“No Other Land,” a documentary about the resistance of Palestinian activists against forced displacement and settler expansion in the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta, won the Millennium Docs Against Gravity grand prize in the main competition. The jury, comprised of the writer of this article Variety critic Murtada Elfadl, Anna Hints, director of “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” and Lauren Greenfield, director of “The Queen of Versailles,” cited its “power in crystallizing grave injustice into a story of friendship and how hope can thrive only when everyone has freedom.”
The filmmakers – the Palestinian and Israeli collective of Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor – could not attend the closing ceremony because of the political situation and the award was accepted on their behalf by the ambassador of the Palestinian Authority in Poland. The jury awarded two special mentions, citing the strength of the 12 films in competition. The first to “Sugarcane,...
The filmmakers – the Palestinian and Israeli collective of Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor – could not attend the closing ceremony because of the political situation and the award was accepted on their behalf by the ambassador of the Palestinian Authority in Poland. The jury awarded two special mentions, citing the strength of the 12 films in competition. The first to “Sugarcane,...
- 5/23/2024
- by Murtada Elfadl
- Variety Film + TV
The Millennium Docs Against Gravity Festival, taking place in seven cities in Poland from Friday to May 19 and then online from May 21 to July 3, has grown exponentially in the last few years. In fact it is now, as the people behind it proclaim, the largest film festival in Poland.
Artistic director Karol Piekarczyk explains, “There is a culture of watching films and of watching films with subtitles in Poland. There are a lot of arthouse cinemas, in comparison to the U.K. for example. Even in small cities.”
Piekarczyk has worked for the festival for the past seven years and this edition will be his fourth as artistic director. He sees his job as “reminding everyone that our priority is and has always been the audience. However, we are a documentary festival, and whether we like it or not, audiences mainly choose films based on topic. We as programmers focus more on the quality.
Artistic director Karol Piekarczyk explains, “There is a culture of watching films and of watching films with subtitles in Poland. There are a lot of arthouse cinemas, in comparison to the U.K. for example. Even in small cities.”
Piekarczyk has worked for the festival for the past seven years and this edition will be his fourth as artistic director. He sees his job as “reminding everyone that our priority is and has always been the audience. However, we are a documentary festival, and whether we like it or not, audiences mainly choose films based on topic. We as programmers focus more on the quality.
- 5/8/2024
- by Murtada Elfadl
- Variety Film + TV
Kristin Chenoweth and Josh Groban joined forces this week to pay tribute to the late and great Tony Bennett.
The music stars performed at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala: Celebrating Tony Bennett on Wednesday night (April 17) at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.
The evening also featured performances from Broadway stars like Bernadette Peters, Norm Lewis, Jared Grimes, and Adriane Lenox, with appearances from Gayle King and more.
Kristin was also joined at the event by her husband Josh Bryant. Earlier in the week, she hosted a one-night-only benefit concert for the Roundabout Theatre Company, where she paid tribute to late artistic director Todd Haimes.
This summer, you can catch Kristin in the pre-Broadway run of her upcoming musical The Queen of Versailles. It will premiere in Boston!
The music stars performed at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala: Celebrating Tony Bennett on Wednesday night (April 17) at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.
The evening also featured performances from Broadway stars like Bernadette Peters, Norm Lewis, Jared Grimes, and Adriane Lenox, with appearances from Gayle King and more.
Kristin was also joined at the event by her husband Josh Bryant. Earlier in the week, she hosted a one-night-only benefit concert for the Roundabout Theatre Company, where she paid tribute to late artistic director Todd Haimes.
This summer, you can catch Kristin in the pre-Broadway run of her upcoming musical The Queen of Versailles. It will premiere in Boston!
- 4/18/2024
- by Just Jared
- Just Jared
Exclusive: Joel ‘Kachi Benson (Madu) has been tapped to direct the documentary The Harvest, on Nigeria’s infamous Boko Haram Kidnappings of 2014, for Hunting Lane and Impact Partners. A first-look still can be found above.
Following four Nigerian mothers as they fight to educate their children in the wake of tragedy, the film marks the 10th anniversary of terrorist organization Boko Haram’s attack and abduction of 276 young girls from a school in the village of Chibok.
Joel ‘Kachi Benson
Nigerian filmmaker Benson came to helm the film after tackling the aftermath of the attacks with previous work including 2019’s Daughters of Chibok, a VR experience he wrote and produced which won the Lion for Best Immersive Story at the 76th Venice Film Festival.
“I have spent the last five years with the mothers and survivors of the Chibok kidnappings,” the filmmaker told Deadline. “I’ve listened to their stories,...
Following four Nigerian mothers as they fight to educate their children in the wake of tragedy, the film marks the 10th anniversary of terrorist organization Boko Haram’s attack and abduction of 276 young girls from a school in the village of Chibok.
Joel ‘Kachi Benson
Nigerian filmmaker Benson came to helm the film after tackling the aftermath of the attacks with previous work including 2019’s Daughters of Chibok, a VR experience he wrote and produced which won the Lion for Best Immersive Story at the 76th Venice Film Festival.
“I have spent the last five years with the mothers and survivors of the Chibok kidnappings,” the filmmaker told Deadline. “I’ve listened to their stories,...
- 4/15/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Kristin Chenoweth is planning her Broadway return in the new musical The Queen of Versailles and the show just announced its world premiere production.
Before going to Broadway, the show will be staged at Boston’s historic Emerson Colonial Theatre in summer 2024. The new musical is based on the award-winning 2012 documentary The Queen of Versailles and the life of beauty queen, socialite and TV personality Jacqueline “Jackie” Siegel.
Kristin will lead the production for a five-week limited engagement from Tuesday, July 16 through Sunday, August 18.
Keep reading to find out more…
From computer engineer to Mrs. Florida to billionairess, Jackie Siegel sees herself as the embodiment of the American Dream. Now, as the wife of David “The Timeshare King” Siegel and mother of their eight children, they invite us to behold their most grandiose venture yet: they’re building the largest private home in America in Orlando, Florida – a $100 million house...
Before going to Broadway, the show will be staged at Boston’s historic Emerson Colonial Theatre in summer 2024. The new musical is based on the award-winning 2012 documentary The Queen of Versailles and the life of beauty queen, socialite and TV personality Jacqueline “Jackie” Siegel.
Kristin will lead the production for a five-week limited engagement from Tuesday, July 16 through Sunday, August 18.
Keep reading to find out more…
From computer engineer to Mrs. Florida to billionairess, Jackie Siegel sees herself as the embodiment of the American Dream. Now, as the wife of David “The Timeshare King” Siegel and mother of their eight children, they invite us to behold their most grandiose venture yet: they’re building the largest private home in America in Orlando, Florida – a $100 million house...
- 2/9/2024
- by Just Jared
- Just Jared
Hailing from the country that gave us such grim social critics as Michael Haneke and Ulrich Seidl, Vantablack Austrian satire “Veni Vidi Vici” opens with a senseless homicide. It’s a startling scene, no less upsetting than the Scorpio killing that kick-starts “Dirty Harry” — except that in this case, the incident is calibrated as the darkest sort of comedy. Rather than picking off an unsuspecting rooftop swimmer, the serial killer does his hunting out in the open, without shame or any pretense of covering his tracks.
The movie makes no mystery of the sniper’s identity, revealing it right from the jump, the way a “Columbo” episode might. And yet the authorities show zero interest in arresting the guilty party, even going so far as to toss an eyewitness out of the police station (that man winds up offing himself in exasperation). That’s because the person responsible, Amon Maynard (Laurence Rupp), is a millionaire,...
The movie makes no mystery of the sniper’s identity, revealing it right from the jump, the way a “Columbo” episode might. And yet the authorities show zero interest in arresting the guilty party, even going so far as to toss an eyewitness out of the police station (that man winds up offing himself in exasperation). That’s because the person responsible, Amon Maynard (Laurence Rupp), is a millionaire,...
- 1/19/2024
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
New year, new Hulu! As the streamer welcomes in dozens of new and classic titles this January, including its new whodunit series “Death and Other Details,” it will first have to say goodbye to the old.
A few titles have already been removed from the library so far this month, including the hit samurai thriller “13 Assassins,” but over the next few weeks of January, dozens more titles will be leaving the platform, including the beloved baseball coming-of-age comedy “The Sandlot,” several Christmas classics, and the 1996 box office buster “Twister.”
Don’t miss your last chance to watch— fill up your watch list with The Streamable’s top picks (and everything else) for what’s leaving Hulu this month!
30-Day Free Trial $7.99+ / month hulu.com What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Leaving Hulu in January 2024? “Apollo 11” | Wednesday, Jan. 31
“Dinosaur 13” director Todd Douglas Miller picks another number with “Apollo 11,...
A few titles have already been removed from the library so far this month, including the hit samurai thriller “13 Assassins,” but over the next few weeks of January, dozens more titles will be leaving the platform, including the beloved baseball coming-of-age comedy “The Sandlot,” several Christmas classics, and the 1996 box office buster “Twister.”
Don’t miss your last chance to watch— fill up your watch list with The Streamable’s top picks (and everything else) for what’s leaving Hulu this month!
30-Day Free Trial $7.99+ / month hulu.com What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Leaving Hulu in January 2024? “Apollo 11” | Wednesday, Jan. 31
“Dinosaur 13” director Todd Douglas Miller picks another number with “Apollo 11,...
- 1/10/2024
- by Ashley Steves
- The Streamable
Kristin Chenoweth, the Emmy- and Tony-winning Broadway favorite, will lead a one-night-only benefit concert this April to honor the late Roundabout Theatre Company leader Todd Haimes.
Reuniting with her On the Twentieth Century choreographer Warren Carlyle, Chenoweth will take the stage at Broadway’s Stephen Sondheim Theatre on April 15 in Kristin: An Evening With Friends For Todd. Carlyle will both direct and choreograph the event, and Chenoweth will be joined onstage by what the non-profit theater company is calling “a remarkable roster of Roundabout favorites for a once-in-a-lifetime concert” celebrating Haimes.
The concert, benefiting Roundabout’s various programs and initiatives including Education at Roundabout, will come just shy of one year since Haimes’ death on April 19, 2023. The longtime president and CEO of Roundabout died at 66 of osteosarcoma, an aggressive cancer.
Chenoweth was last on Broadway in a Tony-nominated performance in Roundabout’s On The Twentieth Century, and she won a...
Reuniting with her On the Twentieth Century choreographer Warren Carlyle, Chenoweth will take the stage at Broadway’s Stephen Sondheim Theatre on April 15 in Kristin: An Evening With Friends For Todd. Carlyle will both direct and choreograph the event, and Chenoweth will be joined onstage by what the non-profit theater company is calling “a remarkable roster of Roundabout favorites for a once-in-a-lifetime concert” celebrating Haimes.
The concert, benefiting Roundabout’s various programs and initiatives including Education at Roundabout, will come just shy of one year since Haimes’ death on April 19, 2023. The longtime president and CEO of Roundabout died at 66 of osteosarcoma, an aggressive cancer.
Chenoweth was last on Broadway in a Tony-nominated performance in Roundabout’s On The Twentieth Century, and she won a...
- 12/20/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
The upcoming Broadway revival of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People starring Jeremy Strong has landed two more heavy hitters: Michael Imperioli will costar opposite Strong, and Plan B, the production company of Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner & Jeremy Kleiner, has signed on as a producer.
The project marks the Broadway debuts for both Imperioli and Plan B. Complete casting will be announced at a later date.
As previously announced, the strictly limited 16-week engagement begins previews at Broadway’s Circle in the Square Theatre on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, and will open Monday, March 18.
The new adaptation by Amy Herzog (a Tony nominee for last season’s A Doll’s House starring Jessica Chastain) will be directed by Tony Award winner Sam Gold (Fun Home).
Imperioli, currently starring in Hulu’s This Fool, was Emmy-nominated for his turn in Season 2 of Mike White’s acclaimed hit series The White Lotus, and is...
The project marks the Broadway debuts for both Imperioli and Plan B. Complete casting will be announced at a later date.
As previously announced, the strictly limited 16-week engagement begins previews at Broadway’s Circle in the Square Theatre on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, and will open Monday, March 18.
The new adaptation by Amy Herzog (a Tony nominee for last season’s A Doll’s House starring Jessica Chastain) will be directed by Tony Award winner Sam Gold (Fun Home).
Imperioli, currently starring in Hulu’s This Fool, was Emmy-nominated for his turn in Season 2 of Mike White’s acclaimed hit series The White Lotus, and is...
- 11/14/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
There’s much to celebrate this September thanks to Plex! The free streaming service is adding 23 new titles to its library of over 50,000 this month, and even though the list may seem short, especially compared to some of the major streamers’ lists, Plex is flexing its movie muscles with major titles such as “L.A. Confidential,” “The King of Comedy,” and more.
Check out The Streamable’s top picks for the coming month and the full list below!
Watch Now $0+ / month plex.tv What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Plex in September 2023? “Pi” | Friday, Sept. 1
Before “Requiem for a Dream,” “The Whale,” and the rest of his filmography, Darren Aronofsky made his feature directorial debut with the black-and-white psychological thriller “Pi.” Starring Sean Gullette, the film follows Max Cohen, a paranoid mathematician with an obsession to find order in the world amongst the diametrically opposed concepts of human irrationality and mathematical rationality.
Check out The Streamable’s top picks for the coming month and the full list below!
Watch Now $0+ / month plex.tv What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Plex in September 2023? “Pi” | Friday, Sept. 1
Before “Requiem for a Dream,” “The Whale,” and the rest of his filmography, Darren Aronofsky made his feature directorial debut with the black-and-white psychological thriller “Pi.” Starring Sean Gullette, the film follows Max Cohen, a paranoid mathematician with an obsession to find order in the world amongst the diametrically opposed concepts of human irrationality and mathematical rationality.
- 8/29/2023
- by Ashley Steves
- The Streamable
With its list of new releases for July 2023, Prime Video is going to help you stay safe from the oppressive July sun.
Highlighting the Amazon Originals on the TV side this month are two heavy hitters. The first is The Horror of Dolores Roach on July 7. Based on a podcast of the same name, this series could best be described as a modern day Sweeney Todd? Why, you ask? Well you know why. Think about it. Then season 2 of Neil Gaiman adaptation Good Omens premieres on July 28. This season will follow angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and demon Crowley (David Tenant) as they seek to keep the Archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm) away from both heaven and hell.
There aren’t any Amazon Original movies of note this month and that’s alright as the influx of library titles is more than enough. July 1 sees the arrival of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, No Country for Old Men,...
Highlighting the Amazon Originals on the TV side this month are two heavy hitters. The first is The Horror of Dolores Roach on July 7. Based on a podcast of the same name, this series could best be described as a modern day Sweeney Todd? Why, you ask? Well you know why. Think about it. Then season 2 of Neil Gaiman adaptation Good Omens premieres on July 28. This season will follow angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and demon Crowley (David Tenant) as they seek to keep the Archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm) away from both heaven and hell.
There aren’t any Amazon Original movies of note this month and that’s alright as the influx of library titles is more than enough. July 1 sees the arrival of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, No Country for Old Men,...
- 7/1/2023
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
While summer starts in June, things truly heat up in July, and that includes all the hot new drops on streamers. Amazon’s Prime Video has refreshed its slate of content with over 60 new movies, like Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born” and the 1973 animated adaption of the children’s book “Charlotte’s Web.”
Prime Video kicks off the start of the month with Doug McHenry’s “Jason’s Lyric,” “Father of the Bride,” and “Little Nicky.”
Plus, if you’re a Reese Witherspoon fan, Prime Video sets you up with her very first film and her breakout role as Dani in “Man in the Moon.” And the entire “Legally Blonde” trilogy is also available, for those who bend and snap.
Prime Video is also giving watchers some ultimate film classics like “Free Willy,” ”Gladiator,” and “Dances With Wolves.”
Last but absolutely not least, Season 2 of “Good Omens” will land on...
Prime Video kicks off the start of the month with Doug McHenry’s “Jason’s Lyric,” “Father of the Bride,” and “Little Nicky.”
Plus, if you’re a Reese Witherspoon fan, Prime Video sets you up with her very first film and her breakout role as Dani in “Man in the Moon.” And the entire “Legally Blonde” trilogy is also available, for those who bend and snap.
Prime Video is also giving watchers some ultimate film classics like “Free Willy,” ”Gladiator,” and “Dances With Wolves.”
Last but absolutely not least, Season 2 of “Good Omens” will land on...
- 6/30/2023
- by Raquel "Rocky" Harris
- The Wrap
Amazon originals like season two of The Summer I Turned Pretty and Good Omens, as well as The Horror of Dolores Roach, are just some of the titles hitting Prime Video this July.
Blockbusters like Fast X, 80 for Brady, Till, Knock at the Cabin, Legally Blonde and Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, Men in Black 1-3, Saving Private Ryan, Scarface and more will also be coming to the streamer this month.
The fourth and final season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan sees the titular character, played by John Krasinski, on his most dangerous mission yet, against a foreign and domestic enemy. Two new episodes of the thriller drop on the streamer every Friday until July 14.
Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty returns with its second season on July 14 and picks up where season one left off at Cousins Beach. When an unexpected visitor threatens the future...
Blockbusters like Fast X, 80 for Brady, Till, Knock at the Cabin, Legally Blonde and Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, Men in Black 1-3, Saving Private Ryan, Scarface and more will also be coming to the streamer this month.
The fourth and final season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan sees the titular character, played by John Krasinski, on his most dangerous mission yet, against a foreign and domestic enemy. Two new episodes of the thriller drop on the streamer every Friday until July 14.
Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty returns with its second season on July 14 and picks up where season one left off at Cousins Beach. When an unexpected visitor threatens the future...
- 6/30/2023
- by Christy Piña
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Prime Video has adapted the one-woman podcast “Empanada Loca” into a new series. “The Horror of Dolores Roach” will begin streaming on the service on July 7. Buckle up, because this one is gruesome. Roach (Justina Machado) returns to a gentrified Washington Heights after a long prison sentence and works as a masseuse in the basement of a friend’s empanada shop. But when her security is threatened, Roach is driven to extremes to survive.
Watch “The Horror of Dolores Roach” trailer:
Season 2 of “Good Omens” also will premiere on Prime Video in July. Arriving July 28, the series focuses on the friendship between Aziraphale (Michael Sheen), a fussy angel and rare-book dealer, and the snarky demon Crowley (David Tennant). While the Apocalypse has been averted, the pair are back living their lives in London, until the archangel Gabriel shows up. The series is based on the novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
Watch “The Horror of Dolores Roach” trailer:
Season 2 of “Good Omens” also will premiere on Prime Video in July. Arriving July 28, the series focuses on the friendship between Aziraphale (Michael Sheen), a fussy angel and rare-book dealer, and the snarky demon Crowley (David Tennant). While the Apocalypse has been averted, the pair are back living their lives in London, until the archangel Gabriel shows up. The series is based on the novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
- 6/26/2023
- by Fern Siegel
- The Streamable
The month of April for Hulu is jam-packed with TV and film goodies, from Adam Sandler’s 1999 comedy “Big Daddy” to Fox’s hit sitcom “New Girl.”
On top of Hulu’s rollout of a new interface, it’s also adding some major film and TV titles to its platform. Some of the highlights that set off the first day of April include “American Psycho,” “Shrek” and its sequel “Shrek 2,” plus the Tim Story-directed “Think Like a Man.”
Anime series will be all the rage on Hulu with the dubbed version of the new popular series “Chainsaw Man” arriving, along with “Spy x Family” and “Black Clover.” If you’re looking for something a little bit more kid-friendly, the family can al enjoy “Despicable Me” and “Despicable 2,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days” and “Nanny McPhee.” For the lovers and heartless romantics, “Dear John” and “Date Night...
On top of Hulu’s rollout of a new interface, it’s also adding some major film and TV titles to its platform. Some of the highlights that set off the first day of April include “American Psycho,” “Shrek” and its sequel “Shrek 2,” plus the Tim Story-directed “Think Like a Man.”
Anime series will be all the rage on Hulu with the dubbed version of the new popular series “Chainsaw Man” arriving, along with “Spy x Family” and “Black Clover.” If you’re looking for something a little bit more kid-friendly, the family can al enjoy “Despicable Me” and “Despicable 2,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days” and “Nanny McPhee.” For the lovers and heartless romantics, “Dear John” and “Date Night...
- 4/1/2023
- by Raquel "Rocky" Harris
- The Wrap
Hulu’s list of new releases for April 2023 don’t feature many blockbusters, but if we dig a little, I’m sure we can find some gems.
Perhaps the most promising items are on the TV side of things. Tiny Beautiful Things premieres on April 7 and stars Kathryn Hahn as “a floundering writer who becomes a revered advice columnist while her own life is falling apart.” That will be followed by comedy Am I Being Unreasonable? on April 11 and two documentaries: high school football story Algiers, America (April 19) and Tupac Shakur piece Dear Mama (April 22).
The best TV candidate this month, however, is probably Saint X on April 26. This series, told via multiple timelines, “explores and upends the girl-gone-missing genre as it explores how a young woman’s mysterious death during an idyllic Caribbean vacation creates a traumatic ripple effect that eventually pulls her surviving sister into a dangerous pursuit of the truth.
Perhaps the most promising items are on the TV side of things. Tiny Beautiful Things premieres on April 7 and stars Kathryn Hahn as “a floundering writer who becomes a revered advice columnist while her own life is falling apart.” That will be followed by comedy Am I Being Unreasonable? on April 11 and two documentaries: high school football story Algiers, America (April 19) and Tupac Shakur piece Dear Mama (April 22).
The best TV candidate this month, however, is probably Saint X on April 26. This series, told via multiple timelines, “explores and upends the girl-gone-missing genre as it explores how a young woman’s mysterious death during an idyllic Caribbean vacation creates a traumatic ripple effect that eventually pulls her surviving sister into a dangerous pursuit of the truth.
- 4/1/2023
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Even if you’ve signed up for every streaming service out there, it can feel monumental when a title moves from one to another. In April, Netflix mainstay “New Girl” moves to Hulu; still streaming, but not where fans are used to finding it — like rearranging the furniture in your apartment and waking up surprised every day that the couch is over there now.
But what’s important is that “New Girl” lives on, now joining Hulu’s own TV and movie library and originals from Freeform, FX, National Geographic, and more. Later in the month, Leila Gerstein’s “Saint X” — based on the novel by Alexis Schaitkin — premieres with three episodes, recounting the story of a young girl found dead during a family vacation and the sister piecing it together years later. Alycia Debnam-Carey, Josh Bonzie, West Duchovny, Jayden Elijah, Bre Francis, Kenlee Anaya Townsend, Betsy Brandt, and Michael Park star.
But what’s important is that “New Girl” lives on, now joining Hulu’s own TV and movie library and originals from Freeform, FX, National Geographic, and more. Later in the month, Leila Gerstein’s “Saint X” — based on the novel by Alexis Schaitkin — premieres with three episodes, recounting the story of a young girl found dead during a family vacation and the sister piecing it together years later. Alycia Debnam-Carey, Josh Bonzie, West Duchovny, Jayden Elijah, Bre Francis, Kenlee Anaya Townsend, Betsy Brandt, and Michael Park star.
- 3/17/2023
- by Proma Khosla
- Indiewire
Exclusive: A new musical based on the award-winning 2012 documentary The Queen of Versailles and the life of beauty queen, socialite and TV personality Jacqueline “Jackie” Siegel is in development, with Kristin Chenoweth attached to star and produce.
The project would reunite Chenoweth with her Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz, who is on board to write the music. An industry reading is set for March 24 in New York City, in preparation for an out of town engagement with additional details to be announced.
Stephen Schwartz (Photo: Nathan Johnson)
Lauren Greenfield’s The Queen of Versailles 2012 documentary depicted the often bizarre lives of Jackie Siegel and David Siegel, owners of Westgate Resorts, as they struggled to build the largest private home in America in Orlando, Florida — a $100 million house inspired by the Palace of Versailles. Their plans – and their lives – were derailed by the Great Recession of 2008.
The stage musical will reunite Schwartz with Broadway superstar Chenoweth (who will play Jackie Siegel), and feature a book by Lindsey Ferrentino and direction by Tony nominee Michael Arden. The project is described as “a new musical exploring the true cost of fame, fortune, and family.”
The Queen of Versailles is produced by Bill Damaschke. Chenoweth will also act as producer through her production banner Diva Worldwide Entertainment.
The project would reunite Chenoweth with her Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz, who is on board to write the music. An industry reading is set for March 24 in New York City, in preparation for an out of town engagement with additional details to be announced.
Stephen Schwartz (Photo: Nathan Johnson)
Lauren Greenfield’s The Queen of Versailles 2012 documentary depicted the often bizarre lives of Jackie Siegel and David Siegel, owners of Westgate Resorts, as they struggled to build the largest private home in America in Orlando, Florida — a $100 million house inspired by the Palace of Versailles. Their plans – and their lives – were derailed by the Great Recession of 2008.
The stage musical will reunite Schwartz with Broadway superstar Chenoweth (who will play Jackie Siegel), and feature a book by Lindsey Ferrentino and direction by Tony nominee Michael Arden. The project is described as “a new musical exploring the true cost of fame, fortune, and family.”
The Queen of Versailles is produced by Bill Damaschke. Chenoweth will also act as producer through her production banner Diva Worldwide Entertainment.
- 2/24/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Anonymous Content and Impact Partners have teamed to produce a new doc on a China-based “mistress dispeller,” to be directed and produced by award-winning filmmaker Elizabeth Lo (Stray). Plans for a scripted adaptation of the documentary are also in the works.
The as-yet-untitled feature watches as the mistress dispeller is hired by couples in crisis to break up affairs and save their marriages by any means necessary. Shifting perspectives between husband, wife and mistress, the film is billed as a strikingly intimate story of love and betrayal, as well as a potent exploration of how class, capital and culture collide to shape romantic relationships in contemporary China.
The project produced in association with Cmp is being co-financed by Anonymous Content, Impact Partners and Cmp, having been developed in association with The Concordia Fellowship. Dawn Olmstead, Jessica Grimshaw and Nick Shumaker will exec produce on behalf of Anonymous Content, alongside Jenny Raskin,...
The as-yet-untitled feature watches as the mistress dispeller is hired by couples in crisis to break up affairs and save their marriages by any means necessary. Shifting perspectives between husband, wife and mistress, the film is billed as a strikingly intimate story of love and betrayal, as well as a potent exploration of how class, capital and culture collide to shape romantic relationships in contemporary China.
The project produced in association with Cmp is being co-financed by Anonymous Content, Impact Partners and Cmp, having been developed in association with The Concordia Fellowship. Dawn Olmstead, Jessica Grimshaw and Nick Shumaker will exec produce on behalf of Anonymous Content, alongside Jenny Raskin,...
- 9/14/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Oscilloscope has swooped for U.S. rights to a feature documentary on mysterious fashion designer Martin Margiela from doc specialist Dogwoof.
The elusive Belgian designer, considered the “Banksy of fashion” because he never appears in public, is known for rising in the ranks from Jean Paul Gaultier’s assistant to creative director at Hermes and ultimately to an independent designer with a fashion house of his own.
In the film, Margiela unveils drawings, notes and personal items, providing a glimpse into his vision and career.
In addition to Oscilloscope, the Reiner Holzemer-directed “Martin Margiela: In His Own Worlds” has been sold into Non Stop (Scandinavia), Dalton (Benelux) and Hajunsa (South Korea) for theatrical and home entertainment. Previously announced sales include Uplink (Japan), Pioneer (Cis) and DDDream (China).
Elsewhere, the London-based distributor has also sold “The Queen of Versailles” director Lauren Greenfield’s feature doc “Kingmaker” into German-speaking Europe with...
The elusive Belgian designer, considered the “Banksy of fashion” because he never appears in public, is known for rising in the ranks from Jean Paul Gaultier’s assistant to creative director at Hermes and ultimately to an independent designer with a fashion house of his own.
In the film, Margiela unveils drawings, notes and personal items, providing a glimpse into his vision and career.
In addition to Oscilloscope, the Reiner Holzemer-directed “Martin Margiela: In His Own Worlds” has been sold into Non Stop (Scandinavia), Dalton (Benelux) and Hajunsa (South Korea) for theatrical and home entertainment. Previously announced sales include Uplink (Japan), Pioneer (Cis) and DDDream (China).
Elsewhere, the London-based distributor has also sold “The Queen of Versailles” director Lauren Greenfield’s feature doc “Kingmaker” into German-speaking Europe with...
- 2/22/2020
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Animal Pictures, the banner run by Maya Rudolph and Natasha Lyonne, is teaming with writer-producer Cirocco Dunlap on The Hospital, a sci-fi themed animated series for Amazon.
Dunlap, who has worked with Lyonne as supervising producer on Lyonne’s acclaimed Netflix comedy Russian Doll, is writing and executive producing. Lyonne, Rudolph and Animal Pictures’ Danielle Renfrew Behrens (The Queen of Versailles) will also exec produce.
The Hospital is described as being darkly comedic in tone and follows Sleech and Klak, two brilliant female alien doctors who specialize in rare sci-fi illnesses. When Sleech defies protocol, she contracts a disease from another dimension and ...
Dunlap, who has worked with Lyonne as supervising producer on Lyonne’s acclaimed Netflix comedy Russian Doll, is writing and executive producing. Lyonne, Rudolph and Animal Pictures’ Danielle Renfrew Behrens (The Queen of Versailles) will also exec produce.
The Hospital is described as being darkly comedic in tone and follows Sleech and Klak, two brilliant female alien doctors who specialize in rare sci-fi illnesses. When Sleech defies protocol, she contracts a disease from another dimension and ...
- 1/29/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Jenny Raskin has been named executive director of Impact Partners, a documentary film funding company. Raskin replaces Impact co-founder Dan Cogan, who will continue his involvement with the company in an advisory role. Raskin will work closely with Impact’s co-founder and veteran producer Geralyn Dreyfous, who serves in an advisory role to the company.
One of the largest investment portfolios in the independent nonfiction sector, Impact Partners was founded and launched in 2007 by Cogan, Dreyfous as well as Diana Barrett, Jim Swartz and Susan Swartz. Every year the org helps fund between eight and 15 documentaries chosen from a pool of 900 nonfiction projects looking for finishing money. Selected titles are sent to Impact’s 43 high-net-worth members — multi-millionaires, and in some cases, billionaires — who seek to promote social change through nonfiction film. Those members then choose on an individual basis what films they will get behind. All 43 members pay an annual fee that covers operating costs,...
One of the largest investment portfolios in the independent nonfiction sector, Impact Partners was founded and launched in 2007 by Cogan, Dreyfous as well as Diana Barrett, Jim Swartz and Susan Swartz. Every year the org helps fund between eight and 15 documentaries chosen from a pool of 900 nonfiction projects looking for finishing money. Selected titles are sent to Impact’s 43 high-net-worth members — multi-millionaires, and in some cases, billionaires — who seek to promote social change through nonfiction film. Those members then choose on an individual basis what films they will get behind. All 43 members pay an annual fee that covers operating costs,...
- 1/8/2020
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Other titles set for release include ‘Black Christmas’, ‘The Kingmaker’ and ‘Pink Wall’.
Action sequel Jumanji: The Next Level and Blumhouse horror Black Christmas lead this weekend’s releases at the UK box office, which may see Frozen II fall from the top slot.
Released through Sony, Jumanji: The Next Level reunites stars Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan and Jack Black with director Jake Kasdan.
Together, they scored a box office hit with Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle in December 2017, which opened with £8.15m (including £4.11m in previews) and went on to gross £38.5m.
The sequel sees four young...
Action sequel Jumanji: The Next Level and Blumhouse horror Black Christmas lead this weekend’s releases at the UK box office, which may see Frozen II fall from the top slot.
Released through Sony, Jumanji: The Next Level reunites stars Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan and Jack Black with director Jake Kasdan.
Together, they scored a box office hit with Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle in December 2017, which opened with £8.15m (including £4.11m in previews) and went on to gross £38.5m.
The sequel sees four young...
- 12/13/2019
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Lauren Greenfield earned critical acclaim and guild nominations for her documentaries “The Queen of Versailles” and “Generation Wealth,” both of which examine the excesses of Western society. But the director of the new Showtime film “The Kingmaker” readily admits, she was not prepared for all that she would find when she went looking for her next subject in Philippines.
Originally, Greenfield was focused on telling the improbable story of an African safari park that had been built on an island in the Philippines in the mid 1970s under the order of then President Ferdinand Marcos. She interviewed his widow, Imelda Marcos, who was eager to talk about being First Lady for 21 years until forced into exile in 1986. She returned five years later and has spent the past quarter century trying to rehabilitate her image as a spendthrift and secure her son’s future as the country’s next president.
SEEAlmost...
Originally, Greenfield was focused on telling the improbable story of an African safari park that had been built on an island in the Philippines in the mid 1970s under the order of then President Ferdinand Marcos. She interviewed his widow, Imelda Marcos, who was eager to talk about being First Lady for 21 years until forced into exile in 1986. She returned five years later and has spent the past quarter century trying to rehabilitate her image as a spendthrift and secure her son’s future as the country’s next president.
SEEAlmost...
- 12/9/2019
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
By Glenn Dunks
Disingenuousness is a disaster for a documentary. I recently watched two documentaries about St*ve B*annon and while it’s obvious he is a despicable human and despite whatever I may have felt about the movies themselves, one thing you can never call that man is disingenuous. He truly believes every that he says.
The same cannot be said for former First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos, who is the narrative thrust and central subject of The Kingmaker. Something of a natural progression for director Lauren Greenfield’s whose earlier films The Queen of Versailles and Generation Wealth have each dealt with the lives of people with too much time and money. Marcos is foregrounded for the documentary’s first half and listening to her seemingly endless self-aggrandising about beauty, love, and this idea she holds so dear of being a mother to the Filipino...
Disingenuousness is a disaster for a documentary. I recently watched two documentaries about St*ve B*annon and while it’s obvious he is a despicable human and despite whatever I may have felt about the movies themselves, one thing you can never call that man is disingenuous. He truly believes every that he says.
The same cannot be said for former First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos, who is the narrative thrust and central subject of The Kingmaker. Something of a natural progression for director Lauren Greenfield’s whose earlier films The Queen of Versailles and Generation Wealth have each dealt with the lives of people with too much time and money. Marcos is foregrounded for the documentary’s first half and listening to her seemingly endless self-aggrandising about beauty, love, and this idea she holds so dear of being a mother to the Filipino...
- 11/20/2019
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
In The Queen of Versailles and Generation Wealth, writer and director Lauren Greenfield opened up an elitist world largely off-limits to the public. The Kingmaker, her latest documentary, looks into the life and complex legacy of Imelda Marcos, widow of the former leader of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos. It is currently in theaters prior to its exhibition on Showtime. Five years in the making, The Kingmaker evolved from what was originally a piece about exotic animals transported by the Marcoses to Calauit Island into a full-fledged investigation of Philippine politics. Greenfield and her team wound up covering the election of […]...
- 11/14/2019
- by Daniel Eagan
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
In The Queen of Versailles and Generation Wealth, writer and director Lauren Greenfield opened up an elitist world largely off-limits to the public. The Kingmaker, her latest documentary, looks into the life and complex legacy of Imelda Marcos, widow of the former leader of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos. It is currently in theaters prior to its exhibition on Showtime. Five years in the making, The Kingmaker evolved from what was originally a piece about exotic animals transported by the Marcoses to Calauit Island into a full-fledged investigation of Philippine politics. Greenfield and her team wound up covering the election of […]...
- 11/14/2019
- by Daniel Eagan
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
It always began and ended with the shoes. Specifically, the 1,220 pairs of pumps that were found in the closet of Imelda Marcos, when she and her husband Ferdinand Marcos were forced to flee the country in 1986. It made the Philippines’ former First Lady the punchline of late-night talk show monologues and reduced her to a kitschy bit of ’80s pop nostalgia, nestled between Dr. Ruth and Hands Across America. The now–90-year-old could recall the agony of losing her mother when she was eight and the ecstasy of being crowned...
- 11/8/2019
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
In Lauren Greenfield’s new documentary The Kingmaker, former Philippines first lady Imelda Marcos demonstrates her largesse, reaching through the window of her limousine to hand banknotes to kids on the street. Later she performs a similar service at a hospital, bestowing cash on families of sick children. She keeps a stack of bills at the ready for such occasions.
This might be considered a noble gesture and left at that were it not for the troubling question of where her money comes from. Imelda and her husband, President Ferdinand Marcos, were suspected of looting the Philippines treasury before he was ousted in 1986 in the People Power Revolution.
“In the beginning of the film, I think you don’t know quite how to take it, because she is generous and kind and caring and wants to help people…You can see her instinct to give,” Greenfield tells Deadline. “But as...
This might be considered a noble gesture and left at that were it not for the troubling question of where her money comes from. Imelda and her husband, President Ferdinand Marcos, were suspected of looting the Philippines treasury before he was ousted in 1986 in the People Power Revolution.
“In the beginning of the film, I think you don’t know quite how to take it, because she is generous and kind and caring and wants to help people…You can see her instinct to give,” Greenfield tells Deadline. “But as...
- 11/4/2019
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
In her staggering film about the controversial former Philippine first lady, the acclaimed Queen of Versailles film-maker faces her most difficult subject yet
At the heart of Lauren Greenfield’s body of work, varied in form from photography to writing to film-making yet remarkably consistent in theme, lies a conundrum. From its very outset, her career has revolved around the trappings of extreme wealth, from the ultra-privileged children of the Los Angeles upper-crusters in her early exhibitions to a pair of nouveau-riche homebuilders for her 2012 documentary breakout The Queen of Versailles. She’s fascinated with the grotesquerie and garishness of new money, watching from a clinical remove as her subjects expose the most tacky, contemptible, pathetic sides of themselves. She’s renowned as a chronicler of the morally deformed, a diagnostic for the deleterious effects that a swollen bank account can have on the brain.
Related: Generation wealth: how the...
At the heart of Lauren Greenfield’s body of work, varied in form from photography to writing to film-making yet remarkably consistent in theme, lies a conundrum. From its very outset, her career has revolved around the trappings of extreme wealth, from the ultra-privileged children of the Los Angeles upper-crusters in her early exhibitions to a pair of nouveau-riche homebuilders for her 2012 documentary breakout The Queen of Versailles. She’s fascinated with the grotesquerie and garishness of new money, watching from a clinical remove as her subjects expose the most tacky, contemptible, pathetic sides of themselves. She’s renowned as a chronicler of the morally deformed, a diagnostic for the deleterious effects that a swollen bank account can have on the brain.
Related: Generation wealth: how the...
- 11/4/2019
- by Charles Bramesco
- The Guardian - Film News
Photographer-turned-filmmaker Lauren Greenfield has directed several critically acclaimed docs, including HBO’s “Thin,” “The Queen of Versailles” and “Generation Wealth.” On the heels of that last film, which looks at consumerism, beauty and gender through the lens of a warped American dream, she raises the stakes in her career-long examination of greed-driven corruption with “The Kingmaker,” in theaters Nov. 8, which showcases Imelda Marcos’ crimes as former first lady of the Philippines and her attempts to rebuild her empire. Here, Greenfield chats about the morality of Marcos, why she gravitates to intimate, dynamic portraits and the one-minute ad campaign that made her a star.
“The Kingmaker” uses images in a visceral way. Can you explain how you sharpened your eye?
I worked as a photographer for 18 years before I made my first film. Using composition and color to communicate information has always been an important part of my process. For example,...
“The Kingmaker” uses images in a visceral way. Can you explain how you sharpened your eye?
I worked as a photographer for 18 years before I made my first film. Using composition and color to communicate information has always been an important part of my process. For example,...
- 11/1/2019
- by LaTesha Harris
- Variety Film + TV
If you didn’t quite meet your Halloween quota, Lauren Greenfield has just released one of the scariest movies of the year. There are no creepy clowns or shambling zombies in “The Kingmaker,” her mesmerizing documentary about the modern political history of the Philippines. But who needs fantasies when reality is so ominous?
Greenfield’s villain appears, in classic form, as an apparent savior. Beautifully dressed and beatifically calm, an octogenarian Imelda Marcos travels the streets of Manila looking for people she can help. She rolls down the windows of her limo to give begging children money. She tours a crumbling pediatric hospital and shakes her head dolefully. When her husband was in charge, she reminds the camera, people never suffered as they do now.
Just when we’re wondering if this sympathetic and benevolent figure might have been a victim of fake news, Greenfield revisits her history to find the facts behind the legend.
Greenfield’s villain appears, in classic form, as an apparent savior. Beautifully dressed and beatifically calm, an octogenarian Imelda Marcos travels the streets of Manila looking for people she can help. She rolls down the windows of her limo to give begging children money. She tours a crumbling pediatric hospital and shakes her head dolefully. When her husband was in charge, she reminds the camera, people never suffered as they do now.
Just when we’re wondering if this sympathetic and benevolent figure might have been a victim of fake news, Greenfield revisits her history to find the facts behind the legend.
- 10/30/2019
- by Elizabeth Weitzman
- The Wrap
When “The Kingmaker” director Lauren Greenfield began making what would become her latest film, she intended to investigate what had become of the island in the Philippines, Calauit, that had become a reserve for endangered African animals in the mid-1970s.
She thought that the country’s former first lady, Imelda Marcos, would be just one interview of many in her investigation of the island. But Greenfield, the filmmaker behind “Generation Wealth” and “The Queen of Versailles,” found an eager and compelling subject ready to share her life story — or at least her version of it.
“I guess the surprise for me is I thought there might be a redemption element in it, because I filmed her between 85 and 90 and thought maybe she would change her story. But she stuck to her story,” Greenfield told the crowd in a Q&a following an International Documentary Association screening of the film.
She thought that the country’s former first lady, Imelda Marcos, would be just one interview of many in her investigation of the island. But Greenfield, the filmmaker behind “Generation Wealth” and “The Queen of Versailles,” found an eager and compelling subject ready to share her life story — or at least her version of it.
“I guess the surprise for me is I thought there might be a redemption element in it, because I filmed her between 85 and 90 and thought maybe she would change her story. But she stuck to her story,” Greenfield told the crowd in a Q&a following an International Documentary Association screening of the film.
- 10/14/2019
- by Jean Bentley
- Indiewire
"They found no skeletons [in the closet], only beautiful shoes." Showtime has debuted the official trailer for The Kingmaker, the latest acclaimed documentary made by filmmaker Lauren Greenfield. This just premiered at the Venice and Telluride Film Festivals a month ago, and it's also playing at the Toronto, Bergen, London, and Chicago Film Festivals before it opens in a few select Us theaters in November. Focused on the indomitable character of Imelda Marcos, The Kingmaker examines, with intimate access, the Marcos family's improbable return to power in the Philippines. Marcos is the extremely wealthy former first lady of the Philippines whose tricky behind-the-scenes influence of her husband Ferdinand's presidency rocketed her to the global political stage. It's a look at how her corruption and ruthlessness are still prevalent, and it's a riveting, eye-opening, frightful doc about the times we live in. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Lauren Greenfield's doc The Kingmaker,...
- 9/30/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
“Perception is real, and the truth is not,” announces Imelda Marcos in “The Kingmaker,” a jaw-dropping documentary in which director Lauren Greenfield exposes just how effective the wounded peacock has been in reshaping her status. Once world-famous for her shoe collection, Imelda benefited enormously from husband Ferdinand’s two-decade dictatorship over the of the Philippines, until being forced to flee to Hawaii in 1986. Now, back from exile, the disgraced former first lady is fully invested in reclaiming her family’s position atop a country whose coffers they once pillaged, attempting to bend democracy and boost her son, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., to power.
Marcos’ print-the-legend philosophy has particular resonance in a post-truth world, although such sinister undertones sneak up on audiences in a movie that begins, innocently enough, as the latest of Greenfield’s astonishing portraits of wealth run amok. Even as far away as the Philippines, the photographer can...
Marcos’ print-the-legend philosophy has particular resonance in a post-truth world, although such sinister undertones sneak up on audiences in a movie that begins, innocently enough, as the latest of Greenfield’s astonishing portraits of wealth run amok. Even as far away as the Philippines, the photographer can...
- 8/30/2019
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Showtime Documentary Films is taking The Kingmaker, about the Marcos family’s political reign in the Philippines, to the Venice Film Festival.
The doc from Emmy-winning director Lauren Greenfield (The Queen of Versailles) will make its world premiere at the festival this month.
The Kingmaker explores and exposes the Marcos family’s long history of corruption, extravagance and brutality, including Calauit Island, a safari park that favors the well-being of its exotic animals to the detriment of the people living there.
The film is written and directed by Greenfield. It includes one-on-one interviews with Imelda Marcos, the country’s former first lady and powerful leader in her own right, who divided a nation. Now 90, she continues to influence the revival of authoritarianism in the Philippines.
“The story of Imelda Marcos, past and present, has achieved an exceptional level of relevance in The Kingmaker,” said Vinnie Malhotra, Evp Nonfiction Programming at Showtime Networks.
The doc from Emmy-winning director Lauren Greenfield (The Queen of Versailles) will make its world premiere at the festival this month.
The Kingmaker explores and exposes the Marcos family’s long history of corruption, extravagance and brutality, including Calauit Island, a safari park that favors the well-being of its exotic animals to the detriment of the people living there.
The film is written and directed by Greenfield. It includes one-on-one interviews with Imelda Marcos, the country’s former first lady and powerful leader in her own right, who divided a nation. Now 90, she continues to influence the revival of authoritarianism in the Philippines.
“The story of Imelda Marcos, past and present, has achieved an exceptional level of relevance in The Kingmaker,” said Vinnie Malhotra, Evp Nonfiction Programming at Showtime Networks.
- 8/7/2019
- by Anita Bennett
- Deadline Film + TV
Corruption, extravagance — and maybe even those famous 3,000 pairs of shoes — will come under the spotlight when a documentary about Imelda Marcos, the Philippines’ controversial former first lady, makes its world premiere at this month’s Venice Film Festival.
The Kingmaker, helmed and written by Sundance winner Lauren Greenfield (The Queen of Versailles) and produced by Showtime Documentary Films, looks at the “indomitable character and controversial political career” of Marcos through “unprecedented access, including one-on-one interviews and verite footage,” according to the filmmakers.
The now-90-year-old Marcos is widely acknowledged to have been a driving force ...
The Kingmaker, helmed and written by Sundance winner Lauren Greenfield (The Queen of Versailles) and produced by Showtime Documentary Films, looks at the “indomitable character and controversial political career” of Marcos through “unprecedented access, including one-on-one interviews and verite footage,” according to the filmmakers.
The now-90-year-old Marcos is widely acknowledged to have been a driving force ...
Corruption, extravagance — and maybe even those famous 3,000 pairs of shoes — will come under the spotlight when a documentary about Imelda Marcos, the Philippines’ controversial former first lady, makes its world premiere at this month’s Venice Film Festival.
The Kingmaker, helmed and written by Sundance winner Lauren Greenfield (The Queen of Versailles) and produced by Showtime Documentary Films, looks at the “indomitable character and controversial political career” of Marcos through “unprecedented access, including one-on-one interviews and verite footage,” according to the filmmakers.
The now-90-year-old Marcos is widely acknowledged to have been a driving force ...
The Kingmaker, helmed and written by Sundance winner Lauren Greenfield (The Queen of Versailles) and produced by Showtime Documentary Films, looks at the “indomitable character and controversial political career” of Marcos through “unprecedented access, including one-on-one interviews and verite footage,” according to the filmmakers.
The now-90-year-old Marcos is widely acknowledged to have been a driving force ...
‘Generation Wealth’ & ‘Queen Of Versailles’ Director Lauren Greenfield Sets Next Film, Inks With Wme
Exclusive: Lauren Greenfield, the photographer/filmmaker who produced and directed the buzzy Sundance documentaries The Queen of Versailles and this year’s Generation Wealth, has signed to make her feature narrative helming debut with Man Under, an indie pic being produced by Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert.
The deal comes as Greenfield, also a prominent commercials director, has inked with Wme, which will rep in all areas including for her newly launched Girl Culture Films, a commercial production company founded by Greenfield and producing partner/husband Frank Evers. Girl Culture reps A-list directors for commercial projects and branded content opportunities with the aim to amplify female and diverse voices. Helmers under the banner already include Destroyer‘s Karyn Kusama, Miss Bala‘s Catherine Hardwicke and The Case Against Adnan Syed‘s Amy Berg.
Man Under, from a script by Ann Cherkis (Better Call Saul), centers on a serendipitous picture taken...
The deal comes as Greenfield, also a prominent commercials director, has inked with Wme, which will rep in all areas including for her newly launched Girl Culture Films, a commercial production company founded by Greenfield and producing partner/husband Frank Evers. Girl Culture reps A-list directors for commercial projects and branded content opportunities with the aim to amplify female and diverse voices. Helmers under the banner already include Destroyer‘s Karyn Kusama, Miss Bala‘s Catherine Hardwicke and The Case Against Adnan Syed‘s Amy Berg.
Man Under, from a script by Ann Cherkis (Better Call Saul), centers on a serendipitous picture taken...
- 2/26/2019
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Documentarian and director Lauren Greenfield has launched a production company, Girl Culture Films, to address the lack of diversity behind the camera in the advertising industry.
Greenfield, who directed the documentary “The Queen of Versailles” and Always’ #LikeAGirl Campaign, created the company with her partners Frank Evers to represent directors for commercial projects and branded content opportunities to amplify female and diverse voices in the advertising world.
Girl Culture’s roster features filmmakers across genres, such as Catherine Hardwicke (“Miss Bala”), Karyn Kusama (“Destroyer”), and Amy Berg (“West of Memphis”).
“After the experience of the #LikeAGirl campaign, I started Girl Culture Films to ensure that women have a bigger voice in the cultural conversation — in which advertising is a driving force,” Greenfield said in a statement. “I knew it was crucial to appeal to audiences through storytelling, so our roster is comprised of incredible directors with varied styles that can...
Greenfield, who directed the documentary “The Queen of Versailles” and Always’ #LikeAGirl Campaign, created the company with her partners Frank Evers to represent directors for commercial projects and branded content opportunities to amplify female and diverse voices in the advertising world.
Girl Culture’s roster features filmmakers across genres, such as Catherine Hardwicke (“Miss Bala”), Karyn Kusama (“Destroyer”), and Amy Berg (“West of Memphis”).
“After the experience of the #LikeAGirl campaign, I started Girl Culture Films to ensure that women have a bigger voice in the cultural conversation — in which advertising is a driving force,” Greenfield said in a statement. “I knew it was crucial to appeal to audiences through storytelling, so our roster is comprised of incredible directors with varied styles that can...
- 1/29/2019
- by Rachel Yang
- Variety Film + TV
Initiative will offer range of support from $10,000-$100,000 per project.
Impact Partners, the Brooklyn-based funder of documentaries such as Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and Oscar winner Icarus, has launched a development fund.
Impact Partners said the seven-figure fund will provide annual support to four to eight documentary features and series, or early projects that could turn out to be either format, and will provide $10,000-$100,000 per project.
Filmmakers can apply through Impact Partners’ general submission process and the fund will begin accepting applications on a rolling basis on December 1.
Impact Partners said Filmmakers can apply for a range of reasons,...
Impact Partners, the Brooklyn-based funder of documentaries such as Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and Oscar winner Icarus, has launched a development fund.
Impact Partners said the seven-figure fund will provide annual support to four to eight documentary features and series, or early projects that could turn out to be either format, and will provide $10,000-$100,000 per project.
Filmmakers can apply through Impact Partners’ general submission process and the fund will begin accepting applications on a rolling basis on December 1.
Impact Partners said Filmmakers can apply for a range of reasons,...
- 11/13/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The mind-blowing documentary, Generation Wealth comes to DVD on October 16 from Lionsgate. Emmy-nominee director and photographer, Lauren Greenfield, gives you a look into the lives of America’s most wealthy. Beware, as not everyone who makes it to the top are as innocent as they appear to be!
Acclaimed Emmy-nominated documentary photographer and director Lauren Greenfield gives us an inside look at the “precise, eye-opening, and absolutely chilling” (Kate Erbland, Indiewire) heights of narcissism and greed within the global boom-bust economy whenGeneration Wealth arrives on DVD and Digital October 16 from Lionsgate. The insightful and thought-provoking film is “a blistering takedown of greedy Kardashian culture” (The Daily Beast) reflected through the lenses of Greenfield’s life’s work. The opening film of the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, the Generation Wealth DVD includes a gallery of Greenfield’s photos, and will be available for the suggested retail price of $19.98.
Lauren Greenfield’s postcard...
Acclaimed Emmy-nominated documentary photographer and director Lauren Greenfield gives us an inside look at the “precise, eye-opening, and absolutely chilling” (Kate Erbland, Indiewire) heights of narcissism and greed within the global boom-bust economy whenGeneration Wealth arrives on DVD and Digital October 16 from Lionsgate. The insightful and thought-provoking film is “a blistering takedown of greedy Kardashian culture” (The Daily Beast) reflected through the lenses of Greenfield’s life’s work. The opening film of the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, the Generation Wealth DVD includes a gallery of Greenfield’s photos, and will be available for the suggested retail price of $19.98.
Lauren Greenfield’s postcard...
- 10/3/2018
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
As the Summer cinema season gives way to the Fall, yet another compelling feature documentary joins a most impressive 2018 roster. And as with several earlier releases, it is part of the show biz sub-genre of docs. It’s main focus (and marketing draw) is an insider look into the “golden age” of studio movies, though close to its waning days after the end of WWII and into the mid-fifties, when television began to chip away at their luster. But this is no flowery puff profile waxing nostalgic about those glory days of iconic “larger than life” movie stars. That’s because many of them had to “act” all the time, in and out of the sound stages, carefully evading any hint of scandal. We saw a bit of this is the fictionalized story of a studio “fixer” a couple years ago in the Coen Brothers’ Hail Caesar. This is the unvarnished “real deal” from,...
- 8/23/2018
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Limo Bob, 49, the self-proclaimed “Limo King,” Chicago, 2008. An entrepreneur who builds and rents exotic limousines, Bob wears thirty-three pounds of gold and a full-length fur coat given to him by Mike Tyson. Photo Courtesy of Amazon Studios. Photo credit: © Lauren Greenfield, all rights reserved.
Generation Wealth sounds like it’s about income inequality and the One Percent, but it is not.
While Lauren Greenfield’s documentary starts out with footage of the very rich who are the one-percent of the income scale, it quickly shifts.
Even tagline of Lauren Greenfield’s documentary “The American Dream just keeps getting more expensive” suggests that, but while the documentary does start out with footage of the very rich who at in the upper one-percent of the income scale, it quickly shifts to a different, less lofty picture of wealth, a Kardashians, reality show kind of rich. The film would have been better titled...
Generation Wealth sounds like it’s about income inequality and the One Percent, but it is not.
While Lauren Greenfield’s documentary starts out with footage of the very rich who are the one-percent of the income scale, it quickly shifts.
Even tagline of Lauren Greenfield’s documentary “The American Dream just keeps getting more expensive” suggests that, but while the documentary does start out with footage of the very rich who at in the upper one-percent of the income scale, it quickly shifts to a different, less lofty picture of wealth, a Kardashians, reality show kind of rich. The film would have been better titled...
- 8/10/2018
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Review by Peter BelsitoFor the past 25 years acclaimed photographer and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield has travelled the world, documenting with ethnographic precision and an artist’s sensitivity a vast range of cultural movements and moments.
Yet, after so much seeking and searching, she realized that much of her work pointed at one uniting phenomenon: wealth culture. With her new film, Generation Wealth, she puts the pieces of her life’s work together for in an incendiary investigation into the pathologies that have created the richest society the world has ever seen.
Spanning consumerism, beauty, gender, body commodification, aging and more, Greenfield has created a comprehensive cautionary tale about a culture heading straight for the cliff’s edge. Generation Wealth, simultaneously a deeply personal journey, rigorous historical essay, and raucously entertaining expose, bears witness to the global boom-bust economy, the corrupted American Dream and the human costs of capitalism, narcissism and greed.
Yet, after so much seeking and searching, she realized that much of her work pointed at one uniting phenomenon: wealth culture. With her new film, Generation Wealth, she puts the pieces of her life’s work together for in an incendiary investigation into the pathologies that have created the richest society the world has ever seen.
Spanning consumerism, beauty, gender, body commodification, aging and more, Greenfield has created a comprehensive cautionary tale about a culture heading straight for the cliff’s edge. Generation Wealth, simultaneously a deeply personal journey, rigorous historical essay, and raucously entertaining expose, bears witness to the global boom-bust economy, the corrupted American Dream and the human costs of capitalism, narcissism and greed.
- 8/6/2018
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
2018 brings a strange summer full of unexpected surprises, revealing an evolving specialized world that shows resilience beyond the mixed results earlier this year. The box office surge continues with documentaries and narratives with wide appeal not so much to the usual older crowd but more diverse, younger audiences.
Sundance breakout “Blindspotting” (Lionsgate) lead the way this weekend, coming quickly after another Sundance hit from Oakland, “Sorry to Bother You” (Annapurna). And multiple new documentaries, led by fashion biodioc “McQueen” (Bleecker Street), showed strong early interest.
Meantime, “Eighth Grade” (A24) enjoyed an excellent second weekend expansion, while widening “Three Identical Strangers” (Neon) is following the season’s other documentary smashes to higher than expected levels.
Opening
Blindspotting (Lionsgate) – Metacritic: 73; Festivals include: Sundance, South by Southwest 2018
$332,500 in 14 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $23,750
With “Sorry to Bother You” already a success, another filmmaker out of the Oakland film community that produced Ryan Coogler...
Sundance breakout “Blindspotting” (Lionsgate) lead the way this weekend, coming quickly after another Sundance hit from Oakland, “Sorry to Bother You” (Annapurna). And multiple new documentaries, led by fashion biodioc “McQueen” (Bleecker Street), showed strong early interest.
Meantime, “Eighth Grade” (A24) enjoyed an excellent second weekend expansion, while widening “Three Identical Strangers” (Neon) is following the season’s other documentary smashes to higher than expected levels.
Opening
Blindspotting (Lionsgate) – Metacritic: 73; Festivals include: Sundance, South by Southwest 2018
$332,500 in 14 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $23,750
With “Sorry to Bother You” already a success, another filmmaker out of the Oakland film community that produced Ryan Coogler...
- 7/22/2018
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
Photographer Lauren Greenfield doesn’t spare herself in her nuanced critique of the pursuit of money and success
Related: Generation wealth: how the modern world fell in love with money
“Society acquires its greatest wealth in the face of death.” This is the line that Lauren Greenfield’s documentary pursues, suggesting that the decadence of 21st-century America has the country heading the way of the Roman empire’s fallen hedonists. Interviewees, all of whom Greenfield has photographed over the last 25 years, share their thoughts on money, fame and status, having made and paid obscene amounts of cash in the name of hardcore pornography, tax fraud, cosmetic surgery, IVF treatment and a custom-designed palace (Greenfield made a whole film about the latter with 2012’s The Queen of Versailles), to name but a handful.
Related: Generation wealth: how the modern world fell in love with money
“Society acquires its greatest wealth in the face of death.” This is the line that Lauren Greenfield’s documentary pursues, suggesting that the decadence of 21st-century America has the country heading the way of the Roman empire’s fallen hedonists. Interviewees, all of whom Greenfield has photographed over the last 25 years, share their thoughts on money, fame and status, having made and paid obscene amounts of cash in the name of hardcore pornography, tax fraud, cosmetic surgery, IVF treatment and a custom-designed palace (Greenfield made a whole film about the latter with 2012’s The Queen of Versailles), to name but a handful.
- 7/22/2018
- by Simran Hans
- The Guardian - Film News
When Lauren Greenfield started the quarter century of photography and documentary work that would culminate in “Generation Wealth,” she had no idea how much the current administration would be reflected in the entire project.
Though Donald Trump is only briefly shown in the Amazon film that opened Friday through Magnolia, the same elements that underlie his climb to office — fame, materialism, real estate, reality TV, the commodification of women’s bodies — are the central themes of the documentary.
In “Generation Wealth,” Greenfield’s subjects suffer the fallout of their lavish lifestyles and outsized obsessions, in something of a cautionary tale for today’s culture. Those subjects include a former porn star, the now-grown L.A. teens she photographed in the 1990s, a plastic surgery addict, a disgraced hedge fund manager and Jackie and David Siegel, the billionaire real estate moguls she portrayed in her previous feature “The Queen of Versailles.
Though Donald Trump is only briefly shown in the Amazon film that opened Friday through Magnolia, the same elements that underlie his climb to office — fame, materialism, real estate, reality TV, the commodification of women’s bodies — are the central themes of the documentary.
In “Generation Wealth,” Greenfield’s subjects suffer the fallout of their lavish lifestyles and outsized obsessions, in something of a cautionary tale for today’s culture. Those subjects include a former porn star, the now-grown L.A. teens she photographed in the 1990s, a plastic surgery addict, a disgraced hedge fund manager and Jackie and David Siegel, the billionaire real estate moguls she portrayed in her previous feature “The Queen of Versailles.
- 7/21/2018
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
In her new documentary feature Generation Wealth, acclaimed photographer and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield investigates the recent pathologies that have created a society obsessed with wealth and popularity in one of the richest civilisations the world has ever seen. Using her own experiences of growing up as a shy middle class Jewish kid born to academic parents, Greenfield tackles the idea of excessive wealth and its effects on society by taking on ideas relating to consumerism, beauty and body commodification in a world where popularity and money have come to symbolise absolute power and success.
Approaching the subject matter from a very personal standpoint, Greenfield takes us back right to the beginning of her own existence, with her birth, childhood and the divorce of her parents. Later on we are invited to revisit some of her earlier work, namely a series of photographs taken in the 90s which featured a group...
Approaching the subject matter from a very personal standpoint, Greenfield takes us back right to the beginning of her own existence, with her birth, childhood and the divorce of her parents. Later on we are invited to revisit some of her earlier work, namely a series of photographs taken in the 90s which featured a group...
- 7/20/2018
- by Linda Marric
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The latest film from The Queen of Versailles film-maker Lauren Greenfield is a frustratingly empty look at late capitalism
It’s rare for fusty old Forbes magazine to be at the centre of a Twitterstorm, but then again it’s equally rare for the venerable finance rag to feature a Generation Z reality TV star and Instagram icon on their front cover. Both happened this week, as 20-year-old Kylie Jenner headed up an issue dedicated to America’s female billionaires, her pristine face accompanied by a slobbering headline declaring the celebrity cosmetics entrepreneur “the youngest-ever self-made billionaire”.
Related: Kylie Jenner likely to become youngest 'self-made' billionaire ever...
It’s rare for fusty old Forbes magazine to be at the centre of a Twitterstorm, but then again it’s equally rare for the venerable finance rag to feature a Generation Z reality TV star and Instagram icon on their front cover. Both happened this week, as 20-year-old Kylie Jenner headed up an issue dedicated to America’s female billionaires, her pristine face accompanied by a slobbering headline declaring the celebrity cosmetics entrepreneur “the youngest-ever self-made billionaire”.
Related: Kylie Jenner likely to become youngest 'self-made' billionaire ever...
- 7/20/2018
- by Guy Lodge
- The Guardian - Film News
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