The International Documentary Association (IDA), Cinema Eye Honors and Gotham Awards have delivered their verdicts on the top feature docs of the year. And, for the streamers, it’s a grim result.
Absent from the Gothams’ doc feature selections, the Cinema Eye’s top feature and director noms and the IDA’s 17-title shortlist are titles from Netflix, Prime Video and Apple TV+.
The lists read, in the words of one leading awards publicist, “like a giant fuck-you to Netflix.” And with Oscar campaigning in high gear, they pose the question: Is a streamer backlash brewing?
The Gotham noms are mostly non-u.S. productions, including Kino Lorber’s Four Daughters, PBS’ 20 Days in Mariupol and Cinema Guild’s Our Body. Likewise, the IDA’s shortlisted titles included Morocco’s The Mother of All Lies, Colombia’s Anhell69, South African artist portrait Milisuthando, the CBC-backed Twice Colonized and the BBC-backed,...
Absent from the Gothams’ doc feature selections, the Cinema Eye’s top feature and director noms and the IDA’s 17-title shortlist are titles from Netflix, Prime Video and Apple TV+.
The lists read, in the words of one leading awards publicist, “like a giant fuck-you to Netflix.” And with Oscar campaigning in high gear, they pose the question: Is a streamer backlash brewing?
The Gotham noms are mostly non-u.S. productions, including Kino Lorber’s Four Daughters, PBS’ 20 Days in Mariupol and Cinema Guild’s Our Body. Likewise, the IDA’s shortlisted titles included Morocco’s The Mother of All Lies, Colombia’s Anhell69, South African artist portrait Milisuthando, the CBC-backed Twice Colonized and the BBC-backed,...
- 12/14/2023
- by Adam Benzine
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Distributor Syndicado has acquired worldwide rights to the acclaimed Covid-themed documentary The Curve: 90 Days That Changed America, directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Adam Benzine.
Distinguished by an innovative use of “VFX, archival footage, news coverage and original interviews,” the film examines the catastrophically bad decisions made by the Trump administration as the coronavirus initially spread throughout the United States. Within a period of months, the U.S. went from having no cases of the disease to becoming the Covid epicenter.
“I’ve shied away from acquiring any Covid-related films, whether docs or drama,” Syndicado President Greg Rubidge said in a statement, “until I saw The Curve. Adam’s doc hooked me in its first five minutes, playing out more as an investigative thriller that weaves its unfolding timeline through the political dismissal and mismanagement of the pandemic. We’re thrilled to be releasing the film, which so powerfully brings to...
Distinguished by an innovative use of “VFX, archival footage, news coverage and original interviews,” the film examines the catastrophically bad decisions made by the Trump administration as the coronavirus initially spread throughout the United States. Within a period of months, the U.S. went from having no cases of the disease to becoming the Covid epicenter.
“I’ve shied away from acquiring any Covid-related films, whether docs or drama,” Syndicado President Greg Rubidge said in a statement, “until I saw The Curve. Adam’s doc hooked me in its first five minutes, playing out more as an investigative thriller that weaves its unfolding timeline through the political dismissal and mismanagement of the pandemic. We’re thrilled to be releasing the film, which so powerfully brings to...
- 11/1/2021
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Updated with more details: Normally on the opening day of a Morgan Neville film, the talk would be about box office potential—after all, his 2018 Mr. Rogers documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? earned an astounding $23 million.
But as Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain hits theaters today, focus has shifted to controversy over the Oscar-winning director’s use of AI in the film to simulate Bourdain “voicing” several lines that the late chef, author and TV host wrote but did not record. The issue has triggered a debate inside and outside the doc community, with some accusing Neville of committing an unacknowledged “deep fake.”
“This sucks!” Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel exclaimed on Twitter. Critic Sean Burns tweeted, “I feel like this tells you all you need to know about the ethics of the people behind this project.”
The AI ethical debate might never have happened were it not for the sharp eyes,...
But as Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain hits theaters today, focus has shifted to controversy over the Oscar-winning director’s use of AI in the film to simulate Bourdain “voicing” several lines that the late chef, author and TV host wrote but did not record. The issue has triggered a debate inside and outside the doc community, with some accusing Neville of committing an unacknowledged “deep fake.”
“This sucks!” Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel exclaimed on Twitter. Critic Sean Burns tweeted, “I feel like this tells you all you need to know about the ethics of the people behind this project.”
The AI ethical debate might never have happened were it not for the sharp eyes,...
- 7/16/2021
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah director Adam Benzine: “It’s really a film about how Shoah was the making of Claude Lanzmann.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
When Claude Lanzmann passed away in Paris on the morning of July 5, 2018, Arnaud Desplechin and Antonin Baudry sent tributes in honour of the man who directed the documentaries Shoah, The Last Of The Unjust, Napalm, Israel, Why, and Shoah: Four Sisters (Les Quatre Soeurs). Adam Benzine’s revealing Oscar-nominated Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah shows us the man who was behind the making of one of the most important films in the history of cinema.
Adam Benzine with Anne-Katrin Titze on Claude Lanzmann: “He fought in the resistance as a teenager, he was a lover of Simone de Beauvoir, he was in Algeria with Sartre and Nelson Algren.”
After Adam interviewed Albert Maysles, Robert Drew, Michael Apted, D A Pennebaker for a book on documentarians,...
When Claude Lanzmann passed away in Paris on the morning of July 5, 2018, Arnaud Desplechin and Antonin Baudry sent tributes in honour of the man who directed the documentaries Shoah, The Last Of The Unjust, Napalm, Israel, Why, and Shoah: Four Sisters (Les Quatre Soeurs). Adam Benzine’s revealing Oscar-nominated Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah shows us the man who was behind the making of one of the most important films in the history of cinema.
Adam Benzine with Anne-Katrin Titze on Claude Lanzmann: “He fought in the resistance as a teenager, he was a lover of Simone de Beauvoir, he was in Algeria with Sartre and Nelson Algren.”
After Adam interviewed Albert Maysles, Robert Drew, Michael Apted, D A Pennebaker for a book on documentarians,...
- 4/3/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Oscar-nominated documentary “Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah” is the first Academy Award nominee to be released as an Nft (non-fungible token).
The film, which examines the life and work of the “Shoah” director, was a contender in the 2016 documentary short Oscar race and aired on HBO; however, it’s never been made available for public purchase, either physically or digitally.
Enter the Nft: the latest fad in digital commerce. The tokens effectively provide a method of authenticating a piece of digital content, based on blockchain technology, allowing anyone to trace it back to the original owner. In this way, it certifies and tracks the ownership of a unique digital asset.
The market for NFTs has skyrocketed in recent weeks, as some buyers have speculated that the value of their NFTs could appreciate in value. Last week, a piece of digital artwork by Mike Winkelmann, the digital artist known as Beeple,...
The film, which examines the life and work of the “Shoah” director, was a contender in the 2016 documentary short Oscar race and aired on HBO; however, it’s never been made available for public purchase, either physically or digitally.
Enter the Nft: the latest fad in digital commerce. The tokens effectively provide a method of authenticating a piece of digital content, based on blockchain technology, allowing anyone to trace it back to the original owner. In this way, it certifies and tracks the ownership of a unique digital asset.
The market for NFTs has skyrocketed in recent weeks, as some buyers have speculated that the value of their NFTs could appreciate in value. Last week, a piece of digital artwork by Mike Winkelmann, the digital artist known as Beeple,...
- 3/15/2021
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
As Oscars Documentary Branch voters mark their shortlist ballots this week, they’ve got 238 feature films to choose from, including a handful on the Covid-19 pandemic.
The coronavirus docs fall roughly into two categories—ones that focus on the outbreak in Wuhan, China (76 Days and Coronation) and ones that focus on the Trump administration’s catastrophic Covid response (Totally Under Control and The Curve).
The Curve, from Oscar-nominated director Adam Benzine (Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah), covers the critical period from mid-January to mid-April when the U.S. went from zero Covid cases to more than 29,000 dead from the disease.
“The film focuses on 90 days that change[d] America, but really [the Trump administration] lost control of it in those first 60 days,” Benzine tells Deadline. “That was their window to act…By the time they’re locking down (in mid-March), it’s too late. The typhoon has hit.”
The Curve dissects key decisions by the administration,...
The coronavirus docs fall roughly into two categories—ones that focus on the outbreak in Wuhan, China (76 Days and Coronation) and ones that focus on the Trump administration’s catastrophic Covid response (Totally Under Control and The Curve).
The Curve, from Oscar-nominated director Adam Benzine (Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah), covers the critical period from mid-January to mid-April when the U.S. went from zero Covid cases to more than 29,000 dead from the disease.
“The film focuses on 90 days that change[d] America, but really [the Trump administration] lost control of it in those first 60 days,” Benzine tells Deadline. “That was their window to act…By the time they’re locking down (in mid-March), it’s too late. The typhoon has hit.”
The Curve dissects key decisions by the administration,...
- 2/2/2021
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
The Curve Jet Black Iris Production Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Adam Benzine Writer: Adam Benzine Cast: Sonia Shah, Wendy Parmet, Dr. Steven Taylor, Ilan Goldenberg, Ed Yong, Jim Rutenberg Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 10/30/20 Opens: October 27 through Nov. 4 2020 only. Go to TheCurveDoc.com/watch […]
The post The Curve Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post The Curve Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 11/13/2020
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Adam Benzine, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah, just revealed his newest project, The Curve: a hard hitting investigative thriller examining the decisions made in the highest levels of U.S. government during the Covid-19 pandemic. With Benzine now presenting The Curve to buyers at the Toronto International Film Festival, the documentary [...]
Continue reading: The Curve: Adam Benzine Reveals New Covid-19 Documentary Filmed in Secret...
Continue reading: The Curve: Adam Benzine Reveals New Covid-19 Documentary Filmed in Secret...
- 9/14/2020
- by Scott Mariner
- Film-Book
Adam Benzine, the British filmmaker whose 2015 doc short Claude Lanzmann: Spectres Of The Shoah was Oscar-nominated, is putting the finishing touches to The Curve, a feature documentary examining the decisions that led to American’s Covid-19 crisis.
Production co Jet Black Iris Productions is launching the film to the market at TIFF this week, with all territories available. Final post-production is now underway and the doc is anticipated to be ready for U.S. broadcast in October.
Combining original interviews with more than two dozen analysts, researchers, journalists and political figures and archive footage, the project says it will examine nine key failures made by the American government that contributed to the current pandemic situation.
Speakers include: Dr. Ali Khan, former director of the CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response; Dr. Emily Landon, chief infectious-disease epidemiologist at University of Chicago Medicine; and Sonya Shah, investigative journalist and author of Pandemic.
Production co Jet Black Iris Productions is launching the film to the market at TIFF this week, with all territories available. Final post-production is now underway and the doc is anticipated to be ready for U.S. broadcast in October.
Combining original interviews with more than two dozen analysts, researchers, journalists and political figures and archive footage, the project says it will examine nine key failures made by the American government that contributed to the current pandemic situation.
Speakers include: Dr. Ali Khan, former director of the CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response; Dr. Emily Landon, chief infectious-disease epidemiologist at University of Chicago Medicine; and Sonya Shah, investigative journalist and author of Pandemic.
- 9/14/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
The feature documentary “The Curve,” which examines the decisions that led to America’s Covid-19 crisis, is being shopped around at the Toronto International Film Festival by Jet Black Iris Productions.
Directed by Academy Award-nominee Adam Benzine (“Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah”) and featuring an original score by Emmy-winning composer Joel Goodman, the film traces the crucial three-month period, from mid-January to mid-April, when the choices made by America’s leaders sealed the country’s fate.
Production is complete and final post-production is underway, with the feature doc ready for U.S. broadcast in October.
Combining original interviews with archival footage, the film includes more than two dozen experts, analysts, researchers, journalists and political figures, examining nine key failures made by the American government that allowed an emerging pandemic to become a national catastrophe.
Interviewees include Dr. Ali Khan, former director of the CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response; Dr.
Directed by Academy Award-nominee Adam Benzine (“Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah”) and featuring an original score by Emmy-winning composer Joel Goodman, the film traces the crucial three-month period, from mid-January to mid-April, when the choices made by America’s leaders sealed the country’s fate.
Production is complete and final post-production is underway, with the feature doc ready for U.S. broadcast in October.
Combining original interviews with archival footage, the film includes more than two dozen experts, analysts, researchers, journalists and political figures, examining nine key failures made by the American government that allowed an emerging pandemic to become a national catastrophe.
Interviewees include Dr. Ali Khan, former director of the CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response; Dr.
- 9/14/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Director Adam Benzine, Oscar-nominated in the best documentary short subject category in 2016 for “Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah,” is launching Covid-19 documentary “The Curve” to buyers at the Toronto International Film Festival market.
Structured as an investigative thriller and made in secret over the last six months, the documentary — also produced by Benzine via his Jet Black Iris Productions — examines the decisions around the pandemic made by America’s leaders from mid-January to mid-April, which led to the current scenario.
The film combines original interviews with creatively treated archival footage, and features interviews with experts including Dr. Ali Khan, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response; Dr. Emily Landon, chief infectious-disease epidemiologist at University of Chicago Medicine; Sonya Shah, investigative journalist and author of “Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond”; Ilan Goldenberg, former U.S.
Structured as an investigative thriller and made in secret over the last six months, the documentary — also produced by Benzine via his Jet Black Iris Productions — examines the decisions around the pandemic made by America’s leaders from mid-January to mid-April, which led to the current scenario.
The film combines original interviews with creatively treated archival footage, and features interviews with experts including Dr. Ali Khan, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response; Dr. Emily Landon, chief infectious-disease epidemiologist at University of Chicago Medicine; Sonya Shah, investigative journalist and author of “Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond”; Ilan Goldenberg, former U.S.
- 9/14/2020
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Oscar-nominated director Adam Benzine (Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah) is putting the final touches on The Curve, a feature doc that investigates America’s Covid-19 crisis and is being shopped at the virtual TIFF market by Jet Black Iris Productions.
Shot during the pandemic, the investigative doc will feature public health experts and journalists like Dr. Ali Khan, former director of the CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response; Dr. Emily Landon, chief infectious-disease epidemiologist at University of Chicago Medicine; Sonya Shah, investigative journalist and author of Pandemic; and Ilan Goldenberg, former U.S. State Department advisor, as they explain ...
Shot during the pandemic, the investigative doc will feature public health experts and journalists like Dr. Ali Khan, former director of the CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response; Dr. Emily Landon, chief infectious-disease epidemiologist at University of Chicago Medicine; Sonya Shah, investigative journalist and author of Pandemic; and Ilan Goldenberg, former U.S. State Department advisor, as they explain ...
- 9/14/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Oscar-nominated director Adam Benzine (Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah) is putting the final touches on The Curve, a feature doc that investigates America’s Covid-19 crisis and is being shopped at the virtual TIFF market by Jet Black Iris Productions.
Shot during the pandemic, the investigative doc will feature public health experts and journalists like Dr. Ali Khan, former director of the CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response; Dr. Emily Landon, chief infectious-disease epidemiologist at University of Chicago Medicine; Sonya Shah, investigative journalist and author of Pandemic; and Ilan Goldenberg, former U.S. State Department advisor, as they explain ...
Shot during the pandemic, the investigative doc will feature public health experts and journalists like Dr. Ali Khan, former director of the CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response; Dr. Emily Landon, chief infectious-disease epidemiologist at University of Chicago Medicine; Sonya Shah, investigative journalist and author of Pandemic; and Ilan Goldenberg, former U.S. State Department advisor, as they explain ...
- 9/14/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Claude Lanzmann pictured at the New York Film Festival Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Shoah director Claude Lanzmann has died in Paris, aged 92.
The French director was best known for his benchmark documentary on the Holocaust, which runs at more than nine hours and features extensive testimonies from those who spent time in the Nazi death camps. The film took more than 12 years to make and Lanzmann reflected on the process in 2015 documentary Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah.
The director also revisited the Holocaust in his 2013 documentary The Last Of The Unjust, about the last Jewish elder of Theresienstadt. "When I saw the rushes, I decided that I was the only one able to do it," he told us, saying that is what gave him the strength to complete it.
In 2015 he was the subject of Adam Benzine's documentary Claude Lanzmann: Spectres Of The Shoah.
His final film, Napalm, was completed last year.
Shoah director Claude Lanzmann has died in Paris, aged 92.
The French director was best known for his benchmark documentary on the Holocaust, which runs at more than nine hours and features extensive testimonies from those who spent time in the Nazi death camps. The film took more than 12 years to make and Lanzmann reflected on the process in 2015 documentary Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah.
The director also revisited the Holocaust in his 2013 documentary The Last Of The Unjust, about the last Jewish elder of Theresienstadt. "When I saw the rushes, I decided that I was the only one able to do it," he told us, saying that is what gave him the strength to complete it.
In 2015 he was the subject of Adam Benzine's documentary Claude Lanzmann: Spectres Of The Shoah.
His final film, Napalm, was completed last year.
- 7/5/2018
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Claude Lanzmann, the French filmmaker best known for the acclaimed Holocaust documentary Shoah has died in Paris. The director’s family confirmed the news to Le Monde and a spokesperson for publishing house Gallimard said Lanzmann passed away at home after having been “very very weak” for several days. He was 92. His death comes one day after the French theatrical release of his latest film, Les Quatre Soeurs, which features testimonials from four Holocaust survivors which were not included in Shoah.
Lanzmann was born in Paris on November 27, 1925. During World War II, his family went into hiding and he joined the French Resistance at the age of 17. He later fell in with Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and other leaders of the French intellectual Left.
He worked as a journalist and joined the editorial team of revue Les Temps Modernes alongside de Beauvoir and Sartre in the 1950s, ultimately becoming its director.
Lanzmann was born in Paris on November 27, 1925. During World War II, his family went into hiding and he joined the French Resistance at the age of 17. He later fell in with Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and other leaders of the French intellectual Left.
He worked as a journalist and joined the editorial team of revue Les Temps Modernes alongside de Beauvoir and Sartre in the 1950s, ultimately becoming its director.
- 7/5/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman and Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
The refugee crisis, the departure of festival director Dimitri Eipides and the appointment of a new general director dominated the 18th Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival.Scroll down for full list of winners
The Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival (March 11-20) will be largely remembered for three important events: the resignation of its director ahead of the festival, the refugee crisis dominating the programme and the appointment of a new general director.
This was the last year director Dimitri Eipides was at the helm of the event he founded 18 years ago. The executive had simultaneously held the post of general and artistic director of the March documentary event and the November Thessaloniki international film festival (Tiff) now in its 57th year.
The decision of the festival board to attribute the post of general director to French producer Elise Jalladeau, pending her confirmation by the Culture Ministry, was welcome by the local cinema community.
Previous to her...
The Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival (March 11-20) will be largely remembered for three important events: the resignation of its director ahead of the festival, the refugee crisis dominating the programme and the appointment of a new general director.
This was the last year director Dimitri Eipides was at the helm of the event he founded 18 years ago. The executive had simultaneously held the post of general and artistic director of the March documentary event and the November Thessaloniki international film festival (Tiff) now in its 57th year.
The decision of the festival board to attribute the post of general director to French producer Elise Jalladeau, pending her confirmation by the Culture Ministry, was welcome by the local cinema community.
Previous to her...
- 3/22/2016
- by alexisgrivas@yahoo.com (Alexis Grivas)
- ScreenDaily
“From documentaries, we learn about our world and humanity,” was the greeting by Documentary Branch governor Kate Amend to the audience in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Wednesday evening at the opening of Documentary program. Amend said while this year’s nominated shorts were tragic, they were also about “courage and compassion.”
Referring to the Documentary Shorts as “The Big Shorts,” Amend (editor of The Long Way Home, Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport and The Case against 8) mentioned that 124 films qualified in both the Documentary Feature and Documentary Short Subject categories.
The evening included a screening of clips from the nominated films. Nominees from all 10 films also took part in panel discussions talked about their own films and shared insights on the craft of documentary filmmaking. All the directors gratefully acknowledged the collaboration of the cinematographers and editors in the success of their movies.
Best...
Referring to the Documentary Shorts as “The Big Shorts,” Amend (editor of The Long Way Home, Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport and The Case against 8) mentioned that 124 films qualified in both the Documentary Feature and Documentary Short Subject categories.
The evening included a screening of clips from the nominated films. Nominees from all 10 films also took part in panel discussions talked about their own films and shared insights on the craft of documentary filmmaking. All the directors gratefully acknowledged the collaboration of the cinematographers and editors in the success of their movies.
Best...
- 2/25/2016
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
With four nominees having strong British links and the funding situation at home growing desolate, this year’s short film gongs could provide a vital springboard. What can the current hopefuls learn from last year’s winners?
“I’m going to ask J-Law out,” says Adam Benzine. “She’s always saying no one does.” When you hear about the opportunities afforded by an Oscar nomination for a short film, they don’t tend to mention this sort of thing. But Benzine, the director of the 40-minute-long Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah – an insightful, considered interview of the great French documentary maker – is about to head off to the Oscar nominees’ luncheon where everyone, from the sound mixers to the costume designers to the big-shot actors and producers, will rub shoulders and huddle together for the big team photo.
In the event, Benzine didn’t get the chance to work his magic on Jennifer Lawrence.
“I’m going to ask J-Law out,” says Adam Benzine. “She’s always saying no one does.” When you hear about the opportunities afforded by an Oscar nomination for a short film, they don’t tend to mention this sort of thing. But Benzine, the director of the 40-minute-long Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah – an insightful, considered interview of the great French documentary maker – is about to head off to the Oscar nominees’ luncheon where everyone, from the sound mixers to the costume designers to the big-shot actors and producers, will rub shoulders and huddle together for the big team photo.
In the event, Benzine didn’t get the chance to work his magic on Jennifer Lawrence.
- 2/25/2016
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
The 88th Annual Academy Awards are just around the corner on Sunday evening, so once again, it’s time to lay down my predictions for who has the best chance of winning in each of the 24 categories, along with a bit of analysis as to why they appear to be the frontrunners. As usual, I’ll start from the smallest categories and work my way up, so let’s get started:
Best Animated Short Film
“Bear Story” Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala
“Prologue” Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton
“Sanjay’s Super Team” Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle
“We Can’t Live without Cosmos” Konstantin Bronzit
“World of Tomorrow” Don Hertzfeldt
Best Live Action Short Film
“Ave Maria” Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont
“Day One” Henry Hughes
“Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)” Patrick Vollrath
“Shok” Jamie Donoughue
“Stutterer” Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage
Best Documentary Short Subject
“Body Team 12...
Best Animated Short Film
“Bear Story” Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala
“Prologue” Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton
“Sanjay’s Super Team” Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle
“We Can’t Live without Cosmos” Konstantin Bronzit
“World of Tomorrow” Don Hertzfeldt
Best Live Action Short Film
“Ave Maria” Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont
“Day One” Henry Hughes
“Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)” Patrick Vollrath
“Shok” Jamie Donoughue
“Stutterer” Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage
Best Documentary Short Subject
“Body Team 12...
- 2/24/2016
- by Jeff Beck
- We Got This Covered
Exclusive: This is the trailer for Claude Lanzmann: Spectres Of The Shoah, a nominee for the best short-form documentary Oscar that also will have its debut on HBO on May 2. Adam Benzine’s film marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Shoah. Lanzmann’s nine-hours-plus documentary is widely regarded as a monumental achievement for its primary use of testimony, rather than archive footage, from both the survivors and perpetrators of the Holocaust (Shoah is another term…...
- 2/19/2016
- Deadline
More than 150 Oscar nominees came together at noon on Monday at the Beverly Hilton as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored this year’s Oscar contenders at its annual Nominees Luncheon.
From Left to Right:
Seated: Adam Benzine, Paul Massey, Michael Standish, Chris Jenkins, Randy Thom, Jason Smith, Josh Cooley, Maryann Brandon, Richard Williams, Patrick Vollrath, Ed Lachman, Mary Parent, David Acord, Anders Langland, Henry Hughes, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Tom Yellin
First Row: Rosa Tran, Jacqueline West, Ed Guiney, Evgeny Afineevsky, Matthew Shumway, Amy Hobby, Jonas Rivera, Gregg Rudloff, Signe Byrge Sorensen, Love Larson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Courtney Marsh, Nomi Talisman, Mark Ruffalo, Diane Warren, Paco Delgado, Bryan Cranston, Jistin Wilkes, Blye Pagon Faust, Roger Guyett, Basil Khalil, Drew Kunin, Sian Grigg, Andrea Berloff,
Second Row:Adam Stockhausen, Tom McArdle, Keith Redmon, Damian Martin, Ale Abreu, Matthew Heineman, Matt Damon, Bernhard Henrich, Cameron Waldbauer, Alan Robert Murray,...
From Left to Right:
Seated: Adam Benzine, Paul Massey, Michael Standish, Chris Jenkins, Randy Thom, Jason Smith, Josh Cooley, Maryann Brandon, Richard Williams, Patrick Vollrath, Ed Lachman, Mary Parent, David Acord, Anders Langland, Henry Hughes, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Tom Yellin
First Row: Rosa Tran, Jacqueline West, Ed Guiney, Evgeny Afineevsky, Matthew Shumway, Amy Hobby, Jonas Rivera, Gregg Rudloff, Signe Byrge Sorensen, Love Larson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Courtney Marsh, Nomi Talisman, Mark Ruffalo, Diane Warren, Paco Delgado, Bryan Cranston, Jistin Wilkes, Blye Pagon Faust, Roger Guyett, Basil Khalil, Drew Kunin, Sian Grigg, Andrea Berloff,
Second Row:Adam Stockhausen, Tom McArdle, Keith Redmon, Damian Martin, Ale Abreu, Matthew Heineman, Matt Damon, Bernhard Henrich, Cameron Waldbauer, Alan Robert Murray,...
- 2/9/2016
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
“A Girl in the River” masterfully portrays a culture that justifies killing women, its rage subsumed by a dispiriting account of how its customs are perpetuated. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
It’s an extraordinary group of short documentaries that received Oscar nominations this year, and I’m having a tough time picking a favorite, a best, or a guess about which will win the Academy Award. I am partial to stories about women, however, and in particular about the special hardships that women face because of our gender, so I’m gonna throw my hopes for a win behind “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness” [IMDb | official site], from Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (who won this same Oscar in 2012 for her short doc “Saving Face”). This is a horrifying story of an attempted “honor killing” in Gujranwala,...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
It’s an extraordinary group of short documentaries that received Oscar nominations this year, and I’m having a tough time picking a favorite, a best, or a guess about which will win the Academy Award. I am partial to stories about women, however, and in particular about the special hardships that women face because of our gender, so I’m gonna throw my hopes for a win behind “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness” [IMDb | official site], from Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (who won this same Oscar in 2012 for her short doc “Saving Face”). This is a horrifying story of an attempted “honor killing” in Gujranwala,...
- 2/1/2016
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Ahead of the Academy Awards, we’re reviewing each short category. See the Documentary section below and the other shorts sections here.
Body Team 12 – Liberia – 13 minutes
For Americans the Ebola scare was a handful of cases and nurses who weren’t as careful as they should have been. To the world it was thousands upon thousands of dead bodies—loved ones that family members can’t normally mourn because every second the deceased’s blood lays in the streets is an extra second risking greater contamination. It’s easy to forget the scope of epidemics like this when ground zero isn’t in our own backyard. We blame countries for being inferior, rejoice in our capabilities to put a lid on things, and go about our daily business as though nothing is wrong. This isn’t the case for citizens of Liberia where outbreak numbers exploded exponentially. It was a plague destroying their country.
Body Team 12 – Liberia – 13 minutes
For Americans the Ebola scare was a handful of cases and nurses who weren’t as careful as they should have been. To the world it was thousands upon thousands of dead bodies—loved ones that family members can’t normally mourn because every second the deceased’s blood lays in the streets is an extra second risking greater contamination. It’s easy to forget the scope of epidemics like this when ground zero isn’t in our own backyard. We blame countries for being inferior, rejoice in our capabilities to put a lid on things, and go about our daily business as though nothing is wrong. This isn’t the case for citizens of Liberia where outbreak numbers exploded exponentially. It was a plague destroying their country.
- 1/28/2016
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
ShortsHD, the Only Short Film Channel (www.shorts.tv), working with Magnolia Pictures, will open “The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2016” on over 400 screens across the United States, Canada, Europe and Latin America on Friday January 29, 2016. “The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2016” will showcase the Live Action, Animation and Documentary short film nominees compilation as three separate theatrical events.
This marks the 11th year of the Oscar nominated short films theatrical experience and is the only opportunity for audiences to watch the nominated short films prior to the 88th Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, February 28, 2016.
In 2015, the Oscar Nominated Short Films earned over $2.4 million worldwide, nearly doubling from just a few years prior. One of the most diverse categories in Academy consideration, this year’s Oscar® Nominated Short Films feature with projects originating from United States, France, Germany, Palestine, United Kingdom, Kosovo, Austria, Chile, Russia, Liberia, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Canada.
“Films...
This marks the 11th year of the Oscar nominated short films theatrical experience and is the only opportunity for audiences to watch the nominated short films prior to the 88th Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, February 28, 2016.
In 2015, the Oscar Nominated Short Films earned over $2.4 million worldwide, nearly doubling from just a few years prior. One of the most diverse categories in Academy consideration, this year’s Oscar® Nominated Short Films feature with projects originating from United States, France, Germany, Palestine, United Kingdom, Kosovo, Austria, Chile, Russia, Liberia, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Canada.
“Films...
- 1/20/2016
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
“Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah” is the second of the 10 Documentary Short Subjects being considered for Oscar® nominations by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which I have seen so far. Voters from the Academy’s Documentary Branch viewed this year’s 74 eligible entries and submitted their ballots to PricewaterhouseCoopers for tabulation.
“Shoah” is 30 years old (it was released in April 1985) and today not only is Anti-Semitism (in literally all its forms, not just anti-Jewish) still alive, but we are still living in the Auschwitz era. Today’s anti-immigration sentiments go directly to the heart of the matter. How can society enlarge its capacity to accept all people within its embrace? No matter which society we are discussing and no matter where that society is located, every nation and all peoples are interconnected and responsible for the welfare of one another.
In 1973, French journalist Claude Lanzmann began work on a film about the Holocaust that would change his life forever. Twelve years later, having shot more than 200 hours of footage, the maverick filmmaker finally completed “Shoah”, his nearly 10-hour-long masterpiece, which today ranks among the greatest documentaries ever created. In “ Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah”, the 90-year-old iconoclast opens up for the first time about the trials and tribulations he faced while creating his magnum opus, and the weight it left him carrying. In addition to his years spent tracking down Nazi officials and traumatized death camp survivors, the filmmaker also discusses his teenage years fighting in the French Resistance, his relationship with existential philosophers Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, and his hopes and expectations for the future.
To hear Claude Lanzmann tell how he came to make “Shoah” with no more knowledge of what “shoah” was except that 6 million Jews perished and how he fixed upon Auschwitz as the ground zero of the holocaust and realized no one who was there ever “knew” it because they all perished in it very quickly except for some Sonderkommandos, and those he interviewed never spoke about themselves, but about only about others they saw there, how he doggedly tracked down a barber living in the Bronx who was the barber for the women in the camp, how he got him to talking and finally to crying about having to cut the hair of the wife and daughter of his neighbor; how his tears were the “stamp of truth” for him, how he almost lost his life interviewing Nazi witnesses (“Killers don’t talk”) and how the Nazis wanted to perpetrate the perfect crime and destroyed not only the Jews but all traces of the crime itself. This is a testament to a man who has literally made history in telling a story many would like to deny but cannot because of his efforts.
The British writer-director-producer of this film, Adam Benzine, is also extremely committed to telling the story of Lanzmann himself. Benzine was a journalist for Toronto’s Real Screen magazine about documentaries. He is now at C 21. He has spent four years working on this unique, never-before-explored world of Claude Lanzmann, how he made “Shoah” and how it affected him. Benzine poured through hundreds of hours of archival footage - a very unusual venture for a short documentary.
A series of oral interviews with Benzine himself on the making of this documentary were made by Shael Stolberg and posted on FILMbutton during the film’s premiere at Hot Docs. You can access them here.
HBO Documentary Films picked up the film in a bidding war at Hot Docs. It is has been discussed as the opportunity for the Academy itself to honor the 90 year old Claude Lanzmann, himself a member of the Academy and one who has been so influential on so many documentary filmmakers. It has also played at the Sheffield Film Festival and the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
Variety said it's one of the top contenders as have a number of awards watchers who cite it as one of the top two contenders most likely not only to get nominated but also to compete for the Oscar.
The film was supported by Zdf/ Arte who will broadcast it in France and Germany. HBO has U.S. and Cinephil is representing it for international sales.
Read more about Cinephil here.
This film is incredibly moving and I admire Mr. Benzine very much for his devotion to this project. The insight into how Lanzmann evolved from a journalist to a world class historian elevates Lanzmann to the height of a hero and Mr. Benzine, as his messenger, also attains an historical significance. Both film are testaments of a devotion worthy of enshrinement.
On a related topic, living survivors of Shoah in Hollywood were recently featured here: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/holocaust-survivors/
Website/social:
http://www.lanzmannfilm.com/
https://www.facebook.com/LanzmannFilm...
“Shoah” is 30 years old (it was released in April 1985) and today not only is Anti-Semitism (in literally all its forms, not just anti-Jewish) still alive, but we are still living in the Auschwitz era. Today’s anti-immigration sentiments go directly to the heart of the matter. How can society enlarge its capacity to accept all people within its embrace? No matter which society we are discussing and no matter where that society is located, every nation and all peoples are interconnected and responsible for the welfare of one another.
In 1973, French journalist Claude Lanzmann began work on a film about the Holocaust that would change his life forever. Twelve years later, having shot more than 200 hours of footage, the maverick filmmaker finally completed “Shoah”, his nearly 10-hour-long masterpiece, which today ranks among the greatest documentaries ever created. In “ Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah”, the 90-year-old iconoclast opens up for the first time about the trials and tribulations he faced while creating his magnum opus, and the weight it left him carrying. In addition to his years spent tracking down Nazi officials and traumatized death camp survivors, the filmmaker also discusses his teenage years fighting in the French Resistance, his relationship with existential philosophers Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, and his hopes and expectations for the future.
To hear Claude Lanzmann tell how he came to make “Shoah” with no more knowledge of what “shoah” was except that 6 million Jews perished and how he fixed upon Auschwitz as the ground zero of the holocaust and realized no one who was there ever “knew” it because they all perished in it very quickly except for some Sonderkommandos, and those he interviewed never spoke about themselves, but about only about others they saw there, how he doggedly tracked down a barber living in the Bronx who was the barber for the women in the camp, how he got him to talking and finally to crying about having to cut the hair of the wife and daughter of his neighbor; how his tears were the “stamp of truth” for him, how he almost lost his life interviewing Nazi witnesses (“Killers don’t talk”) and how the Nazis wanted to perpetrate the perfect crime and destroyed not only the Jews but all traces of the crime itself. This is a testament to a man who has literally made history in telling a story many would like to deny but cannot because of his efforts.
The British writer-director-producer of this film, Adam Benzine, is also extremely committed to telling the story of Lanzmann himself. Benzine was a journalist for Toronto’s Real Screen magazine about documentaries. He is now at C 21. He has spent four years working on this unique, never-before-explored world of Claude Lanzmann, how he made “Shoah” and how it affected him. Benzine poured through hundreds of hours of archival footage - a very unusual venture for a short documentary.
A series of oral interviews with Benzine himself on the making of this documentary were made by Shael Stolberg and posted on FILMbutton during the film’s premiere at Hot Docs. You can access them here.
HBO Documentary Films picked up the film in a bidding war at Hot Docs. It is has been discussed as the opportunity for the Academy itself to honor the 90 year old Claude Lanzmann, himself a member of the Academy and one who has been so influential on so many documentary filmmakers. It has also played at the Sheffield Film Festival and the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
Variety said it's one of the top contenders as have a number of awards watchers who cite it as one of the top two contenders most likely not only to get nominated but also to compete for the Oscar.
The film was supported by Zdf/ Arte who will broadcast it in France and Germany. HBO has U.S. and Cinephil is representing it for international sales.
Read more about Cinephil here.
This film is incredibly moving and I admire Mr. Benzine very much for his devotion to this project. The insight into how Lanzmann evolved from a journalist to a world class historian elevates Lanzmann to the height of a hero and Mr. Benzine, as his messenger, also attains an historical significance. Both film are testaments of a devotion worthy of enshrinement.
On a related topic, living survivors of Shoah in Hollywood were recently featured here: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/holocaust-survivors/
Website/social:
http://www.lanzmannfilm.com/
https://www.facebook.com/LanzmannFilm...
- 12/31/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
If there’s a trio of categories that aren’t given the respect that they deserve (or frankly, any respect at all), it’s the short film categories. Be it Best Animated Short, Best Documentary Short, or Best Live Action Short, they all are mostly ignored by the masses, especially when the first two have feature length cousins in Best Animated Feature and Best Documentary Feature to compete with as well. Still, they deserve to be noticed, so I wanted to quickly list what’s in contention this year. I’ve included the categories in my most recent Oscar prediction update, so there’s that as well. The Academy Awards are the sum total of all the categories, so these have their place, no doubt about that. It’s just a shame that more folks don’t recognize this. Here are the three short subject categories and the remaining contenders...
- 11/24/2015
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Read More: Attention, Documentary Filmmakers: 6 Lessons from the Making of 'Shoah.' Thirty years after its release, Claude Lanzmann's Holocaust documentary 'Shoah' is as important as ever. The sprawling, nine-hour doc is mostly comprised of interviews with Holocaust survivors and former Nazis, as well as visits to important Polish Holocaust sites, and it remains one of the most important documentaries ever made. To honor the film, a new documentary from HBO Documentary Films and director Adam Benzine will profile its creator. "Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah" will focus not only on the intensive, 12-year long filmmaking process behind "Shoah," but it will also reveal the change it brought in the director, as well as important chapters in his life, including his time as a resistance fighter in France and his relationships with Jean-Paul Satre and Simone de Beuavoir. In this exclusive clip, Lanzmann talks about the initial discovery process.
- 10/13/2015
- by Wil Barlow
- Indiewire
Read More: Camden International Film Festival Announces 2015 Slate Cinema Eye Honors has announced the 10 finalists on its Cinema Eye Shorts List. The collection of nonfiction short films will be screened at the 11th Annual Camden International Film Festival and out of these ten films, five will be chosen as nominees for the Oustanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking Award. This will be the 9th edition of Cinema Eye Honors, one of the largest celebrations of nonfiction filmmaking in the United States. The ten finalists are as follows: "Body Team 12" (Liberia/USA), Directed by David Darg "Born to Be Mild" (UK), Directed by Andy Oxley "The Breath" (Switzerland), Directed by Fabian Kaiser "Buffalo Juggalos" (USA), Directed by Scott Cummings "Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah" (Canada), Directed by Adam Benzine "The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul"...
- 9/21/2015
- by Ryan Anielski
- Indiewire
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.