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Light in the Water[/caption]
Logo Documentary Films today announced its 2018 slate which includes Light in the Water,
When the Beat Drops and
Quiet Heroes. The first film, Light in the Water, premiering Thursday, July 19th on Logo, details the humble beginnings of one of the first openly gay masters swim and water polo club in 1982. When the Beat Drops, premiering August 9th, follows a crew of gay African-American men as they pioneer the Southern-rooted underground dance scene known as “bucking.” The Sundance Film Festival favorite, Quiet Heroes, which tells the story of one female doctor fighting to save the denigrated and largely male AIDS population in the socially conservative Salt Lake City area, premieres August 23rd. Logo Documentary Films division recently received the 2018 Television Academy Honor for Forbidden: Undocumented and Queer in Rural America as well as its third Daytime Emmy for KEVYN AUCOIN Beauty & The Beast in Me.
“Now more than ever, it is imperative for us to tell the stories of our community’s ability to triumph over adversity,” said Taj Paxton, VP of Logo Documentary Films. “These documentaries represent our bravery and our continued fight against stigma and the sting of hatred and intolerance.”
The 2018 slate includes:
LIGHT IN THE WATER / Premieres Thursday, July 19th at 8PM ET/PT on Logo
Light in the Water reveals the untold story of a group of gay men and women who found one another through their love of competitive swimming, ultimately becoming a family and a force for the LGBTQ sports movement.
The West Hollywood Aquatics Team were pioneers in gay sports, from registering as one of the first openly gay Masters swim teams in 1982, to pushing through the devastation of the AIDS crisis. This documentary reveals the inside story of a group of trailblazers who personified the change they wanted to see and created a legacy for equality in sports that lives on in the team today.
Light in The Water is produced by Patty Ivins Specht and Lis Bartlett and directed by Bartlett. Executive Producers from Logo Documentary Films are Pamela Post and Taj Paxton.
WHEN THE BEAT DROPS / Premieres Thursday, August 9th at 8PM ET/PT on Logo
As Voguing exploded out of the ballroom scene of NYC, “bucking,” an electric and subversive underground dance scene, was boldly pioneered in the clubs of the Deep South as a new form of self-expression and education. Together with his crew of fellow gay African-American men, Anthony Davis, a heavy-set, Atlanta-born kid with a love of dance, helped grow bucking into a national movement, complete with fierce competitions. In the process, Davis created a haven for a generation of displaced black gay men.
When the Beat Drops had its premiere at the 2018 Miami Film Festival where is won the “Knight Documentary Achievement Award” and recently received the “Outstanding Documentary Jury Award” at Frameline42: San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival. The film will also serve as the Documentary Centerpiece at Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles on July 19th.
It is a World of Wonder (WOW) production and is the directorial debut of internationally acclaimed choreographer Jamal Sims, who brings a sensitive intimacy to the subject’s brilliant artistry and their inspiring lives. When the Beat Drops is produced by WOW’s Emmy Award-winning Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, along with Jordan Finnegan. Pamela Post and Taj Paxton serve as executive producers from Logo Documentary Films.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc3292–FL4
QUIET HEROES / Premieres Thursday, August 23rd at 8PM ET/PT on Logo
In Salt Lake City, Utah, the socially conservative religious monoculture complicated the AIDS crisis, where patients in the entire state and intermountain region relied on only one doctor, Dr. Kristen Ries. Quiet Heroes is the story of her fight – against stigma, shame and ignorance – to save a maligned population everyone else seemed willing to just let die.
Quiet Heroes had its world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. It is directed and produced by Jenny Mackenzie, Jared Ruga and Amanda Stoddard. Pamela Post and Taj Paxton serve as executive producers from Logo Documentary Films.
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Durban filmmaker Michael Cross’ award-winning documentary film, “The Fun’s Not Over – The James Phillips Story” will have its local premiere at the Durban International Film Festival on Saturday July 21, 2018.
The film, which recently won the Audience Award when it premiered at this years 20th Encounters South African International Documentary Film Festival, tells the story of the life and untimely death of James Phillips who died aged 36 in July 1995.
He was a composer, musician, bandleader and the voice and conscience of a generation of white South Africans. Cross’ film examines his extraordinary journey and his multiple musical incarnations.
Phillips’ Afrikaans alter ego Bernoldus Niemand’s 1983 single, “Hou My Vas Korporaal” (“Hold Me Tightly, Corporal”) became an anthem of the End Conscription Campaign and spawned “alternative” Afrikaans rock music and the Voëlvry movement.
In 1985, with his beloved Cherry Faced Lurchers, he recorded the gut-wrenching “Shot Down” that addressed both white privilege and the violence of the apartheid state.
James Phillips’ legacy is that of one of this country’s most aware, articulate and passionate artists. He was a genius, a satirist, a poet and probably one of the most accomplished songwriters that South Africa has ever produced.
“The Fun’s Not Over” tells James’ story in his own words and through the voices of journalists like Max du Preez, satirists Zapiro and Pieter Dirk Uys, his musical collaborators and label-mates like Koos Kombuis and Vusi Mahlasela, contemporary artists like Jack Parow and his friends and family.
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Filmmaker Michael Cross of “The Fun’s Not Over – The James Phillips Story”[/caption]
“The Fun’s Not Over – The James Phillips Story” will screen in competition, for Best South African Documentary Feature at the 39th Durban International Film Festival on Saturday July 21, 2018 at Musgrave 3 at 20:00 and Wednesday July 25, 2018 at Musgrave 3 at 18:00.
French film-maker and journalist Claude Lanzmann, best known for directing the Holocaust documentary Shoah, 
The new unscripted 10-part documentary series “America To Me” which provides a first look into an academic year at Chicagoland’s elite Oak Park and River Forest High School, released the official trailer. The insightful documentary series created by Emmy Award(R)-winning and Oscar(R)-nominated filmmaker Steve James (Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters, Life Itself, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail) will premiere on Starz on Sunday, August 26, 2018 at 9 PM ET/PT.
“America To Me” follows students, TEACHERS and administrators in suburban Chicago’s Oak Park and River Forest High School, one of the country’s highest performing and diverse public schools, over the course of a year, as they grapple with decades-long racial and educational inequities – in addition to the challenges that today’s teenagers face. Digging deep into the experiences of a racially diverse student population, “America To Me” sparks candid conversations about what has succeeded and what has failed in the quest to achieve racial equity and overcome obstacles in our education system. In this part observational character story and part high-school confessional, James captures critical moments within this vibrant high-school ecosystem.
“America to Me” made its world premiere with the first five episodes at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival in the new “Indie Episodic” category. Episodes were also previewed at Full Frame and AFI DOCS.
To inspire action on the educational equity issues highlighted in “America To Me,” Participant Media and Starz are partnering to launch a social impact campaign. The campaign is designed to encourage candid conversations about racism through a downloadable Community Conversation Toolkit and elevate student voices through a national spoken-word poetry contest. Alongside the release of each new episode, the campaign will host a high-profile screening event in one city across the country. Over the course of the ten weeks, these ten events will SEED a timely national dialogue anchored by the series, and kick off activities across the country to inspire students, teachers, parents and community leaders to develop local initiatives that address inequities in their own communities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uNhmWJ4l5k
Kill Your Idols – Yeah Yeah Yeahs[/caption]
Scott Crary’s influential rock documentary, Kill Your Idols will be re-released with special event theatrical screenings and 2xDVD set by Submarine Deluxe. The roc doc will be available on VOD for the first time ever with a rollout across multiple platforms planned for October 2018.
A chronicle of New York City’s diverse art punk and no wave music scenes across three decades, the documentary includes original interviews and performances with bands and artists like Suicide, Lydia Lunch, the late Glenn Branca, Sonic Youth, Swans, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The 2xDVD expanded edition will include over 90 minutes of bonus content, including 20 minutes of never-before-seen footage from the original production, commentaries and two brand new featurettes, produced exclusively for the reissue.
Produced by Crary and executive produced by Submarine’s own Dan Braun and Josh Braun, Kill Your Idols was distributed in 2006 by Palm Pictures and Showtime/Sundance Channel. The film won the award for Best Documentary at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival and also screened at SXSW, the BFI London Times Film Festival, among others. The doc has been called “iconic” by Black Book, “still shocking” by Uncut and, in 2013, was included in the permanent archives of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
JEFF LYNNE’S ELO: WEMBLEY OR BUST[/caption]
The concert documentary, JEFF LYNNE’S ELO: WEMBLEY OR BUST, will make its U.S. television premiere on SHOWTIME on Friday, July 27 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on-air, on demand and over the internet. Celebrating Lynne’s enduring and ongoing musical legacy, director Paul Dugdale documents Lynne’s ELO performance in England’s famed Wembley Stadium in front of a sold-out crowd of 60,000 fans.
JEFF LYNNE’S ELO: WEMBLEY OR BUST gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look into the concert of recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Lynne – one of the most successful recording artists, songwriters and producers of all-time. The film is complete with bells, whistles and spaceships, and most importantly, many of the most beloved songs of all time, from vintage ELO classics like “Mr. Blue Sky,” “Livin’ Thing” and “Evil Woman” to “Do Ya” from his days with The Move, “Handle With Care” which he recorded with the Traveling Wilburys, right through “When I Was A Boy” from his latest ELO album, Alone In The Universe. “I love it,” says Lynne. “This might be my favorite gig ever, so it’s a very good one to get to share.”
JEFF LYNNE’S ELO: WEMBLEY OR BUST is directed by Paul Dugdale and produced by Simon Fisher. Julie Jakobek and Craig Fruin serve as executive producers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDL54-Euqg8
image via screengrab
In 2010, Taiji, a sleepy fishing town in Japan, suddenly found itself in the worldwide media spotlight. The Cove, a documentary denouncing the town’s longstanding whale and dolphin hunting traditions, won an Academy Award and almost overnight, Taiji became the go-to destination and battleground for activists from around the world.
Can a proud 400-year-old whaling tradition survive a tsunami of modern animal-rights activism and colliding forces of globalism vs. localism?
Hitler’s Hollywood is a new documentary directed by Rüdiger Suchsland and narrated by Udo Kier, that traces the rise and fall of Nazi Germany through its national cinema of 1933-1945, illustrated with clips from the many big spectacles, colorful fantasies and lavish costume films that Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels conceived of to rival Hollywood.
An Official Selection of the Telluride Film Festival, this critically-acclaimed film opened at New York’s Film Forum earlier this year before moving on to engagements in national markets including Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta.
Kino Lorber will release 
Jeremy Workman’s documentary 
Here is an exclusive clip from the new documentary 
The original documentary special, “Detroit: Comeback City,” which recounts the saga of the rise, fall and rebirth of Detroit through the iconic Michigan Central Station will premiere on HISTORY on Sunday, July 1 at 9pm ET/PT.
Narrated by Academy Award(R)-winner and Detroit native JK Simmons, the film chronicles how Detroit went from the engine of American capitalism to a city of ruins that is now on the cusp of an exciting rebirth. The story of the city is told by real Detroiters who recount the stories of their relatives who helped build the city and the country. Among the interview subjects are Alice Cooper, Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., Pulitzer Prize-winner Dr. Heather Ann Thompson, Bill Ford and NASA Astronaut Jerry Linenger.
From Henry Ford’s automated assembly lines å turned Detroit into a wheelhouse of innovation to the factories that made the city WW2’s arsenal of democracy, we will hear from those who found freedom and prosperity in the Motor City, including those who fled racism in the South to build a new life, and those who lived through the city’s 1967 riots and the city’s eventual downturn – leading to Detroit’s painful filing for bankruptcy in 2013.
The anchor of the story is the iconic Michigan Central Station (MCS). Designed by Warren & Wetmore and Reed and Stem, the firms that designed New York City’s Grand Central Terminal, MCS was built in the early 20th Century to announce Detroit’s dream for the future. The station was an emblem of Detroit’s innovative power, but after six decades it was shut down and abandoned, a painful symbol of the city’s demise.
Ford Motor Company has purchased Michigan Central Station, and recently announced plans to transform the building into an innovation hub.
“Part of History’s mission is to not just tell stories of the past, but capture history as it unfolds,” said Eli Lehrer, Executive Vice President of Programming, HISTORY. “Working together with organizations like Ford Motor Company, we are able to breathe new life into the past by working together to save our most precious landmarks for future generations.”
Hulu has acquired the whistleblower doc