The Rough Cut Presentations section has expanded, including five additional projects from Ukraine.
IDFA Forum (November 12-15), the co-production and co-financing market of International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), has selected its 2023 edition titles, with the likes of Aboozar Amini, Asmae El Moudir and Michael Madsen returning with their latest projects to Forum Pitch, while the Rough Cut Presentations section has expanded.
Afghanistan-born, Netherlands-based filmmaker Amini’s Kabul, City In The Wind screened at IDFA in 2018, and is now pitching Kabul, Year Zero, which threads together four vivid coming-of-age stories against the backdrop of war.
After presenting The Postcard at IDFA...
IDFA Forum (November 12-15), the co-production and co-financing market of International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), has selected its 2023 edition titles, with the likes of Aboozar Amini, Asmae El Moudir and Michael Madsen returning with their latest projects to Forum Pitch, while the Rough Cut Presentations section has expanded.
Afghanistan-born, Netherlands-based filmmaker Amini’s Kabul, City In The Wind screened at IDFA in 2018, and is now pitching Kabul, Year Zero, which threads together four vivid coming-of-age stories against the backdrop of war.
After presenting The Postcard at IDFA...
- 10/5/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Matthew Heineman’s “The First Wave” takes audiences to the frontlines as New York became America’s epicenter at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Heineman’s camera follows doctors, nurses and patients in a cinema vérité, as he shows the strength of the human spirit. Behind the scenes, he worked with editors Francisco Bello, Gabriel Rhodes and David Zieff to follow along and start weaving the dailies together.
Rhodes says they went through mountains of footage captured by Heineman at Long Island’s Jewish Medical Center in Queens, N.Y., from March to June in 2020. “There was so much footage, especially in the trauma wards, where it was just death, death, death, death, death, death, and the families being separated by iPads.”
Because the editors and Heineman were living the same thing they were documenting, it hit close to home. “Especially in those early weeks when we knew so little about the disease,...
Heineman’s camera follows doctors, nurses and patients in a cinema vérité, as he shows the strength of the human spirit. Behind the scenes, he worked with editors Francisco Bello, Gabriel Rhodes and David Zieff to follow along and start weaving the dailies together.
Rhodes says they went through mountains of footage captured by Heineman at Long Island’s Jewish Medical Center in Queens, N.Y., from March to June in 2020. “There was so much footage, especially in the trauma wards, where it was just death, death, death, death, death, death, and the families being separated by iPads.”
Because the editors and Heineman were living the same thing they were documenting, it hit close to home. “Especially in those early weeks when we knew so little about the disease,...
- 12/15/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
The Critics Choice Association awarded “Summer of Soul” the top prize at the sixth annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards, which honors the best achievements in nonfiction released in theaters, on TV, or on major digital platforms. Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s look at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival took home the most awards of any film, with five in total.
This year’s nominees were led by “Ascension” and “Summer of Soul,” two films by first-time documentarians. Each had six nominations. But “Ascension,” Jessica Kingdon’s look at the pursuit of the Chinese dream, failed to score any prizes November 14.
“Summer of Soul,” which won the top documentary prize and an Audience Award following its Sundance premiere earlier this year, won five of the six awards it was nominated for at the critics awards: Best Documentary Feature, Best First Documentary Feature, Best Editing, Best Archival Documentary, and Best Director, a prize Thompson...
This year’s nominees were led by “Ascension” and “Summer of Soul,” two films by first-time documentarians. Each had six nominations. But “Ascension,” Jessica Kingdon’s look at the pursuit of the Chinese dream, failed to score any prizes November 14.
“Summer of Soul,” which won the top documentary prize and an Audience Award following its Sundance premiere earlier this year, won five of the six awards it was nominated for at the critics awards: Best Documentary Feature, Best First Documentary Feature, Best Editing, Best Archival Documentary, and Best Director, a prize Thompson...
- 11/15/2021
- by Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
The Critics Choice Association has announced nominees for the sixth annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards.
The awards cover documentaries released in theaters, on TV and on major digital platforms. The awards gala takes place Nov. 14 in Brooklyn, N.Y.
“Ascension” and “Summer of Soul, both from first-time documentarians, led the nominations with six each. “Becoming Cousteau” and “The Rescue” both received five nods each.
“This has been and continues to be a fantastic year for documentary storytelling. And the number of first-time feature documentarians in the mix of nominees, alongside proven veterans, shows that nonfiction cinema continues to have a very bright future,” said Christopher Campbell, President of the Critics Choice Association Documentary Branch. “Our world, from its most amazing wonders to its greatest challenges, is being reflected back on the screen so immediately and creatively by today’s filmmakers, and it’s a tremendous honor for us to recognize all of their achievements.
The awards cover documentaries released in theaters, on TV and on major digital platforms. The awards gala takes place Nov. 14 in Brooklyn, N.Y.
“Ascension” and “Summer of Soul, both from first-time documentarians, led the nominations with six each. “Becoming Cousteau” and “The Rescue” both received five nods each.
“This has been and continues to be a fantastic year for documentary storytelling. And the number of first-time feature documentarians in the mix of nominees, alongside proven veterans, shows that nonfiction cinema continues to have a very bright future,” said Christopher Campbell, President of the Critics Choice Association Documentary Branch. “Our world, from its most amazing wonders to its greatest challenges, is being reflected back on the screen so immediately and creatively by today’s filmmakers, and it’s a tremendous honor for us to recognize all of their achievements.
- 10/18/2021
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
Notably leading the pack of nominees revealed Monday for the sixth annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards are a pair of films from directors making their debut as documentarians. Ascension’s Jessica Kingdon and Summer of Soul’s Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson pulled off the impressive feat, with both films receiving six nods apiece. On their tails however are a pair of docus from Nat Geo with five nods each: The Rescue. whose directors Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi took the Oscar for their previous effort Free Solo; and Becoming Cousteau, whose director Liz Garbus is also a docu veteran with two Oscar nominations and two Emmys to her credit.
All will compete in the Best Documentary Feature and Best Director categories, with Thompson and Kingdon also facing off for Best First Documentary Feature along with such indie film giants as Todd Haynes and Edgar Wright.
All will compete in the Best Documentary Feature and Best Director categories, with Thompson and Kingdon also facing off for Best First Documentary Feature along with such indie film giants as Todd Haynes and Edgar Wright.
- 10/18/2021
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
The Critics Choice Association (Cca) has announced the nominees for the sixth annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards (Ccda). This year’s winners will be revealed at a gala on Sunday, November 14, 2021, in Brooklyn, NY. The awards honor the best achievements in nonfiction released in theaters, on TV, or on major digital platforms.
Both films by first-time documentarians, “Ascension” and “Summer of Soul” lead this year’s nominations with six each. “Ascension,” a look at the Chinese dream across social classes, is also up for Documentary Feature, Director (Jessica Kingdon), First Feature, Cinematography, Editing, and Score. Meanwhile, “Summer of Soul” is up for Documentary Feature, Best Director (Ahmir “Questlove’ Thompson), First Documentary, Editing, Archival Documentary, and Music Documentary.
“Becoming Cousteau” and “The Rescue” also picked up five nominations each.
Last year, “Dick Johnson Is Dead” took home the Cca’s top award for Best Documentary as well as the Best Director award for Kirsten Johnson.
Both films by first-time documentarians, “Ascension” and “Summer of Soul” lead this year’s nominations with six each. “Ascension,” a look at the Chinese dream across social classes, is also up for Documentary Feature, Director (Jessica Kingdon), First Feature, Cinematography, Editing, and Score. Meanwhile, “Summer of Soul” is up for Documentary Feature, Best Director (Ahmir “Questlove’ Thompson), First Documentary, Editing, Archival Documentary, and Music Documentary.
“Becoming Cousteau” and “The Rescue” also picked up five nominations each.
Last year, “Dick Johnson Is Dead” took home the Cca’s top award for Best Documentary as well as the Best Director award for Kirsten Johnson.
- 10/18/2021
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
When host — and living documentary legend — Steve James took the stage on Thursday night to kick off the start of the 11th Annual Cinema Eye Honors Awards at Queens’ own Museum of the Moving Image, he might have enjoyed the benefit of being tipped off as to who would dominate the ceremony. For James, the night was all about a “new generation” of filmmakers, and bringing them further into a tight-knit community that could support them for the rest of their lives.
No surprise then that Yance Ford and his debut feature, the deeply personal and long-gestating “Strong Island,” emerged as the night’s biggest winner, pulling in wins for Outstanding Direction, Outstanding Debut, and Outstanding Nonfiction Feature Film. Ford’s win for Outstanding Direction was also a history-maker: the filmmaker is the first to ever win the award for a debut film.
Read More:Cinema Eye Honors Announces Nominees; ‘Strong Island,...
No surprise then that Yance Ford and his debut feature, the deeply personal and long-gestating “Strong Island,” emerged as the night’s biggest winner, pulling in wins for Outstanding Direction, Outstanding Debut, and Outstanding Nonfiction Feature Film. Ford’s win for Outstanding Direction was also a history-maker: the filmmaker is the first to ever win the award for a debut film.
Read More:Cinema Eye Honors Announces Nominees; ‘Strong Island,...
- 1/12/2018
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Documentary to premiere at Tribeca on April 22.
Gravitas Ventures has taken North American theatrical and streaming rights and CNN Films has acquired North American broadcast rights to The Reagan Show.
Pacho Velez and Sierra Pettengill co-directed the documentary from a script by Velez, Josh Alexander and Francisco Bello.
The Reagan Show will premiere in documentary competition at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 22 and is presented entirely through archival footage.
The film chronicles the 40th Us President Ronald Reagan’s previously unprecedented use of film crews and photographers to document the office of the president.
The Reagan Show will open theatrically on June 30, with VOD and home video release set for July 4. The broadcast premiere on CNN will follow the North American theatrical and video release.
“These tapes allow us to track Reagan through the end of the Cold War – with all its confusion, fear, humor and, above all, irony,” said Pettengill...
Gravitas Ventures has taken North American theatrical and streaming rights and CNN Films has acquired North American broadcast rights to The Reagan Show.
Pacho Velez and Sierra Pettengill co-directed the documentary from a script by Velez, Josh Alexander and Francisco Bello.
The Reagan Show will premiere in documentary competition at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 22 and is presented entirely through archival footage.
The film chronicles the 40th Us President Ronald Reagan’s previously unprecedented use of film crews and photographers to document the office of the president.
The Reagan Show will open theatrically on June 30, with VOD and home video release set for July 4. The broadcast premiere on CNN will follow the North American theatrical and video release.
“These tapes allow us to track Reagan through the end of the Cold War – with all its confusion, fear, humor and, above all, irony,” said Pettengill...
- 4/17/2017
- ScreenDaily
It’s been a surprisingly interesting month of moving and shaking in terms of doc development. Just a month after making his first public funding pitch at Toronto’s Hot Docs Forum, legendary doc filmmaker Frederick Wiseman took to Kickstarter to help cover the remaining expenses for his 40th feature film In Jackson Heights (see the film’s first trailer below). Unrelentingly rigorous in his determination to capture the American institutional landscape on film, his latest continues down this thematic rabbit hole, taking on the immensely diverse New York City neighborhood of Jackson Heights as his latest subject. According to the Kickstarter page, Wiseman is currently editing the 120 hours of rushes he shot with hopes of having the film ready for a fall festival premiere (my guess would be Tiff, where both National Gallery and At Berkeley made their North American debut), though he’s currently quite a ways away from his $75,000 goal.
- 7/6/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Well folks, after a rather long and brutal winter (at least for me here in Buffalo), we are finally heading into the wonderful warmth of summer, but with that blast of sunshine and steamy humidity comes the mid-year drought of major film fests. After the Sheffield Doc/Fest concludes on June 10th and AFI Docs wraps on June 21st, we likely won’t see any major influx in our charts until Locarno, Venice, Telluride and Tiff announce their line-ups in rapid succession. In the meantime, we can look forward to the intriguing onslaught of films making their debut in Sheffield, including Brian Hill’s intriguing examination of Sweden’s most notorious serial killer, The Confessions of Thomas Quick, and Sean McAllister’s film for which he himself was jailed in the process of making, A Syrian Love Story, the only two films world premiering in the festival’s main competition.
- 6/1/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
It should come as no surprise that Cannes Film Festival will play host to Kent Jones’s doc on the touchstone of filmmaking interview tomes, Hitchcock/Truffaut (see photo above). The film has been floating near the top of this list since it was announced last year as in development, while Jones himself has a history with the festival, having co-written both Arnaud Desplechin’s Jimmy P. and Martin Scorsese’s My Voyage To Italy, both of which premiered in Cannes. The film is scheduled to screen as part of the Cannes Classics sidebar alongside the likes of Stig Björkman’s Ingrid Bergman, in Her Own Words, which will play as part of the festival’s tribute to the late starlet, and Gabriel Clarke and John McKenna’s Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans (see trailer below). As someone who grew up watching road races with my dad in Watkins Glen,...
- 5/1/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Now that the busy winter fest schedule of Sundance, Rotterdam and the Berlinale has concluded, we’ve now got our eyes on the likes of True/False and SXSW. While, True/False does not specialize in attention grabbing world premieres, it does provide a late winter haven for cream of the crop non-fiction fare from all the previously mentioned fests and a selection of overlooked genre blending films presented in a down home setting. This year will mark my first trip to the Columbia, Missouri based fest, where I hope to catch a little of everything, from their hush-hush secret screenings, to selections from their Neither/Nor series, this year featuring chimeric Polish cinema of decades past, to a spotlight of Adam Curtis’s incisive oeuvre. But truth be told, it is SXSW, with its slew of high profile world premieres being announced, such as Alex Gibney’s Steve Jobs...
- 2/27/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Turkey or no turkey, these next couple of days lucky filmmakers who’ve been selected to screen as part of the Sundance Film Festival will get the invitation notice straight from John Cooper and the Park City programming team, and thus, those that we’re betting have made the cut have also inched up the list a bit. One of those that seem an obvious choice to premiere at the fest is director Steve Hoover and producer Danny Yourd’s Crocodile Gennadiy. Following up their Grand Jury Prize winning Blood Brother with incredible turnaround time, our new most anticipated film tracks the delicate operations of Gennadiy Mokhnenko, a Ukrainian activist, orphanage manager and savior of countless children whose addict parents favor injected cold medicine and alcohol over them. Part heartwrenching domestic drama, part sleuth thriller, the film looks to use the Ukrainian uprising as a backdrop to highlight its protagonist...
- 11/27/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
They often get quite a bit less attention than their fictional brethren, and it doesn’t help that many films fly under the radar while development and filming is underway. To chart this course with a little more precision, I’m launching Ioncinema.com’s latest feature, What’s Up Doc?, our monthly Top 50 Most Anticipated films, a sort of hitlist and/or snapshot of the most alluring, the most promising documentary film projects from the established documentarian guard, the new crop of future voices or the fiction filmmakers who on occasion dip their toes in the form. Curated by me, Jordan M. Smith, you’ll find docu items that are in their beginning stages to being moments away from their film festival berth. Like any such list, we can expect film items to fluctuate in ranking, with the cut-off being publicly items — such recent examples include Laura Poitras’s white hot Edward Snowden project,...
- 10/23/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
This is a tough awards season! Lots of great movies to see, so little time! I'm catching up like crazy before we vote for the Critics' Choice Movie Awards for the Broadcast Film Critics Association. So I apologize if I haven't updated you with the latest on the awards season 2013-2014! And there were many award-giving bodies announcing nominations.
We already told you about the Rome Film Festival and the Film Independent Spirit Awards, now let's talk about the 2013 Gotham Awards, the Ida Documentary Awards, the Cinema Eye, and the Producers Guild announcing its best documentary choices.
First stop, we have the 2013 Gotham Awards where Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave" topped the nominations with three nods including best feature, best actor for Chiwetel Ejiofor and breakthrough actor for Lupita Nyong'o.
Winners will be announced on Dec. 2nd where Richard Linklater, Forest Whitaker, and Katherine Oliver (head of the NYC...
We already told you about the Rome Film Festival and the Film Independent Spirit Awards, now let's talk about the 2013 Gotham Awards, the Ida Documentary Awards, the Cinema Eye, and the Producers Guild announcing its best documentary choices.
First stop, we have the 2013 Gotham Awards where Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave" topped the nominations with three nods including best feature, best actor for Chiwetel Ejiofor and breakthrough actor for Lupita Nyong'o.
Winners will be announced on Dec. 2nd where Richard Linklater, Forest Whitaker, and Katherine Oliver (head of the NYC...
- 12/2/2013
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
New York – The Tribeca Film Institute (Tfi) today announced several program award winners and grantees at the Tfi Awards Luncheon at Riverpark NYC during the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. Two winners of the Tribeca All Access (Taa) Creative Promise Awards presented by Time Warner; seven new Taa alumni grants and fellowships; four winners of the Latin America Media Arts Fund; and four grantees supported by Insurgent Media for the inaugural Tfi Documentary Fund were all presented today, totaling $125,000 in funds.
“This year’s winners and grantees are true examples of the incredible strength of films and talent resulting from the support of the Tribeca Film Institute,” said Beth Janson, Executive Director of the Tribeca Film Institute. “Our main hope is that these films go on to completion and build strong relationships with audiences.”
During the Tfi Awards Ceremony at Riverpark NYC in Manhattan, the following Tribeca All Access Creative Promise winners...
“This year’s winners and grantees are true examples of the incredible strength of films and talent resulting from the support of the Tribeca Film Institute,” said Beth Janson, Executive Director of the Tribeca Film Institute. “Our main hope is that these films go on to completion and build strong relationships with audiences.”
During the Tfi Awards Ceremony at Riverpark NYC in Manhattan, the following Tribeca All Access Creative Promise winners...
- 4/29/2011
- by The Moving Arts
- The Moving Arts Journal
The Tribeca Film Institute has announced today award winners and grants totaling $1,000,000. Winners included two of the Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Awards, seven new Taa alumni grants, four for the Tfi Documentary Fund, as well as four winners of the Latin America Media Arts Fund. For more details, please read the press release below or visit Tribeca Film.
[New York, NY – April 28, 2011] – The Tribeca Film Institute (Tfi) today announced several program award winners and grantees at the Tfi Awards Luncheon at Riverpark NYC during the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. Two winners of the Tribeca All Access (Taa) Creative Promise Awards presented by Time Warner; seven new Taa alumni grants and fellowships; four winners of the Latin America Media Arts Fund; and four grantees supported by Insurgent Media for the inaugural Tfi Documentary Fund were all presented today, totaling $125,000 in funds.
“This year’s winners and grantees are true examples of the incredible strength of...
[New York, NY – April 28, 2011] – The Tribeca Film Institute (Tfi) today announced several program award winners and grantees at the Tfi Awards Luncheon at Riverpark NYC during the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. Two winners of the Tribeca All Access (Taa) Creative Promise Awards presented by Time Warner; seven new Taa alumni grants and fellowships; four winners of the Latin America Media Arts Fund; and four grantees supported by Insurgent Media for the inaugural Tfi Documentary Fund were all presented today, totaling $125,000 in funds.
“This year’s winners and grantees are true examples of the incredible strength of...
- 4/29/2011
- by Christopher Clemente
- SoundOnSight
McDonald’s honored two talented independent Latino filmmakers on the rise at the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (Nalip) gala Saturday April 16th. McDonald’s provided a $7,500 filmmaker grant to two Nalip Estela Award winners, one in the Narrative and one in the Documentary category. From left to right: Estela Winner-Documentary, Francisco Bello, Nalip Executive Director Kathryn Galan, Max Gallegos of McDonald’s and Javier Fuentes-Leon, Estela Winner-Narrative. [Photo credit Lindsey Rowe, Nma]...
- 4/20/2011
- Indiewire
Hard Rock Havana Tff 2010 might be starting today, but we jumped the gun a bit last night and threw a special party at the Bowery Hotel for our homegrown NY filmmakers, sponsored by our friends at Company 3. Filmmakers in attendance hailed from Queens to Brooklyn, the Bronx to Manhattan. (Staten Island, were you represented?) What did they all have in common, in addition to being from the greatest city in the world? They were ecstatic that the Festival is finally here, and they cannot Wait to show their films to the best audience in the world: Tribeca's. American Mystic Tribeca filmmakers in attendance included Keith Bearden (Meet Monica Velour), Ahmed Ahmed (Just Like Us), Alex Mar (American Mystic), Nicholas Brennan (Hard Rock Havana), and Francisco Bello (The Spirit of Salsa), to name just a few. Bello described his hopes for his big screening at the Tribeca Drive-In on Thursday...
- 4/21/2010
- TribecaFilm.com
Hello blog readers. I’m Rebecca Richman Cohen, a relapsed documentary filmmaker. I say relapsed because I tried to quit this industry once already to no avail. After swearing off assistant editing, I went to law school and became passionate about indigent criminal defense. But alas, I wound up filmmaking again. I’m a doc addict. So it goes. I’m representing two films in Independent Film Week. Both are directly criminal justice related, though perhaps not sufficiently so to justify three years of law school. The Life and Mind of Mark DeFriest (directed by Gabriel London, produced by me) deals with a mentally ill prison escape artist in North Florida. And War Don Don (directed by me, produced by Francisco Bello) profiles a controversial...
- 9/18/2009
- by Rebecca Richman Cohen
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
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