This article appears in the SXSW 2024 issue of Den of Geek magazine. Check out all of our SXSW coverage here.
Grand Theft Hamlet is about as absurd a mash-up as its title would have you believe. It’s a documentary about Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen, two actors left jobless at the height of the pandemic who decide to put on a live-streamed production of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet in Grand Theft Auto Online.
Partway through the film, which was shot entirely in-game, as Sam is rehearsing the play’s famous “To be or not to be” speech on the beaches of Los Santos, a masked player walks up and calls him a bitch over chat, utterly unmoved by the iconic soliloquy. Other rehearsals are interrupted by helicopters and shootouts, all fitting encapsulations of the stark juxtaposition at the heart of the documentary. But GTA and Shakespeare may not be...
Grand Theft Hamlet is about as absurd a mash-up as its title would have you believe. It’s a documentary about Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen, two actors left jobless at the height of the pandemic who decide to put on a live-streamed production of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet in Grand Theft Auto Online.
Partway through the film, which was shot entirely in-game, as Sam is rehearsing the play’s famous “To be or not to be” speech on the beaches of Los Santos, a masked player walks up and calls him a bitch over chat, utterly unmoved by the iconic soliloquy. Other rehearsals are interrupted by helicopters and shootouts, all fitting encapsulations of the stark juxtaposition at the heart of the documentary. But GTA and Shakespeare may not be...
- 3/10/2024
- by John Saavedra
- Den of Geek
Pictures: Netflix
Welcome to another look back at the biggest hits of 2023. Today, we’ll look through the documentaries and docu-series that picked up the most points in the Netflix top 10s throughout the year.
This list is compiled with data from FlixPatrol, which tracks the daily top 10s in over 90 countries globally. Their data provides a daily snapshot of what’s trending in the TV and movie list by providing points to each title that features. Although we love their data, it’s neither perfect nor an exact measurement of viewership. Netflix does provide its own data on this front, but it doesn’t allow us to paint a big picture of what was watched most in 2023 as it stands.
Because documentaries feature in the movie lists and docu-series feature in the TV list, we’ll split them separately. We’ll have a look at the documentaries and docu-series to do best globally first,...
Welcome to another look back at the biggest hits of 2023. Today, we’ll look through the documentaries and docu-series that picked up the most points in the Netflix top 10s throughout the year.
This list is compiled with data from FlixPatrol, which tracks the daily top 10s in over 90 countries globally. Their data provides a daily snapshot of what’s trending in the TV and movie list by providing points to each title that features. Although we love their data, it’s neither perfect nor an exact measurement of viewership. Netflix does provide its own data on this front, but it doesn’t allow us to paint a big picture of what was watched most in 2023 as it stands.
Because documentaries feature in the movie lists and docu-series feature in the TV list, we’ll split them separately. We’ll have a look at the documentaries and docu-series to do best globally first,...
- 1/8/2024
- by Kasey Moore
- Whats-on-Netflix
Sam Song Li as Bruce Sun and Justin Chien as Charles Sun in ‘The Brothers Sun’ episode 2 (Photo Cr. Michael Desmond/Netflix © 2023)
Netflix is welcoming in 2024 with a lineup of news series that includes The Brothers Sun starring Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh and reality series The Trust: A Game of Greed, along with the return of Queer Eye. The streaming service’s roster of January 2024 films includes J.A. Bayona’s Society of the Snow, based on the true story of the 1972 plane crash involving a Uruguayan rugby team, and Daniel Levy’s feature film directorial debut, Good Grief.
Modern Family‘s Sofia Vergara stars in and executive produces the mob drama Griselda, premiering on January 25. And comedian Jacqueline Novak brings her hit standup act Get On Your Knees to Netflix on January 23.
Series & Films Arriving On Netflix In January 2024
January 1, 2024
Bitconned – Netflix Documentary
Ray Trapani had always wanted to be a criminal,...
Netflix is welcoming in 2024 with a lineup of news series that includes The Brothers Sun starring Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh and reality series The Trust: A Game of Greed, along with the return of Queer Eye. The streaming service’s roster of January 2024 films includes J.A. Bayona’s Society of the Snow, based on the true story of the 1972 plane crash involving a Uruguayan rugby team, and Daniel Levy’s feature film directorial debut, Good Grief.
Modern Family‘s Sofia Vergara stars in and executive produces the mob drama Griselda, premiering on January 25. And comedian Jacqueline Novak brings her hit standup act Get On Your Knees to Netflix on January 23.
Series & Films Arriving On Netflix In January 2024
January 1, 2024
Bitconned – Netflix Documentary
Ray Trapani had always wanted to be a criminal,...
- 12/25/2023
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
"We didn't know anything about this business, but it didn't matter at all. It was too easy." Oh yeah, that sounds sketchy. Netflix has revealed an official trailer for a documentary film called Bitconned, an inside look at the story of one of the first cryptocurrency fraud schemes. Once again it brings up the question: is it a cautionary tale about cryptocurrency, or is actually a cautionary tale about greed and capitalism and how crime actually pays in America? You'll have to watch to find out! Netflix's intro explains: "In this fast-paced, debaucherous documentary from doc director Bryan Storkel, Ray Trapani himself guides viewers through the ups and downs of his dramatic journey, alongside his family, former friends, and the journalist who exposed Centra Tech as the first high-profile fraud case of the crypto era." This has vibes of The Wolf of Wall Street, though about crypto and how easy...
- 12/5/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
More than 90 feature films showcasing the best in U.S. moviemaking will take center stage next month at Poland’s American Film Festival (Aff), whose 14th edition takes place Nov. 7 – 12 in Wrocław, Poland.
Founded in 2010 as the sister event of the long-running New Horizons Film Festival, the Aff bills itself as the first film event in Central Europe solely devoted to the works of contemporary and classic American cinema.
In putting together the program for the 14th edition, festival director Ula Śniegowska says she and the programming team spent the past year “scouting the festivals and trying to get our hands on the pulse of what’s happening in American auteur and independent film.” The festival, which includes titles that have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, Cannes and other leading fests, is similar in spirit to France’s long-running Deauville American Film Festival, which mounted its 49th edition this year.
Founded in 2010 as the sister event of the long-running New Horizons Film Festival, the Aff bills itself as the first film event in Central Europe solely devoted to the works of contemporary and classic American cinema.
In putting together the program for the 14th edition, festival director Ula Śniegowska says she and the programming team spent the past year “scouting the festivals and trying to get our hands on the pulse of what’s happening in American auteur and independent film.” The festival, which includes titles that have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, Cannes and other leading fests, is similar in spirit to France’s long-running Deauville American Film Festival, which mounted its 49th edition this year.
- 10/24/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Jake Paul in Netflix’s ‘Untold volume 3’
Netflix’s four-part documentary series Untold Volume 3 delves into the short-lived career of Johnny Football and also explores the rise of the Florida Gators under Coach Urban Meyer. Controversial YouTuber Jake Paul opens up about his life in an episode of Volume 3, and the Balco Laboratories steroid scandal is examined in-depth.
The docuseries, which has already been renewed for Volume 4, drops a new episode weekly beginning on August 1, 2023.
Volume 3‘s directors include Andrew Renzi, Ryan Duffy, Bryan Storkel, and Katharine English. The documentary series was developed by executive producers Chapman Way and Maclain Way, with Ben Silverman, Howard T. Owens, Isabel San Vargas, Ryan Duffy, Doug Banker, Mike Seander, Louise Norman, and Tom Sheahan also executive producing.
Untold: Jake Paul the Problem Child
Premieres August 1, 2023
Directed by Andrew Renzi
At 26, is Jake Paul the boxing world’s new savior or a “delusional” promoter...
Netflix’s four-part documentary series Untold Volume 3 delves into the short-lived career of Johnny Football and also explores the rise of the Florida Gators under Coach Urban Meyer. Controversial YouTuber Jake Paul opens up about his life in an episode of Volume 3, and the Balco Laboratories steroid scandal is examined in-depth.
The docuseries, which has already been renewed for Volume 4, drops a new episode weekly beginning on August 1, 2023.
Volume 3‘s directors include Andrew Renzi, Ryan Duffy, Bryan Storkel, and Katharine English. The documentary series was developed by executive producers Chapman Way and Maclain Way, with Ben Silverman, Howard T. Owens, Isabel San Vargas, Ryan Duffy, Doug Banker, Mike Seander, Louise Norman, and Tom Sheahan also executive producing.
Untold: Jake Paul the Problem Child
Premieres August 1, 2023
Directed by Andrew Renzi
At 26, is Jake Paul the boxing world’s new savior or a “delusional” promoter...
- 6/15/2023
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Exclusive: AMC Networks is continuing its true-crime drive.
The company’s SundanceTV has renewed Hilarie Burton Morgan’s It Couldn’t Happen Here and has also ordered two new series as it ramps up its True Crime Story franchise.
It Couldn’t Happen Here returns for a second season, hosted by One Tree Hill and The Walking Dead star Burton Morgan.
Separately, it has ordered True Crime Story: Citizen Detective and Crimes of Entitlement (w/t). The three series will air on SundanceTV, AMC+ and SundanceNow.
Citizen Detective is a documentary series that examines true-crime stories through the eyes of the untrained amateur sleuths who solved them or are still trying to do so. Each episode spotlights one new crime and the crime-fighter determined to make sure the case he or she is obsessed with is ultimately classified as closed.
It comes from RuPaul’s Drag Race producer World of...
The company’s SundanceTV has renewed Hilarie Burton Morgan’s It Couldn’t Happen Here and has also ordered two new series as it ramps up its True Crime Story franchise.
It Couldn’t Happen Here returns for a second season, hosted by One Tree Hill and The Walking Dead star Burton Morgan.
Separately, it has ordered True Crime Story: Citizen Detective and Crimes of Entitlement (w/t). The three series will air on SundanceTV, AMC+ and SundanceNow.
Citizen Detective is a documentary series that examines true-crime stories through the eyes of the untrained amateur sleuths who solved them or are still trying to do so. Each episode spotlights one new crime and the crime-fighter determined to make sure the case he or she is obsessed with is ultimately classified as closed.
It comes from RuPaul’s Drag Race producer World of...
- 3/29/2023
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
"No one knew where he came from…" "But everybody wanted what he was selling." Gravitas Ventures has revealed an official trailer for The Pez Outlaw, a documentary film that first premiered at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival earlier this year. Another unbelievable true story, this one about a pez obsessee and his secret mission to get his hands on the golden ticket - a lot of golden tickets. "A sPEZtacularly fun documentary." Steve Glew spent the 1990s smuggling rare pez dispensers into the USA from a factory in Eastern Europe, making millions of dollars. It was all magical until his arch-nemesis, "The Pezident" from the US company, decided to destroy him. Steve becomes the hero of his own adventure, but as we know, all good things must come to an end. This also played at the Freep Film Festival and Cleveland Film Festival this year, and will be out on VOD...
- 9/21/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Exclusive: WME has signed the Emmy-winning husband-and-wife filmmaking team of Bryan Storkel and Amy Bandlien Storkel, as well as their non-scripted production company, Sidestilt Films.
The Storkels most recently directed and produced the award-winning documentary The Pez Outlaw, which claimed a Special Jury Prize at this year’s SXSW Film Festival and was recently acquired for the U.S. by Gravitas Ventures, with plans for a day-and-date release on October 21. The fish-out-of-water story follows the adventures of Steve Glew, a small-town Michigan man who boards a plane for Eastern Europe soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall. His mission is to locate a secret factory that holds the key to the most desired and valuable Pez dispensers. If he succeeds, he will pull his family out of debt and finally be able to quit his job of 25 years. Steve becomes the hero of his own adventure, smuggling the rarest of goods into the U.
The Storkels most recently directed and produced the award-winning documentary The Pez Outlaw, which claimed a Special Jury Prize at this year’s SXSW Film Festival and was recently acquired for the U.S. by Gravitas Ventures, with plans for a day-and-date release on October 21. The fish-out-of-water story follows the adventures of Steve Glew, a small-town Michigan man who boards a plane for Eastern Europe soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall. His mission is to locate a secret factory that holds the key to the most desired and valuable Pez dispensers. If he succeeds, he will pull his family out of debt and finally be able to quit his job of 25 years. Steve becomes the hero of his own adventure, smuggling the rarest of goods into the U.
- 8/16/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Glorious Photo: Christine Ramage
“Not everybody is going to be like ‘Lovecraftian glory hole - sign me up!’” admits Rebekah McKendry (known as Bekah). “But those people will be my best friends.”
She’s talking about Glorious, which recently screened at the Fantasia International Film Festival and is about to become available on Shudder. It’s the story of Wes (Ryan Kwanten), a man fleeing the ruins of his broken life who stops at a roadside rest stop, uses the toilet and finds himself trapped there with someone or something sinister (voiced by Jk Simmons) in another stall. As the story develops, Wes is forced to reevaluate his sorrows in the face of something which could put everything he knows in peril.
Wes prepares to make a bad decision Photo: Christine Ramage
Bekah and I met shortly after Fantasia and discussed the films we’d seen there. I recommended Skinamarink...
“Not everybody is going to be like ‘Lovecraftian glory hole - sign me up!’” admits Rebekah McKendry (known as Bekah). “But those people will be my best friends.”
She’s talking about Glorious, which recently screened at the Fantasia International Film Festival and is about to become available on Shudder. It’s the story of Wes (Ryan Kwanten), a man fleeing the ruins of his broken life who stops at a roadside rest stop, uses the toilet and finds himself trapped there with someone or something sinister (voiced by Jk Simmons) in another stall. As the story develops, Wes is forced to reevaluate his sorrows in the face of something which could put everything he knows in peril.
Wes prepares to make a bad decision Photo: Christine Ramage
Bekah and I met shortly after Fantasia and discussed the films we’d seen there. I recommended Skinamarink...
- 8/15/2022
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The festival wrapped up its 26th edition on August 3.
Korean action film The Roundup and US sci-fi The Artifice Girl won the gold awards for best Asian feature and best international feature, respectively, at the audience awards for the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, which wrapped its 26th edition on August 3.
Starring Eternals and Train To Busan’s Done Lee as a ‘best of a cop’, The Roundup is directed by Lee Sang-yong and acts as a sequel to 2017’s The Outlaws. The gold winner was also a box office hit in South Korea, recording over 12.5 million admissions (as...
Korean action film The Roundup and US sci-fi The Artifice Girl won the gold awards for best Asian feature and best international feature, respectively, at the audience awards for the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, which wrapped its 26th edition on August 3.
Starring Eternals and Train To Busan’s Done Lee as a ‘best of a cop’, The Roundup is directed by Lee Sang-yong and acts as a sequel to 2017’s The Outlaws. The gold winner was also a box office hit in South Korea, recording over 12.5 million admissions (as...
- 8/5/2022
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Gravitas Ventures has acquired U.S. rights to the 2022 SXSW award winner The Pez Outlaw, from directors Amy Bandlien Storkel and Bryan Storkel, with plans for a day-and-date release on October 21.
The fish-out-of-water story follows the adventures of Steve Glew, a small-town Michigan man, who boards a plane for Eastern Europe soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall. His mission is to locate a secret factory that holds the key to the most desired and valuable Pez dispensers. If he succeeds, he will pull his family out of debt and finally be able to quit his job of 25 years. Steve becomes the hero of his own adventure, smuggling the rarest of goods into the U.S. and making millions in the process. It was all magical, until his arch-nemesis, The Pezident, decided to destroy him.
The Pez Outlaw made its world premiere at this year’s SXSW Film Festival,...
The fish-out-of-water story follows the adventures of Steve Glew, a small-town Michigan man, who boards a plane for Eastern Europe soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall. His mission is to locate a secret factory that holds the key to the most desired and valuable Pez dispensers. If he succeeds, he will pull his family out of debt and finally be able to quit his job of 25 years. Steve becomes the hero of his own adventure, smuggling the rarest of goods into the U.S. and making millions in the process. It was all magical, until his arch-nemesis, The Pezident, decided to destroy him.
The Pez Outlaw made its world premiere at this year’s SXSW Film Festival,...
- 8/3/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Genre festival to run in Montreal from July 14-August 3.
Fantasia International Film Festival will host first wave world premieres for the likes of Rebekah McKendry’s Glorious and Satoshi Miki’s Convenience Story and a career achievement award for John Woo at the upcoming in-person summer edition.
Set to run in Montreal from July 14-August 3, the event will include workshops, and launch events. Screenings and select events will take place in Concordia Hall Cinema, with additional screens at Cinémathèque Québécoise, Cinéma du Musée and McCord Museum. The full line-up will be unveiled in June.
Woo, whose credits include Hard Boiled,...
Fantasia International Film Festival will host first wave world premieres for the likes of Rebekah McKendry’s Glorious and Satoshi Miki’s Convenience Story and a career achievement award for John Woo at the upcoming in-person summer edition.
Set to run in Montreal from July 14-August 3, the event will include workshops, and launch events. Screenings and select events will take place in Concordia Hall Cinema, with additional screens at Cinémathèque Québécoise, Cinéma du Musée and McCord Museum. The full line-up will be unveiled in June.
Woo, whose credits include Hard Boiled,...
- 5/6/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
This story is part of our Collector’s Digest editorial series powered by:
To paraphrase Huey Lewis and the News, the power of Pez is a curious thing. Invented in Vienna, Austria in 1927 by Eduard Haas III as “an alternative to smoking,” the ubiquitous candy’s name was derived from the German word for peppermint – its original flavor. The various iconic dispensers not only helped make snacking on sweets more portable but also fueled a collector’s frenzy around the globe that continues undeterred to this day.
Legend has it tech entrepreneur Pierre M. Omidyar founded eBay in 1995 to provide a way for his fiancée to trade Pez candy dispensers. While this was later found to be a fabricated story, it’s still a sweet one that illustrates the possibility of what can happen when necessity turns into a hobby. Omidyar achieved his goal of bringing together buyers and sellers...
To paraphrase Huey Lewis and the News, the power of Pez is a curious thing. Invented in Vienna, Austria in 1927 by Eduard Haas III as “an alternative to smoking,” the ubiquitous candy’s name was derived from the German word for peppermint – its original flavor. The various iconic dispensers not only helped make snacking on sweets more portable but also fueled a collector’s frenzy around the globe that continues undeterred to this day.
Legend has it tech entrepreneur Pierre M. Omidyar founded eBay in 1995 to provide a way for his fiancée to trade Pez candy dispensers. While this was later found to be a fabricated story, it’s still a sweet one that illustrates the possibility of what can happen when necessity turns into a hobby. Omidyar achieved his goal of bringing together buyers and sellers...
- 3/31/2022
- by Chris Cummins
- Den of Geek
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