Whistle-blower Chelsea Manning, whose 35-year sentence in an all-male maximum security prison was commuted by President Obama in 2017, will be the subject of the upcoming Showtime documentary “XY Chelsea.” Shot over two years and featuring exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes verité with Manning, the film picks up on the momentous day in May when she leaves prison and follows her through her journey of discovery, while also examining her place in the conversation on national security and the fight of the transgender community for rights and visibility.
The feature film, currently in post-production, will premiere at an upcoming film festival, followed by theatrical run and a subsequent premiere on the Showtime network.
Since 2014, filmmaker Tim Travers Hawkins has followed Manning and her legal team as they fought to get her out of prison, and for her to receive the necessary medical treatment for her gender dysphoria. Following two suicide attempts in 2016, Chelsea and her team tried to save her life with a long-shot request to President Obama for a commutation of her sentence before he left office. Cameras follow Manning’s fight for release and witness as she reveals herself to the world for the first time. XY CHELSEA is the journey of her fight for survival and dignity, and her transition from prisoner to a free woman.
XY Chelsea was directed by Tim Travers Hawkins and produced by Pulse Films in association with First Look Media’s Topic Studios, Field of Vision and British Film Institute. Thomas Benski, Julia Nottingham and Lucas Ochoa of Pulse Films are producers. Academy Award(R) winner Laura Poitras (RISK, Citizenfour), Mary Burke, Michael Bloom, Adam Pincus, Charlotte Cook, Sharon Chang, Blaine Vess and Christos V. Konstantakopoulos serve as executive producers.Documentary
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Chelsea Manning Documentary XY CHELSEA Set for Release in Late 2018
Whistle-blower Chelsea Manning, whose 35-year sentence in an all-male maximum security prison was commuted by President Obama in 2017, will be the subject of the upcoming Showtime documentary “XY Chelsea.” Shot over two years and featuring exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes verité with Manning, the film picks up on the momentous day in May when she leaves prison and follows her through her journey of discovery, while also examining her place in the conversation on national security and the fight of the transgender community for rights and visibility.
The feature film, currently in post-production, will premiere at an upcoming film festival, followed by theatrical run and a subsequent premiere on the Showtime network.
Since 2014, filmmaker Tim Travers Hawkins has followed Manning and her legal team as they fought to get her out of prison, and for her to receive the necessary medical treatment for her gender dysphoria. Following two suicide attempts in 2016, Chelsea and her team tried to save her life with a long-shot request to President Obama for a commutation of her sentence before he left office. Cameras follow Manning’s fight for release and witness as she reveals herself to the world for the first time. XY CHELSEA is the journey of her fight for survival and dignity, and her transition from prisoner to a free woman.
XY Chelsea was directed by Tim Travers Hawkins and produced by Pulse Films in association with First Look Media’s Topic Studios, Field of Vision and British Film Institute. Thomas Benski, Julia Nottingham and Lucas Ochoa of Pulse Films are producers. Academy Award(R) winner Laura Poitras (RISK, Citizenfour), Mary Burke, Michael Bloom, Adam Pincus, Charlotte Cook, Sharon Chang, Blaine Vess and Christos V. Konstantakopoulos serve as executive producers.
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BELIEVER, Documentary on Mormon Church Treatment of LGBTQ Members, Heads to HBO
The powerful documentary Believer, directed by Don Argott, follows Mormon Dan Reynolds, frontman for the Grammy Award-winning band Imagine Dragons, as he takes on a new mission to explore how the Mormon Church treats its LGBTQ members. With the rising suicide rate amongst teens in the state of Utah, his concern with the church’s policies sends him on an unexpected path of acceptance and change.
Believer, from Live Nation Productions, will have its world premiere in the Documentary Premieres section of the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, and will debut this summer on HBO.
The film documents this past year of Reynolds’ life during the process of organizing the first-ever LoveLoud Festival concert in Orem, Utah, to benefit such gay rights organizations as GLAAD and the Trevor Project, among others. While Believer takes a broader look at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ treatment of LGBTQ members, it also focuses on the suicide rate in the community, which has skyrocketed in the last decade.
Reynolds hopes Believer will continue to force discussion of gay rights within Mormonism on a larger scale. “LoveLoud reached 20,000 people in Utah, which is really small compared to the number of people who need to be reached,” he notes. “I think the reason the film needs to happen is because I feel like this is a way that nobody can turn their heads away.”
Believer centers on Reynolds, Aja Volkman, his wife and fellow musician, and Tyler Glenn, frontman for Neon Trees, among others.
Hans Zimmer composed the score for Believer and contributed to one of the two original songs Reynolds wrote for the film, giving music an integral role in the documentary.
Image: Dan Reynolds appears in Believer by Don Argott, an official selection of the Documentary Premieres program at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Don Argott.
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BEUYS, Documentary on Controversial Arrtist Joseph Beuys, Sets January Theatrical Release Date | Trailer
BEUYS, a documentary portrait of Joseph Beuys, one of the 20th century’s most influential and controversial artists, directed by Andres Veiel, will have it’s U.S. theatrical premiere with an exclusive theatrical engagement at Film Forum in New York City, starting Wednesday, January 17. The film expands to other national markets in February and March, 2018.
Charismatic and controversial German artist Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) was a messianic figure, alternately considered a shaman, a kook, a radical political activist, and a breakthrough artistic genius. Filmmaker Andres Veiel mines a rich trove of never-before-seen archival footage, showing how Beuys’s teachings (at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf), installations (using felt and fat), ‘happenings’ (covering himself in honey and gold leaf in How to Explain Paintings to a Dead Hare or locking himself in a room with a coyote in I Like America and America Likes Me), and lectures (“money shouldn’t be a commodity”) argued for a more expansive view of the role of art in our lives.
Always recognizable in his trademark fedora, Beuys was a visionary who, 30 years after his death, continues to influence artists as well as confound and entertain the rest of us. BEUYS will have a two-week engagement, from January 17 to January 30, at Film Forum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn2VSGwzMsE
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James Baldwin Documentary I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO Premieres on PBS’ Independent Lens on January 15
In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, to be called Remember This House. The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and successive assassinations of three of his close friends — Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. But at the time of Baldwin’s death in 1987, he left behind only 30 completed pages of his manuscript.
Now, in his incendiary documentary, I Am Not Your Negro, master filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished. The result is a radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin’s original words, spoken by Samuel L. Jackson, and a flood of rich archival material. I Am Not Your Negro is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film that questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond. And, ultimately, by confronting the deeper connections between the lives and assassination of these three leaders, Baldwin and Peck have produced a work that challenges the very definition of what America stands for.
The box office hit and nominee for the Academy Award for Best Documentary, Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro premieres on Independent Lens on Monday, January 15, 2018, 10:00-11:30 PM ET on PBS.
“For a project like this one, a lot of patience, time and risks are involved,” said Peck. “And at the early stage it’s almost impossible to convince anyone about the film to come. And then after a lot of research, writing and editing, in that order, there comes a time when what you really, really need above all is: trust. In this case, it was ITVS and executive producer of Independent Lens Lois Vossen who came at the right time, with courage and conviction. This is rare today among funders.”
“Working with Raoul for four years on I Am Not Your Negro has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career,” said Vossen. “Baldwin’s writing has been a touchstone in my own life and I couldn’t imagine a filmmaker more perfectly suited to make a film on Baldwin than Raoul. Funding this project was a no-brainer. His masterpiece captures Baldwin’s extraordinary clarion voice in a film that will continue to illuminate for generations.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNUYdgIyaPM
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Documentary DAVID BOWIE: THE LAST FIVE YEARS to Debut on HBO on January 8
In the last years of his life, David Bowie ended nearly a decade of silence to engage in an extraordinary burst of activity, producing two groundbreaking albums and a musical. Exploring this unexpected end to a remarkable career, the illuminating documentary DAVID BOWIE: THE LAST FIVE YEARS, debuts Monday, January. 8, 2018, (8:00-9:35 p.m. ET/PT), on what would have been his 71st birthday, exclusively on HBO.
On the 2003-2004 “Reality” tour, David Bowie had a frightening brush with mortality, suffering a heart attack during what was to be his final full concert. He then disappeared from public view, only re-emerging in the last five years of his life to make some of the most important music of his career. Made with remarkable access, Francis Whately’s documentary is a revelatory follow-up to his acclaimed 2013 documentary “David Bowie: Five Years,” which chronicled Bowie’s golden ’70s and early-’80s period.
While illuminating iconic moments of his extraordinary and prolific career, DAVID BOWIE: THE LAST FIVE YEARS focuses on three major projects: the albums “The Next Day” and the jazz-infused “Blackstar” (released on Bowie’s 69th birthday, two days before his death in 2016), and the musical “Lazarus,” which was inspired by the character he played in the 1976 film “The Man Who Fell to Earth.”
Dispelling the simplistic view that his career was simply predicated on change, the film includes revealing interviews with many of Bowie’s closest creative collaborators, including: Tony Visconti, Bowie’s longtime producer; musicians who contributed to “The Next Day” and “Blackstar”; Jonathan Barnbrook, the graphic designer of both albums; Robert Fox, producer of “Lazarus,” along with cast members from the show, providing a unique behind-the-scenes look at Bowie’s creative process; and Johan Renck, director of Bowie’s final music video, “Lazarus,” which was widely discussed as foreshadowing his death.
The documentary also features excerpts from many of Bowie’s biggest hits, including “Fame,” “Rebel Rebel,” “‘Heroes'” and “Space Oddity,” as well as songs from his last two albums, juxtaposing footage from the music videos “The Stars (Are Out Tonight),” “Blackstar” and “Lazarus” with studio performances by the musicians on the albums.
On Feb. 12, 2017, David Bowie posthumously swept the 2017 Grammy Awards with five wins for “Blackstar,” including: Best Rock Performance, Best Alternative Music Album, Best Recording Package, Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical and Best Rock Song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwuuDpwPYxo
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TROPHY, Documentary on Big-game Hunting and Wildlife Conservation, to Debut on CNN
TROPHY, the critically-acclaimed film exploring big-game hunting and wildlife conservation, will premiere on CNN on Sunday, January 14, 2018, at 9:00pm Eastern & Pacific, with limited commercial interruption. The film is directed by award-winning photojournalist, cinematographer, and filmmaker Shaul Schwarz and co-directed by award-winning photojournalist, cinematographer, and filmmaker Christina Clusiau.
“TROPHY explores the complex stakes surrounding sport hunting and wildlife conservation,” said Amy Entelis, executive vice president for talent and content development for CNN Worldwide, “and then lets viewers make up their own minds about the value of these majestic creatures.”
From the film’s opening images of an American father and child hunting together in Texas, the filmmakers immediately frame the multidimensional nature of the controversy at the heart of the film. Character stories featuring hunters, anti-poaching security officials, reserve owners, animal welfare organizations, government officials, and hunting clubs establish why the intersecting issues are rippled with emotion and, in respect to those species which are endangered, the issues are also urgent.
“We wanted to explore the idea of what it means when we place economic value on wildlife. Could it be a tool to help conserve wildlife populations or does it hinder conservation efforts?” asked the filmmakers.
TROPHY takes viewers on an international visual safari, visiting the countries that are home to the ‘big five,’ the African wildlife most-prized by big-game hunters: lion, buffalo, rhino, leopard, and elephant. Pausing at the conference for Safari Club International (SCI) held annually in Las Vegas, the film lingers at exhibits for hunting outfitters, guns, taxidermy services, conservation seminars, and safari licenses. SCI, which attracts 20,000 visitors from around the world each year, hosts this broad array of interests and businesses, all at the same convention.
Hunting clubs and organizations like SCI argue that the trophy permit fees secured by hunters engaged in legal activity make important contributions to African economies and also fund conservation efforts. But even legal hunting can have unintended consequences. While countries like South Africa sell big-game hunting licenses which partially-fund its conservation activities, hunting instructor Tim Fallon says, “man has kind of screwed this up. We have encroached on so much natural land, that the species, all the species, have to be managed…”
Since just 1970, the film says the world has lost more than 60% of all wild animals, and some species seem to have fared even worse. Populations of elephants have plummeted from 10,000,000 animals in 1900 to 1,300,000 in 1979, to only 350,000 elephants in 2015. In 2008, the year prior to South Africa’s moratorium on the sale of rhino horn, 83 rhinos were poached. In the year after the ban, 333 rhinos were poached, and in 2014, more than 1200 rhinos were illegally killed.
Extraordinary aerial footage of vast African vistas shown in the film is interwoven with close images of swaths of cultivated lands. The film demonstrates that while hunting and habitat encroachment have an impact on wildlife reduction, it’s poaching, often connected to both corruption and terrorism, that’s having the most dramatic and deleterious impacts.
John Hume, owner of the world’s largest rhino breeding reserve, sees harvesting the horns from farm-raised rhinos as integral to saving his beloved animals. Rhino horn is “more expensive than gold or heroin by weight” Hume says. But, Hume asserts, animals do not go extinct while farmers can make money from breeding them. Hume’s procedure for harvesting rhino horn keeps the animals alive and re-growing more keratin horn. Hume feels that if he can demonstrate that raising rhinos and safely harvesting their horns offers an income, others may also similarly cultivate the animals, and thereby rescue them from being endangered. Ecologist Craig Packer believes Hume’s farm is a potential model success story for saving the rhino.
The film explores most of the challenges of balancing conservation, sport, human population growth, and the commerce associated with big-game hunting. Central to TROPHY, are the open questions of the appropriate economic value of wildlife. The film leaves the unanswered questions for viewers to ponder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPPlH_yKgr4
Image: Buffalo Dream Ranch, North West Province, South Africa – November 2016: John Hume, the worlds largest rhino breeder walks among his Rhinos. Mr. Hume had invested more than 50 Million US dollars into his rhino project. He currently is the custodian of over 1500 Rhinos, and fears that without legalization in the trade of Rhino Horn his project will come to an end.
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Morgan Spurlock’s “Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!” Pulled from Sundance Film Festival
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Morgan Spurlock in Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken![/caption]
Morgan Spurlock’s latest documentary “Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!” has being pulled from the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, just days after he published his online confession where he admitted to past sexual misconduct.
The Washington Post is reporting that the other partners – Jeremy Chilnick and Matthew Galkin in his production company Warrior Poets, said Friday in a statement that “this is not the appropriate time” for the film to premiere.
In his online confessional, titled “I am Part of the Problem” Spurlock wrote, that “When I was in college, a girl who I hooked up with on a one night stand accused me of rape.”
I am Part of the Problem As I sit around watching hero after hero, man after man, fall at the realization of their past indiscretions, I don’t sit by and wonder “who will be next?” I wonder, “when will they come for me?” You see, I’ve come to understand after months of these revelations, that I am not some innocent bystander, I am also a part of the problem. I’m sure I’m not alone in this thought, but I can’t blindly act as though I didn’t somehow play a part in this, and if I’m going truly represent myself as someone who has built a career on finding the truth, then it’s time for me to be truthful as well. I am part of the problem. Over my life, there have been many instances that parallel what we see everyday in the news. When I was in college, a girl who I hooked up with on a one night stand accused me of rape. Not outright. There were no charges or investigations, but she wrote about the instance in a short story writing class and called me by name. A female friend who was in the class told be about it afterwards. I was floored. “That’s not what happened!” I told her. This wasn’t how I remembered it at all. In my mind, we’d been drinking all night and went back to my room. We began fooling around, she pushed me off, then we laid in the bed and talked and laughed some more, and then began fooling around again. We took off our clothes. She said she didn’t want to have sex, so we laid together, and talked, and kissed, and laughed, and then we started having sex. “Light Bright,” she said. “What?” “Light bright. That kids toy, that’s all I can see and think about,” she said … and then she started to cry. I didn’t know what to do. We stopped having sex and I rolled beside her. I tried to comfort her. To make her feel better. I thought I was doing ok, I believed she was feeling better. She believed she was raped. That’s why I’m part of the problem. Then there was the time I settled a sexual harassment allegation at my office. This was around 8 years ago, and it wasn’t a gropy feely harassment. It was verbal, and it was just as bad. I would call my female assistant “hot pants” or “sex pants” when I was yelling to her from the other side of the office. Something I thought was funny at the time, but then realized I had completely demeaned and belittled her to a place of non-existence. So, when she decided to quit, she came to me and said if I didn’t pay her a settlement, she would tell everyone. Being who I was, it was the last thing I wanted, so of course, I paid. I paid for peace of mind. I paid for her silence and cooperation. Most of all, I paid so I could remain who I was. I am part of the problem. And then there’s the infidelity. I have been unfaithful to every wife and girlfriend I have ever had. Over the years, I would look each of them in the eye and proclaim my love and then have sex with other people behind their backs. I hurt them. And I hate it. But it didn’t make me stop. The worst part is, I’m someone who consistently hurts those closest to me. From my wife, to my friends, to my family, to my partners & co-workers. I have helped create a world of disrespect through my own actions. And I am part of the problem. But why? What caused me to act this way? Is it all ego? Or was it the sexual abuse I suffered as a boy and as a young man in my teens? Abuse that I only ever told to my first wife, for fear of being seen as weak or less than a man? Is it because my father left my mother when I was child? Or that she believed he never respected her, so that disrespect carried over into their son? Or is it because I’ve consistently been drinking since the age of 13? I haven’t been sober for more than a week in 30 years, something our society doesn’t shun or condemn but which only served to fill the emotional hole inside me and the daily depression I coped with. Depression we can’t talk about, because its wrong and makes you less of a person. And the sexual daliances? Were they meaningful? Or did they only serve to try to make a weak man feel stronger. I don’t know. None of these things matter when you chip away at someone and consistently make them feel like less of a person. I am part of the problem. We all are. But I am also part of the solution. By recognizing and openly admitting what I’ve done to further this terrible situation, I hope to empower the change within myself. We should all find the courage to admit we’re at fault. More than anything, I’m hopeful that I can start to rebuild the trust and the respect of those I love most. I’m not sure I deserve it, but I will work everyday to earn it back. I will do better. I will be better. I believe we all can. The only individual I have control over is me. So starting today, I’m going to be more honest with you and myself. I’m going to lay it all out in the open. Maybe that will be a start. Who knows. But I do know I’ve talked enough in my life … I’m finally ready to listen Spurlock stepped down from the company after the publication of the online confessional. Warrior Poets released a statement confirming his departure to Deadline, signed by Chilnick and Matthew Galkin, who is listed as a partner of the company along with Spurlock. On behalf of Warrior Poets, we as partners have always supported our company and its endeavors. As of today, Morgan Spurlock will be stepping down effective immediately. We will continue to lead the company as equal partners, producing, distributing & creating from our independent production company. Respectfully, Co-Founder & Partner Jeremy Chilnick and Partner Matthew Galkin YouTube Red also announced that the streaming company will no longer release his film Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! which was snagged for a reported $3.5 million after it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. A spokesman for YouTube said: “We feel for all of the women impacted by the recent statements made by Morgan Spurlock. In light of this situation, we have decided not to distribute Super Size Me 2 on YouTube Red.”I am Part of the Problem
Read: https://t.co/MfRAtm3fcv — Morgan Spurlock (@MorganSpurlock) December 14, 2017
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2017 IDA Documentary Awards – DINA Wins Best Feature
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Dina[/caption]
Dina, directed by Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini, about a love story between two people who have autism spectrum disorder, won Best Feature at the 33rd International Documentary Association awards ceremony on Saturday in Hollywood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4BSWA7pWuc
Other winners at the IDA Documentary Awards include Edith+Eddie directed by Laura Checkoway snagging the prize for Best Short. The short film tells the story of America’s oldest interracial newlyweds.
2017 IDA Documentary Award winners:
Best Feature Dina Directors/Producers: Antonio Santini and Dan Sickles The Orchard Best Short Edith+Eddie Director: Laura Checkoway Producer: Thomas Lee Wright Kartemquin Films Best Cinematography Machines Cinematography by: Rodrigo Trejo Villanueva Kino Lorber Best Editing Dawson City: Frozen Time Edited by: Bill Morrison Kino Lorber Best Music Brimstone & Glory Original Score by: Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin Oscilloscope Laboratories Best Writing Donkeyote Written by: Chico Pereira, Manuel Pereira and Gabriel Molera Scottish Documentary Institute Pare Lorentz Award THE PARE LORENTZ AWARD RECOGNIZES FILMS THAT DEMONSTRATE EXEMPLARY FILMMAKING WHILE FOCUSING ON THE APPROPRIATE USE OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT, JUSTICE FOR ALL AND THE ILLUMINATION OF PRESSING SOCIAL PROBLEMS. Watani: My Homeland (Recipient) Director: Marcel Mettelsiefen Intent to Destroy (Special Mention) Director: Joe Berlinger ABC News VideoSource Award THIS AWARD IS GIVEN EACH YEAR FOR THE BEST USE OF NEWS FOOTAGE AS AN INTEGRAL COMPONENT IN A DOCUMENTARY. LA 92 Directors: Dan Lindsay & TJ Martin National Geographic Best Curated Series Award Independent Lens Executive Producers: Lois Vossen and Sally Jo Fifer PBS Best Limited Series The Defiant Ones Executive Producers: Allen Hughes, Doug Pray, Andrew Kosove, Broderick Johnson, Laura Lancaster, Jerry Longarzo, Michael Lombardo, and Gene Kirkwood HBO Best Episodic Series Award Planet Earth II Executive Producer: Michael Gunton BBC AMERICA/BBC Worldwide Best Short Form Series Award The New York Times Op-Docs Executive Producer: Kathleen Lingo The New York Times David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award THIS AWARD RECOGNIZES EXCEPTIONAL ACHIEVEMENT IN NON-FICTION FILM AND VIDEO PRODUCTION AT THE UNIVERSITY LEVEL AND BRINGS GREATER PUBLIC AND INDUSTRY AWARENESS TO THE WORK OF STUDENTS IN THE DOCUMENTARY FIELD. Man on Fire Director: Joel Fendelman Producer: James Chase Sanchez University of Texas, Austin Career Achievement Award Lourdes Portillo Amicus Award Abigail Disney Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award Yance Ford Courage Under Fire Award The filmmaking teams and subjects of: City of Ghosts Cries from Syria Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS Last Men in Aleppo
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15 Documentary Feature Films Advance in Oscar Race
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Human Flow[/caption]
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has selected 15 films in the Documentary Feature category that will advance in the voting process for the 90th Academy Awards. One hundred seventy films were originally submitted in the category.
The Academy’s Documentary Branch will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles.
Nominations for the 90th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2018.
The 90th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.
The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:
“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail,” Mitten Media, Motto Pictures, Kartemquin Educational Films
and WGBH/FRONTLINE
“Chasing Coral,” Exposure Labs in partnership with The Ocean Agency & View Into the Blue
in association with Argent Pictures & The Kendeda Fund
“City of Ghosts,” Our Time Projects and Jigsaw Productions
“Ex Libris – The New York Public Library,” Ex Libris Films
“Faces Places,” Ciné Tamaris
“Human Flow,” Participant Media and AC Films
“Icarus,” Netflix Documentary in association with Impact Partners, Diamond Docs, Chicago
Media Project and Alex Productions
“An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power,” Paramount Pictures and Participant Media
“Jane,” National Geographic Studios in association with Public Road Productions
“LA 92,” Lightbox
“Last Men in Aleppo,” Larm Film
“Long Strange Trip,” Double E Pictures, AOMA Sunshine Films and Sikelia
“One of Us,” Loki Films
“Strong Island,” Yanceville Films and Louverture Films
“Unrest,” Shella Films and Little by Little Films
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10 Documentary Short Films Make Oscar Shortlist
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Edith+Eddie[/caption]
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences narrowed the field of Documentary Short Subject contenders for the 90th Academy Awards to 10 films, of which 5 will earn Oscar nominations.
Nominations for the 90th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2018.
The 90th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.
The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:
“Alone,” The New York Times
“Edith+Eddie,” Heart is Red and Kartemquin Films
“Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405,” Stiefel & Co.
“Heroin(e),” A Netflix Original Documentary in association with The Center for Investigative Reporting, A Requisite Media Production
“Kayayo – The Living Shopping Baskets,” Integral Film
“Knife Skills,” TFL Films
“116 Cameras,” Birdling Films
“Ram Dass, Going Home,” Further Pictures
“Ten Meter Tower,” Plattform Produktion
“Traffic Stop,” Q-Ball Productions
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Critically-Acclaimed Documentary THE FAMILY I HAD to Premiere on Investigation Discovery
In The Family I Had a mother’s love and ability to forgive is profoundly tested when her teenage son kills her daughter. The film which had its world premiere in April at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival will premiere exclusively on Investigation Discovery on Thursday, December 21st.
It’s been ten years since Charity’s son, Paris, killed her daughter, Ella, and she is left questioning both his chance at redemption and her ability to forgive. The Family I Had peels back the layers to reveal a history previously marked by intra-family violence, illuminating the anatomy of a broken family. Multiple accounts allow for conflicting points of view, leaving the audience questioning where the ultimate truth and accountability lies in this family rocked by tragedy.
The Family I Had is co-directed and produced by Katie Green and Carlye Rubin, who have shared a fascination with family stories and the themes of loss and dysfunction within them, stemming from having each experienced loss at a young age. Centering around the taboo, and largely under covered, issue of violence within a family, this revealing new documentary examines the complicated relationships of a family in mourning. With unprecedented access to the family, The Family I Had follows Charity on her journey toward trust with her son and mother, while she tries to redefine her place in the world and rebuild her family. She faces difficult questions as she navigates an uncertain future. Will the fear of losing another child ever go away? Will she ever be able to agree with her mother about Paris’ past and what caused him to commit such a horrific act?
“Filmmakers Katie and Carlye have created an emotionally moving, and brutally honest portrait of a real-life single mother whose family has been ripped apart by an unspeakable tragedy,” said Henry Schleiff, Group President, Investigation Discovery, Destination American and American Heroes Channel. “The Family I Had presents a unique opportunity to consider the complex issues around the loss of a loved one, through this touching story of a family on a path to forgiveness, while desperately seeking a means to move forward.”
“Thematically, we’re very drawn to stories surrounding loss,” said filmmakers Katie Green and Carlye Rubin. “We saw Charity as a mother whose love and ability to forgive was profoundly tested when her son killed her daughter. After losing both of her children, she was left redefining her place in the world, and did so by retracing her family’s past. We wanted to put the audience in that uncomfortable place to challenge their preconceived notions of guilt and accountability (in the same way making this film has challenged ours) so viewers come away with a more nuanced understanding of unconditional love and forgiveness.”
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Biopic OLIVER TAMBO: HAVE YOU HEARD FROM JOHANNESBURG to World Premiere on AfriDocs on BET
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Oliver Tambo: Have You Heard from Johannesburg[/caption]
This month, AfriDocs on BET will present a powerful broadcast event, the World Premiere of the just completed biopic: Oliver Tambo: Have You Heard from Johannesburg on the man who freed Nelson Mandela and engineered the fall of Apartheid.
This unique film comes at a critical time in South Africa’s history as the current ANC heads into its elective conference. Through this powerful film viewers are given the rare opportunity for insights into the life, ethos, and politics of Oliver Tambo, the leader of the ANC who was instrumental in bringing an end to apartheid.
The broadcast of the film, just recently been completed in this the 100th year of Oliver Tambo’s birth, could not come at a more opportune moment with the entire southern-African region focused on political upheaval and the toppling of established leaders and norms.
Albie Sachs, the Executive Producer of the film, has this to say of its upcoming screening, “The Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation would like to express its support for the upcoming screening of Oliver Tambo: Have You Heard from Johannesburg on AfriDocs on BET on December 10th. This is a spirited, lively and eminently watchable film that brings Oliver Tambo to life on-screen, with moving and poignant interviews from Chris Hani, Kenneth Kaunda and members of the Tambo family. The film shows not just the politics of the man, but also shines a light on a life lived on principles of ethics, compassion, inclusion, social justice and equality. We hope this film is seen by as many people as possible and we are actively supporting efforts to make it as accessible as possible.”
The film will be broadcast at a special time on December 10th, at 9:30pm CAT and re-broadcast on December 15th at 1:25pm, The film will also be available on #AFRIDOCSANYTIME, www.afridocs.net for a LIMITED run Dec 11th -20th.
Additionally, December will also see the re-broadcast of the classic, Finding Fela, and Omar Sosa: Out of Africa, an intimate musical trip through East Africa with the multiple Grammy nominated Cuban composer, pianist, and bandleader.
3 December
When Paul Came Over the Sea | Jakob Preuss | Germany | 2017 | 97 min
Paul has made his way from his home in Cameroon across the Sahara to the Moroccan coast where he now lives in a forest waiting for the right moment to cross the Mediterranean. This is where he meets Jakob, a filmmaker from Berlin, who is filming along Europe’s borders. Soon afterwards, Paul manages to cross over to Spain on a rubber boat. He survives – but half of his companions die on this tragic 50-hour odyssey. When Paul decides to continue on to Germany, Jakob has to make a choice: will he become an active part of Paul’s pursuit of a better life or remain a detached documentary filmmaker?
Golden Goblet for Best Documentary, Shanghai International Film Festival, 2017
10 December
SPECIAL TIME 9:30pm CAT
Oliver Tambo: Have You Heard from Johannesburg | Connie Field | South Africa | 2017 | 90 min
Political comrades and law partners, Mandela and Tambo shared a political destiny. Nelson Mandela is a household name. Oliver Tambo is virtually unknown. Banned in South Africa, Tambo led the liberation struggle in exile from 1960-1990 while Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island. During those 30 years he not only kept the African National Congress (ANC) unified, led his movement both inside and outside South Africa in a successful battle against apartheid, his calls to the international community to isolate and sanction the South African regime created the most globalised human rights struggle of the 20th century. In the end, his actions released Nelson Mandela and laid the foundation for a new South Africa. Suffering a stroke on the eve of success, OR would not live to see his livelong friend become the first black president of a democratic South Africa.
AVAILABLE FREE TO STREAM ON CATCH-UP www.afridocs.net from Dec 11th – 20th
17 December
Omar Sosa: Out of Africa | Olivier Taieb | Cuba/ Africa | 2010 | 52 min
An intimate musical trip with the multiple Grammy nominated Cuban composer, pianist and bandleader through East Africa. Omar Sosa, influenced by traditional Afro-Cuban music, records a song with a local musician in each country in this epic road movie.
24 December
Finding Fela | Alex Gibney | Nigeria | 2014 | 120 min
Finding Fela tells the story of Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s life, his music, his social and political importance. He created a new musical movement, Afrobeat, using that forum to express his revolutionary political opinions against the dictatorial Nigerian government of the 1970s and 1980s. His influence helped bring a change towards democracy in Nigeria and promoted Pan Africanist politics to the world. The power and potency of Fela’s message is completely current today and is expressed in the political movements of oppressed people, embracing Fela’s music and message in their struggle for freedom.
Sundance Film Festival, 2014