Things got political on Wednesday at Doc NYC’s 10th annual Visionaries Tribute Honorees, when honoree Michael Moore asked the crowd to take a pledge “to let our Jewish brothers and sisters know that we will never, ever allow what happened in the 20th century” to happen again.
The Gotham Hall gala marks the opening day of the 14th annual Doc NYC and attracts the who’s who of the doc community from both coasts. Hundreds of documentary filmmakers, cinematographers, producers, editors, publicists, and distributors hobnob with Academy doc branch members in hopes of winning their votes.
Moore, American Documentary executive director Erika Dilday, and docu filmmakers Deborah Shaffer and Maite Alberdi, were honored during the four-hour lunch.
“Few of us are in a very festive mood right now,” Moore said during his 40-plus minute acceptance speech. “And so I’d like to start by just asking you to join...
The Gotham Hall gala marks the opening day of the 14th annual Doc NYC and attracts the who’s who of the doc community from both coasts. Hundreds of documentary filmmakers, cinematographers, producers, editors, publicists, and distributors hobnob with Academy doc branch members in hopes of winning their votes.
Moore, American Documentary executive director Erika Dilday, and docu filmmakers Deborah Shaffer and Maite Alberdi, were honored during the four-hour lunch.
“Few of us are in a very festive mood right now,” Moore said during his 40-plus minute acceptance speech. “And so I’d like to start by just asking you to join...
- 11/9/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Kino Lorber today announced that it has acquired worldwide rights to Rob Nilsson’s latest film Faultline, as well as his near complete filmography, including his 1979 feature Northern Lights, co-directed with John Hanson.
The Nilsson catalog will be available on Kino Now in 2023. Select titles will also be released theatrically. The deal for Faultline and the Rob Nilsson catalog was negotiated by Kino Lorber President & CEO Richard Lorber.
Faultline debuted at the Mill Valley Film Festival on October 11 and will receive a theatrical and digital release from Kino Lorber in 2023. Billed as a hypnotic experience about the raw, messy intimacy of family and the global impact of today’s conflicted society, Faultline is the third and final installment of Nilsson’s Nomad Trilogy, following Arid Cut and Divide. Faultline is written and directed by Nilsson. He also produced the pic with Zhan Petrov, Michelle Allen, Rusty Murphy, and John Stout.
The Nilsson catalog will be available on Kino Now in 2023. Select titles will also be released theatrically. The deal for Faultline and the Rob Nilsson catalog was negotiated by Kino Lorber President & CEO Richard Lorber.
Faultline debuted at the Mill Valley Film Festival on October 11 and will receive a theatrical and digital release from Kino Lorber in 2023. Billed as a hypnotic experience about the raw, messy intimacy of family and the global impact of today’s conflicted society, Faultline is the third and final installment of Nilsson’s Nomad Trilogy, following Arid Cut and Divide. Faultline is written and directed by Nilsson. He also produced the pic with Zhan Petrov, Michelle Allen, Rusty Murphy, and John Stout.
- 10/13/2022
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
The Before Trilogy (Richard Linklater)
Earning its status amongst the likes of Three Colors, Apu, Human Condition, Antonioni’s ’Decadence’ trilogy, and Kiarostami’s Koker trilogy, Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, and Ethan Hawke’s exploration of romance both fledgling and tested is one of the great film trilogies of all time. Though there’s Before Movie, Says Julie Delpy”>no plans for a fourth film in sight, one can enjoy all three films, now available to stream on The Criterion
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Blue Bayou (Justin Chon)
After Antonio (Justin Chon) is wrongfully arrested in front of his wife Kathy (Alicia Vikander) and step-daughter Jessie (Sydney Kowalske), he’s surprised to learn he’s been flagged for deportation. Due...
The Before Trilogy (Richard Linklater)
Earning its status amongst the likes of Three Colors, Apu, Human Condition, Antonioni’s ’Decadence’ trilogy, and Kiarostami’s Koker trilogy, Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, and Ethan Hawke’s exploration of romance both fledgling and tested is one of the great film trilogies of all time. Though there’s Before Movie, Says Julie Delpy”>no plans for a fourth film in sight, one can enjoy all three films, now available to stream on The Criterion
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Blue Bayou (Justin Chon)
After Antonio (Justin Chon) is wrongfully arrested in front of his wife Kathy (Alicia Vikander) and step-daughter Jessie (Sydney Kowalske), he’s surprised to learn he’s been flagged for deportation. Due...
- 7/1/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Few films released over 40 years ago can claim to be as relevant today as when they first came out. The Wobblies is one of them.
The 1979 documentary, directed by Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer, recounts in oral history form the story of the Industrial Workers of the World union, otherwise known as the Wobblies. The labor organization, founded in 1905, espoused the brash idea that workers should share in company profits, get medical care if they were injured on the job, and work an 8-hour day.
The Iww stood apart for other reasons—it was a general union (as opposed to a craft union) that welcomed men and women, regardless of race or ethnic background. And it represented the great mass of unskilled workers, the kind of laborers who toiled in factories for long hours, for low wages, typically in dangerous conditions.
“They were opening up to everyone–anyone who earned...
The 1979 documentary, directed by Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer, recounts in oral history form the story of the Industrial Workers of the World union, otherwise known as the Wobblies. The labor organization, founded in 1905, espoused the brash idea that workers should share in company profits, get medical care if they were injured on the job, and work an 8-hour day.
The Iww stood apart for other reasons—it was a general union (as opposed to a craft union) that welcomed men and women, regardless of race or ethnic background. And it represented the great mass of unskilled workers, the kind of laborers who toiled in factories for long hours, for low wages, typically in dangerous conditions.
“They were opening up to everyone–anyone who earned...
- 5/4/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
New York’s Metrograph canceled a Friday night filmmaker Q&a that was to accompany the 1979 pro-labor documentary “The Wobblies,” recently restored and in re-release from Kino Lorber.
A source tells IndieWire that Metrograph management scrapped the Q&a out of concern that ongoing claims of labor issues at the lower Manhattan arthouse would overshadow the movie if the floor was opened up to the audience. The status of another Q&a for a Monday evening screening is yet to be determined, sources tell IndieWire.
Directors Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer shared a joint statement with IndieWire, saying, “We recently heard rumors of a conflict between the management of the Metrograph Theater and their staff. While we don’t know any details, we uphold the right of all workers to be guaranteed a safe working environment, fair wages, and to form a union to protect their common interests.”
The film tells the story...
A source tells IndieWire that Metrograph management scrapped the Q&a out of concern that ongoing claims of labor issues at the lower Manhattan arthouse would overshadow the movie if the floor was opened up to the audience. The status of another Q&a for a Monday evening screening is yet to be determined, sources tell IndieWire.
Directors Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer shared a joint statement with IndieWire, saying, “We recently heard rumors of a conflict between the management of the Metrograph Theater and their staff. While we don’t know any details, we uphold the right of all workers to be guaranteed a safe working environment, fair wages, and to form a union to protect their common interests.”
The film tells the story...
- 4/29/2022
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Teeming with rousing folk songs from the picket line and spirited one-liners from union men and women, Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer’s 1979 documentary “The Wobblies” collages together personal impressions from former miners, lumberjacks, stevedores, wheat farmers, silk weavers, and migratory workers — all members of the Iww (International Workers of the World) at the turn of the century — to create .
Ripe for rediscovery on the eve of a new 4K restoration that will be screened across the country in honor of May Day, the film endures as an astounding and essential portrait of American subversion as seen through the eyes of those who lived it.
The Iww, whose members were nicknamed “Wobblies” (or “Wobs”), was formed in 1905 with the goal of creating “One Big Union” made up of all workers, regardless of skill level, race, creed, gender, or country of origin (an audacious notion when most unions were off-limits to...
Ripe for rediscovery on the eve of a new 4K restoration that will be screened across the country in honor of May Day, the film endures as an astounding and essential portrait of American subversion as seen through the eyes of those who lived it.
The Iww, whose members were nicknamed “Wobblies” (or “Wobs”), was formed in 1905 with the goal of creating “One Big Union” made up of all workers, regardless of skill level, race, creed, gender, or country of origin (an audacious notion when most unions were off-limits to...
- 4/29/2022
- by Susannah Gruder
- Indiewire
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Shiva Baby (2020) Emma Seligman's Bottoms now has a cast, which includes Shiva Baby star Rachel Sennott, Havana Rose Liu, Ayo Edebiri, and former NFL player Marshawn Lynch. Written by Seligman and Sennott, the film is a high school sex comedy about "two unpopular queer girls in their senior year who start a fight club to try to impress and hook up with cheerleaders." Michel Bouquet, the prolific French film and theater actor, has died at 96. Early in his film career, Bouquet narrated Alain Resnais' Night and Fog (1955), then went on to appear in films by François Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Deray, and many more. Among his later performances was the role of the tiular painter in Gilles Bourdos's Renoir (2013). Submissions are now open for "The Video Essay," the annual collaborative section of...
- 4/13/2022
- MUBI
Landmark Labor Movement documentary “The Wobblies” makes its return to theaters over 30 years after first premiering at the New York Film Festival in 1979, and IndieWire has the exclusive new trailer here.
“The Wobblies” tells the story of the radical labor union the Industrial Workers of the World, also known as Iww and nicknamed The Wobblies. Founded in Chicago in 1905, the union championed the formation of “one big union” for all unskilled laborers, regardless of their race and gender.
Combining rare archival footage, illuminating interviews with Union members, period artwork, and songs written by activist Joe Hill, filmmakers Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer hope a re-release will speak to the same themes labor unions are facing today.
“When we started production on ‘The Wobblies’ in 1977, our goal was to rescue and record an almost completely neglected chapter of American history as told by its elderly survivors,” Bird and Shaffer said in a joint statement.
“The Wobblies” tells the story of the radical labor union the Industrial Workers of the World, also known as Iww and nicknamed The Wobblies. Founded in Chicago in 1905, the union championed the formation of “one big union” for all unskilled laborers, regardless of their race and gender.
Combining rare archival footage, illuminating interviews with Union members, period artwork, and songs written by activist Joe Hill, filmmakers Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer hope a re-release will speak to the same themes labor unions are facing today.
“When we started production on ‘The Wobblies’ in 1977, our goal was to rescue and record an almost completely neglected chapter of American history as told by its elderly survivors,” Bird and Shaffer said in a joint statement.
- 4/1/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Exclusive: North American arthouse distributor Kino Lorber has hired indie cinema veteran George Schmalz as Director, Theatrical Sales & Business.
Schmalz will be responsible for overseeing the Kino Lorber Repertory label and will report to the company’s Senior VP of Theatrical and Non-Theatrical Distribution & Acquisitions, Wendy Lidell.
Schmalz has previously worked in production; exhibition (Landmark Theatres); VOD; theatrical on demand (Gathr); crowdfunding (Kickstarter); and distribution.
Upcoming Kino Lorber repertory releases include a package of six films by Hungarian director Miklós Jancsó restored in 4K by the Hungarian National Film Archive, Deborah Shaffer’s 1979 documentary The Wobblies about the Industrial Workers of the World, and James Blue’s Olive Trees of Justice, which was the first American film to win the Critic’s Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962. Schmalz will also oversee distribution of the Milestone Film Collection.
Schmalz will be responsible for overseeing the Kino Lorber Repertory label and will report to the company’s Senior VP of Theatrical and Non-Theatrical Distribution & Acquisitions, Wendy Lidell.
Schmalz has previously worked in production; exhibition (Landmark Theatres); VOD; theatrical on demand (Gathr); crowdfunding (Kickstarter); and distribution.
Upcoming Kino Lorber repertory releases include a package of six films by Hungarian director Miklós Jancsó restored in 4K by the Hungarian National Film Archive, Deborah Shaffer’s 1979 documentary The Wobblies about the Industrial Workers of the World, and James Blue’s Olive Trees of Justice, which was the first American film to win the Critic’s Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962. Schmalz will also oversee distribution of the Milestone Film Collection.
- 12/6/2021
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
New Indie
Slated to open in theaters right when the pandemic lockdowns started, and subsequently lost in the 2020 shuffle, Cannes award-winner “The Climb” (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) is a smart comedy you might have missed. Co-writers Michael Angelo Covino (who also directed) and Kyle Marvin star as lifelong friends Mike and Kyle who may, as it turns out, be dragging each other down. A playful and occasionally ouch-y spin on the buddy comedy, this film may well be a calling card for two up-and-coming comic talents.
Also available: Mel Gibson makes a very non-traditional Santa Claus in the dark holiday comedy “Fatman” (Saban/Paramount), but Walton Goggins steals the show as the hitman hired to dispatch St. Nick; Adam Brody stars as “The Kid Detective” (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment), whose boozy grown-up existence doesn’t quite reflect his youthful potential; “Synchronic” (Well Go USA Entertainment) stars Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan...
Slated to open in theaters right when the pandemic lockdowns started, and subsequently lost in the 2020 shuffle, Cannes award-winner “The Climb” (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) is a smart comedy you might have missed. Co-writers Michael Angelo Covino (who also directed) and Kyle Marvin star as lifelong friends Mike and Kyle who may, as it turns out, be dragging each other down. A playful and occasionally ouch-y spin on the buddy comedy, this film may well be a calling card for two up-and-coming comic talents.
Also available: Mel Gibson makes a very non-traditional Santa Claus in the dark holiday comedy “Fatman” (Saban/Paramount), but Walton Goggins steals the show as the hitman hired to dispatch St. Nick; Adam Brody stars as “The Kid Detective” (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment), whose boozy grown-up existence doesn’t quite reflect his youthful potential; “Synchronic” (Well Go USA Entertainment) stars Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan...
- 1/27/2021
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
Film Movement has acquired North American rights to “Rose Plays Julie,” an Irish psychological thriller directed by Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor. The movie world premiered at the London Film Festival.
Starring Ann Skelly (“The Nevers”), Orla Brady and Aidan Gillen, “Rose Plays Julie” revolves around young woman seeking her biological mother who journeys into dangerous territory. The movie follows Rose, a young student who has enjoyed a loving relationship with her adoptive parents but feels the urge to travel from Dublin to London to confront her biological mother who has no wish to have any contact.
The movie will be released theatrically by Film Movement during the first quarter of 2021, followed by a release on all home entertainment and digital platforms. The announcement was made by Michael Rosenberg, president of Film Movement and Carl Clifton, president of Hyde Park International, which is handling worldwide rights.
“Rose Plays Julie” is...
Starring Ann Skelly (“The Nevers”), Orla Brady and Aidan Gillen, “Rose Plays Julie” revolves around young woman seeking her biological mother who journeys into dangerous territory. The movie follows Rose, a young student who has enjoyed a loving relationship with her adoptive parents but feels the urge to travel from Dublin to London to confront her biological mother who has no wish to have any contact.
The movie will be released theatrically by Film Movement during the first quarter of 2021, followed by a release on all home entertainment and digital platforms. The announcement was made by Michael Rosenberg, president of Film Movement and Carl Clifton, president of Hyde Park International, which is handling worldwide rights.
“Rose Plays Julie” is...
- 9/4/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Monday, July 20
Sony Classics Dates ‘The Climb’ for October
Sony Pictures Classics will release Michael Covino’s comedy “The Climb” in New York and Los Angeles theaters on Oct. 9 — six months after its original date.
Written by Covino and Kyle Marvin, “The Climb” premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. Sony Classics bought the film and slated it for a March 20 release before it was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Covino produced, directed and starred with Marvin. The duo portray best friends who share a close bond until Covino’s character sleeps with Marvin’s fiancée. Covino was the winner of the Un Certain Regard – Jury Coup de Coeur prize at Cannes.
Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital Unveils Virtual Production Service
Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital is collaborating with Streamliner and Avalon Studios for a virtual production service with Led stage capabilities.
“Adding Led stage capabilities to Wellington...
Sony Classics Dates ‘The Climb’ for October
Sony Pictures Classics will release Michael Covino’s comedy “The Climb” in New York and Los Angeles theaters on Oct. 9 — six months after its original date.
Written by Covino and Kyle Marvin, “The Climb” premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. Sony Classics bought the film and slated it for a March 20 release before it was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Covino produced, directed and starred with Marvin. The duo portray best friends who share a close bond until Covino’s character sleeps with Marvin’s fiancée. Covino was the winner of the Un Certain Regard – Jury Coup de Coeur prize at Cannes.
Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital Unveils Virtual Production Service
Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital is collaborating with Streamliner and Avalon Studios for a virtual production service with Led stage capabilities.
“Adding Led stage capabilities to Wellington...
- 7/21/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Mark Whitaker, Ken Burns, Marina Goldman and Matthew Justus with Artemis Joukowsky Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
At the Le Cirque lunch hosted by Dan Abrams, Kerry Kennedy, Lawrence O’Donnell and producers Dan Cogan (Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt's Havana Motor Club; Edet Belzberg's Watchers Of The Sky, featuring Luis Moreno Ocampo), Geralyn Dreyfous (Martha Stephens and Aaron Katz's Land Ho!; Kirby Dick's The Invisible War and The Hunting Ground) and Judith Helfand (Martha Shane and Lana Wilson's After Tiller) for Defying The Nazis: The Sharps' War, I spoke with the directors, Ken Burns and Artemis Joukowsky.
Ken Burns with Artemis Joukowsky: "And this is a feminist tale as well! From the very beginning, she has defied her parents, she has defied her husband, she has defied the Nazis." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Marina Goldman, who gives her voice to Martha Sharp, let me know that she never got to meet Tom Hanks,...
At the Le Cirque lunch hosted by Dan Abrams, Kerry Kennedy, Lawrence O’Donnell and producers Dan Cogan (Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt's Havana Motor Club; Edet Belzberg's Watchers Of The Sky, featuring Luis Moreno Ocampo), Geralyn Dreyfous (Martha Stephens and Aaron Katz's Land Ho!; Kirby Dick's The Invisible War and The Hunting Ground) and Judith Helfand (Martha Shane and Lana Wilson's After Tiller) for Defying The Nazis: The Sharps' War, I spoke with the directors, Ken Burns and Artemis Joukowsky.
Ken Burns with Artemis Joukowsky: "And this is a feminist tale as well! From the very beginning, she has defied her parents, she has defied her husband, she has defied the Nazis." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Marina Goldman, who gives her voice to Martha Sharp, let me know that she never got to meet Tom Hanks,...
- 9/19/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
On the heels of the 39th edition of the Toronto Int. Film Festival (Sept 4-14), Ifp’s Independent Film Week is where a plethora of fiction, non-fiction and new this year, web-based series from the likes of Desiree Akhavan and Calvin Reeder find future coin. Sectioned off as projects at the very beginning of financing to those that are nearing completion, there happens to be tons of Sundance alumni in the names below. Among those that caught our attention we have Medicine for Melancholy‘s Barry Jenkins’ sophomore feature, produced by Bad Milo!‘s Adele Romanski, Moonlight is about “two Miami boys navigate the temptations of the drug trade and their burgeoning sexuality in this triptych drama about black queer youth”. Concussion‘s Stacie Passon digs into the thriller genre with Strange Things Started Happening. Produced by vet Mary Jane Skalski (Mysterious Skin), this is about “a woman who has...
- 7/24/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Deborah is a dear friend, family and business, for many years.
She is a lifelong dedicated documentary filmmaker, one of our best. Her docu Oscar and Emmy awards attest to the talent and dedication.
Recently she has been discussing with me what she feels are the current shortcomings in this year's nominating Documentary Oscar process and especially the recently published 'short list' by the Academy.
We are very interested in hearing your feedback or comments on this issue which is Not likely to be discussed or raised in any other forum but which we consider Very important!!
Following is her statement on the present situation and the omission of certain very important titles from the AMPAS 'short list' of this year's documentaries..
by Deborah Shaffer -
As an Academy Award-winning documentary director and member of the doc branch of AMPAS, I was the lucky recipient of all 149 qualified documentaries in 2013. It has certainly been one of the more bountiful and exciting years ever. I wish that, as with fiction features, we had the option to nominate up to 10 titles. There are certainly enough excellent, strong candidates to fill a slate of 10. But there is something about this year's short list that has made me sad and disappointed and I don't know whether the fault lies in the process or the end result, but it's certainly the latter where it shows up.
Among the qualified films this year were an incredibly strong number of docs on African American history and culture, including Let the Fire Burn, The Trials of Muhammad Ali, Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, Gideon's Army, The New Black, and American Promise. Not One Of These Films Is On The Short List despite having been recognized at numerous other festivals and year end award events. It suggests a distressing pattern of oversight, and even more disappointing since 4 of the above films were directed by Black women.
I don't have any quick or easy solutions about how to address this. We are all bemoaning the nearly impossible burden of watching approximately 150 documentaries, yet I don't think anyone wants to go back to the bad old committee system. Certainly continuing the trend to diversifying the branch membership across gender, age, and race should help. Personally I would also like to see a system where fewer films qualify, making it more possible for more members to screen those docs that do make it through the gate.
As it stands now, anyone with enough money to four wall a theatrical opening in New York and La can meet the qualifications, essentially buying their way into the Oscar pool. There should be a way to close this loophole, which I estimate would cut the numbers by at least one third to one half. Our field has grown so much in recent years, and the overall quality of the films that have made it to the short list is staggeringly high. We need to find a way to make sure we reward the best, and not just the best known.
She is a lifelong dedicated documentary filmmaker, one of our best. Her docu Oscar and Emmy awards attest to the talent and dedication.
Recently she has been discussing with me what she feels are the current shortcomings in this year's nominating Documentary Oscar process and especially the recently published 'short list' by the Academy.
We are very interested in hearing your feedback or comments on this issue which is Not likely to be discussed or raised in any other forum but which we consider Very important!!
Following is her statement on the present situation and the omission of certain very important titles from the AMPAS 'short list' of this year's documentaries..
by Deborah Shaffer -
As an Academy Award-winning documentary director and member of the doc branch of AMPAS, I was the lucky recipient of all 149 qualified documentaries in 2013. It has certainly been one of the more bountiful and exciting years ever. I wish that, as with fiction features, we had the option to nominate up to 10 titles. There are certainly enough excellent, strong candidates to fill a slate of 10. But there is something about this year's short list that has made me sad and disappointed and I don't know whether the fault lies in the process or the end result, but it's certainly the latter where it shows up.
Among the qualified films this year were an incredibly strong number of docs on African American history and culture, including Let the Fire Burn, The Trials of Muhammad Ali, Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, Gideon's Army, The New Black, and American Promise. Not One Of These Films Is On The Short List despite having been recognized at numerous other festivals and year end award events. It suggests a distressing pattern of oversight, and even more disappointing since 4 of the above films were directed by Black women.
I don't have any quick or easy solutions about how to address this. We are all bemoaning the nearly impossible burden of watching approximately 150 documentaries, yet I don't think anyone wants to go back to the bad old committee system. Certainly continuing the trend to diversifying the branch membership across gender, age, and race should help. Personally I would also like to see a system where fewer films qualify, making it more possible for more members to screen those docs that do make it through the gate.
As it stands now, anyone with enough money to four wall a theatrical opening in New York and La can meet the qualifications, essentially buying their way into the Oscar pool. There should be a way to close this loophole, which I estimate would cut the numbers by at least one third to one half. Our field has grown so much in recent years, and the overall quality of the films that have made it to the short list is staggeringly high. We need to find a way to make sure we reward the best, and not just the best known.
- 12/18/2013
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
Here's your daily dose of an indie film in progress; at the end of the week, you'll have the chance to vote for your favorite. In the meantime: Is this a movie you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments. "Very Semi-Serious" Tweetable logline: An offbeat documentary about New Yorker cartoons. Elevator Pitch: "Very Semi-Serious" goes behind the scenes of the New Yorker and introduces the past, present and future generations of cartoonists who create the iconic cartoons that have inspired, baffled—and occasionally pissed off—all of us for decades. Isn't it about time a documentary made you laugh? Production Team: Director/Producer: Leah Wolchok Producer: Davina Pardo Executive Producers: Bruce Sinofsky and Deborah Shaffer Cinematographer: Kirsten Johnson Associate Producer: Joanna Sokolowski About the Production: "Very Semi-Serious" began as a dream idea while obsessing over the New Yorker’s back page, the cartoon caption contest. I...
- 6/24/2013
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
This is not in the nature of news but of ruminations. I am still thinking of Bingham, and others who have died too soon in our world of independent film...We all are aware of Donald Krim and of Wouter Barendrecht.
Recently our friend and the director of the documentary To Be Heard -- a wonderful testimonial to the winning spirit of disenfranchised youth in Brooklyn -- Deborah Shaffer also lost her wonderful husband, Larry Bogdanow, a New York architect of restaurant interiors. One of his most enticing and intimate restaurants, Wild Blue, opened on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center in 1999 and was destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001. Deborah continued on, finished the film, got it out into the festivals and short listed for an Academy Award Nomination for Best Documentary this year.
There were also the buyers reps, Richard Glasser and Steve Hirsch who passed from this scene much too early in their lives.
At the risk of becoming morbid, I am using this blog as an open forum, a place to ruminate, not on death, but to take a little more time to remember Bingham whose closeness is affecting me deeply still.
I know people live in circumstances where death and even violent death is all around them (Haiti, Rwanda, Colombia, etc.). I cannot imagine their grief and horror, and I know I am blessed as are all my friends and colleagues to be living in such peaceful circumstances. Still losing friends and family is a painful, if inevitable, process.
Sundance seemed to stop this year with the news of Bingham's death. Anne Thompson also remarked on it; time just took on a whole different aspect. It was difficult sticking to the program though we did the best we could. It seemed to end before it became a festival for me.
My most recent memory and my earliest memory of Bingham are condensed into this moment when I wrote this In Memoriam at Sundance:
Most recently, as I was checking out of my hotel the last day of the Art House Convergence, it was early and most of the participants were going to the panel: Art House Lessons for Today from the Halcyon Days: History Repeats Itself, subtitled Nostalgia for the Bad Old Days, a panel with Jeff Lipsky: October Films co-founder with Bingham, founder and president of the recently established Adopt Films, Art Takes Over, 30-year veteran in the independent film world, internationally known for his expertise in independent film marketing, acquisition and distribution, Richard Abramowitz: President of Abramorama; co-founder of Stratosphere Entertainment; Ira Deutchman of Emerging Pictures and Chair of Columbia University’s Film Program; a founder of Cinecom (and the seed planter of my own Film Finders at that time) who later created Fine Line Features; filmmaker, marketer and distributor of over 150 films since 1975 and Gary Palmucci (whose wife if Nancy Gerstman of Zeitgeist): Vice President of Theatrical Distribution for Kino Lorber, long time Kino regular on the festival circuit with Don Krim who also has passed on much too early.
My roommate at the Convergence, Bernice Baeza of the Lark Theater in Larkspur California, was leaving early and so we were almost alone in the hotel lobby, though Carl Spence of Seattle and Palm Springs Film Festivals was about to go into breakfast, and Richard Abramowitz and someone were in a corner by themselves.
We saw an ambulance draw up and it alarmed us. I realized that whoever had been in the corner was now being strapped to a gurney. I began to run to the ambulance to ask what had happened as I saw Bingham laying there with his feet crossed and a serene smile on his face as if he was saying I'm just going to rest for a while. Richard was by his side and as he saw me become alarmed, he asked me to please be very discrete and not to mention this to anyone. He said Bingham had just fallen and Richard called the ambulance to be sure he was not hurt. I agreed and returned to the lobby and said to Carl, Just forget you saw anything; do not mention this to anyone. He agreed and Bernice and I continued to check out. The woman behind the desk said that he had come to the desk and had forgotten his room number, and then could also not recall his name and his speech was slurred. She said he must have suffered a stroke.
Later Richard kept in touch with me as he stayed on watch. He told me getting Bingham to accept an ambulance had been a typical "Bingham" struggle as Bingham had felt it was unnecessary.
When I first met Bingham he was known as the former manager of the Bleeker Street Theater, a legend to me, a non native New Yorker. I had moved from L.A. to New York and was managing Films Inc/ Pmi's Social Issue Documentary Division, founded by Marge Benton who was also Chairman of the Sundance Institute at the time and active with the Democratic campaign to elect Carter. She felt that such a documentary division would help further the causes she loved and election time was an important time to do so.
All the "guys" in the business were very intimidating at the time: Bingham, John Pierson, Douglas Green, Tom Bernard...and I was struggling to hold my own. Last Berlin, as Bingham and I were talking, he admitted to knowing how intimidating he was and we laughed as I admitted to always wanting to cry after having "conversations" with these guys.
Bingham had grown, he had already had two near-death experiences - one during the London Screenings, when stepping off a curb in London, he was pulled back by Mark Ordesky (my former assistant before going to New Line!) as a car rushed forward towards him (from the "wrong direction"), and the other in an auto acccident in Connecticut. I had written him then about my thoughts in the face of his terrible accident and we became more than mere acquaintances when he thanked me for the note.
Bingham knew the value of life and he lived it fully. His much too early death should remind us all to be mindful of how we are living. I myself almost did not want to take the time to write this; the pressure of working at Sundance was very strong and it would have been easier to work through, but the thoughts of Bingham and our common histories would not let go of me.
He himself was about to start a whole new chapter in his life at the San Francisco Film Society, already marred by the premature death of its beloved director Graham Leggat. This alone should be a reminder to us all that no matter what our age, there is always a new chapter to begin if we live creatively.
We need to take the time to consider how we live in this world we all share, how we treat others, how we build our lives around what are truly the important issues....family, friends, our community, our city, our nation and our planet...and cinema which we all believe can truly change the world.
Bingham is out there now and he will always be a part of our world in whatever form we human beings take after shuffling off our mortal coil.
Recently our friend and the director of the documentary To Be Heard -- a wonderful testimonial to the winning spirit of disenfranchised youth in Brooklyn -- Deborah Shaffer also lost her wonderful husband, Larry Bogdanow, a New York architect of restaurant interiors. One of his most enticing and intimate restaurants, Wild Blue, opened on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center in 1999 and was destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001. Deborah continued on, finished the film, got it out into the festivals and short listed for an Academy Award Nomination for Best Documentary this year.
There were also the buyers reps, Richard Glasser and Steve Hirsch who passed from this scene much too early in their lives.
At the risk of becoming morbid, I am using this blog as an open forum, a place to ruminate, not on death, but to take a little more time to remember Bingham whose closeness is affecting me deeply still.
I know people live in circumstances where death and even violent death is all around them (Haiti, Rwanda, Colombia, etc.). I cannot imagine their grief and horror, and I know I am blessed as are all my friends and colleagues to be living in such peaceful circumstances. Still losing friends and family is a painful, if inevitable, process.
Sundance seemed to stop this year with the news of Bingham's death. Anne Thompson also remarked on it; time just took on a whole different aspect. It was difficult sticking to the program though we did the best we could. It seemed to end before it became a festival for me.
My most recent memory and my earliest memory of Bingham are condensed into this moment when I wrote this In Memoriam at Sundance:
Most recently, as I was checking out of my hotel the last day of the Art House Convergence, it was early and most of the participants were going to the panel: Art House Lessons for Today from the Halcyon Days: History Repeats Itself, subtitled Nostalgia for the Bad Old Days, a panel with Jeff Lipsky: October Films co-founder with Bingham, founder and president of the recently established Adopt Films, Art Takes Over, 30-year veteran in the independent film world, internationally known for his expertise in independent film marketing, acquisition and distribution, Richard Abramowitz: President of Abramorama; co-founder of Stratosphere Entertainment; Ira Deutchman of Emerging Pictures and Chair of Columbia University’s Film Program; a founder of Cinecom (and the seed planter of my own Film Finders at that time) who later created Fine Line Features; filmmaker, marketer and distributor of over 150 films since 1975 and Gary Palmucci (whose wife if Nancy Gerstman of Zeitgeist): Vice President of Theatrical Distribution for Kino Lorber, long time Kino regular on the festival circuit with Don Krim who also has passed on much too early.
My roommate at the Convergence, Bernice Baeza of the Lark Theater in Larkspur California, was leaving early and so we were almost alone in the hotel lobby, though Carl Spence of Seattle and Palm Springs Film Festivals was about to go into breakfast, and Richard Abramowitz and someone were in a corner by themselves.
We saw an ambulance draw up and it alarmed us. I realized that whoever had been in the corner was now being strapped to a gurney. I began to run to the ambulance to ask what had happened as I saw Bingham laying there with his feet crossed and a serene smile on his face as if he was saying I'm just going to rest for a while. Richard was by his side and as he saw me become alarmed, he asked me to please be very discrete and not to mention this to anyone. He said Bingham had just fallen and Richard called the ambulance to be sure he was not hurt. I agreed and returned to the lobby and said to Carl, Just forget you saw anything; do not mention this to anyone. He agreed and Bernice and I continued to check out. The woman behind the desk said that he had come to the desk and had forgotten his room number, and then could also not recall his name and his speech was slurred. She said he must have suffered a stroke.
Later Richard kept in touch with me as he stayed on watch. He told me getting Bingham to accept an ambulance had been a typical "Bingham" struggle as Bingham had felt it was unnecessary.
When I first met Bingham he was known as the former manager of the Bleeker Street Theater, a legend to me, a non native New Yorker. I had moved from L.A. to New York and was managing Films Inc/ Pmi's Social Issue Documentary Division, founded by Marge Benton who was also Chairman of the Sundance Institute at the time and active with the Democratic campaign to elect Carter. She felt that such a documentary division would help further the causes she loved and election time was an important time to do so.
All the "guys" in the business were very intimidating at the time: Bingham, John Pierson, Douglas Green, Tom Bernard...and I was struggling to hold my own. Last Berlin, as Bingham and I were talking, he admitted to knowing how intimidating he was and we laughed as I admitted to always wanting to cry after having "conversations" with these guys.
Bingham had grown, he had already had two near-death experiences - one during the London Screenings, when stepping off a curb in London, he was pulled back by Mark Ordesky (my former assistant before going to New Line!) as a car rushed forward towards him (from the "wrong direction"), and the other in an auto acccident in Connecticut. I had written him then about my thoughts in the face of his terrible accident and we became more than mere acquaintances when he thanked me for the note.
Bingham knew the value of life and he lived it fully. His much too early death should remind us all to be mindful of how we are living. I myself almost did not want to take the time to write this; the pressure of working at Sundance was very strong and it would have been easier to work through, but the thoughts of Bingham and our common histories would not let go of me.
He himself was about to start a whole new chapter in his life at the San Francisco Film Society, already marred by the premature death of its beloved director Graham Leggat. This alone should be a reminder to us all that no matter what our age, there is always a new chapter to begin if we live creatively.
We need to take the time to consider how we live in this world we all share, how we treat others, how we build our lives around what are truly the important issues....family, friends, our community, our city, our nation and our planet...and cinema which we all believe can truly change the world.
Bingham is out there now and he will always be a part of our world in whatever form we human beings take after shuffling off our mortal coil.
- 1/29/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
If you don’t learn how to write your own life story, someone else will write it for you.Can language change our lives? Three Bronx teens balanced on the edge of hardship use their words to try to answer this question in To Be Heard, a feature documentary directed and produced by Roland Legiardi-Laura, Edwin Martinez, Deborah Shaffer, and Amy Sultan. Inspired by three teachers in a radical poetry workshop, teenagers Karina, Pearl and Anthony write their own life stories in which their goals aren’t just dreams.Fresh off a New York ...
- 10/26/2011
- by IDA Editorial Staff
- International Documentary Association
So many movies out and so much to see! Docuweeks is now showing such illuminating docs as Marc Smolowitz's The Power of Two and Directors/Producers: Roland Legiardi-Laura, Edwin Martinez, Deborah Shaffer, Amy Sultan, Exec Producers Jill and Jim Angelo and Sally Jo Fifer's To Be Heard. So many really good docs and all will be eligible for the Academy Award Oscar for Best Doc and Best Doc Short. A Marine Corps cover-up of one of the worst water contamination incidents in Us history, the glaring reality of the media's objectification of women, as well as portraits of assassinated journalist Anna…...
- 8/22/2011
- Sydney's Buzz
“To Be Heard” and “Hot Coffee” win big at Seattle International Film Festival’s awards ceremony today at Seattle’s Space Needle.
See below for the full list of winners and runners-up:
Siff 2011 Competition Awards
Siff 2011 Best New Director
Grand Jury Prize
Gandu, directed by “Q” Kaushik Mukherjee (India, 2010)
Jury Statement: “We chose to give the prize to a movie that bowled us over with its kinetic, brash humor and style-hoping dexterity, a portrait of tortured youth that refreshingly pokes fun at adolescent self-centeredness while simultaneously exploring the anger, despondency and malaise of a generation.”
Siff 2011 Best Documentary
Grand Jury Prize
Hot Coffee, directed by Susan Saladoff (USA, 2011)
Jury Statement: “Going beyond a well-known headline that was the butt of many jokes, Hot Coffee makes dry legal boilerplate spring to life in portraying human dramas with tragic consequences. It makes us all question our simple assumptions – it’s a film that needs to be seen.
See below for the full list of winners and runners-up:
Siff 2011 Competition Awards
Siff 2011 Best New Director
Grand Jury Prize
Gandu, directed by “Q” Kaushik Mukherjee (India, 2010)
Jury Statement: “We chose to give the prize to a movie that bowled us over with its kinetic, brash humor and style-hoping dexterity, a portrait of tortured youth that refreshingly pokes fun at adolescent self-centeredness while simultaneously exploring the anger, despondency and malaise of a generation.”
Siff 2011 Best Documentary
Grand Jury Prize
Hot Coffee, directed by Susan Saladoff (USA, 2011)
Jury Statement: “Going beyond a well-known headline that was the butt of many jokes, Hot Coffee makes dry legal boilerplate spring to life in portraying human dramas with tragic consequences. It makes us all question our simple assumptions – it’s a film that needs to be seen.
- 6/12/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
“To Be Heard” and “Hot Coffee” win big at Seattle International Film Festival’s awards ceremony today at Seattle’s Space Needle.
See below for the full list of winners and runners-up:
Siff 2011 Competition Awards
Siff 2011 Best New Director
Grand Jury Prize
Gandu, directed by “Q” Kaushik Mukherjee (India, 2010)
Jury Statement: “We chose to give the prize to a movie that bowled us over with its kinetic, brash humor and style-hoping dexterity, a portrait of tortured youth that refreshingly pokes fun at adolescent self-centeredness while simultaneously exploring the anger, despondency and malaise of a generation.”
Siff 2011 Best Documentary
Grand Jury Prize
Hot Coffee, directed by Susan Saladoff (USA, 2011)
Jury Statement: “Going beyond a well-known headline that was the butt of many jokes, Hot Coffee makes dry legal boilerplate spring to life in portraying human dramas with tragic consequences. It makes us all question our simple assumptions – it’s a film that needs to be seen.
See below for the full list of winners and runners-up:
Siff 2011 Competition Awards
Siff 2011 Best New Director
Grand Jury Prize
Gandu, directed by “Q” Kaushik Mukherjee (India, 2010)
Jury Statement: “We chose to give the prize to a movie that bowled us over with its kinetic, brash humor and style-hoping dexterity, a portrait of tortured youth that refreshingly pokes fun at adolescent self-centeredness while simultaneously exploring the anger, despondency and malaise of a generation.”
Siff 2011 Best Documentary
Grand Jury Prize
Hot Coffee, directed by Susan Saladoff (USA, 2011)
Jury Statement: “Going beyond a well-known headline that was the butt of many jokes, Hot Coffee makes dry legal boilerplate spring to life in portraying human dramas with tragic consequences. It makes us all question our simple assumptions – it’s a film that needs to be seen.
- 6/12/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
Reviewed by Elliot V. Kotek
(from the 2011 Seattle International Film Festival)
Directed by: Roland Legiardi-Laura, Edwin Martinez, Deborah Shaffer and Amy Sultan
Featuring: Anthony Pittman, Karina Sanchez, Pearl Quick, Roland Legiardi-Laura and Amy Sultan
“To Be Heard” introduces us to three high-school-age New York City poets battling adolescence and their societal situations, each of whom finds solace and strength in the spoken word taught by a program called Power Writers.
The South Bronx trio of teens — Karina, Anthony and Pearl — take the directors and their cameras into their neighborhoods, and into their loves and fears, resulting in a sharing of four years of their lives with the audience. “To Be Heard” amounts not only to an introduction into an important educational and experiential program, but to an experience in viewing at-risk youth graduate in close-up as they tackle their hopes and dreams, their realities and socio-economic confines.
Sometimes bearing witness...
(from the 2011 Seattle International Film Festival)
Directed by: Roland Legiardi-Laura, Edwin Martinez, Deborah Shaffer and Amy Sultan
Featuring: Anthony Pittman, Karina Sanchez, Pearl Quick, Roland Legiardi-Laura and Amy Sultan
“To Be Heard” introduces us to three high-school-age New York City poets battling adolescence and their societal situations, each of whom finds solace and strength in the spoken word taught by a program called Power Writers.
The South Bronx trio of teens — Karina, Anthony and Pearl — take the directors and their cameras into their neighborhoods, and into their loves and fears, resulting in a sharing of four years of their lives with the audience. “To Be Heard” amounts not only to an introduction into an important educational and experiential program, but to an experience in viewing at-risk youth graduate in close-up as they tackle their hopes and dreams, their realities and socio-economic confines.
Sometimes bearing witness...
- 6/12/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
Reviewed by Elliot V. Kotek
(from the 2011 Seattle International Film Festival)
Directed by: Roland Legiardi-Laura, Edwin Martinez, Deborah Shaffer and Amy Sultan
Featuring: Anthony Pittman, Karina Sanchez, Pearl Quick, Roland Legiardi-Laura and Amy Sultan
“To Be Heard” introduces us to three high-school-age New York City poets battling adolescence and their societal situations, each of whom finds solace and strength in the spoken word taught by a program called Power Writers.
The South Bronx trio of teens — Karina, Anthony and Pearl — take the directors and their cameras into their neighborhoods, and into their loves and fears, resulting in a sharing of four years of their lives with the audience. “To Be Heard” amounts not only to an introduction into an important educational and experiential program, but to an experience in viewing at-risk youth graduate in close-up as they tackle their hopes and dreams, their realities and socio-economic confines.
Sometimes bearing witness...
(from the 2011 Seattle International Film Festival)
Directed by: Roland Legiardi-Laura, Edwin Martinez, Deborah Shaffer and Amy Sultan
Featuring: Anthony Pittman, Karina Sanchez, Pearl Quick, Roland Legiardi-Laura and Amy Sultan
“To Be Heard” introduces us to three high-school-age New York City poets battling adolescence and their societal situations, each of whom finds solace and strength in the spoken word taught by a program called Power Writers.
The South Bronx trio of teens — Karina, Anthony and Pearl — take the directors and their cameras into their neighborhoods, and into their loves and fears, resulting in a sharing of four years of their lives with the audience. “To Be Heard” amounts not only to an introduction into an important educational and experiential program, but to an experience in viewing at-risk youth graduate in close-up as they tackle their hopes and dreams, their realities and socio-economic confines.
Sometimes bearing witness...
- 6/12/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
It’s an ugly day outside, so let’s look ahead to some future rainy day distractions, shall we? Today we’ve got the first posters for: To Be Heard, the beat poetry documentary that’s gaining momentum on the film festival circuit, the inevitable sequel Despicable Me 2, and the Sundance hit comedy Our Idiot Brother.
First up is To Be Heard, a passion project created by Amy Sultan, Roland Legiardi-Laura, Edwin Martinez, and Deborah Shaffer. Shot over a four year period, this documentary follows the trials and travails of three teenagers trying to survive their soul-crushing surroundings through the power of spoken word.
[Image courtesy of The Playlist]
Synopsis:
To Be Heard is the story of three teens from the South Bronx whose struggle to change their lives begins when they start to write poetry. As writing and reciting become vehicles for their expressions of love, friendship, frustration, and hope, we watch these three...
First up is To Be Heard, a passion project created by Amy Sultan, Roland Legiardi-Laura, Edwin Martinez, and Deborah Shaffer. Shot over a four year period, this documentary follows the trials and travails of three teenagers trying to survive their soul-crushing surroundings through the power of spoken word.
[Image courtesy of The Playlist]
Synopsis:
To Be Heard is the story of three teens from the South Bronx whose struggle to change their lives begins when they start to write poetry. As writing and reciting become vehicles for their expressions of love, friendship, frustration, and hope, we watch these three...
- 6/11/2011
- by Kristy Puchko
- The Film Stage
One of the most pleasant surprises of the 2010 festival circuit was the beat-poetry verite documentary "To Be Heard," a movie we went into blind and reemerged with intense adoration, calling it "damned genuine" and praising its avoidance in being an overwrought and cliche “inspirational feel good story." Directed by a posse consisting of Amy Sultan, Roland Legiardi-Laura, Edwin Martinez, and Deborah Shaffer, while also being produced by Dialogue Pictures, it follows three Bronx high-schoolers (Anthony, Pearl, and Karina) who struggle with their city life. In order to avoid falling into dangerous lifestyles and pessimistic outlooks, they channel their personal…...
- 6/10/2011
- The Playlist
Doc NYC, New York's Documentary Film Festival, runs November 3-9. We've got an early peek at a few films. If there ever was a film that shouldn't work as well as it does, it's "To Be Heard." Following three Harlem high-schoolers (Anthony, Pearl, and Karina) as they use spoken word/beat poetry to escape their hard-knock life, the movie has "inspirational feel good story" written all over it, and those reading the simple logline are likely to write it off as such. The directors (count'em: Amy Sultan, Roland Legiardi-Laura, Edwin Martinez, and Deborah Shaffer) likely knew this would be the case,…...
- 10/26/2010
- The Playlist
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