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Penny Lane has found her new documentary muse: famed New York City owl Flaco. IndieWire can confirm that Lane is currently in production on an as-yet-untitled HBO documentary about the male Eurasian eagle-owl who gained worldwide attention after he was mysteriously set free in New York City in 2023. The “Listening to Kenny G” director Lane is helming the Flaco feature, with Gabriel Sedgwick producing. The film is a HBO Documentary Films, Sandbox Films, and Spinning Nancy production.

The official synopsis for the documentary reads: “On February 2, 2023, Flaco — a male Eurasian eagle-owl, the largest species of owl in the world — was discovered missing from his cage at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan. The documentary follows the surprising story of what happened when Flaco, who had lived his entire life in captivity, was released in New York City to the delight, concern, and fascination of millions in the city and beyond.

Stars: Kellen Raffaelo, Chris Galust, Lauren Benanti, Dylan McTee, Sam Duncan, Michael Boatman, Mariel Molino | Written and Directed by Tyler Chipman

A young boy witnesses the suicide of his father, and the appearance of the cowled, faceless figures that come to claim his soul. It’s a nightmare that plagues twenty-year-old Ryan who has recently lost his father to suicide. Nightmare is a term that could be applied to his waking life as well.

His mother Renee has buried herself in her work and his older brother Jason has gone off to college and has not returned. That leaves Ryan to take care of his younger sibling James while also attending classes, working, and seeing his therapist Dr. Huston and finding time for his girlfriend Alex.

It’s been hard for him to juggle all of these responsibilities, and now he faces another challenge. His brother has left school under...

Hulu is giving Shark Week a run for its money this July with not one but seven National Geographic specials dropping on the streaming service at the start of the month. From Shark Beach with Anthony Mackie to Baby Sharks in the City, there are plenty of options for fans of these fearsome finned creatures.

Hulu also has a couple of fun offerings for adult animation fans with the full second season of Marvel’s Hit Monkey dropping on July 15 and Futurama returning for its 12th season on July 29th.

There’s not really anything notable in the way of original movies on Hulu this month, but Aliens, Step Brothers, and (500) Days of Summer are just a few of the noteworthy movies joining the library.

Here’s everything that’s coming to (and leaving) Hulu in July.

Hulu New Releases – July 2024

July 1

Attack of the Red Sea Sharks: Special Premiere...

"The point is that you are helping a stranger." Sandbox Films has revealed the trailer for the documentary film titled Confessions of a Good Samaritan, the latest from excellent doc filmmaker Penny Lane. This first premiered at last year's SXSW Film Festival, and it will be debuting in June in select theaters. Director Penny Lane's decision to become a "good Samaritan" by giving one of her kidneys to a stranger turns into a funny and moving personal quest to understand the nature of altruism. Her new doc Confessions of a Good Samaritan is a provocative inquiry into the science, history, and ethics of organ transplantation, asking an ancient question in a whole new way: Who is your neighbor & what do you owe them? Sandbox Films says "we love films that ask big, messy questions at the intersection of science & society, and this film is one for the ages." Lane adds...

Sandbox Films is releasing Penny Lane’s “Confessions of a Good Samaritan” in select theaters beginning June 28.

The docu, which premiered at the South By Southwest film festival in 2023, focuses on Lane’s decision to give one of her kidneys to a stranger, which turns into a funny and moving personal quest to understand the nature of altruism. The film also investigates the ethical controversies surrounding organ donation and Lane’s own motivations for giving away her kidney.

“Five years ago I tried to prepare for the first and only major surgery of my life,” says Lane. “I made an effort to remind myself why I was doing this; to save a stranger’s life. It was right around this time I decided to start filming this once in a lifetime experience. I was very lucky to lean on my collaborators who supported me throughout every twist and turn of this surprising,...

New month, new titles! With January underway, Max has released dozens of library titles, including “The Breakfast Club,” “Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb,” and much, much more.

But the streamer is preparing for a big month from all of its brands, including the Bleacher Report, the platform will carry multiple big match-ups, including the NBA Rivals Week games on Jan. 23 (New York Knicks at Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers at LA Clippers) and Jan. 25 (Boston Celtics at Miami Heat and Sacramento Kings at Golden State Warriors).

There’s plenty more still to come throughout the month, including the highly anticipated return of “True Detective” with its latest installment, entitled “Night Country” and starring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis.

Check out The Streamable’s top picks for what’s coming to the streamer and find out everything coming to Max this month!

One of HBO’s former hot properties returns in a big way this January, as True Detective season four finally arrives on the service. Will this be a return to form for the gritty show? Well, that remains unclear, but this time around the anthology series will follow detectives Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) as the long winter darkness in Alaska. When eight people at the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace, these detectives need to get on the case quickly.

Also hitting Max this month is the final season of Sort Of. Season three finds Sabi (Bilal Baig) dealing with the unexpected death of their father, and making some big life choices as a result.

Here’s everything coming to (and leaving) HBO and Max this month…

HBO and Max New Releases – January 2024

January 1

90 Day Fiancé: Holiday Special 2023 #3 (TLC) 90 Day Fiancé Pillow Talk...

Max’s January 2024 lineup includes season four of True Detective, led by Oscar-winner Jodie Foster, as well as the third and final season of Sort Of with Bilal Baig. Max is also kicking off the new year with the debut of On The Roam, an eight-part documentary series featuring Aquaman star Jason Momoa.

The streaming service’s January 2024 roster includes the return of Real Time with Bill Maher for season 22, along with the seventh season of Rick and Morty. The critically acclaimed documentary Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project arrives on January 8.

Series & Films Arriving On Max In January 2024:

January 1

90 Day Fiancé: Holiday Special 2023 #3 (TLC)

90 Day Fiancé Pillow Talk: Single All The Way (TLC)

The A-Team (2010)

After Earth (2013)

Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009)

Aniara (2019)

Austenland (2013)

Bachelorette (2012)

Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me (2013)

Body at Brighton Rock (2019)

Booty Call (1997)

The Breakfast Club (1985)

The Brothers (2001)

Cabin Fever (2003)

Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever...

Like a peckish panda let loose in a showroom for bamboo patio furniture, the modern audience’s craving for true-life stories is seemingly insatiable. And like said ursine gnawing greedily on a flavorful teakwood club chair, nonfiction has been steadily gobbling up narrative filmmaking, with almost every major news item of the last 40 years being dutifully reimagined as a prestige limited series. And sure, projects like HBO’s Love and Death or Hulu’s The Dropout can help fill the void abdicated by the mid-budget studio drama, but where does that leave actual documentary movies—or documentary filmmakers for that matter?

While there’s certainly not an overabundance of industry support out there for emerging nonfiction filmmakers, there is at the very least the Film Independent Documentary Lab. And today, we’re thrilled to welcome seven new Fellows and six new projects to the 2023 Doc Lab cohort. “Documentary filmmakers remain...

Label launched at Cph:dox in Copenhagen.

UK-based production and distribution house Fremantle has launched Undeniable, a new label for feature and series documentaries.

Sitting within Fremantle’s Documentaries division, Undeniable will develop and produce ‘premium’ projects according to the company. It will make high end international projects that come to Fremantle directly without going through their local territories.

Fremantle’s first-look deal with US filmmaker Amy Berg, announced last week, will fall under the Undeniable banner; Berg is currently in Copenhagen shooting for a film under the partnership.

The brand was announced at Cph:dox today (March 21) in Copenhagen by Mandy Chang,...

Super indie Fremantle has unveiled plans to further expand into the documentary space with the launch of a new label, Undeniable, focused on the production of premium feature documentaries and series.

Mandy Chang, Fremantle’s Global Head of Documentaries, announced the move at documentary festival Cph:dox in Copenhagen on Tuesday. The new label will sit within Fremantle’s Documentaries division and appears designed to distinguish high-end feature docs and series produced in the group from Fremantle’s more conventional reality TV and non-scripted fare.

“The launch of Undeniable further underlines our commitment and ambition to build Fremantle’s documentary output on the premium side,” said Chang. “Working with the very best filmmakers and emerging talent, the label will provide editorial and production expertise and support in multiple genres. Importantly, it will provide a platform and freedom for creative talent to unlock and explore important issues and stories to be told.

Fremantle’s Documentaries division has launched Undeniable, a label dedicated to producing premium feature documentaries and series, in partnership with high-profile talent and international commissioners, Mandy Chang, Fremantle’s global head of documentaries, revealed Tuesday at Cph:dox in Copenhagen.

The label is already developing several international projects and partnerships with high-profile filmmakers, including Amy Berg, Chris Smith, and Penny Lane and Gabriel Sedgwick.

Chang said: “The launch of Undeniable further underlines our commitment and ambition to build Fremantle’s documentary output on the premium side. Working with the very best filmmakers and emerging talent, the label will provide editorial and production expertise and support in multiple genres. Importantly, it will provide a platform and freedom for creative talent to unlock and explore important issues and stories to be told.”

Undeniable’s ambition is to make “provocative, entertaining, diverse, and influential films and series that push the boundaries of storytelling and...

AC Independent, Anonymous Content’s new sales and finance division, is set to introduce Pippa Ehrlich’s anticipated follow-up to her Oscar-winning “My Octopus Teacher,” as well as Walter Salles’ “Sócrates,” to buyers at the Berlin Film Festival.

Ehrlich’s untitled new project and Salles’ “Sócrates” are part of AC Independent’s robust slate of documentary features from celebrated filmmakers.

In her upcoming project, Ehrlich will shed light on the secretive and endangered world of pangolins, a species viewed as mythological creatures. When Stevie, a baby pangolin, is rescued from death at the hands of poachers in Johannesburg, an investment manager pivots his life to become the animal’s caretaker, teaching him to trust the world again and, in doing so, rediscovers his own purpose. Hand-reared until his release back into the wild, Stevie takes Gareth into his dragon world and together they find freedom and healing in the wild.

Independent film supporter Rooftop Films announced the 2022 Filmmaker Fund winners February 28, exclusively on IndieWire.

The prestigious Water Tower Feature Film Cash Grant was awarded to “The 40-Year-Old Version” writer-director-producer-star Radha Blank, for her upcoming untitled dark dramedy.

Environmental director Eleanor Mortimer also won a Water Tower grant for an untitled deep sea taxonomy documentary, which “follows biologists through the intricate process of discovering deep-sea species as they piece together the unknown ecosystems of the largest biome on the planet.”

The $15,000 grants are made possible by generous support from the Laurence W. Levine Foundation.

The Rooftop Filmmakers Fund grants are available to Rooftop Films alumni directors who have previously had their work screened during the annual Summer Series in New York City. Blank screened her debut feature, “The Forty-Year-Old Version,” with Rooftop Films in 2020 at the Queens Drive-In. Mortimer screened her award-winning short film “Territory” at Rooftop Films in 2016.

This year,...

Exclusive: Led by Michael Cho and Tim Lee, Olive Hill Media has joined Sandbox Films and Impact Partners to support the Penny Lane helmed documentary entitled Confessions of A Good Samaritan. Olive Hill Media past projects include Hulu’s SXSW 2021 title We Work: Or The Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn, MGM Studio’s Cannes 2021 title Flag Day, and Tribeca 2021 title Stockholm Syndrome among others coming down the pipeline.

Gabriel Sedgwick will produce the film. Tim Lee and Michael Cho are the executive producers for Olive Hill; Greg Boustead and Jessica Harrop are the executive producers for Sandbox Films.

“We are always looking to support visionary filmmakers with something important to share and couldn’t have found a more deserving project than Penny Lane’s Confessions Of A Good Samaritan,” said Mimi Rode, Olive Hill Media’s Acquisition Executive.“With Penny’s innovative approach to storytelling and our incredible partners,...

It’s now the final month of 2021 and, as is the case every year, one can see some of the theatrical offerings are a bit all over the place. Some of last month’s selections will be available to a wider audience this month (namely Licorice Pizza and The Power of the Dog), some below won’t actually get wider releases until next month, and others are getting one-week, awards-qualifying releases, making them 2021 films despite not receiving proper releases until 2022. Nonetheless, there’s still plenty to check out this month and you can see our top picks below.

15. The Scary of Sixty-First (Dasha Nekrasova; Dec. 2 in theaters and Dec. 24 on VOD)

Well-timed to her current run in Succession, Dasha Nekrasova’s directorial debut The Scary of Sixty-First will arrive this month following a Berlinale premiere in February. Joshua Encinias said in his review, “Scary’s cinematographer Hunter Zimny makes visual...

Titles include a new film from ‘Host’ director Rob Savage.

Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has added 35 feature titles to its line-up for 2021, predominantly across the TIFF Docs, Midnight Madness and Wavelengths strands.

The new titles include 11 world premieres, consisting of eight in TIFF Docs and three in Midnight Madness.

Titles in the latter include Dashcam, the new film from Rob Savage, director of 2020 pandemic horror hit Host. Savage was named a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2013.

Also in the Midnight Madness section is Kate Dolan’s You Are Not My Mother, inspired by the mythology of the Changeling, which...

IFC Films’ Arianna Bocco, Neon’s Elissa Federoff and Magnolia Pictures’ Dori Begley were speaking at the Restart Conference.

Executives from three top US indie distributors have emphasised the benefits of growing their pre-buy and production activity as a way of competing with deep-pocketed streamers and coordinating international releases.

Speaking at Screen’s Restart Conference on May 19, IFC Films president Arianna Bocco said: “All of the streaming platforms combined are such hoovers with regard to scooping up talent and projects, so there’s less and less available on the open market on the independent side with all of these distributors competing to buy finished films.

The programme will run from June 16-19.

Bill & Ted star and director Alex Winter and Hail Satan? filmmaker Penny Lane are among those set to join the 2021 Docs Ireland film festival, which will run online from June 16-19.

Winter, who has produced, written and directed documentaries including Deep Web, Showbiz Kids and Zappa, will be interviewed for the virtual, industry event. The actor-turned-filmmaker is currently working on documentary Mass Effect: The Story Of YouTube.

Lane, whose 2019 documentary Hail Satan? premiered in competition at Sundance, will also be interviewed for the documentary festival - an offshoot to the Belfast Film Festival,...

Sandbox Films, a new production company that will back documentary films about scientific inquiry, is launching at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival.

The company is on hand (virtually) for the world premiere of its inaugural effort, “Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds,” a new non-fiction effort from Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer the explores the science, history and mythology around meteors that fell to Earth.

In addition to “Fireball,” Sandbox Films has signed onto executive produce three upcoming documentaries with filmmakers Ondi Timoner, Penny Lane and Theo Anthony (“Rat Film”).

“There is really a hole in the documentary space in terms of commissioning films like these,” said Greg Boustead, who will serve as director and executive producer of Sandbox Films. “Outside of Nat Geo, Discovery and ‘Nova,’ there are not a lot of places where independent filmmakers can go to get resources to tell stories about science.”

The goal, Boustead said,...

Earlier this month, the stellar documentary Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street arrived on Shudder, and as someone obsessed with documentaries (both within the realm of genre entertainment and beyond as well), I thought that I would celebrate this occasion with a rundown of where you can currently stream some of the very best horror, sci-fi, and genre-adjacent related documentaries on many of the popular digital platforms out there.

So, pop some popcorn, turn down the lights, and get ready to get schooled on all sorts of genre goodness with this assortment of horror and sci-fi docs available on a variety of streaming platforms.

Happy Streaming!

Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street (Streaming on Shudder)

Some have called it the 'gayest horror movie ever made!' But for Mark Patton, the star of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, it was anything but a dream come true.

Quibi is teaming with Tony, Emmy and Grammy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated Cynthia Erivo for the docuseries What We Keep which will bring audiences into the homes of remarkable people and asks the singular question: “Of all that you own, what object means the most to you and why?”

Based on the book by the same name from Bill Shapiro and Naomi Wax and directed by Penny Lane (Hail Satan?), What We Keep is relevant in the current global landscape as it brings objects to the forefront that provide comfort, memories, and safety — something that is more important than ever. The new series features unforgettable stories of deep love, pure inspiration, and great humor — and reveals these items as reminders of who we are.

Erivo will serve as executive producer alongside Shapiro, Wax, Oscar winner Dan Cogan (Icarus) and two-time Emmy winner Liz Garbus (What Happened,...

Chicago – Both the Music Box Theatre and the Gene Siskel Film Center have continued their at-home screenings, due to the physical theaters having to close during the pandemic quarantine. Below are the updates to their current offerings.

Music Box Theatre Presents Chicagoland Shorts Vol. 6, Alice, Deerskin, Straight Up, Lucky Grandma and Magnolia Pictures Documentaries

Chicagoland Shorts Vol 6

Photo credit: MusicBoxTheatre.com

The Music Box Theatre will get a percentage of the proceeds from any screening. Click site link below for details.

Scheduled: Now until the theater re-opens.

Description: Chicagoland Shorts Vol 6 is the annual Windy City overview of local short films works, presented by Full Spectrum Productions. See the Music Box website for a list of the films.

Alice Emilie Piponnier is the perfect wife and mother, living happily with her husband Francois and their son in an apartment in Paris. When her credit cards are declined one day while shopping,...

Magnolia is nearing a low seven-figure deal to acquire the Aclu doc “The Fight” out of the Sundance Film Festival, an individual with knowledge of the deal told TheWrap.

The documentary, directed by Elyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman and Eli Despres, premiered last Friday at the festival. Steinberg, Kriegman, Depres, Maya Seidler, Peggy Drexler and Kerry Washington produced. Sean McGing co-produced.

Matthew Perniciaro, Michael Sherman, Florence Sloan, Harry Sloan, Pilar Savone and Maria Zuckerman executive produced. Topic Studios produced the film and brought it to Sundance.

Also Read: Aclu Sues Trump's White House Over Transgender Military Ban

“The Fight” follows lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union, fighting to protect people’s civil liberties shortly after Donald Trump’s inaugurations. The Aclu launched a wave of lawsuits against the Trump administration.

CAA Media Finance and Submarine represented the film at the festival. This is Magnolia’s first deal out of the festival — last year,...

The fifth annual Final Girls Berlin Film Festival is coming up a month from now. The festival's purpose is to put horror films written directed, and/or produced by women and non-binary filmmakers in the spotlight. They have assembled another terrific lineup of projects including Swallow, Hail Satan?, Rock Paper Scissors and a double bill of 80s slasher Slumber Party Massacre and Sarah Jacobson's I Was A Teenage Serial Killer.    The fifth edition of Final Girls Berlin Film Festival will take place between February 6 - 9, 2020 at City Kino Wedding continuing to raise the bar by showcasing horror written directed, and/or produced by women and non-binary filmmakers.    Festival co-director Eli Lewy calls this year's festival edition the "most expansive and international yet, presenting...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

When director Penny Lane began filming “Hail Satan?,” she knew the title would confuse some people. But the film is not about devil worshippers — it’s about the political origins of the nontheistic religious group The Satanic Temple, and the activists in its membership who are trying to point out hypocrisy in American politics.

The group staged its first rally in 2013 in support of a bill signed by Florida Gov. Rick Scott that allows students to read self-chosen inspirational messages at school events without input from school administration. The group made national news yet again when it petitioned for a Baphomet statue to be erected at the Arkansas State Capitol near a statue of the Ten Commandments — again highlighting the lack of separation of church and state.

“The Baphomet campaign crystallized the movement in a way that was really kind of like, ‘we’re on track, this is who we are,...

The onslaught of best-of-the-year lists from guilds and critics groups have only just begun, but one of the few of genuine interest each year comes from a single person: the wonderfully eccentric director John Waters, whose eclectic tastes always includes a mix of the unexpected and underseen.

Topping his list this year is Gaspar Noé’s drug-fueled dance freak-out Climax. Also on his list is Bruno Dumont’s sequel to Waters’ #1 film of 2017, Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc, as well as the latest films from Quentin Tarantino and Pedro Almodóvar. As he already revealed, his love for Joker is present as is Penny Lane’s documentary on the Satanic Temple and Fatih Akin’s virtually universally reviled serial killer drama The Golden Glove. Curiously, the enchanting off-kilter fairy tale Border made the list, even though it came out last year.

Check out the list below courtesy of Art Forum,...