Exclusive: The Gotham Film and Media Institute and HBO Documentary Films have set the cohort and mentors for the second edition of their Documentary Development Initiative. Launched in 2022, the initiative was designed for storytellers who identify as Bipoc, LGBTQ+, and/or storytellers with disabilities, the goal being to provide resources to develop thought-provoking, character-driven, contemporary ideas for documentary films and limited series.
This year’s participants are Rolake Bamgbose, Dan Chen, Elizabeth Lo, Andy Sarjahani, Krystal Tingle, and Monica Villamizar. Distinguished creatives serving as mentors will include Anthony Caronna, Zackary Drucker, David France, Dawn Porter, Fernando Villena, and Nanfu Wang.
Taking place throughout the fall of 2024, the second annual program will see selected filmmakers receive grants of $50,000 for research and creative development at an early stage. HBO and The Gotham will provide resources and mentorship to support the development of documentary projects and select grantees will have the opportunity to receive additional funding.
This year’s participants are Rolake Bamgbose, Dan Chen, Elizabeth Lo, Andy Sarjahani, Krystal Tingle, and Monica Villamizar. Distinguished creatives serving as mentors will include Anthony Caronna, Zackary Drucker, David France, Dawn Porter, Fernando Villena, and Nanfu Wang.
Taking place throughout the fall of 2024, the second annual program will see selected filmmakers receive grants of $50,000 for research and creative development at an early stage. HBO and The Gotham will provide resources and mentorship to support the development of documentary projects and select grantees will have the opportunity to receive additional funding.
- 1/9/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
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It’s a big season at the streaming service formerly known as HBO Max. June 2023 marked Max’s first full month as “Max,” after changing its name from HBO Max on May 23, a little over three years after it first launched. (Get a Max 7-day free trial through Prime Video Here.)
So how does Max look so far? So far it looks a lot like HBO Max but...
It’s a big season at the streaming service formerly known as HBO Max. June 2023 marked Max’s first full month as “Max,” after changing its name from HBO Max on May 23, a little over three years after it first launched. (Get a Max 7-day free trial through Prime Video Here.)
So how does Max look so far? So far it looks a lot like HBO Max but...
- 6/30/2023
- by Keith Phipps
- Rollingstone.com
Max announces programming coming to the platform this July, including the debut of the Max Original limited series Full Circle (7/13), from director Steven Soderbergh and writer Ed Solomon, which tells the story of an investigation into a botched kidnapping that uncovers long-held secrets connecting multiple characters and cultures in present day New York City. The six-episode limited series stars Zazie Beetz, Claire Danes, Jim Gaffigan, Jharrel Jerome, Timothy Olyphant, Cch Pounder, Phaldut Sharma, Adia, Sheyi Cole, Gerald Jones, Suzanne Savoy, Ethan Stoddard, Lucian Zanes and Dennis Quaid.
The third and final season of the HBO Original docu-comedy series How To With John Wilson (7/28) follows documentary filmmaker and self-described “anxious New Yorker” John Wilson as he continues his heartfelt mission of self-discovery, exploration, and observation as he films the lives of his fellow New Yorkers while attempting to give everyday advice on six new deceptively simple and wildly random topics. Building upon season two,...
The third and final season of the HBO Original docu-comedy series How To With John Wilson (7/28) follows documentary filmmaker and self-described “anxious New Yorker” John Wilson as he continues his heartfelt mission of self-discovery, exploration, and observation as he films the lives of his fellow New Yorkers while attempting to give everyday advice on six new deceptively simple and wildly random topics. Building upon season two,...
- 6/24/2023
- by TV Shows Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid - TV
Photograph by Courtesy of HBO HBO Original two-part documentary The Golden Boy, directed by award-winning filmmaker Fernando Villena (HBO’s “Dear Rider” and “Any One of Us”), debuts Monday, July 24 (9:00 p.m. Et/Pt), followed by part two on July 25 at the same time on HBO. Both episodes will be available to stream on Max beginning July 24. The Golden Boy will celebrate its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival. By the age of 19, Oscar De La Hoya was an Olympic boxing gold medalist, a multi-world title-winning professional boxer, a hometown hero and a role model to his Mexican-American community in East Los Angeles. Nicknamed “The Golden Boy,” De La Hoya – with his good looks, electric charisma, and heartfelt story of winning Olympic gold for his dying mother — rocketed to national prominence as a superstar both in and outside the ring. But all was not what it appeared to be behind that polished facade.
- 6/9/2023
- by Hollywood Outbreak
- HollywoodOutbreak.com
Boxer Oscar De La Hoya opens up and shares his personal struggles for the first time in HBO’s The Golden Boy. In the first trailer for the two-part documentary, the Olympic gold medalist reveals the last 45 years of his life have been pretty dark, and now he’s ready to address his true emotions and lay out his story without any sugarcoating.
The Golden Boy premieres on HBO on July 24, 2023 at 9pm Et/Pt, followed by part two on July 25.
Fernando Villena directed the documentary and Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson, Archie Gips, Mario Lopez, Jeffrey Stearns, and David Wendell executive produce. Additional executive producers include HBO’s Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, and Bentley Weiner.
The Plot:
By the age of 19, Oscar De La Hoya was an Olympic boxing gold medalist, a multi-world title-winning professional boxer, a hometown hero and a role model to his Mexican-American community in East Los Angeles.
The Golden Boy premieres on HBO on July 24, 2023 at 9pm Et/Pt, followed by part two on July 25.
Fernando Villena directed the documentary and Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson, Archie Gips, Mario Lopez, Jeffrey Stearns, and David Wendell executive produce. Additional executive producers include HBO’s Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, and Bentley Weiner.
The Plot:
By the age of 19, Oscar De La Hoya was an Olympic boxing gold medalist, a multi-world title-winning professional boxer, a hometown hero and a role model to his Mexican-American community in East Los Angeles.
- 6/9/2023
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
HBO Original two-part documentary The Golden Boy, directed by award-winning filmmaker Fernando Villena (HBO’s “Dear Rider” and “Any One of Us”), debuts Monday, July 24 (9:00 p.m. Et/Pt), followed by part two on July 25 at the same time on HBO. Both episodes will be available to stream on Max beginning July 24. The Golden Boy will celebrate its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival.
Synopsis: By the age of 19, Oscar De La Hoya was an Olympic boxing gold medalist, a multi-world title-winning professional boxer, a hometown hero and a role model to his Mexican-American community in East Los Angeles. Nicknamed “The Golden Boy,” De La Hoya – with his good looks, electric charisma, and heartfelt story of winning Olympic gold for his dying mother — rocketed to national prominence as a superstar both in and outside the ring. But all was not what it appeared to be behind that polished facade.
Synopsis: By the age of 19, Oscar De La Hoya was an Olympic boxing gold medalist, a multi-world title-winning professional boxer, a hometown hero and a role model to his Mexican-American community in East Los Angeles. Nicknamed “The Golden Boy,” De La Hoya – with his good looks, electric charisma, and heartfelt story of winning Olympic gold for his dying mother — rocketed to national prominence as a superstar both in and outside the ring. But all was not what it appeared to be behind that polished facade.
- 6/9/2023
- by TV Shows Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid - TV
Documentaries about celebrities are a dime a dozen these days. But docus about celebrities that don’t feel like infomercials and instead are raw, informative, and honest about their star subjects are few and far between. HBO Sports’ and Universal Television Alternative Studio’s two-part docuseries “Golden Boy,” about Oscar De La Hoya, fits into the jaw-droppingly candid, no-holds-bar category.
In the first three minutes of the doc, directed by Fernando Villena, the Olympic boxing gold medalist and multi-world title-winning professional boxer, who is now 50 years old, says, “Everyone thought they knew me. It was just all a lie because that’s what I do.”
In part one of the series executive produced by Mark Wahlberg and Mario Lopez, De La Hoya reveals some of his most spectacular lies and painful childhood traumas. The 77-minute episode also features interviews with members of the boxer’s immediate family, who don’t...
In the first three minutes of the doc, directed by Fernando Villena, the Olympic boxing gold medalist and multi-world title-winning professional boxer, who is now 50 years old, says, “Everyone thought they knew me. It was just all a lie because that’s what I do.”
In part one of the series executive produced by Mark Wahlberg and Mario Lopez, De La Hoya reveals some of his most spectacular lies and painful childhood traumas. The 77-minute episode also features interviews with members of the boxer’s immediate family, who don’t...
- 6/9/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
The man who transformed how people schuss down the slopes in the subject of a new documentary from HBO Sports. Dear Rider: The Jake Burton Story, about snowboarding pioneer Jake Burton, hails from Red Bull Media House and will premiere November 9 on HBO.
Narrated by Woody Harrelson — a close friend of the late Burton, who also was known as Jake Burton Carpenter — the film features interviews with his family, friends and fellow snowboarders, including action sports icons Mark McMorris, Shaun White, and Kelly Clark. Director Fernando Villena’s film also has as a wealth of archival material and home movies. Check out the key art poster below.
Inspired by the Snurfer, a surfboard-inspired strip of wood, Burton created his first snowboard in 1977 as an inexpensive alternative to skiing. From there, he developed increasingly versatile boards while encouraging ski resorts, sponsors and world-class athletes to take up what the media dubbed “the worst new sport.
Narrated by Woody Harrelson — a close friend of the late Burton, who also was known as Jake Burton Carpenter — the film features interviews with his family, friends and fellow snowboarders, including action sports icons Mark McMorris, Shaun White, and Kelly Clark. Director Fernando Villena’s film also has as a wealth of archival material and home movies. Check out the key art poster below.
Inspired by the Snurfer, a surfboard-inspired strip of wood, Burton created his first snowboard in 1977 as an inexpensive alternative to skiing. From there, he developed increasingly versatile boards while encouraging ski resorts, sponsors and world-class athletes to take up what the media dubbed “the worst new sport.
- 10/13/2021
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
“The thing about making a documentary is you’ve gotta be lucky, and anybody who doesn’t tell you that is not telling you the whole truth,” says James D. Stern, the co-director, with Fernando Villena, of the Netflix documentary feature Giving Voice.
The “luckiest” aspects of this film, which intersperses footage of six young contestants in an August Wilson monologue competition with interviews about the late playwright, is that the filmmakers wound up picking six remarkable kids to follow, and also secured the participation of his most celebrated collaborators, Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. (Davis and John Legend are EPs of the film,...
The “luckiest” aspects of this film, which intersperses footage of six young contestants in an August Wilson monologue competition with interviews about the late playwright, is that the filmmakers wound up picking six remarkable kids to follow, and also secured the participation of his most celebrated collaborators, Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. (Davis and John Legend are EPs of the film,...
“The thing about making a documentary is you’ve gotta be lucky, and anybody who doesn’t tell you that is not telling you the whole truth,” says James D. Stern, the co-director, with Fernando Villena, of the Netflix documentary feature Giving Voice.
The “luckiest” aspects of this film, which intersperses footage of six young contestants in an August Wilson monologue competition with interviews about the late playwright, is that the filmmakers wound up picking six remarkable kids to follow, and also secured the participation of his most celebrated collaborators, Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. (Davis and John Legend are EPs of the film,...
The “luckiest” aspects of this film, which intersperses footage of six young contestants in an August Wilson monologue competition with interviews about the late playwright, is that the filmmakers wound up picking six remarkable kids to follow, and also secured the participation of his most celebrated collaborators, Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. (Davis and John Legend are EPs of the film,...
To celebrate the release of Giving Voice, which debuted on Netflix this weekend, we had the pleasure of chatting to one of the young subjects who participated in the August Wilson Monologue Competition.
The words of August Wilson are brought to life by a new generation in Giving Voice, following students in an annual monologue competition inspired by America’s preeminent playwright. One such student was Callie Holley, who we had the pleasure of speaking to about her journey through the competition, how Wilson’s work has continued to inspire her through her studies and inspire generations to come.
A new generation of performers is discovered in “Giving Voice,” which follows the emotional journey of six students as they advance through the high-stakes August Wilson Monologue Competition, an event that celebrates one of America’s preeminent playwrights. Every year, thousands of students from twelve cities across the United States perform...
The words of August Wilson are brought to life by a new generation in Giving Voice, following students in an annual monologue competition inspired by America’s preeminent playwright. One such student was Callie Holley, who we had the pleasure of speaking to about her journey through the competition, how Wilson’s work has continued to inspire her through her studies and inspire generations to come.
A new generation of performers is discovered in “Giving Voice,” which follows the emotional journey of six students as they advance through the high-stakes August Wilson Monologue Competition, an event that celebrates one of America’s preeminent playwrights. Every year, thousands of students from twelve cities across the United States perform...
- 12/14/2020
- by Scott Davis
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
True to its title, “Giving Voice” amplifies the lives and talents of half a dozen high school students from different American cities who aim to be finalists in the national August Wilson monologue competition. Co-directors James D. Stern and Fernando Villena’s inspirational documentary, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival pre-pandemic, chronicles Wilson’s work and how it impacts the lives of these youngsters. Produced by musician John Legend, “Giving Voice” adds marquee value to its six unknowns by including appearances by Oscar winners Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, who co-starred in the 2016 adaptation of his Pulitzer-winning play, “Fences.”
Among the film’s subjects, Nia Sarfo prepares a monologue from “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.” In between her studies, she trains hard in hope of becoming a professional actress. This is the second time around for Freedom Martin, whereas Cody Merridith represents the kid with raw talent. With no formal acting training,...
Among the film’s subjects, Nia Sarfo prepares a monologue from “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.” In between her studies, she trains hard in hope of becoming a professional actress. This is the second time around for Freedom Martin, whereas Cody Merridith represents the kid with raw talent. With no formal acting training,...
- 12/9/2020
- by Valerie Complex
- Variety Film + TV
"You have a lot of labels put on you... and somewhere in there is who you really are." Netflix has unveiled an official trailer for Giving Voice, an award-winning documentary created by producers / filmmakers James D. Stern & Fernando Villena. This premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, where it won an Audience Awards as the Festival Favorite. This film follows the annual August Wilson Monologue competition and the thousands of high schoolers who enter the competition for the opportunity to perform on Broadway. We've featured trailers for a few other doc films about these kind of events, including Don't Be Nice about a poetry slam team. Executive producer Viola Davis, with Fences co-star Denzel Washington, share the impact that Wilson’s timeless artistry and legacy has had on their careers and their hopes for the young people carrying it forward. The film also features the original song "Never Break" from John Legend.
- 11/19/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Exclusive: The killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police galvanized the Black Lives Matter movement, but it was the subsequent viral footage of Jacob Blake shot in the back seven times by a police officer with his children in the back seat in Kenosha, Wisconsin that was the pivot point for the National Basketball Association and its players as they embraced a growing political role that will be felt when record numbers of Black voters show up at polling places tomorrow.
That is the premise of …Like You Never Voted Before, a documentary being shot right now by a group of hoops-connected filmmakers who are following players and team executive and employees going into tomorrow’s Presidential Elections. The NBA is cooperating and numerous of its players are taking part.
The film is produced by Mandalay Sports Media in association with Endgame Entertainment, Wavelength Productions, and Park Pictures. Mike Tollin...
That is the premise of …Like You Never Voted Before, a documentary being shot right now by a group of hoops-connected filmmakers who are following players and team executive and employees going into tomorrow’s Presidential Elections. The NBA is cooperating and numerous of its players are taking part.
The film is produced by Mandalay Sports Media in association with Endgame Entertainment, Wavelength Productions, and Park Pictures. Mike Tollin...
- 11/2/2020
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Netflix has acquired the documentary “Giving Voice” and will release it on the streaming service later this year.
“Giving Voice” won the Sundance Film Festival favorite award, a plaudit that’s selected by audience votes from the 128 features screened at the 2020 event.
Directed by James D. Stern and Fernando Villena, “Giving Voice” follows the lives of six students as they compete against fellow high schoolers from around the country in the August Wilson Monologue Competition in New York City. It features the original song “Never Break” performed by John Legend.
“This is my fifth project with Netflix and nothing thrills me more than to be able to bring ‘Giving Voice’ to a place that I consider home,” Stern said.
The movie was produced by Endgame Entertainment and Pilgrim Media Group Production, in association with Endeavor Content, Impact Partners, Get Lifted Film Co and JuVee Productions. Stern and Villena also produced the film,...
“Giving Voice” won the Sundance Film Festival favorite award, a plaudit that’s selected by audience votes from the 128 features screened at the 2020 event.
Directed by James D. Stern and Fernando Villena, “Giving Voice” follows the lives of six students as they compete against fellow high schoolers from around the country in the August Wilson Monologue Competition in New York City. It features the original song “Never Break” performed by John Legend.
“This is my fifth project with Netflix and nothing thrills me more than to be able to bring ‘Giving Voice’ to a place that I consider home,” Stern said.
The movie was produced by Endgame Entertainment and Pilgrim Media Group Production, in association with Endeavor Content, Impact Partners, Get Lifted Film Co and JuVee Productions. Stern and Villena also produced the film,...
- 6/18/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Netflix has acquired the worldwide rights to “Giving Voice,” a documentary about the August Wilson Monologue Competition that won the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
“Giving Voice” is directed by James D. Stern and Fernando Villena and follows six students as they advance through the monologue competition, which highlights the work of the playwright behind “Fences” and “The Piano Lesson” and allows winners the chance to perform at the August Wilson Theater on Broadway.
The documentary specifically looks at students from public schools pursuing careers in performance arts, and it uses Wilson’s words to focus on the black experience in America and how words and voices can be ignited to inspire change. Netflix plans to release “Giving Voice” later this year.
Also Read: Watch Dave Chappelle Respond to George Floyd's Death in Surprise Netflix Special '8:46' (Video)
“This is my fifth project...
“Giving Voice” is directed by James D. Stern and Fernando Villena and follows six students as they advance through the monologue competition, which highlights the work of the playwright behind “Fences” and “The Piano Lesson” and allows winners the chance to perform at the August Wilson Theater on Broadway.
The documentary specifically looks at students from public schools pursuing careers in performance arts, and it uses Wilson’s words to focus on the black experience in America and how words and voices can be ignited to inspire change. Netflix plans to release “Giving Voice” later this year.
Also Read: Watch Dave Chappelle Respond to George Floyd's Death in Surprise Netflix Special '8:46' (Video)
“This is my fifth project...
- 6/18/2020
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Netflix has secured the right to Giving Voice, the James D. Stern and Fernando Villena-directed documentary which earned the Festival Favorite Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
The pic, which will be released in the streamer later this year, surrounds a new generation of performers and follows the emotional journey of six students as they advance through the high-stakes August Wilson Monologue Competition, an event that highlights the work of one of America’s preeminent playwrights. The national event brings Wilson’s work to public school students pursuing careers in the performance arts. The students who commit to the demanding and rewarding competition process are encouraged to explore themselves and the world around them through the monologues from Wilson’s century cycle of ten plays focused on the Black experience in America.
It also features an original song, Never Break, performed by John Legend and written Legend,...
The pic, which will be released in the streamer later this year, surrounds a new generation of performers and follows the emotional journey of six students as they advance through the high-stakes August Wilson Monologue Competition, an event that highlights the work of one of America’s preeminent playwrights. The national event brings Wilson’s work to public school students pursuing careers in the performance arts. The students who commit to the demanding and rewarding competition process are encouraged to explore themselves and the world around them through the monologues from Wilson’s century cycle of ten plays focused on the Black experience in America.
It also features an original song, Never Break, performed by John Legend and written Legend,...
- 6/18/2020
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Netflix has taken the worldwide rights to Giving Voice, the Sundance Audience Award winner.
Directed by James D. Stern and Fernando Villena, Giving Voice follows six students as they compete against fellow high schoolers in the August Wilson Monologue Competition in New York City for the opportunity to perform at the August Wilson Theater on Broadway. The competition has students explore themselves and the world around them through monologues from playwright August Wilson’s cycle of ten plays focused on the Black experience in America.
The streaming giant will release the documentary later this year.
Meanwhile, the film adaptation of ...
Directed by James D. Stern and Fernando Villena, Giving Voice follows six students as they compete against fellow high schoolers in the August Wilson Monologue Competition in New York City for the opportunity to perform at the August Wilson Theater on Broadway. The competition has students explore themselves and the world around them through monologues from playwright August Wilson’s cycle of ten plays focused on the Black experience in America.
The streaming giant will release the documentary later this year.
Meanwhile, the film adaptation of ...
- 6/18/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Netflix has taken the worldwide rights to Giving Voice, the Sundance Audience Award winner.
Directed by James D. Stern and Fernando Villena, Giving Voice follows six students as they compete against fellow high schoolers in the August Wilson Monologue Competition in New York City for the opportunity to perform at the August Wilson Theater on Broadway. The competition has students explore themselves and the world around them through monologues from playwright August Wilson’s cycle of ten plays focused on the Black experience in America.
The streaming giant will release the documentary later this year.
Meanwhile, the film adaptation of ...
Directed by James D. Stern and Fernando Villena, Giving Voice follows six students as they compete against fellow high schoolers in the August Wilson Monologue Competition in New York City for the opportunity to perform at the August Wilson Theater on Broadway. The competition has students explore themselves and the world around them through monologues from playwright August Wilson’s cycle of ten plays focused on the Black experience in America.
The streaming giant will release the documentary later this year.
Meanwhile, the film adaptation of ...
- 6/18/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“Giving Voice” has won the Festival Favorite Award, selected by audience votes from the 128 features screened at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
Sundance Institute made the announcement Tuesday, noting that “Boys State” and “On The Record” were the runner-ups for the award. Others in contention were “Binti,” “Crip Camp,” “The Fight,” “The Reason I Jump,” “Softie,” “Uncle Frank,” and “Welcome to Chechnya.
“Giving Voice,” directed by James D. Stern and Fernando Villena, follows the lives of six students as they compete against fellow high schoolers from around the country in the August Wilson Monologue Competition in New York City. The film was produced by Stern and Villena along with Karen Bove, Schoen Smith and Craig Piligian.
“This film is a compelling and inspiring portrait of six remarkable young people as they discover their power,” said John Cooper, director of the festival. “We’re thrilled that it resonated with audiences at this...
Sundance Institute made the announcement Tuesday, noting that “Boys State” and “On The Record” were the runner-ups for the award. Others in contention were “Binti,” “Crip Camp,” “The Fight,” “The Reason I Jump,” “Softie,” “Uncle Frank,” and “Welcome to Chechnya.
“Giving Voice,” directed by James D. Stern and Fernando Villena, follows the lives of six students as they compete against fellow high schoolers from around the country in the August Wilson Monologue Competition in New York City. The film was produced by Stern and Villena along with Karen Bove, Schoen Smith and Craig Piligian.
“This film is a compelling and inspiring portrait of six remarkable young people as they discover their power,” said John Cooper, director of the festival. “We’re thrilled that it resonated with audiences at this...
- 2/4/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Giving Voice, the film from James D. Stern and Fernando Villena that had bowed in the Documentary Features section at the Sundance Film Festival, has won the event’s Festival Favorite Award. The honor, separate from the juried and audience awards handed out Saturday as the festival wrapped its 2020 edition, is selected by audience votes from the 128 features screened in Park City this year.
The festival said runners-up for the Festival Favorite Award were On the Record, Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering’s documentary about the female accusers of media mogul Russell Simmons, and Boys State, Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine’s pic that follows a social experiment in which a thousand 17-year-old boys from Texas join to build a representative government from the ground up.
Boys State won the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Documentary section on Saturday night.
Giving Voice follows the lives of six students...
The festival said runners-up for the Festival Favorite Award were On the Record, Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering’s documentary about the female accusers of media mogul Russell Simmons, and Boys State, Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine’s pic that follows a social experiment in which a thousand 17-year-old boys from Texas join to build a representative government from the ground up.
Boys State won the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Documentary section on Saturday night.
Giving Voice follows the lives of six students...
- 2/4/2020
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Every year, thousands of high school students from all over the country gather in New York City to recite a monologue from the works of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson as part of a Broadway competition. Wilson’s existing 10 plays each take place during a distinct decade in the twentieth century, drawing from the African American experience. Directors James D. Stern and Fernando Villena closely follow a handful of the competing students in Giving Voice, watching them grapple with their own forming perspectives on their lived realities. Cinematographer Jonathan Narducci briefly speaks about the experience of shooting verité. Filmmaker: How […]...
- 1/27/2020
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Every year, thousands of high school students from all over the country gather in New York City to recite a monologue from the works of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson as part of a Broadway competition. Wilson’s existing 10 plays each take place during a distinct decade in the twentieth century, drawing from the African American experience. Directors James D. Stern and Fernando Villena closely follow a handful of the competing students in Giving Voice, watching them grapple with their own forming perspectives on their lived realities. Cinematographer Jonathan Narducci briefly speaks about the experience of shooting verité. Filmmaker: How […]...
- 1/27/2020
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
August Wilson, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of “Fences,” “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” and more, is one of America’s preeminent playwrights, chronicling the African-American experience with 10 plays, set in different decades of the 20th century. Now, every year, thousands of high-school students from across the country gather on Broadway, in New York City, to perform one of his monologues in an exciting, high-stakes competition.
Premiering at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, the feature documentary, “Giving Voice,” closely follows the lives of six of the students as they meticulously workshop their individual performances, with the hopes of embodying Wilson’s legacy. The Monologue Competition was featured in the 2012 documentary “The Start of Dreams”, directed by the Horne Brothers, and it told the story of Tony Award-nominated director Kenny Leon, and his efforts to use his celebrity to expose kids across the country to the world of theater. It was also featured...
Premiering at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, the feature documentary, “Giving Voice,” closely follows the lives of six of the students as they meticulously workshop their individual performances, with the hopes of embodying Wilson’s legacy. The Monologue Competition was featured in the 2012 documentary “The Start of Dreams”, directed by the Horne Brothers, and it told the story of Tony Award-nominated director Kenny Leon, and his efforts to use his celebrity to expose kids across the country to the world of theater. It was also featured...
- 1/25/2020
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
At this year’s Sundance Film Festival four documentaries spotlight adolescents who inspire change while also holding a mirror up to a society that provoked their pain and path to resistance.
In Kim Snyder’s “Us Kids” the director focuses her lens on a handful of teenagers who survived the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Parkland, Fla. which claimed 17 lives. The docu examines the lasting trauma of gun violence while also chronicling determined young survivors who speak out against the national gun-violence epidemic and develop the March For Our Lives movement.
Snyder, who directed the 2016 doc “Newtown” about Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, as well as the 2018 nonfiction short “Notes from Dunblane: Lesson from a School Shooting,” had no intention of making another film about gun violence.
“I was very weirdly and karmically in Florida the week of the (Parkland) shooting,” recalls Snyder. “Within days...
In Kim Snyder’s “Us Kids” the director focuses her lens on a handful of teenagers who survived the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Parkland, Fla. which claimed 17 lives. The docu examines the lasting trauma of gun violence while also chronicling determined young survivors who speak out against the national gun-violence epidemic and develop the March For Our Lives movement.
Snyder, who directed the 2016 doc “Newtown” about Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, as well as the 2018 nonfiction short “Notes from Dunblane: Lesson from a School Shooting,” had no intention of making another film about gun violence.
“I was very weirdly and karmically in Florida the week of the (Parkland) shooting,” recalls Snyder. “Within days...
- 1/24/2020
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
HBO Sports has picked up SXSW doc Any One Of Us, produced by Red Bull Films, which chronicles pro mountain biker Paul Basagoitia’s journey to recovery after a devastating spinal cord injury.
The feature marks the first partnership between HBO Sports and Red Bull Films. Directed by Fernando Villena, it also features a host of spinal cord injury survivors.
The film will debut on October 29 on HBO it was announced today by Peter Nelson, Executive Vice President, HBO Sports. Pic is produced by Ben Bryan and Nate Nash; executive producers are Scott Bradfield, Charlie Rosene, Jim Sayer, Paul Basagoitia, Aaron Lutze and Werner Brell; for HBO, executive producers are Peter Nelson and Rick Bernstein.
“Any One Of Us is an incredibly raw, emotional, and impactful film,” said Nelson. “Paul’s story is unforgettable, and an extraordinary case study of what Sci survivors deal with on a daily basis as...
The feature marks the first partnership between HBO Sports and Red Bull Films. Directed by Fernando Villena, it also features a host of spinal cord injury survivors.
The film will debut on October 29 on HBO it was announced today by Peter Nelson, Executive Vice President, HBO Sports. Pic is produced by Ben Bryan and Nate Nash; executive producers are Scott Bradfield, Charlie Rosene, Jim Sayer, Paul Basagoitia, Aaron Lutze and Werner Brell; for HBO, executive producers are Peter Nelson and Rick Bernstein.
“Any One Of Us is an incredibly raw, emotional, and impactful film,” said Nelson. “Paul’s story is unforgettable, and an extraordinary case study of what Sci survivors deal with on a daily basis as...
- 9/19/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Chicago – Welcome to cinematic hell. Some films are torturous purely because of their predictability or poor quality. “Gamer,” the latest ambitious effort from “Crank” creators Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, is blatantly visceral torture aimed directly at a moviegoer’s eyes and ears. It’s nearly impossible to watch the film’s opening minutes without feeling the instinctual need to switch it off.
This is a detestable example of filmmakers wanting their blood-spattered cake and eating it too. Combining the formulas of two recent flops, “Death Race” and “Surrogates,” the film takes place in a dismally dark future populated by people who participate in multiplayer games where the main goal is to blow stuff up (sounds a whole lot like the present). Here’s the twist: players are actually controlling the minds of human prisoners forced to wage battle like suicidal marionettes. After surviving thirty battles, the prisoners are promised to be set free.
This is a detestable example of filmmakers wanting their blood-spattered cake and eating it too. Combining the formulas of two recent flops, “Death Race” and “Surrogates,” the film takes place in a dismally dark future populated by people who participate in multiplayer games where the main goal is to blow stuff up (sounds a whole lot like the present). Here’s the twist: players are actually controlling the minds of human prisoners forced to wage battle like suicidal marionettes. After surviving thirty battles, the prisoners are promised to be set free.
- 1/25/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
A veteran of film and TV trailers and music videos, Doobie White is the editor (along with Peter Amundson and Fernando Villena) of the new action-thriller Gamer and worked on the film's digital effects at his post-production facility, Therapy. He also served double duty on the new documentary Transcendent Man (which premiered at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival), a film that he both edited and executive produced. Just before Gamer's release, Mm spoke with White about the thrill of editing action movies.
- 9/3/2009
- MovieMaker.com
A veteran of film and TV trailers and music videos, Doobie White is the editor (along with Peter Amundson and Fernando Villena) of the new action-thriller Gamer and worked on the film's digital effects at his post-production facility, Therapy. He also served double duty on the new documentary Transcendent Man (which premiered at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival), a film that he both edited and executive produced. Just before Gamer's release, Mm spoke with White about the thrill of editing action movies.
- 9/3/2009
- MovieMaker.com
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- Battle in Seattle is a dramatic freeze-frame of five days in 1999 when tens of thousands of activists took to the streets of Seattle and virtually shut down a meeting of the World Trade Organization in protest of globalization and environmental damage by multinational conglomerates and powerful governments. The film is something of a rarity for an American political film. While it makes no bones about where its sympathies lie, these fictional stories show a genuine fascination with the role politics plays on both sides of such confrontations and how things can spin out of control with no single person to blame.
Naturally, the film was made by a foreigner, Irish actor Stuart Townsend, who makes a remarkably confident writing and directorial debut. Political movies are always iffy at the boxoffice, but the time may be ripe this film: Mainstream concern over these issues today has caught up with the 1999 protest. And the weave of multiple storylines with an ensemble cast, not unlike Bobby or Crash, gives the film an immediacy that could attract concerned adult audiences.
Indeed the Hollywood shorthand for Battle in Seattle could be Bobby meets Medium Cool. Townsend and his team smoothly integrate archival news footage into stories of protestors, police, government officials, innocent bystanders and news people who experience five rough days in the final moments of the millennium.
First the activists come into focus. An amusing and prophetic opening sequence introduces one leader, Jay (Martin Henderson), as he rescues attractive tough girl Lou (Michelle Rodriguez), as the two dangle perilously from a crane to hang an anti-WTO sign. Soon everyone will be performing a high-wire act.
Jay and his good friend Django (Andre Benjamin, aka Andre 3000 from Outkast) have spent months preparing for this conference to insure the protest is peaceful and successful in shutting down the conference.
Mayor Jim Tobin (Ray Liotta) -- a fictional stand-in for Paul Schell who was mayor at the time -- is equally concerned with the first goal. A former Vietnam protestor himself, Tobin wants to give a legitimate arena to free speech so long as no one gets hurt. But his police chief is wary.
Among the police on duty, Dale (Woody Harrelson) is preoccupied with the pregnancy of wife Ella (Charlize Theron). He barely notices the rah-rah bloodlust of fellow cops such as the hardhead Johnson (Channing Tatum).
On Day One, organizers outsmart Seattle's containment plan. Protestors, some dressed as endangered animals, jammed key intersections downtown, trapping delegates in hotel rooms and causing the cancellation of opening ceremonies. Then anarchists take over, destroying property and hijacking the protest from its peaceful organizers.
On the second day, calls from the police chief, White House and an impatient governor overrule the mayor's best judgment. Police in riot gear respond to crowds with tear gas, pepper spray and brutal tactics. Later, the National Guard is called in, forcing news reporter Jean Asbury (Connie Nielsen) to switch from covering key issues such as delegate Dr. Maric's (Rade Sherbedzija) campaign for low-cost medicine in developing countries to covering what is essentially a police riot.
This is not the film's only terrible irony. The most horrific moment comes this second day when Ella gets caught in the riot and one of her husband's fellow officers throws a contemptuous baton into her stomach, causing a bloody miscarriage. This triggers a fierce reaction by Dale the next day against a taunting protestor, who is Jay.
Hundreds swept from the streets wind up in jail, creating a dilemma for the mayor, who understands that worldwide news coverage and the sheer impossibility of sending each and every case to court have tied his hands. There is no way to save face.
The personal stories -- Jay and Lou's romance that falters on the barricades, Dale and Ella's tragedy, the mayor's predicament and Jay's own dicey legal status when he lands in jail -- are caught only in snatches and suffer from occasional contrivances. Yet they do humanize the conflict and raise the stakes all around. The film may not have the knockout energy of Paul Greengrass' docudrama Bloody Sunday, but it doesn't have the superficiality of Bobby either.
Townsend has a good grasp of what happened in Seattle and how to convey these events in personal stories. He catches people under enormous stress that brings out the best and sometime the worst in them. Tempers flare, belligerence rules and physical and emotional pain ensues.
The 1999 issues on display have not gone away. If anything, things are much worse. Another Seattle may not happen because governments have learned how to better prepare. But public anger, corporate greed and worldwide unrest continue unabated. Battle in Seattle catches the opening skirmish.
BATTLE IN SEATTLE
A Hyde Park Films presentation of an Insight Studios/Remstar production in association with Proud Mary Entertainment and Redwood Palm Pictures
Credits:
Writer/director: Stuart Townsend
Producers: Mary Aloe, Kirk Shaw, Maxime Remillard, Stuart Townsend
Executive producers: Julien Remillard, Ashok Amritraj, Vanessa Pereira
Director of photography: Barry Ackroyd
Production designer: Chris August
Costume designer: Andrea Des Roches
Music: One Point Six
Editor: Fernando Villena
Cast:
Ella: Charlize Theron
Dale: Woody Harrelson
Mayor Jim Tobin: Ray Liotta
Jay: Martin Henderson
Lou: Michelle Rodriguez
Dr. Maric: Rade Sherbedzija
Django: Andre Benjamin
Jean: Connie Nielsen
Abasi: Isaach de Bankole
Johnson: Channing Tatum
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
TORONTO -- Battle in Seattle is a dramatic freeze-frame of five days in 1999 when tens of thousands of activists took to the streets of Seattle and virtually shut down a meeting of the World Trade Organization in protest of globalization and environmental damage by multinational conglomerates and powerful governments. The film is something of a rarity for an American political film. While it makes no bones about where its sympathies lie, these fictional stories show a genuine fascination with the role politics plays on both sides of such confrontations and how things can spin out of control with no single person to blame.
Naturally, the film was made by a foreigner, Irish actor Stuart Townsend, who makes a remarkably confident writing and directorial debut. Political movies are always iffy at the boxoffice, but the time may be ripe this film: Mainstream concern over these issues today has caught up with the 1999 protest. And the weave of multiple storylines with an ensemble cast, not unlike Bobby or Crash, gives the film an immediacy that could attract concerned adult audiences.
Indeed the Hollywood shorthand for Battle in Seattle could be Bobby meets Medium Cool. Townsend and his team smoothly integrate archival news footage into stories of protestors, police, government officials, innocent bystanders and news people who experience five rough days in the final moments of the millennium.
First the activists come into focus. An amusing and prophetic opening sequence introduces one leader, Jay (Martin Henderson), as he rescues attractive tough girl Lou (Michelle Rodriguez), as the two dangle perilously from a crane to hang an anti-WTO sign. Soon everyone will be performing a high-wire act.
Jay and his good friend Django (Andre Benjamin, aka Andre 3000 from Outkast) have spent months preparing for this conference to insure the protest is peaceful and successful in shutting down the conference.
Mayor Jim Tobin (Ray Liotta) -- a fictional stand-in for Paul Schell who was mayor at the time -- is equally concerned with the first goal. A former Vietnam protestor himself, Tobin wants to give a legitimate arena to free speech so long as no one gets hurt. But his police chief is wary.
Among the police on duty, Dale (Woody Harrelson) is preoccupied with the pregnancy of wife Ella (Charlize Theron). He barely notices the rah-rah bloodlust of fellow cops such as the hardhead Johnson (Channing Tatum).
On Day One, organizers outsmart Seattle's containment plan. Protestors, some dressed as endangered animals, jammed key intersections downtown, trapping delegates in hotel rooms and causing the cancellation of opening ceremonies. Then anarchists take over, destroying property and hijacking the protest from its peaceful organizers.
On the second day, calls from the police chief, White House and an impatient governor overrule the mayor's best judgment. Police in riot gear respond to crowds with tear gas, pepper spray and brutal tactics. Later, the National Guard is called in, forcing news reporter Jean Asbury (Connie Nielsen) to switch from covering key issues such as delegate Dr. Maric's (Rade Sherbedzija) campaign for low-cost medicine in developing countries to covering what is essentially a police riot.
This is not the film's only terrible irony. The most horrific moment comes this second day when Ella gets caught in the riot and one of her husband's fellow officers throws a contemptuous baton into her stomach, causing a bloody miscarriage. This triggers a fierce reaction by Dale the next day against a taunting protestor, who is Jay.
Hundreds swept from the streets wind up in jail, creating a dilemma for the mayor, who understands that worldwide news coverage and the sheer impossibility of sending each and every case to court have tied his hands. There is no way to save face.
The personal stories -- Jay and Lou's romance that falters on the barricades, Dale and Ella's tragedy, the mayor's predicament and Jay's own dicey legal status when he lands in jail -- are caught only in snatches and suffer from occasional contrivances. Yet they do humanize the conflict and raise the stakes all around. The film may not have the knockout energy of Paul Greengrass' docudrama Bloody Sunday, but it doesn't have the superficiality of Bobby either.
Townsend has a good grasp of what happened in Seattle and how to convey these events in personal stories. He catches people under enormous stress that brings out the best and sometime the worst in them. Tempers flare, belligerence rules and physical and emotional pain ensues.
The 1999 issues on display have not gone away. If anything, things are much worse. Another Seattle may not happen because governments have learned how to better prepare. But public anger, corporate greed and worldwide unrest continue unabated. Battle in Seattle catches the opening skirmish.
BATTLE IN SEATTLE
A Hyde Park Films presentation of an Insight Studios/Remstar production in association with Proud Mary Entertainment and Redwood Palm Pictures
Credits:
Writer/director: Stuart Townsend
Producers: Mary Aloe, Kirk Shaw, Maxime Remillard, Stuart Townsend
Executive producers: Julien Remillard, Ashok Amritraj, Vanessa Pereira
Director of photography: Barry Ackroyd
Production designer: Chris August
Costume designer: Andrea Des Roches
Music: One Point Six
Editor: Fernando Villena
Cast:
Ella: Charlize Theron
Dale: Woody Harrelson
Mayor Jim Tobin: Ray Liotta
Jay: Martin Henderson
Lou: Michelle Rodriguez
Dr. Maric: Rade Sherbedzija
Django: Andre Benjamin
Jean: Connie Nielsen
Abasi: Isaach de Bankole
Johnson: Channing Tatum
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 9/14/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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