One hundred fifty-nine features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 92nd Academy Awards®. Films submitted in the Documentary Feature category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture.
From acclaimed auteurs to emerging directors to visual artists that push the limits of documentary film, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) announced 70 selected documentary film titles to the program sections Frontlight, Masters, Paradocs, Paradocs: Amsterdam Art Weekend at IDFA, and Best of Fests, plus a Lifetime Achievement Award for Jørgen Leth. The new selections include world premieres from Oeke Hoogendijk, Louise Detlefsen, Louise Kjeldsen, and Basir Mahmoud.
Traverse City Film Festival released the 2019 program marking the 15th Anniversary Year with a “Cinema Saves The World” theme, and featuring over 200 films and events. The Festival opens with BRITTANY RUNS A MARATHON; AFTER THE WEDDING as Centerpiece; and closes with BLINDED BY THE LIGHT.
This year, Sheffield Doc/Fest 2019 presents an international ensemble of Films, Live Events and Alternate Realities experiences and installations focusing on LGBTQI+ communities and individuals.
This year’s fifth annual Mammoth Lakes Film Festival (MLFF) will close out with Tribeca Film Festival’s documentary darling, XY Chelsea on Sunday, May 26. The film takes a look at the life and career of Chelsea Manning, a trans woman solider in the United States Army, who was sentenced to serve 35 years at an all-male military prison for leaking information about the country’s was in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sheffield Doc/Fest announced the line-up of 180+ documentary features and shorts for its 26th edition, which runs from 6 to 11 June, 2019, under the tagline “Ways of Seeing” inspired by John Berger’s television series and book of the same name. The festival opens on Thursday June 6 with Diego Maradona, a wild and irreverent look at one of the world’s most iconic sportsmen, both on and off the pitch, during his infamous time in Naples.
SHOWTIME released a first-look trailer for XY CHELSEA, directed by Tim Travers Hawkins, which will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday, May 1 and premiere on the cable channel on Friday, June 7 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Executive produced by Academy Award(R) winner Laura Poitras (RISK, Citizenfour), XY CHELSEA tells the historic story of whistle-blower Chelsea Manning, whose 35-year sentence in a maximum security prison was commuted by President Obama in 2017.
Whistle-blower Chelsea Manning, whose 35-year sentence in an all-male maximum security prison was commuted by President Obama in 2017, will be the subject of the upcoming Showtime documentary “XY Chelsea.” Shot over two years and featuring exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes verité with Manning, the film picks up on the momentous day in May when she leaves prison and follows her through her journey of discovery, while also examining her place in the conversation on national security and the fight of the transgender community for rights and visibility.
The feature film, currently in post-production, will premiere at an upcoming film festival, followed by theatrical run and a subsequent premiere on the Showtime network.
Since 2014, filmmaker Tim Travers Hawkins has followed Manning and her legal team as they fought to get her out of prison, and for her to receive the necessary medical treatment for her gender dysphoria. Following two suicide attempts in 2016, Chelsea and her team tried to save her life with a long-shot request to President Obama for a commutation of her sentence before he left office. Cameras follow Manning’s fight for release and witness as she reveals herself to the world for the first time. XY CHELSEA is the journey of her fight for survival and dignity, and her transition from prisoner to a free woman.
XY Chelsea was directed by Tim Travers Hawkins and produced by Pulse Films in association with First Look Media’s Topic Studios, Field of Vision and British Film Institute. Thomas Benski, Julia Nottingham and Lucas Ochoa of Pulse Films are producers. Academy Award(R) winner Laura Poitras (RISK, Citizenfour), Mary Burke, Michael Bloom, Adam Pincus, Charlotte Cook, Sharon Chang, Blaine Vess and Christos V. Konstantakopoulos serve as executive producers.