Inspired by David Blight’s Pulitzer Prize winning biography, “Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom” and executive produced by scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the HBO documentary Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches brings to life the words of our country’s most famous anti-slavery activist.
President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground and Netflix acquired the documentary Descendant& which won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Creative Vision at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
CNN Films and TIME Studios have teamed with Academy Award®-nominated and Emmy® Award-winning filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen (RBG, Julia, My Name is Pauli Murray) for Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down, a tender yet raw documentary about former U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords’ remarkable perseverance following a horrific 2011 assassination attempt that left her with partial paralysis and the language impairment, aphasia. Home movies taken at the hospital, and current-day cinema verité filming, show Gifford’s painstaking and miraculous recovery from a gunshot to her head, and her path to becoming one of America’s most effective advocates for gun violence prevention. The filmmakers also capture a remarkable love story. Nine years after Giffords’ husband Mark Kelly gave up his job as a NASA astronaut to support his wife’s recovery, cameras follow an exuberant Gabrielle Giffords on the 2020 campaign trail supporting Kelly’s successful run for the U.S. Senate for Arizona. Production of Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down is near completion.
Greenwich Entertainment released the official trailer for Mau, the documentary on the life of world-renowned designer Bruce Mau that world premiered as the opening night film of Architecture & Design Film Festival NY 2021.
Neon released the official trailer for Terror Contagion, Laura Poitras’ Oscar shortlisted short documentary on the Israeli cyberweapons manufacturer NSO Group and its use of Pegasus malware.
Navalny, Daniel Roher’s revealing documentary thriller about Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption activist, Alexei Navalny has been added to the lineup of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. The film is now the tenth and final film in the U.S. Documentary Competition section and will World Premiere on January 25, 2022.
The new official trailer debuted for Worst To First: The True Story of Z100 NYC, the documentary about the birth of America’s most iconic radio station, Z100, and how the legendary Scott Shannon took it from Worst to First. Produced by Elvis Duran, the top rated morning radio personality in America, the film includes an all star cast of musical legends including Clive Davis, Nile Rodgers, Joan Jett, Jon Bon Jovi, Debbie Gibson and many more. Worst To First will be released nationwide on VOD on February 11.
In honor of Black History Month, Showtime Documentary Films is premiering the provocative new three-part docu-series everything’s gonna be all white, which explores the history of race in America from the perspective of people of color. From the ever-shifting classifications of racial identity, to the generational effects of racism on housing, education and healthcare, to the singular fight of Indigenous populations to reclaim their land from constant encroachment, the docu-series delves deeply into the root causes of racial inequities in this country.
Filmmakers John Bernardo and Steven E. Mallorca’s powerful documentary A Peloton of One will be released for a limited virtual theatrical via Laemmle Theaters beginning February 18th.
ESPN will debut the next installment in the Peabody and Emmy award-winning 30 for 30 series, “The Tuck Rule,” on February 6. Directed by Ken Rodgers (“The Two Bills,” “Al Davis vs. The NFL”) and Nick Mascolo, the documentary examines one of the most controversial plays in sports history, twenty years after it took place.
