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Der vielfach ausgezeichnete Journalist ist neuer Chief Communications Officer der National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO).

Andrew Stewart, neuer Chief Communications Officer bei der National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) (Credit: Jonny B. Wooten)

Die National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) hat Andrew Stewart zum neuen Chief Communication Officer ernannt. Das gab der Kinobetreiberverband jetzt bekannt.

Der mehrfach mit dem Southern California Journalism Award ausgezeichnete Journalist war zuletzt für 42West, einer der führenden Entertainment-pr-Agenturen, tätig, wo er die Abteilung strategische Kommunikation leitete.

Zuvor arbeitete er in der Kommunikationsabteilung von Participant an Kampagnen von Kinofilmen wie „Wunder“, „The Post“, „Rbg – Ein Leben für die Gerechtigkeit“ und Oscargewinner „Green Book – Eine besondere Freundschaft“ sowie bei Imax an Kampagnen zu Kinofilmen wie „Star Wars: Das Erwachen der Macht“, „Jurassic World“ und dem „Fast & Furious“-Franchise.

„Für mich ist das Erzählen von Geschichten das Herzstück der Kommunikation, und daher ist die Gelegenheit,...

The National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) has hired 42West VP Andrew Stewart as its chief communications officer.

Stewart will oversee comms efforts for all of NATO’s major campaigns, including its annual trade show CinemaCon and promoting the efforts by major theater chains to update their auditoriums with $2.2 billion in combined investment. He will report to president and CEO Michael O’Leary.

“We were so impressed with Andrew’s drive and strategic know-how in navigating

today’s ever-evolving media landscape,” O’Leary said. “Andrew will be invaluable to ensuring that exhibition is a part of the on-going conversation about the future of filmed entertainment. Not to mention, it’s clear he has a deep passion for going to the theatre, with a desire to see the business of moviegoing not only succeed, but innovate and grow.”

“For me, storytelling is at the heart of communications, so the opportunity to join...

The National Association of Theatre Owners has named PR veteran and former Variety journalist Andrew Stewart as Chief Communications Officer.

In the role, Stewart will lead all efforts for the exhibitor trade organization’s communications and media-relations strategy. He’ll be based out of the Los Angles office and report directly to NATO president and CEO Michael O’Leary.

Stewart plans to spearhead a comprehensive and aggressive communications strategy to raise awareness of exhibition’s vital role in the entertainment industry’s success and help map its innovative future, such as promoting the results of exhibition’s recent $2.2 billion commitment to modernize and upgrade theatres of all sizes over the next three years. An immediate priority for Stewart will involve NATO’s annual exhibitor-major studio spring summit, CinemaCon, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. He will also work in close partnership with the Cinema Foundation on efforts to promote moviegoing.

Stewart comes to NATO from 42West,...

The Library of Congress, the Better Angels Society, Ken Burns and the Crimson Lion/Lavine Family Foundation have unveiled six finalists for the sixth annual Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film. The $200,000 cash award, established in 2019, recognizes late-stage documentaries that use original research and a compelling narrative to tell stories that bring American history to life through archival materials.

The six projects that were selected are: James Sorrels’s “Area 2,” John Benitz’s “Behind the Lines,” Julia Greenberg and Dianna Dilworth’s “Dory Previn: On My Way to Where,” Norah Shapiro’s “Magic & Monsters,” Asaf Galay’s “Out of the Inkwell: The Greatest Story Never Told,” and Marlene McCurtis’ “Wednesdays in Mississippi.”

This year close to 100 American history documentary features were submitted for consideration.

“It’s hard what we are doing,” Burns says of documentary filmmaking. “It’s really hard. In documentary, there are so many more really good filmmakers,...

“Thelma” (Magnolia), an unlikely action-comedy starring June Squibb as a nonagenarian grandmother who becomes a phone scam victim, has grossed about $7.3 million through its third week. Though not a blockbuster by summer standards, in the specialized world, and particularly outside awards season, “Thelma” is a blockbuster, headed for between $9-10 million domestic, theatrically. And at a time of challenge for this sector. How it got there suggests some lessons for distributors.

Something clicked here. “Thelma” debuted last January at Sundance with immediate acquisition interest, selling to Magnolia, which isn’t normally known for mid-wide-level releases.

By all indications, the plan has worked. “Thelma” is already Magnolia’s highest-grossing narrative feature in the company’s 23-year history. Adjusted, “Woman Thou Art Loosed” and “The World’s Fastest Indian” ended up slightly bigger, but both were around 20 years ago.

What happened was by design. Magnolia releases a lot of films, usually of a...

Monday Am: A tornado watch across New England, plus a massive heat wave across the U.S., drove moviegoers into air-conditioned cinemas Sunday as Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2 came in higher with a second weekend of $101M after a $32M Sunday per early Am estimates. Still a record second weekend for an animated movie beating Super Mario Bros Movie, and still the seventh best weekend ever, and +9% higher than Barbie‘s second weekend of $93M.

The second weekend hold for Inside Out 2 at an amazing -35% was better than Super Mario Bros Movie (-36%), Force Awakens (-40%), Avengers: Endgame (-59%), right around Frozen 2‘s, and Incredibles 2 (-56%). It’s clear that the movie about a young teen’s emotions is in its own world when it comes to box office trajectory, beating all comps. The third weekend of...

“I think it’s time to make movies relevant,” said Ali Abbasi to the cheering crowd at the May 20 Cannes premiere of his Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice. “It’s time to make movies political again.”

Hollywood doesn’t seem to be listening. Despite the enthusiastic response to The Apprentice internationally — the film, starring Sebastian Stan as Trump and Succession’s Jeremy Strong as his master-of-the-dark-arts political mentor Roy Cohn, has been sold in nearly every territory — the movie is still struggling to land a U.S. distributor. That’s despite, as Abbasi calls it, this fall’s “promotional event, the U.S. election,” that would seem to provide an ideal launchpad, and plenty of free publicity, for any domestic distributor.

A U.S. deal for The Apprentice is complicated by the fact that Kinematics, the company backed by pro-Trump billionaire Dan Snyder, put up equity for the film against...

As Neil Young once sang, the now shuttered Participant is gone, but not forgotten.

Some of Tinseltown’s leading talents like Regina King, George Clooney, Ava DuVernay, Daniel Dae Kim, Martin Sheen, Regina King, Alfonso Cuaron, Matt Damon, Diego Luna and more have joined up with the National Domestic Workers Alliance to express “gratitude and pride” in the work put out by the Jeff Skoll-created shingle over the last two decades. At the same time, the A-Listers are imploring the ever increasingly conglomerated industry to keep their eyes on the social impact prize.

“As we say goodbye to Participant, we must underscore that values-based storytelling is needed now more than ever; to expand the room for debate, to open our hearts to experiences vastly different from our own, to immerse us in the beauty of humanity’s complexities,” the star-studded letter says. “And in the face of unprecedented change and uncertainty,...

The news last week that Participant Media would be shutting down shocked the entertainment industry, but it hit the documentary community with particular force.

Going back 20 years, the production and distribution company has supported premium nonfiction content on a major scale, backing documentaries that took on important social and political issues ranging from climate change to race in America, education, the national security state, the U.S.-Mexico drug war, and much more. Along the way, it earned Oscars for Citizenfour, An Inconvenient Truth and American Factory, and Oscar nominations for a slew of others including Flee, Rbg, The Square, and Food, Inc.

On the latest episode of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast, we discuss the developments at Participant and what they mean for a nonfiction field already been reeling from a sluggish acquisition market and slashed budgets at streamers. Our guests are Oscar-nominated filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen,...

End of an era, end of a business model, end of a gravy train, end of the world. There were plenty of mixed emotions this week in response to the closure of Oscar-winning production company Participant, and at the very least the industry has agreed something has come to an end.

When Variety broke the news Tuesday that billionaire Jeff Skoll’s 20-year-old company will shut down — after fetching 21 Oscars and introducing a business model that prioritized social impact a bit more than profits – many in the industry were rattled. Not just that mid-level, standalone financier and producer had left the market, but what that means for the viability of movies and TV shows that ask vital questions about justice and the humanity’s future.

“The end of Participant Media is devastating news to anyone who cares about documentaries,” director Julie Cohen wrote bluntly on X. She’s the co-director...

The shocking news that Participant, a leading producer of specialized/independent features with a socially relevant interest as well many top documentaries, is shutting down immediately hit the industry hard Tuesday. With a profile of co-produced films over the last 20 years that rivals any other company’s slate, this was devastating news.

Founder and owner Jeff Skoll’s decision to shut down his company will impact the production of a certain kind of specialized film, particularly in the documentary field. Never a distributor, and most often collaborating with other production companies, Participant was still a significant force for most of its two decades.

But what’s the real impact of this move? Jonathan Dana, a veteran distribution executive and producer, commented, “It didn’t fail. It just ran its course.” That typifies much of the insider reaction, which relates to the specific purpose and goals of the company.

‘Spotlight’ © Open...

Jeff Skoll, the billionaire philanthropist who launched Participant 20 years ago to champion socially conscious films, is closing down the impact producer-financier behind Spotlight, Roma, and Green Book.

In a memo to staff on Tuesday morning eBay co-founder Skoll said, ”I founded Participant with the mission of creating world-class content that inspires positive social change, prioritizing impact alongside commercial sustainability. Since then, the entertainment industry has seen revolutionary changes in how content is created, distributed and consumed.”

The statement hinted at what may have driven the Canadian’s “very difficult decision”. Studios and streamers are scrutinising their spend more than ever,...

After 20 years, Participant is shutting down.

Founder Jeff Skoll announced the news in a note to staff Tuesday, writing, “after much reflection, I have made the very difficult decision to wind down company operations.” During its run, the company was behind best picture winners Green Book and Moonlight, and docs such as An Inconvenient Truth and Rbg.

EBay co-founder Skoll founded the company in 2004 with a dual mission of making money and inspiring social change through entertainment (the company later moved into television and other ventures). It has helped produce and finance a slew of high-profile awards contenders. Its films won 21 Oscars and its series won 18 Emmys. It earned more than $3.3 billion at the box office. Veteran studio executive David Linde has been running Participant since 2016; previous execs involved in Participant include Ricky Strauss.

It was heavily involved in the nonfiction space, with its shuttering sure to send ripples through that community.

Participant, the media company behind films like “Spotlight,” “Green Book,” “Roma,” and many more, is shutting its doors after 20 years in operation.

Jeff Skoll, who founded the company in 2004, informed the staff in a memo (obtained by IndieWire) that Participant would “wind down company operations.”

Nearly all of Participant’s roughly 100 staffers are being let go with no new content or production in the works. Only Participant’s library of 135 films remaining.

“I founded Participant with the mission of creating world-class content that inspires positive social change, prioritizing impact alongside commercial sustainability,” Skoll wrote. “Since then, the entertainment industry has seen revolutionary changes in how content is created, distributed and consumed.”

Participant’s 135 titles, half of them documentaries and also including five series, have earned $3.3 billion at the global box office. Participant has produced two Best Picture winners and earned 21 Oscars total from 86 nominations, as well as 18 Emmys on 62 nominations.

Financier and producer Participant is shuttering after 20 years. Founder Jeff Skoll alerted staff at 10:30Am, Deadline has confirmed.

The production’s m.o. was to bring content to the world that was socially conscious, read their Oscar Best Picture winners Spotlight and Universal’s Green Book, as well as DreamWorks’ Oscar winner Lincoln. All in Participant counts 135 films, five series, 21 Oscars including two Best Pictures, four Best Documentaries and two Best International Features, 18 Primetime Emmys and north of $3.3 billion in global box office.

Skoll told staffers, as you can read below, that it was a “very difficult decision” and stems from it being “the right time for me to evaluate my next chapter and approach to tackling the pressing issues of our time.” He also mentioned that he hasn’t been involved in the day-to-day management of the studio.

Skoll is a Canadian engineer, billionaire who was the first president of eBay.

Elon Musk, Rupert Murdoch and three other individuals will no longer receive Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s namesake leadership award, presenting organization Opperman Foundation announced late Monday.

The awards’ cancellation came hours after singer and former Rbg award recipient Barbra Streisand slammed the decision to honor Musk and Murdoch, and several days after the late justice’s daughter spoke out against the award as well.

“The last thing we intended was to offend the family and friends of Rbg,” said Julie Opperman, chair of the Opperman Foundation, in a statement.

Earlier Monday, Streisand wrote on Instagram that she was joining “the Ginsburg family in condemning the choice of honorees this year. I had the privilege of meeting Justice Ginsburg on several occasions, and I strongly doubt she would approve of these awardees.”

First presented in 2020, the Opperman Foundation changed the title of the Rbg honors from the Women of Leadership Award...

Not to be confused with the 2002 narrative film by director Julie Taymor, starring Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina as Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera of the same name, the new documentary Frida is an honest and lovingly constructed film that brings to the forefront the far-reaching influence of Kahlo and her work, further solidifying her status as an artist of singular importance.

The film is narrated by Fernanda Echevarría, performing as Frida Kahlo reading from her diary, letters, essays, and various printed interviews. This approach, when presented alongside the vivid animations of Kahlo’s work breathes an extraordinary amount of life into an already extraordinary life. The story unfolds as both a raw and methodical journey throughout Kahlo’s life that never strays from the central through line of her search for beauty through art.

Carla Gutierrez makes an impressive directorial debut with Frida after amassing an astonishingly impressive resume of credits as an editor.

Well, it’s over. Now that the 2024 film awards season is in the rearview mirror, the onslaught of prestige titles hitting digital platforms will come to a temporary halt. Thankfully, this week still brings a pretty decent crop of new releases.

The contender to watch this week: “Drive-Away Dolls“

Ethan Coen‘s second movie without Joel — his first was the documentary “Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind,” which is streaming exclusively on Prime Video — has posted modest box-office returns, but the breezy road comedy seems destined for cult-favorite status. Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan play friends who get caught up in a band of maladroit criminals during a road trip down South. Co-written with Tricia Cooke, who edited “The Big Lebowski” and other Coen-brother movies, “Drive-Away Dolls” also features Beanie Feldstein, Pedro Pascal, Matt Damon, and newly minted Oscar nominee Colman Domingo. It’s available to rent or purchase on VOD.

One of Frida Kahlo’s paintings featured in the documentary Frida. © 2024 Banco de México Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust. Av. 5 de Mayo No. 20, col. Centro, alc. Cuauhtémoc, c.p. 06000, Mexico City. Courtesy of Amazon Prime Video

Frida Kahlo remains endlessly intriguing, in part because the Mexican artist’s colorful paintings remain striking, mysterious and even slightly disturbing and partly because of her bold, dramatic, sometimes tragic life. The artist has been the subject of several films, both narrative and documentary, and Kahlo has been played beautifully by actresses Salma Hayek and Ofelia Medina among others. But in director/writer Carla Gutierrez’s new biographical documentary Frida, Frida Kahlo plays herself.

Gutierrez’s Frida brings fresh insights into Frida Kahlo’s life and work, by putting that life into her own words for the first time, words exclusively drawn from her letters, interviews and her illustrated diary. We also hear...

At the world premiere of Frida during the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, audiences couldn’t stop talking about director Carla Gutierrez’s choice to animate Frida Kahlo’s paintings throughout the documentary about the artist — and not always in a good way.

“We knew that it was a bold decision,” Gutierrez told IndieWire of the conversation that sprang up around the film. “Obviously, when you’re putting out a film and you’re getting the first reactions, you take them really intensely, and it’s just like, ‘Oh, Ok.’ But we had so many conversations about what we meant and what we wanted to do with animation, that a lot of the things that people brought up or questioned were actually questions that we posed ourselves through the process.”

Though controversial — IndieWire’s Christian Zilko wrote, “Rather than show [Kahlo’s] actual paintings, the film relies on animated versions of them...

Many documentary filmmakers want their work on the big screen and not small. So, what gives? Why isn’t that happening?

One could argue that we haven’t seen a doc boom in cinemas since 2018 which served up such breakouts as Won’t You Be My Neighbor ($22.8M), Three Identical Strangers ($12.3M) and Rbg ($14M). The pandemic is partially to blame as audiences have savored non-fiction stories on streaming, i.e. the Netflix series, Tiger King.

“It’s not that it doesn’t work theatrically,” explained Lionsgate EVP Acquisitions and Co-Productions, Charlotte Koh who was part of the SXSW session “How to Tell True Stories: Narrative vs. Documentary”.

“It’s becoming more competitive to get people’s attention because there is so much documentary product out there that can be watched through streamers and other ways,” Koh added.

Also on the panel moderated by Variety documentary journalist Addie Morfoot were Bryn Mooser,...

It’s a fairly big month on Prime Video in March, at least compared to the other streaming service offerings! There are are two major films arriving on Amazon’s streamer. The first is a remake of the Patrick Swayze action classic Road House. Stepping into the late Swayze’s shoes? A crazy-jacked Jake Gyllenhaal, who really seemed to want to go the extra mile for this project.

The other big film coming to Prime Video is Ricky Stanicky, and the plot sounds really fun! It follows three friends who have always blamed their mistakes on an imaginary guy called Ricky Stanicky. When they have to finally introduce people to Stanicky, they decide to hire a washed-up actor (John Cena) to impersonate him. Hilarity ensues, maybe? But if neither of those make your watchlist, there’s also the return of the animated hit series Invincible.

Here’s everything coming to...

Following the nominations for the 2024 Academy Awards on Tuesday, Lily Gladstone, Martin Scorsese and Emma Stone were among the stars and films setting new records or carving out their own unique place in Oscar history.

Gladstone achieved a historic nomination, with the Killers of the Flower Moon star paving a new path for Native American women in the lead actress category. Meanwhile adding to his list of accolades, Scorsese has surpassed Steven Spielberg with having the most best direction nominations and, at 81, is also recognized as the oldest directing nominee. Then, Emma Stone is going into the race eyeing two possible Oscar wins for Poor Things, with both nominations making history as she follows in the footsteps of Frances McDormand’s Nomadland Oscars wins.

Famed musicians like John Williams and Diane Warren continue making their mark on the Academy — adding to their existing achievements while continuing their reigns as being...

There were a smattering of big sales and buzzy premieres, but as the 40th edition of Sundance ends, it’s impossible to ignore that the indie film business it champions is suffering from an identity crisis. The box office for art-house movies has yet to regain its pre-covid stride. Streaming services once inflated the prices for movies that debuted at the festival because they were desperate for content. Now they’re more conservative in their spending. In this era of economizing, the all-night bidding wars that made Sundance sizzle have become a thing of the past. That’s good for agents and filmmakers looking to get more shut-eye, but it’s not a great sign of the financial health of the industry.

Yet there was still plenty to celebrate. Movies like “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” and “Will & Harper” received emotional standing ovations, while “A Real Pain” and “It’s What’s Inside...

Carla Gutierrez, a Peruvian emigre to the United States who made her name as an editor of documentaries (“Rbg”), transitions to director with “Frida” (Time Studios/Imagine Documentaries/Amazon/MGM), which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival on Thursday, January 18.

Long obsessed with Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, Gutierrez was reading some of the books about her and realized there was enough material for Kahlo to narrate her own story. “When I started looking at research material, I found that no one had truly focused on her voice and let Frida herself carry a narrative,” said Gutierrez via a Zoom interview.

She went to her “Rbg” and “Julia” directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West and pitched them the idea of digging deep into a third “kick-ass woman,” said Gutierrez. They became executive producers, but when they went out to find backing, some companies were afraid of a Spanish-language archive movie that might feel historically distant.

Carla Gutierrez is known in the documentary community for her work as a film editor. She was behind Oscar nominated docs “Rbg” and “La Corona” as well as Emmy winner “Julia.” But in 2022, after two decades of editing, Gutierrez decided to direct “Frida,” a docu about iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, which has its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival this week.

“A few months before we started working on ‘Frida,’ I would say, ‘I’m really content with editing.’ I had no thoughts of directing, but her story really pulled me in and I realized I have to direct this (film). Of course I edited it as well because I couldn’t help myself.”

Told through Kahlo’s own words drawn from her diary, revealing letters, essays and print interviews, “Frida” is an intimate glimpse into the artist’s deepest thoughts, artistic sensibilities and passionate romances.

The film is...

Cinetic Media has signed documentary filmmaker Carla Gutiérrez. It will represent Gutiérrez across all media. The news comes as Gutiérrez’s directorial debut”Frida” premieres this week at Sundance. Cinetic has been ramping up management additions of late having also recently signed Betsy West and Julie Cohen (“Rbg”) of Storyville Films, both of whom executive produced Gutiérrez’s directorial debut.

Carla Gutiérrez is an Emmy- and Eddie-nominated documentary editor. She edited the Oscar-nominated films “Rbg” and “La Corona.” Her latest film as an editor, “Julia,” about renowned chef, and television personality Julia Child, premiered at Telluride and was an official selection of the Toronto Film Festival. Gutiérrez also edited the Emmy-nominated “Pray Away.” Her work has received awards at Sundance, Tribeca, Berlinale, Outfest, the Critic’s Choice Awards, the National Board of Review Awards, and the DuPont Columbia Awards. She has been a creative adviser for the Sundance Edit Lab,...

Given the current dismal political and cultural climate as well as streaming services’ massive appetite for celebrity driven content, it comes as no surprise that the 40th edition of the Sundance Film Festival is chock full of portrait documentaries. Frida Kahlo, Christopher Reeve, Luther Vandross and Tammy Faye are just a few of the boldface names that are being examined in various docus featured in the Sundance nonfiction lineup.

The festival is no stranger to star-driven docus. In recent years, films about Ruth Bader Ginsburg (“Rbg”), Fred Rogers (“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”), Harvey Weinstein (“Untouchable”), Michael Jackson (“Leaving Neverland”), Kanye West (“jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy”), Bill Cosby (“We Need to Talk About Cosby”) and most recently Judy Blume (“Judy Blume Forever”) and Michael J. Fox (“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie”) had world premieres in Park City.

But unlike films self-produced by their star subjects, the profile docus selected...

As we wrap up our year-end coverage, IndieWire looks back at the people, projects, and ideas that defined 2023 — and what’s coming next.

As golden ages go, this one was more of a blip.

Five years ago, the box office celebrated nonfiction films: $22 million for “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” $14 million for “Rbg,” $17.5 million for “Free Solo.” Critical favorites and Oscar nominees included films from exciting American first-time directors, including RaMell Ross’s lyrical breakthrough about life in rural Alabama, “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” and Bing Liu’s moving personal exposé of domestic abuse in northern Illinois, “Minding the Gap.”

2023 lacked documentary touchstones. A few faith-based documentaries succeeded by preaching to the choir, but the most successful (non-concert) documentary released in theaters this year was the Yogi Berra baseball portrait “It Ain’t Over”. You also could include Magnolia Pictures’ “Joan Baez: I Am A Noise” or — if you...

Magnolia Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to “Arctic Convoy,” a Norwegian naval thriller that is set in the middle of World War II. The film is from the producers of “The Wave” trilogy, so it’s a homecoming of sorts given that Magnolia released all three installments of that series.

“Arctic Convoy” is directed by Henrik M. Dahlsbakken and written by Christian Sibenherz, Harald Rosenløw Eeg and Lars Gudmestad. Magnolia is planning a 2024 release for the picture.

The film unfolds in 1942, as the leader of a convoy carrying vital military supplies to a Norwegian outpost decides to proceed through treacherous, enemy-infested waters despite the recall of their military escort. Fighting for their lives against German air and naval forces, the 35 civilian merchant ships brave brutal Arctic seas to bring much-needed support to soldiers on the front lines.

The film is produced by Martin Sundland, Catrin Gundersen and Thea Benedikte Karlsen for FanteFilm.

Cinetic Media has signed directors Julie Cohen, Oren Jacoby and Betsy West. The management company will represent the Oscar-nominated filmmakers and their documentary company, Storyville Films, across all types of media.

Storyville Films was founded by Jacoby to produce documentaries and series driven by “strong personal narratives of conscience, courage and innovation.” Jacoby, Cohen and West serve as Storyville’s directors. Their production and distribution partners include Amazon, CNN Films, HBO, Imagine Entertainment, Kino Lorber, Magnolia Pictures, Netflix, Participant Media, PBS, Sony Pictures Classics and Time Studios.

Films by the Storyville partners include West and Cohen’s “Rbg,” a documentary about the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg that was a box office hit and earned an Oscar nomination; as well as “Julia,” a look at Julia Childs’ legacy; and “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down.” Jacoby’s films include “On Broadway,” “Constantine’s Sword” and “Sister Rose’s Passion,...

The Hulu series The 1619 Project and the Showtime feature Nothing Lasts Forever scored a leading three nominations apiece today as the Cinema Eye Honors announced its first round of contenders for the prestigious documentary-focused awards.

The 1619 Project, based on Nikole Hannah-Jones’s Pulitzer Prize-winning examination of slavery in North America and its impact up until the present day, earned nominations for Best Anthology Series, broadcast editing and broadcast cinematography. Oprah Winfrey, Oscar winner Roger Ross Williams and Hannah-Jones are among the producers of the six-part series.

‘Nothing Lasts Forever’

Nothing Lasts Forever, director Jason Kohn’s glittering examination of the world of diamonds – the real kind and the emergence of undetectable “synthetic” diamonds – earned nominations for Best Broadcast Film, broadcast editing and broadcast cinematography. Scroll for the full list of nominations announced today.

Other films and series that scored multiple nominations include Hulu’s Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields...

This is a rare week of heavy hitters in the world of streaming, with a few movies that could factor into the fast-approaching Oscar race making their digital debuts. First up is one of Sundance’s big breakouts, a mature love story that managed to gross a decent $10.8 million at the box office.

The contender to watch this week: “Past Lives“

One of summer’s breakout indies, A24’s “Past Lives” could be a legitimate contender in the Best Original Screenplay field. It certainly accelerated the career of first-time filmmaker Celine Song, a noted playwright who wrote for the Prime Video fantasy series “The Wheel of Time.” Song cast the great Greta Lee to portray a New York-based writer who reunites with her long-lost childhood love (Teo Yoo) as an adult. “Past Lives” is sweet and swoony without sinking into clichés that would weigh down a lesser film. It’s...

After a limited theatrical run, the Focus Features investigative documentary “Every Body” will make its streaming premiere on Peacock this Friday, Aug. 18. Told through exclusive archival footage, talking-head interviews, and more, the investigative documentary shines a light on the growing global movement for understanding and equality for the intersex community, showing the life cycle of historic medical trauma for the marginalized group to the thriving leaders that are pushing the movement forward today. You can watch with a subscription to Peacock.

How to Watch 'Every Body' When: Friday, August 18, 2023 Where: Peacock Stream: Watch with a subscription to Peacock. Sign Up$5.99+ / month peacocktv.com About 'Every Body'

“Every Body,” the latest documentary from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Julie Cohen (“Rbg”), follows the lives of intersex people through the stories of three individuals who have moved from traumatic childhoods to thriving adulthoods after each decided to set aside harmful medical...

Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights to “Immediate Family,” director Denny Tedesco’s follow-up to his acclaimed documentary “The Wrecking Crew.”

That earlier film, which Magnolia also released, followed the first wave of studio musicians in the ’60s. “Immediate Family” takes up the story where “The Wrecking Crew” ended, taking a deep dive through some of the most famous and influential session musicians from the 1970s.

To that end, the new documentary includes commentary from the likes of Carole King, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, David Crosby, Jackson Browne, Lyle Lovett, Keith Richards, Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, and Phil Collins. Magnolia will release the film theatrically in December.

In addition to talking to those music legends, “Immediate Family” tracks the rise and collaborations of session musicians Danny Kortchmar, Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel, and Waddy Wachtel as they help craft some of the decade’s most enduring hits.

The filmmakers say...

“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” is gunning for the top spot on box office charts.

The fifth and final adventure to star Harrison Ford as the legendary, globe-trotting explorer is targeting at least $65 million from 4,500 North American theaters in its opening weekend. The latest Indy installment is also debuting day-and-date at the international box office, where it’s aiming to add $80 million for a global start of $145 million to $150 million.

Those ticket sales are decent in the current moviegoing environment, especially for the fourth sequel to a decades-old property that’s aimed at older audiences. But Disney spent a mind-boggling $295 million to bring the action-adventure to life. That’s not including marketing costs, such as a no-expense-spared premiere and afterparty at the Cannes Film Festival where much champagne was tippled. Even in the best circumstances, it’ll take a heroic feat — and a lot of nostalgia from long-time...

“Every Body” is a beautiful and cathartic celebration of intersexuality — and should be mandatory viewing for people of all genders.

Directed by Julie Cohen (co-director of the Oscar-nominated “Rbg”), the documentary opens with a montage of increasingly ridiculous gender reveals. The gender reveals set up the crux of the film, which showcases the irrelevance and — frankly — the stupidity of trying to define people based on their bodies.

“Every Body” follows three intersex adults — actor and screenwriter River Gallo (they/them), political consultant Alicia Roth Weigel (she/they), and Ph.D. student Sean Saifa Wall (he/him) — who are leading figures in intersex awareness advocacy. Being intersex is defined as “any variation within a person’s sex traits with which they’re either born with or develop naturally during puberty,” according to documentary specialist Katharine Dalke, M.D. who works at the Sexual & Gender Minority Research Group of National Institutes of...

Julie Cohen’s intimate and engaging documentary Every Body is guided by a single question: In a world of binaries, where do intersex people fit? The answer — perhaps we should abolish categories altogether — isn’t very complicated, but creating that reality will be a struggle.

It’s smart that Cohen, who co-directed Rbg and My Name is Pauli Murray, opens her most recent film with a montage of gender reveal parties. The popularity of this practice, in which expectant parents plan an elaborate celebration around the predicted and subsequently disclosed sex of their unborn baby, shows how committed society is to the idea of two genders. Videos of couples staging ornate (and often dangerous) special effects, bursting into tears at the sight of pink confetti or blue fireworks, are haunting. These parties assume that children will play into normative behaviors based on their sex. They are less about the kid...

Julie Cohen’s latest documentary, “Every Body,” premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival, starts with clips of gender reveal parties. As a male-sung rendition of Ronnie Spector’s “Be My Baby” plays, we see happy couples celebrating their upcoming pregnancies, as pink and blue smoke/confetti/etc swirls in the air. But juxtaposed with this happy scene is the knowledge that, as the doc lays out, 1.7% of people have intersex traits, ie they are born with a combination of male and female biology.

These numbers are skewed, according to Cohen, because people are too afraid to disclose whether they belong to the intersex community, and as the rise in anti-trans legislation starts to take hold, it leaves intersex people even more fearful of advocating for themselves. Into this world Cohen introduces the audience to three intersex advocates: Sean Saifa Wall, Alicia Roth Weigel and River Gallo. Each have a unique...

Where, when, and how you can watch “Yellowstone” has always been a bit confusing. It normally airs on [Parmaount Network], where it is the most popular show on television. However, the show doesn’t stream on Paramount+, but instead is available on-demand on Peacock. But, for three days starting on May 27, the first three seasons will be available on a free linear channel on Paramount-owned Pluto TV.

Jewish American Heritage Month celebrates famous Jews who have made extraordinary contributions, including Ruth Bader Ginsberg, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court for 27 years. The “Rbg” doc, which will be available to stream beginning on May 8, chronicles this extraordinary lawyer and her fight for equality that changed the world for American women — and everyone else.

Check out the trailer for “Rbg”:

Also arriving on the service in May will be the beloved Canadian sitcom “Kim’s Convenience.” The series, stars Paul Sun-Hyung Lee,...

Los Angeles, March 13 (Ians) Singer-actor Sofia Carson and 14-time Oscar-nominated songwriter Diane Warren performed their nominated song ‘Applause’ from the film ‘Tell It Like a Woman’ at the Academy Awards.

Carson urged the women of the world to “give themselves an applause” during the simple, stark performance of the ballad.

Carson wore a bejeweled gown over a bodysuit, as seen in silhouette in the spotlight at the Dolby Theatre, and walked over to the piano at song’s conclusion to embrace the much-decorated Warren, who accompanied the vocal performance in a white suit, reports Variety.

Prior to her collaboration with Warren, Carson starred in Disney’s ‘Descendants’ and contributed to the franchise’s three soundtracks. Since ‘Descendants’, she starred in the hit Netflix summer flick, ‘Purple Hearts’ and recorded eight original songs for the romance film.

In addition to her musical contributions to film and television, Carson released her self-titled...

CNN has scored its first Oscars win: “Navalny,” the harrowing film following Russian dissident and former presidential candidate Alexei Navalny, took the prize for documentary feature film at Sunday’s Academy Awards.

The documentary, directed by Daniel Roher, gained new relevance after Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The CNN Films/Warner Bros. documentary is a fly-on-the-wall account of the rousing populist who was once a presidential candidate — and posed such a threat to Putin that Navalny was poisoned in a botched assassination plot ordered by the Kremlin in 2020. Navalny was detained in January 2021 and currently is serving a nine-year sentence in a Russian gulag. He has spent much of the sentence in solitary confinement.

Roher, in accepting the award, dedicated the Oscar win to Navalny and “to all political prisoners around the world”: “Alexei, the world has not forgotten your vital message to us all… We must...

Singer-actor Sofia Carson and 14-time Oscar-nominated songwriter Diane Warren performed their nominated song “Applause” from the film “Tell It Like a Woman” at the Academy Awards Sunday night. Carson urged the women of the world to “give themselves an applause” during the simple, stark performance of the ballad.

Carson wore a bejeweled gown over a bodysuit, as seen in silhouette in the spotlight at the Dolby Theatre, and walked over to the piano at song’s conclusion to embrace the much-decorated Warren, who accompanied the vocal performance in a white suit.

Prior to her collaboration with Warren, Carson starred in Disney’s “Descendants” and contributed to the franchise’s three soundtracks. Since “Descendants,” she starred in the hit Netflix summer flick, “Purple Hearts” and recorded eight original songs for the romance film. In addition to her musical contributions to film and television, Carson released her self-titled studio album in 2022.

Warren...

In June, Focus Features will release Oscar-nominated director Julie Cohen’s “Every Body,” a documentary about three intersex individuals.

It is estimated that up to 1.7% of the world’s population is born with intersex traits, according to the U.N.’s Human Rights Office. The term intersex is used to describe people born with physical sex characteristics that do not fit typical definitions of male or female. These traits may be evident at birth, emerge at puberty, or become apparent later in life.

Produced in partnership with NBC News Studios, “Every Body” investigates the lives of actor and screenwriter River Gallo (they/them), political consultant Alicia Roth Weigel (she/they), and Ph.D. student Sean Saifa Wall (he/him). The docu examines how all three subjects moved from childhoods marked by shame, secrecy, and non-consensual surgeries to thriving adulthoods after each set aside medical advice to keep their bodies a...

Amazon Prime Video has popped off with plenty of new content for March 2023 with original shows and some great catches for films to stream. “Top Gun: Maverick” will arrive March 24, and Jordan Peele’s “Nope” before that on March 21. For those anticipating “Creed III,” the first two films starring and directed by Michael B. Jordan will become available at the beginning of March along with all of the “Rocky” films as well as “Cinderella Man” for the broader boxing buff community. A theatrical release from 2022, “The Silent Twins,” starring Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrence arrives March 7.

Friday March 3 will see “Daisy Jones & The Six” rock the world when the band’s epic limited series comes out. Riley Keough, Sam Claflin, Suki Waterhouse, and more will bring Taylor Jenkins Reid’s best-selling novel to life. Other shows to look forward to on the streamer are Donald Glover’s horror series...

With its list of new releases for March 2023, Amazon Prime Video might be rolling out its most impressive monthly lineup yet.

We know that sounds like something straight out of a press release but in this case, it’s actually true! Prime Video, bless it, has some excellent original titles like The Boys and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but its monthly release updates have often been less inspiring than its TV peers. That’s certainly not the case with March 2023 though.

Prime Video gets its streaming party started early by premiering the first three episodes of Daisy Jones & The Six on March 3. This series, based on a book of the same name, tells the fictional Behind the Music-esque story of an equally fictional band. Then, on March 17, Amazon’s partnership with Donald Glover bears its first fruit with the series about obsessive fandom called Swarm. Reggie Jackson documentary Reggie premieres...

March is still winter, no matter which animal you ask, which means it’s still completely acceptable to cancel all plans and curl up under a blanket in front of the TV. Prime Video’s movie library updates throughout the month, with most of its new additions on March 1 — including the “Rocky” saga, multiple “Carrie” adaptations, “12 Angry Men,” and more.

For Prime users who love books and TV, March means the highly-anticipated premiere of “Daisy Jones & the Six,” based on the best-selling novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The eponymous Daisy (Riley Keough) and Billy Dunne’s band (Sam Claflin) make a mean match, starting with a hit single and leading to what seems like endless fame and glory. But where there is success there is peril, and both the band’s rise and an electric connection with Daisy threaten Billy’s marriage and everyone’s personal lives. James Ponsoldt,...

Marc Maron is revealing he dodged a bullet with failed streamer CNN+.

The “Wtf” podcast host revealed that he was approached by the short-lived streaming platform to host his own show for a “lot of money,” but he turned it down due to the timing of the offer.

Maron’s partner, filmmaker Lynn Shelton, died suddenly in 2020 of undiagnosed acute myeloid leukemia. Maron noted he “started doing Instagram Lives compulsorily on a daily basis” as part of the grieving process.

“It was me just kind of mumbling around and doing stuff around my house and ranting and raving about this or that, experiencing grief, and people were watching it and a lot of people got a lot out of it,” Maron told Vulture. “I got a lot of peculiar fans from that.”

The social media appearances caught the attention of the budding Warner Bros. Discovery flagship streamer.

“But it did...

The Sundance Film Festival has often been called one of the world’s most important documentary marketplaces, with 39 of the past 65 Best Documentary Feature contenders (60) either beginning or continuing their road to the Oscars in Park City. Examples include “Summer of Soul,” “Flee,” “Writing With Fire,” “Honeyland,” “The Edge of Democracy,” “American Factory,” “Time,” “The Mole Agent,” “Crip Camp,” “Rbg,” “Of Fathers and Sons,” “Minding the Gap,” and “Hale County This Morning, This Evening.”

See 2023 Sundance Film Festival concludes: Highlights and studio acquisitions include ‘Past Lives,’ ‘A Little Prayer,’ ‘Flora and Son’

Two of those–Questlove’s “Summer of Soul” and Netflix’s joint venture with Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions, “American Factory”–won the award. Four of this season’s honorees —“All That Breathes,” “Fire of Love,” “Navalny,” and “A House Made of Splinters”—played the festival in 2022. Climate change, human rights violations, competitive mariachi, and...

The Sundance Film Festival has often been called one of the world’s most important documentary marketplaces, with 39 of the past 65 Best Documentary Feature contenders (60) either beginning or continuing their road to the Oscars in Park City, Utah. Examples include “Summer of Soul,” “Flee,” “Writing With Fire,” “Honeyland,” “The Edge of Democracy,” “American Factory,” “Time,” “The Mole Agent,” “Crip Camp,” “Rbg,” “Of Fathers and Sons,” “Minding the Gap,” and “Hale County This Morning, This Evening.”

Two of those–Questlove’s “Summer of Soul” and Netflix’s joint venture with Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions, “American Factory”–won the award. Four of this season’s nominees —“All That Breathes,” “Fire of Love,” “Navalny,” and “A House Made of Splinters”—played the festival in 2022. Climate change, human rights violations, competitive mariachi, and manned flight to Mars are only a few of the subjects addressed by this year’s eclectic non-fiction slate.