Documentary

Political Documentary THE BRAINWASHING OF MY DAD Sets March 18 Release Date | TRAILER

[caption id="attachment_11820" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] THE BRAINWASHING OF MY DAD, by JEN SENKO[/caption] THE BRAINWASHING OF MY DAD, directed by JEN SENKO (The Vanishing City), and an Official Selection of the Traverse City Film Festival 2015, and Cinequest Film Festival 2016, will opening theatrically in New York (Cinema Village) and Los Angeles (Laemmle Music Hall) on Friday, March 18. As filmmaker, Jen Senko, tries to understand the transformation of her father from a non political, life-long Democrat to an angry, Right-Wing fanatic, she uncovers the forces behind the media that changed him completely: a plan by Roger Ailes under Nixon for a media takeover by the GOP, The Powell Memo urging business leaders to influence institutions of public opinion, especially the universities, the media and the courts, and under Reagan, the dismantling of the Fairness Doctrine. As her journey continues, we discover that her father is part of a much broader demographic, and that the story is one that affects us all. Through interviews with media luminaries, cognitive linguists, grassroots activist groups such as: Noam Chomsky, Steve Rendall, Jeff Cohen, Eric Boehlert, George Lakoff, STOP RUSH, HearYourselfThink, Claire Conner and others, “Brainwashing” unravels the plan to shift the country to the Right over the last 30 years, largely through media manipulation. The result has lead to fewer voices, less diversity of opinion, massive intentional misinformation and greater division of our country. This documentary will shine a light on how it happened (and is still happening) and lead to questions about who owns the airwaves, what rights we have as listeners/watchers and what responsibility does our government have to keep the airwaves truly fair, accurate and accountable to the truth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh3TeTxgNVo
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Sundance Film Fest Documentary HOLY HELL Sets May 20th Release Date

[caption id="attachment_11817" align="aligncenter" width="1088"] Holy Hell[/caption] The documentary, Holy Hell, which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival will be released in the U.S. by FilmRise. Holy Hell will be released theatrically on May 20, 2016. The film is an inside look at a secretive, spiritual cult formed in 1980s West Hollywood. Director Will Allen joined the group just after graduating from film school and as he became more deeply involved, he began filming his experiences as the group’s unofficial videographer. It wasn’t until after Allen left the cult that he understood the film he’d been making for over twenty years. Working with producers Alexandra Johnes and ex-cult member Tracey Harnish, Allen decided to use his footage to take others on his journey. Holy Hell is executive produced by Michael C. Donaldson, Cheryl Sanders, Julian Goldstein and Academy Award®-winner Jared Leto, who describes the film as “relentless, haunting and unforgettable.” “Following its headline-making run at Sundance, we are elated to be bringing this gripping film to audiences come spring,” said Danny Fisher, CEO of FilmRise. “Ultimately this is a remarkable film about the human condition, and I am confident that audiences will be engrossed by this captivating story, told by those who lived it.” “I am so happy that FilmRise will be releasing Holy Hell in theaters for communities to experience together,” said filmmaker Will Allen. “This story is very personal but also universal, because it could have happened to anyone. And seeing how broadly it resonated at Sundance makes me excited to share it with the rest of the world.”
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Spike Lee Documentary MICHAEL JACKSON’S JOURNEY FROM MOTOWN TO OFF THE WALL to Debut on Showtime

The Spike Lee documentary, MICHAEL JACKSON’S JOURNEY FROM MOTOWN TO OFF THE WALL, will make it’s television premiere on SHOWTIME on Friday, February 5th at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The documentary film which will World Premiere at the upcoming 2016 Sundance Film Festival, focuses on a rarely examined chapter of Jackson’s career as he evolves from the lead singer of Jackson 5 to a solo artist recording what will become his breakthrough, seminal 1979 pop record, Off The Wall. Audiences will travel with the global superstar as he strikes a new path with CBS Records, first with his brothers as The Jacksons and then stepping out on his own to create his own music with his own team. This illuminating portrait traces how an earnest, passionate, hard-working young man becomes the “King of Pop.” MICHAEL JACKSON’S JOURNEY FROM MOTOWN TO OFF THE WALL contains a wealth of footage, including material from Michael’s personal archive, and in his own words. The documentary also includes interviews with prominent entertainment and sports stars including Lee Daniels, The Weeknd, Pharrell Williams, Kobe Bryant, Misty Copeland, Mark Ronson, John Legend, Questlove, L.A. Reid, and more, as well as his parents Katherine and Joe Jackson, and his brothers Jackie and Marlon Jackson. Off The Wall created a whole new category in pop music. Written by Michael Jackson, the first single from Off The Wall, “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” earned Jackson his first Grammy(R) and was his first single to hit No. 1 in the U.S. and internationally as a solo artist. The album was an enormous commercial success; as of 2014 it is certified eight times platinum in the United States and has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. Off The Wall not only “invented pop music as we know it,” wrote Rolling Stone, it transcended music and entertainment altogether, becoming an important moment in African-American history.
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JIM: THE JAMES FOLEY STORY Documentary to World Premiere at Sundance Film Fest and Debut on HBO

Brian Oakes’ documentary JIM: THE JAMES FOLEY STORY, about the life, death and legacy of journalist James Foley, who was murdered by ISIS in 2014, will have its world premiere in the U.S. Documentary Competition of the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, and will debut Saturday, February 6 on HBO. On Thanksgiving Day 2012, American photojournalist James “Jim” Foley was kidnapped in Syria and went missing for two years before the infamous video of his public execution sent shockwaves and introduced much of the world to ISIS. JIM: THE JAMES FOLEY STORY, by close childhood friend Brian Oakes, tells the story of his life through intimate interviews with his family, friends and fellow journalists – while fellow hostages reveal never-before-heard details of his captivity with a chilling immediacy that builds suspense. Made with unparalleled access, JIM: THE JAMES FOLEY STORY is a harrowing chronicle of bravery, compassion and pain at the dawn of America’s war with ISIS. “I made this film to carry on the stories that Jim needed us to know,” says director Brian Oakes. “It’s important that we understand the significant role of today’s conflict journalists and why they risk their lives to tell the world how bad it can be.” The film will include the original song “The Empty Chair,” by Academy Award(R)-nominated artists J. Ralph and Sting.
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BASE Jumping Documentary ‘SUNSHINE SUPERMAN’ to Premiere on CNN | TRAILER

SUNSHINE SUPERMAN, the immersive love story of Carl and Jean Boenish, the husband and wife team who invented BASE jumping – and their devotion to the freedom and beauty of foot-launched human flight – will make its global television premiere on CNN/U.S. Sunday, Jan. 17 at 9:00pm and 12:00am Eastern. The CNN Films broadcast will be presented with limited commercial interruption by Volkswagen. Carl Boenish, a trained electrical engineer and experienced skydiver, as well as an innovator of film techniques and film technology, zealously chronicled the pioneering days of BASE in the early 1980’s in exquisitely beautiful 16mm film. Boenish sometimes mounted cameras to his head and the heads of his small band of fellow fliers in order to document a bird’s-eye view of their jumps. Director, writer, and producer Marah Strauch interweaves this archival footage along with new photography and reenacted events (recreated from the Boenishes’ personal audio diary recordings), for a visually stunning feature film debut. Strauch and producer / editor Eric Bruggemann, develop an intimate portrait of the Boenishes as risk-takers who passionately loved both each other and BASE. BASE, which stands for “building,” “antenna,” “span,” and “earth” was, in its experimental early days, initially opposed by the U.S. Parachute Association. Those first jumps also brought inquisitive fame and attention to the novel sport – along with a risk of arrest. Phil Smith (BASE #1, the first person to ever successfully complete a series of jumps from all four types of objects – in Houston, TX), Phil Mayfield (BASE #2), and the Boenishes (BASE #3 and #4), describe first-person accounts in the film, adding insight into their preparation and collective genius. They also vividly recall their frustrations with the legal obstacles to their adventures, taking viewers on a thrilling emotional ride of beauty and suspense. Cameos of Phil Donahue, Pat Sajak, and Kathie Lee Johnson (later Gifford) yield a glimpse into the excitement of the followers and fans of BASE that some found difficult to understand. At the pinnacle of Carl’s and Jean’s extraordinary achievements, they together broke the BASE jumping Guinness World Record in 1984 by jumping from Trollveggen, ‘Troll Wall,’ along the western coast of Norway’s Trolltindene mountain range. Incredibly, within hours, that astonishing triumph was followed by heartbreaking disaster. “We want to feel like we’re astronauts walking on the Moon… .it just gives us a feeling of power, and of joy. And, we want to share it with the world… ,” says Carl Boenish in the film, describing the allure and exhilaration of BASE. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TiG1swMbNM SUNSHINE SUPERMAN had its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival and was produced by Scissor Kick Films, Flimmer Films, and Submarine Entertainment. It was executive produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney and was exhibited nationally by Magnolia Pictures and internationally by Universal Pictures.
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“Heroin: Cape Cod, USA,” An Unvarnished Look at the Heroin Epidemic Sweeping America, to Debut on HBO

HEROIN: CAPE COD, USA described as a cinema-verité look at the heroin epidemic currently sweeping America’s small towns and communities, focusing on eight young heroin addicts in idyllic Cape Cod, Mass. Directed by Academy Award(R) winner Steven Okazaki (HBO’s “White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki”), will debuts MONDAY, December 28 (9:00-10:15 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO. There has been an alarming rise in opiate addiction in the U.S. recently. A startling 80% of heroin users started with prescription painkillers following an accident or surgery, and as more states legalize marijuana, Mexican drug cartels are replacing lost profits by pushing cheap, potent heroin into new markets. Known for its quaint villages, lighthouses and beaches, the picturesque summer vacation destination of Cape Cod has been struck with an epidemic of young people hooked on affordable, easily acquired heroin. This harrowing film takes an unsparing look at the lives of eight heroin addicts in their early 20s, living a seemingly endless existence of getting high while cycling through stages of rehab, recovery and relapse. Falmouth, Mass. is a typical community in a state that has lately seen an average of nearly four heroin deaths per day. The individuals spotlighted in HEROIN: CAPE COD, USA, all of whom live in the area, talk candidly about their heroin habit and their community, where, according to one of them, “either you work or you do drugs.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxpGYyHOtvc Subjects featured in HEROIN: CAPE COD, USA: Jessica, 21 years old, was severely injured when she was hit by a drunk driver at age 18, requiring 250 stitches to her face. Prescribed opiate pain medications, she soon became addicted to heroin, saying that when she gets high, her suicidal and depressed feelings disappear. Ryan, 25, who prided himself on being anti-drug as an adolescent, was prescribed pain medication after a motorcycle accident. His mother says “everything changed” when he stopped receiving medication from the doctor and started obtaining pills illegally. Living with his parents, Ryan says that if they kicked him out of the house, he would “probably be doing a lot better than I am today,” although he feels they are scared he will die if they do. Marissa, 22, was 14 years old when she tried her friend’s pain medication, which led to heroin addiction. While many addicts steal valuables to support their habit, Marissa said she was never the type to steal, but made money from prostitution and stripping, because she’d rather hurt herself than others. For years Marissa cheated death, thanks to Narcan, an opiate antidote that paramedics and other emergency workers can use to reverse the life-threatening effects of a heroin overdose, to which she ultimately succumbed. Nicole (“Colie”), 25, admits herself to a detox center, deciding to get high first, noting, “Everyone gets high before they go to detox. It’s like a freebie.” Director Okazaki catches up with Colie after she has emerged from rehab and finds glimmers of hope in this story of devastation. Daniel, 28, always had addictive tendencies, and started doing opiates for fun. Depressed about his life, which he finds repetitive, Daniel deals drugs to support his heroin habit, driving 160 miles to Boston every night to see his supplier. Arianna, 23, was 12 or 13 when she first tried marijuana and alcohol. She lived in a sober house with her two young children, and said she went to many treatment centers. Arianna stopped using heroin when she found out she was pregnant and was clean for three years, but then suffered a fatal overdose. Benjamin, 21, started doing heroin in high school. His family knew nothing until his brother discovered tracks on his arms after asking why he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt in the summer heat. Now living in a sober house, Benjamin has been clean for 33 days, but has “drug dreams” and thinks about getting high every day. Cassie, 24, was prescribed opiates after a soccer injury, which led to her heroin addiction. Her boyfriend Daniel, whom she describes as her “running partner,” is also an addict. HEROIN: CAPE COD, USA visits the Parents Supporting Parents Group of Cape Cod, where parents describe raising their kids in happy homes, only to see everything change when their sons and daughters started abusing pain medication. Receiving invaluable support from other parents in the same situation, they share feelings of co-dependency and discuss the financial burden of having a child cycling in and out of detox. “There are very few people I met in Massachusetts who didn’t have a connection to this crisis,” says director Steven Okazaki. “It has taken a very real, and wide toll in a way that I did not see 20 years ago. I think this documentary could have been made in many communities around New England and across the country.” Steven Okazaki is the recipient of numerous honors, including an Academy Award(R) (Best Documentary Short Subject for “Days of Waiting,” 1991); three other Academy Award(R) nominations, for “Unfinished Business,” CINEMAX’s “The Mushroom Club” and HBO’s “The Conscience of Nhem En”; an Emmy(R) (Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking for HBO’s “White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” 2008); and a Peabody Award for “Days of Waiting.” Okazaki has produced and/or directed numerous other projects for HBO, including “Black Tar Heroin” and “Rehab.” HEROIN: CAPE COD, USA is produced, directed and edited by Steven Okazaki; co-producers, Lise Balk King, Vanessa Carr; camera, Steven Okazaki, Vanessa Carr; additional camera, Greg Knowles, Lise Balk King; music by Thomas Carnacki. For HBO: senior producer, Sara Bernstein; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.
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COLLIDING DREAMS, Documentary about the Zionist Idea, Sets Release Date | TRAILER

COLLIDING DREAMS, a film by award-winning filmmakers Joseph Dorman (Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness and Arguing the World) and Oren Rudavsky (A Life Apart: Hasidism in America and Hiding and Seeking) will open at Lincoln Plaza Cinema in New York on February 19 and at Laemmle Royal and Town Center 5 in Los Angeles and at Regal Westpark in Irvine, CA on March 4th. A national release will follow. COLLIDING DREAMS recounts the dramatic history of one of the most controversial, and urgently relevant political ideologies of the modern era. The century-old conflict in the Middle East continues to play a central role in world politics. And yet, amidst this fierce, often-lethal controversy, the Zionist dream of Jews for a homeland of their own remains little understood and its meanings often distorted. The documentary addresses that void with a gripping exploration of Zionism’s meaning, history and future. Told through the remarkable lives and voices of Jews and Palestinians living in the Middle East today, COLLIDING DREAMS weaves together past and present, ideas and passions, wars and peace talks, brilliant minds with the voices of ordinary citizens to develop a film portrait of unprecedented depth and sensitivity. Few ideas in the modern era have had as momentous an impact on the world as Zionism. Born in the late 19th century, this seemingly utopian dream was meant to solve the age-old problem of anti-Semitism and to allow a place for Jewish life and culture to thrive in the modern world. Few could have envisioned its remarkable and rapid success: the creation in less than a century of a thriving democratic Jewish state. And yet despite its success, the very legitimacy of the Zionist Idea – and the State of Israel – are questioned more today than ever before. The debate over Israel — triggered by the latest war, or terrorist attack, or national election – is often guided by emotion rather than substance, by fear or anger rather than a thorough understanding of Zionism and its history. Incorporating interviews with writers, politicians, activists, the young and the old, Israeli and Palestinian, together with rarely seen footage culled from archives all over the world, the film focuses on several critical moments in the history of Zionism: its origins in Europe; the early relations between Jews and Palestinians in turn of the century Palestine; the 1948 war known alternately as the War of Independence and the Nakba; the euphoria of the Jewish People and the devastation felt by Palestinians after Six Day War of 1967; the messianic West Bank Settlement Movement and the idealism of the Peace Movement; and the colliding forces among Jews, and between Jews and Palestinians today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UChvMGkjEg
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Documentary MAPPLETHORPE: LOOK AT THE PICTURES on Controversial Artist Robert Mapplethorpe to Debut on HBO

“Look at the pictures,” said Senator Jesse Helms, denouncing the controversial art of Robert Mapplethorpe, whose photographs pushed boundaries with frank depictions of nudity, sexuality and fetishism, igniting a culture war that rages to this day. More than 25 years later, the HBO Documentary Films presentation MAPPLETHORPE: LOOK AT THE PICTURES does just that, taking an unflinching, unprecedented look at his most provocative work. From acclaimed filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (“Inside Deep Throat”; HBO’s “Wishful Drinking” and “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”), and produced by Katharina Otto-Bernstein (“Absolute Wilson”), the first feature-length documentary about the artist since his death, and the most comprehensive film on Mapplethorpe ever, debuts in April 2016 on HBO. As The J. Paul Getty Museum and The Los Angeles County Museum of Art prepare landmark Mapplethorpe retrospectives (both opening in March), the film goes inside the preparation for the exhibitions as a jumping-off point to tell the complete story of his life and work for the first time, and explore the interplay between his personal and professional lives. MAPPLETHORPE: LOOK AT THE PICTURES reveals a controversial artist who turned contemporary photography into a fine art. With complete and unprecedented access to The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, the documentary draws upon archival materials and features never-before-seen photographs and footage. “Even his most shocking and forbidden images are included without blurs, without snickers – in other words, exactly as the artist intended,” say Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato. Mapplethorpe himself is a strong presence, telling his story in his own words with complete honesty and often shocking candor through rediscovered audio interviews. MAPPLETHORPE: LOOK AT THE PICTURES follows his early beginnings as a young artist in New York City through his meteoric rise in the art world to his untimely death. In 1963, he enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he studied drawing, painting and sculpture, and soon met his first girlfriend, Patti Smith, one in a string of profoundly influential lovers. By the late 1960s and early 1970s he was taking Polaroid photographs of friends and acquaintances, and was determined to make it, which meant being recognized as an artist and becoming famous. Almost all of the people from key relationships in his life are present in the film, including Sam Wagstaff, David Croland, Lisa Lyon, Marcus Leatherdale and Jack Walls. The documentary also features almost 50 original interviews with family, friends, co-workers and colleagues, including Mary Boone, Carolina Herrera, Brooke Shields, Helen and Brice Marden, Fran Lebowitz, Bob Colacello and Debbie Harry. Rounding out this portrait are the recollections of Mapplethorpe’s older sister, Nancy, and youngest brother, Edward. An artist himself, Edward assisted his brother for many years and was responsible for much of the technical excellence of his photography. The duality of black-and-white work reverberated in his life. He often mounted two shows simultaneously: An uptown exhibition might include society portraits and delicate flower still-lifes, while his sexually explicit photographs were on view downtown. Mapplethorpe’s most controversial work – which he considered his most important – chronicled the underground BDSM (bondage, dominance and submission, sadomasochism) scene of late 1970s New York City, sparking a national debate over public funding of art some deemed offensive or obscene. Mapplethorpe was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986, when the illness was still a death sentence. He spent the remainder of his life working more feverishly than ever before, not only pursuing perfection, but also striving to secure his legacy after his death. In 1988, a few months before Mapplethorpe’s passing, The Whitney Museum of American Art mounted his first major American museum retrospective. The man who lived to be famous became even more famous after he died. Before his death, he designed one final show, The Perfect Moment, which bought images of flowers, S&M pictures and male African-American nudes together in a museum setting for the first time. As he himself predicted, the combination proved to be too much. In 1989, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. canceled The Perfect Moment after Senator Helms took aim at Mapplethorpe. Later that year, protests were held when the traveling exhibition arrived at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in Cincinnati, resulting in obscenity charges against the CAC and its director, Dennis Barrie. After a dramatic court battle, both were ultimately found not guilty. MAPPLETHORPE: LOOK AT THE PICTURES is a revealing look at one of the most important artists of the 20th century, whose name remains a byword for something illicit, dangerous and dark.
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Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The Look of Silence” Wins IDA Best Documentary of 2015 Award

The Look of Silence, Joshua Oppenheimer’s companion piece to the Oscar-nominated film The Act Of Killing, is the winner of the (International Documentary Association) 2015 IDA Best Feature Award. The other finalist for the award included “Amy” directed by Asif Kapadia, “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution” directed by Stanley Nelson, “Listen to Me Marlon” directed by Stevan Riley, “The Russian Woodpecker” directed by Chad Gracia, and “What Happened, Miss Simone?” directed by Liz Garbus. Through Oppenheimer’s footage of perpetrators of the 1965 Indonesian genocide, a family of survivors discovers how their son was murdered, as well as the identities of the killers. The documentary focuses on the youngest son, an optometrist named Adi, who decides to break the suffocating spell of submission and terror by doing something unimaginable in a society where the murderers remain in power: he confronts the men who killed his brother and, while testing their eyesight, asks them to accept responsibility for their actions. This unprecedented film initiates and bears witness to the collapse of fifty years of silence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp1xT302VcY 31st Annual IDA Awards Best Feature Award The Look of Silence (Winner) Director: Joshua Oppenheimer Producer: Signe Byrge Sørensen DRAFTHOUSE FILMS AND PARTICIPANT MEDIA Best Short Award Last Day of Freedom (Winner) Directors: Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman Best Curated Series Award Independent Lens (Winner – TIE) Executive Producers: Sally Jo Fifer and Lois Vossen ITVS/PBS POV (Winner – TIE) Executive Producers: Simon Kilmurry and Chris White POV, PBS Best Limited Series Award The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (Winner) Executive Producer: Jason Blum Co-Executive Producer: Zac Stuart-Pontier Produced by: Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling HBO Best Episodic Series Award Chef’s Table (Winner) Executive Producers: David Gelb, Andrew Fried, and Brian McGinn NETFLIX Best Short Form Series Award Do Not Track (Winner) Executive Producer: Hugues Sweeney NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA, UPIAN, ARTE, AND BR 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. The Archipelago (Winner) Director: Benjamin Huguet THE NATIONAL FILM AND TELEVISION SCHOOL 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. How to Change the World Director: Jerry Rothwell ABC News VideoSource Award This award is given each year for the best use of news footage as an integral component in a documentary. Best of Enemies (Winner) Directors: Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville MAGNOLIA PICTURES AND INDEPENDENT LENS Creative Recognition Award Winners The Creative Recognition category recognizes special achievement in cinematography, editing, music and writing in films entered in the Feature Category. Best Cinematography The Russian Woodpecker Cinematography by: Artem Ryzhykov Best Editing Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck Edited by: Joe Beshenkovsky and Brett Morgen Best Writing Listen to Me Marlon Written by: Stevan Riley Co-Writer: Peter Ettedgui Best Music Best of Enemies Original Score by: Jonathan Kirkscey 31st Annual IDA Awards Honorees Career Achievement Award Gordon Quinn The IDA will present its prestigious 2015 Career Achievement Award to Gordon Quinn, Founder and Artistic Director of Kartemquin Films. Quinn was integral to the creation of ITVS, public access television in Chicago, and the Documentary Filmmakers Statement of Best Practice in Fair Use; and in forming the Indie Caucus to support diverse independent voices on Public Television. Over his 50 years at Kartemquin, Quinn has produced, directed, and/or been a cinematographer for over 55 films, and inspired and guided an immeasurable number of media makers whose films have left a lasting impact on millions of viewers. Pioneer Award Ted Sarandos The Pioneer Award is presented to acknowledge extraordinary contributions to advancing the nonfiction form and providing exceptional vision and leadership to the documentary community. This year, the Pioneer Award will be presented to Ted Sarandos, the Chief Content Officer at Netflix, in recognition of his leadership of Netflix’s game-changing and unwavering support of creating and showcasing nonfiction programming, which has greatly broadened its availability and popularity around the world. Amicus Award Tony Tabatznik and the Bertha Foundation Tony Tabatznik and the Bertha Foundation will receive the IDA’s Amicus Award in recognition of their work supporting the essential needs of the non-fiction media landscape. Founded in 2009, the Bertha Foundation’s vision was to connect activists, lawyers and storytellers to fight for fundamental social and economic change. The Bertha Foundation’s Media Program specifically aims to nurture global talent, expose relevant stories and connect them to audiences for powerful, positive social impact. Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe, directors of (T)ERROR, will receive IDA’s Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award, which recognizes the achievements of a filmmaker who has made a significant impact at the beginning of his or her career in documentary film. (T)ERROR received a grant from IDA’s Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund in 2013. Courage Under Fire Award Matthew Heineman Matthew Heineman will receive the IDA’s Courage Under Fire Award, in recognition of conspicuous bravery in the pursuit of truth. This award is presented to documentary filmmakers by their peers for putting freedom of speech – represented in the crafts of documentary filmmaking and journalism – above all else, even their own personal safety. Heineman’s gripping film, Cartel Land, documents two modern-day vigilante movements – Dr. José Mireles’s citizen-led uprising against a violent drug cartel wreaking havoc in Mexico and the Arizona Border Recon led by Tim “Nailer” Foley, which is working to prevent Mexico’s drug wars from crossing into the United States.
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Complete List + Trailers of 15 Documentary Feature Films Advancing in 2015 Oscar Race

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 88th Academy Awards®. One hundred twenty-four films were originally submitted in the category. The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies: “Amy,” On the Corner Films and Universal Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2yCIwmNuLE “Best of Enemies,” Sandbar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzgfQvB2dvA “Cartel Land,” Our Time Projects and The Documentary Group https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vi9vWdUKEg “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” Jigsaw Productions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zllYkNu1sl4 “He Named Me Malala,” Parkes-MacDonald and Little Room https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ghiYve6k68 “Heart of a Dog,” Canal Street Communications https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v37BnyHefnY “The Hunting Ground,” Chain Camera Pictures https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBNHGi36nlM “Listen to Me Marlon,” Passion Pictures https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZlWjE_NJfI “The Look of Silence,” Final Cut for Real https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbPN8-juZUI “Meru,” Little Monster Films https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pZ1GzXPEO8 “3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets,” The Filmmaker Fund, Motto Pictures, Lakehouse Films, Actual Films, JustFilms, MacArthur Foundation and Bertha BRITDOC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_USf1UQIAYg “We Come as Friends,” Adelante Films (pictured in main image) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0uso3emlUg “What Happened, Miss Simone?,” RadicalMedia and Moxie Firecracker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moOQXZxriKY “Where to Invade Next,” Dog Eat Dog Productions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei747zi9iYY “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom,” Pray for Ukraine Productions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RibAQHeDia8 The Academy’s Documentary Branch determined the shortlist in a preliminary round of voting. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles. The 88th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 14, 2016, at 5:30 a.m. PT at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The 88th Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
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‘Sonita” “Boudewijn de Groot – Come Closer ” Win Audience Awards at IDFA

Sonita by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami is the winner of the IDFA Audience Award at the 2015 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Sonita – which was made with support from the IDFA Bertha Fund – also won the IDFA DOC U Award. Boudewijn de Groot – Come Closer by Suzanne Raes took the IDFA Music Audience Award. Sonita, tells the story of 18-year-old Afghan Sonita Alizadeh, who lives illegally in Iran and dreams of a career as a rapper. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B47MbpPuz7A Boudewijn de Groot – Come Closer by Suzanne Raes follows singer Boudewijn de Groot as he prepares for a concert in which bids farewell to his biggest hits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRuVvNZtIyU
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Documentary VERY SEMI-SERIOUS: A PARTIALLY THOROUGH PORTRAIT OF NEW YORKER CARTOONISTS to Debut on HBO

The feature-length documentary VERY SEMI-SERIOUS: A PARTIALLY THOROUGH PORTRAIT OF NEW YORKER CARTOONISTS, directed by Leah Wolchok and produced by Davina Pardo will debut in December on HBO following a limited theatrical run. An offbeat meditation on humor, art and the genius of the single panel, debuts MONDAY, DEC. 7 14th 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT) exclusively on HBO, following a limited theatrical run Nov. 20-Dec. 3) in New York at Lincoln Plaza, in San Francisco at the Roxie Theater, and in Los Angeles. Leah Wolchok’s light-hearted yet poignant debut film, which had its world premiere at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, offers a window into The New Yorker, the undisputed standard bearer of the single-panel cartoon. Whether they leave readers amused, inspired or even a little baffled, the iconic cartoons have been an instantly recognizable cultural touchstone over the past 90 years. VERY SEMI-SERIOUS is an unprecedented glimpse into the process behind the cartoons. The film follows cartoon editor Bob Mankoff as he sifts through hundreds of submissions and pitches every week to bring readers a carefully curated selection of insightful and humorous work. In addition to interviews with New Yorker staffers, including editor David Remnick, VERY SEMI-SERIOUS includes interviews with legends Roz Chast and Mort Gerberg and young hopefuls like graphic novelist Liana Finck as they discuss their cartoons and go through the process of submitting them each week to the magazine. The documentary observes Mankoff as he strives to nurture new talent and represent the magazine’s old guard, while also considering how his industry must evolve to stay relevant. “We are thrilled VERY-SEMI SERIOUS has found a home at HBO,” says Wolchok. “The New Yorker cartoons bring insightful humor to the magazine weekly, and we hope the HBO audience enjoys meeting and spending some time with their creators.” Updated Premiere Date: VERY SEMI-SERIOUS Premieres on HBO on December 14th
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