Monday Memo: Cutie and the Boxer Released


Critically regarded film CUTIE AND THE BOXER was released in theaters this week.

Zachary Heinzerling’s profile of Ushio Shinohara and his wife Noriko, CUTIE AND THE BOXER, reached theaters this week. Anthony Kaufman wrote about the film and its place in the oeuvre of “art” docs for his Docutopia post at the SundanceNOW site, while A.O. Scott reviewed the film for The New York Times. Nigel M. Smith interviewed Heinzerling for Indiewire, while Sara Vizcarrondo penned her own review of the film for the International Documentary Association (IDA) website.

Madeline Raynor of Indiewire reported on the news that Time had created a new digital documentary unit called Red Border Films. Georg Szalai of The Hollywood Reporter also had the news, as did Adam Benzine of Realscreen. Christine Haughney provided coverage at The New York Times.

Adam Benzine of Realscreen had details on the Toronto International Film Festival Doc Conference, while the festival itself posted a schedule on its website. Peter Knegt of Indiewire reported on the addition of 75 titles to TIFF’s lineup.

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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.

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