieres. World premieres include films on figures such as NBA legend Kevin Garnett, recently passed rapper Dmx, rat pack crooner Dean Martin, and the late literary icon Kurt Vonnegut. They join previously announced titles on Kenny G and Dionne Warwick, as well as Matthew Heineman’s “The First Wave,” a penetrating look at the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in New York City.
Doc NYC is also launching three new competitive sections this year: A U.S. Competition for new American nonfiction films, an International...
Doc NYC is also launching three new competitive sections this year: A U.S. Competition for new American nonfiction films, an International...
- 10/19/2021
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Damien Navarro’s first day on the job as the executive director of Outfest LA was the day after the festival’s closing night last year. Of course, no one could have imagined that this year’s edition of the LGBTQ festival would be taking place during a pandemic.
Navarro and his team quickly pivoted to putting together a virtual event. As a leading digital media entrepreneur, Navarro knew the virtual space well and it was his mission even before the pandemic to expand Outfest’s digital footprint.
“They specifically sought out somebody that had the skillset to be able to do that,” Navarro tells Variety. “It was just supposed to be over three to five years….But with covid, now it’s not a matter of trying to stay ahead — it’s a matter of survival.”
The 38th Outfest opens today with a line-up of more than 160 films. The 11-day fest includes 35 world premieres,...
Navarro and his team quickly pivoted to putting together a virtual event. As a leading digital media entrepreneur, Navarro knew the virtual space well and it was his mission even before the pandemic to expand Outfest’s digital footprint.
“They specifically sought out somebody that had the skillset to be able to do that,” Navarro tells Variety. “It was just supposed to be over three to five years….But with covid, now it’s not a matter of trying to stay ahead — it’s a matter of survival.”
The 38th Outfest opens today with a line-up of more than 160 films. The 11-day fest includes 35 world premieres,...
- 8/20/2020
- by Marc Malkin
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: The 2020 Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival has unveiled their schedule for livestream events and their program for its “Under the Stars” drive-in experience.
For Outfest LA’s digital space, Tony Award-winning John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) will host a livestream marathon listening party of his critically acclaimed musical podcast, Anthem: Homunculus with performances from himself, Glenn Close, Cynthia Erivo, Patti LuPone, Nakhane, Denis O’Hare, Laurie Anderson, among others. The podcast will play in its entirety via digitalpridefest.com, paired with specially-created visuals, live drop-ins and Q&a between Mitchell and special guests.
Lily Tomlin and her longtime life partner Jane Wagner will join Outfest for a livestream discussion with director Joan Churchill about the long-unavailable 1986 documentary Lily Tomlin: The Film Behind the Show, which follows the titular icon’s Broadway show, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. In addition, queer filmmaker...
For Outfest LA’s digital space, Tony Award-winning John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) will host a livestream marathon listening party of his critically acclaimed musical podcast, Anthem: Homunculus with performances from himself, Glenn Close, Cynthia Erivo, Patti LuPone, Nakhane, Denis O’Hare, Laurie Anderson, among others. The podcast will play in its entirety via digitalpridefest.com, paired with specially-created visuals, live drop-ins and Q&a between Mitchell and special guests.
Lily Tomlin and her longtime life partner Jane Wagner will join Outfest for a livestream discussion with director Joan Churchill about the long-unavailable 1986 documentary Lily Tomlin: The Film Behind the Show, which follows the titular icon’s Broadway show, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. In addition, queer filmmaker...
- 8/17/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
Outfest Los Angeles is going virtual this year and they have unveiled their stacked lineup for the 11-day festival which kicks off August 20.
The LGBTQ film fest fest will include over 160 films with 35 world premieres, 10 North American premieres and 4 U.S. premieres to Los Angeles for 2020. The fest will live on http://www.outfestla2020.com and there will also be “Outfest LA Under the Stars”, a drive-in experience will take place at the stunning Calamigos Ranch in Malibu, where for two extended weekends the Festival will be hosting a series of drive-in screenings across six-nights on two lots, including both kick-off and closing events. The drive-in screenings will start with the Sundance pic The Nowhere Inn starring musicians Annie Clark and Carrie Brownstein. Other screenings will be announced in the upcoming weeks.
Over 70% of films at Outfest LA directed by female, trans, and Poc filmmakers. The Breakthrough Centerpiece will be...
The LGBTQ film fest fest will include over 160 films with 35 world premieres, 10 North American premieres and 4 U.S. premieres to Los Angeles for 2020. The fest will live on http://www.outfestla2020.com and there will also be “Outfest LA Under the Stars”, a drive-in experience will take place at the stunning Calamigos Ranch in Malibu, where for two extended weekends the Festival will be hosting a series of drive-in screenings across six-nights on two lots, including both kick-off and closing events. The drive-in screenings will start with the Sundance pic The Nowhere Inn starring musicians Annie Clark and Carrie Brownstein. Other screenings will be announced in the upcoming weeks.
Over 70% of films at Outfest LA directed by female, trans, and Poc filmmakers. The Breakthrough Centerpiece will be...
- 8/11/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
The Television Academy and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences have teamed on a joint letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging him to act on journalists and documentary filmmakers who are “being denied entry into the United States despite recognition by the American television industry.”
The letter sent Tuesday was focused on Syrian-born The Cave director Feras Fayyad, who was denied a visa to enter the U.S. to support his National Geographic Documentary Films pic, which on Monday was nominated for the Documentary Feature Oscar. It is Fayyad’s second Oscar nomination after 2018’s Last Men in Aleppo, which also won the Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary award at that year’s News & Doc Emmys.
The Cave won the People’s Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival and already has won this year at the Ida Awards, the Cinema Eye Honors and the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards.
The letter sent Tuesday was focused on Syrian-born The Cave director Feras Fayyad, who was denied a visa to enter the U.S. to support his National Geographic Documentary Films pic, which on Monday was nominated for the Documentary Feature Oscar. It is Fayyad’s second Oscar nomination after 2018’s Last Men in Aleppo, which also won the Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary award at that year’s News & Doc Emmys.
The Cave won the People’s Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival and already has won this year at the Ida Awards, the Cinema Eye Honors and the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards.
- 1/14/2020
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
‘The Cave’ Director Feras Fayyad Gains Support From Ida, Sundance After State Department Denies Visa
The documentary community is rallying around Syrian-born filmmaker Feras Fayyad, director of Oscar-shortlisted film The Cave, after he was denied a visa to enter the United States.
The International Documentary Association wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Friday, urging him to let Fayyad into the country to represent his film, one of 15 feature documentaries still in contention for the Academy Award.
“Feras Fayyad is a respected and accomplished documentary filmmaker, but because he is Syrian he has been denied a visa to visit the United States in support of his latest film, The Cave, distributed by National Geographic Documentary Films,” the letter said. “The film tells an urgent story of doctors saving lives while under constant bombardment in Syria.”
[Read the letter here]
The letter was signed by the Ida’s executive director, Simon Kilmurry, and other prominent figures in documentary including Oscar winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) and Academy...
The International Documentary Association wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Friday, urging him to let Fayyad into the country to represent his film, one of 15 feature documentaries still in contention for the Academy Award.
“Feras Fayyad is a respected and accomplished documentary filmmaker, but because he is Syrian he has been denied a visa to visit the United States in support of his latest film, The Cave, distributed by National Geographic Documentary Films,” the letter said. “The film tells an urgent story of doctors saving lives while under constant bombardment in Syria.”
[Read the letter here]
The letter was signed by the Ida’s executive director, Simon Kilmurry, and other prominent figures in documentary including Oscar winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) and Academy...
- 1/4/2020
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Two romances anchor Nick Broomfield’s documentary “Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love.” Both bloomed on the sparkling Greek island Hydra, many years apart. One was the great love and muse of singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen’s life, Marianne Ihlen, the subject of at least five of his songs, including “So Long Marianne” and “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye.” The other was Broomfield’s own, more brief affair at age 20 with Ihlen, who was 12 years his senior.
Ihlen stayed friends with both men through the years. As she battled leukemia at the end of her life in 2016, her friend Jan Christian Mollestad reached out to Cohen to let him know she was near the end. Cohen wrote an email back that Mollestand reads to Ihlen on video in “Marianne & Leonard”:
Dearest Marianne,
I’m just a little behind you, close enough to take your hand. This old body has given up,...
Ihlen stayed friends with both men through the years. As she battled leukemia at the end of her life in 2016, her friend Jan Christian Mollestad reached out to Cohen to let him know she was near the end. Cohen wrote an email back that Mollestand reads to Ihlen on video in “Marianne & Leonard”:
Dearest Marianne,
I’m just a little behind you, close enough to take your hand. This old body has given up,...
- 7/5/2019
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Two romances anchor Nick Broomfield’s documentary “Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love.” Both bloomed on the sparkling Greek island Hydra, many years apart. One was the great love and muse of singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen’s life, Marianne Ihlen, the subject of at least five of his songs, including “So Long Marianne” and “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye.” The other was Broomfield’s own, more brief affair at age 20 with Ihlen, who was 12 years his senior.
Ihlen stayed friends with both men through the years. As she battled leukemia at the end of her life in 2016, her friend Jan Christian Mollestad reached out to Cohen to let him know she was near the end. Cohen wrote an email back that Mollestand reads to Ihlen on video in “Marianne & Leonard”:
Dearest Marianne,
I’m just a little behind you, close enough to take your hand. This old body has given up,...
Ihlen stayed friends with both men through the years. As she battled leukemia at the end of her life in 2016, her friend Jan Christian Mollestad reached out to Cohen to let him know she was near the end. Cohen wrote an email back that Mollestand reads to Ihlen on video in “Marianne & Leonard”:
Dearest Marianne,
I’m just a little behind you, close enough to take your hand. This old body has given up,...
- 7/5/2019
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
When choosing cameras and lenses, nonfiction filmmakers are not only guided by the “look” they are trying to create, but what their production demands and what their resources allow. Which is why in answering the question of why they picked the gear they did, this year’s crop of Sundance documentary directors also tells us how they shot their movies — the challenges, and the choices, as well as their cinematic styles.
Feature films in the U.S. Documentary Competition are below, Documentary Premieres Page 2, World Cinema Documentary Competition Page 3. Films appear in alphabetical order by title.
Section: U.S. Documentary Competition
“Always in Season”
Format: 1920×1080 24p
Camera: Canon C300 (primary camera) and Sony FS7 (for stylized footage)
Lens: anamorphic lenses: canon L-series and Zeiss primes
Director Jacqueline Olive: Life in the South is complex, so my goal has been to give viewers a sense, in every scene, of how...
Feature films in the U.S. Documentary Competition are below, Documentary Premieres Page 2, World Cinema Documentary Competition Page 3. Films appear in alphabetical order by title.
Section: U.S. Documentary Competition
“Always in Season”
Format: 1920×1080 24p
Camera: Canon C300 (primary camera) and Sony FS7 (for stylized footage)
Lens: anamorphic lenses: canon L-series and Zeiss primes
Director Jacqueline Olive: Life in the South is complex, so my goal has been to give viewers a sense, in every scene, of how...
- 2/1/2019
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Exclusive: “The way we treat mentally ill in this country is insane.” That’s how one psychiatrist starkly describes the state of affairs in America’s broken mental health system, which is put under the microscope in Bedlam, a documentary directed by psychiatrist-filmmaker Kenneth Rosenberg. The pic is having its world premiere later this month at the Sundance Film Festival.
Check out the trailer that offers the first look at the docu, which bows in Park City in the fest’s U.S. Documentary Competition section. It will also air likely later this year as part of PBS’ Independent Lens series.
Rosenberg, fueled by his own sister’s battles with mental illness, captures footage shot over a five-year period at a Los Angeles County psych ER, revealing the sometimes horrific reality of a deinstitutionalized system in which emergency rooms often provide the only refuge for the severely mentally ill who need care.
Check out the trailer that offers the first look at the docu, which bows in Park City in the fest’s U.S. Documentary Competition section. It will also air likely later this year as part of PBS’ Independent Lens series.
Rosenberg, fueled by his own sister’s battles with mental illness, captures footage shot over a five-year period at a Los Angeles County psych ER, revealing the sometimes horrific reality of a deinstitutionalized system in which emergency rooms often provide the only refuge for the severely mentally ill who need care.
- 1/18/2019
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
“I think women drill down and they’re not afraid of emotion,” says cinematographer Joan Churchill about females working behind the camera in film. Joined by other lauded DPs Ashley Connor (The Miseducation of Cameron Post), Agnès Godard (35 Shots of Rum) and Natasha Braier (Neon Demon) on a panel as part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s The Female Gaze series, the women discussed the breadth of their work. Running currently through August 9th at the Walter Reade Theater in New York City, the series shines light on incredible cinematographers throughout the decades, all of whom are women. Some […]...
- 8/3/2018
- by Meredith Alloway
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
“I think women drill down and they’re not afraid of emotion,” says cinematographer Joan Churchill about females working behind the camera in film. Joined by other lauded DPs Ashley Connor (The Miseducation of Cameron Post), Agnès Godard (35 Shots of Rum) and Natasha Braier (Neon Demon) on a panel as part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s The Female Gaze series, the women discussed the breadth of their work. Running currently through August 9th at the Walter Reade Theater in New York City, the series shines light on incredible cinematographers throughout the decades, all of whom are women. Some […]...
- 8/3/2018
- by Meredith Alloway
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.News We are devastated to learn that the late Theodoros Angelopoulos' home, which housed the director's archives, has burnt down amidst the Attica wildfires in Greece. It is currently unclear what has been lost in the fire. This is the house that housed the whole archives of late director Theo Angelopoulos. Everything has been burnt. A massive loss to not only modern Greek culture but world culture. pic.twitter.com/DM60QxWP6a— Konn1e (@ntina79) July 25, 2018Recommended Viewing The ever-elegant "Mandopop diva" Faye Wong reprises her cover of The Cranberries' "Dreams"—best known for its appearance in Wong Kar-Wai's Chungking Express—in the first episode of Phantacity, a Chinese variety show that creates "music video-worthy performances." The full episode can be viewed here. Lucrecia Martel has directed a music video for Argentine...
- 8/1/2018
- MUBI
The Female Gaze is a two-week, July 26 to August 9, survey of 36 films shot by 23 female cinematographers programmed by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York. The retrospective will feature incredible films by trailblazing international directors of photography, including Agnès Godard, Natasha Braier, Kirsten Johnson, Joan Churchill, Maryse Alberti, Ellen Kuras, Babette Mangolte, and Rachel Morrison.
Captions are courtesy of the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
Captions are courtesy of the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
- 7/23/2018
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
What does it take to succeed in a man’s world? A Los Angeles Film Festival panel of women cinematographers ivealed what it took to make it to the top of a competitive industry.
1. A shot of LSD. Cinema verite shooter Joan Churchill (“Last Days in Vietnam”) started out by recovering from an eight-hour acid trip, she admitted, to shoot some of the most iconic images from the Rolling Stones Altamont doc, “Gimme Shelter.” That led to the assignment of shooting the Louds in PBS’s “An American Family.” A documentary cameraperson, often working with a hand-held camera and natural light, has to have “people skills,” she said. “You have to be interested in your subjects.” When she moved to London, she couldn’t get work until she joined the Asc—and became its first woman member. Her membership card read: “Lady Cameraman.”
2. Read and reread the script. French-born Maryse Alberti...
1. A shot of LSD. Cinema verite shooter Joan Churchill (“Last Days in Vietnam”) started out by recovering from an eight-hour acid trip, she admitted, to shoot some of the most iconic images from the Rolling Stones Altamont doc, “Gimme Shelter.” That led to the assignment of shooting the Louds in PBS’s “An American Family.” A documentary cameraperson, often working with a hand-held camera and natural light, has to have “people skills,” she said. “You have to be interested in your subjects.” When she moved to London, she couldn’t get work until she joined the Asc—and became its first woman member. Her membership card read: “Lady Cameraman.”
2. Read and reread the script. French-born Maryse Alberti...
- 6/6/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Banished by Josef Goebbels and threatened by the Reich, the creative core of the German film industry found itself in sunny Los Angeles, many not speaking English but determined to carry on as writers, directors and actors. More than simply surviving, they made a profound impact on Hollywood moviemaking. Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 2009 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 117 min. / Street Date April 12, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Cinematography Joan Churchill, Emil Fischhaber Film Editor Anny Lowery Meza Original Music Peter Melnick Written, Produced and Directed by Karen Thomas
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood is the perfect docu to introduce people to the way film and world history are intertwined... and also to generate interest in older movies and classic cinema. Instead of a story about the making of movies, it's about a fascinating group of filmmakers forced to abandon...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood is the perfect docu to introduce people to the way film and world history are intertwined... and also to generate interest in older movies and classic cinema. Instead of a story about the making of movies, it's about a fascinating group of filmmakers forced to abandon...
- 5/10/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“From documentaries, we learn about our world and humanity,” was the greeting by Documentary Branch governor Kate Amend to the audience in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Wednesday evening at the opening of Documentary program. Amend said while this year’s nominated shorts were tragic, they were also about “courage and compassion.”
Referring to the Documentary Shorts as “The Big Shorts,” Amend (editor of The Long Way Home, Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport and The Case against 8) mentioned that 124 films qualified in both the Documentary Feature and Documentary Short Subject categories.
The evening included a screening of clips from the nominated films. Nominees from all 10 films also took part in panel discussions talked about their own films and shared insights on the craft of documentary filmmaking. All the directors gratefully acknowledged the collaboration of the cinematographers and editors in the success of their movies.
Best...
Referring to the Documentary Shorts as “The Big Shorts,” Amend (editor of The Long Way Home, Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport and The Case against 8) mentioned that 124 films qualified in both the Documentary Feature and Documentary Short Subject categories.
The evening included a screening of clips from the nominated films. Nominees from all 10 films also took part in panel discussions talked about their own films and shared insights on the craft of documentary filmmaking. All the directors gratefully acknowledged the collaboration of the cinematographers and editors in the success of their movies.
Best...
- 2/25/2016
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Albert Maysles: Gimme Some Truth
By
Alex Simon
I'm sick and tired of hearing things/From uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics/All I want is the truth/Just gimme some truth/I've had enough of reading things/By neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians/All I want is the truth/Just gimme some truth. – John Lennon
Albert and David Maysles are generally regarded as the fathers of the modern American documentary film. Beginning in the early 1960s, their pioneering work with contemporaries such as Robert Drew, Richard Leacock and D.A. Pennebaker helped launch the “Direct Cinema” movement, devoted to capturing real life as closely as possible, in all its unscripted reality. Today, filmmakers like Michael Moore, reality TV and every news magazine on the air and on the web can trace their linage back to the Maysles brothers.
Their three defining features: Salesman (1968), a sobering and often hilarious look at the lives...
By
Alex Simon
I'm sick and tired of hearing things/From uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics/All I want is the truth/Just gimme some truth/I've had enough of reading things/By neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians/All I want is the truth/Just gimme some truth. – John Lennon
Albert and David Maysles are generally regarded as the fathers of the modern American documentary film. Beginning in the early 1960s, their pioneering work with contemporaries such as Robert Drew, Richard Leacock and D.A. Pennebaker helped launch the “Direct Cinema” movement, devoted to capturing real life as closely as possible, in all its unscripted reality. Today, filmmakers like Michael Moore, reality TV and every news magazine on the air and on the web can trace their linage back to the Maysles brothers.
Their three defining features: Salesman (1968), a sobering and often hilarious look at the lives...
- 4/10/2014
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Hunger Games DoP Tom Stern and 12 Years a Slave cinematographer Sean Bobbitt among those chosen for jury duty.
The 21st Camerimage, the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography (Nov 16-23), has revealed the competition jurors who will judge entries at this year’s event in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Jury members of the main competition jury are:
Tom Stern, cinematographer (Million Dollar Baby, Gran Torino, The Hunger Games);Ed Lachman, cinematographer (Erin Brockovich, The Virgin Suicides, I’m Not There);Todd McCarthy, journalist and film critic;Denis Lenoir, cinematographer (Paris, je t’aime, Righteous Kill, 88 Minutes);Adam Holender, cinematographer (Midnight Cowboy, Smoke, Fresh);Timo Salminen, cinematographer (The Man Without a Past, La Havre, The Match Factory Girl);Franz Lustig, cinematographer (Don’t Come Knocking, Land of Plenty, Palermo Shooting);Jeffrey Kimball, cinematographer (Top Gun, Mission: Impossible II, The Expendables).Polish Films Competition
Jost Vacano, the cinematographer behind several Paul Verhoeven films including Total Recall, RoboCop and [link...
The 21st Camerimage, the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography (Nov 16-23), has revealed the competition jurors who will judge entries at this year’s event in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Jury members of the main competition jury are:
Tom Stern, cinematographer (Million Dollar Baby, Gran Torino, The Hunger Games);Ed Lachman, cinematographer (Erin Brockovich, The Virgin Suicides, I’m Not There);Todd McCarthy, journalist and film critic;Denis Lenoir, cinematographer (Paris, je t’aime, Righteous Kill, 88 Minutes);Adam Holender, cinematographer (Midnight Cowboy, Smoke, Fresh);Timo Salminen, cinematographer (The Man Without a Past, La Havre, The Match Factory Girl);Franz Lustig, cinematographer (Don’t Come Knocking, Land of Plenty, Palermo Shooting);Jeffrey Kimball, cinematographer (Top Gun, Mission: Impossible II, The Expendables).Polish Films Competition
Jost Vacano, the cinematographer behind several Paul Verhoeven films including Total Recall, RoboCop and [link...
- 11/8/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Films from Ron Howard, Lee Daniels, the Coens, Steve McQueen and Alexander Payne in the line-up of the cinematography festival.
Camerimage, the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography now in its 21st edition, today revealed the line-up of films selected for the festival’s main competition.
The entries are:
Burning Bush, Agnieszka Holland (Cz Rep)
Cinematographer: Martin Strba
Concrete Night, Pirjo Honkasalo (Fin-Swe-Den)
Cinematographer: Peter Flinckenberg
Heli, Amat Escalante (Mex-Fra-Ger-Neth)
Cinematographer: Lorenzo Hagerman
Home from Home (Die andere Heimat – Chronik einer Sehcsucht), Edgar Reitz (Ger-Fra)
Cinematographer: Gernot Roll
Ida, Paweł Pawlikowski (Pol-Den)
Cinematographers: Łukasz Żal, Ryszard Lenczewski
Inside Llewyn Davis, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (Us-Fra)
Cinematographer: Bruno Delbonnel
Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Lee Daniels (Us)
Cinematographer: Andrew Dunn
Life Feels Good (Chce sie zyc), Maciej Pieprzyca (Pol)
Cinematographer: Paweł Dyllus
Mary Queen of Scots, Thomas Imbach (Swi-Fra)
Cinematographer: Rainer Klausmann
Nebraska, Alexander Payne (Us)
Cinematographer: Phedon Papamichael
Paradise for the Damned, Alejandro Montiel (Arg)
Cinematographer:...
Camerimage, the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography now in its 21st edition, today revealed the line-up of films selected for the festival’s main competition.
The entries are:
Burning Bush, Agnieszka Holland (Cz Rep)
Cinematographer: Martin Strba
Concrete Night, Pirjo Honkasalo (Fin-Swe-Den)
Cinematographer: Peter Flinckenberg
Heli, Amat Escalante (Mex-Fra-Ger-Neth)
Cinematographer: Lorenzo Hagerman
Home from Home (Die andere Heimat – Chronik einer Sehcsucht), Edgar Reitz (Ger-Fra)
Cinematographer: Gernot Roll
Ida, Paweł Pawlikowski (Pol-Den)
Cinematographers: Łukasz Żal, Ryszard Lenczewski
Inside Llewyn Davis, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (Us-Fra)
Cinematographer: Bruno Delbonnel
Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Lee Daniels (Us)
Cinematographer: Andrew Dunn
Life Feels Good (Chce sie zyc), Maciej Pieprzyca (Pol)
Cinematographer: Paweł Dyllus
Mary Queen of Scots, Thomas Imbach (Swi-Fra)
Cinematographer: Rainer Klausmann
Nebraska, Alexander Payne (Us)
Cinematographer: Phedon Papamichael
Paradise for the Damned, Alejandro Montiel (Arg)
Cinematographer:...
- 10/29/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Cinematography festival will also honour Avatar production designer Rick Carter and documentary cinematographer Joan Churchill.
Camerimage, the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography (Nov 16-23), is to hand honourary awards to John Turturro, Rick Carter and Joan Churchill.
Turturro, best known for roles in O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the Transformers franchise, will be presented with the festival’s Special Award to Actor-Director at a ceremony in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
A regular collaborator with the Coen brothers, Turturro most recently wrote and directed comedy Fading Gigolo, which will receive its Polish premiere at the festival.
Carter, who won Oscars for his work on Lincoln and Avatar and received nominations for Forrest Gump and War Horse, will receive Camerimage’s Production Designer with Unique Visual Sensitivity Award.
The production designer and art director also boasts credits including Amistad,A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Cast Away, War of the Worlds, What Lies Beneath, Jurassic Park, and Back to the Future Part II...
Camerimage, the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography (Nov 16-23), is to hand honourary awards to John Turturro, Rick Carter and Joan Churchill.
Turturro, best known for roles in O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the Transformers franchise, will be presented with the festival’s Special Award to Actor-Director at a ceremony in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
A regular collaborator with the Coen brothers, Turturro most recently wrote and directed comedy Fading Gigolo, which will receive its Polish premiere at the festival.
Carter, who won Oscars for his work on Lincoln and Avatar and received nominations for Forrest Gump and War Horse, will receive Camerimage’s Production Designer with Unique Visual Sensitivity Award.
The production designer and art director also boasts credits including Amistad,A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Cast Away, War of the Worlds, What Lies Beneath, Jurassic Park, and Back to the Future Part II...
- 10/16/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Anne Makepeace and Joan Churchill have been making newsworthy documentaries for my own entire career.
Joan's father owned Churchill Films, one of the nation's leading educational film companies when such a thing existed to service schools, universities, libraries and special interest groups.
The concept has never died but today in this dearth of real news that matters, Anne Makepeace and Joan Churchill continue to make documentaries which perform a major service to those who care more about humanity than about dollars. Here is what Anne Makepeace writes:
Midsummer Madness
The dog days of summer are here, but we're still busy with two new films, madly fundraising and prepping for a shoot in Africa with Kenyan artist Wangechi Mutu.
Bound for Kenya
In a few weeks, Joan Churchill and I will be filming Wangechi’s first family trip home in two decades. Meet the artist and see some of her astonishing work in the trailer below.
Filming Tribal Justice
It's a rare thing to find both of the judges we are featuring in the California Tribal Justice film in the same place. Judge Claudette White came up from the Quechan reservation in Southern California to Klamath on the North Coast for the Cross Court Cultural Exchange hosted by Yurok Judge Abby Abinanti.
We are fortunate to be filming with these strong, dedicated women who are working through their tribal courts to heal their people, keep their children, and revitalize their cultures by strengthening families and restoring traditional forms of justice.
Joan's father owned Churchill Films, one of the nation's leading educational film companies when such a thing existed to service schools, universities, libraries and special interest groups.
The concept has never died but today in this dearth of real news that matters, Anne Makepeace and Joan Churchill continue to make documentaries which perform a major service to those who care more about humanity than about dollars. Here is what Anne Makepeace writes:
Midsummer Madness
The dog days of summer are here, but we're still busy with two new films, madly fundraising and prepping for a shoot in Africa with Kenyan artist Wangechi Mutu.
Bound for Kenya
In a few weeks, Joan Churchill and I will be filming Wangechi’s first family trip home in two decades. Meet the artist and see some of her astonishing work in the trailer below.
Filming Tribal Justice
It's a rare thing to find both of the judges we are featuring in the California Tribal Justice film in the same place. Judge Claudette White came up from the Quechan reservation in Southern California to Klamath on the North Coast for the Cross Court Cultural Exchange hosted by Yurok Judge Abby Abinanti.
We are fortunate to be filming with these strong, dedicated women who are working through their tribal courts to heal their people, keep their children, and revitalize their cultures by strengthening families and restoring traditional forms of justice.
- 7/19/2013
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Another great conversation at the recently wrapped TCM Classic Film Festival found famed cinematographer Haskell Wexler discussing the landmark Rolling Stones doc “Gimme Shelter” with filmmaker Albert Maysles (“Salesman,” “Grey Gardens”) and camera operator Joan Churchill. Wexler acted as host and introduced the film with Maysles. After the film, Wexler, Maysles and Churchill sat down for a discussion that turned into a brief impromptu Q&A with the three discussing everything from the Hell’s Angels to being on acid to a few near-death experiences, with some additional comments by ‘Gimme Shelter’ producer Ron Schneider. Below is a selection of highlights from the conversation.Meeting The Rolling Stones “Haskell’s the one who made it all possible for us to meet the Rolling Stones. We got a call one day from him in California and we’re in New York. He says, ‘The Stones arriving in New York tomorrow, they...
- 5/10/2013
- by Diana Drumm
- The Playlist
Rating:
There is a period in American cinema history commonly referred to as the ‘New Hollywood’ era, in which filmmakers sought to undermine the prevailing conservative ideology of Nixon’s America from within the studio system itself. American directors such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma, Dennis Hopper and Robert Altman are usually linked to such films. While they remain interesting films today, their power – or perceived radicalism – is arguably diminished through the sands of time. One film from this period, which is largely unseen, has refused to allow the corrosive passing of time liquidate its message. Punishment Park was stubbornly ignored by the Hollywood studio system, was written and directed by an Oscar-winning Englishman – Peter Watkins – and is undoubtedly one of the most persuasive and revolutionary films from the Vietnam period of American history. The film is as hauntingly relevant and prescient today as it was then.
There is a period in American cinema history commonly referred to as the ‘New Hollywood’ era, in which filmmakers sought to undermine the prevailing conservative ideology of Nixon’s America from within the studio system itself. American directors such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma, Dennis Hopper and Robert Altman are usually linked to such films. While they remain interesting films today, their power – or perceived radicalism – is arguably diminished through the sands of time. One film from this period, which is largely unseen, has refused to allow the corrosive passing of time liquidate its message. Punishment Park was stubbornly ignored by the Hollywood studio system, was written and directed by an Oscar-winning Englishman – Peter Watkins – and is undoubtedly one of the most persuasive and revolutionary films from the Vietnam period of American history. The film is as hauntingly relevant and prescient today as it was then.
- 1/24/2012
- by Robert Munro
- Obsessed with Film
Hubert Sauper's Darwin's Nightmare Head-on, Javier Bardem, Imelda Staunton: European Film Awards 2004 European Film Academy Documentary – Prix Arte Aileen: Life And Death Of A Serial Killer by Nick Broomfield & Joan Churchill / UK * Darwin's Nightmare by Hubert Sauper / Austria / France / Belgium Die SPIELWÜTIGEN (Addicted to Acting) by Andres Veiel / Germany La Pelota Vasca, La Piel Contra La Piedra (Basque Ball, Skin Against Stone) by Julio Medem / Spain Le Monde Selon Bush (The World According to Bush) by William Karel / France Mahssomim (Checkpoint) by Yoav Shamir / Israel The Last Victory by John Appel / The Netherlands Touch The Sound by Thomas Riedelsheimer / Germany / UK / Finland European Film Academy Short Film – Prix Uip * Prix Uip Ghent: J'attendrai le suivant… by Philippe Orreindy / France Prix Uip Valladolid: Les Baisers des Autres by Carine Tardieu / France Prix Uip Angers: Poveste La Scara "C" by Cristian Nemescu / Romania Prix Uip Berlin: Un Cartus De Kent Si Un Pachet De Cafea...
- 11/26/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Capturing Reality: The Art Of Documentary (2008) Director: Pepita Ferrari Cast: Kevin Macdonald, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, Jennifer Baichwal, Eduardo Coutinho, Joan Churchill, Nick Broomfield, Patricio Guzmán, Werner Herzog, Jessica Yu, Scott Hicks, Albert Maysles, Errol Morris, Hubert Sauper, Peter Wintonick Pepita Ferrari's Capturing Reality: The Art of Documentary Pepita Ferrari’s 2008 documentary on the insights of the documentarian’s craft, Capturing Reality: The Art of Documentary, is a solid effort. However, despite its nature, Capturing Reality never does what it celebrates in the works of others: it fails to innovate and explore every way that true stories can be told. In fact, Ferrari's 97-minute film consists of the talking heads of about 40 documentary filmmakers, interspersed with 150 or so scenes from their films. Aside from the pedestrianism of the enterprise, the reality is that very few of the clips shown in Capturing Reality actually articulate the points made by the featured filmmakers,...
- 11/11/2011
- by Dan Schneider
- Alt Film Guide
Sarah Palin cutout, filmmaker Nick Broomfield, Sarah Palin – You Betcha! Anna Faris-Chris Evans-Zachary Quinto/What's Your Number?: One of Worst Box-Office Openings Ever Sarah Palin – You Betcha! is the second Sarah Palin movie to bomb this year. Directed by sometime collaborators Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill, Palin's You Betcha! movie collected an estimated $7,400 at 6 locations in North America this weekend, averaging a disastrous $1,233 per theater. Back in July, Stephen K. Bannon's strong 2012 Razzie contender The Undefeated earned $65,132 at 10 theaters, averaging $6,513 per site. Even though that wasn't too bad for starters — thanks to some strong Tea Party marketing — Palin's The Undefeated movie went on to cume at a dismal $116,381 domestically. Needless to say, outside the United States no one gives a damn about the widely derided hagiography. In sum, Sarah Palin is what back in the days of the studio system, exhibitors would have called Box-Office Poison.
- 10/3/2011
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
If you’d paid no attention to political news in the past three years and had never seen Roger and Me, maybe Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill’s Sarah Palin: You Betcha! might seem fresh. As it is, this slight, sometimes amusing documentary is familiar in too many ways, from yesterday’s facts to the film’s Michael Moore-ish structure, which has Broomfield chasing after a Palin interview from Alaska to Arizona and points in between. Broomfield’s voiceover says he wants “to find the real Sarah Palin,” which is exactly what she – and to be fair almost every other politician – is invested…...
- 10/1/2011
- James on ScreenS
I don't enjoy trying to defend Nick Broomfield. His documentary style is an acquired taste, and I don't always know how to put my finger on what I like about him. What I do know is that people should never go into his films expecting something other than a Nick Broomfield film. Otherwise you're one of the millions disappointed with "Kurt & Courtney" and "Biggie & Tupac." And you'll be disappointed with his latest, "Sarah Palin: You Betcha!" (co-directed with longtime collaborator Joan Churchill), which returns him to his trademark form of first-person investigative cinema after a couple brilliant ventures…...
- 9/30/2011
- Spout
Title: Sarah Palin: You Betcha! Directors: Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill A small pleasure, at least, that Sarah Palin’s rise to national prominence has come about in this modern day and age, for were it much earlier the amount of ink spilled and trees razed would have had a much more measurable and even greater detrimental environmental impact. As is, the erstwhile Alaskan governor and 2008 Republican Vice Presidential nominee already seems to exert a death-grip on the nation’s psyche, even with her hazily defined motivations, ambiguous ambitions and well-practiced fence-sitting. Palin is many things to many people, and very few of them without much passion or depth of feeling. For his...
- 9/28/2011
- by bsimon
- ShockYa
Although I think it is valid to view a film through the prism of political conditions, I shall tread lightly here. To ignore this, largely ignores “Film History” – a cannon of film scholarship that reflects on the political and technological conditions that lead to the creation of films. Sarah Palin – You Betcha! could not have been made under different political and technological conditions.
Filmmakers Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill set aside a personal bias and the picture that emerges of Palin in this documentary is not flattering, in fact one could call her a “mean girl.” She’s embraced aggression through personal branding repeating phrases like “Mamma Grisly” and “Sara Barracuda.”
Broomfield, know in his later works for including his voice and process, is a saving grace of what have been a purely one-sided portrait. Putting the methodology of making a Sarah Palin documentary from a seemingly neutral position on screen,...
Filmmakers Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill set aside a personal bias and the picture that emerges of Palin in this documentary is not flattering, in fact one could call her a “mean girl.” She’s embraced aggression through personal branding repeating phrases like “Mamma Grisly” and “Sara Barracuda.”
Broomfield, know in his later works for including his voice and process, is a saving grace of what have been a purely one-sided portrait. Putting the methodology of making a Sarah Palin documentary from a seemingly neutral position on screen,...
- 9/18/2011
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
It was only a matter of time before someone took it upon themselves to make a documentary that tries to make Sarah Palin look like an idiot. Well, a bigger idiot than she makes of herself every time she opens up her mouth to let America know that the Earth is only 10,000 years old and that Jesus rode dinosaurs. Finally, Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill have undertaken the task with You Betcha!, for which the first trailer has emerged online. Check it out below. It looks like the filmmakers spend a lot of time sliding around a frozen Wasilla, Alaska looking for sound bytes, good or bad, about the infamous Palin. Speaking with her family, ex-family, and even trudging through City Hall before being unceremoniously booted from the property. Broomfield manages to get some perspective on Palin.s career in politics as well as how she handles herself on and...
- 9/16/2011
- cinemablend.com
There’s been a lot of Sarah Palin talk today. To round out our “Sarah Palin” coverage today, we have a trailer and poster from the documentary “Sarah Palin: You Betcha!” to share with you. The documentary was made by Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill and will open in New York and Los Angeles September 30. Here’s the synopsis of the documentary: “Nick Broomfield’s quest for the real Sarah Palin. A journey across the icy snows of Alaska in mid winter, to meet the school friends, family, and Republican colleagues that in previous days gave their heart, and souls to the charismatic, charming, intoxicating ex hockey mum. But it’s not all...
- 9/16/2011
- by monique
- ShockYa
Sarah Palin frequently lambasts what she refers to as the "lamestream media" for taking a bully-ish stance on her politics, family, and quixotic quest for the presidency. Now comes a documentary that's not afraid to see her as she really is: a genuinely sweet, kind, personable woman who just wants what's best for this country.
Gotcha.
The documentary in question is called "Sarah Palin: You Betcha!" and is actually a piece of agitprop designed to paint the former Governer of Alaska and Tea Party maven as some kind of Wicked Witch of the Sourdough State.
It's directed by Nick Broomfield ("Kurt and Courtney"), the Brit who originated the gonzo style of appearing on camera and showing the mishaps in making his films, often carrying the sound mic himself. This technique was later popularized by Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock, often referred to as Les Nouvelles Egotistes, which is a...
Gotcha.
The documentary in question is called "Sarah Palin: You Betcha!" and is actually a piece of agitprop designed to paint the former Governer of Alaska and Tea Party maven as some kind of Wicked Witch of the Sourdough State.
It's directed by Nick Broomfield ("Kurt and Courtney"), the Brit who originated the gonzo style of appearing on camera and showing the mishaps in making his films, often carrying the sound mic himself. This technique was later popularized by Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock, often referred to as Les Nouvelles Egotistes, which is a...
- 9/15/2011
- by Max Evry
- NextMovie
On the eve of its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the obnoxiously-titled "Sarah Palin: You Betcha!" has been acquired by Freestyle Releasing. Their aggressive planned strategy involves debuting the film on September 30th in New York and Los Angeles before expanding, though, come on, who are we kidding here? Nick Broomfield, the man behind acclaimed docs "Biggie And Tupac" and "Kurt And Courtney," co-directed with Joan Churchill, and if the trailer to this doc is any indication, they is preaching to the choir. Whether it's a hit job or a thinly-veiled political commercial, people don't want to spend…...
- 9/10/2011
- The Playlist
Nick Broomfield, the conspiratorial documentarian behind "Kurt & Courtney" and "Biggie & Tupac," makes no apologies about using suppositions and hearsay in his quest for a special kind of truth. The problem with his insipidly titled "Sarah Palin - You Betcha!," co-directed with Joan Churchill, has nothing to do with the morality of his technique and instead lies with a lack of new ideas. Palin hasn't exactly faded from view ...
- 9/10/2011
- Indiewire
Toronto - No one over the past three years has been a more polarizing figure in American politics than Sarah Palin. The former Vice Presidential candidate and Alaska Governor has transformed herself from a self-proclaimed "Hockey Mom" to a major media and political figure while alienating most of the country in the process. There have been many investigative and in-depth pieces on Palin during that time, but that didn't stop British filmmaker Nick Broomfield ("Kurt and Courtney") and his partner Joan Churchill ("Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer") from trying to find out the "truth" about the "real" Sarah...
- 9/10/2011
- Hitfix
9 new British films funded by the Lottery Film Fund
selected for the BFI London Film Festival
including the Opening and Closing night Galas
London - Wednesday 7 September 2011. This year.s 55th BFI London Film Festival, in partnership with American Express, will showcase 9 new British feature films funded by the UK Film Council.s Film Fund, now with the BFI, including the Opening and Closing night UK Gala premieres of Fernando Meirelles. 360, written by Peter Morgan, and Terence Davies. The Deep Blue Sea.
The line-up of British films which have been developed and/or production funded by the Film Fund at the BFI London Film festival also includes:
Shame, directed by Steve McQueen and co-written with Abi Morgan; We Need To Talk About Kevin, directed by Lynne Ramsay and co-written with Rory Stewart Kinnear; Wuthering Heights, directed by Andrea Arnold and co-written with Olivia Hetreed; Trishna, written and directed by Michael Winterbottom; A Dangerous Method,...
selected for the BFI London Film Festival
including the Opening and Closing night Galas
London - Wednesday 7 September 2011. This year.s 55th BFI London Film Festival, in partnership with American Express, will showcase 9 new British feature films funded by the UK Film Council.s Film Fund, now with the BFI, including the Opening and Closing night UK Gala premieres of Fernando Meirelles. 360, written by Peter Morgan, and Terence Davies. The Deep Blue Sea.
The line-up of British films which have been developed and/or production funded by the Film Fund at the BFI London Film festival also includes:
Shame, directed by Steve McQueen and co-written with Abi Morgan; We Need To Talk About Kevin, directed by Lynne Ramsay and co-written with Rory Stewart Kinnear; Wuthering Heights, directed by Andrea Arnold and co-written with Olivia Hetreed; Trishna, written and directed by Michael Winterbottom; A Dangerous Method,...
- 9/7/2011
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
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