Documentary
Netflix has released the trailer for its original documentary, “THE SQUARE,” described as a riveting, deeply human chronicle of the Egyptian protest movement from director/producer Jehane Noujaim (“Control Room”; “Startup.com”; “Rafea: Solar Mama”) and producer Karim Amer (“Rafea: Solar Mama”). THE SQUARE is set to premiere exclusively on Netflix territories on January 17, 2014.
Amir Ramses’ award-winning controversial documentary film JEWS OF EGYPT from the 21st Annual New York African Diaspora International Film Festival, will be released in the U.S. by ArtMattan Films. Banned in Egypt for a year by Egyptian authorities, JEWS OF EGYPT is described as a documentary that captures fragments of the lives of the Egyptian Jewish community in the first half of the twentieth century until their second grand exodus after the tripartite attack of 1956
Oprah Winfrey recently held a private LA screening of a documentary she’s executive producing called RUNNING FROM CRAZY, directed by two-time Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple (Harlan County USA, American Dream). The film, which goes behind the long history of mental illness and suicide in the famed Hemingway family, is currently in theaters in select cities and will air on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network in 2014.
DOCUMENTED, a feature-length film that explores the life – and journey out of the shadows – led by undocumented immigrant and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Jose Antonio Vargas, will premiere on CNN/U.S. in the second quarter of 2014 following its World Premiere at the 2013 International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam (IDFA) and its theatrical distribution in the United States. DOCUMENTED is written and directed by Vargas, with technology entrepreneur Sean Parker, Matthew Hiltzik (“Paper Clips”), Scott Budnick (“The Hangover” series), and philanthropist Liz Simons as executive producers.
The basketball documentary LENNY COOKE which World Premiere earlier this year at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival will open in theaters on December 6th, 2013. In the documentary, filmmaking brothers Joshua and Benny Safdie take a candid look and track the unfulfilled destiny of a man for whom superstardom was only out of reach.
LETTERS TO JACKIE: REMEMBERING PRESIDENT KENNEDY, the acclaimed documentary about JFK’s presidency which premiered at 2013 AFI DOCS film festival, will air at 9/8c on Sunday, November 17, 2013 on TLC. Directed and written by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Bill Couturié, the film features 18 stars, including Anne Hathaway, Bérénice Bejo, Michelle Williams, Kirsten Dunst and Chris Cooper, reading from letters sent to Jacqueline Kennedy in the days following the loss of John F. Kennedy.
Marc Silver’s documentary “WHO IS DAYANI CRISTAL?”, winner of 2013 Sundance Film Festival cinematography award and an official selection at 2013 New York Film Festival, will be released in the U.S in Spring 2004 by Kino Lorber. The body of an unidentified immigrant is found in the Arizona Desert. In an attempt to retrace his path and discover his story, director Marc Silver and Gael Garcia Bernal embed themselves among migrant travelers on their own mission to cross the border, providing rare insight into the human stories which are so often ignored in the immigration debate.
HERBLOCK: THE BLACK & THE WHITE, directed by Michael Stevens (HBO’s “Thurgood”) will debut Monday, January 27, 2014 on HBO. The film traces the life of Herbert L. Block, who started cartooning in his teens in Chicago and went on to win four Pulitzer Prizes and the Presidential Medal of Freedom during his 55 years at the Washington Post.
THE DOG, directed by Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren, which premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival is set to be released in Summer 2014 by Drafthouse Films and Cinedigm. THE DOG is described as a documentary portrait of the late John Wojtowicz, whose attempted robbery of a Brooklyn bank to finance his male lover’s sex-reassignment surgery was the real-life inspiration for the classic Al Pacino film “Dog Day Afternoon”.
THESE BIRDS WALK directed by Omar Mullick and Bassam Tariq, documents the struggles of street children in Karachi, Pakistan, and the samaritans looking out for them. The film which had its world premiere at the 2013 True/False Film Festival and an Official Selection at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival and hot DOCS Canadian international documentary film festival, opened at the Village East Cinema in New York City on Friday November 1, 2013, with other cities to follow.
Whoopi Goldberg’s directorial film debut, and homage to the iconic African-American standup comedienne Jackie “Moms” Mabley, WHOOPI GOLDBERG PRESENTS MOMS MABLEY is set to debut on HBO on MONDAY, November. 18, 2013 (9:00-10:15 p.m. ET/PT).
Frank Simon’s documentary WEEKEND OF A CHAMPION, described as an entertaining vérité look at world champion driver Sir Jackie Stewart as Roman Polanski follows his attempt to win the Monaco Grand Prix will be released in the US by Submarine Deluxe. WEEKEND OF A CHAMPION which had its world premiere at the 2013 Cannes International Film Festival, will be released theatrically across the country beginning November 22nd in NYC, with a nationwide rollout to follow.