As we wrap up our year-end coverage, IndieWire looks back at the people, projects, and ideas that defined 2023 — and what’s coming next.
As golden ages go, this one was more of a blip.
Five years ago, the box office celebrated nonfiction films: $22 million for “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” $14 million for “Rbg,” $17.5 million for “Free Solo.” Critical favorites and Oscar nominees included films from exciting American first-time directors, including RaMell Ross’s lyrical breakthrough about life in rural Alabama, “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” and Bing Liu’s moving personal exposé of domestic abuse in northern Illinois, “Minding the Gap.”
2023 lacked documentary touchstones. A few faith-based documentaries succeeded by preaching to the choir, but the most successful (non-concert) documentary released in theaters this year was the Yogi Berra baseball portrait “It Ain’t Over”. You also could include Magnolia Pictures’ “Joan Baez: I Am A Noise” or — if you...
As golden ages go, this one was more of a blip.
Five years ago, the box office celebrated nonfiction films: $22 million for “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” $14 million for “Rbg,” $17.5 million for “Free Solo.” Critical favorites and Oscar nominees included films from exciting American first-time directors, including RaMell Ross’s lyrical breakthrough about life in rural Alabama, “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” and Bing Liu’s moving personal exposé of domestic abuse in northern Illinois, “Minding the Gap.”
2023 lacked documentary touchstones. A few faith-based documentaries succeeded by preaching to the choir, but the most successful (non-concert) documentary released in theaters this year was the Yogi Berra baseball portrait “It Ain’t Over”. You also could include Magnolia Pictures’ “Joan Baez: I Am A Noise” or — if you...
- 12/19/2023
- by Anthony Kaufman
- Indiewire
Definitely the type of film that could end up jockeying for a position at a fall film festival later in the year instead, RaMell Ross who made the miracle (and critically darling of a docu) in the Sundance preemed Hale County This Morning, This Evening moved toward fiction with an adaption of the Colson Whitehead novel The Nickel Boys – a Pulitzer Prize winner. With some major studio weight supporting the project and an indie veteran producer (Joslyn Barnes is also the co-writer) backing the piece and stain in 60s Americana. Starring Aunjanue Ellis, Ethan Herisse, Fred Hechinger, Hamish Linklater and Brandon Wilson, the Cinematography on this project happens to be Jomo Fray – he lensed All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt.…...
- 11/15/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Plan B Entertainment partners Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner play their cards close to their chests when it comes to strategy and upcoming plans.
Co-president Kleiner gave a rare insight into the company’s inner workings this week at the San Sebastian Film Festival’s Creative Investor Conference, organized in association with CAA Media Finance.
“To do this gig you have to have some underlying idealism and optimism,” he said of navigating the current volatile market as a producer.
“We’re working with a mix of established filmmakers and more emerging talent. The spectrum is really wide. Whether its Nia DaCosta, Bing Liu, David Michod, Lee Isaac Chung or RaMell Ross, Bong [Joon-Ho], or Jo Kosinski on his Formula One movie, things kind of find their place but I definitely feel like the bar seems quite high these days.”
Kleiner, who is marking his 20th year at Plan B...
Co-president Kleiner gave a rare insight into the company’s inner workings this week at the San Sebastian Film Festival’s Creative Investor Conference, organized in association with CAA Media Finance.
“To do this gig you have to have some underlying idealism and optimism,” he said of navigating the current volatile market as a producer.
“We’re working with a mix of established filmmakers and more emerging talent. The spectrum is really wide. Whether its Nia DaCosta, Bing Liu, David Michod, Lee Isaac Chung or RaMell Ross, Bong [Joon-Ho], or Jo Kosinski on his Formula One movie, things kind of find their place but I definitely feel like the bar seems quite high these days.”
Kleiner, who is marking his 20th year at Plan B...
- 9/28/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The Sundance Institute has named the 2023 grantees of its Documentary Fund, supporting the work of nonfiction filmmakers from around the globe, with 23 projects being selected for unrestricted grant funding totaling just over $1M.
Six of the selected projects are in development, with 14 in production and three currently in post. Notable filmmakers recognized as part of the group include Oscar and Emmy nominee Lourdes Portillo (with Looking at Ourselves), artist and filmmaker Amy Jenkins (with Adam’s Apple), and Anayansi Prado (with Untitled Uvalde Documentary). Also represented are such sophomore filmmakers coming off strong debuts as Reid Davenport (I Didn’t See You There) with Life After, Sky Hopinka with Powwow People, and Tali Yankelevich (My Darling Supermarket) with Girl-Tubers.
Sundance Institute’s Documentary Fund prioritizes supporting and empowering historically marginalized voices and providing a platform for integral stories to be amplified. Many of the...
Six of the selected projects are in development, with 14 in production and three currently in post. Notable filmmakers recognized as part of the group include Oscar and Emmy nominee Lourdes Portillo (with Looking at Ourselves), artist and filmmaker Amy Jenkins (with Adam’s Apple), and Anayansi Prado (with Untitled Uvalde Documentary). Also represented are such sophomore filmmakers coming off strong debuts as Reid Davenport (I Didn’t See You There) with Life After, Sky Hopinka with Powwow People, and Tali Yankelevich (My Darling Supermarket) with Girl-Tubers.
Sundance Institute’s Documentary Fund prioritizes supporting and empowering historically marginalized voices and providing a platform for integral stories to be amplified. Many of the...
- 8/21/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
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. 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.”
See 2023 Sundance Film Festival concludes: Highlights and studio acquisitions include ‘Past Lives,’ ‘A Little Prayer,’ ‘Flora and Son’
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 honorees —“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...
See 2023 Sundance Film Festival concludes: Highlights and studio acquisitions include ‘Past Lives,’ ‘A Little Prayer,’ ‘Flora and Son’
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 honorees —“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...
- 1/31/2023
- by Ronald Meyer and Denton Davidson
- Gold Derby
After parting ways with its parent company First Look Media in December, the non-profit documentary production studio Field of Vision is at Sundance with four docus and actively seeking new donors and supporters.
Founded in 2015 by former Hot Docs programming director Charlotte Cook, “CitizenFour” Oscar winner Laura Poitras and SXSW prize winner A.J. Schnack (“We Always Talk to Strangers”), the company now run by Cook has become a force to be reckoned with in recent years. The filmmaker-driven visual journalism documentary company’s credits include the Oscar-winning film “American Factory” as well Academy Award nominated features including “Ascension,” “Strong Island,” and “Hale County This Morning, This Evening.”
Overall, Field of Vision has supported or produced more than 260 features, shorts, and series mainly via grant money provided by First Look Media, the company run by eBay founder Pierre Olmidyar. Over the last several years, the company has begun commercially investing in docus,...
Founded in 2015 by former Hot Docs programming director Charlotte Cook, “CitizenFour” Oscar winner Laura Poitras and SXSW prize winner A.J. Schnack (“We Always Talk to Strangers”), the company now run by Cook has become a force to be reckoned with in recent years. The filmmaker-driven visual journalism documentary company’s credits include the Oscar-winning film “American Factory” as well Academy Award nominated features including “Ascension,” “Strong Island,” and “Hale County This Morning, This Evening.”
Overall, Field of Vision has supported or produced more than 260 features, shorts, and series mainly via grant money provided by First Look Media, the company run by eBay founder Pierre Olmidyar. Over the last several years, the company has begun commercially investing in docus,...
- 1/25/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Robert Yapkowitz and Rich Peete’s In My Own Time: A Portrait Of Karen Dalton executive producer Wim Wenders on Nick Cave and Karen Dalton: “Just like Nick, Karen’s music had a profound effect on me.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Victor Kossakovsky’s Gunda, co-written with Ainara Vera, executive produced by Joaquin Phoenix, co-produced by Anita Rehoff Larsen from Sant & Usant with Joslyn Barnes and Susan Rockefeller of Louverture Films and a Main Slate selection of the 58th New York Film Festival; Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker’s ever more timely The Meaning Of Hitler; Malia Scharf and Max Basch’s intimate portrait, Kenny Scharf: When Worlds Collide, produced with David Koh (featuring remembrances from Kenny of Keith Haring, Klaus Nomi, <a...
Victor Kossakovsky’s Gunda, co-written with Ainara Vera, executive produced by Joaquin Phoenix, co-produced by Anita Rehoff Larsen from Sant & Usant with Joslyn Barnes and Susan Rockefeller of Louverture Films and a Main Slate selection of the 58th New York Film Festival; Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker’s ever more timely The Meaning Of Hitler; Malia Scharf and Max Basch’s intimate portrait, Kenny Scharf: When Worlds Collide, produced with David Koh (featuring remembrances from Kenny of Keith Haring, Klaus Nomi, <a...
- 11/15/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Broadcasters across the Arab world are clambering to serve up Ramadan soaps as the coronavirus pandemic forces the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims to observe the Islamic calendar’s holy month at home rather than in a mosque.
Even under normal circumstances, Ramadan — which started on April 24 — is peak TV season for Arab audiences. Middle East TV execs often compare the period to the Super Bowl in the U.S., except for 30 days straight.
Amid the Covid-19 crisis, however, “audiences are bigger than ever due to millions staying at home,” says Mazen Hayek, a spokesman for Dubai-based Mbc, the Arab world’s largest private broadcaster.
Despite the coronavirus outbreak, Mbc is “ready to meet audience expectations” as it does every year, though some series had to be delayed or postponed.
The broadcaster’s Ramadan TV season is kicking off with a bang thanks to political controversy sparked by its period drama...
Even under normal circumstances, Ramadan — which started on April 24 — is peak TV season for Arab audiences. Middle East TV execs often compare the period to the Super Bowl in the U.S., except for 30 days straight.
Amid the Covid-19 crisis, however, “audiences are bigger than ever due to millions staying at home,” says Mazen Hayek, a spokesman for Dubai-based Mbc, the Arab world’s largest private broadcaster.
Despite the coronavirus outbreak, Mbc is “ready to meet audience expectations” as it does every year, though some series had to be delayed or postponed.
The broadcaster’s Ramadan TV season is kicking off with a bang thanks to political controversy sparked by its period drama...
- 4/28/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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