Chinese adoption is explored through the eyes of three teenage girls seeking out their roots — and each other — in “Step” director Amanda Lipitz’s “Found.” Weaving together the stories of Chloe, Sadie, and Lily, the film shows how tracing one’s genealogy as a Chinese adoptee in the U.S. can be a difficult task, but with a little help from 23andme and just a bit of pluck, it’s not impossible.
The three high school-aged girls were all born in China but adopted by parents in the United States, and now live in Tennessee and Oklahoma City. After a mail-in DNA test connects them as blood-related cousins, they use social media to bond and eventually join together to travel to China — a place none of them has any firsthand experience of — to examine their past. The uncertainty surrounding their adoption stems from China’s One Child Policy, in effect...
The three high school-aged girls were all born in China but adopted by parents in the United States, and now live in Tennessee and Oklahoma City. After a mail-in DNA test connects them as blood-related cousins, they use social media to bond and eventually join together to travel to China — a place none of them has any firsthand experience of — to examine their past. The uncertainty surrounding their adoption stems from China’s One Child Policy, in effect...
- 10/21/2021
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
It’s been 18 years since I escaped the state of Texas, and nothing illustrates how much things have changed in that hyper-conservative stronghold than the rise and near-win of Senatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke in his bid for Senate.
On its surface, David Modigliani’s “Running With Beto” is an inside account of that campaign — reminiscent of Albert Maysles’ “Primary” or Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker’s more recent “The War Room” — tracing the Democratic Congressman from early speaking engagements where barely two dozen people showed up to his status as a nationally recognized hero and poster boy for the “blue wave” that swept the country during the 2018 mid-term elections. But it’s also the portrait of a state many of us thought we had pinned down, and how its identity is shifting in a positive direction.
Modigliani sensed he was capturing history in the making when he asked O...
On its surface, David Modigliani’s “Running With Beto” is an inside account of that campaign — reminiscent of Albert Maysles’ “Primary” or Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker’s more recent “The War Room” — tracing the Democratic Congressman from early speaking engagements where barely two dozen people showed up to his status as a nationally recognized hero and poster boy for the “blue wave” that swept the country during the 2018 mid-term elections. But it’s also the portrait of a state many of us thought we had pinned down, and how its identity is shifting in a positive direction.
Modigliani sensed he was capturing history in the making when he asked O...
- 3/9/2019
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
The pretty faces that give Hollywood its glamour eventually fade, but Alexandra Hall’s documentary reveals a remarkable woman who parlayed her beauty into an incredible life — from nude scenes in a notorious 1933 Austrian film, to eleven years in Hollywood as MGM’s ‘most beautiful girl in the world’, to a seemingly incompatible achievement: she invented a revolutionary communications technology for the WW2 war effort, and only belatedly received credit for it. A remarkable audio interview with the legendary lady brings a fabulous life into focus.
Bombshell, The Hedy Lamarr Story
Blu-ray
Kino Lorber / Zeitgeist
2017 / Color & B&W / 1:78 widescreen / 88 min. / Street Date April 24, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 22.99
Starring: Hedy Lamarr, Jeanine Basinger, Peter Bogdanovich, Mel Brooks, Gillian Jacobs, Wendy Colton, Jan-Christopher Horak, Diane Kruger, Guy Livingston, Anthony Loder, Jimmy Loder, Lodi Loder, Denise Loder-DeLuca, Art McTighe, Fleming Meeks, Robert Osborne.
Cinematography: Buddy Squires, Alex Stikich
Film Editor: Alexandra Dean,...
Bombshell, The Hedy Lamarr Story
Blu-ray
Kino Lorber / Zeitgeist
2017 / Color & B&W / 1:78 widescreen / 88 min. / Street Date April 24, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 22.99
Starring: Hedy Lamarr, Jeanine Basinger, Peter Bogdanovich, Mel Brooks, Gillian Jacobs, Wendy Colton, Jan-Christopher Horak, Diane Kruger, Guy Livingston, Anthony Loder, Jimmy Loder, Lodi Loder, Denise Loder-DeLuca, Art McTighe, Fleming Meeks, Robert Osborne.
Cinematography: Buddy Squires, Alex Stikich
Film Editor: Alexandra Dean,...
- 4/17/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Diane Kruger reads from Lamarr's letters in Alexandra Dean's revelatory documentary Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
In the final installment of my conversation with Alexandra Dean, the director of the revelatory documentary Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, we explore the background of the woman who inspired the looks of Catwoman, as well as Disney's Snow White, Mel Brooks and his Hedley Lamarr character (portrayed by Harvey Korman) in Blazing Saddles, the impact Hedy Lamarr had from the start with a role in Gustav Machatý's 1933 film Ecstasy (Ekstase), and the discovery of the interview tapes done by Fleming Meeks, that allow Hedy herself to guide us through her life.
With interviews (including Peter Bogdanovich, Jeanine Basinger, Robert Osborne, Michael Tilson Thomas, Mel Brooks, and Lamarr's family), expertly edited (by Dean, Penelope Falk and Lindy Jankur), Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story is assembled with care. Her life plays out...
In the final installment of my conversation with Alexandra Dean, the director of the revelatory documentary Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, we explore the background of the woman who inspired the looks of Catwoman, as well as Disney's Snow White, Mel Brooks and his Hedley Lamarr character (portrayed by Harvey Korman) in Blazing Saddles, the impact Hedy Lamarr had from the start with a role in Gustav Machatý's 1933 film Ecstasy (Ekstase), and the discovery of the interview tapes done by Fleming Meeks, that allow Hedy herself to guide us through her life.
With interviews (including Peter Bogdanovich, Jeanine Basinger, Robert Osborne, Michael Tilson Thomas, Mel Brooks, and Lamarr's family), expertly edited (by Dean, Penelope Falk and Lindy Jankur), Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story is assembled with care. Her life plays out...
- 3/8/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Winners of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival were announced recently, with Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington's Restrepo taking home the Grand Jury Prize in the documentary category, and Debra Granik's Winter's Bone winning the Grand Jury Prize in the dramatic category. You may remember Granik, the independent filmmaker who burst onto the Sundance scene in 2004, claiming the Dramatic Directing award for her first feature-length film, Down to the Bone. Despite its phenomenal reputation, Granik's big screen debut grossed a meager $30,000. Let's hope Winter's Bone turns out to be an anomaly in the director's rather minuscule line of work. A comprehensive list of all the winners this year can be seen after the jump. Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic: Winter’s Bone, directed by Debra Granik Grand Jury Prize, Documentary: Restrepo, directed by Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington World Cinema Jury Prize, Dramatic: Animal Kingdom, written and directed by David Michôd.
- 2/1/2010
- by Crews
- FilmJunk
Animal Kingdom, The Red Chapel, Restrepo, and Winter's Bone Earn Grand Jury Prizes
Audience Favorites Feature Contracorriente, happythankyoumoreplease, Waiting For Superman, and Wasteland
Park City, Ut-The Jury, Audience, Next, and other special award-winners of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival were announced tonight at the Festival's Awards Ceremony hosted by David Hyde Pierce (star of The Perfect Host which premiered in this year's Park City at Midnight section) in Park City, Utah. Highlights from the Awards Ceremony can be seen on the Festival website, www.sundance.org/festival.
Films receiving Jury Awards were selected from four categories: U.S. Dramatic Competition, U.S. Documentary Competition, World Cinema Dramatic Competition and World Cinema Documentary Competition. All films in competition were also eligible for Sundance Film Festival Audience Awards as selected by Festival audiences. The U.S. Audience Awards presented by Honda and World Cinema Audience Awards were announced by Louis C.K. Joseph Gordon Levitt...
Audience Favorites Feature Contracorriente, happythankyoumoreplease, Waiting For Superman, and Wasteland
Park City, Ut-The Jury, Audience, Next, and other special award-winners of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival were announced tonight at the Festival's Awards Ceremony hosted by David Hyde Pierce (star of The Perfect Host which premiered in this year's Park City at Midnight section) in Park City, Utah. Highlights from the Awards Ceremony can be seen on the Festival website, www.sundance.org/festival.
Films receiving Jury Awards were selected from four categories: U.S. Dramatic Competition, U.S. Documentary Competition, World Cinema Dramatic Competition and World Cinema Documentary Competition. All films in competition were also eligible for Sundance Film Festival Audience Awards as selected by Festival audiences. The U.S. Audience Awards presented by Honda and World Cinema Audience Awards were announced by Louis C.K. Joseph Gordon Levitt...
- 2/1/2010
- Makingof.com
Debra Granik’s dark thriller Winter’s Bone took home the Grand Jury Prize for dramatic competition and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
Based on a novel by Daniel Woodrell, the film is about a young girl searching for her missing, meth-making father in the harsh conditions of the Ozark Mountain. Roadside Attractions acquired the rights and is planning a summer release.
“How I Met Your Mother” star Josh Radnor directorial debut, the indie romantic-comedy HappyThankYouMorePlease, won the Audience Award for dramatic competition. It has not inked a distribution deal, but reportedly has several interested buyers. The ensemble cast includes Radnor, Malin Akerman, Richard Jenkins, and Kate Mara.
In documentaries, Restrepo earned the Grand Jury kudos and Paramount’s Waiting for Superman won the audience award.
The biggest surprise was Mark Ruffalo’s first film, Sympathy for Delicious, grabbing a special jury prize after being generally panned by critics.
Based on a novel by Daniel Woodrell, the film is about a young girl searching for her missing, meth-making father in the harsh conditions of the Ozark Mountain. Roadside Attractions acquired the rights and is planning a summer release.
“How I Met Your Mother” star Josh Radnor directorial debut, the indie romantic-comedy HappyThankYouMorePlease, won the Audience Award for dramatic competition. It has not inked a distribution deal, but reportedly has several interested buyers. The ensemble cast includes Radnor, Malin Akerman, Richard Jenkins, and Kate Mara.
In documentaries, Restrepo earned the Grand Jury kudos and Paramount’s Waiting for Superman won the audience award.
The biggest surprise was Mark Ruffalo’s first film, Sympathy for Delicious, grabbing a special jury prize after being generally panned by critics.
- 2/1/2010
- by Jeff Leins
- newsinfilm.com
The 2010 Sundance Awards were also announced last night, which will give you some keen insight to a lot of movies you've never heard of and likely never will. In fact, I've made it to Sundance twice now, and on both occasions, I watched something like 20 films -- usually the ones with the biggest buzz -- only to see the list of award winners and say, "What? I've never even heard of this movie." And, indeed, despite following Sundance fairly close this year, I'm reading many of the titles below for the first time.
In other words, the Sundance Grand Jury winners mean almost nothing, though the audience award winners often are the ones that you'll be hearing about over the next few months or so. For evidence of that, just check out the 2008 Award winners, which has only a few titles you may recognize (Frozen River, Wackness, Man on Wire...
In other words, the Sundance Grand Jury winners mean almost nothing, though the audience award winners often are the ones that you'll be hearing about over the next few months or so. For evidence of that, just check out the 2008 Award winners, which has only a few titles you may recognize (Frozen River, Wackness, Man on Wire...
- 1/31/2010
- by Dustin Rowles
Sundance put a punctuation mark on this year's festival with their awards announcement -- emcee (and "The Perfect Host" star) David Hyde Pierce rapped the name of nearly every festival film over the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow." (Hyde Pierce joked, "it was Redford's idea.") Here are the winners:
Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Dramatic Film: Debra Granik's "Winter's Bone" (Roadside Attractions picked up the film and will likely distribute in the summer.)
Special Jury Prize for U.S. Dramatic Film: Mark Ruffalo's "Sympathy for Delicious"
Directing Award, Dramatic Category: Eric Mendelsohn for "3 Backyards"
Directing Award, Documentary Category: Leon Gast for "Smash His Camera"
The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini for "Winter's Bone"
Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary: Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington's "Restrepo"
Special Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary: Josh Fox's natural gas drilling doc...
Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Dramatic Film: Debra Granik's "Winter's Bone" (Roadside Attractions picked up the film and will likely distribute in the summer.)
Special Jury Prize for U.S. Dramatic Film: Mark Ruffalo's "Sympathy for Delicious"
Directing Award, Dramatic Category: Eric Mendelsohn for "3 Backyards"
Directing Award, Documentary Category: Leon Gast for "Smash His Camera"
The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini for "Winter's Bone"
Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary: Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington's "Restrepo"
Special Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary: Josh Fox's natural gas drilling doc...
- 1/31/2010
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
Debra Granik, director of Winter's Bone
Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – Winter’s Bone
Grand Jury Prize: Documentary – Restrepo
Directing Award: Dramatic – Eric Mendelsohn for 3 Backyards
Directing Award: Documentary – Leon Gast for Smash His Camera
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award – Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini for Winter’s Bone
Excellence in Editing Award: Documentary – Penelope Falk for Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Excellence in Cinematography Award: Dramatic – Zak Mulligan for Obselidia
Excellence in Cinematography Award: Documentary – Kirsten Johnson and Laura Poitras for The Oath
Special Jury Prize: Dramatic – Sympathy for Delicious
Special Jury Prize: Documentary – GasLand
Audience Award: Dramatic – Happythankyoumoreplease
Audience Award: Documentary – Waiting for Superman
World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic – Contracorriente
World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary – Waste Land
Best of Next Award: Homewrecker
World Cinema Jury Prize: Dramatic – Animal Kingdom
World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic – Juan Carlos Valdivia for Southern District
World Cinema Screenwriting Award – Juan Carlos Valdivia for Southern...
Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – Winter’s Bone
Grand Jury Prize: Documentary – Restrepo
Directing Award: Dramatic – Eric Mendelsohn for 3 Backyards
Directing Award: Documentary – Leon Gast for Smash His Camera
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award – Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini for Winter’s Bone
Excellence in Editing Award: Documentary – Penelope Falk for Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Excellence in Cinematography Award: Dramatic – Zak Mulligan for Obselidia
Excellence in Cinematography Award: Documentary – Kirsten Johnson and Laura Poitras for The Oath
Special Jury Prize: Dramatic – Sympathy for Delicious
Special Jury Prize: Documentary – GasLand
Audience Award: Dramatic – Happythankyoumoreplease
Audience Award: Documentary – Waiting for Superman
World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic – Contracorriente
World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary – Waste Land
Best of Next Award: Homewrecker
World Cinema Jury Prize: Dramatic – Animal Kingdom
World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic – Juan Carlos Valdivia for Southern District
World Cinema Screenwriting Award – Juan Carlos Valdivia for Southern...
- 1/31/2010
- by arno
- IMDb Blog - All the Latest
Debra Granik's "Winter's Bone" was the big winner in Park City Saturday night, as it won both the dramatic competition grand jury prize and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Earlier in the day, the gritty drama secured North American distribution through Roadside Attractions for release later this year.
The film, about an unflinching Ozark Mountain girl trudging through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her missing father, was adapted from the Daniel Woodrell novel by Granik and Anne Rosellini. Granik's previous film, the 2004 Sundance entry "Down to the Bone," won her a dramatic directing award.
The rest of the awards were fairly well spread around at the Saturday night ceremony hosted by David Hyde Pierce, who starred in the Park City at Midnight entry "The Perfect Host" this year.
To kick off the evening, Pierce came on stage in knit cap rapping to...
The film, about an unflinching Ozark Mountain girl trudging through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her missing father, was adapted from the Daniel Woodrell novel by Granik and Anne Rosellini. Granik's previous film, the 2004 Sundance entry "Down to the Bone," won her a dramatic directing award.
The rest of the awards were fairly well spread around at the Saturday night ceremony hosted by David Hyde Pierce, who starred in the Park City at Midnight entry "The Perfect Host" this year.
To kick off the evening, Pierce came on stage in knit cap rapping to...
- 1/30/2010
- by By Jay A. Fernandez and Gregg Goldstein
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
MILL VALLEY, Calif. -- Documentarian Taren Davies' response to Sept. 11 was to go to Afghanistan. The result is a 59-minute film that is surprisingly gentle and empathetic in its portrait of Afghani expatriates and residents, all of whom have dealt with the tumult and chaos of the past 24 years of Afghani history.
"Afghan Stories" will have a limited art house release in major cities via 7th Art, followed by appearances on cable or PBS, and it should be well-received.
Davies -- American-born, British-raised and living in New York -- shot the project on video, which allowed him greater freedom of movement and portability. The film opens with familiar footage of the Sept. 11 attacks and Davies' voice-over narration explaining his decision to go to Afghanistan. He enlists the help of his friend Walied Osman, an Afghan-American who serves as co-producer.
Osman and Davies first go to Queens to speak to a member of the Afghan royal family jailed and tortured by the Taliban. His response to the war against the Taliban is pure contempt for his native land: He advocates throwing "an atomic bomb over it." He reminisces about the Afghanistan of the 1950s and '60s, expressing his love and regret over its destruction.
Three weeks into the American bombing campaign, the two filmmakers travel to Tajikistan to await permission to enter a portion of Afghanistan controlled by the Northern Alliance. They stay with a refugee Afghani family -- ex-journalist Ali, his doctor wife and their children -- who are trying to get permission to join Ali's mother in Canada. Davies tapes a video of Ali's family and promises to deliver it to the mother in Canada.
Once in Afghanistan, in the town of Faizabad, Davies and Osman meet the area manager of the U.N.'s World Food Program and accompany him to a warlord-controlled town where a new road is being built. Davies approaches all the people he meets with a respect and openness that encourages them to talk freely on camera. He possesses a wry but kindly sense of humor and shows some of the absurdities of the ruined country, such as a half-hour negotiation between the U.N. official and the warlord when the former wants to leave the latter's village. (The warlord wants the party to stay for tea first.)
Davies' film was made at such a specific and tumultuous time that it's somewhat limited in perspective. "Afghan Stories" is free of cant and political agenda. What we get instead are individualized portraits of a ravaged people -- a real achievement for this modest film.
AFGHAN STORIES
7th Art Releasing
Wicklow Films
Credits:
Director: Taran Davies
Screenwriter: Taran Davies
Producers: Taran Davies, Walied Osman
Director of photography: Taran Davies
Editors: Penelope Falk, Doug O'Connor
Running time -- 59 minutes
No MPAA rating...
"Afghan Stories" will have a limited art house release in major cities via 7th Art, followed by appearances on cable or PBS, and it should be well-received.
Davies -- American-born, British-raised and living in New York -- shot the project on video, which allowed him greater freedom of movement and portability. The film opens with familiar footage of the Sept. 11 attacks and Davies' voice-over narration explaining his decision to go to Afghanistan. He enlists the help of his friend Walied Osman, an Afghan-American who serves as co-producer.
Osman and Davies first go to Queens to speak to a member of the Afghan royal family jailed and tortured by the Taliban. His response to the war against the Taliban is pure contempt for his native land: He advocates throwing "an atomic bomb over it." He reminisces about the Afghanistan of the 1950s and '60s, expressing his love and regret over its destruction.
Three weeks into the American bombing campaign, the two filmmakers travel to Tajikistan to await permission to enter a portion of Afghanistan controlled by the Northern Alliance. They stay with a refugee Afghani family -- ex-journalist Ali, his doctor wife and their children -- who are trying to get permission to join Ali's mother in Canada. Davies tapes a video of Ali's family and promises to deliver it to the mother in Canada.
Once in Afghanistan, in the town of Faizabad, Davies and Osman meet the area manager of the U.N.'s World Food Program and accompany him to a warlord-controlled town where a new road is being built. Davies approaches all the people he meets with a respect and openness that encourages them to talk freely on camera. He possesses a wry but kindly sense of humor and shows some of the absurdities of the ruined country, such as a half-hour negotiation between the U.N. official and the warlord when the former wants to leave the latter's village. (The warlord wants the party to stay for tea first.)
Davies' film was made at such a specific and tumultuous time that it's somewhat limited in perspective. "Afghan Stories" is free of cant and political agenda. What we get instead are individualized portraits of a ravaged people -- a real achievement for this modest film.
AFGHAN STORIES
7th Art Releasing
Wicklow Films
Credits:
Director: Taran Davies
Screenwriter: Taran Davies
Producers: Taran Davies, Walied Osman
Director of photography: Taran Davies
Editors: Penelope Falk, Doug O'Connor
Running time -- 59 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/15/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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