San Francisco Documentary Festival (SF DocFest) is presenting a virtual festival to take place Sept 3-20, 2020. The festival features 46 new documentaries available to watch over a 17 day period, live or pre-recorded Q&As with almost all films plus some fun special events.
Virgil Films released the socio-political feature documentary film Stars and Strife, written and directed by New York Times Best-Selling Author David Smick and executive produced by Academy Award-winner Barry Levinson. Stars and Strife exposes how an epidemic of hatred and division has left America helpless and presents how a rediscovery of empathy will move the nation forward.
Azazel Jacobs’s French Exit starring Michelle Pfeiffer will make its World Premiere as the Closing Night of the 58th New York Film Festival.
The first virtual edition of the American Black Film Festival (ABFF), now in its 24th year, will feature a robust slate of speakers including Stacey Abrams, Kenya Barris, Mary J. Blige, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Barry Jenkins, Gabrielle Union and Lena Waithe, as well as panels ranging from the business of Hollywood to spotlights on new films and television series. The festival will offer a mix of live and on demand content from August 21st to 30th at abff.com.
The new trailer is here for David Darg and Price James’ wildly entertaining documentary, You Cannot Kill David Arquette, an official selection of this year’s cancelled 2020 SXSW Film Festival. The film instead had its debut in early March at the Arquette’s California home a mere 24 hours after hearing about the SXSW cancellation, surrounded by friends, family and a homemade wrestling ring.
Stage Mother, the new comedy-drama film starring Oscar-nominated Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook, Animal Kingdom), Adrian Grenier (Entourage, The Devil Wears Prada) and Emmy-Nominated Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels, Elementary, Ally McBeal), will kick-off the virtual 22nd edition of the OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival on Thursday, August 20.
The new short film by Luca Guadagnino, Fiori, Fiori, Fiori!, and the independent film, Run Hide Fight, written and directed by Kyle Rankin, with Isabel May, Thomas Jane, and Radha Mitchell, have been added to the Out of Competition line-up of the 77th Venice International Film Festival. The festival is scheduled to take place from September 2 to 12 2020 at the Lido di Venezia.
ReelWorks Studios and Fathom Events release their latest film When We Last Spoke, a heartwarming tale of family, friendship and forgiveness featuring Corbin Bernsen (“Psych,” “L.A. Law”), Melissa Gilbert (“Little House on the Prairie”), Darby Camp (“Big Little Lies,” The Christmas Chronicles), Chandler Head (The Glass Castle) and Academy award-winning actress, Cloris Leachman (I Can Only Imagine, The Last Picture Show). When We Last Spoke will open in movie theaters for an exclusive two night showing October 27 and 29, 2020.
The first official trailer debuted today for Come True, the dark sci-fi thriller from Canadian filmmaker, visual effects artist and musician Anthony Scott Burns (Our House, Holidays Father’s Day segment). The film will world premiere on August 30th as part of upcoming Fantasia International Film Festival, running August 20th – September 2nd digitally.
Emmy winner Judd Apatow along with longtime collaborator Michael Bonfiglio will direct a two-part HBO documentary about legendary comedian George Carlin, who headlined 14 stand-up comedy specials on HBO over the course of his career. Along with Emmy(R) winner Joe Beshenkovsky editing, the documentary reunites the key creative team behind HBO’s Emmy-winning documentary “The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling,” which was directed by Apatow.
The 19th New York Asian Film Festival will be a special virtual edition from August 28 to September 12, 2020. The festival continues to highlight women both behind and in front of the camera, and features a specific FOCUS on women filmmakers: Women Transforming Film, starting with The Opening Film – the North American Premiere of The Girl and the Gun (Babae at Baril), directed by Rae Red, led by a superb performance by actress Janine Gutierrez.