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“Avenging Force” is an underrated, overlooked, action extravaganza starring Michael Dudikoff and Steve James, which was produced between the first two “American Ninja” films. Released by the legendary, mini-studio, “The Cannon Group,” many die hard action fans consider this to be Michael Dudikoff’s onscreen tour de force. Sam Firstenberg agrees, and even believes this is his own best movie out of the 25 films he’s directed.

On the surface “Avenging Force” is a typical slam-bang, exploitation action flick, but the social/political themes of white supremacy and systemic racism are sadly much more relevant today than they were in 1986. The villains of the film, “The Pentangle,” are an extremist militant group of powerful elites that will destroy anyone that opposes their vision of what America should be.

“Avenging Force” was originally conceived as a sequel to the Chuck Norris film, “Invasion USA,” and it is a very unique movie...

The Oscars were built to highlight the cinematic year’s most audacious and outstanding achievements. Past snubs have left many of the industry’s finest filmmakers, actors and technical artists waiting for their first Dolby Theatre invitation. This year, multiple contenders are angling for an inaugural mention, even though it should be one of many. So who are they?

It’s always gratifying to see a veteran actor — in this case, Delroy Lindo — finally receiving the acclaim he’s deserved for his nearly 40-year career. Lindo’s role in Vietnam War drama “Da 5 Bloods,” which reunited him with director Spike Lee after 1995’s “Clockers,” could bring him his first nomination for best actor. But where were the voters in 1995 or in 1992 for “Malcolm X”?

Robin Wright hopes to drop into a very competitive Oscar race with her directorial debut “Land,” which is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. Despite her work in “Forrest Gump,...

Michael Apted was 22 when he joined the crew of “Seven Up!,” a British made-for-television documentary that profiled 14 children from different class backgrounds. That made him 15 years senior to his subjects, with whom he maintained contact, establishing an almost familial connection that spanned more than half a century.

Apted did not direct the original 1964 documentary, as is commonly thought, nor was that initial installment such an important landmark in the field of nonfiction filmmaking. The breakthrough came in Apted’s decision to continue the project with an hour-long follow-up TV movie seven years later, “7 Plus Seven” — and again every seven years after that — revisiting as many of the children as would agree to participate as they grew up, found their ways in life, fell in love, married, divorced and so on.

As conceived, the “Up” series had a decidedly sociological bent, focusing on the British class system and to what degree...

Nominations for this year’s Academy Awards are still more than two months away, and without in-person events and screenings, distributors and awards strategists are doing their best to keep their rosters in the conversation. This marks the second year that AMPAS utilizes its Academy Screening Room (Asr), a digital platform for voting members to screen the films for awards consideration. This also marks the final year that studios and strategists will send DVDs to voters. As the entertainment industry remains crippled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all organizations, including AMPAS, continue to navigate the difficult time, working remotely and trying to operate transparently, in a time where “I don’t know” is the norm for any plans in the world.

On Dec. 22, the Academy uploaded a robust 93 documentaries for its branch members, bringing the total number of eligible features to 215, a record-breaking number that already surpasses the 2017 record of 170. Last year,...

A version of this story first appeared in the Documentaries issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.

The Oscars competition in the Best Documentary Feature category has more than 200 eligible films this year for this first time ever, due largely to rule changes that made it easier for nonfiction films to qualify in the year of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The rules, which will likely end when theaters reopen, include routes to qualify by being booked at film festivals or by premiering online but paying to be in the online Academy Screening Room for members. They’re resulted in 215 films qualifying by late December, with an additional small group of films expected to be added to the list in early January. The previous record for entries, set in 2017, was 170.

But rule changes have long been standard in the Oscars documentary category, particularly in the last two or three decades. Often, they involve...

Scorsese In Stockholm

Martin Scorsese made an appearance at Sweden’s Stockholm International Film Festival this weekend to receive the event’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Presented with the prize remotely due to ongoing pandemic restrictions, the filmmaker said that he had always had a “real love” for the country’s films. “I want to thank the Stockholm International Film Festival for this because the Swedish cinema has been such an extraordinary factor in world cinema going back to the silent period and until today. And it continues with wonderful filmmakers, restorations that keeps coming out from the 1930s and 40s so it’s quite extraordinary and I’ve always felt more than a connection, a real love for the Swedish cinema and the Swedish filmmakers. So this is very special to me. I thank you so much and as I say maybe one day I can finally get there,” he said.

On the day of the 2019 Chicago mayoral election, candidate Neal Sáles-Griffin went to a polling place first thing in the morning to cast a vote for himself, a celebratory moment he’d worked towards for months. Instead, the digital machine immediately failed. He had to wait as the harried volunteers rebooted it, called tech support, and assured him that any minute now, surely, he’d be able to successfully vote.

As portrayed in NatGeo’s new docuseries “City So Real,” from lauded “Hoop Dreams” documentarian Steve James, this is a small moment in the grand scheme of things. The series is comprised of just five episodes, but follows the entire Chicago mayoral election from the early days following Rahm Emanuel’s resignation, through the protests over a police officer shooting and killing 17 year-old Laquan McDonald, to Lori Lightfoot’s victory, and to the Black Lives Matter protests and coronavirus pandemic unfolding in the present.

Long before Kanye West tardily disrupted the 2020 presidential election, the pioneering force in American hip-hop put himself smack in the middle of Chicago’s crowded 2019 mayoral race. West endorsed candidate Amara Enyia at a “pop-up” rally, standing quietly next to fellow supporter Chance the Rapper and behind their progressive candidate as she spoke to a small crowd from the sidewalk. These celebrity endorsements were meant to help boost awareness, but even then, questions were asked if West’s support of Donald Trump would negatively effect the young, Black candidate’s attempts to court Black voters.

And Steve James was there.

Before the GOP’s attack on voting, including inflated claims of voter fraud and the outright theft of people’s ballots, delegates for Chicago mayoral candidates sat around a computer and made knowingly false claims to try to boot their opponents from the ballot entirely. Lawyers cited mistakes on pages that didn’t exist,...

Dickens had the teeming streets of Victorian-era London, Balzac had Paris during the Bourbon Restoration period, and Steve James has 21st century Chicago. A key part of the team behind the groundbreaking Hoop Dreams, this veteran documentarian has dabbled over the years in everything from biopics (Prefontaine) to bigger-picture looks at social ills (Abacus: Small Enough to Jail). It’s the City of Broad Shoulders, however, that’s provided him with a creative home base via Kartemquin Films and a subject rich enough to examine in depth. Every U.S.

When confronted by the press about Chicago’s overwhelming political corruption, city politicians often shrug and curtly concede: “That’s Chicago politics.” The city’s corruption is so native and unyielding that it just “is what it is,” has been and always will be. In Steve James’ five-part docuseries City So Real, a buoyant portrait of Chicago loosely wrapped around the 2019 mayoral election and the murder trial of Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, the city’s denizens justify an array of their problems with that same self-referential and self-enabling sentiment, “That’s just Chicago for you.” But the city’s 2019 mayoral election saw […]

The post "Hey Lori, Do You Mind If We Put a Mic on You Today?": Steve James on City So Real first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

When confronted by the press about Chicago’s overwhelming political corruption, city politicians often shrug and curtly concede: “That’s Chicago politics.” The city’s corruption is so native and unyielding that it just “is what it is,” has been and always will be. In Steve James’ five-part docuseries City So Real, a buoyant portrait of Chicago loosely wrapped around the 2019 mayoral election and the murder trial of Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, the city’s denizens justify an array of their problems with that same self-referential and self-enabling sentiment, “That’s just Chicago for you.” But the city’s 2019 mayoral election saw […]

The post "Hey Lori, Do You Mind If We Put a Mic on You Today?": Steve James on City So Real first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Critics at this year’s Sundance Film Festival were effusive in their praise for “City So Real.” Over four installments, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker Steve James (“Hoop Dreams”) chronicled a year in the life of his adopted home of Chicago that saw a heated race for mayor, as well as a highly controversial and publicized murder trial of a police officer who killed a black male teenager.

Indiewire’s Ben Travers called it an “utterly gripping” portrait of the third-biggest U.S. metropolis. “City So Real,” noted Travers, “encapsulates more than just a historical moment for Chicago. James isn’t telling the story of an American city, but the American city; Chicago’s problems are America’s problems, from our divisions to our strengths.” As he noted, “‘Significance’ is a word that gets tossed around a lot when discussing topical entertainment these days but ‘City So Real’ carries its weight effortlessly…...

Chicago – The 2018-19 mayoral campaign in Chicago was a historic moment for the city, as the first woman of color (Lori Lightfoot) was elected. Director Steve James, of the legendary “Hoop Dreams,” takes on the events leading up to this history and beyond, in “City So Real.”

The documentary is actually a five-part miniseries, which will make its debut on the NatGeo channel on Thursday, October 29th. The remarkable journey focuses on the candidates, but also on the divide in Chicago … between neighborhoods, black&white and socioeconomic classes. As the campaign wears on, in the background is the police killing of Laquan McDonald – a black teenager – and the subsequent backlash for the governmental and law enforcement authorities in the city. It’s all captured through the lens and perspective of Steve James, and his longtime producer Zak Piper.

‘City So Real,’ Directed by Steve James

Photo credit: NatGeo Channel

After...

Chicago is the subject of “City So Real,” a sweeping epic five-part documentary series by Oscar nominee Steve James premiering commercial free on NatGeo on Oct. 29.

Chicago is the third biggest city in the U.S. with its rich cultural diversity divided into 77 distinct neighborhoods including Bucktown, Pilsen, Lincoln Park, Goose Island, River West and South Loop. And its pizza is considered the best or one of the best in the country. But the Windy City has been marred by corruption for the years-its politics are often referred to as a “blood sport.” And the city has been gripped by so much gun violence that the it’s been labeled the “murder capital” of America.

The metropolis is at the crossroads when “City So Real” opens in the summer of 2018. Mayor Rahm Emanuel finds himself increasingly unpopular due his handling and perceived cover-up of the shocking killing of a young African American teenager,...

To mark the release of Hoop Dreams on 2nd November, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on Blu-ray.

For five years filmmakers Steve James, Frederick Marx, and Peter Gilbert followed William Gates and Arthur Agee, two inner-city Chicago teenagers, documenting their journey of fulfilling their dreams of making it to the NBA. Every day the boys travel 90 minutes each way from their city homes to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban school famed for its basketball programme. The resulting film, Hoop Dreams, chronicled Gates and Agee’s daily struggles with school, family, and community pressures as they attempt to reach their goal of professional basketball fame and glory. Breaking the barriers of a sports film, Hoop Dreams addressed issues of race, class, and privilege, and provided a rare insight into the industry of professional sport.

Please note: This competition is open to UK...

"A master work of precision and scope." National Geographic has unveiled an official trailer for a new docu series titled City So Real, which will be launching with a special commercial-free, uninterrupted five-hour screening event on TV next week. We're breaking our rules about posting trailers for series because this is the latest work by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Steve James. James, a Chicago native, profiles the city of Chicago starting from 2018 to 2020 in this five-episode doc series. The main description adds that it's "a fascinating and complex portrait of contemporary Chicago and delivers a deep, multifaceted look into the soul of a quintessentially American city, set against the backdrop of its history-making 2019 mayoral election." James' City So Real is a gritty and loving depiction of a city that is at once fiercely unique and a microcosm of the nation ⎯ and ...

"It begins with a game with a basket and a ball..." Dogwoof has released the original trailer for their new Blu-ray re-release of the classic, seminal documentary film Hoop Dreams made by the one-and-only doc filmmaker Steve James. The film originally premiered at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival, and remains one of the most iconic and groundbreaking films to come out of Sundance. Shot over five years, Hoop Dreams is a fascinating documentary film following the lives of two inner-city Chicago boys who struggle to become college basketball players on the road to going professional. It's about Arthur Agee and William Gates, and their families, following as the boys navigate the complex, competitive world of scholastic athletics. Roger Ebert praised the film, and wrote this in his review: "Hoop Dreams is not simply about basketball. It is about the texture and reality of daily existence in a big American city. And...

Chicago – One of the most influential documentary makers in film history is Chicagoan Steve James of Kartemquin Films. His lens has commented upon not only the seminal “Hoop Dreams” (1994), but “Stevie” (2002), “The Interrupters” (2011), the Roger Ebert bio doc “Life Itself” (2014) and the recent “America to Me.”

His latest, debuting at the 56th Chicago International Film Festival (and October 29th on the National Geographic Channel), is “City So Real,” a searing inside look at the 2018 Chicago mayoral campaign. One of the subjects of that doc was the young and dynamic outlier candidate Neal Sáles Griffin, who talked issues within the film with HollywoodChicago.com.

Bound to become a defining miniseries (in five parts) on the continuing mystery that is the City of Chicago, director Steve James and Chicago’s Kartemquin Films explores the 2018-19 mayoral campaign during the upheaval of Rahm Emanuel’s decision not to seek another term. Exploring the...

Chicago – One of the prime Chicago-centric documentaries at the 56th Chicago International Film Festival is “For Madmen Only: Stories of Del Close.” Del Close was a legendary instructor in the Chicago comedy improv scene, and director Heather Ross created this multi-layered doc of his comic force.

This is the feature documentary debut for Ms. Ross as director, after working as a producer and creator of short documentaries. This lifeline of Del Close starts with his childhood in Kansas (and the legends therein), through his initial work as a performer in New York City and Chicago, to his status as an iconic instructor in Chicago-style improv at both The Second City and Improv Olympics (iO). His first generation of students included John Belushi, Bill Murray and Gilda Radner, the second had Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Chris Farley, and subsequently it has been the continued instruction of his techniques that are...

Charles Yu’s latest novel “Interior Chinatown” is getting the TV treatment.

Hulu is developing a series based on the novel, with Yu in place to adapt his own work, Variety has learned exclusively. Sources describe the deal for the book, brokered by UTA, as highly competitive, with Participant and Dan Lin’s Rideback on board to produce.

“Interior Chinatown” follows the story of an Asian-American actor struggling against clichéd roles and stereotypes, both at work and in his personal life. It was published earlier this year by Pantheon Books, and has garnered Yu a place among the finalists for the National Book Award in the fiction category.

Alongside Yu, the project is being executive produced by Dan Lin, Lindsey Liberatore and Elsie Choi for Rideback, and Miura Kite for Participant.

Earlier this year, Yu made an appearance on “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” to discuss the book and...

Chicago – Just because the majority of the 56th Chicago International Film Festival (Ciff) will be virtual and online, doesn’t mean that there won’t be filmmaker and talent appearances. Highlights for appearances for the 56th Ciff include “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” Rachel Brosnahan (for “I’m Your Woman”), legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog (for “Fireball: Visions from Darker Worlds) and director Steve James of “Hoop Dreams” (for “City So Real”). Get the whole list by clicking here.

The 56th Chicago International Film Festival Celebrates Day Two of the just-launched movie extravaganza, with films available virtually and online. Click here for a complete how-to guide on navigating the 2020 Ciff.

Rachel Brosnahan will Appear at the 56th Ciff for ‘I’m Your Woman”

Photo credit: Amazon Prime Video

Events Of The Day: Industry Days (click here) are ongoing until October 18th. It is an opportunity to get an insiders view of the filmmaking industry,...

Director Steve James has cast his camera on different facets of America, lifting the veil onto lives that aren’t often given added nuance. His latest venture, the five-part documentary “City So Real,” looks to be his rawest and timeliest feature to date.

The documentary, airing on National Geographic, looks at the city of Chicago throughout 2019 and part of 2020 as the city deals with a contentious mayoral election, claims of corruption, and the deputy-involved shooting and death of Laquan McDonald.

The first trailer for “City So Real” will almost make you believe you’re watching tonight’s news, as images of protesters are shown. Mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot is one of many Black women running for government office in Chicago and we hear about the corruption that will eventually explode onto the national stage.

This footage comes just one day after the world, including numerous Black celebrities, voiced their disgust...

“Fast & Furious” director Justin Lin and his Perfect Storm Entertainment production company have signed a multi-year, overall film and TV deal with Universal Pictures and Universal Studio Group, the studio announced Thursday. The announcement was made by Peter Cramer, president, Universal Pictures and Pearlena Igbokwe, president, Universal Television.

Under the new deal on the film side, Lin and Perfect Storm will have a first-look production agreement with the studio, which kicks off with Lin and Pse’s next film, “F9,” the ninth film in the “Fast & Furious” series.

On the TV side, the deal will cover Lin and Perfect Storm’s television activities for both internal and external networks, including NBCUniversal’s Peacock. Lin previously directed episodes of the NBC series “Community,” which is available on Peacock.

Also Read: Buzzfeed Sets First-Look Scripted TV Deal With Universal Television

“Justin has been an integral part of the Universal family for 15 years,...

Exclusive: Participant has boarded Abacus, the drama that Justin Lin will direct based on a script by Kenneth Lin and James Schamus. Participant joins as financier, and producer alongside Lin’s Perfect Storm Entertainment. Lin is producing with Ernesto Foronda and Elizabeth Urwin for Perfect Storm. Also producing is Mark Mitten. Exec producing are Participant’s Jeff Skoll and Anikah McLaren, along with Steve James, who helmed the Oscar-nominated 2016 documentary on which the film is based.

Perfect Storm Entertainment acquired the rights to the James-directed docu Abacus: Small Enough to Jail in 2017, after the film had a breakout premiere at the 2016 Toronto Film Festival. James separately directed the docuseries America to Me and City So Real for Participant, so the fit is good here.

Abacus is inspired by the true-story of the Sung family, whose family-run bank was the only U.

National Geographic has acquired the docuseries City So Real directed by two-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Steve James and his longtime producing partner Zak Piper. The series paints a portrait of contemporary Chicago as it gives a multifaceted look into the soul the American city, set against the backdrop of its history-making 2019 mayoral election. The news was unveiled Monday morning by National Geographic Global Television Networks President Courteney Monroe during the network’s TCA press tour. The docuseries is slated to debut on the network later this fall.

City So Real comes from Participant and Kartemquin Films bowed at Sundance in January and initially included four one-hour episodes, but National Geographic will exclusively feature a timely fifth episode that follows the Covid-19 pandemic and social uprising following George Floyd’s death.

The docuseries starts in mid-summer 2018 when Mayor Rahm Emanuel was tangled in...

The gloves and training wheels come off as a group of smart, poignantly naive and utterly insufferable Texas boys get together to simulate government

It’s not clear to me if this is a heartwarming study in young people’s idealism or a Lord of the Flies bloodbath with smug feral demons in white T-shirts. It’s not clear if it’s funny or tragic, if it’s reality TV or reality itself. But Boys State is as exciting and moving as Steve James’s high school basketball epic Hoop Dreams was a generation ago, with its emotional rawness, its guileless patriotism and capacity for hurt and wonder. We watch, in what feels like real time, as a group of ambitious teenage boys – smart, poignantly naive, utterly insufferable – get brutally acquainted with Kipling’s two “impostors”: triumph and disaster.

It is the story of Boys State, a kind of...

That’s a title with a ton of exploitation promise, don’t you think? Now imagine being a ten year old movie freak that ingested anything remotely salacious or possibly brain-damaging into his system to increase his cinematic database. A match made in heaven? Probably not in the eyes of those who would shelter such fragile minds from the grotesque and lurid underbelly of commercial film, but a definite boon to the kid looking specifically for the grotesque and lurid. Well folks, the buck pretty much not only stops at The Exterminator (1980), it finds itself aflame as celluloid floats to the ground in messy tribute. The ash of this one spread everywhere.

And I know, it’s not horror; but to a ten year old, exploitation and horror is completely simpatico - violence, nudity, and degradation were not only on the menu, they were pretty much alone on the laminated list.

If you enjoyed the recent Atx from the Couch virtual festival, we have another you might find interesting.

SeriesFest: Season 6 has gone virtual, as well. The television festival is normally held in Denver, Colorado, but in light of the uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 virus, they're bringing it all online.

What's fun about this festival is it's for industry insiders and creatives first, so it offers a lot of content you don't normally get at festivals, such as executives and the state of the industry.

Here's the official scoop from the press release:

SeriesFest unveiled today the expansive programming line-up for SeriesFest: Season 6, the reimagined virtual festival experience dedicated to supporting the art of episodic storytelling.

Taking place June 18-24, the annual festival will ‘Fest / Differently’ with six days of must-stream events including competition screenings, engaging panel discussions, one-of-a-kind workshops, as well as never-before-seen sneak peeks and television premieres.

SeriesFest: Season...

Peabody Award-nominated and Television Academy Honors documentary 16 Shots and director Sacha Jenkins’s Burn Motherf*cker, Burn! are being offered for free viewing on multiple platforms by Showtime.

16 Shots examines the 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke and the cover-up that ensued. Burn Motherf*cker, Burn! explores the complicated relationship between the Los Angeles Police Department and the city’s Black and minority communities.

Showtime said it was making the documentaries available in an effort to provide resources and raise awareness around the ongoing struggle against systemic racism in America.

Both are now streaming on YouTube and Sho.com, and are available to Showtime subscribers on demand. The two films will also be available across multiple television and streaming providers’ devices, websites, applications and authenticated online services and their free On Demand channels.

16 Shots is a joint production from Midnight Productions, Topic Studios, Impact Partners and Chicago Media Project.

Chicago – Both the Music Box Theatre and the Gene Siskel Film Center have continued their at-home screenings, due to the physical theaters having to close during the pandemic quarantine. Below are the updates to their current offerings.

Music Box Theatre Presents Chicagoland Shorts Vol. 6, Alice, Deerskin, Straight Up, Lucky Grandma and Magnolia Pictures Documentaries

Chicagoland Shorts Vol 6

Photo credit: MusicBoxTheatre.com

The Music Box Theatre will get a percentage of the proceeds from any screening. Click site link below for details.

Scheduled: Now until the theater re-opens.

Description: Chicagoland Shorts Vol 6 is the annual Windy City overview of local short films works, presented by Full Spectrum Productions. See the Music Box website for a list of the films.

Alice Emilie Piponnier is the perfect wife and mother, living happily with her husband Francois and their son in an apartment in Paris. When her credit cards are declined one day while shopping,...

The absence of live sports during the novel coronavirus pandemic doesn’t mean a dearth of interesting sports narratives. There’s a whole ecosystem of documentaries telling tales from in and around the world of athletics that many sports fans have yet to discover.

The Last Dance, ESPN’s 10-part saga chronicling the final season of Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls championship dynasty, already has its hooks into hungry hoop heads. Den of Geek also recently offered choice selections from the meaty back catalog of docs available on ESPN+.

The 30 for 30 collection from ESPN is great and all, but the Worldwide Leader hasn’t cornered the market on brilliant non-fiction sports storytelling. Consider these 10 must-watch sports documentaries, all of which can be found either for free or included in streaming subscriptions, if you’re looking for more fascinating sports stories until the live action resumes.

Hoop Dreams

Streaming on HBO Now...

With the global premiere of National Geographic’s “Jane Goodall: The Hope” on Earth Day (April 22) and the April 19 premiere of the first two episodes of Michael Jordan series “Last Dance” — a ratings slam-dunk for ESPN — it’s deceptively easy to think all is right in the documentary world.

The coronavirus pandemic has created a huge, captive audience for documentaries à la “Tiger King,” while films are reaching millions of home-schooling students and connecting house-bound viewers to the outside world.

Meanwhile, broadcasters and streamers are moving up premiere dates and making select programming more widely (i.e. freely) available, while doc-championing independent U.S. distributors such as Magnolia, Kino Lorber, Oscilloscope Laboratories, Neon and Music Box have launched virtual cinemas as revenue-sharing partnerships that support local arthouse theaters.

The reality is that beyond the headlines for high-profile fare, the pandemic is exposing the fragility of the documentary ecosystem, where the...

2020 could be the year when we see statement buys from new platforms like HBO Max and possibly even Peacock.

With all eyes on the fate of embattled Aviron Pictures and the sound of yet more thundering streamers on the horizon, the Us independent sector could be forgiven for feeling the squeeze a little more than usual.

Sundance 2020 could be the year when we see statement buys from new platforms like HBO Max and possibly even Peacock, both of which go live in a matter of months. Apple could use a break after an underwhelming launch last November, the brouhaha over The Banker,...

2020 could be the year when we see statement buys from new platforms like HBO Max and possibly even Peacock.

With all eyes on the fate of embattled Aviron Pictures and the sound of yet more thundering streamers on the horizon, the Us independent sector could be forgiven for feeling the squeeze a little more than usual.

Sundance 2020 could be the year when we see statement buys from new platforms like HBO Max and possibly even Peacock, both of which go live in a matter of months. Apple could use a break after an underwhelming launch last November, the brouhaha over The Banker,...

Lineup and Pre-Festival Announcements and News

Sundance 2020 Announces Features Lineup: Films From Rees, Zeitlin, Plus Surprise Taylor Swift Doc

An Inconvenient Truth’ Director Davis Guggenheim Launches Concordia, a Documentary and Nonfiction Studio

Sundance 2020 Reveals New Frontier Slate, Including Films and Vr Experiences

Sundance 2020 Sets TV and Shorts Lineups with Sarah Polley, Steve James, and Lin-Manuel Miranda

Sundance Film Festival Announces Travel Stipend for Minority Journalists

Sundance 2020 Juries Include Ethan Hawke, Dee Rees, Nanfu Wang, Isabella Rossellini, and More

Pre-Festival Analysis

Sundance 2020: 20 Must-See Films and Series At This Year’s Festival, From ‘Zola’ to ‘Kajillionaire’

Sundance 2020: The Lgbtq Films We Can’t Wait to See in Park City

Sundance Wish List: 60 Films We Hope Will Head to Park City in 2020

Sundance 2020: 23 Films Poised to Break Out, With a Few Hidden Gems

Sundance 2020 Oscar Preview: Keep Your Eye on the Documentaries

Film and Television Reviews Interviews

Sundance 2020: How...

This year’s Sundance Film Festival is mere days from unspooling in snowy Park City, Utah and, with it comes a brand new year of indie filmmaking to get excited about. As ever, the annual festival is playing home to dozens of feature films, short offerings, and technologically-influenced experiences, and while there’s plenty to anticipate seeing, we’ve waded through the lineup to pick out the ones we’re most looking forward to checking out.

From returning filmmakers like Dee Rees, Sean Durkin, David France, Janicza Bravo, and Miranda July, to new-to-the-fest names like Radha Blank, Ekwa Msangi, and Florian Zeller, this year’s festival promises a bevy of big treats and perhaps even bigger surprises. Here’s what we can’t wait to see.

This year’s festival runs from January 23 – February 2 in Park City, Utah. Check out all of our coverage of the festival right here.

“Bloody Nose,...

Each January, the Cinema Eye Honors allow the documentary community to celebrate the non-fiction achievements of the previous year with more energy and authenticity than any of the season’s other, bigger awards shows. In many ways, the 14th edition — which took place at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens on Monday night — was a typical example, a loose production filled with jocular moments unique to the tight-knit non-fiction crowd. But it wasn’t devoid of somber moments.

The audience was filled with accomplished documentary filmmakers who cheered on their peers as they won in categories that ranged from cinematography to editing and graphic design, spreading the love for documentary achievements on virtually every level of the production process. As usual, the ceremony eschewed star power for presenters from the documentary world, including its host.

While the past five years have been hosted by “Hoop Dreams” director Steve James,...

Movies which centre their stories on competitive sports will always find an eager audience at the cinema. They are often filled with drama, heart-stopping action, and perfectly capture the ever swinging emotional pendulum of hope and fear.

And whether the sports are played in a high school gym or a stadium filled with thousands and millions more watching on at home, the conflict and fortitude necessary to win against the odds will always resonate with us. This is exactly what excites sports fans too, with the online sports betting community at an all-time high with NBA odds being constantly updated.

Here we celebrate the some inspirational Basketball movies.

Hoop Dreams

Few documentaries have captured the rawness of hope better than Steve James and Frederick Marx’s Hoop Dreams. Originally planned as a half hour PBS special on two African-American Chicago high schoolers as they chase their dreams of playing professional basketball,...

Ceremony set for January 19, 2020, in Los Angeles.

The Irishman, Bombshell and Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood lead the way for the 2020 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards nominations, announced on Wednesday (December 11), with four nods apiece, while Parasite became only the second foreign-language film to earn ensemble cast recognition.

Bombshell was a big winner on the day after being somewhat overlooked by awards groups until now. The film’s star Charlize Theron will vie for lead female actor honours with Renée Zellweger for Judy, Scarlett Johansson for Marriage Story, Lupita Nyong’o for Us, and Cynthia Erivo for Harriet.

The female...

Ceremony set for January 19, 2020, in Los Angeles.

The Irishman, Bombshell and Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood lead the way for the 2020 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards nominations, announced on Wednesday (December 11), with four nods apiece, while Parasite became only the second foreign-language film to earn ensemble cast recognition.

Charlize Theron (Bombshell) and Renée Zellweger (Judy) will vie for lead female actor honours with Scarlett Johansson for Marriage Story, Lupita Nyong’o for Us, and Cynthia Erivo for Harriet. The lead male nominees are frontrunners Joaquin Phoenix for Joker, Adam Driver for Marriage Story, and Leonardo DiCaprio for Once Upon A Time…...

Sundance has unveiled titles for the Indie Episodic, Shorts, and Special Events sections of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, which runs from January 23-February 2 in Park City. Highlights include world premieres of documentaries on Hillary Clinton and Lance Armstrong in the Special Events lineup.

Among the projects chosen out of the 10,397 submissions, 48% were directed or created by one or more women, 33% were directed or created by one or more filmmaker of color, and 19% by one or more people who identify as Lgbtqia.

The 74 short films, which hail from 27 countries and were chosen from 10,397 submissions, will screen during the fest, while select festival shorts will be presented as a traveling program internationally and year-round.

Here are the lineups:

Indie Episodic

A dedicated showcase for emerging creators of independently produced episodic content for broadcast, web, and streaming platforms.

Awkward Family Photos / USA — A hilarious, odd, and heartfelt exploration of the imperfect family experience. The families behind some of the most viral photos from the archives of AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com tell their unique stories and reunite to recreate their original photos, forcing them to reconcile their past and celebrate their awkwardness. World Premiere

Chemo Brain / Denmark — When Oliver is diagnosed with testicular cancer, his life is turned upside down. This lighthearted drama-series depicts the derailment of a young man that is doing everything he can to not lose his friends, his girlfriend, himself, and ultimately his life. Cast: Adam Ild Rohweder, Karoline Brygmann, Jens Jørn Spottag, Mads Reuther, Stephanie Nguyen, Mathilde Passer. International Premiere

City So Real / USA (Director: Steve James) — An impressionistic mosaic portrait of current-day Chicago which delivers a deep, multifaceted look into the soul of America’s third-largest city, set against the backdrop of its history-making 2019 mayoral campaign. World Premiere

Embrace / USA — Against the backdrop of Oakland California, Iranian-American medical student Kat tries to save her Iranian family by taking on a surprising side hustle. The show is a culturally diverse, quasi-surrealist dramedy that captures the ever-increasing need for human connection and the subsequent commodification of it. Cast: Kathreen Khavari, Eddie Huang, Mitra Jouhari. World Premiere

Hey Lady! / Canada — A fearlessly off-the-charts rampage of urban vengeance as senior-citizen Lady, along with her friend Rosie, upturns everything in her path–social norms, rules of etiquette, and even the series itself. Cast: Jayne Eastwood, Jackie Richardson. World Premiere

Laetitia / France — Eighteen-year-old Laetitia has disappeared. Police quickly arrest Tony Meilhon but investigators still can’t find the body. This story follows the repercussions for Laetitia’s family and twin sister Jessica; the police force inner workings and social services; the judicial system and government itself. Based on real events. Cast: Marie Colomb, Sophie Breyer, Yannick Choirat, Sam Karmann, Kevin Azïas, Noam Morgensztern. International Premiere

The Ride / USA — Wayne, a 40-year-old ride share driver and spiritual coach, recently moved back in with his mom and discovers the only thing that gives his life meaning is to help his passengers let go of their negative thoughts, whether they want his help or not. Cast: Linas Phillips, Maria Thayer, Alex Karpovsky, Punkie Johnson, Joslyn Jensen, Timm Sharp. World Premiere

Untitled Pizza Movie / USA (Director and screenwriter: David Shapiro) — How do you remember somebody in a disposable world? Weaving an abandoned film about pizza (NYC in the early 90s), a stunning, physical archive (thousands of objects) with a remarkable triple portrait, this series traces three lives over thirty years, three continents, and the faultlines of class, dreams, and memory. World Premiere

Special Events

One-of-a-kind moments highlighting new independent works that add to the unique Festival experience.

Hillary / USA (Director and screenwriter: Nanette Burstein) — A portrait of a public woman, interweaving moments from never-before-seen 2016 campaign footage with biographical chapters of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s life. Featuring exclusive interviews with Hillary herself, Bill Clinton, friends, and journalists, an examination of how she became simultaneously one of the most admired and vilified women in the world. World Premiere

Lance / USA — This deeply personal examination of one of the world’s most controversial figures examines a man who’s both winner and loser, saint and sinner. With unprecedented access to Lance’s world, this psychological portrait is a powerful study of that 21st century phenomenon: the celebrity who falls spectacularly and publicly from grace. World Premiere

Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on the Exorcist / USA, Spain — A lyrical and spiritual cinematic essay on The Exorcist, and an exploration of the uncharted depths of William Friedkin’s mind’s eye, the nuances of his filmmaking process, and the mysteries of faith and fate that have shaped his life and filmography. Cast: William Friedkin. North American Premiere

Love Fraud / USA — Bigamy. Identity theft. Fraud. For the last 20 years Richard Scott Smith has used the internet and his dubious charms to prey upon unsuspecting women in search of love–conning them out of their money and dignity. But now his victims ban together and seek sweet revenge. World Premiere

Max Richter’s Sleep / UK (Director and screenwriter: Natalie Johns) — Following the composer as he navigates an ambitious performance of his acclaimed 8-hour opus. Centring around an open-air concert in Los Angeles, alongside footage from Berlin, Sydney and Paris, we are plunged deep into the life and process of both the artist and his creative partner Yulia Mahr. North American Premiere

McMillions / USA — McMillions is the definitive, real-life account of the McDonald’s Monopoly game scam, which defrauded the American public throughout the 1990s, as told by the “prize winners,” criminals, government officials, and FBI agents, whom eventually took the crime ring down. World Premiere

Siempre, Luis / USA — Follow one single-minded immigrant’s improbable journey from Puerto Rico to the halls of power. Witness Luis Miranda’s unflappable idealism as he battles his health, mobilizes the mainland Latinx community, matches wits with his youngest child applying to college and brings Hamilton to his island home, all in twelve months. Cast: Luis Miranda, Lin-Manuel Miranda. World Premiere

The Trade / USA — A deeply personal and intimate portrait of human smuggling, sex trafficking, and the struggle to survive the migrant cycle between Central America and the United States. World Premiere

We Are Freestyle Love Supreme / USA — Follow the 15-year journey of the founding members of the improv hip-hop group Freestyle Love Supreme, as they reflect upon why this show remains such an important piece of their personal, creative, and professional history–from the basement of the Drama Bookshop in NYC to the Broadway stage. Cast: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail, Anthony Veneziale, Christopher Jackson, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Chris Sullivan. World Premiere

U.S. Narrative Short Films

Arabian Alien / Saudi Arabia, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Meshal Aljaser) — Saad, a Muslim married man, gets over his depression after a space Alien is introduced into his life. World Premiere

Baldwin Beauty / USA (Director and screenwriter: Thembi Banks) — Farrah, new to La, goes on the mobile styling app Get Glam, to find new clients. When she arrives at an appointment, she finds a house of girls pre-gaming for a party and maybe a new crew of friends.

Blocks / USA (Director and screenwriter: Bridget Moloney) — An existential comedy about the mother of two young children who begins to spontaneously vomit plastic toy blocks. World Premiere. Day One

Buck / USA — Caught in the throes of a depressive fugue, young Lynn resorts to debauchery to find joy — only to discover that happiness is a much more complicated proposition. World Premiere

Danny’s Girl / USA (Director and screenwriter: Emily Wilson) — Danny meets his online girlfriend for the first time, but accidentally discovers her unspeakable possession, which throws their first night together into a dizzying tailspin. World Premiere

Dirty / USA (Director and screenwriter: Matthew Puccini) — Marco cuts class to spend the afternoon with his boyfriend, Graham. Things do not go as planned. World Premiere

He’s the One / USA (Director and screenwriter: Jessie Kahnweiler) — A girl meets guy and falls head over heels, but a shocking discovery forces her to question everything. A dark comedy about falling in love with the one person you’re supposed to hate. World Premiere

How Did We Get Here? / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Michelle Miles) — A visual exploration of progressive atrophy. A study in how microscopic changes can go unnoticed, but amass over time. Even as these changes become drastic, we sometimes fail to realize anything has happened at all. World Premiere

Lance (in a Neck Brace) / USA (Director and screenwriter: Chloé Aktas) — After a devastating breakup, Lance listens to instructional cassette tapes on how to heal his broken heart. World Premiere. Day One

Little Chief / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Erica Tremblay) — The lives of a Native woman and a troubled young boy intersect over the course of a school day on a reservation in Oklahoma. World Premiere

Meats / USA (Director and screenwriter: Ashley Williams) — A pregnant vegan struggles with her newfound craving for meat. World Premiere

Meridian / USA, Italy (Director and screenwriter: Calum Walter) — Footage transmitted by the last unit in a fleet of autonomous machines is sent to deliver an emergency vaccine. The film follows the machine before its disappearance, tracing a path that seems to stray further and further from its objective.

Pillars / USA (Director and screenwriter: Haley Elizabeth Anderson) — After seeing a boy she likes before church, Amber sneaks out to the Sunday school bathroom during the service and is given her first kiss. World Premiere

Place / USA (Director and screenwriter: Jason Gudasz) — Wanting a fresh start, Lauren moves into a house with her daughter and new boyfriend–but the spirits of the house have plans to turn them all against each other in very bizarre ways.

Ship: A Visual Poem / USA (Director and screenwriter: Terrance Daye) — A black boy learns contradicting lessons of manhood and masculinity on the day of his cousin’s funeral.

T / USA (Director and screenwriter: Keisha Rae Witherspoon) — A film crew follows three grieving participants of Miami’s annual T Ball, where folks assemble to model R.I.P. t-shirts and innovative costumes designed in honor of their dead.

Three Deaths / USA (Director and screenwriter: Jay Dockendorf) — Three strangers confront death in a modern interpretation of a Tolstoy short story. World Premiere

Valerio’s Day Out / Colombia, USA (Director and screenwriter: Michael Arcos) — A young jaguar goes on a killing spree when he escapes from his enclosure at a zoo. After he’s captured, sedated and relocated, he makes a video diary for his significant other, Lula.

International Narrative Short Films

Are You Hungry? / Finland — A single mother struggles to connect with her adopted teenage son, whom she believes is gay. U.S. Premiere. Day One

Backpedal / Australia (Director and screenwriter: Dani Pearce) — A collage of an American poem, exploring the universality of womanhood.

Bad Hair / Estonia (Director and screenwriter: Oskar Lehemaa) — Insecure and balding Leo has decided to try a mysterious hair growth liquid to fix up his looks. The liquid causes a series of grotesque metamorphoses, as Leo tries to get his bodily changes under control, the evening quickly turn into chaos.

Benevolent Ba / Malaysia, USA (Director and screenwriter: Diffan Sina Norman) — A devout woman’s lust for virtue thrusts her family into a sacrificial slaughter of biblical proportions. World Premiere

The Devil’s Harmony / UK — A bullied teenage girl leads an a cappella club on a trail of destruction against her high school enemies.

Exam / Iran — A teenage girl gets involved in the process of delivering a pack of cocaine to its client, and gets stuck in a weird cycle of occurrences. Day One

Former Cult Member Hears Music For The First Time / Norway, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Kristoffer Borgli) — After a woman escapes the captivity of her abusive family, a magazine invites her to a journalistic experiment: to hear music for the first time. World Premiere

I’ll End Up in Jail / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Alexandre Dostie) — A stay-at-home mom gets into a murderous car crash where nobody wants to take the blame. U.S. Premiere

Leave of Absence / Russia (Director and Screenwriter: Anton Sazonov) — In Russia, supressed masculinity has led to a feeling of unfulfillment as men feel that the country rejects them, leading to a drastic decline in male life expectancy. North American Premiere. Day One

No One is Crazy in This Town / Indonesia ) — The owner of a big hotel orders Marwan and his team to remove mentally ill people from the city streets and cast them away in the forests. North American Premiere

Olla / France, United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Ariane Labed) — Olla has answered an ad on a dating website for Eastern European women. She moves in with Pierre, who lives with his old mother, but nothing goes as expected.

Paola Makes A Wish / Switzerland (Director and screenwriter: Zhannat Alshanova) — On an ordinary day at work, Paola starts to feel that she is missing out something exciting in her life. U.S. Premiere

Pattaki / Cuba — In the dense night, when the moon rises, those who live in a monotonous daily life without water are hypnotized by the powers of Yemaya, the goddess of the sea. U.S. Premiere

Regret / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Santiago Menghini) — Following the death of his father, a man must survive the manifestations of his inner demons over the course of a dreary night. World Premiere

Sadla / South Africa (Director and screenwriter: Zamo Mkhwanazi) — While going on a simple errand, Nathi’s journey is marked by disturbing interactions with authority. But is he an innocent victim? U.S. Premiere. Day One

So What If The Goats Die / France, Morocco (Director and screenwriter: Sofia Alaoui) — Abdellah, a young shepherd living in the mountains, is forced to brave the snow blocking him in order to get food and save his cattle. Once he gets to the village, he faces a supernatural phenomenon. World Premiere

Song of Clouds / Nepal (Director and screenwriter: Ankit Poudel) — A haunting visual fever dream, and a meditation on the afterlife; the journey to the next world, and what gets left behind among the living. World Premiere

Sticker / Macedonia (Director and screenwriter: Georgi M. Unkovski) — After an unsuccessful attempt to renew his car registration, Dejan falls in a bureaucratic trap that tests his determination to be a responsible father. North American Premiere

A Thousand Sails / Hong Kong (Director and screenwriter: Hing Weng Eric Tsang) — Ren promises to keep a secret for her neighbor’s son–a secret she can share with no one on the island. Her only refuge from sleepless nights is her deceased husband. International Premiere

Documentary Short Films

Abortion Helpline, This Is Lisa / U.S.A. — At a Philadelphia abortion helpline, counselors answer nonstop calls from women who seek to end a pregnancy but can’t afford to. In this documentary we learn how economic stigma and cruel legislation determine who has access to abortion.

All That Perishes at the Edge of Land / Pakistan — A ship berthed at Gadani and the shipbreakers coming from all over Pakistan to break it discover that they might have more in common than otherwise imagined when they enter into a conversation.

Bereka / U.S.A., Ethiopia (Director and screenwriter: Nesanet Teshager Abegaze) — A family history archive as told by matriarch Azalu Mekonnen and her granddaughter Samira Hooks. Shot on Super 8 film in Los Angeles and Gondar, Ethiopia, capturing the Ethiopian coffee ceremony and explores migration, memory and rebirth.

Betye Saar: Taking Care of Business / USA (Director: Christine Turner) — At age 93, there’s no stopping the legendary artist Betye Saar. World Premiere

Broken Orchestra / Canada, USA (Director: Charlie Tyrell) — The Symphony for a Broken Orchestra project collected hundreds of broken instruments from the Philadelphia public school system, fixed them and then returned them into the hands of students.

Character / USA (Director: Vera Brunner-Sung) — Actor Mark Metcalf made his reputation in Hollywood playing aggrieved authority figures. Now in his 70s, he takes a look back on his career in this meditation on power, privilege, and the perils of being a “type.” World Premiere

Church and the Fourth Estate / USA (Director: Brian Knappenberger) — A reporter uncovers a file that reveals a shocking series of child abuse allegations in Idaho’s Boy Scouts, which rattle the community and implicate the Mormon church. The story reveals long-running crimes that threaten to bankrupt the Boy Scouts. World Premiere

The Deepest Hole / USA (Director: Matt McCormick) — While the space and arms races are Cold War common knowledge, few know about the United States and Soviet Union’s race to dig the deepest hole. This is particularly surprising since Hell may have been inadvertently discovered in the process. World Premiere

Día de la Madre / USA — A band of juveniles embark on a 24-hour spree of breaking into houses and causing a ruckus. World Premiere

Do Not Split / USA, Norway (Director: Anders Hammer) — The story of the 2019 Hong Kong protests, told

through a series of demonstrations by local protestors that escalate into conflict when highly armed police appear

on the scene. World Premiere

E-Ticket / Hong Kong, U.S.A. (Director: Simon Liu) — A frantic (re)cataloguing of a personal archive and 16,000

splices in the making. 35mm frames are obsessively rearranged in evolving-disorienting patterns, as a Dante’s

Inferno for the streaming age emerges, illustrating freedom of movement for the modern cloud.

Guisado on Sunset / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Terence Nance) — Missed connection regret at that one

late-night spot–the kind you keep playing back in your head but not quite ever remembering right, until it starts to

look like something else. International Premiere

John Was Trying to Contact Aliens / U.S.A. (Director: Matthew Killip) — John

Shepherd spent 30 years trying to contact extraterrestrials by broadcasting music

millions of miles into space. After giving up the search he makes a different

connection here on earth. World Premiere. Day One

Junior Bangers / United Kingdom (Director: Danny Lee) — In England, banger

racing isn’t just a sport, but a way of life. Join 11-year-olds Finn and Harley on a cold

winter race day in Birmingham. North American Premiere

Lichen / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Lisa Jackson) — An otherworldly deep dive into the hidden beauty of

lichens, asking what we might learn from them. Ancient and diverse, thriving in adversity, confounding scientists

to this day, lichen is a model of emergence. International Premiere

A Love Song for Latasha / U.S.A. (Director: Sophia Nahli Allison) — A dreamlike archive in conversation with

the past and the present to reimagine a more nuanced narrative of Latasha Harlins by excavating intimate and

poetic memories shared by her cousin and best friend.

Narcissister Breast Work / U.S.A. (Director: Narcissister) — Focusing on the exercise by women of their right to

bare their breasts in public, this film is an investigation into how prohibitions on female toplessness are grounded

in fear of, and desire to control, the female body. World Premiere

Now Is the Time / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Christopher Auchter) — On the 50th anniversary of the

first new totem pole raising on British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii in almost a century, we revisit the day that would

signal the rebirth of the Haida spirit.

See You Next Time / U.S.A. (Director: Crystal Kayiza) — A window into the intimate moments shared across a

nail salon table between a Chinese nail artist and her black client in Brooklyn, NY.

The Starr Sisters / U.S.A. — Patte and Randa Starr are fun specialists.

After overcoming a dark past, these sisters are inseparable. Now in their 70s, they do exactly as they please and

their candy drawer is always fully stocked.

While I’m Still Breathing (Tandis Que Je Respire Encore) / France — The blurred portrayal of a young woman as she moves

through three steps of her sexuality. North American Premiere

Animated Short Films

Daughter / Czech Republic (Director and screenwriter: Daria Kashcheeva) — Should you hide your pain, close

yourself inside your inner world, and long for your father’s love? Or should you understand and forgive before it’s

too late?

Daytime Noir / U.S.A. — A

mother and son’s journey through the exploitative world of tabloid TV. World Premiere

eadem cutis: the same skin / Germany (Director: Nina Hopf) — “I just want to be seen as who I am today!” John

shares his thoughts on identity, body and gender and gives a very personal insight into his life–and an intimate

proximity to his body. North American Premiere

Eli / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Nate Milton) — A true story from the realms of high strangeness, magical

thinking, and manic delusion.

Farce / Norway (Director and screenwriter: Robin Jensen) — A man, a woman and a meat grinder. Love is messy.

Hot Flash / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Thea Hollatz) — Ace is having a hot flash, and she’s about to go live on local television. How one woman tries to keep her cool when one type of flash leads to another. International Premiere

Hudson Geese / USA (Director and screenwriter: Bernardo Britto) — A goose remembers his last migration. World Premiere. Day One

Inès / France and Switzerland (Director and screenwriter: Élodie Dermange) — Inès is facing a difficult choice. Tonight, she thinks about the decision she will make. North American Premiere

My Juke-Box / France (Director and screenwriter: Florentine Grelier) — Yesterday, I overheard an old rock ‘n’ roll song that sounded familiar. This is probably the music that we used to listen to on my dad’s mechanical devices–the thousand lives man, the king of the jukebox. International Premiere

No, I Don’t Want to Dance! / UK (Director and screenwriter: Andrea Vinciguerra) — In these dark times, you may think that every hazard has been identified, but nobody has taken into consideration how dangerous dance can be…

Sh_t Happens / Czech Republic, Slovakia, France — The caretaker exhausted by everything, his frustrated wife, and one totally depressed deer. Their mutual despair leads them to absurd events, because… shit happens all the time. U.S. Premiere

The Shawl / USA (Director: Sara Kiener) After years of long distance, a pair of big and beautiful boyfriends celebrate their reunion at a Stevie Nicks concert, where they share a brush with magic. World Premiere

Slug Life / United Kingdom (Director and Screenwriter: Sophie Koko Gate) — A day in the life of Tanya, a curious woman who has developed a taste for non human lovers. Her next creation: a giant slug. Can such a perfect creature survive in this gnarly world full of freaks and beefs?.

Takoyaki Story / Japan (Director and screenwriter: Sawako Kabuki) — Always attracted to takoyaki–octopus balls, a famous Japanese street food–a girl tries them for the first time and becomes addicted.

Wong Ping’s Fables 2 / Hong Kong (Director and Screenwriter: Ping Wong) — Wong Ping urinates twice before gently pressing your head down with his right foot, giving you a closer look at your own reflection in his urine.

Wood Child and Hidden Forest Mother / UK (Director and screenwriter: Stephen Irwin) — Deep in the forest, a hunter encounters a strange creature he cannot kill. World Premiere...

The Sundance Institute has announced the works selected across the Indie Episodic, Shorts and Special Events sections for the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, which will include documentaries on Hillary Clinton and Lance Armstrong, and two Lin-Manuel Miranda films.

“Authenticity and independent voices resonate across formats – and that’s evident across the full spectrum of this year’s Indie Episodic and Special Events slates,” Kim Yutani, the Festival’s Director or Programming, said. “Defined by distinctive voices and enlightening viewpoints, these are riveting projects that find inspiration in the urgent stories and extraordinary individuals of our times.”

Of the projects announced on Tuesday, 48% were directed or created by one or more women, 33% were directed or created by one or more filmmakers of color and 19% by one or more people who identify as Lgbtqia. Seven films were supported by Sundance Institute in development.

Also Read: Taylor Swift, Viggo Mortensen and Tessa Thompson Lead...

Park City is with her — or will be, when an under-wraps documentary series about Hillary Clinton debuts at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

“Hillary,” directed by Nanette Burstein, is one of several projects going up in Sundance’s special events program, announced Tuesday by the festival in step with its short film and indie episodic lineups.

The four-part series, produced by Hulu, is described as “a portrait of a public woman, interweaving moments from never-before-seen 2016 campaign footage with biographical chapters of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s life.” The project will feature interviews with Clinton herself, husband Bill Clinton, close friends and journalists, and represent “an examination of how she became simultaneously one of the most admired and vilified women in the world.” It premieres March 6 on Hulu.

It’s unclear if Clinton will appear at the festival in support of the project. This summer, reports said she and daughter Chelsea Clinton...

New Frontier selections to be announced on Thursday (12).

Sundance Film Festival top brass announced on Tuesday (10) content in the Indie Episodic, Shorts and Special Events sections featuring new work by Marina Zenovich, Steve James, and Matthew Heineman.

James (City So Real) and Sarah Polley (Hey Lady!) are among the Indie Episodics line-up, while Special Events selections include Zenovich’s (Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired) Lance Armstrong profile Lance, Matthew Heineman’s sex trafficking exposé Trade, and Love Fraud, the latest film from Jesus Camp and The Boys Of Baraka filmmaking team Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing.

All selections appear below.

The annual Palm Springs International Film Festival in California is always an opportunity to catch up on many of the contenders for the Best International Feature — née Best Foreign-Language — Film Academy Award. Now in its 31st edition, the festival this year has 51 of them, from favorite-to-beat “Parasite” from South Korea and Senegal’s “Atlantics,” to other films quietly making strides in the race: Czech Republic’s “The Painted Bird,” Sweden’s “And Then We Danced,” Russia’s “Beanpole,” Romania’s “The Whistlers,” North Macedonia’s documentary contender “Honeyland,” Norway’s “Out Stealing Horses,” and many more.

The festival will screen 188 films from 81 countries, including 51 premieres, from January 2-13, 2020. The Awards Buzz section includes a special jury of international film critics, who will review these films to present the Fipresci Award for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year, as well as Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay in this category.

This heartfelt and affecting film follows two teenagers chasing scholarships that hold out the chance of a brighter future

Twenty-five years ago, documentary-maker Steve James had a sensational success with his engrossing and moving film Hoop Dreams, now on rerelease in the UK. It was his epic three-hour study of two African American boys from tough neighbourhoods in Chicago: Arthur Agee and William Gates, whose heartbreakingly open, intelligent, trusting and hopeful faces beamed out from the screen. James boiled down 250 hours of footage shot over five years, showing them growing up from 14 to 19 years old; both basketball-mad, both hoping for basketball scholarships to college and to a dimly perceived better life after that, maybe even being actual super-rich-and-famous basketball stars in the NBA.

Hoop Dreams received the kind of passionate response that Michael Apted had got for his Seven Up! documentary TV series or that Richard Linklater would later get...

Executive joined company in 2005.

Diane Weyermann has been promoted to chief content officer at Participant Media as the company restructures its top tier following the departure of former president of narrative film and television Jonathan King.

In the newly created position, Weyermann, who joined in 2005 and previously served as president of documentary film and television, will develop Participant’s slate of film and television in close partnership with CEO David Linde.

She will continue to focus on documentary film and television, alongside department senior vice-presidents Elise Pearlstein (film) and Miura Kite (TV), while collaborating with Linde and the company’s...

Diane Weyermann, a 14-year veteran at Participant Media, has been promoted to the role of chief content officer, the company’s CEO David Linde announced Thursday at the kickoff of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Weyermann, who previously oversaw Participant’s documentary film and television slate, including executive producing films such as “An Inconvenient Truth” and “Citizenfour,” will work closely with Linde in shaping Participant’s film and TV content in the newly created position.

Weyermann will continue to focus on documentary film and television, alongside department senior vice presidents, Elise Pearlstein (film) and Miura Kite (TV), while collaborating with Linde and the company’s newly announced heads of narrative film, Robert Kessel and Anikah McLaren, on future narrative content.

Also Read: Participant Media's Jonathan King Will Step Down to Segue Into Independent Production

The news comes as part of a restructuring after the departure of Jonathan King, the company...

Participant Media said Thursday that it has promoted Diane Weyermann to Chief Content Officer, a newly created position. The veteran, who has been at the company since 2005, a year after its launch, had been President of Documentary Film and Television.

In the new role, Weyermann will continue to focus on documentary film and TV while collaborating with Linde and the company’s new heads of narrative film Robert Kessel and Anikah McLaren on future content. Kessel and McLaren’s roles were solidified last month in part of a creative department revamp following the departure of Jonathan King, who had been President of Narrative Film and Television.

“Diane has uniquely helped fulfill Participant’s mission over the last 15 years,” Participant founder and chairman Jeff Skoll said. “The only thing that surpasses Diane’s unassailable integrity is her extraordinary judgement on stories that matter. Her creative partnership, her unparalleled work ethic, her mentorship of others,...

After seeing critical success with docuseries like “America to Me” and “Warriors of Liberty City,” Starz is continuing its prestige documentary push with “Leavenworth.” Produced by Steven Soderbergh, alongside Paul Pawlowski and David Check, the upcoming five-hour doc tells a controversial true-crime story that plays out in the military justice system.

You can check out the trailer below, but here’s the official synopsis from Starz:

“Leavenworth” is centered on Clint Lorance, who’s serving a 19-year sentence for murder at The United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth. While deployed in Afghanistan in July 2012, the former lieutenant ordered fire on three local men riding a motorcycle, killing two of them and outraging his platoon. In a first-hand account of a soldier navigating the U.S. Army’s legal system, Lorance seeks to overturn his conviction, provoking emotional debate between supporters and detractors that rises to the national stage. As determinations on Lorance’s fate unfold,...