Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck

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.
Read more
CARTEL LAND, MERU Leads Nominations for 9th Cinema Eye Honors awards for Nonfiction Filmmaking

Cartel Land, Matthew Heineman’s gripping account of violence and vigilantes on both sides of the US-Mexico border, led the nominations for 9th Cinema Eye Honors awards for Nonfiction Filmmaking, with five nominations, including Outstanding Nonfiction Feature. It is joined in the top category by Asif Kapadia’s Amy, Camilla Neilsson’s Democrats, Stevan Riley’s Listen to Me Marlon, Crystal Moselle’s The Wolfpack and Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence. The latter, which received four nominations, and Cartel Land were the only films nominated for Outstanding Feature, Direction, Production and Cinematography. Other films that received multiple nominations include the mountain climbing thriller Meru (4 nominations); Amy, Heart of a Dog, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck and The Wolfpack (3 nominations); Best of Enemies, Democrats, Listen to Me Marlon, The Nightmare, Uncertain and Western (2 nominations). Winners of the 9th Annual Cinema Eye Honors will be announced Wednesday, January 13, 2016 in New York at the Museum of the Moving Image. The complete list of nominations for 9th Cinema Eye Honors Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking “Amy” Directed by Asif Kapadia Produced by James Gay-Rees “Cartel Land” Directed by Matthew Heineman Produced by Tom Yellin “Democrats” Directed by Camilla Nielsson Produced by Henrik Veileborg “Listen to Me Marlon” Directed by Stevan Riley Produced by John Battsek, George Chignell and R.J. Cutler “The Look of Silence” Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer Produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen “The Wolfpack” Directed by Crystal Moselle Produced by Crystal Moselle and Izabella Tzenkova Outstanding Achievement in Direction Matthew Heineman, “Cartel Land” Kim Longinotto, “Dreamcatcher” Laurie Anderson, “Heart of a Dog” Frederick Wiseman, “In Jackson Heights” Albert Maysles, Lynn True, Nelson Walker, David Usui & Ben Wu, “In Transit” Joshua Oppenheimer, “The Look of Silence” Outstanding Achievement in Editing Chris King, “Amy” Aaron Wickenden and Eileen Meyer, “Best of Enemies” James Scott, “How to Change the World”Brett Morgen and Joe Neshenkovsky, “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck” Stevan Riley, “Listen to Me Marlon” Outstanding Achievement in Production Tom Yellin, “Cartel Land” Henrik Veileborg, “Democrats” Alex Gibney, Lawrence Wright and Kristen Vaurio, “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief”Signe Byrge Sørensen, “The Look of Silence” Jimmy Chin, Chai Vasarhelyi and Shannon Etheridge, “Meru” Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography Matthew Heineman and Matt Porwoll, “Cartel Land” Lars Skree, “The Look of Silence” Renan Ozturk, “Meru” Ewan McNicol, “Uncertain” Bill Ross and Turner Ross, “Western” Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Films Made for Television “Deep Web” Directed by Alex Winter Produced by Marc Schiller, Alex Winter and Glen Zipper For EPIX: Executive Producers Jill Burkhart and Ross Bernard “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief” Directed by Alex Gibney Produced by Alex Gibney, Kristen Vaurio and Lawrence Wright For HBO Documentary Films: Supervising Producer Sara Bernstein and Executive Producer Sheila Nevins “Outbreak” Directed by Dan Edge Produced by Dan Edge and Sasha Joelle Achilli For Frontline/PBS: Coordinating Producer Carla Borras and Executive Producers Raney Aronson-Rath and David Fanning “Private Violence” Directed and Produced by Cynthia Hill For HBO Documentary Films: Senior Producer Nancy Abraham and Executive Producer Sheila Nevins “Whitey: The United States of America vs. James J. Bulger” Directed by Joe Berlinger Produced by Joe Berlinger and Caroline Suh For CNN Films: Supervising Producer Courtney Sexton and Executive Producers Vinnie Malhotra and Amy Entelis Audience Choice Prize “Amy” Directed by Asif Kapadia “Best of Enemies” Directed by Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief” Directed by Alex Gibney “The Hunting Ground” Directed by Kirby Dick “Iris” Directed by Albert Maysles “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck” Directed by Brett Morgen “Meru” Directed by Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi “What Happened, Miss Simone?” Directed by Liz Garbus “Where to Invade Next” Directed by Michael Moore “The Wolfpack” Directed by Crystal Moselle Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film “Kings of Nowhere” Directed by Betzabé Garcia “Peace Officer” Directed by Brad Barber and Scott Christopherson “Pervert Park” Directed by Frida Barkfors and Lasse Barkfors “The Russian Woodpecker” Directed by Chad Gracia “Uncertain” Directed by Ewan McNicol and Anna Sandilands “The Wolfpack” Directed by Crystal Moselle Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score Jackson Greenberg and Scott Salinas, “Cartel Land” Laurie Anderson, “Heart of a Dog” J. Ralph, “Meru” Jonathan Snipes, “The Nightmare” Casey McAllister, “Western” Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation Nominees TBD, “Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon” Laurie Anderson, “Heart of a Dog” Stefan Nadelman and Hisko Hulsin, “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck” Syd Garon, “The Nightmare” Ryan Green and Josh Larson, “Thank You for Playing” Spotlight Award “Almost There” Directed by Dan Rybicky and Aaron Wickenden “Barge” Directed by Ben Powell “Field Niggas” Directed by Khalik Allah “Frame by Frame” Directed by Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli “(T)error” Directed by Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe “Toto and His Sisters” Directed by Alexandre Nanău Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking “The Breath” Directed by Fabian Kaiser “Buffalo Juggalos” Directed by Scott Cummings “Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah” Directed by Adam Benzine “The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul” Directed by Kitty Green “Hotel 22” Directed by Elizabeth Lo
Read more
AMY, Listen To Me Marlon, Among Nominees for 2015 IDA Documentary Awards, Tig Notaro to Host Ceremony

Grammy-nominated comedian Tig Notaro will host the 2015 IDA Documentary Awards ceremony. Tig Notaro is the subject of Tig, the Netflix Original documentary chronicling her life after it famously fell apart. The 2015 edition of the Awards will highlight six films in Best Feature Documentary category. These films include AMY, Asif Kapadia’s moving film about six-time Grammy-winner Amy Winehouse; The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Stanley Nelson’s vibrant chronicle of the birth of the Black Panther Party; Listen To Me Marlon, Stevan Riley’s fascinating self-portrait of Marlon Brando culled from his vast archive of personal audio and visual materials; The Look of Silence, Joshua Oppenheimer’s powerful companion piece to the Oscar®-nominated The Act of Killing; The Russian Woodpecker, Chad Gracia’s riveting examination of eccentric Ukranian artist Fedor Alexandrovich’s obsession with a Soviet-constructed radio antenna near the Chernobyl site; and What Happened, Miss Simone?, Liz Garbus’s sensitive exploration of the legendary singer and activist Nina Simone. In addition to the awards, this year’s honorees include Matthew Heineman, recipient of the IDA’s Courage Under Fire Award in recognition of conspicuous bravery in the pursuit of truth. 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. Previous recipients of the award include: Laura Poitras, Christiane Amanpour, Andrew Berends, Jonathan Stack and James Brabazon and Saira Shah. In addition to Heineman, the 2015 IDA Documentary Awards will honor Gordon Quinn with its Career Achievement Award. Tony Tabatznik and the Bertha Foundation (berthafoundation.org) will receive the IDA Amicus Award, and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos will receive IDA’s Pioneer Award. (T)ERROR directors Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe will share the Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award sponsored by the Archibald Family Foundation. The recipients of this year’s IDA Creative Recognition Awards include The Russian Woodpecker (cinematography by Artem Ryzhykov) will be recognized with the award for Best Cinematography; Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (edited by Joe Beshenkovsky and Brett Morgen) will receive the Best Editing award; Best of Enemies (original score by Jonathan Kirkscey) will be presented with the Best Music award, and Listen To Me Marlon (written by Stevan Riley, co-writer Peter Ettedgui) will receive the Best Writing award. The 31st Annual IDA Documentary Awards will take place on Saturday, December 5th at the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles, CA 31st Annual IDA Awards Nominees Best Feature Award Amy Director: Asif Kapadia Producer: James Gay-Rees A24 The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution Director: Stanley Nelson Producer: Laurens Grant PBS DISTRIBUTION Listen to Me Marlon Director: Stevan Riley Producer: John Battsek SHOWTIME DOCUMENTARY FILMS The Look of Silence Director: Joshua Oppenheimer Producer: Signe Byrge Sørensen DRAFTHOUSE FILMS AND PARTICIPANT MEDIA The Russian Woodpecker Director: Chad Gracia Producer: Ram Devineni and Mike Lerner FILMBUFF What Happened, Miss Simone? Director: Liz Garbus NETFLIX Best Short Award Body Team 12 Director: David Darg Producer: Bryn Mooser RYOT FILMS AND VULCAN PRODUCTIONS Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah Director: Adam Benzine HBO The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul Director: Kitty Green Producer: Philippa Campey KURZFILMAGENTUR HAMBURG (GERMANY) Last Day of Freedom Directors: Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman Object Director: Paulina Skibińska MUNK STUDIO AND POLISH FILMMAKERS ASSOCIATION Best Curated Series Award 30 for 30 Executive Producers John Dahl and Connor Schell ESPN America ReFramed Executive Producers: Chris Hastings and Simon Kilmurry WORLD CHANNEL Independent Lens Executive Producers: Sally Jo Fifer and Lois Vossen ITVS/PBS POV Executive Producers: Simon Kilmurry and Chris White POV, PBS Storyville Series Editor: Nick Fraser Executive Producer: Kate Townsend BBC TV, BBC WORLD NEWS Best Limited Series Award Blood Brothers Executive Producers: Kees Schaap and Anja van Oostrom VARA TELEVISION (THE NETHERLANDS) Hard Earned Executive Producers: Steve James, Justine Nagan, and Gordon Quinn Series Producer: Maggie Bowman AL JAZEERA AMERICA AND KARTEMQUIN FILMS The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst Executive Producer: Jason Blum Co-Executive Producer: Zac Stuart-Pontier Produced by: Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling HBO Life Story Executive Producer: Mike Gunton DISCOVERY Rebel Architecture Executive Producer: Fiona Lawson-Baker AL JAZEERA ENGLISH Best Episodic Series Award Chef’s Table Executive Producers: David Gelb, Andrew Fried, and Brian McGinn NETFLIX Morgan Spurlock Inside Man Executive Producers: Jeremy Chilnick, Matthew Galkin, and Morgan Spurlock CNN AND WARRIOR POETS NOVA Senior Executive Producer: Paula Apsell Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Cort PBS The Seventies Executive Producers: Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks, and Mark Herzog CNN, PLAYTONE, AND HERZOG & COMPANY This is Life with Lisa Ling Executive Producers: Amy Bucher, Lisa Ling, and David Shadrack Smith CNN AND PART2 PICTURES Best Short Form Series Award Do Not Track Executive Producer: Hugues Sweeney NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA, UPIAN, ARTE, AND BR Highrise: Universe Within Executive Producers: Anita Lee and Silva Basmajian NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA The New York Times Op-Docs Executive Producer: Jason Spingarn-Koff THE NEW YORK TIMES POV Interactive Documentaries Executive Producer: Simon Kilmurry and Adnaan Wasey POV AND PBS WE THE ECONOMY: 20 Short Films You Can’t Afford to Miss Executive Producer: Paul G. Allen and Morgan Spurlock VULCAN PRODUCTIONS AND CINELAN 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 Director: Benjamin Huguet THE NATIONAL FILM AND TELEVISION SCHOOL The Blue Wall Director: Michael Milano UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY El Cacao Director: Michelle Aguilar University of California Santa Cruz In Attla’s Tracks Director: Catharine Axley STANFORD UNIVERSITY Looking at the Stars Director: Alexandre Peralta UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 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. (T)ERROR Directors: Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe INDEPENDENT LENS ALONG WITH BBC Best of Enemies Directors: Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville MAGNOLIA PICTURES AND INDEPENDENT LENS Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll Director: John Pirozzi ARGOT PICTURES Night Will Fall Director: André Singer HBO What Happened, Miss Simone? Director: Liz Garbus NETFLIX 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
Read more
124 Documentary Features Submitted For 2015 Oscar Race

One hundred twenty-four features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 88th Academy Awards®. The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are: “Above and Beyond” “All Things Must Pass” “Amy” “The Armor of Light” “Ballet 422” “Batkid Begins” “Becoming Bulletproof” “Being Evel” “Beltracchi – The Art of Forgery” “Best of Enemies” “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution” “Bolshoi Babylon” “Brand: A Second Coming” “A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story” “Call Me Lucky” “Cartel Land” “Censored Voices” “Champs” “CodeGirl” “Coming Home” “Dark Horse” “Deli Man” “Dior and I” “The Diplomat” “(Dis)Honesty – The Truth about Lies” “Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll” “Dreamcatcher” “dream/killer” “Drunk, Stoned, Brilliant, Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon” “Eating Happiness” “Every Last Child” “Evidence of Harm” “Farewell to Hollywood” “Finders Keepers” “The Forecaster” “Frame by Frame” “Gardeners of Eden” “A Gay Girl in Damascus: The Amina Profile” “Godspeed: The Story of Page Jones” “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief” “He Named Me Malala” “Heart of a Dog” “Hitchcock/Truffaut” “How to Change the World” “Human” “The Hunting Ground” “I Am Chris Farley” “In Jackson Heights” “In My Father’s House” “India’s Daughter” “Ingrid Bergman – In Her Own Words” “Iraqi Odyssey” “Iris” “Janis: Little Girl Blue” “Karski & the Lords of Humanity” “Killing Them Safely” “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck” “Lambert & Stamp” “A Lego Brickumentary” “Listen to Me Marlon” “Live from New York!” “The Look of Silence” “Meet the Patels” “Meru” “The Mind of Mark DeFriest” “Misery Loves Comedy” “Monkey Kingdom” “A Murder in the Park” “My Italian Secret” “My Voice, My Life” “1971” “Of Men and War” “One Cut, One Life” “Only the Dead See the End of War” “The Outrageous Sophie Tucker” “Peace Officer” “The Pearl Button” “Pink & Blue: Colors of Hereditary Cancer” “Poached” “Polyfaces” “The Prime Ministers: Soldiers and Peacemakers” “Prophet’s Prey” “Racing Extinction” “The Resurrection of Jake the Snake” “Ride the Thunder – A Vietnam War Story of Victory & Betrayal” “Rosenwald” “The Russian Woodpecker” “Searching for Home: Coming Back from War” “Seeds of Time” “Sembene!” “The Seven Five” “Seymour: An Introduction” “Sherpa” “A Sinner in Mecca” “Something Better to Come” “Song from the Forest” “Song of Lahore” “Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine” “Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans” “Stray Dog” “Sunshine Superman” “Sweet Micky for President” “Tab Hunter Confidential” “The Tainted Veil” “Tap World” “(T)error” “Thao’s Library” “Those Who Feel the Fire Burning” “3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets” “The Touch of an Angel” “TransFatty Lives” “The True Cost” “Twinsters” “Very Semi-Serious: A Partially Thorough Portrait of New Yorker Cartoonists” “The Wanted 18” “We Are Many” “We Come as Friends” “We Were Not Just…Bicycle Thieves. Neorealism” “Welcome to Leith” “What Happened, Miss Simone?” “What Our Fathers Did: A Nazi Legacy” “Where to Invade Next” “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” (pictured above) “The Wolfpack” Several of the films have not yet had their required Los Angeles and New York qualifying releases. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and comply with all of the category’s other qualifying rules in order to advance in the voting process. A shortlist of 15 films will be announced in December. Films submitted in the Documentary Feature category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture, provided they meet the requirements for those categories. 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.
Read more
Imperial Dreams Win Top Awards at 2015 Ashland Independent Film Festival

The Ashland Independent Film Festival announced the 2015 juried and audience award winning films at an Awards Celebration gala at the Historic Ashland Armory. Imperial Dreams (pictured above), directed by Malik Vitthal was the big winner of this year’s festival, taking home both the Jury Award and Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature film. In Imperial Dreams, 21-year-old Bambi returns home to Los Angeles and his old stomping grounds in Watts, fresh off a 28-month stint in prison for gang activity, Now educated and eager to pursue his dream of becoming a published writer, he must first come to terms with his role as the sole caretaker of his 3-year-old son. To have any hope of reaching his goal and giving his son the upbringing he deserves, he needs to get a job and get off parole. Bambi’s dreams of a legitimate life are challenged by both the red tape of government bureaucracy and the pressure to return to his old gangster life. Even so, he finds hope where it is scarce, and learns what it really means to be a father. In total, twelve awards were presented to attending filmmakers, honoring their work screened at the 14th annual festival. The AIFF presented the 2015 Rogue Award to Olympic Champion Greg Louganis. In 1988, Louganis became the first man to sweep the diving events in consecutive Olympic games. His legendary grace, beauty, and courage sparked a worldwide fascination with diving. Louganis shared his story in the documentary Back on Board: Greg Louganis, directed by Cheryl Furjanic, which screened Saturday evening. The film reveals the complicated life of the pioneering, openly gay athlete who revealed his HIV-positive status, at great risk to his career. Earlier in the week, the AIFF presented Award-winning Director Ondi Timoner with the inaugural AIFF “No Limits” Award in recognition of her fearless filmmaking and unique storytelling style in her latest film, BRAND: A Second Coming. The film follows comedian, author, and activist Russell Brand’s (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) evolution from a superficial Hollywood star and addict to a political disrupter and unexpected hero to the underserved. BRAND: A Second Coming screened Opening Night. Western, directed by Bill and Turner Ross, took home the Les Blank Award for Best Feature Length Documentary, bestowed by the festival’s jurors. This real-life western is a dazzling vérité portrait that puts a human face on an uncertain new reality of two border towns. Barge and Cartel Land received Honorable Mentions. It was a tie for The Rogue Creamery Audience Award for Best Documentary. Sharing the honor are FRAME BY FRAME and Batkid Begins: The Wish Heard Around the World. Imperial Dreams, directed by Malik Vitthal, received the festival’s jury award for Best Narrative Feature film and won the Varsity Audience Award for Best Feature. Another double winner was One Year Lease, taking home the Juried Best Short Documentary prize and the Audience Award for Best Short Documentary. Birthday took home the Jim Teece “Local Hero” Audience Award for Best Short Film. The Audience Family Choice Award went to The Dam Keeper. The jury award for Best Editing: Feature Length Documentary went to Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, directed by Brett Morgan. The juried award for Best Short Film went to SKUNK. Stop received an Honorable Mention. Wildlike won The Jim Giancarlo Award for Best Acting Ensemble and received the Gerald Hirschfeld A.S.C. Award for Best Cinematography. Proud Citizen received an Honorable Mention. Hirschfeld was the 2007 A.S.C President’s Award Honoree and Director of Photography for films such as Young Frankenstein and My Favorite Year. Most Juried and Audience Award-winning documentary, feature and short films will receive encore presentations, Monday April 13 at the Varsity Theatre in downtown Ashland.
Read more
18 Documentaries Complete Lineup for 2015 Berlinale Panorama

Une jeunesse allemande (A German Youth)

Panorama Dokumente of the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival will open with the world premiere of Une jeunesse allemande (A German Youth) by Jean-Gabriel Périot.

Using archive material, the film traces without bias or commentary the developments leading up to the “German Autumn” in late 1977. The gradual radicalisation of leaders of the Red Army Faction (RAF) is made palpable in excerpts from, e.g., Holger Mein’s film Freiheit für Teufel (Freedom for Teufel) and Ulrike Meinhof’s Bambule (Rampage). The film examines the expulsion of a large number of undergraduate students from the German Film and Television Academy (dffb) for their radicalism, as well as the independent student workers’ cinema, ROSTA Kino, and the directors’ revolt at the “EXPRMTL (Knokke Experimental Film Festival)” in Belgium.

Tell Spring Not to Come This Year by Saeed Taji Farouky and Michael McEvoy addresses the fatal situation in Afghanistan now that all international troops have left the country. And Censored Voices by Mor Loushy traces the bitter taste of triumph. Young Israeli soldiers return home after the Six-Day War and immediately talk on tape about their experiences: the country is in a flush of victory. Now the director shows these same men listening to what they once said.
A statement by Katrin Seybold, who died in 2012, opens her final work: “The films I make need to be made. When people are dead, then they’re dead, and all we have left are Gestapo reports, the reports of the perpetrators.” Die Widerständigen „also machen wir das weiter …” (The Resistors “their spirit prevails …”) consists of interviews about the resistance movement against the Nazis. The film was finished by Seybold’s friend and colleague Ula Stöckl, whose legendary 1968 film, Neun Leben hat die Katze (The Cat Has Nine Lives), is screening in this year’s Berlinale Classics.

Music films and special artist portraits have a tradition in the Panorama. Nina Simone went from being a talented jazz and classical pianist to a highly political human rights activist. In the film What Happened, Miss Simone?, Liz Garbus weaves together film documents, interviews and, of course, the music of this inimitable singer to create an atmospheric portrait. Brett Morgen also includes a great deal of music in Cobain: Montage of Heck, an intimate glimpse into the life and work of the founder of the grunge band Nirvana, Kurt Cobain.

Inuk Silis Høegh’s Sume – Mumisitsinerup Nipaa (Sumé – The Sound of a Revolution) shows how the rock musicians of this band from Greenland devoted themselves in the mid 1970s to opposing Danish colonisers and brought about the revival of Greenlandic, their native tongue. And, as already announced (Press Release from December 16, 2014), in around 1980 one of the most creative musical chapters in West Berlin took place, as documented in B-Movie: Lust and Sound in West-Berlin by Jörg A. Hoppe, Klaus Maeck and Heiko Lange.

Two extraordinary artists, both filmmakers whose world careers began in Berlin, are Jia Zhang-ke and Walter Salles: the latter is presenting an affectionate portrait of his colleague Jia Zhang-ke, Um homem de Fenyang (Jia Zhang-ke, a Guy from Fenyang), which includes many excerpts from his films that make recent upheavals in Chinese society more tangible. Besides the previously announced portrait ofFassbinder – Lieben ohne zu fordern (Fassbinder – To Love without Demands) by Danish filmmaker Christian Braad Thomsen, the Panorama is presenting two rediscoveries: one about Yvonne Rainer, the incredibly inspirational but also, by nature, modest dancer, choreographer and filmmaker, whose filmMURDER and murder won the TEDDY Award in 1997 (Feelings Are Facts: The Life of Yvonne Rainer by Jack Walsh). The other is about Annemarie Schwarzenbach, whose modern European attitudes, writings on travelling the world, and stunning, highly androgynous look in the 1920s are still fascinating today not only to the queer and gender community (Je suis Annemarie Schwarzenbach / My Name is Annemarie Schwarzenbach by Véronique Aubouy).

Two more works have joined the line-up of films that focus on self-determination and sexuality: Danish director Jannik Splidsboel’s Misfits shows how there are several thousand churches in the Bible Belt of the USA but only one gay-lesbian youth centre. For many it is the only safe haven from a socialisation based on religious fundamentalism. Splidsboel presented How Are You about the artists Elmgreen&Dragset in the Panorama 2011. In Haftanlage 4614 (Prison System 4614), Jan Soldat, who showed his short film Zucht und Ordnung (Law and Order) in the Panorama 2012, explores the longings and desires revealed by “prison fetishists”: these inmates are voluntarily behind bars.

The following titles complete the list of Panorama films.

Panorama Dokumente

Censored Voices – Israel / Germany
By Mor Loushy
European premiere

Cobain: Montage of Heck – USA
By Brett Morgen
International premiere

Die Widerständigen „also machen wir das weiter …” (The Resistors “their spirit prevails …”) – Germany
By Ula Stöckl, Katrin Seybold
World premiere

Feelings Are Facts: The Life of Yvonne Rainer – USA
By Jack Walsh
World premiere

Haftanlage 4614 (Prison System 4614) – Germany
By Jan Soldat
World premiere

Je suis Annemarie Schwarzenbach (My Name is Annemarie Schwarzenbach) – France
By Véronique Aubouy
World premiere

Jia Zhang-ke, um homem de Fenyang (Jia Zhang-ke, a Guy from Fenyang) – Brazil
By Walter Salles
European Premiere

Misfits – Denmark / Sweden
By Jannik Splidsboel
World premiere

Sume – Mumisitsinerup Nipaa (Sumé – The Sound of a Revolution) – Greenland / Denmark / Norway
By Inuk Silis Høegh
European premiere

Tell Spring Not to Come This Year – Great Britain
By Saeed Taji Farouky, Michael McEvoy
World premiere

Une jeunesse allemande (A German Youth) – France / Switzerland / Germany
By Jean-Gabriel Périot
World premiere

What Happened, Miss Simone? – USA
By Liz Garbus
International premiere

Previously announced Panorama Dokumente films:

B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin by Jörg A. Hoppe, Klaus Maeck, Heiko Lange, Germany (WP)
Danielův Svět (Daniel’s World) by Veronika Lišková, Czech Republic (IP)
El hombre nuevo (The New Man) by Aldo Garay, Uruguay / Chile (WP)
Fassbinder – Lieben ohne zu fordern (Fassbinder – To Love without Demands) by Christian Braad Thomsen, Denmark (WP)
Iraqi Odyssey by Samir, Switzerland / Germany / Iraq / United Arab Emirates (EP)
The Yes Men Are Revolting by Laura Nix, Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno, USA (EP)

(WP= World premiere, IP= International premiere, EP = European premiere)
Read more