The Toronto International Film Festival unveiled its lineup of 25 documentary films covering high-profile figures including Truman Capote, Merce Cunningham, Ron Howard, Bikram Choudhury, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and Imelda Marcos; as well as a broad range of themes, including journalism, immigration, global politics, environmentalism, capitalism, and racism.
Emmy winning director Lauren Greenfield (The Queen of Versailles), latest film The Kingmaker, will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival this August. The documentary centers on the indomitable character and controversial political career of Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines whose behind-the-scenes influence of her husband Ferdinand’s presidency rocketed her to the global political stage.
GIFT is a tribute to something that can’t be measured or counted, bought or sold. Exploring the parallels between artists’ work and a gift economy, it’s a reflection on the creative process, the reasons we “labour in service of our gifts.”
Showtime will premiere the network’s first true crime docu-series, Murder In The Bayou, on Friday, September 13 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, from director Matthew Galkin (Kevorkian) and author Ethan Brown, whose New York Times Best Selling book Murder In The Bayou is the inspiration for the series. The five-part docu-series investigates the unsolved murders of eight women whose bodies were discovered between 2005 and 2009 in drainage canals and on desolate back roads in and around the town of Jennings, Louisiana in rural Jefferson Davis Parish.
SFFILM and the Catapult Film Fund have announced the three filmmaking teams that have been awarded 2019 SFFILM Catapult Film Fellowships: Ilse Fernandez, Allison Otto, andYusef Srouji. These fellowships are awarded to filmmakers working in the early stages of developing compelling, story-driven documentary features, and run August through December of this year.Also, in keeping with SFFILM’s broader commitment to the Bay Area’s documentary filmmaking community, SFFILM’s popular Doc Talks series of nonfiction filmmaking workshops will continue at the organization’s FilmHouse residency space through a renewed grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Scientology Network’s Documentary Showcase, the weekly series providing a platform for independent filmmakers whose goal is to improve society by raising awareness of social, cultural and environmental issues, presents Unbranded on Friday, August 2, a journey that celebrates the return of an icon of the American West, the wild mustang.
The new documentary David Foster: Off the Record will have its World Premiere at Toronto International Film Festival. The film’s premiere will be followed with a special tribute to David Foster at the TIFF Tribute Gala.
A new documentary on EGOT-winning entertainer Rita Moreno, AMERICAN MASTERS “Rita Moreno: The Girl Who Decided to Go For It” is in the works from Norman Lear’s Act III Productions and executive producer Lin-Manuel Miranda, and is slated to premiere in 2020 on the PBS series AMERICAN MASTERS.
Directed and produced by Perri Peltz and Matthew O’Neill (HBO’s “Axios”), Alternate Endings: Six New Ways to Die in America, debuting Wednesday, August 14 (8:00-9:08 p.m. ET/PT), offers a fascinating look at the varied ways Americans are choosing to both find meaning and celebrate life as it comes to an end.
Halston, the documentary about the legendary design and lifestyle icon, from director Frédéric Tcheng (‘Dior and I’), which world premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, will premiere on CNN on Sunday, August 18 at 9:00pm Eastern and Pacific on CNN. Halston will encore on CNN on Saturday, August 24 at 9:00pm Eastern.
The Nashville Film Festival, taking place October 3-12, 2019 announced early music documentary features for 2019, including the world premiere of “Chuck Berry” by filmmaker Jon Brewer; “Born Into the Gig” by filmmakers Kate Davis and David Heilbroner; “Cool Daddio: The Second Youth of R. Stevie Moore” from filmmakers Imogen Putler and Monika Baran; and “The Sheriff of Mars” from filmmakers Jason Ressler and Matthew Woolf.
The Mayor of Comedy: A Canadian Stand-Up Story is a disruptive, eye-opening documentary that follows Canadian comedian Sandra Battaglini as she rallies the biggest names in the Canadian comedy industry. Set for release in Fall 2019, filmmaker Matt Kelly gives viewers an all-access pass to the murky world of Canadian showbiz, a world where the funniest people in the country struggle in a system that limits their ability to make a living.