The Mammoth Lakes Film Festival revealed its lineup for this year’s festival, taking place from May 22 – 26 at venues across Mammoth Lakes.
The festival will open with the California premiere of director Lucy Lawless’ “Never Look Away,” which follows a CNN combat camerawoman who gets injured and must find the strength to carry on. The closing night features “Black Box Diaries,” directed by Shiori Ito, who investigates her own sexual assault through the film.
A Short Films Program will also be featured at the festival, consisting of 38 narrative shorts, 20 documentary shorts, 10 animation shorts and a program of music videos and a screenplay competition.
The Mlff film lineup is as follows:
North American Narrative Features:
All I’ve Got and Then Some
Tehben Dean and Rasheed Stephens | United States
Atikamekw Suns
Chloé Leriche | Canada
Psykhodrame
Miles Blim | United States
The Last Night in the Life of Death
Isaiah Brody | United States...
The festival will open with the California premiere of director Lucy Lawless’ “Never Look Away,” which follows a CNN combat camerawoman who gets injured and must find the strength to carry on. The closing night features “Black Box Diaries,” directed by Shiori Ito, who investigates her own sexual assault through the film.
A Short Films Program will also be featured at the festival, consisting of 38 narrative shorts, 20 documentary shorts, 10 animation shorts and a program of music videos and a screenplay competition.
The Mlff film lineup is as follows:
North American Narrative Features:
All I’ve Got and Then Some
Tehben Dean and Rasheed Stephens | United States
Atikamekw Suns
Chloé Leriche | Canada
Psykhodrame
Miles Blim | United States
The Last Night in the Life of Death
Isaiah Brody | United States...
- 5/4/2024
- by Jazz Tangcay, Selena Kuznikov, Lexi Carson and Jack Dunn
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: The Human Rights Watch Film Festival recently announced it’s closing down, and the future of Hot Docs remains uncertain at best. But there’s some hopeful news for the troubled film festival space: the return of the Margaret Mead Film Festival in New York.
The longest running nonfiction film festival in the U.S. reemerges May 9, after being dark since the pandemic. The four-day event will showcase documentary films from across the globe, as well as animation, panel discussions, and live performances, all from its home base at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. [Scroll for the full program]
Margaret Mead Film Festival
“Mead 2024 gives platform to new voices that inspire fresh conversations about our shared humanity,” noted Jacqueline Handy, director of public programs at the American Museum of Natural History, adding the festival has been “a vibrant part of the Museum landscape since 1977.”
The festival kicks off on Thursday,...
The longest running nonfiction film festival in the U.S. reemerges May 9, after being dark since the pandemic. The four-day event will showcase documentary films from across the globe, as well as animation, panel discussions, and live performances, all from its home base at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. [Scroll for the full program]
Margaret Mead Film Festival
“Mead 2024 gives platform to new voices that inspire fresh conversations about our shared humanity,” noted Jacqueline Handy, director of public programs at the American Museum of Natural History, adding the festival has been “a vibrant part of the Museum landscape since 1977.”
The festival kicks off on Thursday,...
- 5/3/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Cinephil has sold Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó’s feature documentary “Agent of Happiness” to a wide range of key international territories ahead of the film’s Hot Docs debut this weekend.
Deals are confirmed in the U.K. and Ireland (Dogwoof), Germany and Austria (Filmwelt), Australia and New Zealand (Vendetta), Italy (Wanted), Spain and Portugal (Filmin), Poland (Against Gravity), Switzerland (Trigon), Belgium (Vrt), Israel (Lev), the Western Balkans (Beldocs), Hong Kong and Macao (Now TV Hong Kong), and Taiwan (Sky Digi), with North American distribution set to be announced shortly. Hungarian distributor Mozinet will release the film on May 2.
“Agent of Happiness” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to positive reviews, and went on to several festivals including True/False, Cph:dox, San Francisco, Full Frame and the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.
Co-directed by Bhattarai and Zurbó following their IDFA-selected “The Next Guardian,” “Agent of Happiness” follows Amber, one of the...
Deals are confirmed in the U.K. and Ireland (Dogwoof), Germany and Austria (Filmwelt), Australia and New Zealand (Vendetta), Italy (Wanted), Spain and Portugal (Filmin), Poland (Against Gravity), Switzerland (Trigon), Belgium (Vrt), Israel (Lev), the Western Balkans (Beldocs), Hong Kong and Macao (Now TV Hong Kong), and Taiwan (Sky Digi), with North American distribution set to be announced shortly. Hungarian distributor Mozinet will release the film on May 2.
“Agent of Happiness” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to positive reviews, and went on to several festivals including True/False, Cph:dox, San Francisco, Full Frame and the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.
Co-directed by Bhattarai and Zurbó following their IDFA-selected “The Next Guardian,” “Agent of Happiness” follows Amber, one of the...
- 4/25/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Oscar winner John Ridley has some choice words for Nelson Peltz, the activist investor who’s trying to land two seats on the board of the Walt Disney Co.
In the new episode of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast, pod co-host Ridley excoriates Peltz for remarks the Trian Fund titan made about Disney’s superhero movies, specifically The Marvels and Black Panther. In reference to The Marvels, which starred Brie Larson, Peltz told the Financial Times, “Why do I have to have a Marvel [film] that’s all women? Not that I have anything against women, but why do I have to do that?”
Apparently in reference to the Black Panther movies, which have made more than $2 billion worldwide, Peltz added, “Why do I need an all-Black cast?”
Ridley rips into Peltz, saying the billionaire has no business near the Disney board room.
And that’s just the capper to a...
In the new episode of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast, pod co-host Ridley excoriates Peltz for remarks the Trian Fund titan made about Disney’s superhero movies, specifically The Marvels and Black Panther. In reference to The Marvels, which starred Brie Larson, Peltz told the Financial Times, “Why do I have to have a Marvel [film] that’s all women? Not that I have anything against women, but why do I have to do that?”
Apparently in reference to the Black Panther movies, which have made more than $2 billion worldwide, Peltz added, “Why do I need an all-Black cast?”
Ridley rips into Peltz, saying the billionaire has no business near the Disney board room.
And that’s just the capper to a...
- 4/2/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
What does it take to be happy? Filmmakers Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó ravel to the Bhutan, the so-called “happiest country in the world,” to find out. Bhattarai and Zurbó's entry to Sundance Film Festival's World Cinema – Documentary Competition, they tag along Amber Kumar Gurung, one of the government-employed “happiness agents,” on his quest to measure the Gross National Happiness level. Amber and his colleague, Gunaraj Kuikel, interview a wide variety of civilians: married and unmarried, young and old, rural and urban – asking them a smattering of questions from the 148 on the survey.
Early on, we learn that the survey is not as clear-cut as we might imagine. While Amber and Gunaraj may ask about how many cows, goats, or tractors one has on-hand, more discussion is required to draw out individual stories. As people answer – some out of obligation, some to show off, and some vulnerably confessing to issues...
Early on, we learn that the survey is not as clear-cut as we might imagine. While Amber and Gunaraj may ask about how many cows, goats, or tractors one has on-hand, more discussion is required to draw out individual stories. As people answer – some out of obligation, some to show off, and some vulnerably confessing to issues...
- 2/15/2024
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
As the tradition calls, Sarah Shahat from IndieWire has published the camera survey regarding the Sundance 2024 Film Festival, focusing on documentaries. As usual, we ingested the data into a chart (cameras and manufacturers) to conclude that Sony’s cameras were the most popular among indie-documentaries filmmakers, even more than Canon’s. However, the most dominant camera is the Canon’s Super 35 beast, which is the acclaimed C300 Mark II.
Sundance 2024’s documentaries: Camera Manufacturers Chart Sundance 2024’s documentaries: Cameras and lenses
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival is taking place from January 18 to 28, 2024. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 6, 2023. Sundance 2024 presents a few high-potential films, crafted by top-tier independent filmmakers. This time, we focus on the selected documentaries (as opposed to narratives). Every year, IndieWire reaches out to the cinematographers behind the films premiering at the festival and asks which cameras, lenses, and formats they used — and...
Sundance 2024’s documentaries: Camera Manufacturers Chart Sundance 2024’s documentaries: Cameras and lenses
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival is taking place from January 18 to 28, 2024. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 6, 2023. Sundance 2024 presents a few high-potential films, crafted by top-tier independent filmmakers. This time, we focus on the selected documentaries (as opposed to narratives). Every year, IndieWire reaches out to the cinematographers behind the films premiering at the festival and asks which cameras, lenses, and formats they used — and...
- 1/22/2024
- by Yossy Mendelovich
- YMCinema
By reputation, the Kingdom of Bhutan is the happiest country on Earth, but the “Agent of Happiness” seeks to explore that assertion. The documentary by Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó follows the routine of 40-year-old Amber, one of 75 government workers hired to survey people’s happiness on a mathematical scale, and it details not only the lives of his interviewees, but also that of the agent himself. It remains, for most part, a withheld, no-frills investigation, whose commentary is light and self-evident. With no “talking heads,” the film plays out more like dramatized docufiction, but eventually, its patchwork of subjects is woven together to create something melodic and meaningful.
Lush shots of the rural mountainside lure us into Bhutan, and into the life of Amber, as he gently clips his mother’s nails before donning his government robes. As he drives through numerous villages with his partner, fellow agent Guna,...
Lush shots of the rural mountainside lure us into Bhutan, and into the life of Amber, as he gently clips his mother’s nails before donning his government robes. As he drives through numerous villages with his partner, fellow agent Guna,...
- 1/20/2024
- by Siddhant Adlakha
- Variety Film + TV
The 40th edition of Sundance Film Festival kicks off today, and notably, queer and Himalaya-themed films take over the Asian/Asian diaspora slate of the mountain festival. In previous years, Sundance has been a frontier for Asian diaspora films. Last year alone saw a full slate of Asian diaspora films, with “Past Lives” (Celine Song), “Shortcomings” (Randall Park), “The Persian Version” (Maryam Keshavarz), and more, among others – there are considerably less Asian American films in the primary competition. This year, in the US Dramatic Competition, only one film, “Didi (弟弟)” by Sean Wang stands out amid the crowd.
Films about the Himalayas have taken center-stage in the World Cinema Competitions, however, with three titles this year: “Girls will be Girls” (Shuchi Talati), “Agent of Happiness” (Arun Bhattarai), and “Nocturnes” (Anirban Dutta). Queer Asian diaspora cinema is front and center this year as well, with “Layla” (Amrou Al-Khadi) and “Desire Lines...
Films about the Himalayas have taken center-stage in the World Cinema Competitions, however, with three titles this year: “Girls will be Girls” (Shuchi Talati), “Agent of Happiness” (Arun Bhattarai), and “Nocturnes” (Anirban Dutta). Queer Asian diaspora cinema is front and center this year as well, with “Layla” (Amrou Al-Khadi) and “Desire Lines...
- 1/20/2024
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Films are made of and from places: the locations they are filmed in, the settings they are meant to evoke, the geographies where they are imagined and worked on. What place tells its own story about your film, whether a particularly challenging location that required production ingenuity or a map reference that inspired you personally, politically or creatively? Our film, Agent of Happiness, is a road movie about a happiness agent who travels door to door to measure the happiness index of the society. It’s a physical journey through the meandering roads of the Bhutanese Himalayas where he meets people from […]
The post “We Tried to Look Behind All These Fantasies and Projections” | Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó, Agent of Happiness first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “We Tried to Look Behind All These Fantasies and Projections” | Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó, Agent of Happiness first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/19/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Films are made of and from places: the locations they are filmed in, the settings they are meant to evoke, the geographies where they are imagined and worked on. What place tells its own story about your film, whether a particularly challenging location that required production ingenuity or a map reference that inspired you personally, politically or creatively? Our film, Agent of Happiness, is a road movie about a happiness agent who travels door to door to measure the happiness index of the society. It’s a physical journey through the meandering roads of the Bhutanese Himalayas where he meets people from […]
The post “We Tried to Look Behind All These Fantasies and Projections” | Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó, Agent of Happiness first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “We Tried to Look Behind All These Fantasies and Projections” | Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó, Agent of Happiness first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/19/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Tel Aviv-based sales company Cinephil has acquired world rights for feature documentary “Agent of Happiness,” which delves into the Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan, ahead of its upcoming Sundance Film Festival debut in the World Cinema Documentary competition.
Co-directed by Arun Bhattarai, who is Bhutanese, in tandem with Hungary’s Dorottya Zurbó, “Agent of Happiness” revolves around a 40-year-old man named Amber, who is one of the agents employed by the Bhutanese government to measure its so-called Gross National Happiness level.
In the late 1990s, Bhutan introduced a unique socioeconomic indicator called the Gross National Happiness Index, meant to ensure that economic development doesn’t disrupt traditional lifestyles. Amber, who still lives with his elderly mother, is “nevertheless a hopeless romantic who dreams of finding love: a happiness agent who is in search of his own happiness,” as the doc’s synopsis puts it.
In “Agent of Happiness,” the directors embark...
Co-directed by Arun Bhattarai, who is Bhutanese, in tandem with Hungary’s Dorottya Zurbó, “Agent of Happiness” revolves around a 40-year-old man named Amber, who is one of the agents employed by the Bhutanese government to measure its so-called Gross National Happiness level.
In the late 1990s, Bhutan introduced a unique socioeconomic indicator called the Gross National Happiness Index, meant to ensure that economic development doesn’t disrupt traditional lifestyles. Amber, who still lives with his elderly mother, is “nevertheless a hopeless romantic who dreams of finding love: a happiness agent who is in search of his own happiness,” as the doc’s synopsis puts it.
In “Agent of Happiness,” the directors embark...
- 1/12/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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