Ahead of the world premiere as part of Sheffield Doc/Fest’s Digital Edition in the Ghosts and Apparitions selection, the documentary Me and the Cult Leader debuted the new trailer. In the film, director Atsushi Sakahara chronicles his intimate journey of confronting the doomsday cult behind the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo metro system on March 20th, 1995.
From veteran award-winning filmmakers Albert Nerenberg (You Are What You Act, Laughology) and Nik Sheehan (FLicKeR, No Sad Songs), Who Farted? takes audiences on a rollicking ride into understanding human emissions of all kinds – and also provides some possible answers to the climate crisis.
Calgary Underground Film Festival announced its lineup for the 17th edition of the festival. Originally scheduled to take place in April, like many other festivals around the world, CUFF has shifted to an online model for the 2020 edition. From June 22-28 CUFF fans will have the opportunity to get their eyes on the newest genre-defying independent films not streaming anywhere else, and ensure that these films find an audience while film festivals are paused and cinemas remain closed.
The 24th edition Fantasia International Film Festival taking place online from August 20 through September 2, 2020, revealed a selected first wave of film titles.
Emmy-winning documentarian Stanley Nelson (Freedom Riders, The Murder of Emmett Till) will direct a new documentary titled Attica, that details the five-day prison rebellion that transpired in the fall of 1971 in upstate New York and still stands as the largest and deadliest the country has ever witnessed. The film is set to premiere on Showtime in 2021, the 50th anniversary of the uprising.
Imagining the Indian, a documentary film currently in production at The Ciesla Foundation about the movement to eradicate Native American names, logos and mascots in the world of sports and beyond, unveiled its trailer and website. The trailer connects the centuries’ old dehumanization of Native Americans to the racism being protested on American streets today.
INTO THE STORM directed by Adam Brown won the coveted best of fest Grand Chameleon Award at Brooklyn Film Festival’s 23rd edition: TURNING POINT (aka Relearn How to be Human), which due to the COVID-19 pandemic was held online this year.
The American Film Institute revealed its full slate of films being presented online for the AFI DOCS 2020 festival which runs runs June 17–21. The lineup features 59 films from 11 countries and 12 virtual World Premieres, with 61% of the films directed by women, 25% by POC directors and 14% by LGBTQ directors.
Timed with World Refugee Day – Saturday, June 20, director Bill Gallagher’s award-winning documentary ‘Runner‘ will have its virtual cinema release starting Friday, June 19. Runner follows the incredible story of Guor Marial the South Sudanese Lost Boy who survived slavery and a brutal war that took 8 of his 9 siblings to become an Olympic athlete.
This year’s 60th edition of Krakow Film Festival which was held online due to the COVID19 pandemic ended with the awards gala. The audience award was given to the Norwegian documentary “The Self Portrait” directed by Margreth Olin, Katja Hogset and Espen Wallin. The film also received the Jury Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI).
Director Matt Riddlehoover traces the romantic, wrenching, and dizzying journey of Vivian Liberto, Johnny Cash’s first wife and the mother of his four daughters in the documentary My Darling Vivian. The documentary which had its world premiere at the 2020 SXSW Film Festival will have a virtual cinema release starting Friday, June 19.
Due the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Toronto After Dark Film Festival has postponed this year’s 15th Edition by one year, to October 14-22, 2021.