The film ATTACKING THE DEVIL from directors Jacqui Morris and David Morris took home the jury prize from this year's Sheffield Doc/Fest.
This year the Sheffield Doc/Fest Special Jury Award went to ATTACKING THE DEVIL: HAROLD EVANS AND THE LAST NAZI WAR CRIME from directors Jacqui Morris and David Morris. Writing for Indiewire, Casey Cipriani had coverage of all of the awards, as did Manori Ravindran at Realscreen. Christopher Campbell of Nonfics.com broke up his coverage of the festival into five parts, which you can find here: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5. Filmmaker Laura Poitras also issued a statement after accepting the festival’s Inspiration Award in absentia. At Realscreen, Adam Benzine spoke with THE OVERNIGHTERS director Jesse Moss. Writing for Indiewire, Paula Bernstein broke down a potential formula for winning an Oscar for best doc.
The folks at Televisual wrote a post laying out some of the themes they found in the the Sheffield Doc/Fest commissioning panels. Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Stephen Dalton reviewed THE LAST MAN ON THE MOON from director Mark Craig. At the DocGeeks blog, Ben Unwin reviewed REGARDING SUSAN SONTAG from director Nancy Kates. Adam Benzine of Realscreen also spoke with Alex Gibney regarding his film FINDING FELA. Paula Bernstein of Indiewire covered a master class at the festival from director Joe Berlinger. Bernstein also wrote a piece on the increasing difficulty of making a living as a documentary filmmaker.
Writing for Leveled Magazine, Jamie Maleszka previewed the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. At Nonfics.com, Daniel Walber made a list of the five best films screening at the fest. And Basil Tsiokos provided an overview at his What (Not) to Doc blog.
This week Stranger Than Fiction is hosting a screening of ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED from director Marina Zenovich on Tuesday June 17 at 8 p.m. at the IFC Center in Manhattan. The film investigates the sexual assault case that embroiled the filmmaker decades ago. Following the screening film critic Scott Foundas will be in attendance for a Q&A. For more information or to purchase tickets please go here.
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This year's Sheffield Doc/Fest featured PULP: A FILM ABOUT LIFE, DEATH, AND SUPERMARKETS as its opening film.
This week the Sheffield Doc/Fest kicked off in England. At Nonfics.com, Christopher Campbell shared a recap of his first day at the festival. Writing at his What (Not) to Doc blog, Basil Tsiokos provided an overview of the festival, while Tim Isaac took a look at the festivals Queer Screen strand for The Big Gay Picture show. And Alexandra Zeevalkink provided a guide to navigating the festival in a post for The Knowledge.
Writing for the POV blog, Tom Roston reviewed the documentary series from director Agnes Varda FROM HERE TO THERE. In a piece for Film Comment, Fernando F. Croce did the same.
Back at Nonfics.com, Christopher Campbell published a well-researched list of the top 100 docs available for streaming on Netflix.
This week Stranger Than Fiction is hosting a screening of the film THE LAST MOGUL: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF LEW WASSERMAN from director Barry Avrich on Tuesday, June 10 at 8 p.m. at the IFC Center in Manhattan. The film takes a look at the life of Hollywood agent Lew Wasserman. Following the screening, Avrich will be in attendance for a Q&A. For more information, or to purchase tickets, please go here.
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Sarah Polley won the outstanding director award for her film STORIES WE TELL at this year's Cinema Eye Honors.
This week saw the 7th annual Cinema Eye Honors, with the award for outstanding feature going to Joshua Oppenheimer’s THE ACT OF KILLING. Sarah Polley took home the award for outstanding director for STORIES WE TELL. Adam Benzine had coverage for Realscreen, while Christopher Campbell did the same at Nonfics.com. Tom Roston reported on the awards for the POV blog, as did Nick Dawson at Filmmaker Magazine. And Adam Schartoff spoke with Esther Robinson about the awards in an episode of his Filmwax podcast.
In distro news, Paula Bernstein of Indiewire reported that Cinedigm picked up North American rights to REMOTE AREA MEDICAL, while Dave McNary of Variety also had the news. Also, Paula Bernstein reported that CITIZEN KOCH had been nabbed by Variance Films for theatrical release in the U.S. and Canada.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) this week announced its doc nominees, with Alexandra Zeevalkink of the DocGeeks blog on the news and Adam Benzine covering the event for Realscreen.
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Former POV staffer Yance Ford was among those named to Sundance's documentary story and edit labs.
The Sundance Institute this week named the nine projects selected to participate in its documentary story and edit labs for the year. Among those selected were director Yance Ford and editor Shannon Kennedy for the project STRONG ISLAND, and director Andrew James and editor Jason Tippet for the film STREET FIGHTING MAN. Ben Travers of Indiewire covered the announcement, as did Kelly Anderson of Realscreen.
The public television showcase POV kicks off its latest season today with a screening of the film HOMEGOINGS, a look at the traditions of African American funerals from director Isaiah Owens. At the Wall Street Journal Nancy Dewolf Smith previewed the film (after clicking scroll down to the second review).
The U.S. Tennis Association likely raised the hackles of fair use advocates after filing suit against filmmakers Maiken Baird and Michelle Major, directors of the film VENUS AND SERENA, which uses footage from the 2011 U.S. Open. Richard Sandomir covered the development for the New York Times blog Straight Sets. David Lieberman of Deadline reported that executive producer Alex Gibney termed the lawsuit an overstep by the USTA.
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The Sheffield Doc/Fest concluded on Sunday.
England’s Sheffield Doc Fest concluded yesterday, with the festival’s jury handing out awards to films in competition. At About.com, Jennifer Merin had the details on the festival’s award winners, which included Joshua Oppenheimer’s film THE ACT OF KILLING, which took home the Special Jury Award. At the festival’s start, Realscreen’s Kevin Ritchie spoke with festival director Heather Croall, while Michael Rosser at Screen Daily also spoke with Croall. Alexandra Zeevalkink wrote a piece for KFTV explaining some tips for networking at Sheffield. Samuel Wigley previewed the festival for the British Film Institute’s site. Also at Realscreen, Kelly Anderson interviewed Jeanie Finlay about her film THE GREAT HIP HOP HOAX which screened at Sheffield.
Filmmaker Laura Poitras remained in the spotlight for her role in the NSA leak story. The Hollywood Reporter profiled her, as did Noam Cohen of The New York Times. Sam Adams of Indiewire considered her recent work profiling leakers Edward Snowden and William Binney. Lynn Elber of the AP had a longer piece on Poitras’ work, while Irin Carmon interviewed Poitras on the details of her recent work on Snowden.
At the What (Not) to Doc blog, Basil Tsiokos provided an overview of the AFI Docs Film Festival, set to take place in Washington D.C. and Silver Spring, Maryland, beginning June 19. Abigail Maravalli also profiled the festival for the Center for Social Media at American University, as did Ally Schweitzer of the Washington City Paper.
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