By Glenn Charlie Dunks
I usually give myself until the Oscar ceremony to do any best-of-the-year lists. Mostly because I like to be as thorough as I can be. This year, however, lent me a few extra hurdles to jump over, which meant it took me a little bit longer than normal. Buying my first home, a litany of illnesses, the loss of a close friend, and general exhaustion with the movies of 2023. But, hey, here we are at the end of March and, honestly, movies don’t just vanish once the year is out so why not finally go about publishing my best documentaries of the year list?
This year in documentary lacked the sort of movie like All the Beauty and the Bloodshed or Collective that loomed over the entire end-of-year discussion and therefore there was no clear number one title of the year. For me, at least.
I usually give myself until the Oscar ceremony to do any best-of-the-year lists. Mostly because I like to be as thorough as I can be. This year, however, lent me a few extra hurdles to jump over, which meant it took me a little bit longer than normal. Buying my first home, a litany of illnesses, the loss of a close friend, and general exhaustion with the movies of 2023. But, hey, here we are at the end of March and, honestly, movies don’t just vanish once the year is out so why not finally go about publishing my best documentaries of the year list?
This year in documentary lacked the sort of movie like All the Beauty and the Bloodshed or Collective that loomed over the entire end-of-year discussion and therefore there was no clear number one title of the year. For me, at least.
- 4/1/2024
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude has a pile of awards to his name — including a 2021 Berlinale Golden Bear for “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” — and isn’t too stressed about Academy Awards.
The provocation-making director, whose politically-bristly latest “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World” arrives in select U.S. theaters next week, has repped Romania four times in the Best International Feature Oscar race — including for “Do Not Expect Too Much.” He’s never even been shortlisted, and as he told IndieWire in a recent Zoom conversation from his homeland, where he’s already at work on new films, he’s never even watched the Oscars.
“I don’t care about the type of cinema that is promoted by the Oscars. I mean, most of them,” he said. “Of course, I watch [the films]. I appreciate some of them. I like very much Martin Scorsese’s film,...
The provocation-making director, whose politically-bristly latest “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World” arrives in select U.S. theaters next week, has repped Romania four times in the Best International Feature Oscar race — including for “Do Not Expect Too Much.” He’s never even been shortlisted, and as he told IndieWire in a recent Zoom conversation from his homeland, where he’s already at work on new films, he’s never even watched the Oscars.
“I don’t care about the type of cinema that is promoted by the Oscars. I mean, most of them,” he said. “Of course, I watch [the films]. I appreciate some of them. I like very much Martin Scorsese’s film,...
- 3/15/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
U.S. content management, financing and sales banner Cinetic Media has secured world rights to the life affirming doc “Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other,” about legendary photographer Joel Meyerowitz and artist and author Maggie Barrett, his wife.
Rising filmmaking duo Manon Ouimet and Jacob Perlmutter of London-based Manon et Jacob are making their documentary debut, with Ouimet serving as producer alongside multi-Oscar nominated Danish producer Signe Byrge Sørensen of Final Cut Four Real.
“Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other” is having its world premiere March 16 in the Dox:award main competition at Copenhagen’s leading documentary festival Cph:dox, and also screen in the international competition section of Thessaloniki Documentary Festival on the same day.
Pedigree co-producing partners attached include Fremantle-owned doc label Undeniable, helmed by Mandy Chang, and long-time Final Cut for Real U.S. partners Louverture Films.
The character-driven documentary chronicles the loving yet...
Rising filmmaking duo Manon Ouimet and Jacob Perlmutter of London-based Manon et Jacob are making their documentary debut, with Ouimet serving as producer alongside multi-Oscar nominated Danish producer Signe Byrge Sørensen of Final Cut Four Real.
“Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other” is having its world premiere March 16 in the Dox:award main competition at Copenhagen’s leading documentary festival Cph:dox, and also screen in the international competition section of Thessaloniki Documentary Festival on the same day.
Pedigree co-producing partners attached include Fremantle-owned doc label Undeniable, helmed by Mandy Chang, and long-time Final Cut for Real U.S. partners Louverture Films.
The character-driven documentary chronicles the loving yet...
- 3/7/2024
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter is going from the fictional town of Charming to the plains of Oregon for his next ambitious series, The Abandons. The forthcoming Netflix Western adds six cast members to its roster today, with Lucas Till, Diana Silvers, Lamar Johnson, Aisling Franciosi, and Natalia del Riego.
Created and executive produced by Kurt Sutter, The Abdandons “follows a group of diverse, outlier families pursuing their Manifest Destiny in 1850s Oregon, as a corrupt force of wealth and power, coveting their land, tries to force them out. These abandoned souls, the kind of lost souls living on the fringe of society, unite their tribes to form a family and fight back. In this bloody process, “justice” is stretched beyond the boundaries of the law.” (via Deadline)
Lucas Till plays Garret Van Ness, with Diana Silvers portraying Dahlia Teller. Nick Robinson steps into the role of Elias Teller,...
Created and executive produced by Kurt Sutter, The Abdandons “follows a group of diverse, outlier families pursuing their Manifest Destiny in 1850s Oregon, as a corrupt force of wealth and power, coveting their land, tries to force them out. These abandoned souls, the kind of lost souls living on the fringe of society, unite their tribes to form a family and fight back. In this bloody process, “justice” is stretched beyond the boundaries of the law.” (via Deadline)
Lucas Till plays Garret Van Ness, with Diana Silvers portraying Dahlia Teller. Nick Robinson steps into the role of Elias Teller,...
- 3/1/2024
- by Steve Seigh
- JoBlo.com
Oscar documentary branch voters can’t be accused of parochialism. They ventured far and wide to select their shortlist of feature documentaries for 2023, tapping films from countries as varied as a U.N. roll call: Ukraine, Uganda, Poland, Denmark, Tunisia, Canada and the United States.
To Kill a Tiger, one of the 15 finalists, unfolds in a village in the Indian state of Jharkhand. Nisha Pahuja, who was born in India and raised in Canada, directed the film about a humble couple who fight for justice after their 13-year-old daughter is sexually assaulted by three men. Before the shortlist was announced, Pahuja wondered whether doc branch members would embrace her documentary. “It’s a Canadian film, but it’s an Indian story,” she said, “and it’s subtitled.”
Pahuja needn’t have worried. Neither subtitles nor remote settings deter today’s documentary branch, whose membership is far less insular than it used to be.
To Kill a Tiger, one of the 15 finalists, unfolds in a village in the Indian state of Jharkhand. Nisha Pahuja, who was born in India and raised in Canada, directed the film about a humble couple who fight for justice after their 13-year-old daughter is sexually assaulted by three men. Before the shortlist was announced, Pahuja wondered whether doc branch members would embrace her documentary. “It’s a Canadian film, but it’s an Indian story,” she said, “and it’s subtitled.”
Pahuja needn’t have worried. Neither subtitles nor remote settings deter today’s documentary branch, whose membership is far less insular than it used to be.
- 1/14/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Actor, director and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah has joined the board of Fifth Season-backed production company The Story Collective.
In the role, Kwei-Armah will bring expertise and mentorship to various projects in development as well as nurturing new ideas to bring to screen.
Kwei-Armah is currently the artistic director for the Young Vic theater in London. Previously he served as artistic director of Baltimore Center Stage in Maryland, where he directed Toni Morrison’s “Jazz” and “One Night in Miami,” which was later adapted into a film starring Kingsley Ben-Adir.
He is set to make his directorial feature debut with upcoming film “The Collaboration,” starring Paul Bettany as Andy Warhol and Jeremy Pope as Jean-Michel Basquiat. He directed both the London and Broadway versions of the play. He also co-wrote John Boyega starrer “Breaking” and an episode of “Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle,” on which he was also an exec producer.
In the role, Kwei-Armah will bring expertise and mentorship to various projects in development as well as nurturing new ideas to bring to screen.
Kwei-Armah is currently the artistic director for the Young Vic theater in London. Previously he served as artistic director of Baltimore Center Stage in Maryland, where he directed Toni Morrison’s “Jazz” and “One Night in Miami,” which was later adapted into a film starring Kingsley Ben-Adir.
He is set to make his directorial feature debut with upcoming film “The Collaboration,” starring Paul Bettany as Andy Warhol and Jeremy Pope as Jean-Michel Basquiat. He directed both the London and Broadway versions of the play. He also co-wrote John Boyega starrer “Breaking” and an episode of “Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle,” on which he was also an exec producer.
- 1/11/2024
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
This Friday at 9:00 Pm on OWN, “Belle Collective” continues its riveting Season 4 with Episode 8, titled “Capitol Punishment.” Delve into the dynamic lives of five Black female entrepreneurs from Mississippi as they collaboratively strive to breathe new life into a struggling mid-20th century historic district.
In this episode, viewers can anticipate witnessing the intricate interplay of ambition, resilience, and friendship as these enterprising women navigate the challenges of redevelopment. From business ventures to personal triumphs, “Capitol Punishment” promises an engaging narrative that showcases the unique stories and aspirations of each entrepreneur.
Join the Belle Collective for an evening filled with empowerment, community-building, and the relentless pursuit of success. As these Mississippi entrepreneurs pool their talents and resources, viewers are invited to witness the transformative impact they aim to make on a historic district, highlighting the strength that comes from collaboration and shared dreams.
Release Date & Time: 9:00 Pm Friday...
In this episode, viewers can anticipate witnessing the intricate interplay of ambition, resilience, and friendship as these enterprising women navigate the challenges of redevelopment. From business ventures to personal triumphs, “Capitol Punishment” promises an engaging narrative that showcases the unique stories and aspirations of each entrepreneur.
Join the Belle Collective for an evening filled with empowerment, community-building, and the relentless pursuit of success. As these Mississippi entrepreneurs pool their talents and resources, viewers are invited to witness the transformative impact they aim to make on a historic district, highlighting the strength that comes from collaboration and shared dreams.
Release Date & Time: 9:00 Pm Friday...
- 12/22/2023
- by Jules Byrd
- TV Everyday
Magnolia Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to “Arctic Convoy,” a Norwegian naval thriller that is set in the middle of World War II. The film is from the producers of “The Wave” trilogy, so it’s a homecoming of sorts given that Magnolia released all three installments of that series.
“Arctic Convoy” is directed by Henrik M. Dahlsbakken and written by Christian Sibenherz, Harald Rosenløw Eeg and Lars Gudmestad. Magnolia is planning a 2024 release for the picture.
The film unfolds in 1942, as the leader of a convoy carrying vital military supplies to a Norwegian outpost decides to proceed through treacherous, enemy-infested waters despite the recall of their military escort. Fighting for their lives against German air and naval forces, the 35 civilian merchant ships brave brutal Arctic seas to bring much-needed support to soldiers on the front lines.
The film is produced by Martin Sundland, Catrin Gundersen and Thea Benedikte Karlsen for FanteFilm.
“Arctic Convoy” is directed by Henrik M. Dahlsbakken and written by Christian Sibenherz, Harald Rosenløw Eeg and Lars Gudmestad. Magnolia is planning a 2024 release for the picture.
The film unfolds in 1942, as the leader of a convoy carrying vital military supplies to a Norwegian outpost decides to proceed through treacherous, enemy-infested waters despite the recall of their military escort. Fighting for their lives against German air and naval forces, the 35 civilian merchant ships brave brutal Arctic seas to bring much-needed support to soldiers on the front lines.
The film is produced by Martin Sundland, Catrin Gundersen and Thea Benedikte Karlsen for FanteFilm.
- 12/18/2023
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
The Gotham Awards brought the usual array of surprises this year, and it wasn’t only about who walked away with the trophies.
Aside from the uproar over Robert De Niro’s speech (which is unlikely to have much bearing on the awards campaign for “Killers of the Flower Moon”), some of the other top contenders gained significant traction leading up to a crucial week ahead. New York Film Critics Circle’s announcement of the year’s best films and performances unfurls Thursday, while Golden Globes voting in the film categories started Tuesday.
At the forefront of Gothams buzz-boosters is breakout sensation Charles Melton, earning the best supporting performance award for his role in Netflix’s “May December.” In Todd Haynes’ black comedy, Melton portrays Joe Yoo, a young man navigating his marriage to an older woman, a role that stands out alongside Oscar winners Natalie Portman (“Black Swan”) and...
Aside from the uproar over Robert De Niro’s speech (which is unlikely to have much bearing on the awards campaign for “Killers of the Flower Moon”), some of the other top contenders gained significant traction leading up to a crucial week ahead. New York Film Critics Circle’s announcement of the year’s best films and performances unfurls Thursday, while Golden Globes voting in the film categories started Tuesday.
At the forefront of Gothams buzz-boosters is breakout sensation Charles Melton, earning the best supporting performance award for his role in Netflix’s “May December.” In Todd Haynes’ black comedy, Melton portrays Joe Yoo, a young man navigating his marriage to an older woman, a role that stands out alongside Oscar winners Natalie Portman (“Black Swan”) and...
- 11/29/2023
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
SAG-AFTRA has sent out a message of support to its members appearing on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” as the late-night sketch shows returns to air following its hiatus during the WGA strike.
“SAG-AFTRA members appearing on Saturday Night Live either as hosts, guests, or cast members are working under the Network Code agreement, which is not a contract we are striking,” the guild wrote in a message to its members on Wednesday. “They are not in violation of SAG-AFTRA strike rules, and we support them in fulfilling their contractual obligations.
The actors’ guild clarified that “SNL” is a “SAG-AFTRA non-dramatic production” which operates under a separate agreement “that is not subject to the union’s strike order.”
The union also elaborated that regular “SNL” cast members had “contractual obligations” prior to the strike, with many under “option agreements that require them to return to the show if the producers exercise their option,...
“SAG-AFTRA members appearing on Saturday Night Live either as hosts, guests, or cast members are working under the Network Code agreement, which is not a contract we are striking,” the guild wrote in a message to its members on Wednesday. “They are not in violation of SAG-AFTRA strike rules, and we support them in fulfilling their contractual obligations.
The actors’ guild clarified that “SNL” is a “SAG-AFTRA non-dramatic production” which operates under a separate agreement “that is not subject to the union’s strike order.”
The union also elaborated that regular “SNL” cast members had “contractual obligations” prior to the strike, with many under “option agreements that require them to return to the show if the producers exercise their option,...
- 10/4/2023
- by Loree Seitz
- The Wrap
On the heels of the Writers Guild of America’s tentative deal, ABC confirmed the season will premiere as originally scheduled.
Dancing With the Stars will samba onto fans’ screens as originally planned.
Following Sunday’s news that the Writers Guild of America has struck a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to end the 146-day-long writers’ strike, ABC confirmed on Monday that the ballroom competition will premiere as originally scheduled on Tuesday, Sept. 26.
The news marks a quick change from last week, when Et learned that ABC was putting in place plans to postpone Tuesday’s season 32 premiere amid the then-ongoing strike.
Read More: Britney Spears Is Not Thrilled About Sister Jamie Lynn Competing On ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ Source Says
The plan involved the network identifying alternate temporary programming for the Tuesday 8 to 10 p.m. time slot and crafting a new rollout plan for season 32 of the show.
Dancing With the Stars will samba onto fans’ screens as originally planned.
Following Sunday’s news that the Writers Guild of America has struck a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to end the 146-day-long writers’ strike, ABC confirmed on Monday that the ballroom competition will premiere as originally scheduled on Tuesday, Sept. 26.
The news marks a quick change from last week, when Et learned that ABC was putting in place plans to postpone Tuesday’s season 32 premiere amid the then-ongoing strike.
Read More: Britney Spears Is Not Thrilled About Sister Jamie Lynn Competing On ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ Source Says
The plan involved the network identifying alternate temporary programming for the Tuesday 8 to 10 p.m. time slot and crafting a new rollout plan for season 32 of the show.
- 9/25/2023
- by Divya Goyal
- ET Canada
ABC has decided to premiere “Dancing With the Stars” Season 32 as originally scheduled on Tuesday, the network announced Monday.
The debut of the show, which will air at 8 p.m. Et and simulcast live on Disney+ and be available Wednesday on Hulu, was put in doubt after “Veep” actor Matt Walsh — who’s also a member of the writers’ guild — rethought his involvement after learning it was being picketed by WGA.
A rep for Walsh said he will also be on the dance floor: “With the hopeful resolution and vote with the WGA, ‘Dancing With the Stars’ would no longer be a struck show, therefore all cast would be able to return. This includes WGA member Matt Walsh,” a statement shared with TheWrap on Monday read.
Last week, Walsh said, “I am taking a pause from ‘Dancing With the Stars’ until an agreement is made with the WGA.” He also...
The debut of the show, which will air at 8 p.m. Et and simulcast live on Disney+ and be available Wednesday on Hulu, was put in doubt after “Veep” actor Matt Walsh — who’s also a member of the writers’ guild — rethought his involvement after learning it was being picketed by WGA.
A rep for Walsh said he will also be on the dance floor: “With the hopeful resolution and vote with the WGA, ‘Dancing With the Stars’ would no longer be a struck show, therefore all cast would be able to return. This includes WGA member Matt Walsh,” a statement shared with TheWrap on Monday read.
Last week, Walsh said, “I am taking a pause from ‘Dancing With the Stars’ until an agreement is made with the WGA.” He also...
- 9/25/2023
- by Sharon Knolle
- The Wrap
The Oscars Best International Feature Film race landed two major frontrunners on the same day on Thursday, with the United Kingdom submitting Jonathan Glazer’s chilling World War II drama “The Zone of Interest” and France following with Tran Anh Hung’s rapturous “The Taste of Things” in the one-film-per-country competition.
“The Zone of Interest,” set among German families who live on the outskirts of Auschwitz, won the Grand Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and won raves as one of the most original and unnerving films to deal with the Holocaust since “Son of Saul,” which won the Oscar in this category eight years ago. It was considered the obvious choice for the U.K. to submit.
France, on the other hand, had an extremely difficult choice between Palme d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall,” starring Sandra Huller as a woman on trial for murdering her husband,...
“The Zone of Interest,” set among German families who live on the outskirts of Auschwitz, won the Grand Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and won raves as one of the most original and unnerving films to deal with the Holocaust since “Son of Saul,” which won the Oscar in this category eight years ago. It was considered the obvious choice for the U.K. to submit.
France, on the other hand, had an extremely difficult choice between Palme d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall,” starring Sandra Huller as a woman on trial for murdering her husband,...
- 9/21/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The 2023 InFocus: Latin & Hispanic Cinema Film Festival is kicking off with conversations “Spy Kids” director Robert Rodriguez, as well as insights from Sundance Film Festival curators Ana Souza and Diana Sánchez Maciel. Additionally, attendees can look forward to a diverse selection of 24 short films.
Scheduled for Sept. 22-23 at Hollywood’s Academy Linwood Dunn Theater, the 2023 installment of NewFilmmakers Los Angeles’ annual festival will highlight four distinct short film programs. Attendees can engage in audience Q&a sessions and participate in four live panel discussions. The festival will also include a diverse showcase of 24 short films spanning various genres, including narrative live action, documentaries, and animated films.
“It’s incredibly exciting to be back in 2023 with filmmakers representing 12 countries at the Festival,” Nfmla programming director Bojana Sandic and executive director and co-founder Larry Laboe said in a joint statement to TheWrap. “It really is a testament to the talent that...
Scheduled for Sept. 22-23 at Hollywood’s Academy Linwood Dunn Theater, the 2023 installment of NewFilmmakers Los Angeles’ annual festival will highlight four distinct short film programs. Attendees can engage in audience Q&a sessions and participate in four live panel discussions. The festival will also include a diverse showcase of 24 short films spanning various genres, including narrative live action, documentaries, and animated films.
“It’s incredibly exciting to be back in 2023 with filmmakers representing 12 countries at the Festival,” Nfmla programming director Bojana Sandic and executive director and co-founder Larry Laboe said in a joint statement to TheWrap. “It really is a testament to the talent that...
- 9/15/2023
- by Umberto Gonzalez
- The Wrap
Sundance Institute has announced the 23 projects selected as grantees for this year’s Sundance Institute Documentary Fund and will provide unrestricted grant funding amounting to a little over $1m.
Projects from this cycle are in various stages: six are in development, 14 in production, and three in post-production.
The Fund prioritises supporting and empowering historically marginalised voices, often helping artists living and working in regions that lack a robust infrastructure of support for independent film, regions of conflict, and countries where freedom of expression is under threat.
Projects and filmmakers includr Looking At Ourselves directed by Oscar and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Lourdes Portillo,...
Projects from this cycle are in various stages: six are in development, 14 in production, and three in post-production.
The Fund prioritises supporting and empowering historically marginalised voices, often helping artists living and working in regions that lack a robust infrastructure of support for independent film, regions of conflict, and countries where freedom of expression is under threat.
Projects and filmmakers includr Looking At Ourselves directed by Oscar and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Lourdes Portillo,...
- 8/21/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The Sundance Institute has named the 2023 grantees of its Documentary Fund, supporting the work of nonfiction filmmakers from around the globe, with 23 projects being selected for unrestricted grant funding totaling just over $1M.
Six of the selected projects are in development, with 14 in production and three currently in post. Notable filmmakers recognized as part of the group include Oscar and Emmy nominee Lourdes Portillo (with Looking at Ourselves), artist and filmmaker Amy Jenkins (with Adam’s Apple), and Anayansi Prado (with Untitled Uvalde Documentary). Also represented are such sophomore filmmakers coming off strong debuts as Reid Davenport (I Didn’t See You There) with Life After, Sky Hopinka with Powwow People, and Tali Yankelevich (My Darling Supermarket) with Girl-Tubers.
Sundance Institute’s Documentary Fund prioritizes supporting and empowering historically marginalized voices and providing a platform for integral stories to be amplified. Many of the...
Six of the selected projects are in development, with 14 in production and three currently in post. Notable filmmakers recognized as part of the group include Oscar and Emmy nominee Lourdes Portillo (with Looking at Ourselves), artist and filmmaker Amy Jenkins (with Adam’s Apple), and Anayansi Prado (with Untitled Uvalde Documentary). Also represented are such sophomore filmmakers coming off strong debuts as Reid Davenport (I Didn’t See You There) with Life After, Sky Hopinka with Powwow People, and Tali Yankelevich (My Darling Supermarket) with Girl-Tubers.
Sundance Institute’s Documentary Fund prioritizes supporting and empowering historically marginalized voices and providing a platform for integral stories to be amplified. Many of the...
- 8/21/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Lil Uzi Vert is one of the most ambitious rappers of their generation, a true-blue astral traveler who sees the form’s traditions as a matrix to warp in unexpected ways. Their goal is the sort of mental and emotional liberation achievable only through absolute stimulation: the most colors, the biggest sounds, the hardest raps conceivable. Their first two LPs, 2017’s Luv Is Rage 2 and 2020’s Eternal Atake, showed remarkable progress in this aim. They pushed and pulled various strands of contemporary hip-hop — blown-out Soundcloud beats, cavernous psychedelia, flows from...
- 6/30/2023
- by Clayton Purdom
- Rollingstone.com
All the films opening the sections at this year’s political event are French for the first time in many years.
Glamour and gripes are poised to collide this year as Cannes kicks off in the most French way imaginable with French films opening every section for the first time in many years – from Maiwenn’s Jeanne Du Barry to The Animal Kingdom in Un Certain Regard, The Goldman Case in Directors’ Fortnight and Ama Gloria at Critics’ Week – and protests from labour unions threatening to spill over onto the Croisette.
Despite a ban on protests during the festival by the city of Cannes,...
Glamour and gripes are poised to collide this year as Cannes kicks off in the most French way imaginable with French films opening every section for the first time in many years – from Maiwenn’s Jeanne Du Barry to The Animal Kingdom in Un Certain Regard, The Goldman Case in Directors’ Fortnight and Ama Gloria at Critics’ Week – and protests from labour unions threatening to spill over onto the Croisette.
Despite a ban on protests during the festival by the city of Cannes,...
- 5/16/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Kohn’s Corner is a weekly column about the challenges and opportunities of sustaining American film culture.
Every year around this time, I relish the opportunity to vanish into a bubble of Cannes hype and pretend that world-class auteurs dominate the movie business on a global scale. But for the moment, I’ll take a breather from the laughing gas and acknowledge it’s a rough moment for the specialty distribution business — especially in America. A lot of those promising Cannes titles won’t follow me home.
Few movies that aren’t in English succeed at our box office. Most get lost in the streaming vortex, if they’re lucky to land there at all. Arthouses nationwide continue to face audience decline. Prestige Oscar movies don’t guarantee strong returns. A24’s winning streak faltered with the flop of its most-costly production, “Beau is Afraid,” suggesting that even its adoring...
Every year around this time, I relish the opportunity to vanish into a bubble of Cannes hype and pretend that world-class auteurs dominate the movie business on a global scale. But for the moment, I’ll take a breather from the laughing gas and acknowledge it’s a rough moment for the specialty distribution business — especially in America. A lot of those promising Cannes titles won’t follow me home.
Few movies that aren’t in English succeed at our box office. Most get lost in the streaming vortex, if they’re lucky to land there at all. Arthouses nationwide continue to face audience decline. Prestige Oscar movies don’t guarantee strong returns. A24’s winning streak faltered with the flop of its most-costly production, “Beau is Afraid,” suggesting that even its adoring...
- 5/13/2023
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Deadline’s Contenders Television, where the top networks and streamers are showing off their wares and Emmy hopefuls, continues Sunday with 20 more panels after a chock-full Saturday featuring some of the best and brightest series this awards season.
Click here to register for and watch the livestream.
After the likes of Riley Keogh, Patrick Stewart, Steven Yeun, Natasha Lyonne, Marc Maron, Wanda Sykes, Kathryn Hahn and Joel McHale took the DGA Theater stage in Los Angeles, Sunday’s lineup is slated to feature appearances by Helen Mirren, Adam Scott, Quinta Brunson, Maya Rudolph, Taron Egerton, Jason Segel, Bryan Cranston, Weird Al Yankovic, Kerry Washington, Elle Fanning, Paddy Considine and many more.
The studios and streamers participating this weekend at our panel extravaganza: Peacock, Prime Video, National Geographic, Apple TV+, Netflix, Hulu, CBS Studios, Showtime, Fox Entertainment, Paramount+, AMC/AMC+, HBO Max, Starz, Sony Pictures Television, ABC, Roku, Onyx Collective and Disney+.
Click here to register for and watch the livestream.
After the likes of Riley Keogh, Patrick Stewart, Steven Yeun, Natasha Lyonne, Marc Maron, Wanda Sykes, Kathryn Hahn and Joel McHale took the DGA Theater stage in Los Angeles, Sunday’s lineup is slated to feature appearances by Helen Mirren, Adam Scott, Quinta Brunson, Maya Rudolph, Taron Egerton, Jason Segel, Bryan Cranston, Weird Al Yankovic, Kerry Washington, Elle Fanning, Paddy Considine and many more.
The studios and streamers participating this weekend at our panel extravaganza: Peacock, Prime Video, National Geographic, Apple TV+, Netflix, Hulu, CBS Studios, Showtime, Fox Entertainment, Paramount+, AMC/AMC+, HBO Max, Starz, Sony Pictures Television, ABC, Roku, Onyx Collective and Disney+.
- 4/16/2023
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
London, UK, Monday 20th March 2023 – Ahead of an appearance on the show floor at Gdc in San Francisco this week, remote game development studio Bonsai Collective is excited to lift the lid on fresh Luna Abyss content in the form of a brand new trailer.
The slick video spot – dubbed ‘At the Heart of Luna Abyss’ – was exclusively revealed at The Mix Spring Showcase on Friday and casts light upon the mysterious mimic moon that plays host to the mystery buried deep within its structure.
In just under 90 seconds, the trailer pans through some of the diverse environments at the heart of Luna Abyss, demonstrating many of the game’s locations in full detail for the first time. It’s a video designed to give a taste of both the lunar environment at your feet, and the secrets that slowly emanate from its cracked core.
Luna Abyss is a world full of mystery,...
The slick video spot – dubbed ‘At the Heart of Luna Abyss’ – was exclusively revealed at The Mix Spring Showcase on Friday and casts light upon the mysterious mimic moon that plays host to the mystery buried deep within its structure.
In just under 90 seconds, the trailer pans through some of the diverse environments at the heart of Luna Abyss, demonstrating many of the game’s locations in full detail for the first time. It’s a video designed to give a taste of both the lunar environment at your feet, and the secrets that slowly emanate from its cracked core.
Luna Abyss is a world full of mystery,...
- 3/21/2023
- by Technology Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid Tech
Leading documentary sales agent Philippa Kowarsky – who handled Oscar nominees “The Act of Killing,” “Collective” and “Flee” – gave a masterclass at the Thessaloniki Intl. Documentary Festival this week.
Kowarsky recently returned to Cinephil, the documentary sales company she founded, as executive chair, after a brief stint at BBC’s doc strand Storyville. Cinephil’s current lineup includes Oscar nominee “A House Made of Splinters.”
Cinephil’s previous experience on “Flee” helped pave the way for “A House Made of Splinters,” but obstacles emerged she said. “The film had won best directing at Sundance and no one wanted it. We’ve been everywhere with this film – no one wanted it, or there were distributors that wanted it for deals that were so unattractive, we weren’t going to do it. But we had more and more festivals and we were winning more and more awards around the globe, and nothing in America.
Kowarsky recently returned to Cinephil, the documentary sales company she founded, as executive chair, after a brief stint at BBC’s doc strand Storyville. Cinephil’s current lineup includes Oscar nominee “A House Made of Splinters.”
Cinephil’s previous experience on “Flee” helped pave the way for “A House Made of Splinters,” but obstacles emerged she said. “The film had won best directing at Sundance and no one wanted it. We’ve been everywhere with this film – no one wanted it, or there were distributors that wanted it for deals that were so unattractive, we weren’t going to do it. But we had more and more festivals and we were winning more and more awards around the globe, and nothing in America.
- 3/11/2023
- by Tara Karajica
- Variety Film + TV
Ellie Bamber is set to star as Kate Moss in a new film detailing her infamous relationship with Lucian Freud. The “Serpent” and “Nocturnal Animals” star will play the British supermodel in “Moss & Freud”, which will cover a period in the early 2000s when she sat for Freud, who will be played by Derek Jacobi (“Murder on the Orient Express”), reports ‘Variety’.
The project will be directed by James Lucas, who is known for his Oscar-winning live action short film “The Phone Call”, starring Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent. Moss will executive produce with the support of the Lucian Freud Archive.
Set around Freud’s Holland Park studio and London in the heady days of early 2000s Britain, the story opens up to explore Freud’s mysterious past and Moss’s life as a globally recognised supermodel.
As per ‘Variety’, Cornerstone is handling worldwide sales at the upcoming European film market.
The project will be directed by James Lucas, who is known for his Oscar-winning live action short film “The Phone Call”, starring Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent. Moss will executive produce with the support of the Lucian Freud Archive.
Set around Freud’s Holland Park studio and London in the heady days of early 2000s Britain, the story opens up to explore Freud’s mysterious past and Moss’s life as a globally recognised supermodel.
As per ‘Variety’, Cornerstone is handling worldwide sales at the upcoming European film market.
- 2/3/2023
- by News Bureau
- GlamSham
Sundance 2023: ‘Against the Tide’ an Interview with director Sarvnik Kaur
Two Bombay fishermen navigate the effects of modernization on their friendship and livelihoods.
‘Against the Tide’ directed by Sarvnik Kaur, World Premiering at 2023 Sundance Film Festival in World Cinema Documentary Competition, is a masterful vérité doc from India.
Koli fisherman Rakesh (r.) checking his catch. Courtesy of Snooker Club Films.
The film is a moving portrait of a friendship tested by the strains of the modern world. Its power is in the same deeply emotional thrust delivered in Honeyland (for those who saw it in 2019), and surprisingly, it was edited by the same team behind Honeyland.
Rakesh has kept faith in the traditional fishing methods while Ganesh has strayed away from them, embracing technology. The film tells a tale of deep friendship and rising conflict between the two men against the backdrop of an adoring sea, which is increasingly turning hostile because of climate change.
Rakesh and Ganesh are so close, they consider themselves brothers. Both are fishermen of Bombay’s Indigenous Koli community, but they’ve taken contrasting paths. Rakesh uses his inheritance — his father’s boat and the knowledge passed down by generations of Koli fisherman — to fish in the traditional ways, while Ganesh — who was educated abroad — has instead embraced modern, technology-driven, and environmentally destructive methods of deep-sea fishing, causing increasing friction between the friends. But with declining fish populations caused by pollution and invasive species, neither man is finding much success, adding to the burdens facing their young families, and testing the bonds of their brotherhood.
Ganesh relaxes with his best friend Rakesh. Courtesy of Snooker Club Films.
Beyond the story itself, I was faced with the conundrum of more frequently occuring question of why do we work ourselves up being moved by films of people we learn to love, when we know the way of our materialistic world will destroy their way of life. “These people”, the Kolis, are inheritors of the ancient and great Koli knowledge system — a way to harvest the sea by following the moon and the tides. Does it make us better people to watch docs like this or Honeyland? How can we reconcile the intimate view of these two men and their families and communities with knowing that their way of life is doomed (in this case by technology and climate change)? What is the point of watchng these docs showing us all the injustice of the world? I know I am not going to become more active in fighting climate change. I am too busy living. So then what? What action can we take to rectify the way we know all too well the world is going? There are too many issues needing to be addressed; social action is way beyond my own time and energy.
After I praised the film for its beauty, its honesty, its intimacy and the love it revealed sustaining the traditional but poor Koli community living in Bombay and barely getting by in their heritage as fishermen, basically, that was my first question to the director Sarvnik Kaur.
What’s the point of it all?
Director Sarvnik Kaur’s response surprised me.
Director Sarvnik Kaur
Sk: Making this film is a way for me to channel these things, to make sense of the world which is not following society’s mandates. I was given an opportunity to learn how to live life. I never thought about what the Kolis were going to do. The Kolis will take care of themselves. Life as it is lived on the outside, our modern obsession with possessions and growth of wealth does not encompass their lifestyle. They face hardships including finding food for their families while caring for newborn children as a community. With love, they create the joy of life and existence.
Kaur‘s deeply humanistic and intimate approach to these two men at a crossroads in both their friendship and profession immerses the viewer in their experiences, where neither man is hero or villain in the choices they make to survive in an imperiled world. She presents a microcosmic, sea level view of the fragility of our relationship with the changing environment while affirming what it is to be alive and human.
Sk: Perhaps no one would put their problems on the table unless I did, but I did it for myself, to be honest and to learn about life from one of its sources. I learned so much from Rakesh, Ganesh and the community.
How did you begin your journey?
For the past ten years, I have lived next to a Koli village. This has allowed me to get closer to them, to witness their daily concerns. In 2016, when the regional authorities decided to transform their market into a commercial complex without consulting them, the “Collective of Women Fish Sellers” immediately put up resistance. I became actively involved with them and made some short films that they used to conduct their campaign.
This is how my journey with the Kolis began, in trying to be as helpful as I could be. I have spent the last five years with the Koli community and have come to understand their lives — the conflicts and the joys — as a filmmaker, as an ethnologist, and now as a friend. With time and patience, we have established a relationship of trust.
I began conceiving the idea in 2015 at the end of my film about Kashmir. That film ‘A Ballad of Maladies’ which explores the tradition of political resistance in Kashmir through the work of those poets, musicians and artists who have turned their art into weapons of resistance during periods of heightened state repression and violence in the region. The film was banned from broadcast on the national network but it won India’s 64th National Film Award for Best First Non-Feature Film in 2017, Best Film at the 11th biennial Film South Asia and Best Documentary at the 10th Idsff Kerala.
Winning the award felt like a sort of co-option by the state, but the co-director certainly deserved an award.
I watched the Koli being pushed out and thought it was the same problem, though it was being labelled differently. My own honesty was at stake in telling their story as well, rather than being co-opted by the state who bestowed a prize on a film that was banned from ever being viewed. As an artist, I have only my own honesty. That the state took my story for its own purposes was unbearable. This new film gave me the chance to empty myself of their poisonous lying.
I wanted the film to be life affirming.
When did you begin shooting?
As I watched two friends, both indigenous Koli fishermen in Bombay, being driven to desperation by a dying sea and their friendship beginning to fracture as they take very different paths to provide for their struggling families.
Ganesh and Rakesh
Meeting Rakesh was like finding a treasure trove. He is not stupid. Generations before him have understood the moon and the movement of the stars and the fish. He took a marker and on my whiteboard drew a bird’s eye view from the moon and stars shining light upon his boat and how the moon’s refracted light attracted the fish and lit the way for the fisherman.
I realized the film was about one people (the Koli) becoming divided in itself. Watching these two men conversing in 2019, I knew that was how I would build the film. I saw there were two factions in the community and one faction was “othering” the “other”. Like two monkeys fighting while the cat comes and takes the cream, each side blames the other for the lack of fish which in truth is being depleted by offshore oil drilling and climate change.
Rakesh and Ganesh fight to survive in this implacable reality they have no control over. Their strategies for getting by diverge, sometimes clash, but what they have in common is that they are fueled by the same determination to exist in a changing and merciless world where respect for nature and tradition weighs very little in the face of the economic and internationalized interests of some.
Ganesh chooses a different route of bringing in LED lighting on a large scale to attract fish but which leads him into forbidden watersd as well as into compeitition with the Chinese and big business. Both struggle to survive. Rakesh’s solution is the most radical.
And in the end, the two are reconciled by the birth of a new child. Rakesh has solved the problem by selling his boat and downsizing to a smaller boat but catching only high-value fish like lobster which bring in higher prices sufficient to feed his family while keeping overhead low. He has dignity and no debt, lives more slowly and celebrates life.
What attracts you to your subjects? Your previous and first film, Soz — A Ballad of Maladies, explored the tradition of political resistance through music and poetry in Kashmir.
Sk: The subjects reflect my own family’s history. My grandparents were born in Pakistan when the country was part of British India. In 1947, India and Pakistan were divided and the two countries entered into a mortal conflict, which continues today. My grandfather’s family, Sikhs, fled Pakistan to a refugee camp in New Delhi, where my father was born. In 1984, my grandparents managed to leave the camp and build a modest house, but it was completely destroyed during an anti-Sikh riot. I was one year old. My family had to move again.
I grew up with the trauma of these successive uprootings and a constant fear. This personal story brings me back to the Koli community, whose territory and tradition are also threatened. Bombay is a suffocated city where space is scarce and expensive. The Kolis’ lands are now the last available space in the city center and their owners, whose income depends on increasingly meager fisheries, are often forced to sell them to rich entrepreneurs or politicians who will build luxury residences with a view. The Kolis who still live there will be driven out in ten years by land pressure and rising waters. Even the most resistant, like Rakesh, will inexorably abandon their house and, with it, their way of life, a part of their history and their traditions. Like my father and his family, they will one day be displaced and become refugees.
Koli concerns are the concerns of all of Bombay. They’re the guardians of the city’s coast, the sea and even the mangroves. The Koli community of Bombay will be sacrificed for lucrative real estate deals and generalized inaction regarding climate change. It will soon disappear, and I am Zilming its last stirrings.India is one of the places where the effects of climate change are the most dramatic. Every year, the monsoon and the meteorological hazards become more violent and unpredictable. Since 2000, some of Mumbai’s shores have retreated by more than 20 meters and tomorrow, the city’s climate displaced will number, at the very least, in the hundreds of thousands. If nothing is done to curb climate change, many experts agree that Bombay will be largely submerged by 2050, with the Kolis’ land being the first to be flooded.
Rakesh is in a way the ancestral conscience of Ganesh. But by sticking to the age-old traditions of his people at all costs, he risks putting his family in danger. I didn’t want to make a film about who is good or bad; I wanted simply to witness and record as sincerely as possible the stakes that these two intelligent, honest and hard-working young men face, and the consequences that their decisions entail. By following the life of one and then the other, I hoped to make the viewer question his own convictions and the choices he would have made himself if he had been in their place.”
How did you begin and find support for this film?
SK: In December 2019 I shot a pilot for the film because I had the clarity of vision that it was about one community and the two “brothers” facing the crisis of the sea with its polution, lack of fish and that everything that was happening in the sea was showing itself in the financial crises, social crises and familial crises.
That’s how I started to get the workshops and funds. Once you begin, you are led, as if by your own nose. Then you find champions all over the world. If you care, you find others care about the story and the struggle.
It was life affirming. I felt lost, persecuted, alone. It was eye-opening that someone in Amsterdam or the US or France cared about my story and my struggles, to be recognized. The everyday lies are not the real world. The read world is in being true to oneself and then others lead you into life. That is the real world.
She is a recipient of multiple grants from Sundance Film Fund, Catapult Film Fund, IDFA Bertha, San Francisco Film Fund, AlterCine Foundation, HotDocs Crosscurrents International. She has also been a fellow at Hot Docs Accelerator Lab, IDFA Academy, Sffilm and the Chicken & Egg Eggcelerator Labs.
Further support came from Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur in collaboration with the Cnc, Procirep Angoa.
Do you have advise for other doc filmmakers?
Sk: Lower your ambitions and strenthen your resolve. I do not want the moon.
I understand how radical it is and how documentary filmmakers (and journalists) themselves manage to make meaning out of their lives just as the Koli fishing people do, by living in a community, covering costs and needs basic in order to live a life of joy, love and sharing. That is radical and that is the lesson so many people come away with when they delve into the deeper meaning of life.
Do like Rakesh, downsize to support your life and that which is most meaningful in it. Thank you very much Sarvnik! You have restored my own resolve!
For my readers who have gotten this far, here is more informatin about the key crew:
Producer Koval Bhatia
Producer. Koval Bhatia is a filmmaker and producer based in India. She has been heading A Little Anarky Films for 12 years, during which time she has directed and produced commercials, impact films and TV shows. She began her journey as an international producer with Against The Tide, which she has pitched at multiple markets and forums across the world. She is currently a Getting Real Fellow at the International Documentary Association (IDA). Koval is a graduate from Eurodoc and a recipient of the Emerging Producer’s Bursary from the World Congress for Science and Factual Producers, and her feature documentaries as a producer have been awarded grants by Sundance Documentary Fund, Hot Docs, Catapult Film Fund, Docs By The Sea, Sffilm, Al Jazeera, and Dok Leipzig. She is a member of Ewa and Bgdm.
Co-producer. Quentin Laurent founded Les Films de l’Oœil Sauvage with Frédéric Féraud in 2015. Based in Paris and Marseille, the company mainly produces art-house documentaries and Quentin is particularly interested in non-Western narratives and viewpoints, in approaches that reveal spaces that have remained invisible or try to reconsider the perception of familiar places. He has recently produced or co-produced, Kinshasa Makamboby Dieudo Hamadi (Berlinale 2018), Overseas by Soa Yoon (Locarno 2019),Aswang by Alyx Arumpac (IDFA awarded 2019), Downstream to Kinshasa(Cannes 2020), Dreaming Wallsby Amélie van Elmbt and Maya Duverdier (Berlinale 2022), Things I Could Never Tell My Motherby Humaira Bilkis (Visions du Réel 2022), and Kristos the Last Childby Giulia Amati (Venice 20223)
Cinematography. Ashok Meena is an independent cinematographer from Rajasthan, India. He did his post-graduate degree in cinematography from the Film and Television Institute of India, working towards building an independent visual language at work. Known for his experimental films and videos, his independent work has been traveling to festivals and art galleries across the world. Ashok has shot several documentary films including Kamal Swaroop’s Pushkar Puran,which had its European premiere at the 60th Dok Leipzig.
Editing. Atanas Georgiev is one of the owners of Trice Films and Film Trick from Macedonia, subsidiaries of FX3X. His directorial and producing debut, Cash & Marry, won many international awards and recognition. It was followed by Avec l’Amour, a festival favorite in 2017 premiering at Hot Docs, and soon after with Honeyland in 2019, a triple winner at Sundance Film Festival and nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Documentary and Best International Feature for 2020.
Editing. Blagoja Nedelkovskiis a film editor and musician based in Skopje, Macedonia. He graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Film & TV editing in Skopje in 2000. For almost two decades he has actively working on feature films, documentaries, TV series and music videos in Macedonia and the Balkans. He has also spent some time in Vienna, Austria, where he freelanced as an editor and an artist so that he could pay for his music studies at the Music Konzervatorium Franz Shubert. Some of the more notable projects as an editor are the films Punk’s Not Dead, State of Shock, To the Hilt,The Year of the Monkey, and Honeyland.
Sound Design. Moinak Bose is a sound designer based out of Bombay, India. He is a graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, with a specialization in sound recording and sound design. Moinak’s work includes the internationally acclaimed films A Night of Knowing Nothing in 2021 (sound design) and All That Breathes in 2022 (sound recording), both of which won L’Œil d’Or (The Golden Eye) for best documentary at Cannes. The films have been screened at many festivals and won top prizes at TIFF and Sundance Film Festival respectively. Against The Tide is his latest work as a sound designer
International sales agent is Deckert
North American Distribution: Submarine Entertainment.
Genre: Documentary
Country: India/France
Language: Koli, Marathi, Hindi
Year: 2023
Duration: 97 min.
Two Bombay fishermen navigate the effects of modernization on their friendship and livelihoods.
‘Against the Tide’ directed by Sarvnik Kaur, World Premiering at 2023 Sundance Film Festival in World Cinema Documentary Competition, is a masterful vérité doc from India.
Koli fisherman Rakesh (r.) checking his catch. Courtesy of Snooker Club Films.
The film is a moving portrait of a friendship tested by the strains of the modern world. Its power is in the same deeply emotional thrust delivered in Honeyland (for those who saw it in 2019), and surprisingly, it was edited by the same team behind Honeyland.
Rakesh has kept faith in the traditional fishing methods while Ganesh has strayed away from them, embracing technology. The film tells a tale of deep friendship and rising conflict between the two men against the backdrop of an adoring sea, which is increasingly turning hostile because of climate change.
Rakesh and Ganesh are so close, they consider themselves brothers. Both are fishermen of Bombay’s Indigenous Koli community, but they’ve taken contrasting paths. Rakesh uses his inheritance — his father’s boat and the knowledge passed down by generations of Koli fisherman — to fish in the traditional ways, while Ganesh — who was educated abroad — has instead embraced modern, technology-driven, and environmentally destructive methods of deep-sea fishing, causing increasing friction between the friends. But with declining fish populations caused by pollution and invasive species, neither man is finding much success, adding to the burdens facing their young families, and testing the bonds of their brotherhood.
Ganesh relaxes with his best friend Rakesh. Courtesy of Snooker Club Films.
Beyond the story itself, I was faced with the conundrum of more frequently occuring question of why do we work ourselves up being moved by films of people we learn to love, when we know the way of our materialistic world will destroy their way of life. “These people”, the Kolis, are inheritors of the ancient and great Koli knowledge system — a way to harvest the sea by following the moon and the tides. Does it make us better people to watch docs like this or Honeyland? How can we reconcile the intimate view of these two men and their families and communities with knowing that their way of life is doomed (in this case by technology and climate change)? What is the point of watchng these docs showing us all the injustice of the world? I know I am not going to become more active in fighting climate change. I am too busy living. So then what? What action can we take to rectify the way we know all too well the world is going? There are too many issues needing to be addressed; social action is way beyond my own time and energy.
After I praised the film for its beauty, its honesty, its intimacy and the love it revealed sustaining the traditional but poor Koli community living in Bombay and barely getting by in their heritage as fishermen, basically, that was my first question to the director Sarvnik Kaur.
What’s the point of it all?
Director Sarvnik Kaur’s response surprised me.
Director Sarvnik Kaur
Sk: Making this film is a way for me to channel these things, to make sense of the world which is not following society’s mandates. I was given an opportunity to learn how to live life. I never thought about what the Kolis were going to do. The Kolis will take care of themselves. Life as it is lived on the outside, our modern obsession with possessions and growth of wealth does not encompass their lifestyle. They face hardships including finding food for their families while caring for newborn children as a community. With love, they create the joy of life and existence.
Kaur‘s deeply humanistic and intimate approach to these two men at a crossroads in both their friendship and profession immerses the viewer in their experiences, where neither man is hero or villain in the choices they make to survive in an imperiled world. She presents a microcosmic, sea level view of the fragility of our relationship with the changing environment while affirming what it is to be alive and human.
Sk: Perhaps no one would put their problems on the table unless I did, but I did it for myself, to be honest and to learn about life from one of its sources. I learned so much from Rakesh, Ganesh and the community.
How did you begin your journey?
For the past ten years, I have lived next to a Koli village. This has allowed me to get closer to them, to witness their daily concerns. In 2016, when the regional authorities decided to transform their market into a commercial complex without consulting them, the “Collective of Women Fish Sellers” immediately put up resistance. I became actively involved with them and made some short films that they used to conduct their campaign.
This is how my journey with the Kolis began, in trying to be as helpful as I could be. I have spent the last five years with the Koli community and have come to understand their lives — the conflicts and the joys — as a filmmaker, as an ethnologist, and now as a friend. With time and patience, we have established a relationship of trust.
I began conceiving the idea in 2015 at the end of my film about Kashmir. That film ‘A Ballad of Maladies’ which explores the tradition of political resistance in Kashmir through the work of those poets, musicians and artists who have turned their art into weapons of resistance during periods of heightened state repression and violence in the region. The film was banned from broadcast on the national network but it won India’s 64th National Film Award for Best First Non-Feature Film in 2017, Best Film at the 11th biennial Film South Asia and Best Documentary at the 10th Idsff Kerala.
Winning the award felt like a sort of co-option by the state, but the co-director certainly deserved an award.
I watched the Koli being pushed out and thought it was the same problem, though it was being labelled differently. My own honesty was at stake in telling their story as well, rather than being co-opted by the state who bestowed a prize on a film that was banned from ever being viewed. As an artist, I have only my own honesty. That the state took my story for its own purposes was unbearable. This new film gave me the chance to empty myself of their poisonous lying.
I wanted the film to be life affirming.
When did you begin shooting?
As I watched two friends, both indigenous Koli fishermen in Bombay, being driven to desperation by a dying sea and their friendship beginning to fracture as they take very different paths to provide for their struggling families.
Ganesh and Rakesh
Meeting Rakesh was like finding a treasure trove. He is not stupid. Generations before him have understood the moon and the movement of the stars and the fish. He took a marker and on my whiteboard drew a bird’s eye view from the moon and stars shining light upon his boat and how the moon’s refracted light attracted the fish and lit the way for the fisherman.
I realized the film was about one people (the Koli) becoming divided in itself. Watching these two men conversing in 2019, I knew that was how I would build the film. I saw there were two factions in the community and one faction was “othering” the “other”. Like two monkeys fighting while the cat comes and takes the cream, each side blames the other for the lack of fish which in truth is being depleted by offshore oil drilling and climate change.
Rakesh and Ganesh fight to survive in this implacable reality they have no control over. Their strategies for getting by diverge, sometimes clash, but what they have in common is that they are fueled by the same determination to exist in a changing and merciless world where respect for nature and tradition weighs very little in the face of the economic and internationalized interests of some.
Ganesh chooses a different route of bringing in LED lighting on a large scale to attract fish but which leads him into forbidden watersd as well as into compeitition with the Chinese and big business. Both struggle to survive. Rakesh’s solution is the most radical.
And in the end, the two are reconciled by the birth of a new child. Rakesh has solved the problem by selling his boat and downsizing to a smaller boat but catching only high-value fish like lobster which bring in higher prices sufficient to feed his family while keeping overhead low. He has dignity and no debt, lives more slowly and celebrates life.
What attracts you to your subjects? Your previous and first film, Soz — A Ballad of Maladies, explored the tradition of political resistance through music and poetry in Kashmir.
Sk: The subjects reflect my own family’s history. My grandparents were born in Pakistan when the country was part of British India. In 1947, India and Pakistan were divided and the two countries entered into a mortal conflict, which continues today. My grandfather’s family, Sikhs, fled Pakistan to a refugee camp in New Delhi, where my father was born. In 1984, my grandparents managed to leave the camp and build a modest house, but it was completely destroyed during an anti-Sikh riot. I was one year old. My family had to move again.
I grew up with the trauma of these successive uprootings and a constant fear. This personal story brings me back to the Koli community, whose territory and tradition are also threatened. Bombay is a suffocated city where space is scarce and expensive. The Kolis’ lands are now the last available space in the city center and their owners, whose income depends on increasingly meager fisheries, are often forced to sell them to rich entrepreneurs or politicians who will build luxury residences with a view. The Kolis who still live there will be driven out in ten years by land pressure and rising waters. Even the most resistant, like Rakesh, will inexorably abandon their house and, with it, their way of life, a part of their history and their traditions. Like my father and his family, they will one day be displaced and become refugees.
Koli concerns are the concerns of all of Bombay. They’re the guardians of the city’s coast, the sea and even the mangroves. The Koli community of Bombay will be sacrificed for lucrative real estate deals and generalized inaction regarding climate change. It will soon disappear, and I am Zilming its last stirrings.India is one of the places where the effects of climate change are the most dramatic. Every year, the monsoon and the meteorological hazards become more violent and unpredictable. Since 2000, some of Mumbai’s shores have retreated by more than 20 meters and tomorrow, the city’s climate displaced will number, at the very least, in the hundreds of thousands. If nothing is done to curb climate change, many experts agree that Bombay will be largely submerged by 2050, with the Kolis’ land being the first to be flooded.
Rakesh is in a way the ancestral conscience of Ganesh. But by sticking to the age-old traditions of his people at all costs, he risks putting his family in danger. I didn’t want to make a film about who is good or bad; I wanted simply to witness and record as sincerely as possible the stakes that these two intelligent, honest and hard-working young men face, and the consequences that their decisions entail. By following the life of one and then the other, I hoped to make the viewer question his own convictions and the choices he would have made himself if he had been in their place.”
How did you begin and find support for this film?
SK: In December 2019 I shot a pilot for the film because I had the clarity of vision that it was about one community and the two “brothers” facing the crisis of the sea with its polution, lack of fish and that everything that was happening in the sea was showing itself in the financial crises, social crises and familial crises.
That’s how I started to get the workshops and funds. Once you begin, you are led, as if by your own nose. Then you find champions all over the world. If you care, you find others care about the story and the struggle.
It was life affirming. I felt lost, persecuted, alone. It was eye-opening that someone in Amsterdam or the US or France cared about my story and my struggles, to be recognized. The everyday lies are not the real world. The read world is in being true to oneself and then others lead you into life. That is the real world.
She is a recipient of multiple grants from Sundance Film Fund, Catapult Film Fund, IDFA Bertha, San Francisco Film Fund, AlterCine Foundation, HotDocs Crosscurrents International. She has also been a fellow at Hot Docs Accelerator Lab, IDFA Academy, Sffilm and the Chicken & Egg Eggcelerator Labs.
Further support came from Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur in collaboration with the Cnc, Procirep Angoa.
Do you have advise for other doc filmmakers?
Sk: Lower your ambitions and strenthen your resolve. I do not want the moon.
I understand how radical it is and how documentary filmmakers (and journalists) themselves manage to make meaning out of their lives just as the Koli fishing people do, by living in a community, covering costs and needs basic in order to live a life of joy, love and sharing. That is radical and that is the lesson so many people come away with when they delve into the deeper meaning of life.
Do like Rakesh, downsize to support your life and that which is most meaningful in it. Thank you very much Sarvnik! You have restored my own resolve!
For my readers who have gotten this far, here is more informatin about the key crew:
Producer Koval Bhatia
Producer. Koval Bhatia is a filmmaker and producer based in India. She has been heading A Little Anarky Films for 12 years, during which time she has directed and produced commercials, impact films and TV shows. She began her journey as an international producer with Against The Tide, which she has pitched at multiple markets and forums across the world. She is currently a Getting Real Fellow at the International Documentary Association (IDA). Koval is a graduate from Eurodoc and a recipient of the Emerging Producer’s Bursary from the World Congress for Science and Factual Producers, and her feature documentaries as a producer have been awarded grants by Sundance Documentary Fund, Hot Docs, Catapult Film Fund, Docs By The Sea, Sffilm, Al Jazeera, and Dok Leipzig. She is a member of Ewa and Bgdm.
Co-producer. Quentin Laurent founded Les Films de l’Oœil Sauvage with Frédéric Féraud in 2015. Based in Paris and Marseille, the company mainly produces art-house documentaries and Quentin is particularly interested in non-Western narratives and viewpoints, in approaches that reveal spaces that have remained invisible or try to reconsider the perception of familiar places. He has recently produced or co-produced, Kinshasa Makamboby Dieudo Hamadi (Berlinale 2018), Overseas by Soa Yoon (Locarno 2019),Aswang by Alyx Arumpac (IDFA awarded 2019), Downstream to Kinshasa(Cannes 2020), Dreaming Wallsby Amélie van Elmbt and Maya Duverdier (Berlinale 2022), Things I Could Never Tell My Motherby Humaira Bilkis (Visions du Réel 2022), and Kristos the Last Childby Giulia Amati (Venice 20223)
Cinematography. Ashok Meena is an independent cinematographer from Rajasthan, India. He did his post-graduate degree in cinematography from the Film and Television Institute of India, working towards building an independent visual language at work. Known for his experimental films and videos, his independent work has been traveling to festivals and art galleries across the world. Ashok has shot several documentary films including Kamal Swaroop’s Pushkar Puran,which had its European premiere at the 60th Dok Leipzig.
Editing. Atanas Georgiev is one of the owners of Trice Films and Film Trick from Macedonia, subsidiaries of FX3X. His directorial and producing debut, Cash & Marry, won many international awards and recognition. It was followed by Avec l’Amour, a festival favorite in 2017 premiering at Hot Docs, and soon after with Honeyland in 2019, a triple winner at Sundance Film Festival and nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Documentary and Best International Feature for 2020.
Editing. Blagoja Nedelkovskiis a film editor and musician based in Skopje, Macedonia. He graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Film & TV editing in Skopje in 2000. For almost two decades he has actively working on feature films, documentaries, TV series and music videos in Macedonia and the Balkans. He has also spent some time in Vienna, Austria, where he freelanced as an editor and an artist so that he could pay for his music studies at the Music Konzervatorium Franz Shubert. Some of the more notable projects as an editor are the films Punk’s Not Dead, State of Shock, To the Hilt,The Year of the Monkey, and Honeyland.
Sound Design. Moinak Bose is a sound designer based out of Bombay, India. He is a graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, with a specialization in sound recording and sound design. Moinak’s work includes the internationally acclaimed films A Night of Knowing Nothing in 2021 (sound design) and All That Breathes in 2022 (sound recording), both of which won L’Œil d’Or (The Golden Eye) for best documentary at Cannes. The films have been screened at many festivals and won top prizes at TIFF and Sundance Film Festival respectively. Against The Tide is his latest work as a sound designer
International sales agent is Deckert
North American Distribution: Submarine Entertainment.
Genre: Documentary
Country: India/France
Language: Koli, Marathi, Hindi
Year: 2023
Duration: 97 min.
- 1/24/2023
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
Iran’s Asghar Farhadi, who directed the Oscar winners “A Separation” and “The Salesman,” U.S. producer Christine Vachon, whose credits includes Oscar winner “Boys Don’t Cry,” and Oscar nominees “Far from Heaven” and “Carol,” and Romania’s Alexander Nanau, the director of the Oscar nominated “Collective,” are among the jury members at the 18th edition of the Zurich Film Festival, which takes place from Sept. 22 to Oct. 2.
Farhadi will head the jury for the International Feature Film Competition. He is joined by the U.K.’s Clio Barnard, who directed the BAFTA nominated “The Arbor,” “The Selfish Giant” and “Ali & Ava”; L.A.-based Brazilian Daniel Dreifuss, a producer on the Oscar nominated “No” and “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Germany’s Oscar entry; Swiss/Italian screenwriter and director Petra Volpe, whose credits include Tribeca prizewinner “The Divine Order”; and Sweden’s Peter “Piodor” Gustafsson, the producer of Ali Abbassi’s “Border,...
Farhadi will head the jury for the International Feature Film Competition. He is joined by the U.K.’s Clio Barnard, who directed the BAFTA nominated “The Arbor,” “The Selfish Giant” and “Ali & Ava”; L.A.-based Brazilian Daniel Dreifuss, a producer on the Oscar nominated “No” and “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Germany’s Oscar entry; Swiss/Italian screenwriter and director Petra Volpe, whose credits include Tribeca prizewinner “The Divine Order”; and Sweden’s Peter “Piodor” Gustafsson, the producer of Ali Abbassi’s “Border,...
- 9/14/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Ellis French is a gay Black man going through a particularly brutal Marine Corps boot camp (is there any other kind?). His fellow recruits have figured out that he is gay despite his best efforts, and his life has become a living hell. When he's finally asked why he's even bothering with all of this torment, he tearfully replies, "If I die in this uniform, I'm a hero." It's a brutal moment of heartbreaking honesty in the middle of "The Inspection," Elegance Bratton's strong drama inspired by his own life story. Like Bratton, Ellis — played by Jeremy Pope in a star-making turn — joined the Marines in an attempt to win back his bigoted mother (Gabrielle Union). Ellis' mom disapproves of Ellis' gay lifestyle so much that she's more or less cut him completely out of her life, and when he pays her a visit to let her know he's joining the Marines,...
- 9/10/2022
- by Chris Evangelista
- Slash Film
U.K. crew union Bectu and producers’ body Pact have mutually agreed to extend the current agreement, which was set to end on Sept. 1, while they continue to negotiate.
“For both Pact and Bectu and our respective members the priority is a fair and transparent collective agreement that addresses work-life balance and is workable across all budget levels of U.K. scripted television,” the organizations said in a joint statement.
“It is incumbent on all of us to do all we can to maintain a collective agreement and to encourage stability within our industry, both for the sake of the domestic production community and of those who seek to invest in the UK and bring their productions to the U.K. To that end, we can confirm that we are fully committed to finding a solution to the outstanding issues in our negotiation.”
“To give us the time to pursue a...
“For both Pact and Bectu and our respective members the priority is a fair and transparent collective agreement that addresses work-life balance and is workable across all budget levels of U.K. scripted television,” the organizations said in a joint statement.
“It is incumbent on all of us to do all we can to maintain a collective agreement and to encourage stability within our industry, both for the sake of the domestic production community and of those who seek to invest in the UK and bring their productions to the U.K. To that end, we can confirm that we are fully committed to finding a solution to the outstanding issues in our negotiation.”
“To give us the time to pursue a...
- 8/30/2022
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
Vienna-based sales agent Square Eyes has acquired international rights to Theo Montoya’s debut feature “Anhell69,” ahead of its world premiere in Venice Film Festival’s International Critics’ Week. The producers include Bianca Oana, who also produced Alexander Nanau’s Oscar-nominated doc “Collective,” and Berlinale winner “Touch Me Not” by Adina Pintilie.
A haunting, cinematic portrait of the young queer scene in Medellín, “Anhell69” follows Montoya’s short film on the same subject, “Son on Sodom,” which premiered in Cannes 2020.
In “Anhell69,” a funeral car cruises the streets of Medellín, while a young director tells the story of his past in this violent and conservative city. He remembers the pre-production of his first film, a B-movie with ghosts. The young queer scene of Medellín forms the cast for the film, but the main protagonist dies of a heroin overdose at the age of 21, like many friends of the director. “Anhell69” explores the dreams,...
A haunting, cinematic portrait of the young queer scene in Medellín, “Anhell69” follows Montoya’s short film on the same subject, “Son on Sodom,” which premiered in Cannes 2020.
In “Anhell69,” a funeral car cruises the streets of Medellín, while a young director tells the story of his past in this violent and conservative city. He remembers the pre-production of his first film, a B-movie with ghosts. The young queer scene of Medellín forms the cast for the film, but the main protagonist dies of a heroin overdose at the age of 21, like many friends of the director. “Anhell69” explores the dreams,...
- 8/23/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Philippa Kowarsky is leaving her role as Commissioning Editor of BBC’s Storyville documentary strand after a year in post.
In an internal post, BBC Films Director Eva Yates told colleagues Kowarsky would be “leaving the team to pursue other ventures outside of the BBC.
“I would like to personally thank Philippa for her contribution to the success of Storyville over the past year, during which time she has built a rich and varied slate of films. I wish her all the best for her future plans.”
Kowarsky’s commissions while at the BBC included The Earth is as Blue as an Orange, which followed a Ukrainian family living under siege in 1997.
Yates said she would update “soon on next steps for Storyville.” She is taking on oversight and commissioning duties for Storyville in the interim.
Kowarsky has joined from Cinephil, the international sales and advisory firm which she founded...
In an internal post, BBC Films Director Eva Yates told colleagues Kowarsky would be “leaving the team to pursue other ventures outside of the BBC.
“I would like to personally thank Philippa for her contribution to the success of Storyville over the past year, during which time she has built a rich and varied slate of films. I wish her all the best for her future plans.”
Kowarsky’s commissions while at the BBC included The Earth is as Blue as an Orange, which followed a Ukrainian family living under siege in 1997.
Yates said she would update “soon on next steps for Storyville.” She is taking on oversight and commissioning duties for Storyville in the interim.
Kowarsky has joined from Cinephil, the international sales and advisory firm which she founded...
- 8/4/2022
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
BBC Storyville commissioning editor Philippa Kowarsky is departing the corporation to pursue other ventures. Director of BBC Film Eva Yates will be the interim commissioning contact for BBC Storyville until a replacement for Kowarsky is found.
In a notice to BBC staff, seen by Variety, Yates wrote: “I’m writing to let you know that Philippa Kowarsky will be leaving the team to pursue other ventures outside of the BBC. I would like to personally thank Philippa for her contribution to the success of Storyville over the past year, during which time she has built a rich and varied slate of films. I wish her all the best for her future plans.”
“We will update you soon on next steps for Storyville. In the interim, please come to me with any issues or commissioning decisions that may arise,” Yates added.
As director of BBC Film, Yates already had oversight of Storyville.
In a notice to BBC staff, seen by Variety, Yates wrote: “I’m writing to let you know that Philippa Kowarsky will be leaving the team to pursue other ventures outside of the BBC. I would like to personally thank Philippa for her contribution to the success of Storyville over the past year, during which time she has built a rich and varied slate of films. I wish her all the best for her future plans.”
“We will update you soon on next steps for Storyville. In the interim, please come to me with any issues or commissioning decisions that may arise,” Yates added.
As director of BBC Film, Yates already had oversight of Storyville.
- 8/4/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Black Bear Pictures and New Regency today announced the launch of Double Agent, a new joint venture designed to produce and finance non-fiction content spanning all genres and formats for a global audience. New Regency’s Yariv Milchan and Michael Schaefer and Black Bear Pictures’ Teddy Schwarzman have joined forces to utilize their combined strategic expertise, financial acumen and resources to take advantage of the extraordinary growth of the audience for non-fiction and the unprecedented opportunities that now exist in the documentary marketplace.
Double Agent will look to offer filmmakers robust financing capability and high-end creative services for the development and production of non-fiction feature films, series and emerging formats. Dana O’Keefe has been appointed as President of the company, exiting Cinetic Media where he served as Partner. He was involved with hundreds of films over the course of his tenure at Cinetic, including the Oscar-winning docs Summer of Soul,...
Double Agent will look to offer filmmakers robust financing capability and high-end creative services for the development and production of non-fiction feature films, series and emerging formats. Dana O’Keefe has been appointed as President of the company, exiting Cinetic Media where he served as Partner. He was involved with hundreds of films over the course of his tenure at Cinetic, including the Oscar-winning docs Summer of Soul,...
- 5/12/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Partners to leverage resources, relationships to create premium content spanning all genres, formats.
Black Bear Pictures and New Regency have formed the joint venture Double Agent to produce and finance premium non-fiction content spanning all genres and formats.
Dana O’Keefe has been named president and departs from Cinetic Media where he served as a partner and was involved in hundreds of films over the course of his tenure including Oscar-winning documentaries Summer Of Soul, Free Solo, and Amy, along with Oscar nominated films like Collective, Rbg, Cartel Land, The Square and Exit Through The Giftshop.
Combining the strategic expertise, resources...
Black Bear Pictures and New Regency have formed the joint venture Double Agent to produce and finance premium non-fiction content spanning all genres and formats.
Dana O’Keefe has been named president and departs from Cinetic Media where he served as a partner and was involved in hundreds of films over the course of his tenure including Oscar-winning documentaries Summer Of Soul, Free Solo, and Amy, along with Oscar nominated films like Collective, Rbg, Cartel Land, The Square and Exit Through The Giftshop.
Combining the strategic expertise, resources...
- 5/12/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
When Jane Schoenbrun’s “We’re All Going to The World’s Fair” debuted at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, they were not only introduced as a solo filmmaker, but as their true self for the first time. A longtime fixture in New York’s independent film scene, Schoenbrun has worn many hats. They co-created the experimental online variety show “The Eyeslicer,” which featured work from David Lowery, Ari Aster, and Shaka King, among others. They spearheaded the omnibus film “collective:unconscious,” which saw five experimental filmmakers interpreting each other’s dreams. They also launched The Radical Film Fair, an ambitious but short-lived film flea market that connected independent filmmakers, film-lovers, and distributors.
That was all before their “egg cracked,” a shorthand for the moment when a trans person finally comes out to themselves. In true Shoenbrun fashion, “We’re All Going to The World’s Fair” isn’t a straightforward narrative about being trans.
That was all before their “egg cracked,” a shorthand for the moment when a trans person finally comes out to themselves. In true Shoenbrun fashion, “We’re All Going to The World’s Fair” isn’t a straightforward narrative about being trans.
- 4/15/2022
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
On April 13 the Peabody Board of Jurors announced the 60 nominees for the 82nd Annual Peabody Awards honoring the best and most impactful work in media in 2021, including everything from news to entertainment to podcasts. A jury of 19 unanimously selected these nominees from more than 1,200 entries. Out of these nominees, 30 will eventually be selected as winners, to be announced during virtual events from June 6 through June 9. Scroll down for the complete list.
SEEWill ‘Yellowjackets’ finally bring Showtime back to the drama series Emmy race?
Peabody executive director Jeffrey Jones said in a statement, “Following yet another turbulent year, Peabody is proud to honor an array of stories that poignantly and powerfully help us make sense of the challenges we face as a nation and world. Demonstrating the immense power of stories, these nominees exposed our societal failures and celebrated the best of the human spirit. They are all worthy of recognition,...
SEEWill ‘Yellowjackets’ finally bring Showtime back to the drama series Emmy race?
Peabody executive director Jeffrey Jones said in a statement, “Following yet another turbulent year, Peabody is proud to honor an array of stories that poignantly and powerfully help us make sense of the challenges we face as a nation and world. Demonstrating the immense power of stories, these nominees exposed our societal failures and celebrated the best of the human spirit. They are all worthy of recognition,...
- 4/13/2022
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
A panel composed of representatives from A-list festivals got together on Sunday for an online talk staged by documentary film festival Visions du Réel to discuss the place of documentary films at their events.
The speakers were Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan, U.S. programmer and selection committee member of the Venice Film Festival, Cristina Nord, head of the Berlinale Forum, Eva Sangiorgi, director of the Viennale, and Frédéric Boyer, artistic director of the Tribeca Film Festival.
Asked to outline their selection criteria, most panelists agreed theirs was a director-driven approach based on individual submissions.
“It’s first and foremost about inviting films that are truly inspiring and ground-breaking: it’s always interesting when you discover something that you haven’t seen before,” said Nord, adding that documentaries hold a significant place in the Berlinale’s independently curated, experimental Forum section, where they represent roughly half of the films selected.
“Our objective...
The speakers were Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan, U.S. programmer and selection committee member of the Venice Film Festival, Cristina Nord, head of the Berlinale Forum, Eva Sangiorgi, director of the Viennale, and Frédéric Boyer, artistic director of the Tribeca Film Festival.
Asked to outline their selection criteria, most panelists agreed theirs was a director-driven approach based on individual submissions.
“It’s first and foremost about inviting films that are truly inspiring and ground-breaking: it’s always interesting when you discover something that you haven’t seen before,” said Nord, adding that documentaries hold a significant place in the Berlinale’s independently curated, experimental Forum section, where they represent roughly half of the films selected.
“Our objective...
- 4/12/2022
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
On March 27, the Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson-directed Summer of Soul won the Oscar for Best Documentary. A week later, the film won the Grammy for Best Music Film, becoming only the third documentary to achieve the feat, following 20 Feet from Stardom and Amy.
The double wins gave a massive boost to Summer of Soul’s viewership. As usual, Disney is not releasing streaming data but has confirmed that the Onyx Collective, Searchlight Pictures and Hulu documentary surged by +390 in hours streamed on Hulu, Disney+ and Star+ between 3/27 – 4/5 (which included the Oscars and the Grammys) vs. 3/13 – 3/22.
The viewership spiked in a big way following the Oscars with Summer of Soul receiving additional exposure from having won the category that was presented by Chris Rock who was slapped by Will Smith moments before he announced Summer of Soul as the winner. There was second triple-digit jump immediately following the Grammys.
The double wins gave a massive boost to Summer of Soul’s viewership. As usual, Disney is not releasing streaming data but has confirmed that the Onyx Collective, Searchlight Pictures and Hulu documentary surged by +390 in hours streamed on Hulu, Disney+ and Star+ between 3/27 – 4/5 (which included the Oscars and the Grammys) vs. 3/13 – 3/22.
The viewership spiked in a big way following the Oscars with Summer of Soul receiving additional exposure from having won the category that was presented by Chris Rock who was slapped by Will Smith moments before he announced Summer of Soul as the winner. There was second triple-digit jump immediately following the Grammys.
- 4/7/2022
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
A version of this story about “Flee” first appeared in the Down to the Wire of TheWrap’s awards magazine.
In terms of making history at this year’s Oscars, no film matches the three-peat achieved by Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s “Flee.”
The Danish documentary about the life of an Afghan refugee named Amin is not simply the first animated film nominated for Best Documentary Feature, which would be remarkable enough – but it was also nominated for Best Animated Feature and Best International Feature Film. The movies “Honeyland” (2019) and “Collective” (2020) were the first to be nominated in the documentary and international categories. “Flee” matched that record and beat it.
“It’s just crazy and amazing,” said Danish director Rasmussen. “This film started just as a conversation between two friends. In the beginning, I brought up the idea of maybe making it as a short documentary, and back then, nearly 10 years ago,...
In terms of making history at this year’s Oscars, no film matches the three-peat achieved by Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s “Flee.”
The Danish documentary about the life of an Afghan refugee named Amin is not simply the first animated film nominated for Best Documentary Feature, which would be remarkable enough – but it was also nominated for Best Animated Feature and Best International Feature Film. The movies “Honeyland” (2019) and “Collective” (2020) were the first to be nominated in the documentary and international categories. “Flee” matched that record and beat it.
“It’s just crazy and amazing,” said Danish director Rasmussen. “This film started just as a conversation between two friends. In the beginning, I brought up the idea of maybe making it as a short documentary, and back then, nearly 10 years ago,...
- 3/16/2022
- by Joe McGovern
- The Wrap
BBC Content has advertised for the high powered role of commissioning director, BBC Film and Storyville, a position formerly held by Rose Garnett under the title director of BBC Film.
BBC Film is the feature film-making arm of the BBC, co-producing some 15 films a year. Recent successes include the BAFTA and Critics Choice awards winning “The Power of the Dog” and “The Souvenir” and “The Souvenir: Part II.”
Storyville is the broadcaster’s flagship feature documentary strand and showcases films from around the world including “Welcome to Chechnya” and “Collective.” It moved under the remit of BBC Film in 2020. Storyville was led by Mandy Chang, until the executive left to join Fremantle as global head of factual. “Flee” executive producer Philippa Kowarsky was appointed commissioning editor, reporting into Garnett.
Garnett recently resigned her BBC Film position to join A24 and Eva Yates is currently serving as acting director.
To fill Garnett’s role,...
BBC Film is the feature film-making arm of the BBC, co-producing some 15 films a year. Recent successes include the BAFTA and Critics Choice awards winning “The Power of the Dog” and “The Souvenir” and “The Souvenir: Part II.”
Storyville is the broadcaster’s flagship feature documentary strand and showcases films from around the world including “Welcome to Chechnya” and “Collective.” It moved under the remit of BBC Film in 2020. Storyville was led by Mandy Chang, until the executive left to join Fremantle as global head of factual. “Flee” executive producer Philippa Kowarsky was appointed commissioning editor, reporting into Garnett.
Garnett recently resigned her BBC Film position to join A24 and Eva Yates is currently serving as acting director.
To fill Garnett’s role,...
- 3/15/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The Academy’s International Feature Film Award Committee has nothing to do with selecting the foreign-language submissions from more than 90 countries around the world. It’s up to the individual country to figure out which film has the best chance to build a following among some 1,000 global Academy participants (mostly in Los Angeles) who watch a dozen films at festivals, screenings, theaters, or on the Academy online portal, and rate them to come up with a shortlist of 15 films for the overall Academy to watch. Those who see the entire shortlist can pick the final five nominees.
While many in Hollywood decry this method of selecting the international Oscar contenders, the scale and logistics of the submitting and voting process have staved off any meaningful reform. More countries are participating every year: this year 92 submissions were eligible. Some members would like to see 10 nominees, given the high volume of quality films on display.
While many in Hollywood decry this method of selecting the international Oscar contenders, the scale and logistics of the submitting and voting process have staved off any meaningful reform. More countries are participating every year: this year 92 submissions were eligible. Some members would like to see 10 nominees, given the high volume of quality films on display.
- 2/10/2022
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
The Academy’s International Feature Film Award Committee has nothing to do with selecting the foreign-language submissions from more than 90 countries around the world. It’s up to the individual country to figure out which film has the best chance to build a following among some 1,000 global Academy participants (mostly in Los Angeles) who watch a dozen films at festivals, screenings, theaters, or on the Academy online portal, and rate them to come up with a shortlist of 15 films for the overall Academy to watch. Those who see the entire shortlist can pick the final five nominees.
While many in Hollywood decry this method of selecting the international Oscar contenders, the scale and logistics of the submitting and voting process have staved off any meaningful reform. More countries are participating every year: this year 92 submissions were eligible. Some members would like to see 10 nominees, given the high volume of quality films on display.
While many in Hollywood decry this method of selecting the international Oscar contenders, the scale and logistics of the submitting and voting process have staved off any meaningful reform. More countries are participating every year: this year 92 submissions were eligible. Some members would like to see 10 nominees, given the high volume of quality films on display.
- 2/10/2022
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
The 2022 Oscar nominations were good for “Flee,” which was nominated three times: Best Documentary Feature, Best International Feature, and Best Animated Feature. Though a couple of films in recent years had been nominated in two of those categories, no film had ever swept all three until now. Check out the complete list of Oscar nominations here.
“Flee” follows Amin Nawabi, who fled Afghanistan as a refugee and settled in Denmark. It premiered at Sundance in 2021 more than a year ago before hitting the fall festival circuit and then opening to audiences on December 3. Before the Oscar nominations the film had already received myriad awards and/or nominations from the European Film Awards, the Gotham Awards, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Producers Guild, the Critics Choice Awards, and the Annie Awards.
Receiving nominations across those categories never happened for most of Oscar history.
“Flee” follows Amin Nawabi, who fled Afghanistan as a refugee and settled in Denmark. It premiered at Sundance in 2021 more than a year ago before hitting the fall festival circuit and then opening to audiences on December 3. Before the Oscar nominations the film had already received myriad awards and/or nominations from the European Film Awards, the Gotham Awards, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Producers Guild, the Critics Choice Awards, and the Annie Awards.
Receiving nominations across those categories never happened for most of Oscar history.
- 2/8/2022
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
Every Academy Awards season provides a little slice of history, but more Oscar records could fall with Tuesday’s announcement of the nominations. Here are some of the landmarks that could conceivably be reached:
• If Kenneth Branagh is nominated for both Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay for “Belfast,” he’ll break the record for nominations in the largest number of different categories. Branagh has previously been nominated in five different categories: Best Actor (“Henry V”), Best Supporting Actor (“My Week With Marilyn”), Best Director (“Henry V”), Best Adapted Screenplay (“Hamlet”) and Best Live Action Short (“Swan Song”). George Clooney, Alfonso Cuarón and Walt Disney have all been nominated in six different categories.
• If Jane Campion is nominated for Best Director for “The Power of the Dog,” she’ll become the first woman ever nominated twice in the category. (She was previously nominated for 1993’s “The Piano.”)
• If “The Power of the Dog,...
• If Kenneth Branagh is nominated for both Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay for “Belfast,” he’ll break the record for nominations in the largest number of different categories. Branagh has previously been nominated in five different categories: Best Actor (“Henry V”), Best Supporting Actor (“My Week With Marilyn”), Best Director (“Henry V”), Best Adapted Screenplay (“Hamlet”) and Best Live Action Short (“Swan Song”). George Clooney, Alfonso Cuarón and Walt Disney have all been nominated in six different categories.
• If Jane Campion is nominated for Best Director for “The Power of the Dog,” she’ll become the first woman ever nominated twice in the category. (She was previously nominated for 1993’s “The Piano.”)
• If “The Power of the Dog,...
- 2/7/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
On a lonely, fog-drenched mountaintop, as a flying snake the length of a train car circles a speargun-toting android, only one thought crossed my mind: Parenting is basically impossible.
Of course, today’s guardians are already well-aware. Having navigated nearly two years of a deadly pandemic, anyone in charge of a youngster under five is likely struggling to find sustainable childcare, while those responsible for adolescents old enough to get vaccinated still have to deal with added responsibilities like remote learning, breakthrough cases, and furious debates about every institutional policy decision that could affect their children’s lives. Some call these ongoing challenges “insurmountable.” Others can only find solace in primordial expulsions.
But for those parents with enough time for a TV break — and please, parents, take any reprieve you can — “Raised By Wolves” Season 2 offers an otherworldly remove from your worries and, quite possibly, catharsis to boot. The HBO...
Of course, today’s guardians are already well-aware. Having navigated nearly two years of a deadly pandemic, anyone in charge of a youngster under five is likely struggling to find sustainable childcare, while those responsible for adolescents old enough to get vaccinated still have to deal with added responsibilities like remote learning, breakthrough cases, and furious debates about every institutional policy decision that could affect their children’s lives. Some call these ongoing challenges “insurmountable.” Others can only find solace in primordial expulsions.
But for those parents with enough time for a TV break — and please, parents, take any reprieve you can — “Raised By Wolves” Season 2 offers an otherworldly remove from your worries and, quite possibly, catharsis to boot. The HBO...
- 2/3/2022
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
In the streaming age, documentary filmmakers, once the long-suffering artists working in obscurity to finish self-funded passion projects, have become rock stars. Deep-pocketed platforms like Netflix and Hulu have dished out for costly archival clearances and biopic rights, and the strategy has invariably led to awards glory.
But just as the medium has become more elevated, so too has it grown increasingly global in scope, with a vast network of documentary gatekeepers venturing outside the traditional nonfiction markets of the U.S. and Western Europe for the next big project that can go the distance to become an awards contender.
“We’re growing closer together in a good way,” says Rick Perez, the newly installed president of the Los Angeles-based International Documentary Assn. The former Sundance documentary executive recognizes the influence of the streamers, but says the nonfiction boom is mainly the result of the decades-long work of independents like...
But just as the medium has become more elevated, so too has it grown increasingly global in scope, with a vast network of documentary gatekeepers venturing outside the traditional nonfiction markets of the U.S. and Western Europe for the next big project that can go the distance to become an awards contender.
“We’re growing closer together in a good way,” says Rick Perez, the newly installed president of the Los Angeles-based International Documentary Assn. The former Sundance documentary executive recognizes the influence of the streamers, but says the nonfiction boom is mainly the result of the decades-long work of independents like...
- 1/27/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
In the past decade, the inclusion of streaming services in the documentary market has made it increasingly harder for smaller docus struggling with funding to break into the nonfiction feature Oscar race. But in spite of the deep pockets they are up against, a number of cash-strapped docs inevitably make it onto the shortlist every year. This year was no exception.
Jessica Beshir’s “Faya Dayi”, Camilla Nielsson’s “President” (Greenwich Entertainment) and Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas’ “Writing with Fire” (Music Box Films) are three films on this year’s feature doc shortlist that are up against competitors with multi-million-dollar campaign budgets being paid by media and tech conglomerates including Apple, Netflix, ViacomCBS, the Walt Disney Co. and WarnerMedia.
As the field narrows and lobbying and marketing takeover, it’s clear that money and brand recognition are key factors in the race for Oscar gold, which makes “Faya Dayi,...
Jessica Beshir’s “Faya Dayi”, Camilla Nielsson’s “President” (Greenwich Entertainment) and Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas’ “Writing with Fire” (Music Box Films) are three films on this year’s feature doc shortlist that are up against competitors with multi-million-dollar campaign budgets being paid by media and tech conglomerates including Apple, Netflix, ViacomCBS, the Walt Disney Co. and WarnerMedia.
As the field narrows and lobbying and marketing takeover, it’s clear that money and brand recognition are key factors in the race for Oscar gold, which makes “Faya Dayi,...
- 1/20/2022
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
The 2022 Oscar shortlists were good for “Flee,” which was cited twice: Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature, in addition to the film also being eligible for Best Animated Feature. Though a couple of films in recent years have been nominated in two of those categories, no film has ever swept all three. And judging from our early odds in those races, this will be the film to do it.
“Flee” tells the true story of Amin Nawabi, who fled Afghanistan and settled in Denmark as a refugee. It premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival almost a year ago before hitting the Toronto and New York fests in the fall and opening in theaters on December 3. Thus far, the film has already received a wide range of awards and nominations, including the European Film Award for Best European Documentary, the Gotham Award for Best Documentary, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Animation,...
“Flee” tells the true story of Amin Nawabi, who fled Afghanistan and settled in Denmark as a refugee. It premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival almost a year ago before hitting the Toronto and New York fests in the fall and opening in theaters on December 3. Thus far, the film has already received a wide range of awards and nominations, including the European Film Award for Best European Documentary, the Gotham Award for Best Documentary, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Animation,...
- 1/2/2022
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
The two Oscar frontrunners for Best Documentary Feature are safely through to the next round of voting.
Summer of Soul and Flee earned spots on the Oscar doc feature shortlist announced today, as Documentary Branch voters whittled the list of contending films from 138 qualifiers to 15 [see full lists below].
Flee, the Neon release directed by Danish filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen, not only made the doc feature shortlist, but the shortlist for Best International Film as well, representing Denmark. That rare shortlist double was accomplished last Oscar season by the Romanian documentary Collective, and a year earlier by the North Macedonian film Honeyland (both Collective and Honeyland went on to score Oscar nominations in both categories). Flee remains in the running in a third Oscar category, Animated Feature.
Flee and Summer of Soul,...
Summer of Soul and Flee earned spots on the Oscar doc feature shortlist announced today, as Documentary Branch voters whittled the list of contending films from 138 qualifiers to 15 [see full lists below].
Flee, the Neon release directed by Danish filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen, not only made the doc feature shortlist, but the shortlist for Best International Film as well, representing Denmark. That rare shortlist double was accomplished last Oscar season by the Romanian documentary Collective, and a year earlier by the North Macedonian film Honeyland (both Collective and Honeyland went on to score Oscar nominations in both categories). Flee remains in the running in a third Oscar category, Animated Feature.
Flee and Summer of Soul,...
- 12/21/2021
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Every year, former President Barack Obama reminds us just how good we had it by flexing his impeccable taste in film and TV. As December gets halfway through, it’s that time of year again for Obama to name his favorite films of 2021.
“Over the next few days, I’ll share my annual list of favorite books, music, and movies. Art always sustains and nourishes the soul. But for me, music and storytelling felt especially urgent during this pandemic year,” Obama wrote on Twitter before beginning the rollout of the best art he consumed in the past year. His list of top films includes critics’ favorite “Drive My Car” (which is Japan’s entry for the International Feature Oscar), Questlove’s Oscar-hopeful documentary “Summer of Soul,” “West Side Story,” and “The Power of the Dog.”
Obama also made room for films including “Pig,” “Passing,” “The Card Counter,” Oscar winner “Judas and the Black Messiah,...
“Over the next few days, I’ll share my annual list of favorite books, music, and movies. Art always sustains and nourishes the soul. But for me, music and storytelling felt especially urgent during this pandemic year,” Obama wrote on Twitter before beginning the rollout of the best art he consumed in the past year. His list of top films includes critics’ favorite “Drive My Car” (which is Japan’s entry for the International Feature Oscar), Questlove’s Oscar-hopeful documentary “Summer of Soul,” “West Side Story,” and “The Power of the Dog.”
Obama also made room for films including “Pig,” “Passing,” “The Card Counter,” Oscar winner “Judas and the Black Messiah,...
- 12/16/2021
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
PoetBerlinale have announced the first 62 titles selected for the 72nd edition of their festival, set to take place physically from February 10 — 20.FORUMAfterwater (Dane Komljen)Poet (Darezhan Omirbayev)The Middle AgesEurope (Philip Scheffner)A Flower in the Mouth (Éric Baudelaire)Memoryland (Kim Quy Bui)My Two Voices (Lina Rodriguez)Nuclear Family (Erin Wilkerson, Travis Wilkerson)Super Natural (Jorge Jácome)The United States of America (James Benning)Forum EXPANDEDDragon Tooth (Rafael Castanheira Parrode)Home When You Return (Carl Elsaesser)Jail Bird in a Peacock Chair (James Gregory Atkinson)Sol in the Dark (Mawena Yehouessi)vs (Lydia Nsiah)PANORAMATalking About the Weather (Annika Pinske)The Apartment with Two Women (Kim Se-in)Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power (Nina Menkes)Swing Ride (Chiara Bellosi)Dreaming WallsKlondike (Maryna Er Gorbach)A Love Song (Max Walker-Silverman)Myanmar Diaries (The Myanmar Film Collective)Into My Name (Nicolò Bassetti)Nelly & Nadine (Magnus Gertten)We, Students! (Rafiki Fariala)Until Tomorrow (Ali Asgari...
- 12/15/2021
- MUBI
After four consecutive years of losing out to other continents, European cinema reclaimed the international feature Oscar earlier this year with Thomas Vinterberg’s Danish entry “Another Round.” It was a return to form for the region that has traditionally dominated the race, and annually boasts the lion’s share of contenders at the submissions stage. More than 40% of the 93 submissions in this year’s race are European, and with many of the season’s buzziest titles among them, the continent has a strong collective chance of holding onto the gold.
Not that buzz always translates to gold in this category, in which no year passes without at least one hotly hyped contender failing to make even the pre-nomination shortlist.
The biggest wild card in this year’s race comes from the country that holds the record for the most nominations in the category’s history: having pushed 39 films into the final five before,...
Not that buzz always translates to gold in this category, in which no year passes without at least one hotly hyped contender failing to make even the pre-nomination shortlist.
The biggest wild card in this year’s race comes from the country that holds the record for the most nominations in the category’s history: having pushed 39 films into the final five before,...
- 12/9/2021
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
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