Richard Rowley's film DIRTY WARS hit theaters this week.
This week Richard Rowley’s DIRTY WARS, an analysis of U.S. foreign policy in the post 9/11 era based on the reporting of journalist Jeremy Scahill, opened at theaters. At the New York Times, Stephen Holden bestowed the film with a coveted Critic’s Pick. Writing for Indiewire, Anthony Kaufman shared his own take on the film, while Peter Knegt reported that the film had strong box office numbers over the weekend. Kaufman also penned a piece on the film for the Village Voice. And R. Kurt Osenlund had an interview with Rowley for Filmmaker Magazine.
Kaufman in his weekly Docutopia post at the SundanceNOW blog took note of the fact that war-themed docs are on a slight rise.
A new Ken Burns project for PBS based on the book “The Emperor of Maladies: A Biography of Cancer” by Siddharta Mukherjee was announced this week. The Hollywood Reporter reported details on the new three-part film, while David Bauder reported on the project for the AP. Madeline Raynor also reported the news at Indiwire.
At Filmmaker Magazine, Scott Macaulay noted the role filmmaker Laura Poitras had played in the NSA domestic espionage stories that broke this week. Poitras filmed an interview with whistle blower Edward Snowden for the Guardian. Her past filmmaking has caused her to be repeatedly detained at the U.S. border (reported last year in Salon).
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Cara Mertes this week was named the head of JustFilms.
The Ford Foundation this week announced that Cara Mertes, director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and Fund, would succeed Orlando Bagwell as the director of its JustFilms documentary funding organ. Anne Thompson reported on the move for Indiewire, while Kelly Anderson did the same at Realscreen. Dru Sefton of Current.org also had coverage.
ITVS issued a response to last week’s New Yorker piece by Jane Meyer suggesting the organization killed funding for the film CITIZEN KOCH for fear of offending conservative billionaire David Koch. Democracy Now offered up an in-depth piece on the story, interviewing CITIZEN KOCH filmmakers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal. Michael Lumpkin weighed in on the issue in a piece for the International Documentary Association (IDA), and PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler also considered the story.
This week Stranger Than Fiction is hosting a special Wednesday screening of Richard Rowley’s film DIRTY WARS, based on the reporting of Jeremy Scahill on U.S. covert operations overseas. Both Rowley and Scahill will be in attendance for a Q&A following the film’s 8 p.m. screening at the IFC Center in Manhattan. For more information or to purchase tickets please go here. If you need more encouragement, Julie Malkinen of The Los Angeles Times this week offered an in-depth look at the film’s making.
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The film SEDUCED AND ABANDONED has earned a lot of press at Cannes this year.
The presence of docs at Cannes this year was commanding the attention of Melanie Goodfellow of ScreenDaily, who reported that docs were booming there, both onscreen and in distro deals. Writing for the AFP, Richard Ingahm reported that docs were an increasing portion of the films being marketed at Cannes. At the Chicago Tribune, critic Michael Phillips spoke with director James Toback and Alec Baldwin, the forces behind the film SEDUCED AND ABANDONED, a doc about the state of the film industry. Matt Mueller of Indiewire also interviewed Baldwin and Toback on the new film.
The top prize at Cannes Un Certain Regard went to the autobiographic doc A MISSING PICTURE by Cambodian director Rithy Panh. Read a review at The Hollywood Reporter. Other docs playing in Cannes official selection include Claude Lanzmann’s THE LAST OF THE UNJUST reviewed in Variety, Indiewire, and The Guardian; and Mark Cousins’ A STORY OF CHILDREN AND FILM reviewed in Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and The Guardian. Playing in Directors Fortnight, Marcel Ophuls’ memoir doc AIN’T MISBEHAVIN was reviewed by Ben Kenigsberg on Roger Ebert’s website and Jordan Mintzer in The Hollywood Reporter. Continue reading…
The filmmakers and cast of ON THE ROPES.
The Spring 2013 season of Stranger Than Fiction ended on Tuesday with a very special screening of On The Ropes. Directed by Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen, the Oscar-nominated documentary shares the stories of three young boxers working their way from the amateur to pro leagues and explores the impact that their boxing careers make on the rest of their lives. Burstein and Morgen document the struggles — both personal and professional — encountered by the boxers, as well as the perseverance and dedication that they exhibit along the way.
Last week, close to 20 years after production, the filmmakers were able to reunite with their subjects in front of STF’s audience. After the On The Ropes screening, Executive Director Raphaela Neihausen was joined by Burstein and Morgen, as well as three of the main subjects from the film — Harry Keitt, Tyrene Manson, and George Walton — for a Q&A.
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BRINGING TIBET HOME was one of the 10 films selected to participate in this year's IFP Documentary Lab.
The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) this week named the 10 participants in its 2013 Doc Lab, a year-long fellowship for first-time filmmakers. Among the projects named to the program were BRINGING TIBET HOME from director Tenzin Tsetan Choklay, EVOLUTION OF A CRIMNAL from director Darius Clark Monroe and APPROACHING THE ELEPHANT from director Amanda Wilder. Kelly Anderson covered the announcement for Realscreen, while Peter Knegt did the same for Indiewire. Nick Dawson provided coverage for Filmmaker Magazine.
Sarah Polley’s STORIES WE TELL continues to draw the attention of the press, and for good reason. Germain Lussier of /Film (that’s not a typo) interviewed Polley, as did Nick Allen of The Scorecard Review. Tom Roston of the POV blog weighed in on the film, while NPR covered its release.
Cannes already seemed to be heating up doc acquisitions on the French Riveria. Realscreen’s Kelly Anderson reported that HBO had acquired US and Canadian television rights for James Toback’s new film SEDUCED AND ABANDONED, while Glenn Whipp of the Los Angeles Times had coverage of the same deal. Gregg Kilday of The Hollywood Reporter had the news that Phase 4 had nabbed all U.S. and Canadian rights for Lucy Walker’s film THE CRASH REEL. And Geoffrey Macnab of Screen Daily reported that Attraction Distribution had won worldwide rights to Hot Docs award winner DRAGON GIRLS from director Inigo Westmeier.
This week Stranger Than Fiction is hosting its last film of the Spring season, ON THE ROPES by directors Brett Morgen and Nanette Burstein. The film follows the lives of three boxers struggling to succeed at The Bed-Stuy Boxing Center in Brooklyn. Morgen and Burstein will be in attendance for a Q&A following the screening, which will take place on Tuesday, May 21 at the IFC Center in Manhattan. For more information or to purchase tickets please go here.
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