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.Documentary
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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. 714th 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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Restaurant Documentary KING GEORGES Serves February 2016 Release Date | TRAILER
KING GEORGES, a documentary that follows fiery French chef Georges Perrier’s crusade to save his world-renowned 40-year-old restaurant, Philadelphia’s Le Bec Fin, from closing, will be released in theaters on February 26, 2016 via Sundance Selects. The film directed by Erika Frankel just screened at 2015 DOC NYC.
Fiery French chef Georges Perrier is on a crusade to keep his 40-year-old landmark restaurant, Le Bec-Fin in Philadelphia, relevant. Times have changed and the culinary world is full of new stars and shifting tastes. Perrier’s contemporaries – at Lutece, La Cote Basque, L’Orangerie – are gone and he is the last man standing of his generation. But how long can he reign?
Featuring colorful interviews with chefs Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller, Eric Ripert and former Mayor of Philadelphia Ed Rendell, first-time director Erika Frankel follows Perrier over four years from Le Bec-Fin’s raging inferno of a kitchen to quiet moments at home, capturing an intimate glimpse of a world-renowned artist in the twilight of his career.
Perrier introduced America to grand European-style dining in the 1960’s and he went on to become one of the most accomplished chefs of his generation, honored and praised by the French government, James Beard Foundation and The New York Times. His Napoleonic demeanor, thick French accent and penchant for screaming, throwing plates and de-corking champagne bottles with a sword helped to build his legend. But underneath his commanding presence, he struggles with the demands of a grueling profession. His life revolves around work and at age 67, the pressure to keep things functioning at the high level he set forty years ago, is “killing me,” he says.
He partners with young chef Nicholas Elmi (winner of Top Chef 2014), hoping to reinvigorate Le Bec-Fin, but Perrier struggles to let go, still insisting on washing the dishes every night after dinner service as the dishwashers stand around idle. More than a documentary about food, KING GEORGES is a touching story about passion, aging and art.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4OIbnG2R0Y
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33 Independent Documentary Films Selected for 2015 Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program Support
Thirty-three independent documentary films have been selected for 2015 Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program support.
The Sundance Documentary Fund moved to a limited rolling open call in 2015, encouraging filmmakers to submit applications only when they feel their film is ready to share. Rahdi Taylor, Film Fund Director, said, “This past year was one of experimentation and change. We eliminated deadlines, embraced risk taking in form, filmmaker and subject matter, but we stayed true to our core purpose of discovering contemporary stories of meaning and moral purpose. Overall the selections are characterized by risk, inclusion and innovation as well as addressing the most vital conversations of our time.”
DEVELOPMENT
The Acali Experiment (Sweden) (pictured above)
Director: Marcus Lindeen
Producer: Erik Gandini
In 1973 five men and six women went on a dramatic raft expedition across the Atlantic Ocean for 101 days to study human aggression and sexuality. This documentary reunites them forty years later to reveal what actually happened during one of history’s strangest group experiments.
Afterglow (Hungary)
Director: Noémi Veronika Szakonyi
Producer: Julianna Ugrin
The filmmaker found her missing brother, who was kidnapped at age six by his father, a man with extraordinary connections in communist Hungary.
Casting JonBenet (Australia/U.S.)
Director: Kitty Green
Producer: Scott Macaulay and Kitty Green
An artful exploration of the legacy of the world’s most sensational child-murder case, the unsolved death of six-year-old American beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey.
Shirkers (U.S.-Singapore)
Writer-Director-Producer: Sandi Tan
In 1992, an enigmatic American named Georges shot Singapore’s first indie film with a group of female teenage film-buffs, then absconded with all the footage. Nearly twenty years later, his widow uncovers the 16mm cans in New Orleans—and ships them to the film’s screenwriter-actress, who embarks on a new voyage to Singapore, Cambridge, New Orleans, and into the past.
Three Identical Strangers (U.K.)
Director: Tim Wardle
Producer: Grace Hughes-Hallett
There’s no-one else on Earth quite like you. Or is there…?
Untitled Kronos Project (U.S.)
Director: Sam Green
Untitled Kronos Project is an experimental, live documentary that will tell the story of legendary classical group the Kronos Quartet and its 40 year career.
Untitled Prison Project (U.S.)
Director: Roger Ross Williams
Producer: Femke Wolting, Bruno Felix, Roger Ross Williams
Filmmaker Roger Ross Williams sets out on a deeply personal journey to understand why so many friends from his childhood town of Easton, Pennsylvania are in prison.
Yoghurt Utopia (U.K./Spain)
Directors: Anna Thomson, David Baksh
Producer: Adrian Pennink
Christopher Columbus gives 200 mental patients an opportunity to live, work and lead productive lives producing La Fageda, a top yogurt brand from Catalonia, Spain. Can this Yoghurt Utopia survive the mounting internal and external pressures?
Young Men and Fire (US)
Director: Kahlil Hudson and Alex Jablonski
Producer: Kyle Dickman
Young Men and Fire tells the story of working class men in a single wildland firefighting crew as they struggle with fear, loyalty, love, and defeat all over the course of a single fire season.
When God Sleeps
Director: Till Schauder (U.S/ Germany)
Producer: Sara Nodjoumi & Till Schauder (U.S./Germany)
When God Sleeps depicts the journey of an Iranian musician who is forced into hiding after hardline clerics offer a $100,000 reward for his murder
Whose Streets? (U.S.)
Director: Sabaah Jordan and Damon Davis
Producer: Flannery Miller
The murder of a teenage boy became the last straw for a community under siege. Whose Streets? follows the journey of everyday people turned freedom fighters, whose lives intertwine with a burgeoning national movement for black liberation.
PRODUCTION
All These Sleepless Nights (Poland/UK)
Director: Michal Marczak
Producer: Marta Golba, Michal Marczak, Julia Nottingham, Thomas Benski and Lucas Ochoa
A new era is coming, and Warsaw stands uncomfortably at its edge. Christopher and Michal, on the precipice of their own coming of age, restlessly roam their city’s streets in search of living forever inside the beautiful moment. Never content with answers, they push each experience to its breaking point, testing what it might mean to be truly awake in a world that seems satisfied to be asleep.
Audrie & Daisy (U.S.)
Director: Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk
Producers: Richard Berge and Sara Dosa
Two teenage girls are sexually assaulted while unconscious by boys who they thought were their friends. Each girl is harassed relentlessly online, both attempt suicide, and tragically, one girl dies. High school assault in the age of social media is explored from the perspective of the girls –and the boys –involved in the assaults.
Cecilia (India)
Director/Producer: Pankaj Johar
When Cecilia Hasda’s 14 year old daughter is trafficked and found dead in Delhi, the filmmaker and his wife decide to help her seek justice. As they battle a web of corruption at all levels, they find themselves navigating a complex network of cops, traffickers, judges, lawyers, villagers and family members.
Eagle Huntress (UK/Mongolia)
Director: Otto Bell
Producer: Stacey Reiss and Sharon Chang
This spellbinding documentary follows Aisholpan, a 13-year-old nomadic Mongolian girl as she battles a culture of misogyny to become the first female Eagle Hunter in 2,000 years of male-dominated history.
Forgiveness (U.K.)
Director: Elizabeth Stopford
Producer: Nicole Stott
A modern American ghost story and a house that vanished. In the wake of two seemingly inexplicable shooting sprees, can a community forgive the teenage boy at the heart of its tragic past? .
Greywater (U.S.)
Director: Jeff Unay
Greywater is the story of Joe, a blue-collar family man who breaks the promise he made years ago to never fight again. Now forty years old, with a wife and four children who depend on him, he risks everything—his marriage, his family, his financial security— to go back into the fighting cage for one last time and come to terms with his past.
The Keepers (U.S.)
Director: Ryan White
Producer: Jessica Lawson
A documentary thriller unraveling a longstanding mystery in Baltimore.
Untitled Newtown Documentary (U.S.)
Director: Kim A. Snyder
Producer: Maria Cuomo Cole, Kim A. Snyder
We witness residents of Newtown, CT navigate the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting of schoolchildren in American history.
Untitled Reef Project (U.S.)
Director: Jeff Orlowski
Producer: Larissa Rhodes
Richard Vevers quit his job at a top London ad agency and sets out to become an underwater photographer. Face-to-face with stunning evidence of the human caused destruction of vibrant underwater ecosystems, Richard races the clock to save the oceans.
POST-PRODUCTION
Almost Sunrise (U.S.)
Director: Michael Collins
Producer: Marty Syjuco
Two friends, ex-soldiers, embark on an epic journey to heal from their time in combat. Filled with hope for veterans who’ve left the battlefield behind and are now seeking peace on the home front, Almost Sunrise follows Tom and Anthony as they walk 2,700 miles across America.
The Event (Ukraine/Russia)
Director: Sergei Loznitsa
Producers: Sergei Loznitsa & Maria Choustova
Three days that shook the world or much ado about nothing?
Holy Cow (Azerbaijan/Germany/Romania)
Director: Imam Hasanov
Producer: Andra Popescu, Veronika Janatkova, Stefan Kloos
One man’s dream of bringing a European cow in his remote village in Azerbaijan unsettles the conservative community that wants to keep their secular traditions intact.
Maman Colonelle (France/DR Congo)
Director: Dieudo Hamadi
Producer: Christian Lelong
Colonel Honorine works for the Congolese police force and heads the unit for the protection of minors and the fight against sexual violence. Having worked for 15 years in Bukavu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, she learned she was being transferred to Kisangani. There, she found herself faced with new challenges.
Markie in Milwaukee (U.S.)
Director: Matt Kliegman
Producer: Matt Kliegman and Zac Stuart-Pontier
Markie dreams of completing her gender transition, but can she overcome the ghosts of her past as a Fundamentalist Baptist preacher?
The Pearl Button (El Boton de Nacar)
Director: Patricio Guzmán
Producer: Renate Sachse
The Pearl Button is a story about water, Cosmos and us. It all starts with the discovery of two mysterious buttons deep in the Pacific Ocean, off the Chilean coast.
Proposition for a Revolution (India)
Directors: Khushboo Ranka, Vinay Shukla
Producer: Anand Gandhi
Co-Producer: Ruchi Bhimani
Exec. Producer: Joris van Wijk
What happens when an insider challenges corruption in the world’s largest democracy? Proposition for a Revolution tells the extraordinary story of the 2013 New Delhi elections, which catapulted bureaucrat-turned-activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal into power within a year of forming a new anti-corruption political party. A ground-level verite portrait depicting the transformation of a people’s movement into a political party, the film follows Arvind Kejriwal with unprecedented access as he takes on the oldest political party in India–The Congress Party.
The Reagan Years (U.S.)
Director: Pacho Velez
Producer: Sierra Pettengill
The Reagan Years is about a prolific actor’s defining role: Leader of the Free World. It uses the Reagan administration’s internal documentation to capture the spectacle of American might at its acme.
Teatro (U.S./Italy)
Director: Jeff Malmberg
Producer: Chris Shellen
For the past 50 years, the villagers of Monticchiello have confronted their communal issues through art in the form of a play that the entire town writes and performs. Teatro is a portrait of this tradition seen through the lens of the last man trying to keep it alive.
They Call Us Monsters (U.S.)
Director: Ben Lear
Producer: Sasha Alpert and Gabriel Cowan
They Call Us Monsters takes us behind the walls of The Compound, where Los Angeles houses its most violent juvenile offenders. To their advocates, they’re kids. To the system, they’re adults and to their victims they’re monsters. This film asks us to decide for ourselves.
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
1971 (U.S.)
Director: Johanna Hamilton
Producer: Marilyn Ness
On March 8, 1971 a group of citizens broke into an FBI office in Media, PA near Philadelphia and raided thousands of secret files that revealed an illegal government program known as COINTELPRO. Never caught, they have remained anonymous. Until now.
Enter the Faun (U.S.)
Director & Producer: Tamar Rogoff and Daisy Wright
Executive Producer: Véronique Bernard
Art and science collide as a young actor with cerebral palsy and a dancer embark on a journey that leads to unprecedented physical transformation and challenges the limitations associated with disability.
SUNDANCE | ESPN FILMS FELLOW
Shot in the Dark (U.S.)
Director: Dustin Nakao Haider
Producers: Daniel Poneman, Daniel Dewes, Derek Doneen, and Ben Vogel
For the players on Orr Academy’s basketball team, the court is a haven. Outside, it’s the Westside of Chicago – a neighborhood racked with gangs, gun trafficking, and violence. Within those walls, each player has his own struggle. But they’ll need to fight together if they ever want to break out.
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SOUND OF REDEMPTION: THE FRANK MORGAN STORY About Sax Player Frank Morgan Sets December Release Date | TRAILER
SOUND OF REDEMPTION: THE FRANK MORGAN STORY, a feature documentary about gifted alto sax player and Charlie Parker’s protégé, Frank Morgan, will open in New York at The IFC Center on December 2nd, and in Los Angeles at Laemmle on December 18th.
Directed by N.C. Heikin, SOUND OF REDEMPTION: THE FRANK MORGAN STORY is packed with music.
Morgan fell hard into heroin and got to be almost as good a conman and thief as he was a musician in order to feed his habit. The habit cost him 30 years of his life in and out of prison, most of it at San Quentin, where he performed in a big band with fellow junkie jazz musicians that grew famous in the Bay Area. To bring the past into present, director NC Heikin and writer Michael Connelly (THE LINCOLN LAWYER) brought an all-star band together into the “Q” for a concert. This hyper-emotional event forms the backbone of this riveting film.
Filmmaker NC Heikin began her career at La Mama Experimental Theatre Club in New York and went on to work on and off Broadway as an actress, singer and director. She has written screenplays for Disney and Paramount as well as French TV networks. In 2004, she made her directing debut with her prize-winning short, mañana. Her first documentary, Kimjongilia, about North Korean refugees, premiered at Sundance, won the One World Brussels Best Film 2010, and has been seen all over the world. Heikin’s stage play, LATE, is in casting for a premiere in Paris next season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRRITxoJtQk
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BOUNCE: HOW THE BALL TAUGHT THE WORLD TO PLAY, Documentary Exploring Origins of Sport, to NY Premiere at DOC NYC | TRAILER
BOUNCE: HOW THE BALL TAUGHT THE WORLD TO PLAY, a new feature documentary by filmmaker Jerome Thélia exploring the nature and origins of sport, will have its New York Premiere at DOC NYC on Monday at 7:30 pm.
Inspired by the book, The Ball: Discovering the Object of the Game by John Fox
From Brazilian favelas to dusty Congolese villages, from neolithic Scottish isles to modern soccer pitches, BOUNCE: HOW THE BALL TAUGHT THE WORLD TO PLAY explores the little-known origins of our favorite sports. The film crosses time, languages and continents to discover how the ball has staked its claim on our lives and fueled our passion to compete. Equal parts science, history and cultural essay, BOUNCE: HOW THE BALL TAUGHT THE WORLD TO PLAY removes us from the scandals and commercialism of today’s sports world to uncover the true reasons we play ball, helping us reclaim our universal connection to the games we love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8UyRUrb6KM
