Three filmmakers assessing the impact of 2023’s dual strikes took a less-than-upbeat tone, citing uncertainty about the state of SAG-AFTRA negotiations with the AMPTP and the ongoing threat posed by artificial intelligence.
While the WGA’s gains from its 146-day strike are noteworthy, producer Sam Bisbee acknowledged during a Hamptons International Film Festival panel, SAG-AFTRA “is an even bigger part of the equation.”
Bisbee, a producer of documentary Rule of Two Walls, was joined on the panel by Jennifer Esposito and Tonje Hessen Schei. Esposito, best known for her acting credits on The Affair, The Boys and many other series and movies, wrote, directed and stars in fest selection Fresh Kills. Hessen Schei directed current fest title Praying for Armageddon.
“The writers have been underpaid and really absent from the conversation for a very long time,” Esposito said. “The powers that be are making all of the money off the backs of these people.
While the WGA’s gains from its 146-day strike are noteworthy, producer Sam Bisbee acknowledged during a Hamptons International Film Festival panel, SAG-AFTRA “is an even bigger part of the equation.”
Bisbee, a producer of documentary Rule of Two Walls, was joined on the panel by Jennifer Esposito and Tonje Hessen Schei. Esposito, best known for her acting credits on The Affair, The Boys and many other series and movies, wrote, directed and stars in fest selection Fresh Kills. Hessen Schei directed current fest title Praying for Armageddon.
“The writers have been underpaid and really absent from the conversation for a very long time,” Esposito said. “The powers that be are making all of the money off the backs of these people.
- 10/11/2023
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
Dr Sales has sold Canadian distribution rights for Norwegian director Tonje Hessen Schei’s “Praying for Armageddon” to LevelFilm. The deal was revealed follows the film’s North American premiere at Hot Docs Film Festival. The film made its world premiere in Cph:dox.
The film explores the power and influence of powerful U.S. fundamentalist evangelicals as they aim to fulfil the biblical prophecy of Armageddon. With close quarters journalism, the feature documentary embeds with American believers who prepare for the Holy War and exposes how powerful megachurch pastors call for the “final battle” that they believe will trigger the Second Coming of Christ. A deep dive into power and policy, the film unveils how politicians driven by faith embrace Israel as the key to their prophetic vision for the end of days. At any cost.
The film is directed by Tonje Hessen Schei, co-directed by Michael Rowley, and produced by Christian Aune Falch,...
The film explores the power and influence of powerful U.S. fundamentalist evangelicals as they aim to fulfil the biblical prophecy of Armageddon. With close quarters journalism, the feature documentary embeds with American believers who prepare for the Holy War and exposes how powerful megachurch pastors call for the “final battle” that they believe will trigger the Second Coming of Christ. A deep dive into power and policy, the film unveils how politicians driven by faith embrace Israel as the key to their prophetic vision for the end of days. At any cost.
The film is directed by Tonje Hessen Schei, co-directed by Michael Rowley, and produced by Christian Aune Falch,...
- 5/7/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Oslo has five non-fiction features in production and development.
Award-winning documentary filmmakers Bjarte Morner Tveit and Tonje Hessen Schei have joined Norway’s Oslo Pictures as the company ramps up its investment in non-fiction.
Producer Morner Tveit joins from Stavanger-based Piraya Film, where his credits included Cold Case Hammarskjold, Inside Fur, The Secret Life of Pigs and The Mole. The latter went undercover in North Korea and won best documentary at the Danish Film Academy’s Robert Awards in 2021.
Director Hessen Schei joins from UpNorth Film, which she co-founded in 2017, and is known for documentaries such as iHuman, Drone and Play Again.
Award-winning documentary filmmakers Bjarte Morner Tveit and Tonje Hessen Schei have joined Norway’s Oslo Pictures as the company ramps up its investment in non-fiction.
Producer Morner Tveit joins from Stavanger-based Piraya Film, where his credits included Cold Case Hammarskjold, Inside Fur, The Secret Life of Pigs and The Mole. The latter went undercover in North Korea and won best documentary at the Danish Film Academy’s Robert Awards in 2021.
Director Hessen Schei joins from UpNorth Film, which she co-founded in 2017, and is known for documentaries such as iHuman, Drone and Play Again.
- 3/22/2022
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
Toronto-based Syndicado Film Sales has snapped up world rights to the Cph:dox competition entry “Oh, It Hertz!” by Norwegian helmer Gunnar Hall Jensen and unveiled the trailer exclusively to Variety.
The film, selected for the Nordic:dox competition program, is produced by UpNorth Film, the company behind the festival hits “iHuman” (2019), “Golden Dawn Girls” (2017), “Recruiting for Jihad” (2017) and “Two Raging Grannies” (2014).
“Oh, It Hertz!” explores how sound affects human beings in the most eclectic ways and how it can be used as a weapon in the hands of evil forces. The main protagonist is U.S. born vocalist/musician Laurie Amat, who performed with the cult band “The Residents” at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Passionate about the emotional impact of sound, Amat is worried that the Nazis might have messed about with music, as she has heard of a Nazi conspiracy theory around their alleged changing of music...
The film, selected for the Nordic:dox competition program, is produced by UpNorth Film, the company behind the festival hits “iHuman” (2019), “Golden Dawn Girls” (2017), “Recruiting for Jihad” (2017) and “Two Raging Grannies” (2014).
“Oh, It Hertz!” explores how sound affects human beings in the most eclectic ways and how it can be used as a weapon in the hands of evil forces. The main protagonist is U.S. born vocalist/musician Laurie Amat, who performed with the cult band “The Residents” at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Passionate about the emotional impact of sound, Amat is worried that the Nazis might have messed about with music, as she has heard of a Nazi conspiracy theory around their alleged changing of music...
- 4/13/2021
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
There are at least two dissonant strands within iHuman and they contribute to its weaknesses. There is a credible and concerning element about how a suite of technologies that it broadly lumps under the heading of 'AI' may be, can be, and are being used to oppress and exploit. There is also a millenarian fantasy where the letter working hardest with 'I' is not 'A' but 'F'. "If" has rarely been called to shoulder as much since Kipling.
Hidden within iHuman is an innovation that has powers and abilities akin to a person, but is artificial. However there's never a discussion of corporations, nor of governments, at least not as innovations in and of themselves. There are concerns about specific named entities - Google, Palantir, the People's Republic of China, the Greater German Reich - but in and amongst a significant speculative quantity there's never an open discussion of the harms.
Hidden within iHuman is an innovation that has powers and abilities akin to a person, but is artificial. However there's never a discussion of corporations, nor of governments, at least not as innovations in and of themselves. There are concerns about specific named entities - Google, Palantir, the People's Republic of China, the Greater German Reich - but in and amongst a significant speculative quantity there's never an open discussion of the harms.
- 12/24/2020
- by Andrew Robertson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Academy has added 93 more films to the members-only screening room devoted to entries in the Best Documentary Feature category, bringing the total number of eligible contenders to a record-shattering 215.
The previous record for entries was 170 in 2017. And this year’s crop of nonfiction films is expected to pass that number by an even bigger margin — at least 50 — once a final, smaller group of films is added to the screening room in January.
New eligibility rules that were passed in the wake of the Covid-19 theater closings made it easier for documentaries to qualify this year by allowing them to do so by playing at film festivals, even virtual ones, and by easing requirements for theatrical runs. In an email to members detailing the new additions, the Academy said, “The Documentary Branch Executive Committee felt it was important to be inclusive and supportive of documentary filmmakers in this unprecedented and challenging year.
The previous record for entries was 170 in 2017. And this year’s crop of nonfiction films is expected to pass that number by an even bigger margin — at least 50 — once a final, smaller group of films is added to the screening room in January.
New eligibility rules that were passed in the wake of the Covid-19 theater closings made it easier for documentaries to qualify this year by allowing them to do so by playing at film festivals, even virtual ones, and by easing requirements for theatrical runs. In an email to members detailing the new additions, the Academy said, “The Documentary Branch Executive Committee felt it was important to be inclusive and supportive of documentary filmmakers in this unprecedented and challenging year.
- 12/22/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Are the robots going to kills us? Film-maker Tonje Hessen Schei speaks to a range of interviewees including Elon Musk’s computer scientist in an eye-opening, anxiety-inducing film
What will happen when robots become smarter than humans – will they want to kill us? No, according to the computer scientist in charge of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence research company OpenAI. His name is Ilya Sutskever and he believes that super intelligent machines won’t hate us, but they will prioritise their own survival. Think about the way we treat animals. We’re fond of them but we don’t ask their permission to build a road; it’ll be like that. His analogy is an extraordinary moment in this doom-laden documentary about the future of AI from Norwegian film-maker Tonje Hessen Schei – an eye-opening film if your anxiety levels are up to it.
Another interviewee jokes that AI is being...
What will happen when robots become smarter than humans – will they want to kill us? No, according to the computer scientist in charge of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence research company OpenAI. His name is Ilya Sutskever and he believes that super intelligent machines won’t hate us, but they will prioritise their own survival. Think about the way we treat animals. We’re fond of them but we don’t ask their permission to build a road; it’ll be like that. His analogy is an extraordinary moment in this doom-laden documentary about the future of AI from Norwegian film-maker Tonje Hessen Schei – an eye-opening film if your anxiety levels are up to it.
Another interviewee jokes that AI is being...
- 12/8/2020
- by Cath Clarke
- The Guardian - Film News
Artificial intelligence features in countless films but in Tonje Hessen Schei’s documentary, ‘iHuman’, we get a true insight into the industry.
The award-winning documentary analyses the rapid development of A.I, with access to experts in the field and raises important questions.
‘iHuman’ will be released in cinemas and digitally on December 10th, courtesy of Cosmic Cat.
Cinema listings can be found here.
The post Trailer drops for Tonje Hessen Schei’s A.I documentary, ‘iHuman’. appeared first on HeyUGuys.
The award-winning documentary analyses the rapid development of A.I, with access to experts in the field and raises important questions.
‘iHuman’ will be released in cinemas and digitally on December 10th, courtesy of Cosmic Cat.
Cinema listings can be found here.
The post Trailer drops for Tonje Hessen Schei’s A.I documentary, ‘iHuman’. appeared first on HeyUGuys.
- 11/30/2020
- by Thomas Alexander
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The Academy dropped another 33 feature films into the online screening room for members of its Documentary Branch on Oct. 30, giving the Oscars doc race its biggest influx of new films to date. The branch now has 86 films to consider, with two or three more batches of films (and potentially more than 50 additional contenders) likely to be added to the field by early January.
Coming the same week that the Critics Choice Documentary Awards announced its nominees and the International Documentary Association’s Ida Documentary Awards revealed the 30-film shortlist from which it will make its final choices, the Academy move kicked the Oscar doc race into another gear in a year that promises to be highly competitive.
Among the docs that were made available to voters this week were Bryce Dallas Howard’s film about fatherhood, “Dads,” which means she’ll be competing against her father, Ron Howard, who is...
Coming the same week that the Critics Choice Documentary Awards announced its nominees and the International Documentary Association’s Ida Documentary Awards revealed the 30-film shortlist from which it will make its final choices, the Academy move kicked the Oscar doc race into another gear in a year that promises to be highly competitive.
Among the docs that were made available to voters this week were Bryce Dallas Howard’s film about fatherhood, “Dads,” which means she’ll be competing against her father, Ron Howard, who is...
- 11/2/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
It makes sense that this year’s AFI Fest closed on Thursday night with the premiere of director Errol Morris’ wild and entertaining documentary “My Psychedelic Love Story.” In a year in which reality has smacked all of us in the face, nonfiction filmmaking is in the spotlight more than ever, from a string of docs that deal with issues at stake in the upcoming election to more freewheeling works like Morris’ film, a Wtf concoction from a director who only gets this playful once in a while.
It’s undeniable that the Oscars race for Best Picture is off to a slow start, with fewer films than usual playing the scaled-down fall film festivals and studios reluctant to commit to theatrical openings as the pandemic stretches on. But the race for Best Documentary Feature promises to be a robust one. More than 50 films are now available in the Academy...
It’s undeniable that the Oscars race for Best Picture is off to a slow start, with fewer films than usual playing the scaled-down fall film festivals and studios reluctant to commit to theatrical openings as the pandemic stretches on. But the race for Best Documentary Feature promises to be a robust one. More than 50 films are now available in the Academy...
- 10/23/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
In the wake of the novel coronavirus, Cph:dox has moved much of their program online, with a series of “debates” streaming live and available for viewing. Today’s is especially timely: Edward Snowden answering the question, “What is the effect of AI on the present and future of surveillance?” Kicking off the conversation is a discussion of privacy and surveillance issues related to government and private industry actions in the wake of the pandemic. It’s loosely tied to the festival’s screening of iHuman, Tonje Hessen Schei’s doc on the future of AI. The talk is moderated by Dr’s science and technology […]...
- 3/24/2020
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
In the wake of the novel coronavirus, Cph:dox has moved much of their program online, with a series of “debates” streaming live and available for viewing. Today’s is especially timely: Edward Snowden answering the question, “What is the effect of AI on the present and future of surveillance?” Kicking off the conversation is a discussion of privacy and surveillance issues related to government and private industry actions in the wake of the pandemic. It’s loosely tied to the festival’s screening of iHuman, Tonje Hessen Schei’s doc on the future of AI. The talk is moderated by Dr’s science and technology […]...
- 3/24/2020
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Getting its world premiere in Frontlight, Tonje Hessen Schei’s gripping AI doc “iHuman” drew an audience of more than 700 to a 10 a.m. Sunday screening at the incongruously old-school Pathé Tuschinski cinema. Many had their curiosity piqued by the film’s timely subject matter—the erosion of privacy in the age of new media, and the terrifying leaps being made in the field of machine intelligence—but it’s fair to say that quite a few were drawn by the promise of a Skype Q&a with National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, who made headlines in 2013 by leaking confidential U.S. intelligence to the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper.
Snowden doesn’t feature in the film, but it couldn’t exist without him: “iHuman” is an almost exhausting journey through all the issues that Snowden was trying to warn us about, starting with our civil liberties. Speaking after the film...
Snowden doesn’t feature in the film, but it couldn’t exist without him: “iHuman” is an almost exhausting journey through all the issues that Snowden was trying to warn us about, starting with our civil liberties. Speaking after the film...
- 11/26/2019
- by Damon Wise
- Variety Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.