Madeleine Gavin’s Sundance award-winning documentary “Beyond Utopia” will kick off the winter season of PBS documentary series “Independent Lens” on Jan. 9.
Using hidden camera footage, the 115-minute doc follows the high-stakes journey that a handful of desperate families make in order to defect from North Korea — a country with the most brutal regime on earth, led by a dictator, Kim Jong-un. The doc, which was acquired by Roadside Attractions in August, is vying for Academy Award attention.
“Beyond Utopia” is one of six feature docus that make up the program’s winter slate, which begins in January and concludes on Mach 25. Notably, all six films were directed by women and filmmakers of color.
The selected titles cover a wide range of timely issues including racial tensions, gentrification, mental health, representation, and humanity through the lens of individuals, families, and tight-knit communities,
“At a time of tremendous upheaval around the world,...
Using hidden camera footage, the 115-minute doc follows the high-stakes journey that a handful of desperate families make in order to defect from North Korea — a country with the most brutal regime on earth, led by a dictator, Kim Jong-un. The doc, which was acquired by Roadside Attractions in August, is vying for Academy Award attention.
“Beyond Utopia” is one of six feature docus that make up the program’s winter slate, which begins in January and concludes on Mach 25. Notably, all six films were directed by women and filmmakers of color.
The selected titles cover a wide range of timely issues including racial tensions, gentrification, mental health, representation, and humanity through the lens of individuals, families, and tight-knit communities,
“At a time of tremendous upheaval around the world,...
- 12/5/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
This year’s Montclair Film Festival has announced its full lineup, with new films from Andrew Haigh, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Alice Rohrwacher, and Wim Wenders joining previously announced titles like Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” and Todd Haynes’s “May December.”
Among the films in competition for fiction film are “La Chimera” by Rohrbacher, “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” (directed by Radu Jude), “Evil Does Not Exist” by Hamaguchi, “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” directed by Phạm Thiên Ân, and “Totem” directed by Lila Avilés.
Among the highlight films, screening throughout the festival, are “All of Us Strangers” by Haigh, “Fingernails” directed by Christos Nikou, “Nyad” directed by Jimmy Chin & Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, and “The Taste of Things” directed by Trân Anh Hùng.
Those films join the previously announced opening night film “Dream Scenario,” the centerpiece film “The Holdovers,” and the closing night film “Eileen.
Among the films in competition for fiction film are “La Chimera” by Rohrbacher, “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” (directed by Radu Jude), “Evil Does Not Exist” by Hamaguchi, “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” directed by Phạm Thiên Ân, and “Totem” directed by Lila Avilés.
Among the highlight films, screening throughout the festival, are “All of Us Strangers” by Haigh, “Fingernails” directed by Christos Nikou, “Nyad” directed by Jimmy Chin & Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, and “The Taste of Things” directed by Trân Anh Hùng.
Those films join the previously announced opening night film “Dream Scenario,” the centerpiece film “The Holdovers,” and the closing night film “Eileen.
- 9/30/2023
- by Christopher Rosen
- Gold Derby
The lineup for Montclair Film’s 2023 festival is set to feature screenings of Dream Scenario, Eileen and Stamped From the Beginning, as well as discussions with director Todd Haynes and award-winning musician Jon Batiste.
The 12th annual edition of the New Jersey-based event will kick off with an opening night screening and Q&a for Kristoffer Borgli’s Dream Scenario, a comedy starring Nicolas Cage as a listless family man and professor who becomes an overnight celebrity after becoming a central figure of others’ dreams. It will close with William Oldroyd’s period psychological thriller Eileen, starring Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie.
This year, the Alexander Payne-directed and Paul Giamatti-starring The Holdovers has been named the Fiction Centerpiece selection and Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams, based on Sara Varonas’ popular graphic novel, is the Family Centerpiece. As the 2023 Documentary Centerpiece, Roger Ross Williams’ adaptation of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi...
The 12th annual edition of the New Jersey-based event will kick off with an opening night screening and Q&a for Kristoffer Borgli’s Dream Scenario, a comedy starring Nicolas Cage as a listless family man and professor who becomes an overnight celebrity after becoming a central figure of others’ dreams. It will close with William Oldroyd’s period psychological thriller Eileen, starring Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie.
This year, the Alexander Payne-directed and Paul Giamatti-starring The Holdovers has been named the Fiction Centerpiece selection and Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams, based on Sara Varonas’ popular graphic novel, is the Family Centerpiece. As the 2023 Documentary Centerpiece, Roger Ross Williams’ adaptation of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi...
- 9/20/2023
- by Abbey White
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Examining the growing pains of The 19th*, a non-profit, non-partisan news agency founded right before Covid swept the United States in 2020, Breaking the News is an immersive documentary exploring the importance of and some problems in their work. Founded by former Texas Tribune writers Emily Ramshaw and Amanda Zamora with their life savings as a digital-first, virtual enterprise, the outfit aims to address the gatekeeper problem in journalism: that most editors are still straight white men setting the agenda.
Kate Sosin, a nonbinary reporter who was an early hire, is tasked with covering all Lgtqia+ issues in the nation without much support. Candidly, Sosin speaks of feeling alienated by certain language used by Ramshaw and Zamora in staff emails touting the group as a “sisterhood,” while Ramshaw shares her concern over hiring a staff member that they fear they may not be able to properly support.
Another early hire, Errin Haines,...
Kate Sosin, a nonbinary reporter who was an early hire, is tasked with covering all Lgtqia+ issues in the nation without much support. Candidly, Sosin speaks of feeling alienated by certain language used by Ramshaw and Zamora in staff emails touting the group as a “sisterhood,” while Ramshaw shares her concern over hiring a staff member that they fear they may not be able to properly support.
Another early hire, Errin Haines,...
- 6/29/2023
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Subject Matter, the nonprofit organization that supports social issue documentary films and other nonprofits, announced that its second annual round of grantees have been awarded a total of $100,000.
Subject Matter and Tribeca Festival unveiled that Tribeca’s Documentary Film Program’s “Breaking the News” and “Every Body” have both been awarded $25,000 grants. The documentaries’ corresponding nonprofits, The 19th* nonprofit with “Breaking the News” and interACT nonprofit with “Every Body,” have also received $25,000 grants.
Subject Matter will present “Breaking the News” and “Every Body” at the Tribeca Festival in an effort to raise awareness and support for the selected nonprofits.
“Breaking the News” follows a group of women and LGBTQ+ journalists who launch a news startup for those who have been excluded from mainstream coverage. Directed by Heather Courtney, Princess A. Hairston and Chelsea Hernandez, “Breaking the News” was produced by Diane Quon, Courtney, Hairston and Hernandez.
The 19th* will be...
Subject Matter and Tribeca Festival unveiled that Tribeca’s Documentary Film Program’s “Breaking the News” and “Every Body” have both been awarded $25,000 grants. The documentaries’ corresponding nonprofits, The 19th* nonprofit with “Breaking the News” and interACT nonprofit with “Every Body,” have also received $25,000 grants.
Subject Matter will present “Breaking the News” and “Every Body” at the Tribeca Festival in an effort to raise awareness and support for the selected nonprofits.
“Breaking the News” follows a group of women and LGBTQ+ journalists who launch a news startup for those who have been excluded from mainstream coverage. Directed by Heather Courtney, Princess A. Hairston and Chelsea Hernandez, “Breaking the News” was produced by Diane Quon, Courtney, Hairston and Hernandez.
The 19th* will be...
- 5/24/2023
- by Charna Flam
- Variety Film + TV
For 10 American docu teams, this year’s Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival will be opening new doors for collaboration and support that are completely unknown to most indie filmmakers in the West.
The New Visions Forum: U.S. Docs section, building on a successful launch last year, is a financing, co-production and networking event dedicated to “supporting documentary production in its diversity and creativity.”
It features U.S. projects in development as well as in production and post-production, with selected projects spanning diverse genres and audiovisual formats – from fiction films with documentary aspects, to hybrid, “cinema expanded,” experimental and short films. The platform connects American filmmakers with the potential co-producers, distributors, sales representatives and film festivals from Europe.
Each project is pitched and presented by a director-producer pair, who screen a preview of the upcoming film at Ji.hlava on Oct. 27.
The U.S. projects feature a diversity of approaches and subjects,...
The New Visions Forum: U.S. Docs section, building on a successful launch last year, is a financing, co-production and networking event dedicated to “supporting documentary production in its diversity and creativity.”
It features U.S. projects in development as well as in production and post-production, with selected projects spanning diverse genres and audiovisual formats – from fiction films with documentary aspects, to hybrid, “cinema expanded,” experimental and short films. The platform connects American filmmakers with the potential co-producers, distributors, sales representatives and film festivals from Europe.
Each project is pitched and presented by a director-producer pair, who screen a preview of the upcoming film at Ji.hlava on Oct. 27.
The U.S. projects feature a diversity of approaches and subjects,...
- 10/25/2022
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.