The Providers[/caption]
The Providers, the award-winning documentary film directed by Laura Green and Anna Moot-Levin about health care providers in rural America will have its New York City premiere at the 2018 DOC NYC festival on Friday, November 9 at 5:30pm at Cinepolis Chelsea, and on Monday, November 12 at 12:45pm at IFC Center. The Providers had its World Premiere at the 2018 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, and went on to screen at the San Francisco DocFest (where it won the Spirit of Activism Award), AFI DOCS, Santa Fe Independent Film Festival, and many other festivals.
Set against the backdrop of the physician shortage and opioid epidemic in rural America, The Providers follows three healthcare providers – a doctor, a nurse practitioner, and a physician assistant – in northern New Mexico. They work at El Centro, a group of safety-net clinics that offer care to all who walk through the doors, regardless of ability to pay. Amidst personal struggles that reflect those of their patients, the journeys of The Providers unfold as they work to reach rural Americans who would otherwise be left out of the healthcare system. With intimate access, the documentary shows the transformative power of providers’ relationships with marginalized patients.
Watch trailer on VIMEO
Documentary
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THE PROVIDERS, Documentary on Health Care Providers in Rural America to Premiere at DOC NYC [Trailer]
[caption id="attachment_32116" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] The Providers[/caption]
The Providers, the award-winning documentary film directed by Laura Green and Anna Moot-Levin about health care providers in rural America will have its New York City premiere at the 2018 DOC NYC festival on Friday, November 9 at 5:30pm at Cinepolis Chelsea, and on Monday, November 12 at 12:45pm at IFC Center. The Providers had its World Premiere at the 2018 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, and went on to screen at the San Francisco DocFest (where it won the Spirit of Activism Award), AFI DOCS, Santa Fe Independent Film Festival, and many other festivals.
Set against the backdrop of the physician shortage and opioid epidemic in rural America, The Providers follows three healthcare providers – a doctor, a nurse practitioner, and a physician assistant – in northern New Mexico. They work at El Centro, a group of safety-net clinics that offer care to all who walk through the doors, regardless of ability to pay. Amidst personal struggles that reflect those of their patients, the journeys of The Providers unfold as they work to reach rural Americans who would otherwise be left out of the healthcare system. With intimate access, the documentary shows the transformative power of providers’ relationships with marginalized patients.
Watch trailer on VIMEO
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DAWNLAND, Documentary on Impact of Native American Child Removal, to Debut on PBS [Trailer]
Dawnland reveals the untold story of Indigenous child removal in the United States through the first government-endorsed truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) in the nation, tasked with investigating the devastating impact of Maine’s child welfare practices on Native American communities. With exclusive access to this groundbreaking process and never-before-seen footage, Dawnland bears witness to intimate, sacred moments of truth-telling and healing. Directed by Adam Mazo and Ben Pender-Cudlip, the film premieres on Independent Lens Monday, November 5, 2018, 10:00-11:00 PM ET (check local listings) as part of Native American Heritage Month programming on PBS.
For most of the 20th century, government agents systematically forced Native American children from their homes and placed them with white families. As recently as the 1970s, one in four Native children nationwide were living in non-Native foster care, adoptive homes, or boarding schools. Many children experienced shattering emotional and physical harm by adults who mistreated them and tried to erase their cultural identity. Now, for the first time, they are being asked to share their stories.
The historic investigation by the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission represented a groundbreaking moment in the history of tribal-state relations. From 2013 to 2015, Native and non-Native commissioners travelled across Maine, gathering testimony about the agonizing impacts of the state’s child welfare practices on families in Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot tribal communities, which together comprise the Wabanaki people.
The TRC discovered that state power continues to be used to break up families, threatening the very existence of the Wabanaki people. Is it possible to right this wrong and turn around a broken child welfare system? Dawnland examines the immense challenges faced by the commission as it works toward truth, reconciliation, and the survival of all Indigenous peoples. By exploring what happened in Maine, the film also provides the opportunity to raise awareness about this nationwide issue, which continues to impact families and children.
Dawnland will be presented as part of the new season of Indie Lens Pop-Up, a neighborhood series that brings people together for free film screenings and community-driven conversations. Featuring documentaries seen on PBS’s Independent Lens, Indie Lens Pop-Up draws local residents, leaders, and organizations together to discuss what matters most, from newsworthy topics to family and relationships.
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FAIL STATE, Exec Produced by Dan Rather, Investigates Rise of Predatory For-Profit Colleges [Trailer]
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Fail State[/caption]
The award-winning investigative documentary Fail State executive produced by news legend Dan Rather, investigates the dark side of American higher education, chronicling the decades of policy decisions in Washington, D.C. that have given rise to a powerful and highly-predatory for-profit college industry. Fail Safe directed by Alex Shebanow, opens in theaters in Los Angeles on October 19 at Laemmle’s Music Hall, and in New York on November 9 at the Maysles Documentary Center Cinema, followed by a digital release via Gravitas Ventures on November, and national television debut on STARZ on December 17.
With echoes of the subprime mortgage crisis, the film lays bare how for-profit colleges exploit millions of low-income and minority students, leaving them with worthless degrees and drowning in student loan debt. Director Alexander Shebanow traces the rise, fall, and resurgence of the for-profit college industry, revealing its Wall Street Backing and the lawmakers enabling widespread fraud and abuse in American higher education.
The film features interviews with Senators Dick Durbin, Illinois and Senator Tom Harkin, Iowa; Governor Bill Haslam, Tennessee; Congresswoman Maxine Waters, California; Attorney General Jack Conway, Kentucky; F. King Alexander, President and Chancellor, Louisiana State University; Gail Mellow, President, LaGuardia Community College and many more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S64WANCgMek
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Fourth Doc Stories Film Series Returns to Bay Area, Opens with ‘They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead’
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They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead[/caption]
The fourth Doc Stories, presented by SFFILM returns to the Bay Area from November 1 to 4 with a lineup featuring brand-new documentary films yet to be released alongside in-depth discussions with filmmaker guests in person.
The forward-thinking values of the San Francisco Bay Area are celebrated in the lineup especially by two remarkable portraits – General Magic and 5B – both featuring extraordinary archival footage conveying a unique “you were there” sense of urgency. Pressing issues from political indoctrination in Syria to maternal mortality rates here in the US take the stage alongside films such as They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead and United Skates, that use art and culture as a lens through which to tell larger stories.
This year’s wide-ranging lineup will also present the inaugural Doc Star Keynote Address, delivered by Lisa Nishimura, Head of Documentary and Comedy Programming at Netflix. Doc Stories 2018 is rounded out by compelling and diverse shorts programs: Doc Shorts focused around issues of community and place, and the return of the popular New York Times Op-Docs showcase.
The fourth Doc Stories runs November 1 to 4 at the Castro Theatre (429 Castro Street) and SFMOMA’s Phyllis Wattis Theater (151 3rd Street – Joyce and Larry Stupski Entrance at Minna Street).
Opening Night: They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead [Castro]
Morgan Neville, USA, 98 min. Director Morgan Neville expected to attend.
Morgan Neville, who charmed SFFILM Festival audiences this spring with his look at Mr. Rogers and his neighborhood, now playfully takes on the story of Orson Welles’s last production, The Other Side of the Wind, a semi-mythological cinematic experiment, posthumously completed and receiving its first public release this year. Neville eschews scholars and critics and lets those who knew and worked with the mercurial filmmaker tell the story of “the greatest movie never released.” The result is as lively and inventive as work of the master it reveals.
Doc Star Keynote Address: Lisa Nishimura [SFMOMA]
TRT 60 min.
Netflix’s Vice President of Original Documentary and Comedy Programming has had an enormous impact on the way filmmakers and viewers approach non-fiction filmmaking. Nishimura is an 11-year Netflix veteran and spearheaded Netflix’s Original Documentaries initiative in 2013. The non-fiction work developed under her tenure is comprised of a wide range of series and features including Ava DuVernay’s 13th, Werner Herzog’s Into the Inferno, and Liz Garbus’s What Happened Miss Simone? The current slate of films, including Reversing Roe, Shirkers, and Quincy, showcases Netflix’s commitment to female documentarians and compelling storytelling. Nishimura will discuss her thoughts on the current state of non-fiction filmmaking in an entertaining and informative Keynote.
Giving Birth in America: California [SFMOMA]
Clancy McCarty, USA, 18 min. (TRT 60 min) Director Clancy McCarty, Every Mother Counts founder Christy Turlington Burns, and additional guests expected to attend. Extended post-screening conversation.
Giving Birth in America is a documentary series that examines some of the reasons for the alarming current statistics about maternal mortality rates in the US. This fifth and most recent episode, California, focuses on Dr. Christina Gamboa, an OB-GYN in Watsonville who provides pre-natal care to an immigrant farmworker from Mexico with a high-risk pregnancy. The screening will be followed by an in-depth discussion with McCarty, Dr. Gamboa, and women’s health advocates.
New York Times Op-Docs [SFMOMA]
TRT 80 min. Directors Luisa Conlon, Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, and Kathleen Lingo, Executive Producer of New York Times Op-Docs expected to attend.
The fourth edition of our annual exploration of the year’s best short documentaries from the New York Times’ award-winning series again shows the strength and versatility of the non-fiction form. This year’s program takes us from family reflections to pressing worldly issues and beyond—even to outer space.
The Truth About Killer Robots [SFMOMA]
Maxim Pozdorovkin, USA, 83 min. Director Maxim Pozdorovkin expected to attend.
This timely exploration of our increasingly mechanized world is a kaleidoscopic look at the automatically operating machines that are changing our daily lives in ways that run the gamut from intriguing to deadly. The film probes automation-influenced events both dramatic and incidental, from the death of a worker in a German Volkswagen factory to robotic displacement of laborers to the undermining of authentic human connection. Philosophers, journalists, and futurists add perspective and insight, sharing screen time with a non-human narrator.
Doc Shorts [SFMOMA]
TRT 70 min. Filmmakers Roxy Rezvany, Mohammed Gorjestani, Ivete Lucas, and Patrick Bresnan expected to attend.
Four expertly crafted and distinctly expressed short films center around issues of community and place. Whether navigating a transition from North Korea to the UK, a release from prison, or a trip to the beach, the people documented in these non-fiction pieces—Little Pyongyang (Roxy Rezvany, UK), Nuuca (Michelle Latimer, Canada/USA), Sister Hearts (Mohammad Gorjestani, USA), and Skip Day (Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan, USA)—are each in their different way adjusting to the changing world in which they find themselves.
Ghost Fleet [SFMOMA]
Shannon Service and Jeffrey Waldron, USA, 88 min. Co-director Shannon Service expected to attend.
The plight of fishermen enslaved on vessels in Southeast Asian waters is movingly documented through the linked stories of Patima Tungpuchayakul, a Thai activist who has helped return men to their homes, and Tun Lin, who escaped captivity after eleven years and now seeks justice for himself and others. The film follows a rescue mission off the shore of Indonesia where escaped men hide on remote islands and Thai ships continue their shocking practices.
General Magic [SFMOMA]
Sarah Kerruish and Matt Maude, USA, 93 min. Co-director Matt Maude and special guests expected to attend.
A portrait of Silicon Valley’s most important failed startup, General Magic details the rise and fall of the visionary company that envisioned the first smartphone, as well as e-commerce and emojis, years before any of them became ubiquitous. Told through the voices of several members of the team of gifted (and still dominant) engineers, programmers, and marketers, General Magic brings you into the heart of the story of a company that changed the world before the world was ready.
Of Fathers and Sons [SFMOMA]
Talal Derki, Germany/Syria/Lebanon, 99 min.
Posing as a photojournalist who supports jihad, director Talal Derki takes extraordinary risks and gains vivid access to the family and life of 45-year-old Abu Osama, one of the founders of Al-Nusra, the Syrian arm of Al-Qaeda. The father of eight sons, Abu Osama is a fearsome example of those who believe firmly in violence as a means to an end. Though certainly chilling at times, Of Fathers and Sons is also a deeply compassionate portrait of young boys who are not given options over their lives and futures.
Filmmakers in Conversation [SFMOMA]
TRT 75 min. Directors Bing Liu, RaMell Ross, and Sandi Tan expected to attend.
What are some of the ways that a filmmaker signals their point of view about their subjects? How does a film’s style and approach influence how the viewer absorbs and understands it? Join the creators of some of 2018’s most remarkable films, shot in a variety of styles and using innovative methods to explore stories both personal and topical, to explore these topics. Participants include Bing Liu (Minding the Gap), RaMell Ross (Hale County This Morning, This Evening), and Sandi Tan (Shirkers).
United Skates [SFMOMA]
Tina Brown and Dyana Winkler, USA 2018, 90 min. Directors Tina Brown and Dyana Winkler expected to attend.
Eight wheels and a roller rink hold special significance in the African American community, as the act of roller skating provides a meaningful, vibrant, and safe way for people to express themselves. Examining the historical and cultural influence of skating rinks around the county, filmmakers Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown document recent rink closures and discriminatory regulations that make it harder for skaters to gather, while celebrating the community that is determined to keep the spirit and their skating alive.
5B [Castro] – WORLD PREMIERE
Dan Krauss, USA, 93 min. Director Dan Krauss expected to attend.
In the mid-1980s, a simple number and letter designated a ward on the fifth floor of San Francisco General Hospital, the first in the country designed specifically to deal with AIDS patients. The unit’s emphasis on humanity and consideration of holistic well-being was a small miracle in the midst of a devastating crisis and the ensuing panic about risk and infection. The story of 5B is stirringly told through first-person testimony of patients, their loved ones, and hospital staff who volunteered to work on the ward, resulting in a bittersweet and moving monument to a moment in San Francisco history and a celebration of quiet heroes worthy of remembrance and renewed recognition. Presented in Collaboration with the Telluride Film Festival.
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Dr. Denis Mukwege Subject of Documentary THE MAN WHO MENDS WOMEN Awarded Nobel Peace Prize [Trailer]
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Dr. Denis Mukwege in The Man Who Mends Women – The Wrath of Hippocrates[/caption]
Dr. Denis Mukwege, world renowned Congolese surgeon and the subject of the documentary “The Man Who Mends Women – The Wrath Of Hippocrates” was today awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Man Who Mends Women – The Wrath Of Hippocrates is the portrait of the impressive life and work of internationally renowned gynecologist Dr. Denis Mukwege from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He received the 2014 prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, for his struggle against sexual violence. Dr. Mukwege medically assisted over 40,000 sexually abused women in sixteen years of professional practice. He is a winner of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his work.
Sexual violence against women has been used as a weapon of war for years in the violence-ridden and poverty-stricken Democratic Republic of Congo. In order to provide medical, psychological and emotional aid to the victims, Dr. Mukwege founded the Panzi hospital in Bukavu in 1999. Besides his work as a physician Dr. Mukwege also defends human rights and seeks to raise global awareness on the issue of sexual violence in his country. He condemns the political reluctance to tackle the problem and is not afraid to hit the nail on the head.
His work is not without danger, as Dr. Mukwege experienced in 2012, when armed men entered his home and started shooting. Mukwege and his family survived the attack, but his guard was killed. The doctor now lives cloistered in his hospital in Bukavu under the protection of the United Nation peacekeepers. The women, whose physical and emotional integrity and dignity have been restored, stand beside him, true activists for peace, and hungry for justice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU62X6iV1ZI
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Nadia Murad, Subject of Documentary ON HER SHOULDERS, Awarded Nobel Peace Prize [Trailer]
Yazidi genocide survivor-turned-global advocate Nadia Murad, the subject of Alexandria Bombach’s documentary ON HER SHOULDERS, was announced today as the recipient of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.
A deeply moving documentary portrait, ON HER SHOULDERS was the winner of the Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Documentary Directing Award and has won awards at some of the world’s top film festivals. It will open on Friday, October 19 at New York’s Village East Cinemas, followed by Los Angeles on October 24, with a national rollout to follow.
Twenty-three-year-old Nadia Murad’s life is a dizzying array of important undertakings—from giving testimony before the U.N. to visiting refugee camps to soul-bearing media interviews and one-on-one meetings with top government officials. With deep compassion and a formal precision and elegance that matches Nadia’s calm and steely demeanor, director Alexandria Bombach (who also shot and edited the film) follows this strong-willed young woman, who survived the 2014 genocide of the Yazidis in Northern Iraq and escaped sexual slavery at the hands of ISIS to become a relentless beacon of hope for her people, even when at times she longs to lay aside this monumental burden and simply have an ordinary life.
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Little League Baseball and Race Intersect in LONG TIME COMING: A 1955 BASEBALL STORY [Trailer]
The players of the first racially integrated Little League Baseball Game in the South reflect on this revolutionary event in the new documentary, Long Time Coming: A 1955 Baseball Story. In 1955, when racial segregation defined the South, two teams of 12-year-old boys stepped onto a baseball field in a non-violent act of cultural defiance that would change the course of history. Florida’s 1955 Little League State Championship between the all-black Pensacola Jaycees and the all-white Orlando Kiwanis moved beyond fears, threats and the unknown to break with tradition and show the world what was possible—breaking the color line in youth sports. Featuring interviews with Major League Baseball and Civil Rights icons Hank Aaron, Cal Ripken, Jr., Gary Sheffield, Davey Johnson and Ambassador Andrew Young, Long Time Coming, directed by first-time feature documentary filmmaker Jon Strong, captures this shining moment in our nation’s history when children led us all toward a better way.
Long Time Coming will open theatrically nationwide on Oct 23rd distributed by NAGRA Kudelski Group in myCinema-enabled theaters, just in time for the World Series. A special one-night-only screening in New York City featuring some of the original team players will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 23rd at 7:00 p.m. at the SVA Theatre.
The release comes off the heels of the film’s festival run and screenings with prestigious institutions this past year with the Hank Aaron Chasing the Dream Foundation at the Carter Center, Derek Jeter’s Turn 2 Foundation, MLB All-Star Week, The Library of Congress and The Global Peace Film Festival.
Jackie Robinson had broken the Major League color barrier in 1947, but segregation still prevailed. Our future hinged upon local Southern communities to either embrace Robinson’s pioneering efforts, to redouble its longstanding commitment to segregation, or to remain quietly complicit in a system of racial inequality.
More than 60 years later, team captains Will Preyer (Pensacola) and Stewart Hall (Orlando) and the players explore how this game changed their lives and why it was more than just a game. They embark on personal journeys back to the game in 1955 and find that the forgotten event becomes a bridge to embracing the turbulence of today’s social landscape.
“I wanted to dig into the uncomfortable, real stories that many find difficult to share,” said director Jon Strong. “Black and white children who grew up in the South, now grown men in their 70s—how can we see them, know them, and most importantly, what can we learn from them for our own lives? Through conversation, I wanted to learn the histories, experiences and truths in their lives. What do they have in common? What makes them drastically different? And how do you bridge that gap in the real world, and not just angrily disagree?”
“Long Time Coming shows us the historic context for segregation and sports as a catalyst for the courage to embrace healthy change for the common good,” said producer Ted Haddock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjT3MXTkaCg
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Space Documentary ABOVE AND BEYOND: NASA’S JOURNEY TO TOMORROW Sets October Air Date on Discovery [Video]
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ABOVE AND BEYOND: NASA‘S JOURNEY TO TOMORROW[/caption]
Rory Kennedy’s documentary “Above and Beyond: NASA’s Journey to Tomorrow” takes a sweeping look at the Government Agency and its goals for the future during Its 60th Anniversary. Above and Beyond: NASA’s Journey to Tomorrow airs October 13 at 9:00/8:00c on Discovery and Science Channel, building on the long-standing history of Discovery’s NASA Programming.
Human beings, more than any other species, are driven by an insatiable curiosity, a remarkable ability to wonder. It is a need to know that lies deep within our DNA as we seek to answer some of time’s most fundamental questions: Where do we come from? Are we alone? What will become of us?
As NASA celebrates its 60th anniversary, Discovery once again shines a spotlight on the historic institution taking us to the moon, to the surface of Mars, to the outer edge of our solar system and beyond. But more than a moving portrait of NASA’s many accomplishments in space, ABOVE AND BEYOND also sheds light on the agency’s lesser-known area of focus – the vital role NASA has played in measuring the health of our home planet. However far NASA may travel, its gaze has always returned to Earth – monitoring our seas and skies, our ice and sands – in an ongoing struggle to meet today’s great challenge – protecting our planet.
Directed, produced, and narrated by Academy Award(R)-nominated and Emmy(R)-winning Rory Kennedy (“Last Days of Vietnam,”) ABOVE AND BEYOND: NASA’S JOURNEY TO TOMORROW examines the extraordinary ways NASA has changed not only our vision of the universe, but also our planet, and ourselves. The documentary special airs October 13 at 9pm ET/PT on Discovery and Science Channel.
In 1961, announcing the moon shot, President Kennedy issued a great challenge, a challenge that in many ways set NASA on its course: “We have given this program a high national priority,” President Kennedy said. “Even though I realize that this is in some measure an act of faith and vision, for we do not now know what benefits await us.” With ABOVE AND BEYOND, filmmaker Rory Kennedy asks: what has become of President Kennedy’s faith in human ingenuity, his grand vision and aspirations?
Looking back over the last 60 years and forward to the next, ABOVE AND BEYOND explores NASA’s commitment to dreaming big. With wide-ranging access to NASA leaders, scientists, and astronauts, Kennedy goes behind the scenes of the world’s greatest space agency. Through interviews with engineers like Adam Steltzner (who led the Mars Curiosity rover mission) and International Space Station (ISS) astronauts like Peggy Whitson (who holds the US record of 665 days in space), the film highlights the next-generation space telescopes, the dazzling prototypes of Mars-bound spacecraft, and the cutting-edge missions to further explore our solar system, galaxy, and larger universe. And yet, even while aiming higher and journeying farther than ever, NASA also continues to point its technology homeward – from the ozone hole to global climate change – in an effort to better understand the past, present, and future health of our planet.
Though it may surprise some, NASA has always explored both space and Earth. As far back as the 1960s, Apollo 8 showcased NASA’s ability to inform human perspective. In its mission, that crew traveled 240,000 miles over three days before the dark side of the moon came into view, something humankind had only dreamed about. In ABOVE AND BEYOND, Apollo 8 astronaut Jim Lovell describes how, when the spacecraft moved around the moon, revealing for the first time the whole Earth in the distance, he could suddenly see, “the earth as it truly is: a grand oasis in the vastness of space.”
Indeed, they had come to explore the moon and instead discovered the earth. From Apollo’s Jim Lovell to the Space Shuttle’s more contemporary Scott Kelly, astronauts have returned home with a new appreciation for our planet’s uniqueness, as well as its incredible fragility. After having spent a year on the ISS (the largest human-made object in space, a scientific laboratory that weighs over 1 million pounds, travels at 17,000 mph and orbits the earth 16 times a day), Kelly states, “If we can do this, we can do anything. We just have to dream it, and dream big, and go do it.”
ABOVE AND BEYOND goes on to highlight, beyond human space exploration, the remarkable role played by telescopes and rovers, including Curiosity which landed on Mars to explore whether that planet could have once supported life. While researchers knew from earlier missions that water had previously existed on the surface of Mars, Curiosity was sent to dig deeper, answering if the water had been sweet or salty, acidic or basic – the kind of water humans could have drunk. “Curiosity has answered our question, and that answer is yes,” explains Steltzner. “The ancient wet environment, three-and-a-half-billion years ago, when life was first starting here on Earth, Mars was an environment that was habitable for life.”
As Ellen Stofan, NASA’s Chief Scientist, 2013-2016, explains, “When we look outward, when we understand the planets, when we go out into the universe, we’re really still trying to look back at ourselves and say, ‘How does our planet work?’ That Mars was once habitable, just like earth, and is no longer makes clear how planetary bodies transform.
Now, more than ever, NASA is using its extraordinary tools to look back at Earth from space. If President Kennedy once set NASA’s challenge at the moon, Rory Kennedy argues that today the agency’s most urgent mission is equally clear – to report back on the health of our own planet. With over 19 different satellites studying the earth, with aircraft and ground teams, NASA can see almost every aspect of the earth’s systems from direct measurement, all that data streaming over years and decades. It is a comprehensive global view of an incredibly complicated planet.
From the rapidly melting Antarctica ice caps, to the bleaching and dying of coral reefs, the data collected by NASA is essential to humankind’s understanding. Informing our challenge today, NASA offers us a record of how the planet is changing and makes undeniably clear the threat of what is to come.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTOtUQSKGTo
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Tribeca Award Winning Documentary UNITED SKATES to Debut on HBO in 2019 [Trailer]
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UNITED SKATES[/caption]
UNITED SKATES, directed and produced by Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown, and winner of the Documentary Audience Award at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival has been acquired by HBO and will debut on the network in 2019. John Legend is an executive producer of the documentary feature.
As America’s last standing roller rinks are threatened with closure, UNITED SKATES spotlights a community of thousands who fight in a racially charged environment to save the underground African-American subculture of roller skating, which has been overlooked by the mainstream for generations, while giving rise to great musical talents.
The documentary will screen this fall in Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago and London, among other locations, supported by a robust outreach campaign.
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QUEEN OF THE WORLD, Landmark Documentary on Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to Debut on HBO
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President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are welcomed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to Buckingham Palace in London, April 1, 2009. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza[/caption]
“Queen of the World,” the Landmark Documentary on Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, tells the story of how the Commonwealth and its growth have been a central focus and passion throughout Her Majesty’s life. The documentary will debut MONDAY, OCT. 1 (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET/PT) on HBO, which has U.S. rights to the film.
Produced by Oxford Films, QUEEN OF THE WORLD will offer unique insights into Her Majesty The Queen as a figure on the global stage in her role as head of the Commonwealth, an association of free and independent nations that were once part of the British Empire, and the baton she is passing to the younger members of the Royal Family as they continue to build upon her legacy. Today, there are 2.4 billion Commonwealth citizens, which is almost one-third of the world’s population.
Filmed over more than a year with privileged access to The Queen, her family, her staff and her residences, the documentary tells the story of how the Commonwealth and its growth have been a central focus and passion throughout Her Majesty’s life.
QUEEN OF THE WORLD features behind-the-scenes moments with The Queen and other members of the Royal Family, including Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; Princess Anne; Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge; Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex; and the Countess of Wessex.
As the family and world leaders discuss the importance of the Commonwealth to The Queen, the film documents the ways she passes her knowledge and experience to the younger generations.
Drawing on footage from The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh’s private film archives and treasures of the Royal Collection, QUEEN OF THE WORLD will offer a unique perspective on The Queen’s early years as Head of the Commonwealth, when she had the symbols of the then-eight Commonwealth countries embroidered on her Coronation gown. That number had grown to 53 countries by the time the Duchess of Sussex had flowers representing the nations of the Commonwealth embroidered on her wedding veil in 2018.
The documentary begins in 2017 with Her Majesty The Queen recording her annual Christmas message to the Commonwealth before what will be a momentous year for both the Royal Family and for her “family of nations.”
QUEEN OF THE WORLD spotlights some of the programs that The Queen hosts every year to give opportunities to people from around the Commonwealth. At Buckingham Palace, a team of young professionals from the Caribbean join a program inspired by The Queen’s desire to give a helping hand to rising stars in the hospitality industry in countries where tourism is vital to the local economy. The group is given advice before its first royal introduction, to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. It’s a lively encounter as Prince Harry, The Queen’s new Commonwealth Youth Ambassador, tells them, “You guys have spent way more time in Buckingham Palace than I ever have – and you’ve only been here two weeks!”
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is reunited with her wedding gown and veil for the first time since her wedding day, as Royal Collection specialists prepare the dress for a new public exhibition. She reflects on her wedding day, on the importance of the Commonwealth and on the symbolic significance of the floral Commonwealth emblems sewn into her silk veil.
With access to private home movies, QUEEN OF THE WORLD shows the role that the Royal Yacht Britannia played in The Queen’s early tours of the Commonwealth, when it served not just as a floating palace and traveling embassy, but also as a home away from home. Princess Anne watches footage of her and her brother, Prince Charles, as young children on their first trip on the Royal Yacht after six months apart from their parents during the great post-Coronation Commonwealth tour, in which The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh traveled 40,000 miles around the globe.
The film also follows a special event at Buckingham Palace during London Fashion Week. The Countess of Wessex explains the significance of the Commonwealth Fashion Exchange, in which designers and artisans from each of the 53 Commonwealth countries create and display new looks. The designs are shown at Buckingham Palace at an exhibition attended by the Countess and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Beatrice and many key figures from the global fashion industry.
As the new Duke and Duchess of Sussex prepare to head for the Pacific on their first major Commonwealth tour together, a new chapter in this remarkable global story is about to unfold.
Oxford Films also produced the documentary “Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy,” which debuted on HBO in 2017.
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Netflix Releases Quincy Jones Documentary Trailer Featuring Mary J. Blige, Tony Bennett, Bono, Will Smith,
Netflix released the trailer for the documentary Quincy, described as an intimate look into the life of icon Quincy Jones, ahead of its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival on September 9.
The film directed by Quincy’s daughter Rashida Jones along with Alan Hicks, seamlessly threads personal vérité moments with private archival footage to reveal a legendary life like no other. A unique force in music and popular culture for 70 years, Jones has transcended racial and cultural boundaries; his story is inextricably woven into the fabric of America. Beyond his own acclaim as a trumpeter, producer, conductor, composer and arranger, Jones’s inimitable gift to discover the biggest talents of the past half of the century is unprecedented. He has mentored and cultivated the careers of young talents, from Lesley Gore and Michael Jackson to Oprah Winfrey and Will Smith.
Quincy features Quincy Jones, Mary J. Blige, Tony Bennett, Bono, Will Smith, Jay Z, Peggy Lipton, Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey and many others. The film will launch globally and in select theaters in New York and Los Angeles on September 21.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT7gn6nhsAc
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Award Winning LIYANA Exec Produced by Thandie Newton Sets Release Date [Trailer]
The new trailer and poster debuted this week for the award-winning genre-defying documentary LIYANA directed by Aaron and Amanda Kopp and executive produced by actress Thandie Newton. The acclaimed film which has won over 25 film festival jury and audience awards will begin its 25+ city theatrical run with a special screening at New York’s IFC Film Center on October 9 before opening at the Maysles Documentary Center on October 10. Los Angeles and additional cities will follow.
Under the guidance of acclaimed South African storyteller, Gcina Mhlophe, five orphaned children from Swaziland collaborate to craft a collective fairytale drawn from their darkest memories and brightest dreams. Their fictional character, Liyana, is brought to life in innovative animated artwork as she embarks on a perilous quest to rescue her young twin brothers. The children’s real and imagined worlds begin to converge, and they must choose what kind of story they will tell – in fiction and in their own lives.
This genre-defying film weaves an original animated hero’s journey with poetic documentary scenes to create an inspiring tale of perseverance. LIYANA is a tribute to creativity, the strength of the human spirit, and the healing power of storytelling.
LIYANA is the critically acclaimed feature directorial debut of award-winning filmmakers and cinematographers Aaron Kopp & Amanda Kopp. They both shot for the Academy Award nominated campus assault documentary THE HUNTING GROUND. Aaron, who was raised in Swaziland, also shot and co-produced the Academy Award winning documentary SAVING FACE, which earned him an Emmy nomination. LIYANA features an original score by South African composer, Philip Miller, and stunning animation by Nigerian artist Shofela Coker, illustrating Liyana’s journey as told through the children in Swaziland. Executive produced by award-winning actress, Thandie Newton, LIYANA has screened at more than 80 film festivals around the world including the British Film Institute’s London Film Festival and MoMA DocFortnight.
The film has been hailed as, deeply moving and beautifully crafted by The Hollywood Reporter and lush and uplifting by the New York Times. Critics across the country say the film is brilliant, masterful, an inspirational cinematic experience, and that LIYANA stands a strong chance of making Oscar buzz throughout the year.