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A winding and at-times enraging medical exposé, Grace Hughes-Hallett’s feature debut “The Secret of Me” is stylistically straightforward, but emotionally self-assured. Although it has a litany of subjects, it unravels its secondary stories by connecting them to a central character: a girl named Kristi from Baton Rouge, who would go on to discover shocking secrets about her upbringing as a teenager in the 1990s. In the present, various interviewees recall Kristi wistfully, including a bearded, middle-aged man named Jim. Minutes into the movie, Jim reveals that he is, or rather once was, Kristi — and the obvious conclusion one might draw does not apply. “This is not a transgender story,” he says.

On its surface, the movies shares some structural and thematic similarities with Tim Wardle’s “Three Identical Strangers,” which Hughes-Hallet produced. Both are nature vs. nurture docs about adults discovering shocking medical histories and malpractice dating back to before their births.

The third act twist in “Conclave” has nothing on the labyrinth of secrets buried in Grace Hughes-Hallett’s documentary “The Secret of Me,” an intricate, shocking, and deeply affecting documentary about a medical scandal that has rocked the intersex community worldwide since the late 1960s. Rest assured that the subjects at the heart of this film are granted — and invited to demonstrate — a degree of interiority that was missing from the catty pope movie.

As much as the queer umbrella shelters a wide variety of non-hetero and non-cis identities, there’s been a glaring lack of popular and societal understanding — let alone acceptance or cinematic representation — of intersex folks, or what intersex even means (Julie Cohen’s energetic “Every Body” being a notable recent exception). It stands to reason that a scandal that has ruptured the fabric of the intersex community would also receive partial, inconsistent, and/or niche attention.

At the center of The Secret of Me is Jim Ambrose, who grew up as Kristi. Looking into the camera as he begins to tell his story, he says, to be clear, that he is not transgender. He is intersex and was in the dark about that fact until he was 19 and discovered the truth: that he was born with male chromosomes and ambiguous genitalia but underwent surgery as an infant and was raised as a girl.

Grace Hughes-Hallett, directing her first feature, has created a lucid, absorbing film that uses Jim’s first-person account to reveal a much larger story about treating intersex children. The documentary lands as especially timely now, with the very idea of gender identity under right-wing attack.

Hughes-Hellett is a producer of Three Identical Strangers (2018) about triplets separated at birth as part of a social experiment, who only discovered their connection as adults. There are...

A seemingly breakthrough medical innovation from the ’60s set off a still-ongoing worldwide trend of surgeries performed on “atypical” babies. Those surgeries were celebrated in the context of the gender equality movements of the 70s, but over the long tail of history, the trauma inflicted by this innovation revealed those marginalized by the results: a largely hidden and, per the stats, sizable community of people worldwide assembled under the queer umbrella. Premiering at SXSW 2025, The Secret of Me is British director Grace Hughes-Hallett’s directorial debut, but you may already know her as the producer of 2018’s Three Identical Strangers. The main […]

The post “Intersex People Don’t Need To Be Fixed”: Grace Hughes-Hallett on The Secret of Me first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

A seemingly breakthrough medical innovation from the ’60s set off a still-ongoing worldwide trend of surgeries performed on “atypical” babies. Those surgeries were celebrated in the context of the gender equality movements of the 70s, but over the long tail of history, the trauma inflicted by this innovation revealed those marginalized by the results: a largely hidden and, per the stats, sizable community of people worldwide assembled under the queer umbrella. Premiering at SXSW 2025, The Secret of Me is British director Grace Hughes-Hallett’s directorial debut, but you may already know her as the producer of 2018’s Three Identical Strangers. The main […]

The post “Intersex People Don’t Need To Be Fixed”: Grace Hughes-Hallett on The Secret of Me first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Jim Ambrose was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1976 with what he describes as “a body that was really upsetting to my parents and my doctors.” Though medical tests determined that he was perfectly healthy, his doctors seemed more concerned about what was between his legs: either “a really, really small penis, or a really large clitoris,” Ambrose explains.

Genetic testing came next. The results showed that he had Xy chromosomes — indicating he was male. That’s when a local urologist advised his parents to put him through the first...

Exclusive: Ten films including seven world premieres are set to screen as part of the Newcomers Competition at this year’s Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival. Scroll down for the full list of projects.

The competition features films over 50 minutes in length created by young filmmakers. The films compete for the Golden Alexander “Dimitri Eipides” and the Silver Alexander Award. The Golden Alexander “Dimitri Eipides” award comes with a €10,000 cash prize. The Silver Alexander Award is accompanied by a €4,000 cash prize.

The features include Maia Lekow and Christopher King’s How to Build a Library, which debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The Kenyan-shot film follows two intrepid Nairobi women who decide to transform what used to be a whites-only library until 1958 into a vibrant cultural hub. Along the way, they must navigate local politics, raise millions for the rebuild, and confront the lingering ghosts of Kenya’s colonial past.

What’s the deal with the film Academy’s documentary branch? This season’s shortlist for the best documentary feature Oscar, released Dec. 17, was missing one of the year’s most acclaimed crowd-pleasers, Warner Bros.’ Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story — which is at 98 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, won the top Critics Choice documentary award and is nominated for the Producers Guild’s top doc award — and also impressive documentaries about Martha Stewart (Martha), Celine Dion (I Am: Celine Dion), James Carville (Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid) and John Williams (Music by John Williams), among others.

This isn’t to say that the 15 docs that were shortlisted are lacking — to the contrary, most are excellent. But it does reconfirm the doc branch’s weird aversion, over roughly the past decade, to populist titles.

During that period, the branch declined to shortlist Good Night Oppy, a charmer about a Wall-e-like Mars...

Exclusive: Longtime Universal acquisitions exec Jasper Van Hecke has recently left his role as SVP Global, Acquisitions & Production at the Universal Pictures Content Group (Upcg), headquartered in London.

Dutchman Hecke joined Upcg in 2008 and was known for acquiring, pre-buying and exec-producing feature films and documentaries for global and multi territory rights. He was in his latest role since 2017.

During his tenure Van Hecke managed a team of executives across several territories, including in London, Los Angeles, Sydney and Amsterdam. It’s not immediately clear if he will be replaced.

Among the many films Van Hecke worked on were Pearl, Five Feet Apart, ‘71, Thelma, Personal Shopper, Springbreakers, War With Grandpa, Cop Car, Emily The Criminal, Mandy, First Reformed, Moonage Daydream, Tina, Marley, Apollo 11 and Three Identical Strangers. Upcoming docs include Musk and The Last Journey. Below, the executive runs down some of the career highlights from his time at the studio.

Tubi, Fox’s free streaming service, has announced its list of December titles. The Tubi December 2024 slate features new Tubi Originals, TV series, and numerous action, art house, Black cinema, comedy, documentary, drama, horror, kids and family, romance, sci-fi and fantasy, thriller, and Western titles.

As a leading ad-supported video-on-demand service, the company engages diverse audiences through a personalized experience and the world’s largest content library of over 250,000 movies and TV episodes, a growing collection of exclusive Originals, and nearly 250 live channels.

You can watch the Tubi December 2024 lineup for free on Android and iOS mobile devices, Amazon Echo Show, Google Nest Hub Max, Comcast Xfinity X1, and Cox Contour.

You can also watch the service on connected television devices such as Amazon Fire TV, Vizio TVs, Sony TVs, Samsung TVs, Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and on the Tubi site.

Tubi Originals...

Content Warning: this article contains discussions of suicide.

The remarkable documentary Three Identical Strangers follows the story of triplets separated at birth only to be reunited by coincidence many years later. However, the tragedy that unfolds in the years after their meeting left a lot of questions about what happened to the brothers. Directed by Tim Wardle, the 2018 documentary spotlights identical triplets Edward Galland, David Kellman, and Robert Shafran using archival footage, interviews, and reenactments. As the movie goes on, its revealed that a sociological experiment was involved in their separation.

Three Identical Strangers presents increasingly unbelievable events. The trio became a media sensation, in part due to the great documentary, and their story was made even more incredible by the revelation that it was no accident that they were separated. They were part of a scientific study of nature versus nurture. The brothers were among a handful of sibling...

UK film and TV outift Raw has bolstered its features and scripted department with the addition of former Brouhaha Entertainment development producer and BBC Film exec Sam Gordon as producer/executive producer.

Gordon will work with Raw’s head of scripted TV Sara Murray, filmmakers Bart Layton and Tim Wardle and its senior creative team. He will report to chief exec Joely Fether and chief creative officer Dimitry Doganis.

Raw, backed by All3Media, has series credits including The Tinder Swindler for Netflix, features docs Three Identical Strangers and The Imposter, as well as fiction features Telluride premiere Encounter, directed by Michael Pearce and Dream Horse,...

‘Tinder Swindler’ Indie Builds Features Team

All3Media’s Raw, the company behind The Tinder Swindler, Three Identical Strangers and upcoming Amazon MGM Studios doc Crime 101, has hired Sam Gordon as producer/executive producer for its features team. Gordon is an experienced film and TV producer, with spells at Baby Cow, Calamity Films and BBC Films on his CV. Most recently, he was a development producer for Brouhaha Entertainment, where he worked on Firebrand and co-produced Karim Ainouz’s Motel Destino, which launched in Official Competition at Cannes this year. He also worked on Philomena and Stan & Ollie while at Baby Cow. At Raw, he’ll report into Cco Dimitri Doganis and CEO Joely Father, working with filmmakers Bart Layton and Tim Wardle, as well as Head of Scripted TV Sara Murray and other senior creative execs. Raw’s features to date have included American Animals, Three Identical Strangers, The Imposter,...

Raw has bolstered its features and scripted department with the addition of former Brouhaha Entertainment development producer and BBC Film exec Sam Gordon as producer/executive producer.

Gordon joins the UK The Tinder Swindler production company at a time of growth in its scripted and features output, with upcoming feature film Crime 101 for Amazon MGM Studios being co-produced with Working Title. The indie was also behind feature docs Three Identical Strangers and The Imposter plus Michael Pearce’s Telluride premiere Encounter and Euros Lyn’s Sundance title Dream Horse.

He moves from his role as development producer at Brouhaha Entertainment,...

Netflix UK has snapped up Sky factual commissioner and Three Identical Strangers executive producer Tom Barry to join the documentary films team, Screen’s sister site Broadcast has revealed.

Barry will report to Kate Townsend, vice president, original feature documentaries.

He joined Sky two years ago as a commissioning editor of documentaries and factual, working across the UK pay-tv giant’s Documentaries and Nature channels.

During his Sky tenure, Barry’s credits included Bafta-nominated single documentaries Hatton, Forced Out, true-crime miniseries The Man Who Played With Fire, blue-chip natural history three-parter Secret World Of Sound With David Attenborough and Blast...

Body: Sky announces a captivating addition to its true-crime lineup with the three-part documentary series The Body Next Door. Produced by Raw, known for documentaries such as The Tinder Swindler and Three Identical Strangers, this new series investigates one of the most bizarre and shocking true crime stories of recent times. In the tranquil Welsh […]

Sky Documentaries Announces True Crime Series: The Body Next Door...

Born without legs in October 1987 and immediately abandoned at the hospital by her biological parents, Jen Bricker was adopted by a small-town Illinois couple — who already had three boys — and raised to believe she could do anything she put her mind to. Her parents, Gerald and Sharon, gently encouraged their daughter to remove the word “can’t” from her vocabulary, and so Bricker never thought twice about playing with or competing against the other kids at her school.

She excelled across a variety of different sports, but her greatest passion was reserved for gymnastics. Obsessed from the moment she first saw future gold medalist Dominique Moceanu perform one of her floor routines on TV, Bricker devoted herself to becoming a brilliant power tumbler, and when she was 11 she placed fourth in the Aau Junior Olympic Games despite being the only disabled athlete in competition.

Based on that remarkable saga of persistence and possibility,...

Many documentary filmmakers want their work on the big screen and not small. So, what gives? Why isn’t that happening?

One could argue that we haven’t seen a doc boom in cinemas since 2018 which served up such breakouts as Won’t You Be My Neighbor ($22.8M), Three Identical Strangers ($12.3M) and Rbg ($14M). The pandemic is partially to blame as audiences have savored non-fiction stories on streaming, i.e. the Netflix series, Tiger King.

“It’s not that it doesn’t work theatrically,” explained Lionsgate EVP Acquisitions and Co-Productions, Charlotte Koh who was part of the SXSW session “How to Tell True Stories: Narrative vs. Documentary”.

“It’s becoming more competitive to get people’s attention because there is so much documentary product out there that can be watched through streamers and other ways,” Koh added.

Also on the panel moderated by Variety documentary journalist Addie Morfoot were Bryn Mooser,...

There were a smattering of big sales and buzzy premieres, but as the 40th edition of Sundance ends, it’s impossible to ignore that the indie film business it champions is suffering from an identity crisis. The box office for art-house movies has yet to regain its pre-covid stride. Streaming services once inflated the prices for movies that debuted at the festival because they were desperate for content. Now they’re more conservative in their spending. In this era of economizing, the all-night bidding wars that made Sundance sizzle have become a thing of the past. That’s good for agents and filmmakers looking to get more shut-eye, but it’s not a great sign of the financial health of the industry.

Yet there was still plenty to celebrate. Movies like “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” and “Will & Harper” received emotional standing ovations, while “A Real Pain” and “It’s What’s Inside...

Exclusive: Film4, Channel 4, Rogan Scotland and Screen Scotland are underway on feature documentary The Secret Of Me (w/t), we can reveal.

World sales and distribution will be handled by UK firm Dogwoof, which will begin discussing the project at the upcoming EFM. The film was commissioned by Film4 and Channel 4 Docs.

Directed and produced Grace Hughes-Hallett, producer of hit 2018 documentary Three Identical Strangers, the film’s central subject is being kept under wraps but according to the filmmakers the movie will explore “a medical scandal that started in America in the 1960s and exploded into the public eye in the 2000s. The consequences for thousands of young children would be devastating. For one young student, it would change her life forever.”

The filmmakers continued: “The Secret Of Me (w/t) follows a college student arriving at university, where a chance revelation uncovers an extraordinary secret her doctors and...

A trailer for a mysterious 2024 horror movie from Neon has caused a stir on the internet. The trailer features an old family photograph and a 9-1-1 call where a man sys "that's not my daughter." The trailer also shows a mysterious figure with an unexplained third arm lying on a bed.

A trailer for a mysterious unknown 2024 horror movie from Neon has taken the Internet by storm. Neon is an independent film company that both produces and distributes movies in a variety of genres, including the 2019 Best Picture winner Parasite, the 2018 documentary Three Identical Strangers, and the 2023 French legal thriller Anatomy of a Fall, which was nominated for two 2024 Golden Globes. Horror movies that Neon has previously released include the 2018 French thriller Revenge and the 2020 Hulu release Bad Hair as well as 2023's Infinity Pool and It Lives Inside.

On YouTube, Bloody Disgusting Horror has shared a teaser for...

“We have seen titles doing the best they’ve ever done before in this ‘unhealthy’ marketplace.”

In a keynote address at Sunday’s (November 12) IDFA distribution panel Neon’s president of distribution Elissa Federoff gave a surprisingly upbeat assessment of prospects for the US and global independent documentary sector.

While acknowledging the market is “down” and that there are fewer titles being released that in the pre-Covid period, Federoff claimed that “in many ways, the box office is healthier than ever”.

Box office has decreased by around 20% since 2019 which the executive suggested was largely because there are 20% fewer titles being released.

Documentaries have the power to captivate audiences with real-life stories, revealing the most thrilling and jaw-dropping moments. From shocking confessions to disturbing crimes, these fifteen documentaries offer real-life plot twists that will surprise, disturb, and uplift viewers. Whether it's uncovering a fraudulent identity in "The Imposter" or questioning the limits of nature vs. nurture in "Three Identical Strangers," these documentaries showcase the variety and complexity of true stories.

The truth is definitely stranger than fiction in these fifteen documentaries with real-life plot twists. From catching a killer’s confession in The Jinx to unraveling the dark underbelly of tickling competitions in Tickled, documentaries remind audiences that the most thrilling moments in cinema can come from other people’s real lives. Sometimes the most jaw-dropping scenes are not in the latest blockbuster but in someone’s decade-old story being documented for the first time. Viewers searching to be swept away by...

People often say never meet your heroes, but “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” editor Michael Harte absolutely couldn’t wait to meet one of his. When Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (“An Inconvenient Truth”) ended up needing an editor for AppleTV+’s in-depth film profile of the Parkinson’s cure advocate and “Family Ties” and “Back to the Future” star, Harte accelerated his interest almost to the tune of 88 miles per hour.

“I was working on the documentary “Three Identical Strangers,” and we wanted the first act of that to feel like a 1980s movie,” said the BAFTA-winning Harte of that 2018 Oscar-nominated doc about a notable group of separated male triplets who reconnect later in life. “So, we were watching a lot of Michael J. Fox movies, because we just wanted to get the same vibe.”

One of the most striking aspects of “Still”—the most nominated nonfiction project...

Exclusive: After a 15-year tenure, Piers Vellacott is standing down from his role as UK indie Raw’s Chief Commercial Officer and Executive Producer.

He will stay across a number of Raw’s scripted projects as an Executive Producer and leaves “to pursue new opportunities”.

He won’t be replaced at the company, which is one of the UK’s leading indies and part of All3Media.

Vellacott, who had previously served as Managing Director and Head Of Production, worked on hit series including Gold Rush and Locked Up Abroad, and well-received docs including The Tindler Swindler, The Imposter and Three Identical Strangers. He was also an exec producer on Sundance pic American Animals.

Raw told us: “We are incredibly grateful for everything that Piers has contributed to Raw over a decade and a half of extraordinary growth: he has helped guide the company through some the of the most complex...

Messages have been pouring in to pay tribute to Jess Search, producer and co-founder of U.K.’s Doc Society, who died Monday from brain cancer at the age of 54.

Search was a founding director of Doc Society, the mission of which is to “unleash the transformational power of documentary film to address the two critical and intertwined issues of climate change and democracies in crisis.”

Before that, she was a commissioning editor at Channel 4 and a founder of Shooting People, the online filmmakers network. She was also a board member of the U.K. think tank Ippr. She moderated panel discussions for IDFA, the Skoll World Forum, the Trust Women conference, and Doc Society’s Good Pitch.

Search was nominated for an Emmy for “Virunga.” Her recent executive producer credits included “F@ck This Job,” “Welcome to Chechnya” and “Cold Case Hammarskjöld.”

British Film Institute CEO Ben Roberts said:...

What would you do if you found your doppelganger in the wild? That’s the question that opens the Netflix thriller series Triptych. When forensics agent Becca Fuentes arrives at a crime scene to find the dead perpetrator, Aleida Trujano shares her birthday and face, she’s sent down a twisty path toward the truth. Along the way, she’s helped by stripper Tamara, who also mysteriously has the same face and birthday as Becca. With the realization that she and the other two women are triplets separated at birth, Becca and Tamara set out to solve the mystery around their lineage and the sinister forces that conspired to tear the family apart.

While the Netflix show takes a turn toward the fantastic, the basic story of Triptych is, as the opening suggests, based on the true story of real scientific experiments conducted in New York in the 1960s and '70s.

Exclusive: Audible has greenlit two Audible Original documentary podcasts from the UK’s Raw, producer of The Imposter, Three Identical Strangers and The Tinder Swindler.

The first of the podcasts, launching later this year, tells the story of a milestone case following a transracially adopted woman, who after finding out that she had been conceived through an act of child rape, begins a lifelong journey to discover the real identity of her birth father and seek justice for his crime.

The pod will explore the woman’s trauma as a black child growing up in a predominantly white environment and the complexities of navigating the adoption system as young adult at a time when child psychology wasn’t as prevalent as it is today.

The second, which will be released in 2024 is presented by Femi Oke, the British Nigerian journalist and TV presenter. It will follow an international investigation into...

The amusement park water ride that figures in the introductory minutes of The Gullspang Miracle doesn’t begin to suggest the wild emotional roller coaster that the film is about to unfurl. Contacted by two 60-something sisters who had made a thrilling discovery — an older sibling, someone whose existence they’d never suspected — director Maria Fredriksson became a confidant to all three women as well as the chronicler of their seesawing attitudes toward the unexpected kinship. The resulting work, her first feature-length documentary, is an astounding and cleverly structured exploration of serendipity, faith, social divisions, family ties and personal identity. It delves into some of the same themes that made Three Identical Strangers such compelling viewing, but its canvas is one-of-a-kind, a vigorous mix that also encompasses a haunting unsolved crime, complete with Lynchian echoes of Twin Peaks.

Fredriksson doesn’t hide her role in the telling of this complex story.

Who doesn’t love a good mystery? In February 2023, Netflix released a Mexican mystery thriller series, Triptych, about a forensic agent named Rebecca who discovers she is a triplet. She learns this after meeting one of her twins, Aleida, who took her doctor hostage and was shot by the police. Aleida knows Rebecca, but Rebecca knows nothing about her or their other twin sister. Along the way, she uncovers secrets about her family and herself.

While critics have been giving this show mixed reviews, it is popular among Netflix viewers. Back in March, it was the #1 non-English TV series in the world, according to Netflix’s data. It’s easy to see why this show rose in popularity. The acting in this series is great, especially Maite Perroni, who plays three characters throughout. Some characters' actions make you question their intentions. The story behind this show leaves you wanting to know more—warning: spoilers ahead.

It’s a new month, and Hulu subscribers are getting a slew of new movies and TV shows to enjoy.

June 1 is jam-packed with more than 30 titles that have landed on the streamer, including the seventh and final season of Ava DuVernay’s “Queen Sugar,” the Jack Nicholson-led film “Hoffa,” Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat” and the entire “Twilight” franchise.

Mixing in a little of the old with new come goodies from 2023, like “Flamin’ Hot,” which tells the story of Mexican migrant Richard Montanez who came up with the idea for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos while working as a janitor at Frito Lay. The film lands on Hulu June 9.

Ending June with a bang will the be second season of “The Bear,” (June 22), Season 20 of “The Bachelorette” (June 27) and the sixth and final season of “Grown-ish.”

Here’s everything you can expect to hit Hulu this June.

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It’s summer time on Hulu and that can only mean one thing. With its list of new releases for June 2023, Hulu is bringing back last summer’s unexpected hit.

FX’s The Bear season 2 premieres all episodes on June 22. If you’re not already captivated by this intense culinary story about the little Italian beef shop that could, definitely catch up now. This time around, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and friends will attempt a major foodie rebrand. The only other Hulu series of note this month is the docuseries The Age of Influence. Premiering on June 5, this doc will examine the dark side of influencer culture.

Just like its corporate partner Disney+, Hulu will premiere Eva Longoria’s directorial debut, Flamin’ Hot, in June 9. The movie tells the true story of Frito-Lay janitor Richard Montañez (Jesse Garcia) who created an iconic snack that forever changed the food industry. Also...

Season 2 of last summer’s hit breakout series “The Bear” is set to premiere on Hulu on Thursday, June 22. After a tumultuous return to his family’s hole-in-the-wall Chicago restaurant, chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) and his staff transform the greasy sandwich joint into a first-class dining experience after he discovers the slush fund his brother left behind. Despite having the extra money to make his dreams a reality, the future proves to be both a personal and professional challenge for Carmy and the crew.

Watch the trailer for Season 2 of “The Bear”:

Beginning on June 14, the new series continuation of the beloved film “The Full Monty” arrives on Hulu. It’s 25 years later and the men and women of Sheffield, England, are in reboot mode, navigating life and family. The original 1997 movie focused on a group of down-on-their-luck, blue-collar men who put on a strip show to make ends meet.

“I felt like I was in a personal rut and a professional rut,” recalls Oscar-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim prior to directing “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.” “I felt like I’ve been making the same thing over and over again. I was looking for some joy in my work. And I read this interview with Michael where he’d had this conversation about his most recent book, and his writing was so good. The storytelling was so good, but also there was a humor, a surprising humor and wisdom in his book. I started to read it for myself, and as I read his books, then I listened to his books on tape. I was like, ‘Oh my God, this would be amazing movie!'” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” follows the life of beloved actor and advocate Michael J. Fox, exploring...

It’s slightly ironic that Tinder has chosen London’s creative neighborhood of Shoreditch as a key target for its first global ad campaign, splashing some major spend on scores of bold, brightly colored billboards asserting that it all “starts with a swipe.” Although the area’s demographic — hectic, switched-on 20- and 30-somethings forever glued to their phones and laptops — would seem the perfect audience, it’s unlikely that many realize that just around the corner from the hoardings sits the company responsible for making the dating app’s most notorious swiper globally famous.

Raw, the production banner that now sits over three busy floors of an otherwise unremarkable office block on Curtain Road — once home to the U.K.’s earliest theaters (Shakespeare would perform many of his plays nearby) — had had numerous hits before The Tinder Swindler dropped on Netflix in February 2022. But the feature documentary — unraveling the...

“Inconvenient Truth” Oscar-winner Davis Guggenheim, like many creatives at the top of their game, always worries about staying there. When he read Michael J. Fox’s 2002 “Lucky Man: A Memoir” three years ago, he knew he wanted to produce a movie about the plucky star. But when he met with the actor, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease at age 29 and is now 61, Guggenheim began to see what he could do with this moving drama.

“I was like, ‘wow,'” said Guggenheim. “Because I’m 59. Well, he’s a few years older than me. My kids are getting out of the house. I feel older, more fragile. I spent a lot of time going ‘poor me, poor me. The glory days of my family are over. My best films are behind me.’ You get in a rut. You convince yourself that life is shit. And then I’m like,...

For a man who has, for the last 30 years or so, found his life defined largely by the fact that his body moves in unwanted and uncontrollable ways, I get the feeling that the last thing Michael J. Fox is actually wants is to be still.

Davis Guggenheim’s documentary biography is formed around a series of interviews with Fox, footage of his day to day life, and narration taken (as is much of the film’s structure) from his first autobiography, Lucky Man. Still strikes me as being about a man who has always wanted to control the way he and his life move. He played sports as a kid, he talks about how he relied on the mobility of his face and his body in order to do his work as an actor; his ability to control those subtle movements a key part of what he he did.

Apple TV+’s documentary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie sets itself apart from the deluge of celeb documentaries. Yes, it’s a documentary about the actor’s life and his battle with Parkinson’s disease. Some may even approach it thinking they’ve seen a doc like this before. But when you pull away from the film, it feels like you’ve watched a fully-bodied autobiopic about the Family Ties and Back to the Future star.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim and his editor Michael Harte (Three Identical Strangers) pulled off the feat by using moments from Fox’s cinematic canon — Back to the Future, The Secret of My Success and Bright Lights, Big City among other titles — in re-creations of the movie and TV star’s life.

Guggenheim explained during a panel for Still at Deadline’s Contenders Television: Documentary + Unscripted awards-season event how the style came to be with Harte,...

A Kentucky man is taking Netflix to court for defamation over the streamer distributing a documentary that allegedly falsely implied he was involved in a murder.

In the 2023 true crime documentary The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker, a photo of Taylor Hazlewood is shown alongside a convicted murderer with audio saying “stone-cold killer” and captions stating that “You can never trust anyone.” He alleges that the images were taken without his knowledge from his Instagram “despite having no connection to any aspect of the Film.”

Hazlewood sued Netflix on April 10 in Texas state court, accusing the company of defamation and misappropriation of likeness or right of publicity. He seeks over $1 million and punitive damages.

The documentary centers on Caleb Lawrence McGillvary, who rose to viral stardom in 2013. He was catapulted to fame when he saved a women by bludgeoning her assailant with a hatchet before he was convicted for the murder of...

Apple has released the official trailer for its highly anticipated documentary, “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” which is set to premiere on May 12.

“Still” follows Fox, the legendary “Back to the Future” and “Teen Wolf” actor, as he recounts his life story, from his childhood in Canada to becoming one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Director Davis Guggenheim elevates Fox’s story with the inclusion of documentary, archival and scripted elements, which come together to take viewers inside Fox’s world.

In interviews with Guggenheim, Fox recounts the difficult years that followed his diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease, a brain disorder that causes uncontrollable movements, at just 29 years old. Now 61 and having come to terms with the illness, Fox recounts in the trailer how living with Parkinson’s has made him a “tough son of a bitch.”

Ahead of “Still’s” global premiere on Apple TV+, the film screened...

Neon has acquired the North American rights to Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA-winning director, Raoul Peck’s (I Am Not Your Negro) documentary Orwell, the definitive feature-length documentary on visionary author George Orwell, with the exclusive cooperation of the Orwell Estate.

Producers include Alex Gibney for Jigsaw Productions, Raoul Peck for Velvet Films, and Nick Shumaker for Anonymous Content. Stacey Offman and Richard Perello will executive produce for Jigsaw. Zhang Xin, Joey Marra, and William Horberg will executive produce for Closer Media, alongside Jessica Grimshaw, Dawn Olmstead, and David Levine of Anonymous, and Jeff Skoll and Courtney Sexton of Participant. Johnny Fewings of Universal Pictures Content Group will serve as executive producer on the film, which is currently in production.

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Ben Stiller is in final negotiations to jump on board a limited series adaptation of the documentary ‘Three Identical Strangers.’

Like the documentary, the series would focus on the true story of Bobby Shafran, David Kellman, and Eddy Galland — identical triplets who were separated at birth only to be reunited later in life. Stiller would star as the three adult brothers.

The series comes from writer Amy Lippman with Sony Pictures Television producing along with Sk Global and TriStar Television.

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Lippman would also serve as showrunner and executive producer on the series, with Stiller executive producing via Red Hour Films. Sidney Kimmel, John Penotti, Charlie Corwin and Marcy Ross of Sk Global also executive produce along with Piers Vellacott, Dimitri Doganis, and Tim Wardle of Raw and Emmeline Yang Hankins. Mark O’Connor of Sk Global, Dan Braun, and Josh Braun...

Way back in 2018, the "Three Identical Strangers" documentary shocked viewers around the world as it told the story of three triplets who were separated at birth. The film chronicled the journey of Robert Shafran, Eddy Galland, and David Kellman as they discovered that they were identical triplets who were placed with different adoptive families as part of a scientific experiment. Now, their story is being turned into a limited TV series under Sony Pictures Television, with Ben Stiller in talks to star as all three brothers.

Reps for Stiller and Sony did not immediately respond to Popsugar's request for comment, but according to Variety, Stiller is set to lead the production company's forthcoming series.

The show would mark a return to acting for Stiller, who's been focused on directing and producing in recent years. He serves in both roles on Apple TV+'s hit sci-fi series "Severance" (which he started...

For the past several years, Ben Stiller has focused almost completely on his filmmaking career. The acting roles have dwindled to almost entirely bit parts in films or quick cameos. But it appears that Stiller is ready to take on a brand new starring role in what might be one of the most challenging film gigs of his career.

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According to Variety, Ben Stiller is set to star in the upcoming TV series, “Three Identical Strangers,” based on the documentary of the same name.

Continue reading ‘Three Identical Strangers’: Ben Stiller To Star In New Series Adaptation Of Acclaimed Documentary at The Playlist.

In a casting that raises several questions, Ben Stiller is in final talks to star in “Three Identical Strangers,” a limited series adaptation of the acclaimed documentary film, according to Variety.

The 2018 film, which was directed by Tim Wardle and won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Storytelling at the Sundance Film Festival, tells the story of Bobby Shafran, David Kellman, and Eddy Galland — three identical triplets who meet by chance as adults, and the revelation of the undisclosed scientific experiment that separated them by birth. Upon its release, “Three Identical Strangers” received positive reviews, and made the shortlist for the Oscars’ Best Documentary Feature category.

Stiller will play all three of the brothers as adults. What makes his casting unusual is that Galland died by suicide in 1995, when he was 34. Stiller is currently 57, nearly 25 years older than Galland was at time of death. In addition, the meat...

Ben Stiller hasn’t been on our screens quite as much over the last few years, but he’s set to return in a big way with Three Identical Strangers, a limited series inspired by the incredible true story of identical triplet brothers separated at birth.

Set in New York over several decades, Three Identical Strangers will tell the story of Bobby Shafran, David Kellman and Eddy Galland, “three complete strangers who inadvertently discover that they are identical triplets separated at birth. When the 19-year-olds’ joyous reunion catapults them to international fame, it also sets a chain of extraordinary and disturbing events in motion.” Ben Stiller is in final negotiations to star in Three Identical Strangers and executive produce the series. It’s expected that he will play all three brothers as adults.

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Amy Lippman (Party of Five) is writing the series and serving as showrunner,...

Ben Stiller is setting an acting return with Three Identical Strangers, a high-profile limited series package that just hit the premium/streaming marketplace.

Stiller is in final negotiations to headline and executive produce the series, a multi-decade family drama inspired by the incredible true story of identical triplet brothers separated at birth. The project hails from Party of Five co-creator Amy Lippman, Sony Pictures Television and its TriStar Television division as well as Sk Global Entertainment.

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Set in New York over several decades, Three Identical Strangers tells the story of Bobby Shafran, David Kellman and Eddy Galland, three complete strangers who inadvertently discover...

Ben Stiller is nearing a deal to star in a limited series adaptation of the documentary “Three Identical Strangers,” Variety has learned.

The series hails from writer Amy Lippman with Sony Pictures Television producing along with Sk Global and TriStar Television. Like the documentary, the series would focus on the true story of Bobby Shafran, David Kellman, and Eddy Galland — identical triplets who were separated at birth only to be reunited later in life. Stiller would star as the adult brothers.

Lippman would also serve as showrunner and executive producer on the series, with Stiller executive producing via Red Hour Films. Sidney Kimmel, John Penotti, Charlie Corwin and Marcy Ross of Sk Global also executive produce along with Piers Vellacott, Dimitri Doganis, and Tim Wardle of Raw and Emmeline Yang Hankins. Mark O’Connor of Sk Global, Dan Braun, and Josh Braun of Submarine would serve as co-executive producers.

The...

The Sundance Film Festival has often been called one of the world’s most important documentary marketplaces, with 39 of the past 65 Best Documentary Feature contenders (60) either beginning or continuing their road to the Oscars in Park City, Utah. Examples include “Summer of Soul,” “Flee,” “Writing With Fire,” “Honeyland,” “The Edge of Democracy,” “American Factory,” “Time,” “The Mole Agent,” “Crip Camp,” “Rbg,” “Of Fathers and Sons,” “Minding the Gap,” and “Hale County This Morning, This Evening.”

Two of those–Questlove’s “Summer of Soul” and Netflix’s joint venture with Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions, “American Factory”–won the award. Four of this season’s nominees —“All That Breathes,” “Fire of Love,” “Navalny,” and “A House Made of Splinters”—played the festival in 2022. Climate change, human rights violations, competitive mariachi, and manned flight to Mars are only a few of the subjects addressed by this year’s eclectic non-fiction slate.

First published August 19th, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.

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