Monday Memo: Cinema Eye Honors Awarded, Oscar Noms Named

by Raphaela Neihausen |


I’m in agreement with indieWIRE’s Eric Kohn who proclaimed that the best awards event this week wasn’t the Oscar nominations. Last Wednesday night, the 9th annual Cinema Eye Honors celebrated the best non-fiction filmmaking of this past year, awarding three of its top honors to THE LOOK OF SILENCE “for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature, Outstanding Direction for Joshua Oppenheimer and Outstanding Production for Signe Byrge Sørensen.” Dave McNary reported the full list of winners at Variety, while Daniel Walber at Nonfics and Daniele Alcinii of Realscreen had their own takes on the awards.

Following the its trio of honors, THE LOOK OF SILENCE was named the following day as one of this year’s Oscar nominees in an announcement by The Academy, alongside Asif Kapadia’s AMY, Matthew Heineman’s CARTEL LAND, Liz Garbus’ WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE? and Evgeny Afineevsky’s WINTER ON FIRE: UKRAINE’S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. Brooks Barnes and Michael Cieply of The New York Times and Stephanie Merry of The Washington Post each reflected on the nominations, taking special note of the absence of Alex Gibney’s GOING CLEAR and Kirby Dick’s THE HUNTING GROUND, both of which were early favorites in the race. Our own Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen also discussed the nominees on WNYC’s Documentary of the Week segment. And while the nomination announcements bring flashes of the glitz and glam of the Oscars to ones mind, indieWIRE’s Bryan Glick dared to ask a very serious question regarding the expenses necessary to pursue a serious chance at awards season success – “Is the Academy hurting most documentary filmmakers?” The Directors Guild of America also released their nominations for Best Directorial Achievement in Documentary, naming Liz Garbus, Alex Gibney, Matthew Heineman, Asif Kapadia, and Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi for MERU.

This week’s major doc news may have been filled with award season buzz, for us here at Stranger Than Fiction it was the announcement of our 2016 Winter Season that has us most excited! Our latest season is set to kick off February 2nd with OXD: ONE EXTRAORDINARY DAY, with special guests director Craig Lowy and choreographer Elizabeth Streb in attendance for a post-screening Q&A. Season tickets are now available for purchase here.

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Stranger Than Fiction Announces Winter Season at IFC Center

by Raphaela Neihausen |


The winter season of Stranger Than Fiction, our weekly documentary film series hosted by Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen and presented by IFC Center, has been announced! Each screening features a conversation with the filmmaker or other special guests, followed by a gathering at a nearby bar. The winter slate opens with OXD: ONE EXTRAORDINARY DAY, focusing on Elizabeth Streb’s Extreme Action Company with director Craig Lowy and Streb in person. Other highlights include a sneak preview of Dawn Porter’s TRAPPED, about abortion providers struggling to stay in business, soon after its Sundance Film Festival premiere; and the 15th anniversary screening of Kate Davis’ SOUTHERN COMFORT, about a transgender couple in the American south, that’s being staged this winter as a new musical at the Public Theater.

“This season’s stories are truly stranger than fiction with death-defying acrobats, mysterious disappearances, and utopian inventors,” said Artistic Director Thom Powers. “We invite newcomers to join our community of documentary lovers for special guests, lively conversations and receptions.” The eclectic range of characters on screen include a visionary battling the government in NEWMAN; a prisoner determined to escape in THE MIND OF MARK DEFRIEST; media pioneers in HERE COMES THE VIDEOFREEX; and Pakistani madrasa students in AMONG THE BELIEVERS. Two screenings honor films on their 10th anniversaries: ABDUCTION: THE MEGUMI YOKOTA STORY about North Korea’s kidnapping program and DARKON about live action role-players.

The STF winter season takes place at the IFC Center every Tuesday night at 7:30 for eight weeks (plus an added special screening on Thurs, Mar 17). The winter season closes on March 22. The full season schedule appears below. For more information, visit ifccenter.com.

Stranger Than Fiction: Winter 2016 Season 7:30pm Tuesdays at IFC Center, Feb 2 – Mar 22
Each show features a Q&A with the director or other special guests

Feb 2: Opening Night – OXD: ONE EXTRAORDINARY DAY (2015,Q&A w/ dir Craig Lowy & choreographer Elizabeth Streb)

Feb 9: ABDUCTION: THE MEGUMI YOKOTA STORY (2006, Q&A w/ Robert Boynton, author of “The Invitation-Only Zone”)

Feb 16: TRAPPED (2016, Q&A TBA)

Feb 23: HERE COME THE VIDEOFREEX (2015, Q&A w/ dirs. Jon Nealon & Jenny Raskin)

Mar 1: SOUTHERN COMFORT (2001, Q&A w/ dir Kate Davis)

Mar 8: NEWMAN (2015, Q&A w/ dir Jon Fox)

Mar 15:  THE MIND OF MARK DEFRIEST (2014, Q&A w/ dir Gabriel London)

Mar 17: Thursday Special – DARKON (2006, Q&A w/ dirs Luke Meyer & Andrew Neel)

Mar 22: Closing Night – AMONG THE BELIEVERS (2015, Q&A w/ dirs. Hemal Trivedi, Mohammed Ali Naqvi, & writer Jonathan Goodman Levitt)

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 9 evenings in the winter season, is available for $99 ($80 for IFC members).