Two films expected to be in the awards hunt as the year progresses will screen in tandem at a special one-night only film festival in Tulsa, Ok.
Sugarcane, directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, and Look Into My Eyes, directed by Lana Wilson, will play back to back on Saturday at the inaugural Tulsa Hot Doks. The film festival is a joint undertaking by the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in Arkansas and the Circle Cinema in Tulsa.
Sugarcane, winner of the directing prize for U.S. documentary at Sundance, “explores the investigation of unmarked graves at an Indian residential school in Canada, unearthing secrets above and below the ground and igniting a reckoning in the lives of survivors and their descendants.” Among those descendants is NoiseCat himself.
The critically acclaimed Look Into My Eyes held its U.S. premiere at Sundance and international premiere at Cph:dox in Copenhagen.
Sugarcane, directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, and Look Into My Eyes, directed by Lana Wilson, will play back to back on Saturday at the inaugural Tulsa Hot Doks. The film festival is a joint undertaking by the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in Arkansas and the Circle Cinema in Tulsa.
Sugarcane, winner of the directing prize for U.S. documentary at Sundance, “explores the investigation of unmarked graves at an Indian residential school in Canada, unearthing secrets above and below the ground and igniting a reckoning in the lives of survivors and their descendants.” Among those descendants is NoiseCat himself.
The critically acclaimed Look Into My Eyes held its U.S. premiere at Sundance and international premiere at Cph:dox in Copenhagen.
- 5/18/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
DC/Dox has unveiled the lineup for its second annual edition, which takes place in Washington, D.C., from June 13-16. The documentary festival will kick things off with “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story,” the Warner Bros. Discovery film that premiered at Sundance earlier this year.
The second edition of the fest includes 51 features and 47 shorts from 17 countries. That’s up from last year’s state of 31 features and 21 shorts from eight countries. This year’s lineup is made of 60% of filmmakers identifying as women or non-binary. Films will screen at venues including Smithsonian’s Museum of American History, the Burke Theatre at the U.S. Navy Memorial, and the National Archives.
“The films on the 2024 slate highlight the remarkable breadth and depth of documentary storytelling today,” says DC/Dox co-founder and festival director Sky Sitney. “From filmmakers around the world, these works recalibrate the past through archival footage, immerse themselves...
The second edition of the fest includes 51 features and 47 shorts from 17 countries. That’s up from last year’s state of 31 features and 21 shorts from eight countries. This year’s lineup is made of 60% of filmmakers identifying as women or non-binary. Films will screen at venues including Smithsonian’s Museum of American History, the Burke Theatre at the U.S. Navy Memorial, and the National Archives.
“The films on the 2024 slate highlight the remarkable breadth and depth of documentary storytelling today,” says DC/Dox co-founder and festival director Sky Sitney. “From filmmakers around the world, these works recalibrate the past through archival footage, immerse themselves...
- 5/1/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Cinetic Media has signed New York-based documentary filmmaker Contessa Gayles for management across all media.
Most recently, Gayles took to SXSW with her film Songs from the Hole, which garnered strong reviews and won the festival’s Visions Audience Award. Described as a documentary visual album, pic follows musician James “JJ’88” Jacobs as he writes about his innermost struggles while serving a double life sentence.
Up next for Gayles is the Tribeca Festival debut of her documentary The Debutantes, made in collaboration with NBC News Studios, Westbrook Studios, and BET Studios. Through personal video diaries and dance, the doc watches as teens Amelia, Dedra, and Teylar navigate identity and gender norms while pursuing dreams of college, medicine or business.
Gayles’ documentary short, Founder Girls, exec produced by Queen Latifah, premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Festival and was broadcast on BET. Previously, she was a producer at CNN, where she created,...
Most recently, Gayles took to SXSW with her film Songs from the Hole, which garnered strong reviews and won the festival’s Visions Audience Award. Described as a documentary visual album, pic follows musician James “JJ’88” Jacobs as he writes about his innermost struggles while serving a double life sentence.
Up next for Gayles is the Tribeca Festival debut of her documentary The Debutantes, made in collaboration with NBC News Studios, Westbrook Studios, and BET Studios. Through personal video diaries and dance, the doc watches as teens Amelia, Dedra, and Teylar navigate identity and gender norms while pursuing dreams of college, medicine or business.
Gayles’ documentary short, Founder Girls, exec produced by Queen Latifah, premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Festival and was broadcast on BET. Previously, she was a producer at CNN, where she created,...
- 4/22/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
April 3 marked one year since Brooke Shields released her bombshell documentary Brooke Shields: Pretty Baby. The documentary took a look at Brooke’s experience as a young actress in Hollywood and her journey into becoming a woman with her own voice in the industry. Part of the doc also revealed how she was the victim of sexual assault. Keep reading to see what she shared.
Looking Back On Brooke Shields’ Docuseries
Pretty Baby addressed a lot of the sexualization Brooke Shields was subjected to as a young actress in Hollywood. She grew up in the spotlight, with some of her first jobs starting when she was an infant. The 1977 film Pretty Baby, which the documentary is named after, essentially globalized the sexualization of the child star.
YouTube/ABC News
People were floored at the revelations that Shields made in the two-part series. She also opened up, for the first time,...
Looking Back On Brooke Shields’ Docuseries
Pretty Baby addressed a lot of the sexualization Brooke Shields was subjected to as a young actress in Hollywood. She grew up in the spotlight, with some of her first jobs starting when she was an infant. The 1977 film Pretty Baby, which the documentary is named after, essentially globalized the sexualization of the child star.
YouTube/ABC News
People were floored at the revelations that Shields made in the two-part series. She also opened up, for the first time,...
- 4/4/2024
- by Amanda Blankenship
- TV Shows Ace
Chris Smith’s “Devo” will open the ninth edition of Chicago’s Doc10 documentary film festival on May 2.
The film, which premiered at Sundance 2024, charts the life of the art-movement-turned-band Devo from Akron, Ohio, through archival footage of the band and candid sit-down interviews with band members. Smith follows the band on their journey from Dadaist, Kent State radicals to unlikely icons of 1980s MTV. Currently celebrating their 50 years of De-Evolution Tour, Devo band members will join Doc10 in a live, virtual Q&a moderated by Wxrt’s Marty Lennartz.
Doc10, a four-day fest running May 2-5, features a selection of 10 documentaries making their Chicago premieres along with a package of 10 prestigious documentary shorts. The fest is hosted by Chicago Media Project, a company that has generated more than $8.5 million in funding for documentary projects. Cmp has directly supported over 150 films including “Icarus,” “Crip Camp” and most recently “Gaucho, Gaucho,...
The film, which premiered at Sundance 2024, charts the life of the art-movement-turned-band Devo from Akron, Ohio, through archival footage of the band and candid sit-down interviews with band members. Smith follows the band on their journey from Dadaist, Kent State radicals to unlikely icons of 1980s MTV. Currently celebrating their 50 years of De-Evolution Tour, Devo band members will join Doc10 in a live, virtual Q&a moderated by Wxrt’s Marty Lennartz.
Doc10, a four-day fest running May 2-5, features a selection of 10 documentaries making their Chicago premieres along with a package of 10 prestigious documentary shorts. The fest is hosted by Chicago Media Project, a company that has generated more than $8.5 million in funding for documentary projects. Cmp has directly supported over 150 films including “Icarus,” “Crip Camp” and most recently “Gaucho, Gaucho,...
- 4/3/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: In a competitive situation, Cinetic Media has signed Aaron Schimberg and Vanessa McDonnell, the filmmaker and producer behind the darkly comedic psychological thriller A Different Man, for management across all media.
World premiering at Sundance 2024 before going on to play Berlin, the conversation starter from A24 stars an unrecognizable Sebastian Stan as Edward, an aspiring actor who undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance. Edward’s new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare, as he loses out on the role he was born to play and becomes obsessed with reclaiming what was lost.
Schimberg wrote and directed the pic, which next week opens Film at Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art’s New Directors/New Films. Also starring Adam Pearson and The Worst Person in the World breakout Renate Reinsve, in her American debut, the film is produced by Christine Vachon, McDonnell, and Gabriel Mayers.
World premiering at Sundance 2024 before going on to play Berlin, the conversation starter from A24 stars an unrecognizable Sebastian Stan as Edward, an aspiring actor who undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance. Edward’s new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare, as he loses out on the role he was born to play and becomes obsessed with reclaiming what was lost.
Schimberg wrote and directed the pic, which next week opens Film at Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art’s New Directors/New Films. Also starring Adam Pearson and The Worst Person in the World breakout Renate Reinsve, in her American debut, the film is produced by Christine Vachon, McDonnell, and Gabriel Mayers.
- 4/1/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
The psychics in Look Into My Eyes claim to communicate with the departed, passing messages to their loved ones among the living. Whether that’s true or not must remain a matter of speculation, but one thing can be said with certainty: the documentary has passed into another world – from the snows of Sundance to the edges of the Øresund in Copenhagen.
Director Lana Wilson brought her film to Cph:dox festival in the Danish capital for its international premiere.
“It’s about a group of New York City psychics who conduct deeply intimate readings with their clients,” the director explained to us at Sundance. “And at the beginning of the film, we’re plunged into the sessions, but over the course of the film, we get to know the psychics. We learn about their shared backgrounds in the performing arts in many cases, their shared experiences with loss and loneliness.
Director Lana Wilson brought her film to Cph:dox festival in the Danish capital for its international premiere.
“It’s about a group of New York City psychics who conduct deeply intimate readings with their clients,” the director explained to us at Sundance. “And at the beginning of the film, we’re plunged into the sessions, but over the course of the film, we get to know the psychics. We learn about their shared backgrounds in the performing arts in many cases, their shared experiences with loss and loneliness.
- 3/19/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
London-based outfit Dogwoof has boarded international sales for the Sundance title “Look Into My Eyes,” from director Lana Wilson. Dogwoof will attend Cph:Dox, where the film will receive its European premiere next week.
The filmmaker’s previous films include Emmy Award winner “After Tiller,” “The Departure” — also handled by Dogwoof — and the Taylor Swift documentary “Miss Americana,” and she also directed the two-parter “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” which earned two Emmy nominations.
“Look Into My Eyes” follows a group of New York City psychics who conduct deeply intimate readings for their clients, revealing a kaleidoscope of loneliness, connection and healing. Wilson sets her gaze on the private lives of seven unconventional healers and creative types searching for solace and struggling to make dreams come true in a city of eight million people.
The deal for international sales rights was brokered between Dogwoof’s chief content officer, Oli Harbottle, and Jason Ishikawa,...
The filmmaker’s previous films include Emmy Award winner “After Tiller,” “The Departure” — also handled by Dogwoof — and the Taylor Swift documentary “Miss Americana,” and she also directed the two-parter “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” which earned two Emmy nominations.
“Look Into My Eyes” follows a group of New York City psychics who conduct deeply intimate readings for their clients, revealing a kaleidoscope of loneliness, connection and healing. Wilson sets her gaze on the private lives of seven unconventional healers and creative types searching for solace and struggling to make dreams come true in a city of eight million people.
The deal for international sales rights was brokered between Dogwoof’s chief content officer, Oli Harbottle, and Jason Ishikawa,...
- 3/14/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Toronto’s Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival, has unveiled the full lineup of films that will screen in its Special Presentations program. The festival runs April 25 to May 5.
World premieres include “Red Fever,” which sees Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond travel to the four corners of Turtle Island and across Europe to explore the world’s fascination with Native Americans; “American Cats: The Good, the Bad, and the Cuddly,” in which “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” correspondent Amy Hoggart explores the controversial practice of declawing cats; “The Ride Ahead,” an expansion of co-director Samuel Habib’s short film “My Disability Roadmap” (which got an Honorable Mention in the International Shorts section of Hot Docs in 2022), exploring a typical 21-year-old itching to move out, start a career and find love—all while navigating life with a disability; “Lost in the Shuffle,” which follows world champion magician Shawn Farquhar as...
World premieres include “Red Fever,” which sees Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond travel to the four corners of Turtle Island and across Europe to explore the world’s fascination with Native Americans; “American Cats: The Good, the Bad, and the Cuddly,” in which “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” correspondent Amy Hoggart explores the controversial practice of declawing cats; “The Ride Ahead,” an expansion of co-director Samuel Habib’s short film “My Disability Roadmap” (which got an Honorable Mention in the International Shorts section of Hot Docs in 2022), exploring a typical 21-year-old itching to move out, start a career and find love—all while navigating life with a disability; “Lost in the Shuffle,” which follows world champion magician Shawn Farquhar as...
- 3/12/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Cph: Dox, Copenhagen’s International Documentary Festival, has set the full lineup for its 2024 edition, including 84 world premieres, 32 international premieres, and 9 European premieres.
Running March 13-24, the festival will feature six competition categories: Dox: Award, F: Act Award, Nordic: Dox Award, Next: Wave Award, New: Vision Award, and the new Human: Rights Award.
Musician Pete Doherty will attend the festival for a screening of Peter Doherty: Stranger in My Own Skin. The event will take place on March 18 at Bremen Theater, when he and the film’s director Katia de Vidas – who became Doherty’s wife over the ten years she followed him with her camera – openly discuss the substance abuse that has shadowed his entire career. After the screening, Doherty will give an acoustic concert. Other high-profile titles include Lana Wilson’s Look Into My Eyes, Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s Gaucho Gaucho, Carla Gutierrez’s Frida, Yance Ford’s Power,...
Running March 13-24, the festival will feature six competition categories: Dox: Award, F: Act Award, Nordic: Dox Award, Next: Wave Award, New: Vision Award, and the new Human: Rights Award.
Musician Pete Doherty will attend the festival for a screening of Peter Doherty: Stranger in My Own Skin. The event will take place on March 18 at Bremen Theater, when he and the film’s director Katia de Vidas – who became Doherty’s wife over the ten years she followed him with her camera – openly discuss the substance abuse that has shadowed his entire career. After the screening, Doherty will give an acoustic concert. Other high-profile titles include Lana Wilson’s Look Into My Eyes, Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s Gaucho Gaucho, Carla Gutierrez’s Frida, Yance Ford’s Power,...
- 2/21/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Cinetic Media has signed award-winning Iranian filmmaker Babak Jalali for management across all media.
Most recently, Jalali co-wrote and directed the indie drama Fremont, released by Music Box Films last August. Securing a nomination for the John Cassavetes Award at the 2024 Independent Spirit Awards, following a Jury Prize win in Deauville and one for Directing at Karlovy Vary, the film centers on mid-20s Afghan refugee Donya (Anaita Wali Zada), whose complicated feelings about her prior work as a translator for the U.S. military have left her troubled and unable to sleep. Drifting through her uninspired routine in Fremont, California, which comprises her work at a fortune cookie factory, she struggles to connect with her unfamiliar surroundings. When Donya is promoted to writing fortunes at her job, she sends a message out to the world, unsure where it will lead.
Gregg Turkington and Jeremy Allen White also star in the pic,...
Most recently, Jalali co-wrote and directed the indie drama Fremont, released by Music Box Films last August. Securing a nomination for the John Cassavetes Award at the 2024 Independent Spirit Awards, following a Jury Prize win in Deauville and one for Directing at Karlovy Vary, the film centers on mid-20s Afghan refugee Donya (Anaita Wali Zada), whose complicated feelings about her prior work as a translator for the U.S. military have left her troubled and unable to sleep. Drifting through her uninspired routine in Fremont, California, which comprises her work at a fortune cookie factory, she struggles to connect with her unfamiliar surroundings. When Donya is promoted to writing fortunes at her job, she sends a message out to the world, unsure where it will lead.
Gregg Turkington and Jeremy Allen White also star in the pic,...
- 2/20/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Ask enough people what they think about psychics and clairvoyants, and you’ll probably get eye-rolls. Whether referencing the storefront tarot readers or the more seriously minded seers who perform seances and communicate with those who have transitioned into the afterlife, the impression of this spiritual trade is generally disbelief. What’s unique about director Lana Wilson’s latest documentary, which primarily highlights seven psychics living in various parts of New York City, is that it never aims to persuade you against that reaction. In this deeply moving, compassionate exploration, determining whether this small and goofy group actually has real powers is beside the point.
In order for Look Into My Eyes to work, you need a director capable of establishing trust and understanding––mostly so the movie’s subjects know their oft-ridiculed, doubted work won’t be set up for another punchline. After a series of documentaries spent capturing...
In order for Look Into My Eyes to work, you need a director capable of establishing trust and understanding––mostly so the movie’s subjects know their oft-ridiculed, doubted work won’t be set up for another punchline. After a series of documentaries spent capturing...
- 1/24/2024
- by Jake Kring-Schreifels
- The Film Stage
I am not a “spiritual person.” I only believe in God during bumpy flights and New York Rangers playoff games, I only go to temple to make my mother happy, and I only believe in life after death because the movies — photographs and video of any kind, really — allow us to summon our most beloved ghosts at will. In that light, it should come as no surprise that I’ve never placed much faith in the work of psychics or seers, even though New York seems to have two storefront fortune tellers for every Starbucks. And yet, I suppose it should also come as no surprise that only a movie could have the power to convince me otherwise, or at least to make me better appreciate the nature of what psychics do and the mutual need they share with the people who turn to them for peace of mind.
It...
It...
- 1/23/2024
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Lana Wilson’s new documentary “Look Into My Eyes” casts a sympathetic view of an oft-mocked part of society: psychics and the clients who trust them. The feature debuted at the Sundance Film Festival on Monday at the Egyptian Theater in Park City, and was followed by a Q&a with Wilson, producer Kyle Martin, editor Hannah Buck and four of the featured psychics.
During the film, which consists of consultations between psychics and their clients, as well as diving into the personal lives of the psychics themselves, emotions were up and down as the mediums acted as de facto therapists to many people who didn’t know where to turn. For example, one psychic is an expert on communicating with animals, which drew initial chuckles from the audience until the clients explained how their companions would help them manage an abusive relationship, or be a lifeline for loneliness. One...
During the film, which consists of consultations between psychics and their clients, as well as diving into the personal lives of the psychics themselves, emotions were up and down as the mediums acted as de facto therapists to many people who didn’t know where to turn. For example, one psychic is an expert on communicating with animals, which drew initial chuckles from the audience until the clients explained how their companions would help them manage an abusive relationship, or be a lifeline for loneliness. One...
- 1/22/2024
- by William Earl
- Variety Film + TV
There’s a genuinely moving scene at the beginning of the new documentary by Lana Wilson (After Tiller, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields) revolving around a group of New York City-based psychics and their clients. A female doctor tells a psychic that she once attended to a 10-year-old girl who had been shot and killed 20 years earlier. The doctor, who’s no doubt seen her share of tragedies in the intervening years, is clearly still traumatized by the incident. She has one question for the psychic: “How is she?” she asks, her voice trembling.
We see the psychic’s response at the end of the film, in a moment that is no less affecting. Unfortunately, much of what occurs in between lacks the potency of those segments, coming across more like a tabloid-style reality television show. Receiving its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Look Into My Eyes will likely...
We see the psychic’s response at the end of the film, in a moment that is no less affecting. Unfortunately, much of what occurs in between lacks the potency of those segments, coming across more like a tabloid-style reality television show. Receiving its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Look Into My Eyes will likely...
- 1/22/2024
- by Frank Scheck
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Films are made of and from places: the locations they are filmed in, the settings they are meant to evoke, the geographies where they are imagined and worked on. What place tells its own story about your film, whether a particularly challenging location that required production ingenuity or a map reference that inspired you personally, politically or creatively? Look Into My Eyes takes place in New York City. It was always a New York movie for me, even before the pandemic started, but the experience of being in New York City throughout the pandemic made me extra-committed to the setting. […]
The post “In New York, You Create Your Own Family” | Lana Wilson, Look Into My Eyes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “In New York, You Create Your Own Family” | Lana Wilson, Look Into My Eyes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/22/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Films are made of and from places: the locations they are filmed in, the settings they are meant to evoke, the geographies where they are imagined and worked on. What place tells its own story about your film, whether a particularly challenging location that required production ingenuity or a map reference that inspired you personally, politically or creatively? Look Into My Eyes takes place in New York City. It was always a New York movie for me, even before the pandemic started, but the experience of being in New York City throughout the pandemic made me extra-committed to the setting. […]
The post “In New York, You Create Your Own Family” | Lana Wilson, Look Into My Eyes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “In New York, You Create Your Own Family” | Lana Wilson, Look Into My Eyes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/22/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
It was 2016, the day after the presidential election, when filmmaker Lana Wilson was filming an omnibus film about the election night in Atlantic City, NJ. To her, the night was like living in a horror movie. It was when she was waiting for her ride back to New York that she noticed a sign that said, $5 Psychic Readings. “I was feeling depressed, sad, confused and really frightened of the future,” Wilson tells Filmmaker recently, before the Sundance premiere of her latest film, Look Into My Eyes. “Without even thinking, I […]
The post “Is There a Difference Between Theater Improv and Doing a Psychic Reading?”: Lana Wilson On Her Sundance-Premiering Look Into My Eyes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Is There a Difference Between Theater Improv and Doing a Psychic Reading?”: Lana Wilson On Her Sundance-Premiering Look Into My Eyes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/22/2024
- by Tomris Laffly
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
It was 2016, the day after the presidential election, when filmmaker Lana Wilson was filming an omnibus film about the election night in Atlantic City, NJ. To her, the night was like living in a horror movie. It was when she was waiting for her ride back to New York that she noticed a sign that said, $5 Psychic Readings. “I was feeling depressed, sad, confused and really frightened of the future,” Wilson tells Filmmaker recently, before the Sundance premiere of her latest film, Look Into My Eyes. “Without even thinking, I […]
The post “Is There a Difference Between Theater Improv and Doing a Psychic Reading?”: Lana Wilson On Her Sundance-Premiering Look Into My Eyes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Is There a Difference Between Theater Improv and Doing a Psychic Reading?”: Lana Wilson On Her Sundance-Premiering Look Into My Eyes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/22/2024
- by Tomris Laffly
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Lana Wilson was in her mid-twenties and working for a non-profit in New York City when she learned that George Tiller, the medical director of one of the only clinics in the U.S. that provided third trimester abortions, had been assassinated by an anti-abortion terrorist.
“I was so horrified and so disturbed by the news — and how the media was covering it,” she recalls to Rolling Stone.
She’d been “too cowardly” (her words) to make a film up to that point but couldn’t stop thinking about one...
“I was so horrified and so disturbed by the news — and how the media was covering it,” she recalls to Rolling Stone.
She’d been “too cowardly” (her words) to make a film up to that point but couldn’t stop thinking about one...
- 1/22/2024
- by Marlow Stern
- Rollingstone.com
This isn’t a meteorology blog. We’re under no obligation to inform you that–despite a historically slow ski season start–the snow now falling across Northern Utah’s Wasatch Valley is voluminous and omnipresent. All the better excuse for sequestering oneself inside the weatherproofed walls of Park City’s myriad Sundance screening venues. And whether you’re a Sundance programmer, filmmaker, critic, industry wonk or civilian attendee, one thing is certain: there are currently a lot of granola bars getting smushed in a lot of people’s pockets.
Of course, our favorite among these snowblind wretches are our own Film Independent Fellows proudly debuting their new works at the festival. And by “Fellows” here we of course mean filmmakers who have been directly supported by Film Independent’s Lab Programs, Project Involve, Fast Track and Fiscal Sponsorship programs, as well as Emerging Filmmaker Award winners and grant recipients.
Of course, our favorite among these snowblind wretches are our own Film Independent Fellows proudly debuting their new works at the festival. And by “Fellows” here we of course mean filmmakers who have been directly supported by Film Independent’s Lab Programs, Project Involve, Fast Track and Fiscal Sponsorship programs, as well as Emerging Filmmaker Award winners and grant recipients.
- 1/20/2024
- by Film Independent
- Film Independent News & More
Cinetic Media has signed documentary filmmaker Carla Gutiérrez. It will represent Gutiérrez across all media. The news comes as Gutiérrez’s directorial debut”Frida” premieres this week at Sundance. Cinetic has been ramping up management additions of late having also recently signed Betsy West and Julie Cohen (“Rbg”) of Storyville Films, both of whom executive produced Gutiérrez’s directorial debut.
Carla Gutiérrez is an Emmy- and Eddie-nominated documentary editor. She edited the Oscar-nominated films “Rbg” and “La Corona.” Her latest film as an editor, “Julia,” about renowned chef, and television personality Julia Child, premiered at Telluride and was an official selection of the Toronto Film Festival. Gutiérrez also edited the Emmy-nominated “Pray Away.” Her work has received awards at Sundance, Tribeca, Berlinale, Outfest, the Critic’s Choice Awards, the National Board of Review Awards, and the DuPont Columbia Awards. She has been a creative adviser for the Sundance Edit Lab,...
Carla Gutiérrez is an Emmy- and Eddie-nominated documentary editor. She edited the Oscar-nominated films “Rbg” and “La Corona.” Her latest film as an editor, “Julia,” about renowned chef, and television personality Julia Child, premiered at Telluride and was an official selection of the Toronto Film Festival. Gutiérrez also edited the Emmy-nominated “Pray Away.” Her work has received awards at Sundance, Tribeca, Berlinale, Outfest, the Critic’s Choice Awards, the National Board of Review Awards, and the DuPont Columbia Awards. She has been a creative adviser for the Sundance Edit Lab,...
- 1/18/2024
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
After three years of virtual and hybrid event offerings, the Sundance Film Festival is set to celebrate its fortieth anniversary with its most robust in-person edition of the festival since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. While online offerings will still be available to those who wish to participate from home, with the official online viewing window opening on Thursday, January 25. That lineup will include at-home screenings of the five competition sections (including Next).
On the ground, however, seems like the place to be. As ever, this year’s festival boasts a wide variety of new films from some of our favorite filmmakers, plus an assortment of rising stars, new talents to keep an eye on, and perhaps a few surprises.
This year’s program includes new films from Steven Soderbergh, Debra Granik, David and Nathan Zellner, Richard Linklater, Lana Wilson, Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss, Dawn Porter, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden,...
On the ground, however, seems like the place to be. As ever, this year’s festival boasts a wide variety of new films from some of our favorite filmmakers, plus an assortment of rising stars, new talents to keep an eye on, and perhaps a few surprises.
This year’s program includes new films from Steven Soderbergh, Debra Granik, David and Nathan Zellner, Richard Linklater, Lana Wilson, Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss, Dawn Porter, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden,...
- 1/11/2024
- by Kate Erbland, David Ehrlich and Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
A still from ‘The Greatest Night in Pop’ by Bao Nguyen, an official selection of the Episodic Program at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute)
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival has added The Greatest Night in Pop, a documentary that explores the creation of the collaborative “We Are the World” song and video, to its lineup.
“We’re thrilled to be adding to our program a special screening of The Greatest Night in Pop, taking us behind the scenes of how ‘We Are the World’ came together, followed by a conversation with Lionel Richie, filmmaker Bao Nguyen, and producer Julia Nottingham,” stated Kim Yutani, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming. “Our robust film lineup will be rounded out by a wide range of conversations touching upon themes in the programming and featuring some of today’s most inspiring creators and leaders.”
The festival also announced the 2024 Beyond Film schedule,...
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival has added The Greatest Night in Pop, a documentary that explores the creation of the collaborative “We Are the World” song and video, to its lineup.
“We’re thrilled to be adding to our program a special screening of The Greatest Night in Pop, taking us behind the scenes of how ‘We Are the World’ came together, followed by a conversation with Lionel Richie, filmmaker Bao Nguyen, and producer Julia Nottingham,” stated Kim Yutani, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming. “Our robust film lineup will be rounded out by a wide range of conversations touching upon themes in the programming and featuring some of today’s most inspiring creators and leaders.”
The festival also announced the 2024 Beyond Film schedule,...
- 1/5/2024
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Just as “The Blackening” parodied the horror movie cliché that Black characters are killed off first, the “magical Negro” trope is now getting its own satirical take.
Writer-director Kobi Libii is behind “The American Society of Magical Negroes,” which premieres at 2024 Sundance. The film, distributed by Focus Features, stars Justice Smith as Aren, a young man who is recruited into a “secret society of magical Black people who dedicate their lives to a cause of utmost importance: making white people’s lives easier,” per the official synopsis.
“I know you can feel their discomfort,” the trailer says. “Watching you walk through a room full of white people is the most painful thing I’ve ever seen.”
The plot is further teased: “That’s why we fight white discomfort every day. Because the happier they are, the safer we are.”
David Alan Grier, An-Li Bogan, Drew Tarver, Michaela Watkins, Aisha Hinds,...
Writer-director Kobi Libii is behind “The American Society of Magical Negroes,” which premieres at 2024 Sundance. The film, distributed by Focus Features, stars Justice Smith as Aren, a young man who is recruited into a “secret society of magical Black people who dedicate their lives to a cause of utmost importance: making white people’s lives easier,” per the official synopsis.
“I know you can feel their discomfort,” the trailer says. “Watching you walk through a room full of white people is the most painful thing I’ve ever seen.”
The plot is further teased: “That’s why we fight white discomfort every day. Because the happier they are, the safer we are.”
David Alan Grier, An-Li Bogan, Drew Tarver, Michaela Watkins, Aisha Hinds,...
- 12/15/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Cinetic Media has signed directors Julie Cohen, Oren Jacoby and Betsy West. The management company will represent the Oscar-nominated filmmakers and their documentary company, Storyville Films, across all types of media.
Storyville Films was founded by Jacoby to produce documentaries and series driven by “strong personal narratives of conscience, courage and innovation.” Jacoby, Cohen and West serve as Storyville’s directors. Their production and distribution partners include Amazon, CNN Films, HBO, Imagine Entertainment, Kino Lorber, Magnolia Pictures, Netflix, Participant Media, PBS, Sony Pictures Classics and Time Studios.
Films by the Storyville partners include West and Cohen’s “Rbg,” a documentary about the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg that was a box office hit and earned an Oscar nomination; as well as “Julia,” a look at Julia Childs’ legacy; and “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down.” Jacoby’s films include “On Broadway,” “Constantine’s Sword” and “Sister Rose’s Passion,...
Storyville Films was founded by Jacoby to produce documentaries and series driven by “strong personal narratives of conscience, courage and innovation.” Jacoby, Cohen and West serve as Storyville’s directors. Their production and distribution partners include Amazon, CNN Films, HBO, Imagine Entertainment, Kino Lorber, Magnolia Pictures, Netflix, Participant Media, PBS, Sony Pictures Classics and Time Studios.
Films by the Storyville partners include West and Cohen’s “Rbg,” a documentary about the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg that was a box office hit and earned an Oscar nomination; as well as “Julia,” a look at Julia Childs’ legacy; and “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down.” Jacoby’s films include “On Broadway,” “Constantine’s Sword” and “Sister Rose’s Passion,...
- 12/13/2023
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
The Sundance Institute today announced the 91 feature films, episodic and New Frontier works that comprise the 2024 40th edition of the Sundance Film Festival. Premieres by Steven Soderbergh, Lana Wilson, Nathan Silver and the Zellner Bros. join debuting filmmakers such as Jazmin Renée Jones, Haley Elizabeth Anderson and River Gallo at the festival, which runs January 18 – 28, 2024 in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah. A selection of the film’s programming will also be available online from January 25 – 28. Sundance received a record 17,435 submissions this year from 153 countries, with 4,410 being feature […]
The post Sundance Announces the Feature Film, Episodic and New Frontier Lineup of its 2024 40th Edition first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Sundance Announces the Feature Film, Episodic and New Frontier Lineup of its 2024 40th Edition first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 12/6/2023
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
The Sundance Institute today announced the 91 feature films, episodic and New Frontier works that comprise the 2024 40th edition of the Sundance Film Festival. Premieres by Steven Soderbergh, Lana Wilson, Nathan Silver and the Zellner Bros. join debuting filmmakers such as Jazmin Renée Jones, Haley Elizabeth Anderson and River Gallo at the festival, which runs January 18 – 28, 2024 in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah. A selection of the film’s programming will also be available online from January 25 – 28. Sundance received a record 17,435 submissions this year from 153 countries, with 4,410 being feature […]
The post Sundance Announces the Feature Film, Episodic and New Frontier Lineup of its 2024 40th Edition first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Sundance Announces the Feature Film, Episodic and New Frontier Lineup of its 2024 40th Edition first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 12/6/2023
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
The Sundance Film Festival has announced its line-up for its 40th incarnation.
The 2024 fest will see new entries from fest regulars like Steven Soderbergh, Lana Wilson and Richard Linklater, while also debuting titles from new directors with 40 percent of the features program coming from first time feature filmmakers. A-list talent like Kirsten Stewart, Pedro Pascal, Lucy Liu, Laura Linney and Woody Harrelson star in fest films, while onscreen talents like Jesse Eisenberg and Chiwetel Ejiofor continue their forays into directing.
This year’s fest marks the first with Eugene Hernandez at the helm as festival director. “This will be my 30th time attending the festival,” Hernandez tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Now, to have this different vantage point, I was able to witness exactly what goes into [the festival] I have loved and cared about for so long.”
The festival had over 17,000 submission, with programmers noting this is the most in the history of the festival.
The 2024 fest will see new entries from fest regulars like Steven Soderbergh, Lana Wilson and Richard Linklater, while also debuting titles from new directors with 40 percent of the features program coming from first time feature filmmakers. A-list talent like Kirsten Stewart, Pedro Pascal, Lucy Liu, Laura Linney and Woody Harrelson star in fest films, while onscreen talents like Jesse Eisenberg and Chiwetel Ejiofor continue their forays into directing.
This year’s fest marks the first with Eugene Hernandez at the helm as festival director. “This will be my 30th time attending the festival,” Hernandez tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Now, to have this different vantage point, I was able to witness exactly what goes into [the festival] I have loved and cared about for so long.”
The festival had over 17,000 submission, with programmers noting this is the most in the history of the festival.
- 12/6/2023
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Sundance Institute has announced the feature film lineup for the 2024 festival, taking place January 18-28, 2024, in person in Utah, along with a selection of films available online across the U.S. January 25-28. The lineup includes Competition titles; the Premieres, Spotlight, and Episodic sections; and the Midnight slate, with 82 feature-length films (representing 24 countries); eight episodic titles; and a New Frontier interactive experience. Of the films and episodic titles, 94 percent are world premieres — many of which appeared on IndieWire’s Sundance Wish List.
Many recognizable filmmakers are presenting new work this time around, including Steven Soderbergh, Debra Granik, David and Nathan Zellner, Richard Linklater, Lana Wilson, Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss, Dawn Porter, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, Yance Ford, Ramona S. Diaz, Rory Kennedy, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, among many others.
Notable actors at the 2024 edition range from Kristen Stewart in “Love Lies Bleeding” and alongside Steven Yeun in “Love Me,...
Many recognizable filmmakers are presenting new work this time around, including Steven Soderbergh, Debra Granik, David and Nathan Zellner, Richard Linklater, Lana Wilson, Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss, Dawn Porter, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, Yance Ford, Ramona S. Diaz, Rory Kennedy, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, among many others.
Notable actors at the 2024 edition range from Kristen Stewart in “Love Lies Bleeding” and alongside Steven Yeun in “Love Me,...
- 12/6/2023
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
The 2023 Cinema Eye Honors have unveiled the 20 titles for its Audience Choice Prize Long List, with voting now open.
The 17th annual awards ceremony also recognized the best nonfiction and documentary films and series across five Broadcast categories and a Shorts List with 10 of the year’s top documentary short films, as well as the 20 films in the running for the Audience Choice Prize Long List.
This year’s list includes films from Cinema Eye Honors alumni including “The Eternal Memory,” “American Symphony,” “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” “Stamped from the Beginning,” “32 Sounds,” “A Compassionate Spy,” “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” “The Mission,” “The Pigeon Tunnel,” and “Stephen Curry: Underrated.”
Hulu series “The 1619 Project” and Showtime’s “Nothing Lasts Forever” lead the Broadcast Film and Series nominations with three nods each. The “1619 Project,” adapted from Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones’s work with The New...
The 17th annual awards ceremony also recognized the best nonfiction and documentary films and series across five Broadcast categories and a Shorts List with 10 of the year’s top documentary short films, as well as the 20 films in the running for the Audience Choice Prize Long List.
This year’s list includes films from Cinema Eye Honors alumni including “The Eternal Memory,” “American Symphony,” “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” “Stamped from the Beginning,” “32 Sounds,” “A Compassionate Spy,” “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” “The Mission,” “The Pigeon Tunnel,” and “Stephen Curry: Underrated.”
Hulu series “The 1619 Project” and Showtime’s “Nothing Lasts Forever” lead the Broadcast Film and Series nominations with three nods each. The “1619 Project,” adapted from Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones’s work with The New...
- 10/19/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
The Hulu series The 1619 Project and the Showtime feature Nothing Lasts Forever scored a leading three nominations apiece today as the Cinema Eye Honors announced its first round of contenders for the prestigious documentary-focused awards.
The 1619 Project, based on Nikole Hannah-Jones’s Pulitzer Prize-winning examination of slavery in North America and its impact up until the present day, earned nominations for Best Anthology Series, broadcast editing and broadcast cinematography. Oprah Winfrey, Oscar winner Roger Ross Williams and Hannah-Jones are among the producers of the six-part series.
‘Nothing Lasts Forever’
Nothing Lasts Forever, director Jason Kohn’s glittering examination of the world of diamonds – the real kind and the emergence of undetectable “synthetic” diamonds – earned nominations for Best Broadcast Film, broadcast editing and broadcast cinematography. Scroll for the full list of nominations announced today.
Other films and series that scored multiple nominations include Hulu’s Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields...
The 1619 Project, based on Nikole Hannah-Jones’s Pulitzer Prize-winning examination of slavery in North America and its impact up until the present day, earned nominations for Best Anthology Series, broadcast editing and broadcast cinematography. Oprah Winfrey, Oscar winner Roger Ross Williams and Hannah-Jones are among the producers of the six-part series.
‘Nothing Lasts Forever’
Nothing Lasts Forever, director Jason Kohn’s glittering examination of the world of diamonds – the real kind and the emergence of undetectable “synthetic” diamonds – earned nominations for Best Broadcast Film, broadcast editing and broadcast cinematography. Scroll for the full list of nominations announced today.
Other films and series that scored multiple nominations include Hulu’s Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields...
- 10/19/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Hulu’s “The 1619 Project” and Showtime’s “Nothing Lasts Forever” lead all broadcast documentaries in nominations for the 17th annual Cinema Eye Honors, which were announced on Thursday during the Cinema Eye Fall Lunch at Redbird in downtown Los Angeles.
Each of the programs received three nominations in the five broadcast categories, with “The 1619 Project” nominated in the Anthology Series, cinematography and editing categories and “Nothing Lasts Forever” singled out in Broadcast film, cinematography and editing categories.
Other programs with multiple nominations include the broadcast movie “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” the nonfiction series “Dear Mama” and “Paul T. Goldman” and the anthology series “Edge of the Unknown With Jimmy Chin” and “Our Planet II.”
Hulu led all networks and platforms with eight nominations, followed by Netflix with five and Showtime with four.
Cinema Eye Honors, a New York-based organization devoted to honoring all facets of nonfiction filmmaking, also...
Each of the programs received three nominations in the five broadcast categories, with “The 1619 Project” nominated in the Anthology Series, cinematography and editing categories and “Nothing Lasts Forever” singled out in Broadcast film, cinematography and editing categories.
Other programs with multiple nominations include the broadcast movie “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” the nonfiction series “Dear Mama” and “Paul T. Goldman” and the anthology series “Edge of the Unknown With Jimmy Chin” and “Our Planet II.”
Hulu led all networks and platforms with eight nominations, followed by Netflix with five and Showtime with four.
Cinema Eye Honors, a New York-based organization devoted to honoring all facets of nonfiction filmmaking, also...
- 10/19/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
In the 2020 documentary Miss Americana, director Lana Wilson gave viewers unparalleled access to the behind-the-scenes life of beloved pop star Taylor Swift— with backstage views of her sold-out concerts, personal hideaways, crushing career disappointments, and first forays into major statements about politics. But what captured fans most online was a singular scene where Swift leaves her New York apartment to a ravenous, frenzied crowd outside her front door.
“So this is my front yard,” she says, eyes wide as she looks at the cheering crowd held back by security and a load of barricades.
“So this is my front yard,” she says, eyes wide as she looks at the cheering crowd held back by security and a load of barricades.
- 8/26/2023
- by CT Jones
- Rollingstone.com
After shooting the Taylor Swift documentary Miss Americana, deconstructing another pop icon in Brooke Shields was an organic segue for filmmaker Lana Wilson. The director is up for a Primetime Emmy nomination in Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program for the Hulu/ABC News docuseries Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields.
Wilson’s agent first brought the opportunity of a Brooke Shields doc to her attention after the concept was in the works via Alexandra Wentworth and George Stephanopoulos, who have a production deal at ABC News. Wilson tells us why the time was finally prime for Shields to tell all.
Shields proved a documentarian’s dream subject, not holding back from her roller-coaster ride high of being a 1980s starlet in such dicey movies such as Pretty Baby, The Blue Lagoon and Endless Love to tabloid headlines as Andre Agassi’s wife and Michael Jackson’s Grammys date. Wilson wanted...
Wilson’s agent first brought the opportunity of a Brooke Shields doc to her attention after the concept was in the works via Alexandra Wentworth and George Stephanopoulos, who have a production deal at ABC News. Wilson tells us why the time was finally prime for Shields to tell all.
Shields proved a documentarian’s dream subject, not holding back from her roller-coaster ride high of being a 1980s starlet in such dicey movies such as Pretty Baby, The Blue Lagoon and Endless Love to tabloid headlines as Andre Agassi’s wife and Michael Jackson’s Grammys date. Wilson wanted...
- 8/16/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
When Ryan White’s phone jolted to life the morning of July 12, buzzing with texts and calls, the filmmaker wasn’t expecting it. Yes, it was Emmy nomination day, but no, he hadn’t counted on recognition for his Netflix documentary about Pamela Anderson.
Yet there it was, in black and white on the Emmys.com website: For Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, Pamela, A Love Story, about the actress and former Playboy Playmate who swept from Canada onto television screens, magazine covers and scandal sheets in the 1990s.
“I think if you went back two and a half years or three years, whenever I first met Pamela, I think we would’ve both burst into laughter if you had told us that we were going make an Emmy-nominated film,” White says. “That was not the goal at all. And I don’t think either of us thought that was a possibility.
Yet there it was, in black and white on the Emmys.com website: For Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, Pamela, A Love Story, about the actress and former Playboy Playmate who swept from Canada onto television screens, magazine covers and scandal sheets in the 1990s.
“I think if you went back two and a half years or three years, whenever I first met Pamela, I think we would’ve both burst into laughter if you had told us that we were going make an Emmy-nominated film,” White says. “That was not the goal at all. And I don’t think either of us thought that was a possibility.
- 8/13/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Here’s a look at this week’s biggest premieres, parties and openings in Los Angeles and New York, including red carpets for Asteroid City, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, The Flash and Secret Invasion.
The Flash premiere
Ezra Miller made their long-anticipated return on Monday at The Flash premiere in Los Angeles, joined by director Andy Muschietti and co-stars Ben Affleck, Sasha Calle, Kiersey Clemons and Michael Shannon.
Andy Muschietti and Ezra Miller Antje Traue, Michael Shannon and Sasha Calle Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck
Extraction 2 premiere
Chris Hemsworth joined director Sam Hargrave and producer Anthony Russo at the New York premiere of their Netflix action film sequel.
Anthony Russo, Chris Hemsworth and Sam Hargrave
Chanel Tribeca Festival Artists Dinner
Chanel hosted the 16th annual Tribeca Festival Artists Dinner at Balthazar on Monday, honoring the artists who have contributed original artwork to the festival’s award-winning filmmakers.
The Flash premiere
Ezra Miller made their long-anticipated return on Monday at The Flash premiere in Los Angeles, joined by director Andy Muschietti and co-stars Ben Affleck, Sasha Calle, Kiersey Clemons and Michael Shannon.
Andy Muschietti and Ezra Miller Antje Traue, Michael Shannon and Sasha Calle Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck
Extraction 2 premiere
Chris Hemsworth joined director Sam Hargrave and producer Anthony Russo at the New York premiere of their Netflix action film sequel.
Anthony Russo, Chris Hemsworth and Sam Hargrave
Chanel Tribeca Festival Artists Dinner
Chanel hosted the 16th annual Tribeca Festival Artists Dinner at Balthazar on Monday, honoring the artists who have contributed original artwork to the festival’s award-winning filmmakers.
- 6/16/2023
- by Kirsten Chuba
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Brooke Shields came up in a different time. The model and actress has been working since infancy, and when she shot to superstardom in the ’70s and ’80s, she became a lucrative commodity whose own opinion was rarely heard, but became the focus of many other people’s opinions.
This is all explored in her two-part documentary, “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” which hails from ABC News Studios and launched on Hulu earlier this year. Produced by Ali Wentworth, George Stephanopoulos and director Lana Wilson (Taylor Swift’s “Miss Americana”), the doc that received rave reviews out of its premiere at Sundance uses Shields’ story of being sexualized as a child to paint a bigger picture of the treatment of women in society.
Speaking to Variety, Shields says that she hopes to be a “conduit” for a larger conversation. She believes things have improved in the industry, and hopes the public...
This is all explored in her two-part documentary, “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” which hails from ABC News Studios and launched on Hulu earlier this year. Produced by Ali Wentworth, George Stephanopoulos and director Lana Wilson (Taylor Swift’s “Miss Americana”), the doc that received rave reviews out of its premiere at Sundance uses Shields’ story of being sexualized as a child to paint a bigger picture of the treatment of women in society.
Speaking to Variety, Shields says that she hopes to be a “conduit” for a larger conversation. She believes things have improved in the industry, and hopes the public...
- 6/15/2023
- by Elizabeth Wagmeister
- Variety Film + TV
Being Mary Tyler Moore (HBO/Max)
James Adolphus’ doc out of SXSW could become the latest about a TV legend to land a nomination in this category, following Lucy and Desi in 2022, Love, Gilda in 2019 and The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling and Mister Rogers: It’s You I Like in 2018.
Judy Blume Forever (Amazon)
Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok’s doc celebrates the titular author of children’s books, with narration by her and testimonials from her fans. It’s a sweet tribute to someone many grew up on — not unlike the two docs about Fred Rogers that were nominated in this category.
Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields (Hulu)
Lana Wilson’s two-parter, unveiled at Sundance, pairs old film clips and footage with new interviews to explore how the subject’s beauty has long brought her rewards and objectification. Particularly interesting: her relationships with her mother and her kids.
If These Walls Could Sing...
James Adolphus’ doc out of SXSW could become the latest about a TV legend to land a nomination in this category, following Lucy and Desi in 2022, Love, Gilda in 2019 and The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling and Mister Rogers: It’s You I Like in 2018.
Judy Blume Forever (Amazon)
Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok’s doc celebrates the titular author of children’s books, with narration by her and testimonials from her fans. It’s a sweet tribute to someone many grew up on — not unlike the two docs about Fred Rogers that were nominated in this category.
Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields (Hulu)
Lana Wilson’s two-parter, unveiled at Sundance, pairs old film clips and footage with new interviews to explore how the subject’s beauty has long brought her rewards and objectification. Particularly interesting: her relationships with her mother and her kids.
If These Walls Could Sing...
- 6/6/2023
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A version of this interview with Brooke Shields and “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields” director Lana Wilson originally ran in the Race Begins issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.
Brooke Shields was once the most famous teenager in the world. A model at 11 months old, by high school she had played a child prostitute in Louis Malle’s controversial 1978 film “Pretty Baby” and starred in a series of provocative Calvin Klein jeans ads in which she uttered the now iconic line, “You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.” Over the years, Shields has fielded no shortage of offers to tell her story on camera, but she wasn’t comfortable doing so until now, with “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” directed by Lana Wilson (“Miss Americana”) and exec-produced by Ali Wentworth and George Stephanopoulos. The two-part Hulu documentary chronicles Shields’ rise to superstardom, her complicated relationship with her mother,...
Brooke Shields was once the most famous teenager in the world. A model at 11 months old, by high school she had played a child prostitute in Louis Malle’s controversial 1978 film “Pretty Baby” and starred in a series of provocative Calvin Klein jeans ads in which she uttered the now iconic line, “You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.” Over the years, Shields has fielded no shortage of offers to tell her story on camera, but she wasn’t comfortable doing so until now, with “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” directed by Lana Wilson (“Miss Americana”) and exec-produced by Ali Wentworth and George Stephanopoulos. The two-part Hulu documentary chronicles Shields’ rise to superstardom, her complicated relationship with her mother,...
- 6/1/2023
- by Missy Schwartz
- The Wrap
Brooke Sheilds takes control of the narrative by sharing her story in her own words in the Hulu documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, from director Lana Wilson.
From Matador Content and BedBy8 for ABC News Studio, the film follows Shields from her early years as a blossoming model and actress to her present day as a powerful woman, mother, wife and performer with a career spanning more than four decades. It also touches on her complicated relationship with her mother and manager Teri Shields and how working on early projects including Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby, Randal Kleiser’s The Blue Lagoon and Franco Zeffirelli’s Endless Love — all before age 16 — left her vulnerable to public criticism and unwanted attention from adult men.
Now, Shields is ready to tell her story in her own words.
“It was the right time, and it also felt very good to finally — you know,...
From Matador Content and BedBy8 for ABC News Studio, the film follows Shields from her early years as a blossoming model and actress to her present day as a powerful woman, mother, wife and performer with a career spanning more than four decades. It also touches on her complicated relationship with her mother and manager Teri Shields and how working on early projects including Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby, Randal Kleiser’s The Blue Lagoon and Franco Zeffirelli’s Endless Love — all before age 16 — left her vulnerable to public criticism and unwanted attention from adult men.
Now, Shields is ready to tell her story in her own words.
“It was the right time, and it also felt very good to finally — you know,...
- 4/29/2023
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
“Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields” is the most-watched program out of all ABC News launches to ever debut on Hulu, Variety has learned exclusively.
According to ABC News, “Pretty Baby” ranks No. 1 in total hours streamed in its first week compared to all previous ABC News premieres on the streamer. Specific viewership data was not provided.
Described as a “galvanizing look at actor, model and icon Brooke Shields as she transforms from a sexualized young girl to a woman discovering her power,” the two-part doc debuted April 3 on Hulu, following its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. “Holding a mirror up to a society that objectifies women and girls, her story shows the perils and triumphs of gaining agency in a hostile world.”
“Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields” is executive produced by Matador Content’s Jay Peterson and Todd Lubin and Bedby8’s Ali Wentworth, George Stephanopoulos and Alyssa Mastromonaco. Jacqueline Glover...
According to ABC News, “Pretty Baby” ranks No. 1 in total hours streamed in its first week compared to all previous ABC News premieres on the streamer. Specific viewership data was not provided.
Described as a “galvanizing look at actor, model and icon Brooke Shields as she transforms from a sexualized young girl to a woman discovering her power,” the two-part doc debuted April 3 on Hulu, following its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. “Holding a mirror up to a society that objectifies women and girls, her story shows the perils and triumphs of gaining agency in a hostile world.”
“Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields” is executive produced by Matador Content’s Jay Peterson and Todd Lubin and Bedby8’s Ali Wentworth, George Stephanopoulos and Alyssa Mastromonaco. Jacqueline Glover...
- 4/17/2023
- by Jennifer Maas
- Variety Film + TV
Early in the three-hour set that comprised the April 15 stop of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour in Tampa, Florida — the final show in a three-night stand that saw more than 200,000 ticket buyers at Raymond James stadium — the “All Too Well” director spoke to the massive assembly as if they were intimate friends.
“These songs maybe started out being about something that happened to me or my life,” she said. “Maybe it’s something I wrote about a fictional character I created one day when I was bored. But my dream is that when they go into your world, they become about your life.”
It’s a smart hook for the world’s best self-mythologizer — and it’s also a powerful sales pitch for her next aspiration of being a feature filmmaker. Ignore the record sales, the ticket sales, the paramours who can inspire her work — more than anything, Swift loves...
“These songs maybe started out being about something that happened to me or my life,” she said. “Maybe it’s something I wrote about a fictional character I created one day when I was bored. But my dream is that when they go into your world, they become about your life.”
It’s a smart hook for the world’s best self-mythologizer — and it’s also a powerful sales pitch for her next aspiration of being a feature filmmaker. Ignore the record sales, the ticket sales, the paramours who can inspire her work — more than anything, Swift loves...
- 4/17/2023
- by Erin Strecker
- Indiewire
Brooke Shields revealed that “The Blue Lagoon” director Randal Kleiser reached out to her after documentary “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields” aired on Hulu.
The two-part doc, which debuted at 2023 Sundance, examines the early sexualization of Shields in part during Kleiser’s 1980 film when she was 14 years old. Kleiser, who also produced the movie, allegedly called Shields following the doc premiere.
“I saw his name on my phone and I was like, ‘What do I do?’ and I let it go to voicemail because I was like, I want to see what the tone is,” Shields said during “The Drew Barrymore Show.”
Shields continued, “And he wants to chat, I don’t know about what. I don’t feel like bringing any of it back up again.”
“The Blue Lagoon” stars Shields and Christopher Atkins as cousins-turned-lovers who consummate their relationship after their boat is shipwrecked in the South Pacific. Both leads were nude onscreen.
The two-part doc, which debuted at 2023 Sundance, examines the early sexualization of Shields in part during Kleiser’s 1980 film when she was 14 years old. Kleiser, who also produced the movie, allegedly called Shields following the doc premiere.
“I saw his name on my phone and I was like, ‘What do I do?’ and I let it go to voicemail because I was like, I want to see what the tone is,” Shields said during “The Drew Barrymore Show.”
Shields continued, “And he wants to chat, I don’t know about what. I don’t feel like bringing any of it back up again.”
“The Blue Lagoon” stars Shields and Christopher Atkins as cousins-turned-lovers who consummate their relationship after their boat is shipwrecked in the South Pacific. Both leads were nude onscreen.
- 4/11/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
In the Sundance documentary premiere “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” the titular actor and model talks candidly about her struggles with fame at a young age. One of the most emotional interviews included in the film sees Shields describe an alleged sexual assault in her early twenties at the hands of an unnamed film producer.
Although the interview is an important part of the film, director Lana Wilson, who previously directed Taylor Swift’s “Miss Americana” documentary, wasn’t sure it would make the final cut. In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Wilson revealed that, although she otherwise had full creative control over the finished film, she made an exception and made sure she had Shields’ full approval to use the interview about her sexual assault in the final cut.
“‘I want you to feel completely comfortable with it if it goes out into the world,'” Wilson recalled telling Shields to Yahoo.
Although the interview is an important part of the film, director Lana Wilson, who previously directed Taylor Swift’s “Miss Americana” documentary, wasn’t sure it would make the final cut. In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Wilson revealed that, although she otherwise had full creative control over the finished film, she made an exception and made sure she had Shields’ full approval to use the interview about her sexual assault in the final cut.
“‘I want you to feel completely comfortable with it if it goes out into the world,'” Wilson recalled telling Shields to Yahoo.
- 4/7/2023
- by Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
For most of their 21-year marriage, George Stephanopoulos and Ali Wentworth have operated on separate career tracks. He is an Emmy-winning ABC News host and political commentator and she is the “Jerry Maguire” actress-turned-New York Times best-selling author-turned host of the hit iHeardRadio podcast “Go Ask Ali.” But those boundaries crumbled while they were stuck at home together during the Covid pandemic, with the couple deciding to team up on a shared endeavor: the production company BedBy8.
“Let’s not deny that being empty-nesters kind of played a part,” says Wentworth, who is the mother of two adult daughters with Stephanopoulos. “We thought, ‘Wow, we have so many stories to tell.’ And we can sort of stay in our lanes within the company.”
Founded in 2021 with their partner Alyssa Mastromonaco, BedBy8 focuses on scripted TV projects, limited series and documentaries. Two years in, Stephanopoulos and Wentworth have their first BedBy8 credit under their belt,...
“Let’s not deny that being empty-nesters kind of played a part,” says Wentworth, who is the mother of two adult daughters with Stephanopoulos. “We thought, ‘Wow, we have so many stories to tell.’ And we can sort of stay in our lanes within the company.”
Founded in 2021 with their partner Alyssa Mastromonaco, BedBy8 focuses on scripted TV projects, limited series and documentaries. Two years in, Stephanopoulos and Wentworth have their first BedBy8 credit under their belt,...
- 4/7/2023
- by Tatiana Siegel
- Variety Film + TV
Lana Wilson always knew Brooke Shields was very beautiful and famous, but prior to making “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” a deeply honest and affectionate portrayal of Shields’ life story, she didn’t really consider that much more about the American cultural icon. “I first vaguely remember encountering her though her sitcom work in the ‘90s,” recalls Wilson, also the filmmaker of the Taylor Swift documentary, “Miss Americana.” “And I had a vague sense of something that had to do with her postpartum [depression].
Continue reading Director Lana Wilson Talks ‘Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields’ Doc & Reconsidering A Cultural Icon at The Playlist.
Continue reading Director Lana Wilson Talks ‘Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields’ Doc & Reconsidering A Cultural Icon at The Playlist.
- 4/7/2023
- by Tomris Laffly
- The Playlist
We had seriously considered an April Fool’s edition of Don’t-Miss Indies this month full of Latvian Redbox actioners, but thought better of such trickery at the eleventh hour. After all, our beloved constituents deserve better than a perplexing blurb about The Humanity Bureau starring Nicolas Cage. And anyway there are too many great, legitimate titles to skip. So bunker down with some Cadbury Creme eggs at the art house and enjoy!
Pretty Baby: Brook Shields
When You Can Watch: Now
Where You Can Watch: Hulu
Director: Lana Wilson
Why We’re Excited: Two-time Film Independent Spirit Award nominee Lana Wilson’s two-part documentary tracks child star Shields, from her rise to fame in Reagan-era hits Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon through her 40-plus years in Hollywood. Amidst the tumult of growing up in the public eye–she landed her first commercial at 11-months-old, as the Ivory...
Pretty Baby: Brook Shields
When You Can Watch: Now
Where You Can Watch: Hulu
Director: Lana Wilson
Why We’re Excited: Two-time Film Independent Spirit Award nominee Lana Wilson’s two-part documentary tracks child star Shields, from her rise to fame in Reagan-era hits Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon through her 40-plus years in Hollywood. Amidst the tumult of growing up in the public eye–she landed her first commercial at 11-months-old, as the Ivory...
- 4/4/2023
- by Su Fang Tham
- Film Independent News & More
April has arrived! For some in the country that means more active weather is now here, and for others it’s time to enjoy an idyllic spring. Still others are nervously avoiding their income tax returns for a few more days, hoping against hope that somehow ignoring it will simply make it go away.
If this last category sounds like you’ we’re here to help! There’s something new and exciting to stream every day this week, so you can get in that better headspace you’ll need to nip those taxes in the bud and get out and enjoy the gorgeous spring weather while it lasts.
Monday, April 3 ‘Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields’ | Hulu
The two-part documentary from Emmy Award-winning director Lana Wilson (“Miss Americana”) is a galvanizing look at actor, model and icon Brooke Shields as she transforms from a sexualized young girl to a woman discovering her power.
If this last category sounds like you’ we’re here to help! There’s something new and exciting to stream every day this week, so you can get in that better headspace you’ll need to nip those taxes in the bud and get out and enjoy the gorgeous spring weather while it lasts.
Monday, April 3 ‘Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields’ | Hulu
The two-part documentary from Emmy Award-winning director Lana Wilson (“Miss Americana”) is a galvanizing look at actor, model and icon Brooke Shields as she transforms from a sexualized young girl to a woman discovering her power.
- 4/3/2023
- by David Satin
- The Streamable
Brooke Shields has been in the public eye since she was just 11 months old, but it's taken her 57 years to embrace her power as an actor, model, and businesswoman. In Pretty Baby, a new documentary from Lana Wilson (who previously directed Taylor Swift documentary Miss Americana), Shields examines just how far she's come after a career of being objectified by Hollywood and commodified by American culture. Across two episodes, the multi-hyphenate reflects on her controversial role in Louis Malle's 1978 film Pretty Baby, The Blue Lagoon and Endless Love's impact on her public image and sense of self, her complicated relationship with her mother and manager, Teri, and her brief marriage to tennis player Andre Agassi. Shields also alleges she was raped by a film executive when she was in her twenties, and she opens up about the blame she placed upon herself in the aftermath.
- 4/3/2023
- by Claire Spellberg Lustig
- Primetimer
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.