Updated with amended description of documentary My Sweet Land. Sheffield DocFest, the U.K.’s premiere nonfiction film festival, today revealed the full lineup for its 31st edition running June 12-17. Among the highlights: the world premiere of Tilda Swinton’s feature directorial debut, The Hexagonal Hive and a Mouse in a Maze, co-directed by Bartek Dziadosz.
In the film, premiering in International Competition, Swinton and Dziadosz “travel the world to understand what it means to learn, and along the way uncover playful food for thought – for adults and young people alike.” Swinton previously directed segments in the documentaries The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger (2016) and The New Ten Commandments (2008).
‘Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color’
Sheffield 2024 will not lack for star power. In addition to Oscar winner Swinton, Idris Elba and the team behind the upcoming National Geographic Documentary series Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color...
In the film, premiering in International Competition, Swinton and Dziadosz “travel the world to understand what it means to learn, and along the way uncover playful food for thought – for adults and young people alike.” Swinton previously directed segments in the documentaries The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger (2016) and The New Ten Commandments (2008).
‘Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color’
Sheffield 2024 will not lack for star power. In addition to Oscar winner Swinton, Idris Elba and the team behind the upcoming National Geographic Documentary series Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color...
- 5/8/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Tilda Swinton‘s feature directorial debut is up for an award at Sheffield DocFest where it will get its world premiere as part of a lineup of 48 world premieres from 56 different countries.
The U.K. documentary festival, taking place June 12-17, revealed its full program on Wednesday. Its theme for the 31st edition this year will be “Reflections on Realities.”
Swinton’s debut alongside filmmaker Bartek Dziadosz, The Hexagonal Hive and a Mouse in a Maze, will have its world premiere at the event in England, following them as “they travel the world to understand what it means to learn, and along the way uncover playful food for thought.”
Stand-out music documentaries at Sheffield DocFest 2024 include the world premiere of the documentary on English rock band Blur, titled blur: To the End, and the European premiere of Mogwai: If the Stars Had a Sound.
The event’s film program totals...
The U.K. documentary festival, taking place June 12-17, revealed its full program on Wednesday. Its theme for the 31st edition this year will be “Reflections on Realities.”
Swinton’s debut alongside filmmaker Bartek Dziadosz, The Hexagonal Hive and a Mouse in a Maze, will have its world premiere at the event in England, following them as “they travel the world to understand what it means to learn, and along the way uncover playful food for thought.”
Stand-out music documentaries at Sheffield DocFest 2024 include the world premiere of the documentary on English rock band Blur, titled blur: To the End, and the European premiere of Mogwai: If the Stars Had a Sound.
The event’s film program totals...
- 5/8/2024
- by Lily Ford
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Tilda Swinton’s feature directorial debut The Hexagonal Hive And A Mouse In A Maze, co-directed with Bartek Dziadosz, will world premiere in competition at Sheffield DocFest (June 12-17) as the full programme is unveiled.
The 109-strong line-up includes 48 world premieres, 14 international and 17 European.
Swinton and her co-director travel the world in The Hexagonal Hive And A Mouse In A Mouse to explore the concept of learning. The documentary was first introduced at Sheffield’s MeetMarket in 2018.
All the competition titles are world premieres including the latest from Croatian filmmaker Goran Devic, Pavillon 6 which surrounds Croatia’s fight for the Covid-19 vaccination.
The 109-strong line-up includes 48 world premieres, 14 international and 17 European.
Swinton and her co-director travel the world in The Hexagonal Hive And A Mouse In A Mouse to explore the concept of learning. The documentary was first introduced at Sheffield’s MeetMarket in 2018.
All the competition titles are world premieres including the latest from Croatian filmmaker Goran Devic, Pavillon 6 which surrounds Croatia’s fight for the Covid-19 vaccination.
- 5/8/2024
- ScreenDaily
Princ Films boards ‘Isabel’s Garden’ For Cannes Marche Du Film
Princ Films has boarded Kit Rich’s debut Isabel’s Garden for the upcoming Marche Du Film in Cannes. Isabel’s Garden stars Karen David (Fear the Walking Dead) as a small-town TV reporter who has to raise a teenage stepdaughter in the wake of her husband’s death. The film also stars Gabriela Flores (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood), Valery Ortiz (Skeletons in the Closet) and Manuel Rafael Lozano (Teen Wolf: The Movie). Its premiere won the Poppy Jasper Best Feature Film 2024 at the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival. “To be at the Marche du Film is an incredible opportunity to share Isabel’s Garden with the world,” said Igor Princ, president of Princ Films. “Isabel’s Garden has a huge heart and deeply touches those who watch it.” Isabel’s Garden was produced by Giovanna Andolina, Manuel Rafael Lozano and Rich.
Princ Films has boarded Kit Rich’s debut Isabel’s Garden for the upcoming Marche Du Film in Cannes. Isabel’s Garden stars Karen David (Fear the Walking Dead) as a small-town TV reporter who has to raise a teenage stepdaughter in the wake of her husband’s death. The film also stars Gabriela Flores (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood), Valery Ortiz (Skeletons in the Closet) and Manuel Rafael Lozano (Teen Wolf: The Movie). Its premiere won the Poppy Jasper Best Feature Film 2024 at the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival. “To be at the Marche du Film is an incredible opportunity to share Isabel’s Garden with the world,” said Igor Princ, president of Princ Films. “Isabel’s Garden has a huge heart and deeply touches those who watch it.” Isabel’s Garden was produced by Giovanna Andolina, Manuel Rafael Lozano and Rich.
- 5/3/2024
- by Max Goldbart, Hannah Abraham and Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
The UK’s Sheffield DocFest is creating a special programme of talks and screenings called ‘Days Of Reflection’ focused on themes of co-resistance, freedom of the press, ancestral lands and archiving the present for its 31st edition (June 12-17).
It will form a central focus for this year’s overall festival theme of Reflections On Realities.
“This year, recognising the interconnected challenges of rising polarisation, freedom of the press, attacks on independent journalism and the many violent conflicts around the world, we have thought deeply about our position and responsibility as a charity committed to advancing the art of documentary,...
It will form a central focus for this year’s overall festival theme of Reflections On Realities.
“This year, recognising the interconnected challenges of rising polarisation, freedom of the press, attacks on independent journalism and the many violent conflicts around the world, we have thought deeply about our position and responsibility as a charity committed to advancing the art of documentary,...
- 5/3/2024
- ScreenDaily
Klitschko: More Than A Fight Photo: Courtesy of Sheffield DocFest Klitschko: More Than A Fight has been announced as the opening film of this year's Sheffield DocFest, which runs from June 12 to 17.
The Sky Original documentary, directed by Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald, focuses on former heavyweight boxing world champion Vitali Klitschko and his brother Wladimir, who together dominated the sport for more than a decade. Now the longest serving Mayor of Kyiv, this feature-length documentary charts Vitali’s journey from the ring to political office, leading the defence of the capital since the Russian invasion.
Roger Ross Williams will be guest of honour Photo: Courtesy of Sheffield DocFest The festival has also announced its Guest of Honour will be Love To Love You, Donna Summer director Roger Ross Williams, who will present a specially curated programme of five social impact documentaries and moderate a panel discussion with the filmmakers.
Roger...
The Sky Original documentary, directed by Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald, focuses on former heavyweight boxing world champion Vitali Klitschko and his brother Wladimir, who together dominated the sport for more than a decade. Now the longest serving Mayor of Kyiv, this feature-length documentary charts Vitali’s journey from the ring to political office, leading the defence of the capital since the Russian invasion.
Roger Ross Williams will be guest of honour Photo: Courtesy of Sheffield DocFest The festival has also announced its Guest of Honour will be Love To Love You, Donna Summer director Roger Ross Williams, who will present a specially curated programme of five social impact documentaries and moderate a panel discussion with the filmmakers.
Roger...
- 4/30/2024
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The 31st edition of Sheffield DocFest will open with the world premiere of Kevin Macdonald’s Klitschko: More Than A Fight, at Sheffield City Hall on June 12.
The Sky Original film follows brothers and former heavyweight boxers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko as Vitali moves from the ring to political office, leading the defence of Kyiv as its mayor when Ukraine was attacked by Russian forces in February 2022.
The film combines present-day footage shot in Ukraine, the US and Germany, with personal archive material from the Klitschko family.
It is produced by Docsville Studios and Sky Studios, and will be broadcast...
The Sky Original film follows brothers and former heavyweight boxers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko as Vitali moves from the ring to political office, leading the defence of Kyiv as its mayor when Ukraine was attacked by Russian forces in February 2022.
The film combines present-day footage shot in Ukraine, the US and Germany, with personal archive material from the Klitschko family.
It is produced by Docsville Studios and Sky Studios, and will be broadcast...
- 4/30/2024
- ScreenDaily
The Sheffield DocFest will open its 2024 edition with the world premiere of Kevin Macdonald’s Klitschko: More Than a Fight on June 12 at Sheffield City Hall. The annual documentary festival in England also unveiled Roger Ross Williams, the first African American director to win an Academy Award for his 2010 doc short Music by Prudence, as the guest of honor.
The Sky original Klitschko: More Than a Fight promises to offer audiences “unprecedented access to former heavyweight boxing world champion Vitali Klitschko and his brother Wladimir, who together
dominated the sport for more than a decade,” according to a description of the doc. “Now the longest-serving mayor of Kyiv, this feature-length documentary charts Vitali’s journey from the ring to political office, leading the defense of the capital when it was attacked by Russian forces in February 2022 to the present day. While Wladimir uses his celebrity status and popularity to help...
The Sky original Klitschko: More Than a Fight promises to offer audiences “unprecedented access to former heavyweight boxing world champion Vitali Klitschko and his brother Wladimir, who together
dominated the sport for more than a decade,” according to a description of the doc. “Now the longest-serving mayor of Kyiv, this feature-length documentary charts Vitali’s journey from the ring to political office, leading the defense of the capital when it was attacked by Russian forces in February 2022 to the present day. While Wladimir uses his celebrity status and popularity to help...
- 4/30/2024
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Two of spring’s starriest releases arrive on digital platforms this week. Neither was a commercial sensation, but each attracted enough buzz to signal long shelf lives ahead. Watch one when you get home from seeing “Challengers.”
The contender to watch this week: “Love Lies Bleeding“
For her sophomore feature, Rose Glass, one of the coolest directors working today, made an erotic lesbian crime thriller starring Kristen Stewart as an ’80s gym manager who falls hard for a bodybuilder (Katy O’Brian), not realizing her new lady has ties to her estranged gangster father (a long-haired Ed Harris). It’s an electric movie oozing with noirish grime, but it wasn’t quite the runaway hit A24 was probably hoping for, collecting a modest $8.7 million at the worldwide box office despite Stewart’s star power. Still, “Love Lies Bleeding” seems destined for cult-favorite status, and Glass has gained a lifetime’s worth of clout.
The contender to watch this week: “Love Lies Bleeding“
For her sophomore feature, Rose Glass, one of the coolest directors working today, made an erotic lesbian crime thriller starring Kristen Stewart as an ’80s gym manager who falls hard for a bodybuilder (Katy O’Brian), not realizing her new lady has ties to her estranged gangster father (a long-haired Ed Harris). It’s an electric movie oozing with noirish grime, but it wasn’t quite the runaway hit A24 was probably hoping for, collecting a modest $8.7 million at the worldwide box office despite Stewart’s star power. Still, “Love Lies Bleeding” seems destined for cult-favorite status, and Glass has gained a lifetime’s worth of clout.
- 4/27/2024
- by Matthew Jacobs
- Gold Derby
Kevin Macdonald's High & Low – John Galliano is now showing exclusively on Mubi in many countries.High & Low – John Galliano.What are the limits of forgiveness? Is making a documentary about a disgraced public figure, in which that remorseful person is allowed to try to explain their actions, inherently an act of damage-control propaganda? Or can it be a way of letting them tighten their own noose? Since its premiere at Telluride last September, Kevin Macdonald’s High & Low – John Galliano (2023) has fueled such heated conversations. Leaving many of its inquiries open-ended, this documentary is about neither complete condemnation nor exoneration. Instead, Macdonald tries to make sense of the enigma at his film’s center: a man who does not deny committing a hate crime over a decade ago, but who still claims to have no memory of the events or how he got there.Widely admired for his audacious style and designs,...
- 4/26/2024
- MUBI
Kevin Macdonald’s finely balanced portrait of the disgraced Dior designer, on Mubi from Friday, is the newest arrival on a catwalk of fashion industry movies, from Funny Face to Zoolander
For those who bleat on about the iniquities of supposed “cancel culture”, the career of British fashion designer John Galliano is a useful counterpoint. Sacked in 2011 as the creative director of Christian Dior after an appalling incident of antisemitic abuse on his part, he spent two years in the wilderness before being hired by Oscar de la Renta and subsequently Maison Margiela, where he has been for a decade. A-listers still wear his gowns on red carpets. Life goes on. Kevin Macdonald’s documentary High & Low: John Galliano (streaming on Mubi from 26 April) chronicles Galliano’s rise and fall and rise with a more distanced, critical eye than you may expect from a film co-produced by Vogue publisher Condé Nast.
For those who bleat on about the iniquities of supposed “cancel culture”, the career of British fashion designer John Galliano is a useful counterpoint. Sacked in 2011 as the creative director of Christian Dior after an appalling incident of antisemitic abuse on his part, he spent two years in the wilderness before being hired by Oscar de la Renta and subsequently Maison Margiela, where he has been for a decade. A-listers still wear his gowns on red carpets. Life goes on. Kevin Macdonald’s documentary High & Low: John Galliano (streaming on Mubi from 26 April) chronicles Galliano’s rise and fall and rise with a more distanced, critical eye than you may expect from a film co-produced by Vogue publisher Condé Nast.
- 4/20/2024
- by Guy Lodge
- The Guardian - Film News
Edinburgh Filmhouse has received a vital funding boost from the UK government’s Levelling Up community fund and is now on course to re-open this autumn, two years after it was forced to close.
A total of six Scottish community spaces were saved from closure owing to £3.8m funding from the government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ Community Ownership Fund.
Across the UK, the department has today (March 23) announced £33.5m in funding to protect more than 80 projects. Filmhouse has been awarded £1.54m.
The Edinburgh Filmhouse building was sold for £2.65m in April last year. The building was...
A total of six Scottish community spaces were saved from closure owing to £3.8m funding from the government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ Community Ownership Fund.
Across the UK, the department has today (March 23) announced £33.5m in funding to protect more than 80 projects. Filmhouse has been awarded £1.54m.
The Edinburgh Filmhouse building was sold for £2.65m in April last year. The building was...
- 3/23/2024
- ScreenDaily
Mubi has unveiled next’s streaming lineup, featuring notable new releases, including Molly Manning Walker’s debut How to Have Sex, Kevin Macdonald’s High & Low: John Galliano, and Quentin Dupieux’s Yannick. Ahead of Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17, two of his earlier films will arrive on the platform, along with a pair of features from All of Us Strangers director Andrew Haigh, as well as S. Craig Zahler’s Brawl in Cell Block 99, and more.
“The story can be translated into many different settings and I think it’s still relevant in terms of house parties, clubs, and even in relationships,” Molly Manning Walker recently told us about her debut How to Have Sex. “On the other hand: I wanted to make something that was very cinematic, but not set in a domestic environment. But the reason that this particular setting felt perfect was that––at that time,...
“The story can be translated into many different settings and I think it’s still relevant in terms of house parties, clubs, and even in relationships,” Molly Manning Walker recently told us about her debut How to Have Sex. “On the other hand: I wanted to make something that was very cinematic, but not set in a domestic environment. But the reason that this particular setting felt perfect was that––at that time,...
- 3/22/2024
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Series projects by filmmakers Kevin Macdonald, Barbera Albert and Erik Matti have won key prizes at the second edition of Seriesmakers, Series Mania’s development lab for film directors moving into series.
Macdonald and producer Femke Wolting won one of two Beta Development Awards worth €50,000 for their series project George Blake which tells the story of the prolific British double agent.
Macdonald has won the Oscar best documentary feature prize for One Day In September, while The Last King of Scotland won an Oscar for lead actor for Forest Whitaker. He was unable to collect the prize which was picked up by Wolting.
Macdonald and producer Femke Wolting won one of two Beta Development Awards worth €50,000 for their series project George Blake which tells the story of the prolific British double agent.
Macdonald has won the Oscar best documentary feature prize for One Day In September, while The Last King of Scotland won an Oscar for lead actor for Forest Whitaker. He was unable to collect the prize which was picked up by Wolting.
- 3/20/2024
- ScreenDaily
Projects from Oscar-winning Scottish director Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland), Philippine filmmaker Erik Matti (On the Job) and Austrian auteur Barbara Albert (Nordrand) have been picked as the most promising new TV pitches at this year’s Series Mania festival.
Macdonald’s George Blake, a real-life spy thriller about the famed double agent, and Matti’s The Squatter, an East-meets-West crime story about a secretive Filipino maid and a tenacious Ukrainian detective who team up, won this year’s Beta Development Awards and will receive $54,000 (€ 50,000) each in development cash from European production and sales company Beta Group.
In addition to his feature work, which includes The Mauritanian with Tahar Rahim and Jodie Foster, and State of Play starring Ben Affleck and Russell Crowe, Macdonald has helmed several acclaimed documentaries, including the Oscar-winning One Day in September (2000), 2004’s Touching The Void and 2013’s Marley.
Matti’s crime thriller On the Job 2: The Missing 8...
Macdonald’s George Blake, a real-life spy thriller about the famed double agent, and Matti’s The Squatter, an East-meets-West crime story about a secretive Filipino maid and a tenacious Ukrainian detective who team up, won this year’s Beta Development Awards and will receive $54,000 (€ 50,000) each in development cash from European production and sales company Beta Group.
In addition to his feature work, which includes The Mauritanian with Tahar Rahim and Jodie Foster, and State of Play starring Ben Affleck and Russell Crowe, Macdonald has helmed several acclaimed documentaries, including the Oscar-winning One Day in September (2000), 2004’s Touching The Void and 2013’s Marley.
Matti’s crime thriller On the Job 2: The Missing 8...
- 3/20/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“George Blake,” from Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald, “The Squatter” from Venice-acclaimed Erik Matti and “Sleeping Swans” from esteemed auteur Barbara Albert were the big winners from this year’s second edition of scripted incubator Seriesmakers.
Backed by Beta Group and Series Mania, the mentoring program for feature filmmakers looking to make the leap to TV will return for a third edition, organizers announced at Wednesday’s awards ceremony. The call for admissions will open soon.
Produced by Femke Wolting, the U.K./Dutch series “George Blake” looks into the wilder-than-fiction tale of the most prolific double agent in British history, asking the question of what makes a working class, former resistance fighter turn against everything they ever stood for?
The project will interrogate the multiple identities – and families – of a man who reinvented himself time and again, dying a traitor in England and a national hero in Russia. The project received in €50,000 in prize money.
Backed by Beta Group and Series Mania, the mentoring program for feature filmmakers looking to make the leap to TV will return for a third edition, organizers announced at Wednesday’s awards ceremony. The call for admissions will open soon.
Produced by Femke Wolting, the U.K./Dutch series “George Blake” looks into the wilder-than-fiction tale of the most prolific double agent in British history, asking the question of what makes a working class, former resistance fighter turn against everything they ever stood for?
The project will interrogate the multiple identities – and families – of a man who reinvented himself time and again, dying a traitor in England and a national hero in Russia. The project received in €50,000 in prize money.
- 3/20/2024
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald has won the €50,000 Series Mania Seriesmakers award.
The One Day in September director’s project is one of two winners to take home the prize, which has been forged by the Lille Confab and German major Beta Film.
Macdonald and producer Femke Wolting’s project is titled George Blake and tells the story of one of the most prolific double agents of not just the Cold War, but British history. The other winner is director Erik Matti and producer Ronald Monteverde for The Squatter from The Philippines, about a secretive Filipino maid and a tenacious Ukrainian detective who have to unravel the mysteries of a crime just as the crime itself unravels who they truly are.
The development lab is for feature film directors sidestepping into series production. Ten projects faced off including those helmed by Kaouther Ben Hania, who directed the Oscar-nominated doc Four Daughters.
The One Day in September director’s project is one of two winners to take home the prize, which has been forged by the Lille Confab and German major Beta Film.
Macdonald and producer Femke Wolting’s project is titled George Blake and tells the story of one of the most prolific double agents of not just the Cold War, but British history. The other winner is director Erik Matti and producer Ronald Monteverde for The Squatter from The Philippines, about a secretive Filipino maid and a tenacious Ukrainian detective who have to unravel the mysteries of a crime just as the crime itself unravels who they truly are.
The development lab is for feature film directors sidestepping into series production. Ten projects faced off including those helmed by Kaouther Ben Hania, who directed the Oscar-nominated doc Four Daughters.
- 3/20/2024
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
John Galliano: remember him? If you have any serious interest in fashion, his is a name you’ll never forget, but for the average person it’s rather different. When I mentioned him to my partner I got the response “Is he that horrible alcoholic designer who said all those awful things about Jewish people?”
I’ve asked around further since and that is, indeed, how a lot of people remember him. When we first see him in Kevin Macdonald’s documentary, which screened as part of the 2024 Glasgow Film Festival, he’s an odd-looking figure lurking in the shadows as glamorous models prepare for a show. The film then cuts straight to the scene which non-fashion fans will best know him for, the one that went viral on YouTube. There he is, sitting in a café with a pinched, mean expression on his face, obviously out of his skull,...
I’ve asked around further since and that is, indeed, how a lot of people remember him. When we first see him in Kevin Macdonald’s documentary, which screened as part of the 2024 Glasgow Film Festival, he’s an odd-looking figure lurking in the shadows as glamorous models prepare for a show. The film then cuts straight to the scene which non-fashion fans will best know him for, the one that went viral on YouTube. There he is, sitting in a café with a pinched, mean expression on his face, obviously out of his skull,...
- 3/15/2024
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Lionsgate horror Imaginary opens in 516 UK-Ireland cinemas this weekend, as the first challenger to Dune: Part Two’s box office supremacy.
Directed by Jeff Wadlow who wrote the screenplay with Greg Erb and Jason Oremland, Imaginary stars DeWanda Wise as a woman who returns to her childhood home, to discover that the imaginary friend she left behind is real and unhappy at his abandonment.
It is the eighth feature from US filmmaker Wadlow, who has worked predominantly in the genre space with titles including 2018’s Truth Or Dare and 2020’s pandemic-afflicted Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island (£392,999; £763,958). His highest-grossing title is 2013’s Kick-Ass 2,...
Directed by Jeff Wadlow who wrote the screenplay with Greg Erb and Jason Oremland, Imaginary stars DeWanda Wise as a woman who returns to her childhood home, to discover that the imaginary friend she left behind is real and unhappy at his abandonment.
It is the eighth feature from US filmmaker Wadlow, who has worked predominantly in the genre space with titles including 2018’s Truth Or Dare and 2020’s pandemic-afflicted Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island (£392,999; £763,958). His highest-grossing title is 2013’s Kick-Ass 2,...
- 3/8/2024
- ScreenDaily
Kevin Macdonald's High & Low—John Galliano releases in US and UK theaters on March 8, in Latin America March 14, and in Germany April 11. Find upcoming showtimes and tickets here.Superstar fashion designer John Galliano wrecked his career when he was caught on video in a drunken, antisemitic rant circa 2011. Now, in a new documentary, Oscar-winning documentarian Kevin Macdonald asks audiences to gaze into Galliano’s eyes and decide for themselves if he deserves a second act.On this special episode, Macdonald tells host Rico Gagliano about coming to terms with fashion, ambiguity, and the human mind.Listen to the special episode below or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsStitcherSpotifyGoogle PodcastsMore...
- 3/7/2024
- MUBI
It’s hard knowing what to make of Kevin Macdonald’s High & Low: John Galliano. It concerns the controversial fashion designer, his unexpected rise (“the son of a plumber” from Gibraltar), his stratospheric success, his catastrophic fall. For those who may not know: Galliano became the creative director of Christian Dior Se in the mid-90s (Givenchy before that) and developed a style that was both celebrated and imitated by the industry at large. The man himself was regarded as a genius in his own time, and he worked himself (and his right-hand man Steven Robinson) to the bone. His runways were an event unto themselves. The word “revolutionary” was apparently used. Then, in 2011, Galliano’s career came to a screeching halt when he was caught on video at a Paris bar badgering fellow patrons with racist and antisemitic hate speech. He was swiftly fired from his position and arrested for the remarks.
- 3/7/2024
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
High & Low - John Galliano Photo: Glasgow Film Festival
“He's a fascinating character,” says filmmaker Kevin Macdonald of the fashion designer John Galliano. “There's so many of mysteries around him as a character, I suppose. And you don't want to go into making a documentary knowing how you're going to end up at the end. You want to go on a journey and obviously take the audience on a journey, changing their minds and deepening their perception of somebody.”
Although he’s had a lower profile in recent years, most people will know something of the designer’s work, at least when they see it. They’ll probably also recall him as a controversial figure, an obnoxious drunk whose downfall came when he was caught on camera making antisemitic remarks. John has now been sober for several years and refers to those remarks as “disgusting,” but should he be forgiven?...
“He's a fascinating character,” says filmmaker Kevin Macdonald of the fashion designer John Galliano. “There's so many of mysteries around him as a character, I suppose. And you don't want to go into making a documentary knowing how you're going to end up at the end. You want to go on a journey and obviously take the audience on a journey, changing their minds and deepening their perception of somebody.”
Although he’s had a lower profile in recent years, most people will know something of the designer’s work, at least when they see it. They’ll probably also recall him as a controversial figure, an obnoxious drunk whose downfall came when he was caught on camera making antisemitic remarks. John has now been sober for several years and refers to those remarks as “disgusting,” but should he be forgiven?...
- 3/6/2024
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
A-listers talk about the flamboyant designer but the film doesn’t press the man himself enough on his most jarring incidents
The strange, and strangely unedifying, story of fashion designer John Galliano is retold by film-maker Kevin Macdonald, who covers the ground and states the facts in an impeccably professional way. Yet this film feels constrained by the obvious need to be diplomatic with Galliano and his A-list supporters to whom Macdonald has intimate access.
Galliano is the brilliant Gibraltarian-British designer whose flamboyant designs electrified the world of couture in the 90s; he was creative director of both Givenchy and Dior in Paris. The acclaim was dazzling but he became seriously overworked, had issues with alcohol and drug use, was under emotional strain following the death of his assistant and friend Steven Robinson, and badly shaken by Alexander McQueen taking his own life. And then, in 2011, video emerged of him,...
The strange, and strangely unedifying, story of fashion designer John Galliano is retold by film-maker Kevin Macdonald, who covers the ground and states the facts in an impeccably professional way. Yet this film feels constrained by the obvious need to be diplomatic with Galliano and his A-list supporters to whom Macdonald has intimate access.
Galliano is the brilliant Gibraltarian-British designer whose flamboyant designs electrified the world of couture in the 90s; he was creative director of both Givenchy and Dior in Paris. The acclaim was dazzling but he became seriously overworked, had issues with alcohol and drug use, was under emotional strain following the death of his assistant and friend Steven Robinson, and badly shaken by Alexander McQueen taking his own life. And then, in 2011, video emerged of him,...
- 3/6/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Exclusive: Beta Film has picked up distribution rights to French thriller Homejacking, which is co-created by Lupin writer Tigran Rosine, and will launch sales at Series Mania.
The German major has revealed its slate for the Lille confab that kicks off in two weeks, with Homejacking set to air in the French Competition Section.
Commissioned for French pay-tv network Ocs, Homejacking is set in an affluent suburban residence where one morning, a middle-class couple is the victim of an intrusion by a hooded assailant. No one know yet what he is looking for, but deep in their basement lies a secret that was hidden for decades.
The series is co-created by Rosine, who penned eight episodes of Netflix smash Lupin. Florent Meyer (Blackspot) is the other co-creator and show was made in collaboration with Emmanuelle Faguer.
Beta also has Latvia’s Soviet Jeans, Germany’s 30 Days of Lust and Herrhausen...
The German major has revealed its slate for the Lille confab that kicks off in two weeks, with Homejacking set to air in the French Competition Section.
Commissioned for French pay-tv network Ocs, Homejacking is set in an affluent suburban residence where one morning, a middle-class couple is the victim of an intrusion by a hooded assailant. No one know yet what he is looking for, but deep in their basement lies a secret that was hidden for decades.
The series is co-created by Rosine, who penned eight episodes of Netflix smash Lupin. Florent Meyer (Blackspot) is the other co-creator and show was made in collaboration with Emmanuelle Faguer.
Beta also has Latvia’s Soviet Jeans, Germany’s 30 Days of Lust and Herrhausen...
- 3/5/2024
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Ten projects have been selected for the second edition of Seriesmakers, Series Mania’s development lab for feature film directors sidestepping into series production.
The lab is run in collaboration with Beta, and this year features projects helmed by directors including Kaouther Ben Hania, who directed the Oscar-nominated doc Four Daughters, and Kevin Macdonald, best known for The Mauritanian.
Ben Hania’s project is titled Freedom Academy and is produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha. The synopsis reads: In the competitive world of television, a cunning producer and his optimistic wife battle for control of a daring reality TV show set in a high-security prison, hoping to capture the intense competition among incarcerated radicals all while the jury grapples with their divergent opinions on prisoners’ rehabilitation.
Macdonald’s series is titled George Blake and is produced by Femke Wolting. Synopsis reads: What makes a person turn against everything they ever stood for?...
The lab is run in collaboration with Beta, and this year features projects helmed by directors including Kaouther Ben Hania, who directed the Oscar-nominated doc Four Daughters, and Kevin Macdonald, best known for The Mauritanian.
Ben Hania’s project is titled Freedom Academy and is produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha. The synopsis reads: In the competitive world of television, a cunning producer and his optimistic wife battle for control of a daring reality TV show set in a high-security prison, hoping to capture the intense competition among incarcerated radicals all while the jury grapples with their divergent opinions on prisoners’ rehabilitation.
Macdonald’s series is titled George Blake and is produced by Femke Wolting. Synopsis reads: What makes a person turn against everything they ever stood for?...
- 3/4/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Seriesmakers, a joint initiative of Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV festival, and European film-tv powerhouse Beta Group, has revealed the 10 top-notch project lineup of the second edition of its novel and high-powered mentoring program for filmmakers making their TV creator debut.
This year’s Seriesmakers features in development drama series from Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald (“George Blake”), behind “The Last King Of Scotland,” and from Finnish director Mikko Myllylahti, who burst onto the scene co-writing with Juho Kuosmanen the latter’s “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Makki,” a 2016 Cannes Un Certain Regard winner.
Also in the mix is the highly courted Kaouther Ben Hania, a double Oscar nominee for the “compelling, ambitious hybrid” “Four Daughters,” said Variety, in the doc category and the “The Man Who Sold His Skin” (2020), Tunisia’s entry in international feature.
In all, however, nine of the ten directors winning berths this...
This year’s Seriesmakers features in development drama series from Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald (“George Blake”), behind “The Last King Of Scotland,” and from Finnish director Mikko Myllylahti, who burst onto the scene co-writing with Juho Kuosmanen the latter’s “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Makki,” a 2016 Cannes Un Certain Regard winner.
Also in the mix is the highly courted Kaouther Ben Hania, a double Oscar nominee for the “compelling, ambitious hybrid” “Four Daughters,” said Variety, in the doc category and the “The Man Who Sold His Skin” (2020), Tunisia’s entry in international feature.
In all, however, nine of the ten directors winning berths this...
- 3/4/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Kevin Macdonald’s High & Low: John Galliano is another hagiography in an increasingly long list of public relations exercises masquerading as substantial fashion profiles. Except this documentary is a more perverse exercise in self-celebration than its predecessors, as it shamelessly announces from the very start that it’s an attempt at atonement for disgraced designer John Galliano, who was widely condemned in 2011 for racist and antisemitic rants.
High & Low opens with the case that triggered Galliano’s public downfall, all but promising that it will confront his demons head on and leave no stone unturned. Instead, it enlists Galliano’s high-profile friends and former colleagues—among them Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Penélope Cruz, Charlize Theron, and, of course, Anna Wintour—to make the case that it wasn’t really “John” talking at the Paris café La Perle when he used expressions such as “fucking ugly Jewish bitch...
High & Low opens with the case that triggered Galliano’s public downfall, all but promising that it will confront his demons head on and leave no stone unturned. Instead, it enlists Galliano’s high-profile friends and former colleagues—among them Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Penélope Cruz, Charlize Theron, and, of course, Anna Wintour—to make the case that it wasn’t really “John” talking at the Paris café La Perle when he used expressions such as “fucking ugly Jewish bitch...
- 3/3/2024
- by Diego Semerene
- Slant Magazine
Exclusive: Jude Law’s Riff Raff Entertainment has received “significant funding” via a new TV development deal with France’s Newen Connect.
Unveiled at Newen’s London TV Screenings event, the deal sees Riff Raff, which the two-time Oscar nominee co-founded with Ben Jackson, handed a cash injection to develop a slate of TV projects, while giving the company a distribution pipeline.
The development partnership has already spawned three early-stage projects: political thriller Foreign Desk starring Law and written by Marek Horn, a female-led show from Pure writer Kirstie Swain and a “talent-led TV project with acclaimed playwright Chris Urch.”
The investment figure was not disclosed but is referred to as “significant.” It is being underwritten by European studio-financier Anton, which separately invested €50M ($54M) in Newen in early 2022 that allowed the French major to move into features.
Riff Raff CEO Stephen Fuss said: “We’re thrilled to be partnering...
Unveiled at Newen’s London TV Screenings event, the deal sees Riff Raff, which the two-time Oscar nominee co-founded with Ben Jackson, handed a cash injection to develop a slate of TV projects, while giving the company a distribution pipeline.
The development partnership has already spawned three early-stage projects: political thriller Foreign Desk starring Law and written by Marek Horn, a female-led show from Pure writer Kirstie Swain and a “talent-led TV project with acclaimed playwright Chris Urch.”
The investment figure was not disclosed but is referred to as “significant.” It is being underwritten by European studio-financier Anton, which separately invested €50M ($54M) in Newen in early 2022 that allowed the French major to move into features.
Riff Raff CEO Stephen Fuss said: “We’re thrilled to be partnering...
- 2/27/2024
- by Max Goldbart and Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Kevin Macdonald Helming Klitschko Doc For Sky
Oscar-winner Kevin Macdonald is helming a Vitali Klitschko documentary feature for Sky. Produced by Docsville Studios and Sky Studios, Klitschko: The Fight of his Life (working title) will gain access to the former heavyweight boxing world champion along with his brother Wladimir, who together dominated the sport for more than a decade. Now the longest serving Mayor of Kyiv, the feature-length doc charts Vitali’s journey from the ring to political office, ultimately leading the defence of the capital when it was attacked by Russian forces in February 2022. Macdonald, who won an Oscar for One Day in September, recently struck deals with Plan B and Banijay. The Klitschko feature is on a slate preceding Sky’s Up next event in London tonight that also includes Ibiza Narcos, a follow-up to Liverpool and Dublin Narcos, along with Black Widow, which follows the decade-long police...
Oscar-winner Kevin Macdonald is helming a Vitali Klitschko documentary feature for Sky. Produced by Docsville Studios and Sky Studios, Klitschko: The Fight of his Life (working title) will gain access to the former heavyweight boxing world champion along with his brother Wladimir, who together dominated the sport for more than a decade. Now the longest serving Mayor of Kyiv, the feature-length doc charts Vitali’s journey from the ring to political office, ultimately leading the defence of the capital when it was attacked by Russian forces in February 2022. Macdonald, who won an Oscar for One Day in September, recently struck deals with Plan B and Banijay. The Klitschko feature is on a slate preceding Sky’s Up next event in London tonight that also includes Ibiza Narcos, a follow-up to Liverpool and Dublin Narcos, along with Black Widow, which follows the decade-long police...
- 2/22/2024
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
When movies come out, we grade them with reviews, define them by box office returns or eyeballs on streaming services, and maybe trophies down the line. But every successful, ambitious film starts with a dream, followed by compromise and adversity. Here begins Deadline’s occasional peek into the creative aspirations, and the sweat and blood that propels ambitious films.
The Movie
Bob Marley: One Love
In today’s challenged theatrical marketplace, it’s particularly pleasing when a plan works out. Slotted against an underperforming Madame Web for President’s Day weekend, Paramount Pictures’ Bob Marley: One Love on Wednesday set the Valentine’s Day opening record with a $14 million gross, and the film has a nice chance to eclipse the initial $30 million long weekend projections. Per Rotten Tomatoes, the Paramount film has pleased audiences (95% approval) more than critics (44%), but Reinaldo Marcus Green’s skillfully made biopic of an iconic artist...
The Movie
Bob Marley: One Love
In today’s challenged theatrical marketplace, it’s particularly pleasing when a plan works out. Slotted against an underperforming Madame Web for President’s Day weekend, Paramount Pictures’ Bob Marley: One Love on Wednesday set the Valentine’s Day opening record with a $14 million gross, and the film has a nice chance to eclipse the initial $30 million long weekend projections. Per Rotten Tomatoes, the Paramount film has pleased audiences (95% approval) more than critics (44%), but Reinaldo Marcus Green’s skillfully made biopic of an iconic artist...
- 2/15/2024
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
"I'm going to tell you everything." Mubi has revealed an official trailer for a documentary film titled High & Low - John Galliano, arriving to watch in select US theaters this March. The film originally premiered at the prestigious 2023 Telluride Film Festival last fall, and it also played at the Zurich, Hamburg, London, and Rome Film Festivals last year. From acclaimed filmmaker Kevin Macdonald, the doc examines the rapid ascent, fall from grace, and journey forward for controversial fashion designer John Galliano. In 2011, his career abruptly ended after being caught on video using shocking antisemitic and racist insults. Macdonald's film investigates the multiple facets & contradictions of Galliano's character and context, including decades of industry pressure and drug & alcohol addiction, that surrounded his downfall and recovery. Featuring conversations with: Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Penelope Cruz, Charlize Theron, Anna Wintour, Edward Enninful, Boris Cyrulnik, Hamish Bowles, and Sidney Toledano, among others.
- 2/9/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Glasgow Film Festival’s (Gff) Industry Focus (March 3-7) returns with a line-up that includes a celebration of the new wave of UK filmmaking and brings together filmmakers for an in conversation event with the BFI’s head of the Filmmaking Fund Mia Bays and BBC Film director Eva Yates.
NextGen will unite executives with Girl director Adura Onashile, Scrapper filmmaker Charlotte Regan and Lucy Cohen, whose feature Edge Of Summer will world premiere at this year’s Gff.
Further highlights include the Animatic Live Pitch - Gff’s new animation talent development scheme, which culminates in a live pitch...
NextGen will unite executives with Girl director Adura Onashile, Scrapper filmmaker Charlotte Regan and Lucy Cohen, whose feature Edge Of Summer will world premiere at this year’s Gff.
Further highlights include the Animatic Live Pitch - Gff’s new animation talent development scheme, which culminates in a live pitch...
- 2/6/2024
- ScreenDaily
John Galliano, 63, the creative director of Maison Martin Margiela, had the tough task of closing the Paris haute couture season (which has seen stunning shows from such houses as Valentino and Schiaparelli), a challenge he met with an extremely fascinating show. It was an extraordinary portrayal of Paris’ famous historical figures that seemed to have stepped out of an Émile Zola novel.
Galliano presented Margiela’s new Spring Summer 2024 artisanal collection inside an abandoned, vaulted-ceiling venue along the Seine, transformed into a decadent bistro where a range of French archetypes took center stage, from the shapely and brazen courtesans of the past — such as Madame Pompadour or Jeanne du Barry — to the sensual and devilish Moulin Rouge dancers, as well as nocturnal gamblers and cat burglars.
French performer and drag queen “Lucky Love,” a Freddie Mercury impersonator, gave the opening wearing a man’s overcoat, then stripped it off to...
Galliano presented Margiela’s new Spring Summer 2024 artisanal collection inside an abandoned, vaulted-ceiling venue along the Seine, transformed into a decadent bistro where a range of French archetypes took center stage, from the shapely and brazen courtesans of the past — such as Madame Pompadour or Jeanne du Barry — to the sensual and devilish Moulin Rouge dancers, as well as nocturnal gamblers and cat burglars.
French performer and drag queen “Lucky Love,” a Freddie Mercury impersonator, gave the opening wearing a man’s overcoat, then stripped it off to...
- 1/30/2024
- by Pino Gagliardi
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Losers’ Club returns to Lisbon Falls for one last ride: Hulu’s 11.22.63.
Produced by J.J. Abrams, Stephen King, Kevin Macdonald, Bryan Burk, and Bridget Carpenter, the 2016 miniseries stars James Franco as Jake Epping, Sarah Gadon as Sadie Dunhill, and Chris Cooper as Al Templeton. It was one of the first Hulu original series, but was it a hit? Did it just come and go? Was it the true origin of the King Renaissance? The Losers weigh in.
Stream the episode below. Then return next week when the Losers turn the key on John Carpenter’s Christine as they continue to catch up on last year’s anniversaries and missed adaptations. For further adventures, join the Losers’ Club over long days and pleasant nights via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS.
You can also unlock hundreds upon hundreds of hours of exclusive content in The Barrens (Patreon...
Produced by J.J. Abrams, Stephen King, Kevin Macdonald, Bryan Burk, and Bridget Carpenter, the 2016 miniseries stars James Franco as Jake Epping, Sarah Gadon as Sadie Dunhill, and Chris Cooper as Al Templeton. It was one of the first Hulu original series, but was it a hit? Did it just come and go? Was it the true origin of the King Renaissance? The Losers weigh in.
Stream the episode below. Then return next week when the Losers turn the key on John Carpenter’s Christine as they continue to catch up on last year’s anniversaries and missed adaptations. For further adventures, join the Losers’ Club over long days and pleasant nights via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS.
You can also unlock hundreds upon hundreds of hours of exclusive content in The Barrens (Patreon...
- 1/26/2024
- by Michael Roffman
- bloody-disgusting.com
Dublin International Film Festival has unveiled its full programme for the upcoming edition, opening with the world premiere of Irish filmmaker Marian Quinn’s anti-war epic Twig.
This re-telling of Greek tragedy Antigone stars Sade Malone in the titular role and Brían F. O’Byrne, and is set in Dublin’s inner city, where an ancient city wall cordons off a neighbourhood which is rife with drugs. It is produced by Ireland’s Ruth Carter of Blue Ink Films and Tommy Weir for Janey Pictures.
Further Irish filmmaking talent showcased includes the previously announced closing night film, Pat Collins’ adaptation of...
This re-telling of Greek tragedy Antigone stars Sade Malone in the titular role and Brían F. O’Byrne, and is set in Dublin’s inner city, where an ancient city wall cordons off a neighbourhood which is rife with drugs. It is produced by Ireland’s Ruth Carter of Blue Ink Films and Tommy Weir for Janey Pictures.
Further Irish filmmaking talent showcased includes the previously announced closing night film, Pat Collins’ adaptation of...
- 1/22/2024
- ScreenDaily
The worlds of fashion and film are tailor-made for each other in Season 5 of the critically acclaimed “Mubi Podcast.”
The new season of the global streaming platform, production company, and film distributor’s ongoing audio series debuts January 25, and IndieWire announces this year’s slate of guests and topics below. Titled “Tailor Made” and hosted by arts and travel reporter Rico Gagliano, the documentary podcast’s newest installment is available on all major platforms and via Mubi’s publication, “Notebook.”
Each episode of the season “tackles a landmark movie that captured a major fashion look of an era, and then decodes what that look meant — to the culture that spawned it, the people who wore it, and the audiences who watched it on screen,” per Mubi.
From Jean Seberg’s inimitable style in Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless” to a two-part exploration of how fashion folds into Sofia Coppola’s entire career,...
The new season of the global streaming platform, production company, and film distributor’s ongoing audio series debuts January 25, and IndieWire announces this year’s slate of guests and topics below. Titled “Tailor Made” and hosted by arts and travel reporter Rico Gagliano, the documentary podcast’s newest installment is available on all major platforms and via Mubi’s publication, “Notebook.”
Each episode of the season “tackles a landmark movie that captured a major fashion look of an era, and then decodes what that look meant — to the culture that spawned it, the people who wore it, and the audiences who watched it on screen,” per Mubi.
From Jean Seberg’s inimitable style in Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless” to a two-part exploration of how fashion folds into Sofia Coppola’s entire career,...
- 1/16/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
European production powerhouse Mediawan has bought a majority stake in Misfits, the prestige U.K. company whose anticipated documentary “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” will play at the Sundance Film Festival.
The London-based production company, founded in 2016, is run by Andee (Dee) Ryder and Ian Bonhôte, the BAFTA-nominated filmmaker-producer duo behind “McQueen,” the critically laureled documentary about the fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen. The company’s thriving track record in the non-fiction space also includes “Rising Phoenix,” a documentary about the Paralympic movement which won a pair of Emmy Awards, and “Kingdom of Dreams,” a four-part premium non-fiction series about the fashion industry which sold across 169 territories, as well as “The Contestant” which premiered at last year’s Toronto and sold to Hulu for a 2024 release.
Aside from being a key player within the feature documentary landscape, the banner recently expanded into fiction with “Alleycats,” a high-concept thriller directed by...
The London-based production company, founded in 2016, is run by Andee (Dee) Ryder and Ian Bonhôte, the BAFTA-nominated filmmaker-producer duo behind “McQueen,” the critically laureled documentary about the fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen. The company’s thriving track record in the non-fiction space also includes “Rising Phoenix,” a documentary about the Paralympic movement which won a pair of Emmy Awards, and “Kingdom of Dreams,” a four-part premium non-fiction series about the fashion industry which sold across 169 territories, as well as “The Contestant” which premiered at last year’s Toronto and sold to Hulu for a 2024 release.
Aside from being a key player within the feature documentary landscape, the banner recently expanded into fiction with “Alleycats,” a high-concept thriller directed by...
- 1/16/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Variety rounded up some of our favorite creators behind several films recently shortlisted by the Academy to discuss the work that goes into making these now iconic cinematic moments.
From “American Fiction’s” score to the heartrending tunes of “Flora and Son,” the artisans went deep on their process and revealed the layers of thought and intent inside their work. Check out each interview for those recognized including Documentary film, song, score, hair & makeup, sound and more categories.
Read recaps of their conversations below:
“Saltburn” Original Score Conversation with Composer Anthony Willis
When it came to scoring that haunting opening scene of Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) in Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn,” composer Anthony Willis stresses that the use of the choir was a strategic decision. “So much of the film is the preoccupation of vanity and then feeling like you need to behave a particular way and then actually how...
From “American Fiction’s” score to the heartrending tunes of “Flora and Son,” the artisans went deep on their process and revealed the layers of thought and intent inside their work. Check out each interview for those recognized including Documentary film, song, score, hair & makeup, sound and more categories.
Read recaps of their conversations below:
“Saltburn” Original Score Conversation with Composer Anthony Willis
When it came to scoring that haunting opening scene of Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) in Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn,” composer Anthony Willis stresses that the use of the choir was a strategic decision. “So much of the film is the preoccupation of vanity and then feeling like you need to behave a particular way and then actually how...
- 1/10/2024
- by Valerie Wu, Jaden Thompson, Caroline Brew and Diego Ramos Bechara
- Variety Film + TV
Last Song From Kabul Photo: Doc NYC
A tribute to the courage of a group of girls who made a daring escape as Afghan civic society collapsed, and an ode to the musical traditions that the Taliban are trying to destroy, Kevin Macdonald and Ruhi Hamid’s short documentary Last Song From Kabul is one of the strongest contenders on this year’s Oscar shortlist. It’s thrilling to watch as it pieces together events using footage recorded at the time, and one hopes that it will serve to remind people that for all their silence on the world stage, Afghan women – and many others there too – remain in desperate need of help.
Kevin and I met up a few days after he got the news about the Oscars. He was understandably excited, especially because, though he’s known for accomplished features like The Last King Of Scotland and The Mauritanian...
A tribute to the courage of a group of girls who made a daring escape as Afghan civic society collapsed, and an ode to the musical traditions that the Taliban are trying to destroy, Kevin Macdonald and Ruhi Hamid’s short documentary Last Song From Kabul is one of the strongest contenders on this year’s Oscar shortlist. It’s thrilling to watch as it pieces together events using footage recorded at the time, and one hopes that it will serve to remind people that for all their silence on the world stage, Afghan women – and many others there too – remain in desperate need of help.
Kevin and I met up a few days after he got the news about the Oscars. He was understandably excited, especially because, though he’s known for accomplished features like The Last King Of Scotland and The Mauritanian...
- 1/7/2024
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
When it comes to predicting the Oscars, there are no categories that can be more difficult than the three short film categories. That goes double for trying to predict the nominees in those categories. But don’t worry Derbyites. With the recent release of the Academy’s shortlists, we’ve got descriptions of each of the pieces that made the runoff for Best Documentary Short, we got you covered on this! Below we have descriptions of each of the 15 short films that made this year’s list. We even included information and links on where you can currently view them.
Among the topics that are tackled in this year’s crop are book bans in Florida, a barber who runs a community bank, how abortion was legalized in New York in the 1970s, a group of people who fix musical instruments, and the healthcare crisis that’s affecting rural America.
Among the topics that are tackled in this year’s crop are book bans in Florida, a barber who runs a community bank, how abortion was legalized in New York in the 1970s, a group of people who fix musical instruments, and the healthcare crisis that’s affecting rural America.
- 12/25/2023
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
Every totalitarian regime hates people playing music – and not without reason. It inspires empathy. It brings people together. It gives people a sense of something transcendent, something beyond the everyday, and that makes them hard to control. Afghanistan is home to several rich musical traditions, but when the Taliban came to power, they declared all music un-Islamic, claiming that it caused moral decay, and banned it outright.
One person whose life was transformed by this was teenager Marzia Anwari. Kevin Macdonald and Ruhi Hamid’s Oscar-nominated documentary short tells her story, from her early days spent herding goats in a remote valley – something which could well have consumed her whole life – to her discovery of a music school and of her own hitherto unsuspected talent. What might sound like a Disney fairy tale was violently interrupted when the Taliban returned to power. Not only did they object to girls...
One person whose life was transformed by this was teenager Marzia Anwari. Kevin Macdonald and Ruhi Hamid’s Oscar-nominated documentary short tells her story, from her early days spent herding goats in a remote valley – something which could well have consumed her whole life – to her discovery of a music school and of her own hitherto unsuspected talent. What might sound like a Disney fairy tale was violently interrupted when the Taliban returned to power. Not only did they object to girls...
- 12/7/2023
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Scottish director Kevin Macdonald may not have a famous name in Hollywood, but he has garnered impressive credits over the years. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Macdonald comes from a line of distinguished filmmakers and screenwriters. He’s the grandchild of English actress/screenwriter Wendy Orme and Hungarian-born British Jewish filmmaker Emeric Pressburger, both his maternal grandparents. Unsurprisingly, he took after his grandfather, who has a reputation for his The Archers productions – a successful collaboration between Pressburger and English filmmaker Michael Powell. Macdonald wasn’t the only one influenced by his grandfather’s filmmaking talents, as his brother Andrew Macdonald also became a film...
- 11/28/2023
- by Onyinye Izundu
- TVovermind.com
Exclusive: MTV Documentary Films’ impressive slate of short films will debut on the Paramount+ streaming platform on Tuesday, a lineup that includes The ABCs of Book Banning, the directorial debut of documentary legend Sheila Nevins.
Nevins executive produces all five of the films joining Paramount+. In addition to her own film, co-directed by Trish Adlesic and Nazenet Habtezghi, the slate boasts Alive in Bronze: Huey P. Newton, about the artistic collaboration between sculptor Dana King and Fredrika Newton, widow of the Black Panther Party co-founder Huey Newton. The film chronicles their creation of a bust honoring Newton, for a monument in Oakland, Calif. where the Black Panther Party emerged.
The five shorts join a pair of award-winning features from MTV Documentary Films that premiered in recent days on Paramount+: Maite Alberdi’s Sundance winner The Eternal Memory and Pay or Die, directed by Rachael Dyer and Scott Alexander Ruderman,...
Nevins executive produces all five of the films joining Paramount+. In addition to her own film, co-directed by Trish Adlesic and Nazenet Habtezghi, the slate boasts Alive in Bronze: Huey P. Newton, about the artistic collaboration between sculptor Dana King and Fredrika Newton, widow of the Black Panther Party co-founder Huey Newton. The film chronicles their creation of a bust honoring Newton, for a monument in Oakland, Calif. where the Black Panther Party emerged.
The five shorts join a pair of award-winning features from MTV Documentary Films that premiered in recent days on Paramount+: Maite Alberdi’s Sundance winner The Eternal Memory and Pay or Die, directed by Rachael Dyer and Scott Alexander Ruderman,...
- 11/16/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
The Last King of Scotland.In 2007, Forest Whitaker won the Academy Award for his performance as Ugandan dictator and army general Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland (2006), becoming only the fourth Black man to win Best Actor. Lauded as the role of his career, critics praised his “full-throated, technically accomplished” performance, and his ability to “seize the space and show us how he can rage”.“Full-throated” the performance was indeed, but it was a throat filled with an accent that neither sounded like Amin’s nor any person from Koboko, northern Uganda, where the general was born. “Technically accomplished,” but the accent, directed by dialect coach Robert Easton, was neither technical, nor accomplished. Linguistically speaking, Whitaker’s accent is riddled with instances of the US English rhotic R pronunciation (which is pronounced at the back of the throat without a trill), and a combination of vowel pronunciations from across East Africa,...
- 11/9/2023
- MUBI
Exclusive: Plan B Entertainment has set a joint venture with Oscar-winning documentarian and filmmaker Kevin Macdonald, known for movies including Touching The Void, One Day In September, Whitney, The Last King Of Scotland and State Of Play.
Per the Jv, the two parties will co-develop and co-produce unscripted films and series with both established and emerging directors.
Among Plan B’s current unscripted work is the ongoing Lego Masters series for Fox and the recent Wayne Shorter documentary Zero Gravity for Amazon. French media company Mediawan took a majority stake in the company late last year.
Macdonald’s previous work in documentary also includes Life In A Day, Marley and High & Low — John Galliano. He won a Best Documentary Oscar for One Day in September about the 1972 murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Summer Olympics In Munich, Germany. His most recent narrative feature was The Mauritanian, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Jodie Foster,...
Per the Jv, the two parties will co-develop and co-produce unscripted films and series with both established and emerging directors.
Among Plan B’s current unscripted work is the ongoing Lego Masters series for Fox and the recent Wayne Shorter documentary Zero Gravity for Amazon. French media company Mediawan took a majority stake in the company late last year.
Macdonald’s previous work in documentary also includes Life In A Day, Marley and High & Low — John Galliano. He won a Best Documentary Oscar for One Day in September about the 1972 murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Summer Olympics In Munich, Germany. His most recent narrative feature was The Mauritanian, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Jodie Foster,...
- 10/25/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Lenny Henry has launched a scripted production outfit backed by the £50M ($61M) Banijay UK Growth Fund.
Henry is helming Esmerelda Productions with former EastEnders and Casualty exec Jon Sen. It will produce drama and comedy shows with an emphasis on working with under-represented writers, cast and crew.
British comedy legend and diversity lobbyist Henry will step down as CEO of his current Banijay-backed production house Douglas Road, with MD Angela Ferreira taking the reins. That company just saw ITV launch Three Little Birds, Henry’s drama inspired by the experience of his family settling in the UK in the 1950s, which was exec produced by Russell T Davies.
Banijay’s investment will enable Esmerelda to build its team and slate, while the deal includes a first look with distributor Banijay Rights. Banijay’s Growth Fund has so far taken stakes in the likes of James Norton and Kitty Kaletsky’s Rabbit Track,...
Henry is helming Esmerelda Productions with former EastEnders and Casualty exec Jon Sen. It will produce drama and comedy shows with an emphasis on working with under-represented writers, cast and crew.
British comedy legend and diversity lobbyist Henry will step down as CEO of his current Banijay-backed production house Douglas Road, with MD Angela Ferreira taking the reins. That company just saw ITV launch Three Little Birds, Henry’s drama inspired by the experience of his family settling in the UK in the 1950s, which was exec produced by Russell T Davies.
Banijay’s investment will enable Esmerelda to build its team and slate, while the deal includes a first look with distributor Banijay Rights. Banijay’s Growth Fund has so far taken stakes in the likes of James Norton and Kitty Kaletsky’s Rabbit Track,...
- 10/23/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Final five nominations to be announced on November 2.
Steve McQueen’s Occupied City, Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall and Todd Haynes’ May December are among the titles on the latest British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) longlists, for Best Feature Documentary and Best International Independent Film.
15 films are on the documentary longlist, with five of them by first-time directors; with 17 films on the international list.
Scroll down for the longlists
Alongside McQueen’s film combining analysis of Amsterdam during the Second World War with the present day, documentary titles include Kevin MacDonald’s High & Low: John Galliano about the...
Steve McQueen’s Occupied City, Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall and Todd Haynes’ May December are among the titles on the latest British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) longlists, for Best Feature Documentary and Best International Independent Film.
15 films are on the documentary longlist, with five of them by first-time directors; with 17 films on the international list.
Scroll down for the longlists
Alongside McQueen’s film combining analysis of Amsterdam during the Second World War with the present day, documentary titles include Kevin MacDonald’s High & Low: John Galliano about the...
- 10/19/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The story of a headstrong heroine who knows what she wants, but is waylaid by the elements and an unexpected romance is one of the most lovable films in British cinema history
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1945 classic, rereleased now as part of the BFI’s nationally touring Powell/Pressburger season, has to be one of the most purely lovable films in British cinema history. There is outright joy in that inspired, forthright title. Surely I’m not the only Powell/Pressburger superfan to have screamed halfway through this statement from Emeric Pressburger about his writing practice, in Kevin Macdonald’s biography: “But if I can help it, I never sit down to write the real script until I know where I’m going and I’ve worked out the rhythm and so on beforehand.” Was that deliberate? I can’t tell.
I Know Where I’m Going! is...
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1945 classic, rereleased now as part of the BFI’s nationally touring Powell/Pressburger season, has to be one of the most purely lovable films in British cinema history. There is outright joy in that inspired, forthright title. Surely I’m not the only Powell/Pressburger superfan to have screamed halfway through this statement from Emeric Pressburger about his writing practice, in Kevin Macdonald’s biography: “But if I can help it, I never sit down to write the real script until I know where I’m going and I’ve worked out the rhythm and so on beforehand.” Was that deliberate? I can’t tell.
I Know Where I’m Going! is...
- 10/19/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
‘Big Brother’ Unveils Duty Of Care Protocols
Big Brother housemates will have to abide by the same social media blackout as Love Island contestants while those working on the show will be regularly reminded of Banijay’s Bullying and Harassment, Grievance and Whistleblowing Policies, as ITV shares its duty of care protocols for the reboot. Kicking off Sunday, Big Brother returns to British TV screens after five years off air and ITV and Banijay label Initial have been stringent in their approach to duty of care, given that conflict shows such as the Jeremy Kyle Show have been axed while Big Brother has been off air. ITV’s welfare package includes the social media blackout that means housemates’ family and friends will not be asked not to post content on individual social media accounts for the duration of their time in the house. Housemates will also undergo psychological and medical...
Big Brother housemates will have to abide by the same social media blackout as Love Island contestants while those working on the show will be regularly reminded of Banijay’s Bullying and Harassment, Grievance and Whistleblowing Policies, as ITV shares its duty of care protocols for the reboot. Kicking off Sunday, Big Brother returns to British TV screens after five years off air and ITV and Banijay label Initial have been stringent in their approach to duty of care, given that conflict shows such as the Jeremy Kyle Show have been axed while Big Brother has been off air. ITV’s welfare package includes the social media blackout that means housemates’ family and friends will not be asked not to post content on individual social media accounts for the duration of their time in the house. Housemates will also undergo psychological and medical...
- 10/4/2023
- by Max Goldbart and Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Award
British actor Vanessa Redgrave will receive the European Lifetime Achievement award for her outstanding body of work at the European Film Awards.
Hailing from an illustrious family of actors, Redgrave’s first lead in “Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment” (1966), by Karel Reisz, won her best actress at Cannes and scored BAFTA and Oscar nominations. She returned to Cannes in the following year as Jane, the mysterious woman in the park in “Blow Up” by Michelangelo Antonioni.
More Oscar nominations followed – in 1969 for her performance as Isadora Duncan in “Isadora” by Reisz, which again won her best actress at Cannes, and in 1972 for “Mary, Queen of Scots, by Charles Jarrott – which won her a special David at Italy’s David di Donatello Awards. Her performance in Fred Zinnemann’s “Julia” (1978) won her an Oscar, and she scored further nominations for James Ivory’s “The Bostonians” (1985) and “Howards End” (1993). In...
British actor Vanessa Redgrave will receive the European Lifetime Achievement award for her outstanding body of work at the European Film Awards.
Hailing from an illustrious family of actors, Redgrave’s first lead in “Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment” (1966), by Karel Reisz, won her best actress at Cannes and scored BAFTA and Oscar nominations. She returned to Cannes in the following year as Jane, the mysterious woman in the park in “Blow Up” by Michelangelo Antonioni.
More Oscar nominations followed – in 1969 for her performance as Isadora Duncan in “Isadora” by Reisz, which again won her best actress at Cannes, and in 1972 for “Mary, Queen of Scots, by Charles Jarrott – which won her a special David at Italy’s David di Donatello Awards. Her performance in Fred Zinnemann’s “Julia” (1978) won her an Oscar, and she scored further nominations for James Ivory’s “The Bostonians” (1985) and “Howards End” (1993). In...
- 9/20/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
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