THR puts the spotlight on the best films from the festival circuit that have yet to land a U.S. distribution deal.
La Cocina
Directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios
Sales WME Independent, Fifth Season
From Anthony Bourdain giving American readers an inside look at the rock ’n’ roll restaurant industry in Kitchen Confidential to Nancy Meyers’ citrus-dotted white marble countertops in enviable home kitchens, modern American audiences have had an infatuation with cookery. Though previously largely reserved for the nonfiction space with entries like Bourdain’s No Reservations and Netflix’s operatic Chef’s Table, the narrative possibilities of the dark underbelly of back-of-house restaurant staff have began to emerge lately. The Bear, the anxiety-inducing FX series about a Chicago Italian beef joint, swept the Emmys in January and is poised to do the same this go-around. Enter director Ruizpalacios’ La Cocina. “Think The Bear on cocaine with a Red Bull chaser...
La Cocina
Directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios
Sales WME Independent, Fifth Season
From Anthony Bourdain giving American readers an inside look at the rock ’n’ roll restaurant industry in Kitchen Confidential to Nancy Meyers’ citrus-dotted white marble countertops in enviable home kitchens, modern American audiences have had an infatuation with cookery. Though previously largely reserved for the nonfiction space with entries like Bourdain’s No Reservations and Netflix’s operatic Chef’s Table, the narrative possibilities of the dark underbelly of back-of-house restaurant staff have began to emerge lately. The Bear, the anxiety-inducing FX series about a Chicago Italian beef joint, swept the Emmys in January and is poised to do the same this go-around. Enter director Ruizpalacios’ La Cocina. “Think The Bear on cocaine with a Red Bull chaser...
- 5/19/2024
- by Scott Roxborough and Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Mammoth Lakes Film Festival revealed its lineup for this year’s festival, taking place from May 22 – 26 at venues across Mammoth Lakes.
The festival will open with the California premiere of director Lucy Lawless’ “Never Look Away,” which follows a CNN combat camerawoman who gets injured and must find the strength to carry on. The closing night features “Black Box Diaries,” directed by Shiori Ito, who investigates her own sexual assault through the film.
A Short Films Program will also be featured at the festival, consisting of 38 narrative shorts, 20 documentary shorts, 10 animation shorts and a program of music videos and a screenplay competition.
The Mlff film lineup is as follows:
North American Narrative Features:
All I’ve Got and Then Some
Tehben Dean and Rasheed Stephens | United States
Atikamekw Suns
Chloé Leriche | Canada
Psykhodrame
Miles Blim | United States
The Last Night in the Life of Death
Isaiah Brody | United States...
The festival will open with the California premiere of director Lucy Lawless’ “Never Look Away,” which follows a CNN combat camerawoman who gets injured and must find the strength to carry on. The closing night features “Black Box Diaries,” directed by Shiori Ito, who investigates her own sexual assault through the film.
A Short Films Program will also be featured at the festival, consisting of 38 narrative shorts, 20 documentary shorts, 10 animation shorts and a program of music videos and a screenplay competition.
The Mlff film lineup is as follows:
North American Narrative Features:
All I’ve Got and Then Some
Tehben Dean and Rasheed Stephens | United States
Atikamekw Suns
Chloé Leriche | Canada
Psykhodrame
Miles Blim | United States
The Last Night in the Life of Death
Isaiah Brody | United States...
- 5/4/2024
- by Jazz Tangcay, Selena Kuznikov, Lexi Carson and Jack Dunn
- Variety Film + TV
Hot Docs is billed as North America’s largest documentary festival, conference and market and this year is offering up 168 films for its 31st edition running April 25-May 5 in Toronto.
It is opening with the international premiere of Luther: Never Too Much about R&b singer-songwriter and producer Luther Vandross.
Among the festival’s 51 world premieres this year are special presentations of Red Fever from Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond and Catherine Bainbridge, and The Ride Ahead from Samuel and Dan Habib.
The international competition includes the world premiere of Farming The Revolution from India and the international premiere of Ukrainian Sundance prize-winner Porcelain War.
It is opening with the international premiere of Luther: Never Too Much about R&b singer-songwriter and producer Luther Vandross.
Among the festival’s 51 world premieres this year are special presentations of Red Fever from Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond and Catherine Bainbridge, and The Ride Ahead from Samuel and Dan Habib.
The international competition includes the world premiere of Farming The Revolution from India and the international premiere of Ukrainian Sundance prize-winner Porcelain War.
- 4/25/2024
- ScreenDaily
Billed as North America’s largest documentary festival, conference and market, Hot Docs offers up 168 films for its 31st edition running April 25-May 5 in Toronto, opening with the international premiere of Luther: Never Too Much about R&b singer-songwriter and producer Luther Vandross.
Among the festival’s 51 world premieres this year are special presentations of Red Fever from Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond and Catherine Bainbridge, and The Ride Ahead from Samuel and Dan Habib.
The international competition includes the world premiere of Farming The Revolution from India and the international premiere of Ukrainian Sundance prize-winner Porcelain War.
This year’s Made In section highlights Spain,...
Among the festival’s 51 world premieres this year are special presentations of Red Fever from Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond and Catherine Bainbridge, and The Ride Ahead from Samuel and Dan Habib.
The international competition includes the world premiere of Farming The Revolution from India and the international premiere of Ukrainian Sundance prize-winner Porcelain War.
This year’s Made In section highlights Spain,...
- 4/25/2024
- ScreenDaily
Produced in collaboration with Documentary Campus, this year’s five-day Cph:conference featured a wide-ranging series of panels and conversations, diving in to everything from indigenous narratives to climate storytelling to the mind of Alex Gibney. Especially notable were the four mornings, Film:makers in Dialogue, all moderated by Wendy Mitchell (festival producer of Sundance London as well as a journalist for Screen International). In these sessions audiences were invited to listen in as the directors behind two films chose clips from each other’s work to engage with. One such pairing in particular proved both inspired and inspiring. Brett Story (The Hottest August, The […]
The post On Power and Solidarity : Brett Story and Yance Ford at Cph:dox 2024 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post On Power and Solidarity : Brett Story and Yance Ford at Cph:dox 2024 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 4/8/2024
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Produced in collaboration with Documentary Campus, this year’s five-day Cph:conference featured a wide-ranging series of panels and conversations, diving in to everything from indigenous narratives to climate storytelling to the mind of Alex Gibney. Especially notable were the four mornings, Film:makers in Dialogue, all moderated by Wendy Mitchell (festival producer of Sundance London as well as a journalist for Screen International). In these sessions audiences were invited to listen in as the directors behind two films chose clips from each other’s work to engage with. One such pairing in particular proved both inspired and inspiring. Brett Story (The Hottest August, The […]
The post On Power and Solidarity : Brett Story and Yance Ford at Cph:dox 2024 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post On Power and Solidarity : Brett Story and Yance Ford at Cph:dox 2024 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 4/8/2024
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Chris Smith’s “Devo” will open the ninth edition of Chicago’s Doc10 documentary film festival on May 2.
The film, which premiered at Sundance 2024, charts the life of the art-movement-turned-band Devo from Akron, Ohio, through archival footage of the band and candid sit-down interviews with band members. Smith follows the band on their journey from Dadaist, Kent State radicals to unlikely icons of 1980s MTV. Currently celebrating their 50 years of De-Evolution Tour, Devo band members will join Doc10 in a live, virtual Q&a moderated by Wxrt’s Marty Lennartz.
Doc10, a four-day fest running May 2-5, features a selection of 10 documentaries making their Chicago premieres along with a package of 10 prestigious documentary shorts. The fest is hosted by Chicago Media Project, a company that has generated more than $8.5 million in funding for documentary projects. Cmp has directly supported over 150 films including “Icarus,” “Crip Camp” and most recently “Gaucho, Gaucho,...
The film, which premiered at Sundance 2024, charts the life of the art-movement-turned-band Devo from Akron, Ohio, through archival footage of the band and candid sit-down interviews with band members. Smith follows the band on their journey from Dadaist, Kent State radicals to unlikely icons of 1980s MTV. Currently celebrating their 50 years of De-Evolution Tour, Devo band members will join Doc10 in a live, virtual Q&a moderated by Wxrt’s Marty Lennartz.
Doc10, a four-day fest running May 2-5, features a selection of 10 documentaries making their Chicago premieres along with a package of 10 prestigious documentary shorts. The fest is hosted by Chicago Media Project, a company that has generated more than $8.5 million in funding for documentary projects. Cmp has directly supported over 150 films including “Icarus,” “Crip Camp” and most recently “Gaucho, Gaucho,...
- 4/3/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Coming straight from Sundance with their respective buzzy docs “Power” – a Netflix Original – and “Union,” U.S. director/producer Yance Ford and his Canadian counterpart Brett Story delivered March 20 an empowering talk at Copenhagen’s “Film:makers in Dialogue” session, where they bounced ideas between each other about power structure in American society, capitalism, race and class divides from historical and contemporary perspectives.
“Power,” which was competing at Cph:dox for the Human Rights Award, is a forceful documentary essay on the origin of U.S. policing spanning 300 years, turning on its dynamics and impact on American society. “I’m interested in U.S. institutions, power, control in our society,” said Ford about his sophomore feature and follow up to his Academy Award-nominated “Strong Island,” acquired by Netflix for global distribution in 2017.
“After the George Floyd murder [in 2020], I saw the way the police was acting with unfiltered violence towards people protesting, and decided to step back.
“Power,” which was competing at Cph:dox for the Human Rights Award, is a forceful documentary essay on the origin of U.S. policing spanning 300 years, turning on its dynamics and impact on American society. “I’m interested in U.S. institutions, power, control in our society,” said Ford about his sophomore feature and follow up to his Academy Award-nominated “Strong Island,” acquired by Netflix for global distribution in 2017.
“After the George Floyd murder [in 2020], I saw the way the police was acting with unfiltered violence towards people protesting, and decided to step back.
- 3/22/2024
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (Cph:Dox) has unveiled the line-ups for its five competitive sections for its 2024 edition. All films in the main Dox:Award competition are world premieres for the second successive year.
Scroll down for the full list of competition titles
Titles in that section include Alessandra Celesia’s The Flats, a France-uk-Ireland-Belgium co-production about Belfast youngsters accessing their memories of the Troubles. Belfast-based Italian filmmaker Celesia has previously made documentaries including 2017’s Anatomy Of A Miracle, which played at Locarno.
The 12-strong Dox:Award competition also includes Manon Ouimet and Jacob Perlmutter’s UK title Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other,...
Scroll down for the full list of competition titles
Titles in that section include Alessandra Celesia’s The Flats, a France-uk-Ireland-Belgium co-production about Belfast youngsters accessing their memories of the Troubles. Belfast-based Italian filmmaker Celesia has previously made documentaries including 2017’s Anatomy Of A Miracle, which played at Locarno.
The 12-strong Dox:Award competition also includes Manon Ouimet and Jacob Perlmutter’s UK title Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other,...
- 2/15/2024
- ScreenDaily
Chris Smalls has all the makings of a hero. Young, charismatic and sympathetically rebellious, he quits his job at a New York Amazon warehouse over inadequate PPE provision, but doesn’t walk away: Instead, he launches an effort to establish a labor union at his former workplace, eager to improve conditions for those staying the course. It would be easy to build a halo-lit documentary portrait around this handsome, rabble-rousing father of three, but Brett Story and Stephen Maing’s excellent “Union” is something more finely shaded and community-minded than that. As a long-view anatomy of a unionization campaign, the film may be galvanized by Smalls’ presence at its center, but it’s rather less idealistic about the human politics involved in fighting corporations. Strong personalities inspire but they also divide; keeping everyone on side against a faceless foe is harder than Hollywood makes it look.
“Union” is no Hollywood film,...
“Union” is no Hollywood film,...
- 1/29/2024
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
The new Sundance documentary “Union” puts a spotlight on the extreme anti-union tactics employed by Amazon as it tries to quash a historic labor organizing effort at its Staten Island warehouse.
Directed by Brett Story and Stephen Maing, the film chronicles the struggle of the grassroots Amazon Labor Union (Alu) as it attempts to unionize the JFK8 Amazon facility. Alu president Chris Smalls joined the directors to talk to TheWrap executive editor Adam Chitwood, where they discussed Amazon’s aggressive efforts to undermine the union drive.
“It shows how Amazon and the NYPD work together,” Smalls said at TheWrap’s Sundance Portrait and Interview Studio presented by Nfp, referring to his on-camera arrest captured in the film. “It shows how policing is used to create fear and doubt, and not just to unionize. When you’re going up against corporations, someone being arrested that’s leading a movement will create...
Directed by Brett Story and Stephen Maing, the film chronicles the struggle of the grassroots Amazon Labor Union (Alu) as it attempts to unionize the JFK8 Amazon facility. Alu president Chris Smalls joined the directors to talk to TheWrap executive editor Adam Chitwood, where they discussed Amazon’s aggressive efforts to undermine the union drive.
“It shows how Amazon and the NYPD work together,” Smalls said at TheWrap’s Sundance Portrait and Interview Studio presented by Nfp, referring to his on-camera arrest captured in the film. “It shows how policing is used to create fear and doubt, and not just to unionize. When you’re going up against corporations, someone being arrested that’s leading a movement will create...
- 1/26/2024
- by Umberto Gonzalez
- The Wrap
Sundance announced its winners on Friday morning, with Alessandra Lacorazza’s In The Summers took the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and Brendan Bellomo’s Porcelain War the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary.
Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s A New Kind Of Wilderness won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, while Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez earned the corresponding world cinema dramatic prize for Sujo.
The pair collaborated as writers on the 2020 World Cinema – Dramatic prize winner Identifying Features directed by Valadez.
The Festival Favorite Award went to Daughters by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae, whose film also...
Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s A New Kind Of Wilderness won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, while Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez earned the corresponding world cinema dramatic prize for Sujo.
The pair collaborated as writers on the 2020 World Cinema – Dramatic prize winner Identifying Features directed by Valadez.
The Festival Favorite Award went to Daughters by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae, whose film also...
- 1/26/2024
- ScreenDaily
Sundance announced its winners on Friday morning, with Alessandra Lacorazza’s In The Summers took the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and Brendan Bellomo’s Porcelain War the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary.
Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s A New Kind Of Wilderness won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, while Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez earned the corresponding world cinema dramatic prize for Sujo.
The pair collaborated as writers on the 2020 World Cinema – Dramatic prize winner Identifying Features directed by Valadez.
The Festival Favorite Award went to Daughters by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae, whose film also...
Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s A New Kind Of Wilderness won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, while Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez earned the corresponding world cinema dramatic prize for Sujo.
The pair collaborated as writers on the 2020 World Cinema – Dramatic prize winner Identifying Features directed by Valadez.
The Festival Favorite Award went to Daughters by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae, whose film also...
- 1/26/2024
- ScreenDaily
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival awards were announced today at The Ray Theatre in Park City, Utah.
See the list of 2024 winners below, and congrats to all the winners.
Festival Favorite Award
Daughters (USA) – Angela Patton and Natalie Rae
U.S. Dramatic Competition
Grand Jury Prize
In the Summers (USA) – Alessandra Lacorazza
Directing Award
In the Summers (USA) – Alessandra Lacorazza
The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg
Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance
Suncoast (USA) – Nico Parker
Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble
Dìdi – Sean Wang
Audience Award
Dìdi – Sean Wang
U.S. Documentary Competition
Grand Jury Prize
Porcelain War – Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev
Directing Award
Sugarcane – Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie
Special Jury Award for Sound
Gaucho Gaucho (USA, Argentina) – Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw
Special Jury Award for The Art of Change
Union (USA) – Stephen Maing and Brett Story
Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award
Frida...
See the list of 2024 winners below, and congrats to all the winners.
Festival Favorite Award
Daughters (USA) – Angela Patton and Natalie Rae
U.S. Dramatic Competition
Grand Jury Prize
In the Summers (USA) – Alessandra Lacorazza
Directing Award
In the Summers (USA) – Alessandra Lacorazza
The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg
Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance
Suncoast (USA) – Nico Parker
Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble
Dìdi – Sean Wang
Audience Award
Dìdi – Sean Wang
U.S. Documentary Competition
Grand Jury Prize
Porcelain War – Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev
Directing Award
Sugarcane – Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie
Special Jury Award for Sound
Gaucho Gaucho (USA, Argentina) – Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw
Special Jury Award for The Art of Change
Union (USA) – Stephen Maing and Brett Story
Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award
Frida...
- 1/26/2024
- by Prem
- Talking Films
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival winners are in, with films like “In the Summers,” “Didi,” and “Daughters” dominating across the categories. “In the Summers” filmmaker Alessandra Lacorazza, whose film centers on a fractured family in New Mexico, also won the Directing prize in U.S. Dramatic.
On Friday, January 26, the winners of juried prizes were shared out of the competition sections, including the U.S. Dramatic Competition, U.S. Documentary Competition, World Cinema Dramatic Competition, World Cinema Documentary Competition, and the Next lineup.
The 2024 Sundance jury consisted of 16 filmmakers and artists across all sections, with the U.S. Dramatic Competition jury made up of “Winter’s Bone” director/co-writer Debra Granik, “Shortcomings” screenwriter Adrian Tomine, and “Master of None” producer Lena Waithe.
“Navalny” producer Shane Boris, “The Disappearance of Shere Hite” director Nicole Newnham, and “The Sentence” director Rudy Valdez serve on the U.S. Documentary Competition jury, with “The Babadook” director Jennifer Kent,...
On Friday, January 26, the winners of juried prizes were shared out of the competition sections, including the U.S. Dramatic Competition, U.S. Documentary Competition, World Cinema Dramatic Competition, World Cinema Documentary Competition, and the Next lineup.
The 2024 Sundance jury consisted of 16 filmmakers and artists across all sections, with the U.S. Dramatic Competition jury made up of “Winter’s Bone” director/co-writer Debra Granik, “Shortcomings” screenwriter Adrian Tomine, and “Master of None” producer Lena Waithe.
“Navalny” producer Shane Boris, “The Disappearance of Shere Hite” director Nicole Newnham, and “The Sentence” director Rudy Valdez serve on the U.S. Documentary Competition jury, with “The Babadook” director Jennifer Kent,...
- 1/26/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson and Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Exclusive: The Ford Foundation is coming through for documentary filmmakers in a big way.
Today, the nonprofit philanthropic institution announced its latest round of grants under the foundation’s JustFilms division — $4.2 million that will go to support “59 innovative film projects centered on social justice globally and in the United States.”
Among the recipients are Union, the film directed by Stephen Maing and Brett Story that just held its world premiere at Sundance, and fellow Sundance premiere The Battle for Laikipia, directed by Daphne Matziaraki and Peter Murimi. Union, about the battle to unionize an Amazon facility on Staten Island, New York, is in U.S. Documentary Competition at Sundance. The Battle for Laikipia, in World Cinema Documentary Competition at the festival, examines “a generations-old conflict between Indigenous pastoralists and white landowners in Laikipia, Kenya, a wildlife conservation haven.” Roger Ross Williams and Toni Kamau are among the producers of Laikipia.
Today, the nonprofit philanthropic institution announced its latest round of grants under the foundation’s JustFilms division — $4.2 million that will go to support “59 innovative film projects centered on social justice globally and in the United States.”
Among the recipients are Union, the film directed by Stephen Maing and Brett Story that just held its world premiere at Sundance, and fellow Sundance premiere The Battle for Laikipia, directed by Daphne Matziaraki and Peter Murimi. Union, about the battle to unionize an Amazon facility on Staten Island, New York, is in U.S. Documentary Competition at Sundance. The Battle for Laikipia, in World Cinema Documentary Competition at the festival, examines “a generations-old conflict between Indigenous pastoralists and white landowners in Laikipia, Kenya, a wildlife conservation haven.” Roger Ross Williams and Toni Kamau are among the producers of Laikipia.
- 1/25/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Stephen Maing and Brett Story’s tough and gripping new film about the fight to unionize the workers of an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island might be an observational documentary at heart, but this in-the-trenches portrait of grassroots organizing doesn’t leave any doubt as to whose side it’s on. Indeed, few movies have ever screamed “fuck you, pay me!” louder than “Union” does with its opening frames, which use footage of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos blasting into space aboard his self-financed — and unmistakably phallic — rocketship to set the stage for the struggle he’s avoiding back on Earth. Watching a mega-billionaire overcompensate on an interstellar scale would be damning regardless, but in this context it makes it that much easier to appreciate how cruelly his business empire is undercompensating all of the people who keep it in the black.
Of course, the film’s sympathies go without saying; if you want pro-Amazon propaganda,...
Of course, the film’s sympathies go without saying; if you want pro-Amazon propaganda,...
- 1/22/2024
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Union, premiering at this year’s Sundance film festival, shows the workers trying to organize for better treatment and the company’s attempts to fight them
A new documentary on the formation of the Amazon Labor Union – the first union at America’s second-largest employer and one of the most significant organized labor victories in decades – premiered on Sunday at the Sundance Film Festival, a major distribution festival at which Amazon will be bidding.
Union, directed by Brett Story and Stephen Laing, tracks the Amazon Labor Union (Alu) from its early organizing efforts at the JFK8 warehouse on New York’s Staten Island in spring 2021, through a contentious vote to establish the union in April 2022. The approval by a two-thirds majority, considered a watershed victory in the nascent new labor movement, made JFK8 the first unionized Amazon workplace. The mega-corporation, which currently employs 1.5 million people in the United States, disputed the terms of the election.
A new documentary on the formation of the Amazon Labor Union – the first union at America’s second-largest employer and one of the most significant organized labor victories in decades – premiered on Sunday at the Sundance Film Festival, a major distribution festival at which Amazon will be bidding.
Union, directed by Brett Story and Stephen Laing, tracks the Amazon Labor Union (Alu) from its early organizing efforts at the JFK8 warehouse on New York’s Staten Island in spring 2021, through a contentious vote to establish the union in April 2022. The approval by a two-thirds majority, considered a watershed victory in the nascent new labor movement, made JFK8 the first unionized Amazon workplace. The mega-corporation, which currently employs 1.5 million people in the United States, disputed the terms of the election.
- 1/22/2024
- by Adrian Horton
- The Guardian - Film News
There’s a simple David vs. Goliath story at the heart of Chris Smalls’ multi-year fight to unionize Amazon workers in Staten Island during the Covid pandemic. It’s a satisfying tale of one man taking on the wealthiest company in the world, and in broad strokes it’s an accurate story — hence the way it has generally been reported in news coverage and deep dives in places like Last Week Tonight.
I’m tremendously relieved that that’s not the version Stephen Maing and Brett Story present in their new documentary, Union.
Without devaluing the heroism of Smalls’ crusade or underselling the general inhumanity of Amazon’s treatment of its lowest-level workers, Union sets out to be something closer to a warts-and-all process documentary. Using unobtrusive direct cinema techniques, the documentary takes us inside the fledgling union, capturing the frustration and elation of trying to do the right thing in an impossible historical moment.
I’m tremendously relieved that that’s not the version Stephen Maing and Brett Story present in their new documentary, Union.
Without devaluing the heroism of Smalls’ crusade or underselling the general inhumanity of Amazon’s treatment of its lowest-level workers, Union sets out to be something closer to a warts-and-all process documentary. Using unobtrusive direct cinema techniques, the documentary takes us inside the fledgling union, capturing the frustration and elation of trying to do the right thing in an impossible historical moment.
- 1/22/2024
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Stephen Maing and Brett Story’s unsurprisingly riveting Union is the one Sundance selection most assuredly not coming to Prime Video anytime soon — or ever. As its title succinctly implies, the film follows a group of very brave, and admirably unrelenting, activist-workers in their fight to unionize a Staten Island warehouse known as JFK8 back in 2021. […]
The post “The Good, Bad and Ugly of Organizing Against Amazon’”: Stephen Maing and Brett Story on their Sundance-debuting Union first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “The Good, Bad and Ugly of Organizing Against Amazon’”: Stephen Maing and Brett Story on their Sundance-debuting Union first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/22/2024
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Stephen Maing and Brett Story’s unsurprisingly riveting Union is the one Sundance selection most assuredly not coming to Prime Video anytime soon — or ever. As its title succinctly implies, the film follows a group of very brave, and admirably unrelenting, activist-workers in their fight to unionize a Staten Island warehouse known as JFK8 back in 2021. […]
The post “The Good, Bad and Ugly of Organizing Against Amazon’”: Stephen Maing and Brett Story on their Sundance-debuting Union first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “The Good, Bad and Ugly of Organizing Against Amazon’”: Stephen Maing and Brett Story on their Sundance-debuting Union first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/22/2024
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
A raw examination of labor organization at its most powerful, pure, and fragile, “Union” is a look at union drama uncut and without any guardrails. Verité to a fault, directors Stephen Maing and Brett Story present the documentary with a detached remove that isn’t matched by the framing of the central conflict, and yet morsels of true inspiration still manage to tumble forth. Inspiring on purpose and insightful in spite of itself, “Union” sort of backs its way into a compelling story.
Continue reading ‘Union’ Review: Ultra Verité Labor Doc Swerves Away From Greatness, Settles Instead for Good [Sundance] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Union’ Review: Ultra Verité Labor Doc Swerves Away From Greatness, Settles Instead for Good [Sundance] at The Playlist.
- 1/21/2024
- by Warren Cantrell
- The Playlist
Amazon Labor Union (Alu) president Chris Smalls is not the star of the documentary Union. He is just one part of the congregation in Brett Story and Stephen Maing’s co-directed film. An early glimpse of Smalls finds him discreetly flipping burgers and hot dogs at a grill. It took an employee to ask Smalls if he’s the “low-key famous” Smalls for the leader to list his media recognitions. He doesn’t want clout for his union organizing, but rather to be known for making laborers heard, enabling a better society for his children and comrades, and proving to white executives that he can manage a flock in his distinguished streetwear outfits.
The examination of the Alu at Amazon’s Staten Island headquarters, JFK8, is a dream subject of interest for Story and Maing, whose past work has concerned reform. Union traces the intimate, intense vérité approach of being...
The examination of the Alu at Amazon’s Staten Island headquarters, JFK8, is a dream subject of interest for Story and Maing, whose past work has concerned reform. Union traces the intimate, intense vérité approach of being...
- 1/21/2024
- by Edward Frumkin
- The Film Stage
In “Union,” documentary filmmakers Brett Story and Stephen Maing follow the Amazon Labor Union (Alu), a group of current and former Amazon workers as they attempt to unionize Amazon employees working at a facility in Staten Island, N.Y. The directing duo chronicles just how excruciatingly hard it is to form a workers’ union in America — especially at Amazon. The 102-minute doc captures Alu members, who feel disenfranchised and powerless, as they try to build support for their movement while facing the unlimited resources and influence of a corporate giant. From offering free pizza and cannabis to making calls to all 8,000 Amazon employees working at the Staten Island facility, the film intimately documents Alu’s fierce dedication to making a change.
Variety spoke to Story and Maing ahead of the premiere of “Union” on Sunday.
In the film an Alu member records a meeting that takes place within the Staten Island facility.
Variety spoke to Story and Maing ahead of the premiere of “Union” on Sunday.
In the film an Alu member records a meeting that takes place within the Staten Island facility.
- 1/21/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
In March of 2020, Amazon fired Chris Smalls, an employee who led a walkout at its Staten Island, New York, warehouse known as JFK8 over pandemic working conditions. A memo that later was leaked to Vice News revealed that an Amazon executive dismissed Smalls as “not smart or articulate” in a strategy meeting with Jeff Bezos. But just as the tech giant was writing Smalls off, some documentary filmmakers saw in the labor organizer a compelling character at the center of a timely story about the modern workforce.
Nearly four years later, their movie, Union, which will premiere Jan. 21 at Sundance as an acquisitions title, depicts the formation of the Smalls-led Amazon Labor Union (Alu). “I thought, well, here’s an opportunity to film something from the ground up,” says Brett Story, who directs Union together with Stephen Maing. “From the very beginning, we said to this group of people, ‘We...
Nearly four years later, their movie, Union, which will premiere Jan. 21 at Sundance as an acquisitions title, depicts the formation of the Smalls-led Amazon Labor Union (Alu). “I thought, well, here’s an opportunity to film something from the ground up,” says Brett Story, who directs Union together with Stephen Maing. “From the very beginning, we said to this group of people, ‘We...
- 1/20/2024
- by Rebecca Keegan
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Award-winning nonfiction filmmaker and writer Brett Story has signed with CAA ahead of the world premiere of her latest documentary, “Union.”
Story co-directed the feature with Stephen Maing about the Amazon Labor Union (Alu), a group of current and former Amazon workers in New York City’s Staten Island, as they take on one of the world’s largest and most powerful companies in a fight to unionize.
“Union” will make its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 21 in the U.S. Documentary competition.
The Toronto-based filmmaker and writer’s breakout film, 2016’s “The Prison in Twelve Landscapes,” was awarded the special jury prize at Hot Docs Documentary Festival and garnered a best feature documentary nomination at the Canadian Screen Awards, while her 2019 documentary “The Hottest August” was a New York Times Critics’ Pick. Also in 2019, Story authored the book “Prison Land: Mapping Carceral Power Across Neoliberal...
Story co-directed the feature with Stephen Maing about the Amazon Labor Union (Alu), a group of current and former Amazon workers in New York City’s Staten Island, as they take on one of the world’s largest and most powerful companies in a fight to unionize.
“Union” will make its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 21 in the U.S. Documentary competition.
The Toronto-based filmmaker and writer’s breakout film, 2016’s “The Prison in Twelve Landscapes,” was awarded the special jury prize at Hot Docs Documentary Festival and garnered a best feature documentary nomination at the Canadian Screen Awards, while her 2019 documentary “The Hottest August” was a New York Times Critics’ Pick. Also in 2019, Story authored the book “Prison Land: Mapping Carceral Power Across Neoliberal...
- 1/17/2024
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSNotebook readers, rejoice—the Mubi Shop has launched anew in the US and UK, and you can finally broadcast your love for the world’s sharpest international film criticism via this stylish, crisply screen-printed Notebook tote bag, featuring a clapperboard calligram design. Also in the store is a Cannes Film Festival–themed print by Dutch artist and cartoonist Joost Swarte, which was commissioned for our limited-edition print broadsheet issue of Notebook, distributed in Cannes.Sundance announced its lineup last week, including new films from Jane Schoenbrun, Steven Soderbergh, Debra Granik, Yance Ford, Brett Story, and more. This will be the first Sundance under the directorship of Eugene Hernandez, formerly of Film at Lincoln Center.Keep that winter coat handy—the Berlinale has announced that Lupita Nyong’o will lead the jury.
- 12/13/2023
- MUBI
Exhibiting Forgiveness.The Sundance Institute has announced the films selected for their 2024 Festival, which will take place January 18-28, 2024, in person in Utah. A selection of the films are available online across the U.S. from January 25-28.U.S. Dramatic COMPETITIONBetween the Temples (Nathan Silver): A cantor in a crisis of faith finds his world turned upside down when his grade school music teacher reenters his life as his new adult bat mitzvah student. World Premiere. DìDi (弟弟) (Sean Wang): In 2008, during the last month of summer before high school begins, an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy learns what his family can’t teach him: how to skate, how to flirt, and how to love your mom. World Premiere. Exhibiting Forgiveness (Titus Kaphar): Utilizing his paintings to find freedom from his past, a Black artist on the path to success is derailed by an unexpected visit from his estranged father,...
- 12/13/2023
- MUBI
Documentary lovers are digesting the announcement of the Sundance nonfiction lineup, a slate of films certain to factor in awards conversation into next Oscar season.
“I think there’s a lot of discoveries in there,” Sundance Senior Nonfiction Programmer Basil Tsiokos says of the lineup revealed on Wednesday. “It’s a nice blend of new filmmakers and alumni, lots of different kinds of approaches to filmmaking… There’s biodocs, but there’s also films that are political. There’s films that are dealing with the environment. There’s lots of other things happening, so it’s a nice mix we think.”
Will Ferrell and Harper Steele ‘in Will & Harper’
Among the most eye-popping titles are Will & Harper, Josh Greenbaum’s nonfiction road movie about comedian Will Ferrell and Harper Steele, his close friend of 30 years who came out as trans. “The two decide to embark on a cross-country...
“I think there’s a lot of discoveries in there,” Sundance Senior Nonfiction Programmer Basil Tsiokos says of the lineup revealed on Wednesday. “It’s a nice blend of new filmmakers and alumni, lots of different kinds of approaches to filmmaking… There’s biodocs, but there’s also films that are political. There’s films that are dealing with the environment. There’s lots of other things happening, so it’s a nice mix we think.”
Will Ferrell and Harper Steele ‘in Will & Harper’
Among the most eye-popping titles are Will & Harper, Josh Greenbaum’s nonfiction road movie about comedian Will Ferrell and Harper Steele, his close friend of 30 years who came out as trans. “The two decide to embark on a cross-country...
- 12/8/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Providing our first glimpse at the next year in cinema, the 2024 Sundance Film Festival has unveiled its lineup of 82 films, eight episodic titles, and New Frontier interactive experiences. Taking place January 18–28, 2024, in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, with a selection of titles available online nationwide from January 25–28, 2024, the festival celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.
Notable highlights in this year’s edition includes Steven Soderbergh’s new Lucy Liu-led feature Presence, Rose Glass’ Love Lies Bleeding starring Kristen Stewart, Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s Freaky Tales starring Pedro Pascal, the Zellners’ Sasquatch Sunset, Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man, Handling the Undead starring Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie, the Saoirse Ronan-led The Outrun, Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain, Nathan Silver’s Between the Temples starring Jason Schwartzman, Brett Story and Stephan Maing’s Amazon Labor Union documentary Union,...
Notable highlights in this year’s edition includes Steven Soderbergh’s new Lucy Liu-led feature Presence, Rose Glass’ Love Lies Bleeding starring Kristen Stewart, Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s Freaky Tales starring Pedro Pascal, the Zellners’ Sasquatch Sunset, Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man, Handling the Undead starring Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie, the Saoirse Ronan-led The Outrun, Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain, Nathan Silver’s Between the Temples starring Jason Schwartzman, Brett Story and Stephan Maing’s Amazon Labor Union documentary Union,...
- 12/6/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
It’ll be highly likely that we’ll be talking about these docu films by the end of 2024 – as the cream of the crop easily rises to the top. We find the likes of docu helmers we like in Michael Dweck, Jeff Zimbalist, Stephen Maing & Brett Story returning to the fest with their latest films. Here is the batch of ten!
As We Speak / U.S.A. — Bronx rap artist Kemba explores the growing weaponization of rap lyrics in the United States criminal justice system and abroad — revealing how law enforcement has quietly used artistic creation as evidence in criminal cases for decades.…...
As We Speak / U.S.A. — Bronx rap artist Kemba explores the growing weaponization of rap lyrics in the United States criminal justice system and abroad — revealing how law enforcement has quietly used artistic creation as evidence in criminal cases for decades.…...
- 12/6/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Seven filmmakers will benefit from one of the most generous grants in the documentary field, as the North Points Institute today announced the recipients of the inaugural Diane Weyermann Fellowships.
The fellowship, named for the late Participant executive and producer who championed the careers of many leading documentary filmmakers and their work, will provide $100,000 and 18 months of mentorship to each of three nonfiction projects and their filmmaking teams.
“The three supported projects were chosen out of 401 submissions from 70 countries, through a 6-month selection process that included the Points North curatorial team and a jury of veteran filmmakers and programmers,” according to a release. “The projects include: The Last Nomads, directed and produced by Biljana Tutorov, co-directed by Petar Glomazić, and co-produced by Quentin Laurent, Rok Bicek and Eva Kuperman. The film is a co-production of Serbia, Montenegro, France, Slovenia, Belgium, and Croatia; The Production of the World, a co-production of Canada and USA,...
The fellowship, named for the late Participant executive and producer who championed the careers of many leading documentary filmmakers and their work, will provide $100,000 and 18 months of mentorship to each of three nonfiction projects and their filmmaking teams.
“The three supported projects were chosen out of 401 submissions from 70 countries, through a 6-month selection process that included the Points North curatorial team and a jury of veteran filmmakers and programmers,” according to a release. “The projects include: The Last Nomads, directed and produced by Biljana Tutorov, co-directed by Petar Glomazić, and co-produced by Quentin Laurent, Rok Bicek and Eva Kuperman. The film is a co-production of Serbia, Montenegro, France, Slovenia, Belgium, and Croatia; The Production of the World, a co-production of Canada and USA,...
- 9/16/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Three documentaries have been selected to to participate in the inaugural Diane Weyermann fellowship program, which will kick off Sept. 15 at Maine’s 19th edition of the Camden Intl. Film Festival.
The projects are: “The Last Nomads,” a co-production of Serbia, Montenegro and France, directed and produced by Biljana Tutorov, co-directed by Petar Glomazić, and co-produced by Quentin Laurent; “The Production of the World,” a co-production of Canada and USA, directed by Brett Story and produced by Jeff Reichert; and “Untitled Project,” a production of India, directed and produced by Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya.
Each doc will receive $100,000 in unrestricted grants plus 18 months of creative support through retreats and mentorship via Ciff’s Points North Institute, the non-fiction creative hub based in Camden, Maine.
The fellowship was established to honor Weyermann, the former chief content officer at Participant and former director of the Sundance Institute’s documentary film program.
The projects are: “The Last Nomads,” a co-production of Serbia, Montenegro and France, directed and produced by Biljana Tutorov, co-directed by Petar Glomazić, and co-produced by Quentin Laurent; “The Production of the World,” a co-production of Canada and USA, directed by Brett Story and produced by Jeff Reichert; and “Untitled Project,” a production of India, directed and produced by Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya.
Each doc will receive $100,000 in unrestricted grants plus 18 months of creative support through retreats and mentorship via Ciff’s Points North Institute, the non-fiction creative hub based in Camden, Maine.
The fellowship was established to honor Weyermann, the former chief content officer at Participant and former director of the Sundance Institute’s documentary film program.
- 9/16/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Cannes Docs, the Cannes Film Market event dedicated to documentary film, brought together an expert industry panel to discuss the place of creative documentary in the fast-changing audiovisual market, where words like “content” and “format” are increasingly replacing “film” and “language.”
Joining Dae co-founder Brigid O’Shea on stage for the May 21 talk were Emilie Bujès, artistic director of Swiss international doc film fest Visions du Réel (VdR); Edo Choi, associate curator of film at the NYC Museum of the Moving Image; and Ryan Krivoshey, president and founder of distribution company Grasshopper Film.
Kicking off the conversation, the question of what defines a creative doc was thrown up by O’Shea, who joked about the “dirty reputation” of experimental films.
Choi pointed out that while notions such as experimental, avant-garde, cinéma vérité or underground have a particular historic meaning that stems from generic forms born in the 1960s, which are now...
Joining Dae co-founder Brigid O’Shea on stage for the May 21 talk were Emilie Bujès, artistic director of Swiss international doc film fest Visions du Réel (VdR); Edo Choi, associate curator of film at the NYC Museum of the Moving Image; and Ryan Krivoshey, president and founder of distribution company Grasshopper Film.
Kicking off the conversation, the question of what defines a creative doc was thrown up by O’Shea, who joked about the “dirty reputation” of experimental films.
Choi pointed out that while notions such as experimental, avant-garde, cinéma vérité or underground have a particular historic meaning that stems from generic forms born in the 1960s, which are now...
- 5/24/2023
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
The Sundance Institute has announced this year’s grantees for the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund, with a total of 1,396,500 in unrestricted grant support bestowed upon 35 projects.
“As we celebrate the Dfp’s 20th anniversary, it’s an exceptional achievement that Sundance has been able to provide documentary filmmakers robust and sustained financial support, from development through post-production, for two decades,” said Carrie Lozano, director of the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program. “Thanks to our incredible funders, supporters, staff, and external reviewers, the Documentary Fund has been able to realize its top priorities during a tumultuous time: supporting underrepresented stories, directors and producers; providing much needed resources to urgent international projects; and elevating human rights and social, civic and environmental justice, all while foregrounding bold and artistic approaches. I am constantly amazed by the breadth and depth of our grantees.”
This year’s grant recipients have roots in 31 countries, with...
“As we celebrate the Dfp’s 20th anniversary, it’s an exceptional achievement that Sundance has been able to provide documentary filmmakers robust and sustained financial support, from development through post-production, for two decades,” said Carrie Lozano, director of the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program. “Thanks to our incredible funders, supporters, staff, and external reviewers, the Documentary Fund has been able to realize its top priorities during a tumultuous time: supporting underrepresented stories, directors and producers; providing much needed resources to urgent international projects; and elevating human rights and social, civic and environmental justice, all while foregrounding bold and artistic approaches. I am constantly amazed by the breadth and depth of our grantees.”
This year’s grant recipients have roots in 31 countries, with...
- 10/6/2022
- by Michaela Zee
- Variety Film + TV
Previously supported projects have included American Factory, Collective, Fire Of Love, The Mole Agent.
Projects from Armenia, Chile, Uganda and Palestine are among grantees of the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund, which in the 20th anniversary year of the Documentary Film Program (Dfp) has made 1.4m available in unrestricted grant support to 35 projects.
Of the recipients, five are in development, 15 in production, 10 in post, and the filmmakers behind five are actively pursuing support for audience engagement and social impact campaigns.
Some 57 of the current cycle’s submissions hail from outside the US. Among the 14 US films receiving support, all are directed...
Projects from Armenia, Chile, Uganda and Palestine are among grantees of the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund, which in the 20th anniversary year of the Documentary Film Program (Dfp) has made 1.4m available in unrestricted grant support to 35 projects.
Of the recipients, five are in development, 15 in production, 10 in post, and the filmmakers behind five are actively pursuing support for audience engagement and social impact campaigns.
Some 57 of the current cycle’s submissions hail from outside the US. Among the 14 US films receiving support, all are directed...
- 10/4/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Eleven documentary projects from six countries have been selected for the Intl. Documentary Assn.’s annual Enterprise Documentary Fund Production Grant.
Selected from 248 applicants, the 15 directors behind the 11 docus will receive a total of 600,000 in production grants.
Established in 2017, the IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund supports in-depth explorations of original, contemporary stories that integrate journalistic practice into the filmmaking process. The fund is financially supported by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, with additional support from the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation. In its six-year history, the fund has given over 4.5 million in grant money to nonfiction filmmakers.
The 11 selected projects are currently in production in six countries: Armenia, Ethiopia, India, Japan, Russia and the United States. Of the 15 directors behind the docs, 70 are filmmakers of color, 70 are women or gender-non-conforming filmmakers, and 40 identify as members of the LGBTQ community.
The docus explore various topics, including the climate crisis, Japan’s antiquated rape laws and institutions,...
Selected from 248 applicants, the 15 directors behind the 11 docus will receive a total of 600,000 in production grants.
Established in 2017, the IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund supports in-depth explorations of original, contemporary stories that integrate journalistic practice into the filmmaking process. The fund is financially supported by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, with additional support from the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation. In its six-year history, the fund has given over 4.5 million in grant money to nonfiction filmmakers.
The 11 selected projects are currently in production in six countries: Armenia, Ethiopia, India, Japan, Russia and the United States. Of the 15 directors behind the docs, 70 are filmmakers of color, 70 are women or gender-non-conforming filmmakers, and 40 identify as members of the LGBTQ community.
The docus explore various topics, including the climate crisis, Japan’s antiquated rape laws and institutions,...
- 9/23/2022
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
“The Queendom,” one of 20 projects presented at Hot Docs’ marquee market event, the Forum, has won the First Look first prize of Can. 25,000 cash, one of three pitch prizes announced Thursday at the festival.
The documentary and science-fiction hybrid—about three Indigenous scientists, all women, who decide to partner with mushrooms to fight for their territories—is directed by Otilia Portillo and produced by Paula Arroio Sandoval for Mexico’s Oscura Producciones S.A. de C.V. Elena Fortes is executive producer.
Second prize and Can. 15,000 was awarded to “A Woman’s Path,” about a woman who is betrayed by her family and forced to leave her nomadic life with the Bakhtiari tribe. The documentary is directed by Marjan Khosravi; its producers are Milad Khosravi and Stephanie Von Lukowicz for Seven Spring Pictures (Iran) and Lukimedia (Spain).
Hot Docs’ First Look is a curated access program for philanthropic investors in...
The documentary and science-fiction hybrid—about three Indigenous scientists, all women, who decide to partner with mushrooms to fight for their territories—is directed by Otilia Portillo and produced by Paula Arroio Sandoval for Mexico’s Oscura Producciones S.A. de C.V. Elena Fortes is executive producer.
Second prize and Can. 15,000 was awarded to “A Woman’s Path,” about a woman who is betrayed by her family and forced to leave her nomadic life with the Bakhtiari tribe. The documentary is directed by Marjan Khosravi; its producers are Milad Khosravi and Stephanie Von Lukowicz for Seven Spring Pictures (Iran) and Lukimedia (Spain).
Hot Docs’ First Look is a curated access program for philanthropic investors in...
- 5/5/2022
- by Jennie Punter
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: NBCU Academy and NBC News’ documentary division, NBC News Studios, have set Damon Davis (Chain of Rocks), Stephanie Wang-Breal (Florence from Ohio), Eric Juhola (The Queer Beat), Set Hernandez Rongkilyo (unseen), Brett Story and Stephen Maing (Untitled Labor Union Documentary), and Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and Joe Peeler (Untitled Muscogee Nation Documentary) as the participants for their second annual Original Voices fellowship.
The program looks to support documentarians with projects in all stages of development, who identify as or—showcase stories highlighting social issues affecting—women, LGBTQ+, people with color, or people with disabilities. Each of the six filmmakers selected will receive a 60,000 grant, as well as the one-year artist development fellowship, designed to help them with the completion of their films. Fellows will also have access to archival research and production resources, as well as executives and journalists across NBC News Studios and the NBCUniversal News Group. NBCU News Group...
The program looks to support documentarians with projects in all stages of development, who identify as or—showcase stories highlighting social issues affecting—women, LGBTQ+, people with color, or people with disabilities. Each of the six filmmakers selected will receive a 60,000 grant, as well as the one-year artist development fellowship, designed to help them with the completion of their films. Fellows will also have access to archival research and production resources, as well as executives and journalists across NBC News Studios and the NBCUniversal News Group. NBCU News Group...
- 4/11/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Twenty projects from 19 countries have been selected for the 23rd edition of the Hot Docs Forum, the marquee feature financing event of the annual documentary festival, which runs in hybrid format from April 28 to May 8 in Toronto.
Of the projects’ 26 filmmakers, 14 are women, and 15 are Bipoc. Projects include stories around space rocks, solar power and crusading mushrooms, and process docs that follow characters in their homelands, schools and warzones over several years.
Over two days in advance of the festival, Forum project teams present their seven-minute pre-recorded pitches to a “round table” of decision-makers and financiers, from whom they then receive eight minutes of live feedback, which is also recorded.
The 2022 pitch presentations and decision-maker feedback are packaged and made available to registered delegates to stream on demand for the duration of the festival.
Hot Docs industry programs director Elizabeth Radshaw calls this year’s Forum projects “a celebration of...
Of the projects’ 26 filmmakers, 14 are women, and 15 are Bipoc. Projects include stories around space rocks, solar power and crusading mushrooms, and process docs that follow characters in their homelands, schools and warzones over several years.
Over two days in advance of the festival, Forum project teams present their seven-minute pre-recorded pitches to a “round table” of decision-makers and financiers, from whom they then receive eight minutes of live feedback, which is also recorded.
The 2022 pitch presentations and decision-maker feedback are packaged and made available to registered delegates to stream on demand for the duration of the festival.
Hot Docs industry programs director Elizabeth Radshaw calls this year’s Forum projects “a celebration of...
- 3/16/2022
- by Jennie Punter
- Variety Film + TV
Though filmed in 2016, this meditative documentary has a timelessness to it. This comes not just from its measured approach but its depth. The 12 landscapes of the title run the length and breadth of the United States, from penitentiary to shining sea. Brett Story's film contains a number of stories, each illuminating a different aspect of the prison-industrial complex, the attached mechanisms of America's carceral parasite.
In 2016, there were, give or take, 2.3 million people incarcerated in the US. In scale that's somewhere between New Mexico and Nevada, but without their Senators, their Members of the House of Representatives. Even territories like Puerto Rico and Washington DC have some voice. This film never goes inside a prison, only once even approaches the walls. A landscape is more than just a place, a structure, it is a view.
"We're not the prisoners", but the shadows of those bars are long. If...
In 2016, there were, give or take, 2.3 million people incarcerated in the US. In scale that's somewhere between New Mexico and Nevada, but without their Senators, their Members of the House of Representatives. Even territories like Puerto Rico and Washington DC have some voice. This film never goes inside a prison, only once even approaches the walls. A landscape is more than just a place, a structure, it is a view.
"We're not the prisoners", but the shadows of those bars are long. If...
- 3/16/2022
- by Andrew Robertson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
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,...
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,...
- 2/28/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Four senior staffers who resigned in protest from the International Documentary Association are responding to a public statement from the IDA board dismissing their concerns about how the nonprofit organization is being run under new executive director Rick Pérez.
The board published a letter on the IDA website on Friday acknowledging “a number of documentary community members have expressed concern about recent changes at the IDA – particularly the resignations of four staff members.”
The board wrote that it hired “outside legal counsel and an independent investigator” to look into complaints from the four staffers – Maggie Bowman, Jina Chung, Amy Halpin and Poh Si Teng – about workplace conduct by Pérez.
“To protect the individuals’ privacy, we can’t address the specifics of the complaints in this letter…,” the board said, “however we can share that this investigator concluded that the claims were unsubstantiated.” The letter reiterated, “…[T]his result means that...
The board published a letter on the IDA website on Friday acknowledging “a number of documentary community members have expressed concern about recent changes at the IDA – particularly the resignations of four staff members.”
The board wrote that it hired “outside legal counsel and an independent investigator” to look into complaints from the four staffers – Maggie Bowman, Jina Chung, Amy Halpin and Poh Si Teng – about workplace conduct by Pérez.
“To protect the individuals’ privacy, we can’t address the specifics of the complaints in this letter…,” the board said, “however we can share that this investigator concluded that the claims were unsubstantiated.” The letter reiterated, “…[T]his result means that...
- 1/30/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
The Hottest August (Brett Story)
Where better than New York City to make a structuralist film? Cities are iterative, their street grids diagrams of theme and variation, and New York most of all—with its streets and avenues named for numbers and letters and states and cities and presidents and Revolutionary War generals spanning an archipelago, intersecting at a million little data points at which to measure class, race, culture, history, architecture and infrastructure. And time, too—from this human density emerge daily and seasonal rituals, a set of biorhythms, reliable as the earth’s, against which to mark gradual shifts and momentary fashions. Summer is for lounging on fire escapes, always, and, today, for Mister Softee. Yesterday it was shaved ice.
The Hottest August (Brett Story)
Where better than New York City to make a structuralist film? Cities are iterative, their street grids diagrams of theme and variation, and New York most of all—with its streets and avenues named for numbers and letters and states and cities and presidents and Revolutionary War generals spanning an archipelago, intersecting at a million little data points at which to measure class, race, culture, history, architecture and infrastructure. And time, too—from this human density emerge daily and seasonal rituals, a set of biorhythms, reliable as the earth’s, against which to mark gradual shifts and momentary fashions. Summer is for lounging on fire escapes, always, and, today, for Mister Softee. Yesterday it was shaved ice.
- 8/6/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Closing out the summer, Mubi has unveiled their August 2021 lineup, kicking off most fittingly with Brett Story’s acclaimed recent documentary The Hottest August. Also among the lineup is Akira Kurosawa’s epic Ran, Fritz Lang’s hugely entertaining two-parter The Tiger of Eschnapur and The Indian Tomb. As his latest films arrive, Pablo Larraín’s The Club is also part of the lineup.
Xinyuan Zheng Lu’s Rotterdam winner The Cloud in Her Room is coming to Mubi in August, plus a “late film” special featuring Manoel de Olviera’s Gebo and the Shadow and The Last Sentence by Jan Troell. There will also be a canine double feature of Heddy Honigmann’s Buddy and Los Reyes by Bettina Perut and Ivan Osnovikoff.
See the lineup below and get 30 days of Mubi free here.
August 1 | The Hottest August | Brett Story
August 2 | Gebo and the Shadow | Manoel de Oliveria | Twilight...
Xinyuan Zheng Lu’s Rotterdam winner The Cloud in Her Room is coming to Mubi in August, plus a “late film” special featuring Manoel de Olviera’s Gebo and the Shadow and The Last Sentence by Jan Troell. There will also be a canine double feature of Heddy Honigmann’s Buddy and Los Reyes by Bettina Perut and Ivan Osnovikoff.
See the lineup below and get 30 days of Mubi free here.
August 1 | The Hottest August | Brett Story
August 2 | Gebo and the Shadow | Manoel de Oliveria | Twilight...
- 7/19/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
A good story has been the hot commodity of nonfiction films in recent years – but they only give viewers the power to identify with their subjects rather than understand them
“Main character. Three acts. Heroic journey. Climax. Resolution. Nothing else seems to suffice in today’s documentary marketplace. A good story reigns supreme,” writes the Toronto-based film-maker Brett Story in an essay for World Records Journal about “story” as documentary’s hottest commodity. She’s not wrong: looking back at the highest grossing nonfiction films of the last 15 years or so – films such as March of the Penguins, Amy, Won’t You Be My Neighbour?, Three Identical Strangers and Free Solo – they all adopt flashily “cinematic” structures. Whether they’re character studies or social issue films, each follows a familiar arc with three distinct components: setup, confrontation and denouement. It’s telling that the Netflix-produced My Octopus Teacher, which...
“Main character. Three acts. Heroic journey. Climax. Resolution. Nothing else seems to suffice in today’s documentary marketplace. A good story reigns supreme,” writes the Toronto-based film-maker Brett Story in an essay for World Records Journal about “story” as documentary’s hottest commodity. She’s not wrong: looking back at the highest grossing nonfiction films of the last 15 years or so – films such as March of the Penguins, Amy, Won’t You Be My Neighbour?, Three Identical Strangers and Free Solo – they all adopt flashily “cinematic” structures. Whether they’re character studies or social issue films, each follows a familiar arc with three distinct components: setup, confrontation and denouement. It’s telling that the Netflix-produced My Octopus Teacher, which...
- 6/7/2021
- by Simran Hans
- The Guardian - Film News
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSWe announced today in IndieWire the upcoming launch of our new original podcast! Hosted by arts and travel reporter Rico Gagliano, the first season of the Mubi Podcast will focus on films that have great importance in their home country, but are lesser known by international audiences and critics. We begin with Paul Verhoeven's second feature Turkish Delight and its unique significance during the counterculture movement in 1970s Holland. The episode feaures exclusive interviews with Paul Verhoeven, Monique van de Ven, and Jan de Bont. Check out the trailer above and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts here.Filmmaker Milton Moses Ginsberg, best known for his debut feature Coming Apart (1969) and the horror comedy film The Werewolf of Washington (1973), has died. The Tribeca Film Festival has announced that Steven Soderbergh's latest, the...
- 5/26/2021
- MUBI
The International Documentary Association (IDA) and Xrm Media have launched a new international fund to support short verité documentaries with an emphasis on emerging filmmakers.
The IDA+Xrm Media Incubator will provide three filmmakers with $25,000 each. In addition, Academy Award-nominated directors Skye Fitzgerald (“Hunger Ward”) and Smriti Mundhra (“St. Louis Superman”), and Emmy-nominated director Nadia Hallgren (“Becoming”) will be paired with the grantees as mentors.
Applications will open July 5 and close Aug. 2.
Simon Kilmurry, IDA’s executive director, said: “Xrm Media’s commitment to filmmakers aligns very well with IDA’s mission, and by joining forces we can ensure that filmmakers receive all the resources they need to make high-impact films.”
Michael Y. Chow, chief instigator at Xrm Media, added: “Xrm Media has long respected and valued what Simon Kilmurry and the entire IDA team have brought to the documentary filmmaking community and are thrilled to announce our partnership and...
The IDA+Xrm Media Incubator will provide three filmmakers with $25,000 each. In addition, Academy Award-nominated directors Skye Fitzgerald (“Hunger Ward”) and Smriti Mundhra (“St. Louis Superman”), and Emmy-nominated director Nadia Hallgren (“Becoming”) will be paired with the grantees as mentors.
Applications will open July 5 and close Aug. 2.
Simon Kilmurry, IDA’s executive director, said: “Xrm Media’s commitment to filmmakers aligns very well with IDA’s mission, and by joining forces we can ensure that filmmakers receive all the resources they need to make high-impact films.”
Michael Y. Chow, chief instigator at Xrm Media, added: “Xrm Media has long respected and valued what Simon Kilmurry and the entire IDA team have brought to the documentary filmmaking community and are thrilled to announce our partnership and...
- 5/10/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Kelly Reichardt and Michelle Williams on the set of Meek's Cutoff (2010). Kelly Reichardt and Michelle Williams will be working on a fourth project together, entitled Showing Up. The film, which goes into production this summer, follows an artist ahead of a career-changing exhibition. The Berlin Film Festival is unveiling its plans for this year's festival, beginning with its selection of six titles to premiere at the Berlinale Series that follow this year's theme: Toxic Antiheroes, Utopias of Freedom. Italian director, screenwriter, and producer Alberto Lattatuda will be the subject of the Locarno Film Festival's annual retrospective, to be held August 4-14. Following his biopic of Siegfried Sassoon, Terence Davies is set to direct an adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s post-wwi-set novel The Post Office Girl. Recommended VIEWINGThe official trailer for Beginning, the striking...
- 1/27/2021
- MUBI
“Nomadland” is the kind of movie that could go very wrong. With Frances McDormand as its star alongside a cast real-life nomads, in lesser hands it might look like cheap wish fulfillment or showboating at its most gratuitous. Instead, director Chloé Zhao works magic with McDormand’s face and the real world around it, delivering
Zhao previously directed “The Rider” and “Songs My Brother Taught Me,” dramas that dove into marginalized experiences with indigenous non-actors in South Dakota. “Nomadland” imports that fixation with sweeping natural scenery to a much larger tapestry and a different side of American life. Inspired by Jessica Bruder’s non-fiction book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the 21st Century,” the movie follows McDormand as Fern, a soft-spoken widow in her early 60s who hits the road in her van, and just keeps moving. The movie hovers with her, at times so enmeshed in her travels that it practically becomes a documentary.
Zhao previously directed “The Rider” and “Songs My Brother Taught Me,” dramas that dove into marginalized experiences with indigenous non-actors in South Dakota. “Nomadland” imports that fixation with sweeping natural scenery to a much larger tapestry and a different side of American life. Inspired by Jessica Bruder’s non-fiction book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the 21st Century,” the movie follows McDormand as Fern, a soft-spoken widow in her early 60s who hits the road in her van, and just keeps moving. The movie hovers with her, at times so enmeshed in her travels that it practically becomes a documentary.
- 9/11/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
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