Monday Memo: Our Nixon Released in Theaters


Penny Lane's film Our Nixon hit theaters this week.

The Penny Lane-helmed film OUR NIXON hit theaters this week. At Film.com David Ehrlich interviewed Lane, while Reva Goldberg added producer Brian Frye to the mix for her interview at Cinereach’s website. Brandon Harris spoke to Lane for Filmmaker Magazine, while Anya Jaremko-Greenwold queried Lane for BOMB Magazine’s blog. Christopher Campbell profiled Lane and Frye at RogerEbert.com, while Anthony Kaufman considered the task of documenting presidents in his weekly Docutopia post at the SundanceNOW site. And Nathan Rabin penned a review of the film at The Dissolve.

It was a good week for distro deals. Kevin Ritchie of Realscreen reported that Variance had acquired North American theatrical rights for Roger Ross Williams’ GOD LOVES UGANDA, while Alison Willmore of Indiewire reported that Showtime had snagged the rights for Ron Howard’s Jay-Z concert doc MADE IN AMERICA. Adam Benzine of Realscreen had the news that Entertainment One Films International had picked up worldwide rights for Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky’s WATERMARK. Rebecca Ford of The Hollywood Reporter wrote up Zeitgeist Film’s U.S. rights acquisition of THE GALAPAGOS AFFAIR: SATAN COME TO EDEN. Back at Realscreen Kevin Ritchie reported news of MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE’s acquisition by Autlook, while colleague Adam Benzine wrote about Cinephil’s pickup of UKRAINE IS NOT A BROTHEL from Kitty Green.

Stranger Than Fiction this week announced the details of its new fall season, which will kick off Sept. 18 with a preview screening of MUSCLE SHOALS featuring a Q&A with director Greg “Freddy” Camalier and FAME recording studio founder Rick Hall. Tickets for Stranger Than Fiction screenings are $16 for the general public and $13 for IFC Center members. A Season Pass, good for admission to all 8 evenings per season (plus 1 special), is available at an Early Bird rate of $80 ($70 for IFC members) through Sept. 18. Regular price is $99 ($80 for IFC members).

Continue reading…


Monday Memo: TIFF Lineup Announced


Errol Morris' new film on Donald Rumsfeld, THE UNKNOWN KNOWN, is among the work that will be screening in Toronto this year.

This week the big news was the announcement of the doc films to be featured at the Toronto International Film Festival this year. Coverage of the news came from all corners of the web. Jennie Punter of Variety had the news, as did Nick Dawson of Filmmaker Magazine. Adam Benzine wrote up the lineup for Realscreen, and later rounded up some trailers of the films screening in Toronto. Jordan M. Smith covered the news for Ion Cinema, while Nigel M. Smith did the same for Indiewire. Etan Vlessing wrote up the announcement for The Hollywood Reporter. STF’s Thom Powers also spoke with David Poland of Movie City News in his capacity as TIFF doc programmer.

Penny Lane’s OUR NIXON hit CNN this week, marking the first documentary to be screened under its CNN Films banner. Alison Willmore reviewed the film for Indiewire, while her colleague Sam Adams wondered if critics held the film to a different standard because it aired on television. David Teich of Indiewood/Hollywoodn’t also interviewed Lane.

In distro news, Kartemquin Films announced that Kino Lorber had acquired US rights for the upcoming THE TRIALS OF MUHAMMAD ALI from director Bill Siegel. Realscreen’s Adam Benzine reported that Sundance Selects had snagged U.S. rights for FINDING VIVIAN MAIER from directors John Maloof and Charlie Siskel. Benzine also had the news that Sony Picture Classics had gained worldwide rights for the film TIM’S VERMEER directed by one-name magician Teller. (Dave Itzkoff of the New York Times also reported on the film this week.) Benzine also reported that CNN Films had acquired SOLE SURVIVOR by director Kyle Dickens to be aired in 2014.

Continue reading…