The world is Nat Geo’s playground with the network’s newly announced slate of unscripted content.
Ahead of Disney’s upfront presentation on Tuesday in New York City, National Geographic on Monday announced a new slate of six personality-driven series aimed to showcase various aspects of culture from around the world. The new shows will feature notable personalities Derek Hough, Kristen Kish, Jeff Jenkins, Indy Srinath and Christian Cooper — as well as high school competitors of a global science fair competition.
Renowned dancer Derek Hough will guide viewers around the world on an exploration of dance history and trends in the new show “Dance the World With Derek Hough.” In each episode, Hough will team up with a celebrity guest to embark on a journey to uncover the global cultural traditions that shape dance. Grant Kahler is executive producer and showrunner on the series. For National Geographic, Betsy Forhan is executive producer,...
Ahead of Disney’s upfront presentation on Tuesday in New York City, National Geographic on Monday announced a new slate of six personality-driven series aimed to showcase various aspects of culture from around the world. The new shows will feature notable personalities Derek Hough, Kristen Kish, Jeff Jenkins, Indy Srinath and Christian Cooper — as well as high school competitors of a global science fair competition.
Renowned dancer Derek Hough will guide viewers around the world on an exploration of dance history and trends in the new show “Dance the World With Derek Hough.” In each episode, Hough will team up with a celebrity guest to embark on a journey to uncover the global cultural traditions that shape dance. Grant Kahler is executive producer and showrunner on the series. For National Geographic, Betsy Forhan is executive producer,...
- 5/16/2022
- by Carson Burton
- Variety Film + TV
Washington — President Donald Trump called Omarosa Manigault Newman a “dog” after CBS News aired another tape tied to the release of her new book, in which Manigault Newman and other campaign officials are heard discussing the fallout should a tape surface where Trump uses the “n-word.”
Manigault Newman’s book, “Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House,” is being published on Tuesday. On her publicity tour for the book, she has claimed that she heard a tape recorded from his days on “The Apprentice” in which he uses the racial slur multiple times.
Trump denies that claim and says that she “made it up,” and posted another tweet on Tuesday attacking Manigault Newman, who had a high level title and salary at the White House until she was fired in December.
“When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House,...
Manigault Newman’s book, “Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House,” is being published on Tuesday. On her publicity tour for the book, she has claimed that she heard a tape recorded from his days on “The Apprentice” in which he uses the racial slur multiple times.
Trump denies that claim and says that she “made it up,” and posted another tweet on Tuesday attacking Manigault Newman, who had a high level title and salary at the White House until she was fired in December.
“When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House,...
- 8/14/2018
- by Ted Johnson
- Variety Film + TV
Oxygen Greenlights 10 New True-Crime Series, Sets U.S. Premiere of ‘Serial Killer With Piers Morgan’
Oxygen Media is expanding its true-crime slate with 10 new series getting the greenlight at the network. The network will also air the U.S. premiere of “Serial Killer with Piers Morgan.”
“The response from the true-crime community has been overwhelming,” said Rod Aissa, executive vice president of original programming and development for Oxygen. “We’ve had some tremendous early ratings successes since our rebrand, and this new slate adds to our mission of providing best in class investigative docuseries from the top producers and talent in the genre, while continuing to offer exclusive access and compelling storytelling that have become paramount to our viewers.”
In 2017, Oxygen rebranded to a fulltime true-crime destination, producing series like “Cold Justice” “The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway,” “Dahmer on Dahmer: A Serial Killer Speaks” and “Aaron Hernandez Uncovered,” which all set ratings records for the network.
Read the official descriptions of the 10 upcoming series below.
“The response from the true-crime community has been overwhelming,” said Rod Aissa, executive vice president of original programming and development for Oxygen. “We’ve had some tremendous early ratings successes since our rebrand, and this new slate adds to our mission of providing best in class investigative docuseries from the top producers and talent in the genre, while continuing to offer exclusive access and compelling storytelling that have become paramount to our viewers.”
In 2017, Oxygen rebranded to a fulltime true-crime destination, producing series like “Cold Justice” “The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway,” “Dahmer on Dahmer: A Serial Killer Speaks” and “Aaron Hernandez Uncovered,” which all set ratings records for the network.
Read the official descriptions of the 10 upcoming series below.
- 4/9/2018
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Oxygen announced the expansion of its true crime programming Monday, including 10 new shows and the United States premiere of “Serial Killer With Piers Morgan.”
“Serial Killer With Piers Morgan” will explore the minds of three of America’s “most depraved” serial killers through on-camera interviews with Morgan. Morgan will executive produce with John Ferriter, Will Daws and Stuart Cabb. The show is produced by Plum Pictures and Ferret Productions.
“The response from the true crime community has been overwhelming,” said executive vice president of original programming and development Rod Aissa.
Also Read: Menendez Brothers, Convicted Killers and True Crime Series Subjects, Reunite Behind Bars
“We’ve had some tremendous early ratings successes since our rebrand, and this new slate adds to our mission of providing best in class investigative docu-series from the top producers and talent in the genre, while continuing to offer exclusive access and compelling storytelling that have become paramount to our viewers,” he added.
“Oxygen is delivering an audience of true crime enthusiasts that is passionate about the programming, resulting in the ideal effectiveness for our advertiser’s messaging,” said executive vice president of lifestyle and Hispanic advertising sales at NBCUniversal. “We’re seeing this engagement not just on linear but also across Oxygen’s digital presence, where younger, valuable consumers are coming to the network, allowing us to show the network’s reach across multiple demos.”
The true crime slate includes 10 new series, below:
Also Read: SundanceTV Teams With Blumhouse Television on New True Crime Documentary Series
“In Defense Of” explores the relationship between criminals and their defense attorneys. It will take a look at high-profile criminals including the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and his defense attorney Chris Tritico, and Jodi Arias and her public defense lawyer Kirk Nurmi. It is produced by Magical Elves with executive producers Jane Lipsitz and Dan Cutforth.
“The Disappearance of Crystal Rogers” takes a look back at the disappearance in 2015 of a 35-year-old mother in Bardstown, Kentucky. Journalist Stephanie Bauer partners with retired homicide detective Dwayne Stanton in this investigative series. It is produced by Peacock Productions with executive producers Lloyd Fales and Nicole Rittenmeyer.
“Price of Duty” portrays homicide detectives recounting the most haunting case of their careers. It is produced by The Intellectual Property Corporation (Ipc) with executive producers Eli Holzman, Aaron Saidman, Bill Pruitt, Jackson Nguyen and Todd Crites.
Also Read: Patton Oswalt on Completing His Late Wife's Unfinished True-Crime Book: 'I Wanted to Do Right'
“Abuse of Power” is hosted by television journalist Lauren Sivan and will explore cases in which a pillar in a community took advantage of their power and influence. Produced by Storyville Entertainment and Lucky 8 with executive producers Betsy Schechter, Kim Woodard, Greg Henry, Dahlia Damaghi and Mitchell Rosenbaum. It will premiere on Saturday, May 12.
“The Mark of a Killer” (working title) looks at serial killers’ strange habits and trademarks. It is produced by Jarrett Creative, with executive producers Seth Jarrett and Julie Jarrett and Motiv8 Media with executive producers Kara Kurcz and Brian Lee.
“License to Kill” (working title) will see “Botched” plastic surgeon Terry Dubrow investigate murderous doctors and nurses. Each episode will detail a different case from the victim’s perspective. It is produced by Shed Media, a division of Warner Bros. Unscripted & Alternative Television. Pam Healey, Dave Kuba, Adam Kassen, and Terry Dubrow executive produce.
“Dying to Belong” explores cases in which people chose to kill with the goal of feeling accepted, including cases where a teenager killed to impress his friends and a mother who killed a cheerleader competing with her daughter. It is produced by Jupiter Entertainment with executive producers Stephen Land, Allison Wallach, Matt Sprouse and Eric Wetherington.
“Buried in the Backyard” looks at cases in which the victim was buried in an unsuspecting place: the backyard. Each episode will start with discovering the body’s remains through the police investigation. It is produced by Renegade 83 with executive producers Jay Renfroe, David Garfinkle, Bob Kusbit and Jeff Kuntz, and premieres Sunday, June 3.
“A Wedding and a Murder” looks at cases in which a wedding serves as a catalyst for a murder. Anyone could be a suspect, from the bride and groom to a wedding guest. It is produced by Leepson Bounds Entertainment with executive producers David Leepson, Stephanie Lydecker, Mary Bissell and Daniel Schulman. It also premieres Sunday June 3.
“Cult of Killers” (working title) explores murders committed by cults. Each episode will look at the cult behind the crime and try to explain what drove its members to kill. It is produced by Ipc with executive producers Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman and Eureka with executive producers Paul Franklin and Chris Culvenor.
Read original story Piers Morgan Serial Killer Series Headlines 10 True Crime Shows Ordered by Oxygen At TheWrap...
“Serial Killer With Piers Morgan” will explore the minds of three of America’s “most depraved” serial killers through on-camera interviews with Morgan. Morgan will executive produce with John Ferriter, Will Daws and Stuart Cabb. The show is produced by Plum Pictures and Ferret Productions.
“The response from the true crime community has been overwhelming,” said executive vice president of original programming and development Rod Aissa.
Also Read: Menendez Brothers, Convicted Killers and True Crime Series Subjects, Reunite Behind Bars
“We’ve had some tremendous early ratings successes since our rebrand, and this new slate adds to our mission of providing best in class investigative docu-series from the top producers and talent in the genre, while continuing to offer exclusive access and compelling storytelling that have become paramount to our viewers,” he added.
“Oxygen is delivering an audience of true crime enthusiasts that is passionate about the programming, resulting in the ideal effectiveness for our advertiser’s messaging,” said executive vice president of lifestyle and Hispanic advertising sales at NBCUniversal. “We’re seeing this engagement not just on linear but also across Oxygen’s digital presence, where younger, valuable consumers are coming to the network, allowing us to show the network’s reach across multiple demos.”
The true crime slate includes 10 new series, below:
Also Read: SundanceTV Teams With Blumhouse Television on New True Crime Documentary Series
“In Defense Of” explores the relationship between criminals and their defense attorneys. It will take a look at high-profile criminals including the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and his defense attorney Chris Tritico, and Jodi Arias and her public defense lawyer Kirk Nurmi. It is produced by Magical Elves with executive producers Jane Lipsitz and Dan Cutforth.
“The Disappearance of Crystal Rogers” takes a look back at the disappearance in 2015 of a 35-year-old mother in Bardstown, Kentucky. Journalist Stephanie Bauer partners with retired homicide detective Dwayne Stanton in this investigative series. It is produced by Peacock Productions with executive producers Lloyd Fales and Nicole Rittenmeyer.
“Price of Duty” portrays homicide detectives recounting the most haunting case of their careers. It is produced by The Intellectual Property Corporation (Ipc) with executive producers Eli Holzman, Aaron Saidman, Bill Pruitt, Jackson Nguyen and Todd Crites.
Also Read: Patton Oswalt on Completing His Late Wife's Unfinished True-Crime Book: 'I Wanted to Do Right'
“Abuse of Power” is hosted by television journalist Lauren Sivan and will explore cases in which a pillar in a community took advantage of their power and influence. Produced by Storyville Entertainment and Lucky 8 with executive producers Betsy Schechter, Kim Woodard, Greg Henry, Dahlia Damaghi and Mitchell Rosenbaum. It will premiere on Saturday, May 12.
“The Mark of a Killer” (working title) looks at serial killers’ strange habits and trademarks. It is produced by Jarrett Creative, with executive producers Seth Jarrett and Julie Jarrett and Motiv8 Media with executive producers Kara Kurcz and Brian Lee.
“License to Kill” (working title) will see “Botched” plastic surgeon Terry Dubrow investigate murderous doctors and nurses. Each episode will detail a different case from the victim’s perspective. It is produced by Shed Media, a division of Warner Bros. Unscripted & Alternative Television. Pam Healey, Dave Kuba, Adam Kassen, and Terry Dubrow executive produce.
“Dying to Belong” explores cases in which people chose to kill with the goal of feeling accepted, including cases where a teenager killed to impress his friends and a mother who killed a cheerleader competing with her daughter. It is produced by Jupiter Entertainment with executive producers Stephen Land, Allison Wallach, Matt Sprouse and Eric Wetherington.
“Buried in the Backyard” looks at cases in which the victim was buried in an unsuspecting place: the backyard. Each episode will start with discovering the body’s remains through the police investigation. It is produced by Renegade 83 with executive producers Jay Renfroe, David Garfinkle, Bob Kusbit and Jeff Kuntz, and premieres Sunday, June 3.
“A Wedding and a Murder” looks at cases in which a wedding serves as a catalyst for a murder. Anyone could be a suspect, from the bride and groom to a wedding guest. It is produced by Leepson Bounds Entertainment with executive producers David Leepson, Stephanie Lydecker, Mary Bissell and Daniel Schulman. It also premieres Sunday June 3.
“Cult of Killers” (working title) explores murders committed by cults. Each episode will look at the cult behind the crime and try to explain what drove its members to kill. It is produced by Ipc with executive producers Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman and Eureka with executive producers Paul Franklin and Chris Culvenor.
Read original story Piers Morgan Serial Killer Series Headlines 10 True Crime Shows Ordered by Oxygen At TheWrap...
- 4/9/2018
- by Ashley Boucher
- The Wrap
In the recently released Netflix documentary The Confidence Man, two creators of The Apprentice discuss creating the “character” of Donald Trump as a billionaire business tycoon.
“What we did, that was a scam,” says producer Bill Pruitt. “That was an entertainment.”
Pruitt describes Trump’s real office within New York’s Trump Tower as dated, so the show built the boardroom where Trump uttered the now famous line “You’re Fired!” The famous boardroom was a set based on the classy, high-powered office portrayed in the movie Network.
“If you walked around Trump’s actual office in Trump Tower you...
“What we did, that was a scam,” says producer Bill Pruitt. “That was an entertainment.”
Pruitt describes Trump’s real office within New York’s Trump Tower as dated, so the show built the boardroom where Trump uttered the now famous line “You’re Fired!” The famous boardroom was a set based on the classy, high-powered office portrayed in the movie Network.
“If you walked around Trump’s actual office in Trump Tower you...
- 2/6/2018
- by Diane Herbst
- PEOPLE.com
It was “very much a racist issue,” Bill Pruitt claims.
- 10/6/2017
- by Jackson McHenry
- Vulture
Another former Apprentice power player has come for Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, Vanity Fair released the remainder of a post-election email from Bill Pruitt, who served as executive producer on the President-elect’s reality series in seasons 1 and 2 and who previously blew the whistle on potentially damning footage of Trump after footage of the the then-candidate, 70, was leaked showing him bragging about allegedly sexually assaulting women.
In the scathing commentary, Pruitt owns his part in elevating the “crumbling” businessman to the heights of power he has reached in recent months, but he also decries the participation of his colleagues in...
On Wednesday, Vanity Fair released the remainder of a post-election email from Bill Pruitt, who served as executive producer on the President-elect’s reality series in seasons 1 and 2 and who previously blew the whistle on potentially damning footage of Trump after footage of the the then-candidate, 70, was leaked showing him bragging about allegedly sexually assaulting women.
In the scathing commentary, Pruitt owns his part in elevating the “crumbling” businessman to the heights of power he has reached in recent months, but he also decries the participation of his colleagues in...
- 12/21/2016
- by Lanford Beard
- PEOPLE.com
Calls to release unaired Apprentice tapes of Donald Trump are reaching a fever pitch. On Thursday, a plane hired by an advocacy group bearing the message "MGM, NBC, Burnett: Release the Tapes" flew over entertainment offices in Los Angeles. The plane's flight path took it over MGM Studios and NBC offices, a rep for the group, UltraViolet Action, said. The mounting pressure follows former Apprentice producer Bill Pruitt's observation that there are "far worse" tapes of the Republican presidential candidate than what was heard on the lewd Access Hollywood hot mic tape originally published by the Washington Post last Friday. Mark
read more...
read more...
- 10/13/2016
- by Erik Hayden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Mark Burnett is clarifying his stance on his former Apprentice host Donald Trump.
In a statement released Wednesday, the TV producer says, “Given all the false media reports, I feel compelled to clarify a few points. I am not now and have never been a supporter of Donald Trump’s candidacy. I am Not ‘Pro-Trump.’ Further, my wife and I reject the hatred, division and misogyny that has been a very unfortunate part of his campaign.”
RelatedReport: Billy Bush ‘Will Never Be on Today Again’ in Wake of Trump Scandal
These strong words come after many in the media pressed...
In a statement released Wednesday, the TV producer says, “Given all the false media reports, I feel compelled to clarify a few points. I am not now and have never been a supporter of Donald Trump’s candidacy. I am Not ‘Pro-Trump.’ Further, my wife and I reject the hatred, division and misogyny that has been a very unfortunate part of his campaign.”
RelatedReport: Billy Bush ‘Will Never Be on Today Again’ in Wake of Trump Scandal
These strong words come after many in the media pressed...
- 10/13/2016
- TVLine.com
Pressure continues to mount on Mark Burnett to release potentially embarrassing outtakes of Donald Trump from his 11 years as the star of NBC’s The Apprentice. Today, attorney Gloria Allred and representatives from several women's advocacy groups tried to deliver an open letter to Burnett at MGM's offices in Beverly Hills, but security guards wouldn't let them in the building. On Saturday, Bill Pruitt, a former producer on the show, tweeted that Trump made "far worse"…...
- 10/11/2016
- Deadline TV
There is mounting pressure on "Apprentice" creator Mark Burnett to release unaired video and audio of Donald Trump on "The Apprentice" ... but there are iron-clad confidentiality agreements that would make such release impossible ... plus Burnett doesn't own the video. Bill Pruitt, a producer on Seasons 1 and 2, tweeted, "I assure you: when it comes to the #trumptapes there are far worse. #justthebeginning." There are reports Burnett owns the rights to the footage, but he does not.
- 10/9/2016
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
Fyi has greenlit six one-hour episodes of new culinary series Midnight Feast and has ordered two hour-long pilots, Say It To My Face and Reverse Course. Set at New York’s Chelsea Market, Midnight Feast is hosted by chef, restaurateur and TV personality Spike Mendelsohn. Each episode will feature three chefs who are given free rein to use any ingredient found in the famous food hall to execute judged dishes. By the end of the night, the winner walks away with a cash prize – while the losers walk away paying their own tabs. Say It To My Face gives chefs and restaurant owners a chance to defend themselves before their toughest online critics, and Reverse Course”follows chef and restaurateur, Sam Talbot, as he takes the farm-to-table concept to the extreme and tells the story of food like no one else has – in reverse, It begins with the final meal and works backwards,...
- 4/30/2014
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
Oh yes it still hurts that Ben Affleck was not given a Best Director Oscar nomination, yet his fantastic film "Argo" continues its ascension to Oscar glory! The film took home the top prize at the Producers Guild of America Awards taking home the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures.
So guess which film will win the Oscar Best Picture? Yup, it will be "Argo!" Why? Well, Hollywood really loves movies about them and "Argo" is about a movie of a fake movie in order to help free some Americans trapped in Iran during the hostage crisis.
And, the PGA award is a significant Academy Awards precursor. Only seven times in 24 years has the PGA winner failed to win a Best Picture Oscar. So "Argo" has a strong chance.
I'm also happy that "Searching for Sugar Man" won the Documentary category, and not so happy...
So guess which film will win the Oscar Best Picture? Yup, it will be "Argo!" Why? Well, Hollywood really loves movies about them and "Argo" is about a movie of a fake movie in order to help free some Americans trapped in Iran during the hostage crisis.
And, the PGA award is a significant Academy Awards precursor. Only seven times in 24 years has the PGA winner failed to win a Best Picture Oscar. So "Argo" has a strong chance.
I'm also happy that "Searching for Sugar Man" won the Documentary category, and not so happy...
- 1/27/2013
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
Vol. I Issue 6
Send us links to your sizzle reels and film sites.
Note: See Issues 1, 2, 3, and 4 for reviews and clips of the Academy documentary films and short films. Additional reviews of the documentary features follow in this issue.
Best documentary feature
5 Broken Cameras Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
The Gatekeepers Nominees to be determined *See note below
How to Survive a Plague Nominees to be determined
The Invisible War Nominees to be determined
Searching for Sugar Man Nominees to be determined
Best documentary short subject
Inocente Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
Kings Point Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
Mondays at Racine Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
Open Heart Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
Redemption Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill
Best animated short film
Adam and Dog Minkyu Lee
Fresh Guacamole Pes
Head over Heels Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare David Silverman
Paperman John Kahrs
Best live action short film
Asad Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
Buzkashi Boys Sam French and Ariel Nasr
Curfew Shawn Christensen
Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw) Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
Henry Yan England
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song) from a documentary
Before My Time from The documentary feature Chasing Ice Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
Note: *Nominees to be determined* The Documentary Brand gives the nomination to the individual(s) most involved in the key creative aspects of the filmmaking process. A maximum of two persons may be designated as nominees, one of whom must be the credited director who exercised directorial control, and the other of whom must have a producer or director credit. If a producer is named, that individual must have performed a major portion of the producing functions, in accordance with Academy producer criteria. No more than two statuettes will normally be given in the Documentary Feature category. All individuals with a “Producer” or “Produced by” credit on films that reach the semifinal round will automatically be vetted.
The Documentary Branch Executive Committee will determine which producers, if any, are eligible to receive an Oscar. In the unlikely event of a dispute, filmmakers may appeal the committee’s decision. In extremely rare circumstances, a third statuette may be awarded.
Production companies or persons with the screen credit of executive producer, co-producer or any credit other than director or producer shall not be eligible as nominees for the motion picture.
DGA Documentary Award Nominations
Kirby Dick The Invisible War
This is Mr. Dick’s first DGA Award nomination.
Malik Bendjelloul Searching For Sugar Man
This is Mr. Bendjelloul’s first DGA Award nomination.
Lauren Greenfield The Queen of Versailles
This is Ms. Greenfield’s first DGA Award nomination.
David France How To Survive A Plague
This is Mr. France’s first DGA Award nomination.
Alison Klayman Ai WeiWei: Never Sorry
This is Ms. Klayman’s first DGA Award nomination.
Two Academy Nominated Documentary Features
& One Academy Short Listed Documentary Reviewed
The Gatekeepers, directed by Dror Moreh
Documentary Feature Nominee
Six former heads of Israel’s domestic secret service agency, the Shin Bet, share their insights and reflect publicly on their actions and decisions in The Gatekeepers, a film by Dror Moreh. These six heads of the Shin Bet stood at the center of Israel's decision-making process in all matters pertaining to security. They worked closely with every Israeli prime minister, and their assessments and insights had—and continue to have—a profound impact on Israeli policy. The Gatekeepers is an exclusive account of their successes and failures.
I find The Gatekeepers remarkable. Not for its craft but for its concept and vision. Imagine
J Edger Hoover talking about his tenure at the FBI, his successes and his failures, his interactions with the Presidents and members of Congress, and his critical self-evaluation of his mission and how his agency’s work affected our nation. Imagine. Dror Moreh accomplished this feat when he convinced these six surviving members of the Shin Bet, to speak on camera.
The film provides a historical perspective of Israel that is both candid and critical of the successive governments in this rare Middle Eastern democracy. The Shin Bet was created in 1949 by David Ben-Gurion’s government to focus on the internal affairs of Israel and evolved into dealing with counterterrorism and intelligence gathering in the West Bank and Gaza.
These intelligence heads, like ours, report to the President/Prime Minister. They are not part of the military complex. It is this context that gives this work its power. We hear the story of Israel’s struggle to protect itself from both its internal and external enemies; the bombers, terrorists, agents and others who worked to destroy this small country. These men are not glamorous or like the fictional heads of the spy agencies we have seen in James Bond and Bourne films. They are bald or balding grandfather-types. Articulate, highly educated, calm and yet we know that they protected Israel from its enemies even if they had them killed.
This is one of the strongest of the nominated docs. It raises significant issues of personal responsibilities. Despite the lack of oversight we don’t feel that this is an organization gone amuck like the Catholic Church not protecting children or the Us Military not protecting its members from sexual harassment. We see these articulate men as guardians and protectors of their nation steadfastly doing their duty within the confines of their moral beliefs. What is scary about The Gatekeepers is that clearly there could have been abuses and wrongs done by the Shin Bet if these six had less character or their mission was redefined by the government without regard to moral or ethical standards. The film on reflection is troubling for regardless of how the spectator might feel about Israel it forces us to look at this conflict through the lenses of these six guardians and we can only wonder what they don’t tell us about what they did in the name of their country.
Credits:
Director: Dror Moreh
Camera: Avner Shahaf
Producers: Dror Moreh, Estelle Fialon, Philippa Kowarsky
Co Producer: Anna Van Der Wee
Sound: Amos Zipori
Sound Design: Aex Claude
Music: Ab Ovo, Jérôme Chassagnard, Régis Baillet
Editor: Oron Adar
Production Companies: Dror Moreh Productions, Les Films du Poisson, Cinephil
In Co-Production with: Mac Guff, Wild Heart Productions, Arte France, Iba, Ndr, Rtbf
With the support of: Cnc, Media, Région Ile-de-France, Procirep, Angoa, The Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts – Cinema Project
Distribution: Sony Classics
Trailer: http://www.sonyclassics.com/thegatekeepers/
The House I Live In, directed by Eugene Jarecki
Short Listed Documentary Feature for Academy Award nomination
The House I Live In looks at how America has waged war on some of its poorest citizens, costing countless lives, destroying families, and inflicting untold damage on future generations of Americans. It posits that over the last forty years, the War on Drugs has accounted for more than 45 million arrests and shows how America became the world’s largest jailer, damaging poor communities at home and abroad. Yet today drugs are cheaper, purer and more available than ever before. It shows that drug abuse is a public health issue. Despite this, it is treated by our society as a criminal matter and a vast machine has been created that feeds on the men and women who are incarcerated. Because of this, the prisoners are not offered help or a cure for their underlying problems, so they return to prison in a never ending cycle.
Eugene Jarecki, whose previous films looked at the military industrial complex (Why We Fight and The Trials of Henry Kissinger), won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at Sundance in both 2005 and 2010. The film tackles difficult material. Material that has been in scores of documentaries and television shows over the years. Yet Jarecki, using his personal experience, a wealth of interviews and strong case studies, builds a compelling case for changing the sentencing guidelines for crack (and cocaine) and for dealing with both addiction and the underlying causes of addiction. Jarecki is a skillful filmmaker who has picked a vast and complex subject and has created a work that while rich in content moves along at a good pace although it might have been stronger if it had tried to do less. The film editor Paul Frost and the composer Robert Miller do an excellent job building strong sequences with evocative music. It was nicely shot by Sam Cullman and Derek Hallquist. Richard Abramowitz’s Abramorama handled the distribution and was successful getting the work out which is never easy for such an issue oriented film.
Credits:
Director, Producer, Screenwriter: Eugene Jarecki
Producers: Melinda Shopsin, Sam Cullman, Christopher St. John
Executive Producers: Eugene Jarecki, Nick Fraser, Joslyn Barnes, Danny Glover, Russell Simmons, Roy Ackerman, John Legend, Sally Jo Feifer, Nick Fraser
Camera: Sam Cullman, Derek Hallquist
Sound: Matthew Freed, Art Jaso
Music: Robert Milller
Editor: Paul Frost
Production Companies: Charlotte Street Films, Zdf Enterprises, Independent Television Services, BBC, Aljazeera Documentary Channel, Vpro, Special Broadcasting Service Corporation, Louverture Films, Nhk
Distribution (Us): Abramorama Entertainment, Snag Films
How to Survive a Plague, directed by David France
Documentary Feature Nominee
How to Survive a Plague by writer and filmmaker David France tells the story of how two coalitions came together to lobby for effective treatments and funding for treatments of AIDS in the late 1980s when it was evident that the Us government and its health and other agencies were not being very effective dealing with the AIDS epidemic. The coalitions, Act Up and Tag (Treatment Action Group) helped to make AIDS more treatable. While there is still no cure for AIDS and thousands of people globally still die from the virus, it is now possible to prolong life with treatments that have been developed.
Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time. With access to never-before-seen archival footage from the 1980s and '90s, filmmaker David France puts the viewer smack in the middle of the controversial actions, the heated meetings, the heartbreaking failures, and the exultant breakthroughs. Faced with their own mortality an improbable group of young men and women, many of them HIV-positive took on Washington and the medical establishment.
While there have been a handful of outstanding films dealing with the AIDS epidemic including Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, The Broadcast Tapes of Dr. Peter and Silverlake Life, to name a few, How to Survive a Plague picks up on the story begun in the landmark Common Threads and updates the struggle, looking at the quest to find a treatment and possibly a cure for this vicious disease. The film weaves together stories of activism and shows how a small determined group can effect change not just nationally but globally. While the film is not as well made as Common Threads or Dr. Peter, it’s powerful. The archival footage manages to capture some of the key figures of Act Up and Tag showing actions as they take place. Instead of relying on talking heads to tell this amazing story, it is presented with footage shot as the story unfolded. This footage and its solid editing distinguishes this film from so many of the works that have tried to tell this story.
Few documentaries have such powerful antagonists, the government, incompetence, a lack of urgency on the part of the medical community and fear. Throw in homophobia and it is evident that the dramatic actions of these heroes saved hundreds of thousands of possible victims from this mostly sexually spread plague.
My only serious criticism of this documentary is its failure to be clearer that the plague continues, that there is no cure for HIV/AIDS and that the community continues to give a false sense of hope. Currently the Cdc states:
” ..estimates that 1,148,200 persons aged 13 years and older are living with HIV infection, including 207,600 (18.1%) who are unaware of their infection1. Over the past decade, the number of people living with HIV has increased, while the annual number of new HIV infections has remained relatively stable. Still, the pace of new infections continues at far too high a level—particularly among certain groups.
HIV Incidence(new infections): The estimated incidence of HIV has remained stable overall in recent years, at about 50,000 new HIV infections per year.2 Within the overall estimates, however, some groups are affected more than others. Msm (men who have sex with men) continue to bear the greatest burden of HIV infection, and among races/ethnicities, African Americans continue to be disproportionately affected.”
This information could have been contained in the last few minutes of this powerful work, to inspire and warn the audience that testing is critical and that safe sex is still the only way to contain AIDS.
The Filmmaker
David France, Director, Producer
David France is an award-winning journalist and New York Times best-selling author who has been writing about AIDS since 1982 and today is one of the best-known chroniclers of the epidemic. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, GQ, and New York magazine, where he is a contributing editor, and has received the National Headliner Award and the GLAAD Media Award, among others. Several films have been inspired by his work, most recently the Emmy-nominated Showtime film Our Fathers, for which he received a WGA nomination. He is at work on a major history of AIDS, due from Alfred A. Knopf in 2013. Based on decades of reporting, How to Survive a Plague is his directorial debut.
Credits
Director: David France
Writers: David France, Todd Woody Richman, Tyler H. Walk
Producers: David France, Howard Gertler
Executive Producers: Dan Cogan, Joy A. Tomchin
Co-Producer: Todd Woody Richman
Camera: Derek Wieshahn
Sound: Stuart Deutsch, Topher Reifeiss
Original Music: Stuart Bogie
Editor: Todd Woody Richman, Tyler H. Walk
Production Companies: Public Square Films, Ninety Thousand Words
Distribution (Us): Sundance Selects
Short Notes and Update:
The International Documentary Association in Los Angeles presents Doc U: The Doc Reporter
Navigating the Intersection of Documentary and Journalism
Moderated by: Karin Skellwagen (The Brooks Institute)
With Panelists:
Sarah Burns (The Central Park Five)
Michael Donaldson (Partner, Donaldson & Callif)
David France (How To Survive A Plague)
For information: http://doc-u-jan-2013-la.eventbrite.com/
Sundance Announces 2013 International Documentary Competition:
Fallen City/ China (Director: Qi Zhao) — Fallen City spans four years to reveal how three families who survived the 2008 Sichuan earthquake to embark on a journey searching for hope, purpose, identity, and to rebuild their lives in a new China torn between tradition and modernity. North American Premiere
Fire in the Blood/ India (Director: Dylan Mohan Gray) — In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Western governments and pharmaceutical companies blocked low-cost antiretroviral drugs from reaching AIDS-stricken Africa, causing 10 million or more unnecessary deaths. An improbable group of people decided to fight back. North American Premiere
Google and the World Brain/ Spain, United Kingdom (Director: Ben Lewis) — In the most ambitious Internet project ever conceived, Google is working to scan every book in the world. Google says it is building a library for mankind. But some are trying to stop it, claiming that Google may have other intentions. World Premiere
The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear/ Georgia, Germany (Director: Tinatin Gurchiani) — A film director casting a 15-23-year-old protagonist visits villages and cities to meet people who answer her call. She follows those who prove to be interesting enough through various dramatic and funny situations. North American Premiere
The Moo Man/ United Kingdom (Directors: Andy Heathcote, Heike Bachelier) — A year in the life of heroic farmer Steve, scene stealing Ida (queen of the herd), and a supporting cast of 55 cows. When Ida falls ill, Steve’s optimism is challenged and their whole way of life is at stake. World Premiere
Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer/ Russian Federation, United Kingdom (Directors: Mike Lerner, Maxim Pozdorovkin) — Three young women face seven years in a Russian prison for a satirical performance in a Moscow cathedral. But who is really on trial: the three young artists or the society they live in? World Premiere
A River Changes Course/ Cambodia, U.S.A. (Director: Kalyanee Mam) — Three young Cambodians struggle to overcome the crushing effects of deforestation, overfishing, and overwhelming debt in this devastatingly beautiful story of a country reeling from the tragedies of war and rushing to keep pace with a rapidly expanding world. World Premiere
Salma/ United Kingdom, India (Director: Kim Longinotto) — When Salma, a young girl in South India, reached puberty, her parents locked her away. Millions of girls all over the world share the same fate. Twenty-five years later, Salma has fought her way back to the outside world. World Premiere
The Square (Al Midan)/ Egypt, U.S.A. (Director: Jehane Noujaim) — What does it mean to risk your life for your ideals? How far will five revolutionaries go in defending their beliefs in the fight for their nation? World Premiere
The Stuart Hall Project/ United Kingdom (Director: John Akomfrah) — Antinuclear campaigner, New Left activist and founding father of Cultural Studies, this documentary interweaves 70 years of Stuart Hall’s film, radio and television appearances, and material from his private archive to document a memorable life and construct a portrait of Britain’s foremost radical intellectual. World Premiere
The Summit/ Ireland, United Kingdom (Director: Nick Ryan) — Twenty-four climbers converged at the last stop before summiting the most dangerous mountain on Earth. Forty-eight hours later, 11 had been killed or simply vanished. Had one, Ger McDonnell, stuck to the climbers' code, he might still be alive. International Premiere
Who is Dayani Cristal?/ United Kingdom (Director: Marc Silver) — An anonymous body in the Arizona desert sparks the beginning of a real-life human drama. The search for its identity leads us across a continent to seek out the people left behind and the meaning of a mysterious tattoo. World Premiere. Day One Film
Producer’s Guild Announces Nominations for the Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures and Non-Fiction Television:
A People Uncounted(Urbinder Films)
Producers: Marc Swenker, Aaron Yeger
The Gatekeepers(Sony Pictures Classics)
Producers: Estelle Fialon, Philippa Kowarsky, Dror Moreh
The Island President(Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Producers: Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen
The Other Dream Team(The Film Arcade)
Producers: Marius Markevicius, Jon Weinbach
Searching For Sugar Man(Sony Pictures Classics)
Producers: Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn
Nominations for the Award for Outstanding Producer of
Non-Fiction Television:
American Masters(PBS)
Producers: Prudence Glass, Susan Lacy, Julie Sacks
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations(Travel Channel)
Producers: Anthony Bourdain, Christopher Collins, Lydia Tenaglia, Sandy Zweig
Deadliest Catch(Discovery Channel)
Producers: Thom Beers, Jeff Conroy, Sean Dash, John Gray, Sheila McCormack, Bill Pruitt, Decker Watson
Inside the Actors Studio(Bravo)
Producers: James Lipton, Shawn Tesser, Jeff Wurtz
Shark Tank(ABC)
Producers: Rhett Bachner, Becky Blitz, Mark Burnett, Bill Gaudsmith, Yun Lingner, Brien Meagher, Clay Newbill, Jim Roush, Laura Skowlund, Paul Sutera, Patrick Wood
BAFTA Short and Documentary Feature Nominations (British Academy of Film and Television Arts, London)
Documentary Feature
The ImposterBart Layton, Dimitri Doganis
Marley Kevin Macdonald, Steve Bing, Charles Steel
McCullin David Morris, Jacqui Morris
Searching for Sugar Man Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn
West of Memphis Amy Berg
Short Animation
Here to Fall Kris Kelly, Evelyn McGrath
I’m Fine Thanks Eamonn O'Neill
The Making of Longbird Will Anderson, Ainslie Henderson
Short Film
The Curse Fyzal Boulifa, Gavin Humphries
Good Night Muriel d'Ansembourg, Eva Sigurdardottir
Swimmer Lynne Ramsay, Peter Carlton, Diarmid Scrimshaw
Tumult Johnny Barrington, Rhianna Andrews
The Voorman Problem Mark Gill, Baldwin Li
The Broadcast Film Critics Association (Bfca)
Documentary Feature Nominations
Bully
The Imposter
Queen of Versailles
Searching for Sugar Man (Winner)
The Central Park Five
West of Memphis
________________________________________________________________________
Credits: Editing by Jessica Just for SydneysBuzz
________________________________________________________________________
Block Doc Workshops in Los Angeles February 2013 Ida Doc U
The International Documentary Association will be hosting Documentary Funding and Documentary Tune-Up Workshops with Block on February 9/10. http://www.documentary.org/news/february-documentary-producing-workshops-mitchell-block
Mitchell Block specializes in conceiving, producing, marketing & distributing independent features & consulting. He is an expert in placing both completed works into distribution & working with producers to make projects fundable. He conducts regular workshops in film producing in Los Angeles and most recently in Maine, Russia and in Myanmar (Burma).
Poster Girl, produced by Block was nominated for a Documentary Academy Award and selected by the Ida as the Best Doc Short 2011. It was also nominated for two Emmy Awards and aired on HBO. He is an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Carrier, a 10-hour series that he conceived & co-created. Block is a graduate of Tisch School and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Television Academy, a founding member of BAFTA-la and has been teaching at USC School of Cinematic Arts since 1979. Currently Block teaches a required class in the USC Peter Stark Producing Program.
______________________________________________________________________
©2013Mwb All Rights Reserved All Rights Reserved. All information and designs on the Sites are copyrighted material owned by Block. Reproduction, dissemination, or transmission of any part of the material here without the express written consent of the owner is strictly prohibited.All other product names and marks on Block Direct, whether trademarks, service marks, or other type, and whether registered or unregistered, is the property of Block.
Send us links to your sizzle reels and film sites.
Note: See Issues 1, 2, 3, and 4 for reviews and clips of the Academy documentary films and short films. Additional reviews of the documentary features follow in this issue.
Best documentary feature
5 Broken Cameras Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
The Gatekeepers Nominees to be determined *See note below
How to Survive a Plague Nominees to be determined
The Invisible War Nominees to be determined
Searching for Sugar Man Nominees to be determined
Best documentary short subject
Inocente Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
Kings Point Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
Mondays at Racine Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
Open Heart Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
Redemption Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill
Best animated short film
Adam and Dog Minkyu Lee
Fresh Guacamole Pes
Head over Heels Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare David Silverman
Paperman John Kahrs
Best live action short film
Asad Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
Buzkashi Boys Sam French and Ariel Nasr
Curfew Shawn Christensen
Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw) Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
Henry Yan England
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song) from a documentary
Before My Time from The documentary feature Chasing Ice Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
Note: *Nominees to be determined* The Documentary Brand gives the nomination to the individual(s) most involved in the key creative aspects of the filmmaking process. A maximum of two persons may be designated as nominees, one of whom must be the credited director who exercised directorial control, and the other of whom must have a producer or director credit. If a producer is named, that individual must have performed a major portion of the producing functions, in accordance with Academy producer criteria. No more than two statuettes will normally be given in the Documentary Feature category. All individuals with a “Producer” or “Produced by” credit on films that reach the semifinal round will automatically be vetted.
The Documentary Branch Executive Committee will determine which producers, if any, are eligible to receive an Oscar. In the unlikely event of a dispute, filmmakers may appeal the committee’s decision. In extremely rare circumstances, a third statuette may be awarded.
Production companies or persons with the screen credit of executive producer, co-producer or any credit other than director or producer shall not be eligible as nominees for the motion picture.
DGA Documentary Award Nominations
Kirby Dick The Invisible War
This is Mr. Dick’s first DGA Award nomination.
Malik Bendjelloul Searching For Sugar Man
This is Mr. Bendjelloul’s first DGA Award nomination.
Lauren Greenfield The Queen of Versailles
This is Ms. Greenfield’s first DGA Award nomination.
David France How To Survive A Plague
This is Mr. France’s first DGA Award nomination.
Alison Klayman Ai WeiWei: Never Sorry
This is Ms. Klayman’s first DGA Award nomination.
Two Academy Nominated Documentary Features
& One Academy Short Listed Documentary Reviewed
The Gatekeepers, directed by Dror Moreh
Documentary Feature Nominee
Six former heads of Israel’s domestic secret service agency, the Shin Bet, share their insights and reflect publicly on their actions and decisions in The Gatekeepers, a film by Dror Moreh. These six heads of the Shin Bet stood at the center of Israel's decision-making process in all matters pertaining to security. They worked closely with every Israeli prime minister, and their assessments and insights had—and continue to have—a profound impact on Israeli policy. The Gatekeepers is an exclusive account of their successes and failures.
I find The Gatekeepers remarkable. Not for its craft but for its concept and vision. Imagine
J Edger Hoover talking about his tenure at the FBI, his successes and his failures, his interactions with the Presidents and members of Congress, and his critical self-evaluation of his mission and how his agency’s work affected our nation. Imagine. Dror Moreh accomplished this feat when he convinced these six surviving members of the Shin Bet, to speak on camera.
The film provides a historical perspective of Israel that is both candid and critical of the successive governments in this rare Middle Eastern democracy. The Shin Bet was created in 1949 by David Ben-Gurion’s government to focus on the internal affairs of Israel and evolved into dealing with counterterrorism and intelligence gathering in the West Bank and Gaza.
These intelligence heads, like ours, report to the President/Prime Minister. They are not part of the military complex. It is this context that gives this work its power. We hear the story of Israel’s struggle to protect itself from both its internal and external enemies; the bombers, terrorists, agents and others who worked to destroy this small country. These men are not glamorous or like the fictional heads of the spy agencies we have seen in James Bond and Bourne films. They are bald or balding grandfather-types. Articulate, highly educated, calm and yet we know that they protected Israel from its enemies even if they had them killed.
This is one of the strongest of the nominated docs. It raises significant issues of personal responsibilities. Despite the lack of oversight we don’t feel that this is an organization gone amuck like the Catholic Church not protecting children or the Us Military not protecting its members from sexual harassment. We see these articulate men as guardians and protectors of their nation steadfastly doing their duty within the confines of their moral beliefs. What is scary about The Gatekeepers is that clearly there could have been abuses and wrongs done by the Shin Bet if these six had less character or their mission was redefined by the government without regard to moral or ethical standards. The film on reflection is troubling for regardless of how the spectator might feel about Israel it forces us to look at this conflict through the lenses of these six guardians and we can only wonder what they don’t tell us about what they did in the name of their country.
Credits:
Director: Dror Moreh
Camera: Avner Shahaf
Producers: Dror Moreh, Estelle Fialon, Philippa Kowarsky
Co Producer: Anna Van Der Wee
Sound: Amos Zipori
Sound Design: Aex Claude
Music: Ab Ovo, Jérôme Chassagnard, Régis Baillet
Editor: Oron Adar
Production Companies: Dror Moreh Productions, Les Films du Poisson, Cinephil
In Co-Production with: Mac Guff, Wild Heart Productions, Arte France, Iba, Ndr, Rtbf
With the support of: Cnc, Media, Région Ile-de-France, Procirep, Angoa, The Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts – Cinema Project
Distribution: Sony Classics
Trailer: http://www.sonyclassics.com/thegatekeepers/
The House I Live In, directed by Eugene Jarecki
Short Listed Documentary Feature for Academy Award nomination
The House I Live In looks at how America has waged war on some of its poorest citizens, costing countless lives, destroying families, and inflicting untold damage on future generations of Americans. It posits that over the last forty years, the War on Drugs has accounted for more than 45 million arrests and shows how America became the world’s largest jailer, damaging poor communities at home and abroad. Yet today drugs are cheaper, purer and more available than ever before. It shows that drug abuse is a public health issue. Despite this, it is treated by our society as a criminal matter and a vast machine has been created that feeds on the men and women who are incarcerated. Because of this, the prisoners are not offered help or a cure for their underlying problems, so they return to prison in a never ending cycle.
Eugene Jarecki, whose previous films looked at the military industrial complex (Why We Fight and The Trials of Henry Kissinger), won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at Sundance in both 2005 and 2010. The film tackles difficult material. Material that has been in scores of documentaries and television shows over the years. Yet Jarecki, using his personal experience, a wealth of interviews and strong case studies, builds a compelling case for changing the sentencing guidelines for crack (and cocaine) and for dealing with both addiction and the underlying causes of addiction. Jarecki is a skillful filmmaker who has picked a vast and complex subject and has created a work that while rich in content moves along at a good pace although it might have been stronger if it had tried to do less. The film editor Paul Frost and the composer Robert Miller do an excellent job building strong sequences with evocative music. It was nicely shot by Sam Cullman and Derek Hallquist. Richard Abramowitz’s Abramorama handled the distribution and was successful getting the work out which is never easy for such an issue oriented film.
Credits:
Director, Producer, Screenwriter: Eugene Jarecki
Producers: Melinda Shopsin, Sam Cullman, Christopher St. John
Executive Producers: Eugene Jarecki, Nick Fraser, Joslyn Barnes, Danny Glover, Russell Simmons, Roy Ackerman, John Legend, Sally Jo Feifer, Nick Fraser
Camera: Sam Cullman, Derek Hallquist
Sound: Matthew Freed, Art Jaso
Music: Robert Milller
Editor: Paul Frost
Production Companies: Charlotte Street Films, Zdf Enterprises, Independent Television Services, BBC, Aljazeera Documentary Channel, Vpro, Special Broadcasting Service Corporation, Louverture Films, Nhk
Distribution (Us): Abramorama Entertainment, Snag Films
How to Survive a Plague, directed by David France
Documentary Feature Nominee
How to Survive a Plague by writer and filmmaker David France tells the story of how two coalitions came together to lobby for effective treatments and funding for treatments of AIDS in the late 1980s when it was evident that the Us government and its health and other agencies were not being very effective dealing with the AIDS epidemic. The coalitions, Act Up and Tag (Treatment Action Group) helped to make AIDS more treatable. While there is still no cure for AIDS and thousands of people globally still die from the virus, it is now possible to prolong life with treatments that have been developed.
Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time. With access to never-before-seen archival footage from the 1980s and '90s, filmmaker David France puts the viewer smack in the middle of the controversial actions, the heated meetings, the heartbreaking failures, and the exultant breakthroughs. Faced with their own mortality an improbable group of young men and women, many of them HIV-positive took on Washington and the medical establishment.
While there have been a handful of outstanding films dealing with the AIDS epidemic including Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, The Broadcast Tapes of Dr. Peter and Silverlake Life, to name a few, How to Survive a Plague picks up on the story begun in the landmark Common Threads and updates the struggle, looking at the quest to find a treatment and possibly a cure for this vicious disease. The film weaves together stories of activism and shows how a small determined group can effect change not just nationally but globally. While the film is not as well made as Common Threads or Dr. Peter, it’s powerful. The archival footage manages to capture some of the key figures of Act Up and Tag showing actions as they take place. Instead of relying on talking heads to tell this amazing story, it is presented with footage shot as the story unfolded. This footage and its solid editing distinguishes this film from so many of the works that have tried to tell this story.
Few documentaries have such powerful antagonists, the government, incompetence, a lack of urgency on the part of the medical community and fear. Throw in homophobia and it is evident that the dramatic actions of these heroes saved hundreds of thousands of possible victims from this mostly sexually spread plague.
My only serious criticism of this documentary is its failure to be clearer that the plague continues, that there is no cure for HIV/AIDS and that the community continues to give a false sense of hope. Currently the Cdc states:
” ..estimates that 1,148,200 persons aged 13 years and older are living with HIV infection, including 207,600 (18.1%) who are unaware of their infection1. Over the past decade, the number of people living with HIV has increased, while the annual number of new HIV infections has remained relatively stable. Still, the pace of new infections continues at far too high a level—particularly among certain groups.
HIV Incidence(new infections): The estimated incidence of HIV has remained stable overall in recent years, at about 50,000 new HIV infections per year.2 Within the overall estimates, however, some groups are affected more than others. Msm (men who have sex with men) continue to bear the greatest burden of HIV infection, and among races/ethnicities, African Americans continue to be disproportionately affected.”
This information could have been contained in the last few minutes of this powerful work, to inspire and warn the audience that testing is critical and that safe sex is still the only way to contain AIDS.
The Filmmaker
David France, Director, Producer
David France is an award-winning journalist and New York Times best-selling author who has been writing about AIDS since 1982 and today is one of the best-known chroniclers of the epidemic. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, GQ, and New York magazine, where he is a contributing editor, and has received the National Headliner Award and the GLAAD Media Award, among others. Several films have been inspired by his work, most recently the Emmy-nominated Showtime film Our Fathers, for which he received a WGA nomination. He is at work on a major history of AIDS, due from Alfred A. Knopf in 2013. Based on decades of reporting, How to Survive a Plague is his directorial debut.
Credits
Director: David France
Writers: David France, Todd Woody Richman, Tyler H. Walk
Producers: David France, Howard Gertler
Executive Producers: Dan Cogan, Joy A. Tomchin
Co-Producer: Todd Woody Richman
Camera: Derek Wieshahn
Sound: Stuart Deutsch, Topher Reifeiss
Original Music: Stuart Bogie
Editor: Todd Woody Richman, Tyler H. Walk
Production Companies: Public Square Films, Ninety Thousand Words
Distribution (Us): Sundance Selects
Short Notes and Update:
The International Documentary Association in Los Angeles presents Doc U: The Doc Reporter
Navigating the Intersection of Documentary and Journalism
Moderated by: Karin Skellwagen (The Brooks Institute)
With Panelists:
Sarah Burns (The Central Park Five)
Michael Donaldson (Partner, Donaldson & Callif)
David France (How To Survive A Plague)
For information: http://doc-u-jan-2013-la.eventbrite.com/
Sundance Announces 2013 International Documentary Competition:
Fallen City/ China (Director: Qi Zhao) — Fallen City spans four years to reveal how three families who survived the 2008 Sichuan earthquake to embark on a journey searching for hope, purpose, identity, and to rebuild their lives in a new China torn between tradition and modernity. North American Premiere
Fire in the Blood/ India (Director: Dylan Mohan Gray) — In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Western governments and pharmaceutical companies blocked low-cost antiretroviral drugs from reaching AIDS-stricken Africa, causing 10 million or more unnecessary deaths. An improbable group of people decided to fight back. North American Premiere
Google and the World Brain/ Spain, United Kingdom (Director: Ben Lewis) — In the most ambitious Internet project ever conceived, Google is working to scan every book in the world. Google says it is building a library for mankind. But some are trying to stop it, claiming that Google may have other intentions. World Premiere
The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear/ Georgia, Germany (Director: Tinatin Gurchiani) — A film director casting a 15-23-year-old protagonist visits villages and cities to meet people who answer her call. She follows those who prove to be interesting enough through various dramatic and funny situations. North American Premiere
The Moo Man/ United Kingdom (Directors: Andy Heathcote, Heike Bachelier) — A year in the life of heroic farmer Steve, scene stealing Ida (queen of the herd), and a supporting cast of 55 cows. When Ida falls ill, Steve’s optimism is challenged and their whole way of life is at stake. World Premiere
Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer/ Russian Federation, United Kingdom (Directors: Mike Lerner, Maxim Pozdorovkin) — Three young women face seven years in a Russian prison for a satirical performance in a Moscow cathedral. But who is really on trial: the three young artists or the society they live in? World Premiere
A River Changes Course/ Cambodia, U.S.A. (Director: Kalyanee Mam) — Three young Cambodians struggle to overcome the crushing effects of deforestation, overfishing, and overwhelming debt in this devastatingly beautiful story of a country reeling from the tragedies of war and rushing to keep pace with a rapidly expanding world. World Premiere
Salma/ United Kingdom, India (Director: Kim Longinotto) — When Salma, a young girl in South India, reached puberty, her parents locked her away. Millions of girls all over the world share the same fate. Twenty-five years later, Salma has fought her way back to the outside world. World Premiere
The Square (Al Midan)/ Egypt, U.S.A. (Director: Jehane Noujaim) — What does it mean to risk your life for your ideals? How far will five revolutionaries go in defending their beliefs in the fight for their nation? World Premiere
The Stuart Hall Project/ United Kingdom (Director: John Akomfrah) — Antinuclear campaigner, New Left activist and founding father of Cultural Studies, this documentary interweaves 70 years of Stuart Hall’s film, radio and television appearances, and material from his private archive to document a memorable life and construct a portrait of Britain’s foremost radical intellectual. World Premiere
The Summit/ Ireland, United Kingdom (Director: Nick Ryan) — Twenty-four climbers converged at the last stop before summiting the most dangerous mountain on Earth. Forty-eight hours later, 11 had been killed or simply vanished. Had one, Ger McDonnell, stuck to the climbers' code, he might still be alive. International Premiere
Who is Dayani Cristal?/ United Kingdom (Director: Marc Silver) — An anonymous body in the Arizona desert sparks the beginning of a real-life human drama. The search for its identity leads us across a continent to seek out the people left behind and the meaning of a mysterious tattoo. World Premiere. Day One Film
Producer’s Guild Announces Nominations for the Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures and Non-Fiction Television:
A People Uncounted(Urbinder Films)
Producers: Marc Swenker, Aaron Yeger
The Gatekeepers(Sony Pictures Classics)
Producers: Estelle Fialon, Philippa Kowarsky, Dror Moreh
The Island President(Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Producers: Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen
The Other Dream Team(The Film Arcade)
Producers: Marius Markevicius, Jon Weinbach
Searching For Sugar Man(Sony Pictures Classics)
Producers: Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn
Nominations for the Award for Outstanding Producer of
Non-Fiction Television:
American Masters(PBS)
Producers: Prudence Glass, Susan Lacy, Julie Sacks
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations(Travel Channel)
Producers: Anthony Bourdain, Christopher Collins, Lydia Tenaglia, Sandy Zweig
Deadliest Catch(Discovery Channel)
Producers: Thom Beers, Jeff Conroy, Sean Dash, John Gray, Sheila McCormack, Bill Pruitt, Decker Watson
Inside the Actors Studio(Bravo)
Producers: James Lipton, Shawn Tesser, Jeff Wurtz
Shark Tank(ABC)
Producers: Rhett Bachner, Becky Blitz, Mark Burnett, Bill Gaudsmith, Yun Lingner, Brien Meagher, Clay Newbill, Jim Roush, Laura Skowlund, Paul Sutera, Patrick Wood
BAFTA Short and Documentary Feature Nominations (British Academy of Film and Television Arts, London)
Documentary Feature
The ImposterBart Layton, Dimitri Doganis
Marley Kevin Macdonald, Steve Bing, Charles Steel
McCullin David Morris, Jacqui Morris
Searching for Sugar Man Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn
West of Memphis Amy Berg
Short Animation
Here to Fall Kris Kelly, Evelyn McGrath
I’m Fine Thanks Eamonn O'Neill
The Making of Longbird Will Anderson, Ainslie Henderson
Short Film
The Curse Fyzal Boulifa, Gavin Humphries
Good Night Muriel d'Ansembourg, Eva Sigurdardottir
Swimmer Lynne Ramsay, Peter Carlton, Diarmid Scrimshaw
Tumult Johnny Barrington, Rhianna Andrews
The Voorman Problem Mark Gill, Baldwin Li
The Broadcast Film Critics Association (Bfca)
Documentary Feature Nominations
Bully
The Imposter
Queen of Versailles
Searching for Sugar Man (Winner)
The Central Park Five
West of Memphis
________________________________________________________________________
Credits: Editing by Jessica Just for SydneysBuzz
________________________________________________________________________
Block Doc Workshops in Los Angeles February 2013 Ida Doc U
The International Documentary Association will be hosting Documentary Funding and Documentary Tune-Up Workshops with Block on February 9/10. http://www.documentary.org/news/february-documentary-producing-workshops-mitchell-block
Mitchell Block specializes in conceiving, producing, marketing & distributing independent features & consulting. He is an expert in placing both completed works into distribution & working with producers to make projects fundable. He conducts regular workshops in film producing in Los Angeles and most recently in Maine, Russia and in Myanmar (Burma).
Poster Girl, produced by Block was nominated for a Documentary Academy Award and selected by the Ida as the Best Doc Short 2011. It was also nominated for two Emmy Awards and aired on HBO. He is an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Carrier, a 10-hour series that he conceived & co-created. Block is a graduate of Tisch School and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Television Academy, a founding member of BAFTA-la and has been teaching at USC School of Cinematic Arts since 1979. Currently Block teaches a required class in the USC Peter Stark Producing Program.
______________________________________________________________________
©2013Mwb All Rights Reserved All Rights Reserved. All information and designs on the Sites are copyrighted material owned by Block. Reproduction, dissemination, or transmission of any part of the material here without the express written consent of the owner is strictly prohibited.All other product names and marks on Block Direct, whether trademarks, service marks, or other type, and whether registered or unregistered, is the property of Block.
- 1/17/2013
- by Mitchell Block
- Sydney's Buzz
Earlier this week The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced the nominations for their annual awards for theatrical motion picture, animated motion picture and long-form television nominations for the 2013 Producers Guild Awards.
This was an incredible year for films, and most of the movies nominated here deserve to be. Out of all the films listed here, I'd like to see Zero Dark Thirty or Silver Linings Playbook take the top prize for motion picture, Paranorman for animated film, Game of Thrones for TV drama, and Curb Your Enthusiasm for TV Comedy. In case you missed them, here they are! Look them over and let us know what films you'd like to see win!
Ten nominations in the theatrical motion picture category include:
Argo (Warner Bros.)
Beasts of the Southern Wild (Fox Searchlight)
Django Unchained (The Weinstein Company)
Life of Pi (20th Century Fox)
Lincoln (DreamWorks)
Les Misérables (Universal)
Moonrise Kingdom...
This was an incredible year for films, and most of the movies nominated here deserve to be. Out of all the films listed here, I'd like to see Zero Dark Thirty or Silver Linings Playbook take the top prize for motion picture, Paranorman for animated film, Game of Thrones for TV drama, and Curb Your Enthusiasm for TV Comedy. In case you missed them, here they are! Look them over and let us know what films you'd like to see win!
Ten nominations in the theatrical motion picture category include:
Argo (Warner Bros.)
Beasts of the Southern Wild (Fox Searchlight)
Django Unchained (The Weinstein Company)
Life of Pi (20th Century Fox)
Lincoln (DreamWorks)
Les Misérables (Universal)
Moonrise Kingdom...
- 1/5/2013
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
The Producers Guild of America (PGA) has announced the nominees in both motion picture and television for the 24th Annual Producers Guild Awards. "Skyfall" made the cut as one of the nominees of the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures.
Winners will be announced on January 26th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Here's the complete list of nominees (including television); for winners/nominees of other award-giving bodies, click here:
Theatrical Motion Picture Nominees
The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures
.Argo. (Warner Bros.)
Producers: Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Grant Heslov
.Beasts of the Southern Wild. (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Producers: Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey, Josh Penn
.Django Unchained. (The Weinstein Company)
Producers: Reginald Hudlin, Pilar Savone, Stacey Sher
.Les Misérables. (Universal Pictures)
Producers: Tim Bevan & Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh
.Life of Pi. (Fox 2000 Pictures)
Producers: Ang Lee, Gil Netter,...
Winners will be announced on January 26th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Here's the complete list of nominees (including television); for winners/nominees of other award-giving bodies, click here:
Theatrical Motion Picture Nominees
The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures
.Argo. (Warner Bros.)
Producers: Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Grant Heslov
.Beasts of the Southern Wild. (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Producers: Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey, Josh Penn
.Django Unchained. (The Weinstein Company)
Producers: Reginald Hudlin, Pilar Savone, Stacey Sher
.Les Misérables. (Universal Pictures)
Producers: Tim Bevan & Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh
.Life of Pi. (Fox 2000 Pictures)
Producers: Ang Lee, Gil Netter,...
- 1/2/2013
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
The Producers Guild of America has announced its nominations for best productions of the year, in what is often looked to as an indicator for how the Academy Awards may go.
The guild selected 10 films — most of them common guesses for the group that could make up the Oscar list of the best films of 2012: Argo, Lincoln, Les Misérables, among others.
The one surprise: Skyfall. No 007 film has ever cracked the Best Picture list, but if this nomination is any indication, that could change when the Oscar nods are revealed Jan. 10.
Check out the full list …
The Darryl F. Zanuck...
The guild selected 10 films — most of them common guesses for the group that could make up the Oscar list of the best films of 2012: Argo, Lincoln, Les Misérables, among others.
The one surprise: Skyfall. No 007 film has ever cracked the Best Picture list, but if this nomination is any indication, that could change when the Oscar nods are revealed Jan. 10.
Check out the full list …
The Darryl F. Zanuck...
- 1/2/2013
- by Anthony Breznican
- EW - Inside Movies
On Wednesday, the Producers' Guild of America announced the TV and digital nominees for the 24th Annual Producers Guild Awards. The winners will be announced in a ceremony on January 26, 2013 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. In addition to the nominees listed below, the PGA will present special honors to Bob and Harvey Weinstein, J.J. Abrams, and Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.
The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama:
"Breaking Bad" (AMC) Producers: Melissa Bernstein, Sam Catlin, Bryan Cranston, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Mark Johnson, Stewart Lyons, Michelle MacLaren, George Mastras, Diane Mercer, Thomas Schnauz, Moira Walley-Beckett
"Downton Abbey" (PBS) Producers: Julian Fellowes, Gareth Neame, Liz Trubridge
"Game of Thrones" (HBO) Producers: David Benioff, Bernadette Caulfield, Frank Doelger, Carolyn Strauss, D.B. Weiss
"Homeland" (Showtime) Producers: Henry Bromell, Alexander Cary, Michael Cuesta, Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Michael Klick, Meredith Stiehm
"Mad Men" (AMC) Producers: Jon Hamm,...
The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama:
"Breaking Bad" (AMC) Producers: Melissa Bernstein, Sam Catlin, Bryan Cranston, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Mark Johnson, Stewart Lyons, Michelle MacLaren, George Mastras, Diane Mercer, Thomas Schnauz, Moira Walley-Beckett
"Downton Abbey" (PBS) Producers: Julian Fellowes, Gareth Neame, Liz Trubridge
"Game of Thrones" (HBO) Producers: David Benioff, Bernadette Caulfield, Frank Doelger, Carolyn Strauss, D.B. Weiss
"Homeland" (Showtime) Producers: Henry Bromell, Alexander Cary, Michael Cuesta, Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Michael Klick, Meredith Stiehm
"Mad Men" (AMC) Producers: Jon Hamm,...
- 11/28/2012
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
HBO’s Game of Thrones, Showtime’s Homeland, CBS’ Big Bang Theory and FX’s Louie were among the nominees in the top categories for the annual Producers Guild of America awards.
There’s a lot of overlap here with the 2012 Emmy award nominations, with a few exceptions: HBO’s Boardwalk Empire missed landing a slot for best drama series (there were six Emmy nominees and five for PGA). While on the comedy side, HBO’s Girls and Veep weren’t nominated, but Louie was. If you’re wondering why Comedy Central’s Emmy favorite The Daily Show with Jon Stewart...
There’s a lot of overlap here with the 2012 Emmy award nominations, with a few exceptions: HBO’s Boardwalk Empire missed landing a slot for best drama series (there were six Emmy nominees and five for PGA). While on the comedy side, HBO’s Girls and Veep weren’t nominated, but Louie was. If you’re wondering why Comedy Central’s Emmy favorite The Daily Show with Jon Stewart...
- 11/28/2012
- by James Hibberd
- EW - Inside TV
Last night the Producers Guild of America (PGA) gave out awards for achievement in films and television released in 2011. The big winner was The Artist, which took home the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures. As the winner of this award takes the Best Picture Oscar three times out of four, any betting on the top Oscar honor is pretty much over at this point. Read on for the full list of winners. The PGA website provides the list. In each case I've left the full slate of nominees, and winners are bolded. I'm happy to see the excellent A Tribe Calle Quest doc, Beats, Rhymes and Life, picking up the award for best documentary. The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures: The Artist Producer: Thomas Langmann Bridesmaids Producers: Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, Clayton Townsend The Descendants Producers: Jim Burke,...
- 1/22/2012
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
By Sean O’Connell
hollywoodnews.com: It’s beginning to look a bit like a landslide. The Producers Guild of America is the latest group to reward Michel Hazanavicius’ “The Artist” with its year-end Best Picture honors, paving the way for what could be Oscar domination next month.
The black-and-white and predominantly silent film has been picking up top prizes throughout the season, winning Best Picture awards at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards and the Golden Globes. On accepting the PGA distinction, producer Thomas Langmann said that when they “dreamed of making ‘The Artist,’ we knew we were dreaming of writing a love letter to American cinema.”
Oscar nominations arrive on Tuesday morning, and “The Artist” is expected to lead all films with the most nominations. It’s best to caution against landslide victories in what amounts to “the primaries.” Last year, David Fincher’s “The Social Network” did very...
hollywoodnews.com: It’s beginning to look a bit like a landslide. The Producers Guild of America is the latest group to reward Michel Hazanavicius’ “The Artist” with its year-end Best Picture honors, paving the way for what could be Oscar domination next month.
The black-and-white and predominantly silent film has been picking up top prizes throughout the season, winning Best Picture awards at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards and the Golden Globes. On accepting the PGA distinction, producer Thomas Langmann said that when they “dreamed of making ‘The Artist,’ we knew we were dreaming of writing a love letter to American cinema.”
Oscar nominations arrive on Tuesday morning, and “The Artist” is expected to lead all films with the most nominations. It’s best to caution against landslide victories in what amounts to “the primaries.” Last year, David Fincher’s “The Social Network” did very...
- 1/22/2012
- by Sean O'Connell
- Hollywoodnews.com
John Goodman, The Artist Motion Pictures Darryl F. Zanuck Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures * The Artist Producer: Thomas Langmann Bridesmaids Producers: Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, Clayton Townsend The Descendants Producers: Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Scott Rudin The Help Producers: Michael Barnathan, Chris Columbus, Brunson Green Hugo Producers: Graham King, Martin Scorsese The Ides Of March Producers: George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Brian Oliver Midnight In Paris Producers: Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum Moneyball Producers: Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt War Horse Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures * The Adventures Of Tintin Producers: Peter Jackson, Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg Cars 2 Producer: Denise Ream Kung Fu Panda 2 Producer: Melissa Cobb Puss In Boots Producers: Joe M. Aguilar, Latifa Ouaou Rango Producers: John B. Carls, Gore Verbinski Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures * Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels...
- 1/22/2012
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
The Producers Guild of America has announced the nominees for their 2012 film and TV awards.
The Producers Guild Awards (PGA) nominees include the obvious choices such as The Artist, The Descendants, and Hugo, but also some films that have not often been mentioned in the build-up to the Oscars, including Moneyball, The Help, The Ides of March. Among the TV nominees, as well, are 30 Rock, Modern Family, Game of Thrones, and Mad Men.
The PGA has also chosen ten nominees this year for Best picture, but the Oscars will choose between five and ten. Here are the nominees:
The theatrical motion picture nominees are:
Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures:
The Artist
Producer: Thomas Langmann
Bridesmaids
Producers: Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, Clayton Townsend
The Descendants
Producers: Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Scott Rudin
The Help
Producers: Michael Barnathan,...
The Producers Guild Awards (PGA) nominees include the obvious choices such as The Artist, The Descendants, and Hugo, but also some films that have not often been mentioned in the build-up to the Oscars, including Moneyball, The Help, The Ides of March. Among the TV nominees, as well, are 30 Rock, Modern Family, Game of Thrones, and Mad Men.
The PGA has also chosen ten nominees this year for Best picture, but the Oscars will choose between five and ten. Here are the nominees:
The theatrical motion picture nominees are:
Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures:
The Artist
Producer: Thomas Langmann
Bridesmaids
Producers: Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, Clayton Townsend
The Descendants
Producers: Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Scott Rudin
The Help
Producers: Michael Barnathan,...
- 1/4/2012
- by Charlie Derry
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The Producers Guild of America has announced their nominations for the PGA Awards and it's hard not to agree with every movie on the list. All of the ones I've seen are great films, and the ones I haven't seen I've heard are amazing. The only two on the list I haven't watched are The Artist and The Descendants, both of which I'm looking forward to seeing. I'd love Hugo or War Horse to take home the top prize though. Those were my two favorite movies of 2011. The winners will be announced on January 21st, 2012; check out the full press released with the list of nominations below and tell us what you think! What would you like to see win?
Here's the Press Release:
Los Angeles, CA (January 3, 2012) – The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today the motion picture and long-form television nominations for the 23rd Annual Producers Guild Awards.
Here's the Press Release:
Los Angeles, CA (January 3, 2012) – The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today the motion picture and long-form television nominations for the 23rd Annual Producers Guild Awards.
- 1/3/2012
- by Venkman
- GeekTyrant
Universal Pictures Kristen Wiig in “Bridesmaids”
The movies “Bridesmaids,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “Midnight in Paris” were among the nominees announced today for the 2012 Producers Guild Awards.
The awards, which go to TV and film producers, often help forecast the Oscar nominees and winners.
The fact that “Bridesmaids” made the list is an indication that the light comedy may be in the running for some major nominations when the Oscars roll around. A number of expected movies,...
The movies “Bridesmaids,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “Midnight in Paris” were among the nominees announced today for the 2012 Producers Guild Awards.
The awards, which go to TV and film producers, often help forecast the Oscar nominees and winners.
The fact that “Bridesmaids” made the list is an indication that the light comedy may be in the running for some major nominations when the Oscars roll around. A number of expected movies,...
- 1/3/2012
- by WSJ Staff
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
We really can’t say that 2011 is behind us until award season is finished, and as we get closer to the coveted Academy Awards in February, various other guilds and organizations are recognizing the best that 2011 had to offer. Today the Producers Guild of America announced their nominees for Best Picture. The PGA is generally a good indicator as to which movies will be nominated for best Picture when the Oscars roll around.
There are some pretty safe picks. Movies like War Horse, The Artist, The Descendants, and Hugo all made the list, but its Bridesmaids that came completely out of no where.
Below is the full press release of those that are nominated. This includes animated films and television shows. As you can see there are a lot of movies you expect to see on this list with a few surprises on it as well.
Los Angeles, CA (January...
There are some pretty safe picks. Movies like War Horse, The Artist, The Descendants, and Hugo all made the list, but its Bridesmaids that came completely out of no where.
Below is the full press release of those that are nominated. This includes animated films and television shows. As you can see there are a lot of movies you expect to see on this list with a few surprises on it as well.
Los Angeles, CA (January...
- 1/3/2012
- by Mike Lee
- FusedFilm
George Clooney, The Ides of March Terrence Malick/The Tree Of Life, Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive, Clint Eastwood/J. Edgar Bypassed: PGA Award Nominations Motion Pictures Darryl F. Zanuck Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures The Artist Producer: Thomas Langmann Bridesmaids Producers: Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, Clayton Townsend The Descendants Producers: Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Scott Rudin The Help Producers: Michael Barnathan, Chris Columbus, Brunson Green Hugo Producers: Graham King, Martin Scorsese The Ides Of March Producers: George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Brian Oliver Midnight In Paris Producers: Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum Moneyball Producers: Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt War Horse Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures The Adventures Of Tintin Producers: Peter Jackson, Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg Cars 2 Producer: Denise Ream Kung Fu Panda 2 Producer: Melissa Cobb Puss In Boots Producers: Joe M. Aguilar,...
- 1/3/2012
- by Anna Robinson
- Alt Film Guide
Here's your best indicator yet as to what the crop of nominations for the Best Picture Oscar is likely to be. The Producers Guild of America (PGA) has announced its nominations for 2011 awards, which will be doled out on January 21. The ten films nominated for the PGA's top honor include expected pictures such as The Artist, The Descendants and War Horse. There are no real surprises, but the growing Oscar chances for The Help won't be hurt by getting a PGA nomination (would be slightly wild to see Chris Columbus, a producer on The Help, with an Oscar), and Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris makes an appearance on the list, too. There are a couple surprises, though, in the form of Bridesmaids and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo -- the Judd Apatow and Scott Rudin effects in full force there. With 5-10 Best Picture nominations possible for this year's Oscars,...
- 1/3/2012
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
HollywoodNews.com: The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today the motion picture and long-form television nominations for the 23rd Annual Producers Guild Awards. The categories include: The Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures; The Producers Guild of America Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures; and The David L. Wolper Producer of the Year Award in Long-Form Television. The documentary film category and other television category nominations were already announced by the Guild in December 2011.
All 2012 Producers Guild Award winners will be announced on January 21, 2012 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. This year, the Producers Guild will also award special honors to Leslie Moonves (Milestone Award), Steven Spielberg (David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures), Don Mischer (Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television), Stan Lee (Vanguard Award), and In The Land Of Blood And Honey (The Stanley Kramer Award...
All 2012 Producers Guild Award winners will be announced on January 21, 2012 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. This year, the Producers Guild will also award special honors to Leslie Moonves (Milestone Award), Steven Spielberg (David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures), Don Mischer (Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television), Stan Lee (Vanguard Award), and In The Land Of Blood And Honey (The Stanley Kramer Award...
- 1/3/2012
- by Josh Abraham
- Hollywoodnews.com
German actress Antje Traue, the lead female villain in Warner Bros.' forthcoming "Man of Steel," has signed with UTA. Traue's credits include films "5 Days of War" and "Pandorum." She is also represented by the U.K.'s Troika and attorney Fred Toczek of Felker Toczek Gellman and Suddleson Llp.Jon Amiel, who directed "Creation," which opened the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, has signed with Gersh. Amiel recently directed two episodes of Showtime's "The Borgias." His feature directing credits include "The Man Who Knew Too Little" (1997), "Entrapment" (1999) and "The Core" (2003). Amiel is also represented by manager Dave Brown of Artist International Management.French actress Louise Bourgoin, who starred in "A Happy Event," which debuted at Toronto, has signed with Wme. She was nominated for the Cesar award for most promising actress for her performance in "The Girl From Monaco" (2008). Bourgoin is represented by Isabelle de La Patelliere and Olivier Kahan of France's Vma.
- 10/6/2011
- by help@backstage.com (Daniel Miller)
- backstage.com
Empire Pictures
NEW YORK -- So fascinated with his subject that he made not just one documentary about him, filmmaker David Teboul has delivered two cinematic portraits of master designer Yves Saint Laurent. The first is a fairly straightforward biography, while the second is a cinema verite look at the process behind the design of one of his women's collections. The two films -- "Yves Saint Laurent: His Life and Times" and the awkwardly titled "Yves Saint Laurent: 5 Avenue Marceau, 75116 Paris" -- will best be appreciated by those already familiar with the fashion world in general and Saint Laurent in particular. Each is receiving its U.S. theatrical premiere at New York's Film Forum.
"5 Avenue Marceau" was actually made first as the filmmaker was granted rare access to the designer's Paris atelier as he worked on his spring/summer collection in winter 2001. The resulting document is a spare, unadorned look, a la Frederick Wiseman, at the lengthy and laborious process in which Saint Laurent fiddled with his creations while a series of exquisite models paraded in front of him and his associates. The proceedings quickly turn tedious for those not fascinated by the craft, though no doubt future generations of fashionistas will be thrilled to have them documented. For this viewer, at least, the highlight occurs in the beginning of the film, when actress Catherine Deneuve makes a brief, charismatic appearance.cludes such notable guests as President Clinton (coming out of a lengthy quiet during his Monica hibernation), Pope John Paul II, Fidel Castro, etc. By the measure of the fiercely competitive cadre who host TV for us, it depends now on the level of notables Smiley can get into his studio.
THE Tavis Smiley SHOW
KCET
KCET/Hollywood and the Tavis Smiley Group
Credits:
Executive producer: Neal Kendall
KCET executive producer: Mary Mazur
Producers: Shanta Covington, Stephanie Storey, Holly Williamson
KCET producer: Karen Hunte
Director: Jonathan X
Writer: Neal Kendall
Associate producer: Christopher McDonald
Anchor: Tavis Smiley
t of some 215,000 applicants. The youngest is 21, the eldest 36. The only other qualifications appear to be geographic diversity and cosmetic appeal -- and an overweening desire to be filthy, stinking rich.
The contestants are divided up into two teams of eight: boys against the girls. They must work together to complete a given task, which in the opener obliges them to peddle lemonade (business attire and all) on the mean streets of Manhattan. The idea, of course, it to start at the very beginning of their occupational lives. It's kind of funny to watch these yupscale types having to hustle a beverage for bucks. Ultimately, though, it's just not all that interesting. And the elimination process (one member of the losing team must go) seems particularly arbitrary in this context.
At the outset, it's also clear that the show is going to suffer some personality shortfalls -- namely, there seem to be no true standouts among the lot, the faces and personas blending into something of a capitalistic mush. Not even Trump's squinty-eyed dramatics while delivering his obligatory pep talks ("This isn't a game; it's a 13-week job interview!") can save the day.
"The Apprentice" reaches its nadir of absurdity near the close of the "supersized" premiere when members of the winning team are ushered into Trump's impossibly lavish New York penthouse to meet the jewel-encrusted, shimmering interior (not to mention his current, heavily accented girlfriend). They ooh and aah with abandon while being assured that one day this all could be their own. Somehow, it sounds more like a threat than an enticement.
THE APPRENTICE
NBC
Mark Burnett Prods. in association with Trump Productions Llc.
Credits:
Executive producers: Mark Burnett, Donald Trump
Co-executive producers: Conrad Riggs, Jay Bienstock
Supervising producer: Kevin Harris
Producers: Jamie Bruce, James Canniffe, Seth Cohen, Bill Pruitt, Katherine Walker
Co-producer: Chris Campbell
Directors of photography: Scott Duncan, Matt Sohn
Supervising editor: Jon Braun
Music: Jeff Lippencott, David Vanacore, Mark T. Williams
Main title theme: The O-Jays
Casting: Rob LaPlante...
NEW YORK -- So fascinated with his subject that he made not just one documentary about him, filmmaker David Teboul has delivered two cinematic portraits of master designer Yves Saint Laurent. The first is a fairly straightforward biography, while the second is a cinema verite look at the process behind the design of one of his women's collections. The two films -- "Yves Saint Laurent: His Life and Times" and the awkwardly titled "Yves Saint Laurent: 5 Avenue Marceau, 75116 Paris" -- will best be appreciated by those already familiar with the fashion world in general and Saint Laurent in particular. Each is receiving its U.S. theatrical premiere at New York's Film Forum.
"5 Avenue Marceau" was actually made first as the filmmaker was granted rare access to the designer's Paris atelier as he worked on his spring/summer collection in winter 2001. The resulting document is a spare, unadorned look, a la Frederick Wiseman, at the lengthy and laborious process in which Saint Laurent fiddled with his creations while a series of exquisite models paraded in front of him and his associates. The proceedings quickly turn tedious for those not fascinated by the craft, though no doubt future generations of fashionistas will be thrilled to have them documented. For this viewer, at least, the highlight occurs in the beginning of the film, when actress Catherine Deneuve makes a brief, charismatic appearance.cludes such notable guests as President Clinton (coming out of a lengthy quiet during his Monica hibernation), Pope John Paul II, Fidel Castro, etc. By the measure of the fiercely competitive cadre who host TV for us, it depends now on the level of notables Smiley can get into his studio.
THE Tavis Smiley SHOW
KCET
KCET/Hollywood and the Tavis Smiley Group
Credits:
Executive producer: Neal Kendall
KCET executive producer: Mary Mazur
Producers: Shanta Covington, Stephanie Storey, Holly Williamson
KCET producer: Karen Hunte
Director: Jonathan X
Writer: Neal Kendall
Associate producer: Christopher McDonald
Anchor: Tavis Smiley
t of some 215,000 applicants. The youngest is 21, the eldest 36. The only other qualifications appear to be geographic diversity and cosmetic appeal -- and an overweening desire to be filthy, stinking rich.
The contestants are divided up into two teams of eight: boys against the girls. They must work together to complete a given task, which in the opener obliges them to peddle lemonade (business attire and all) on the mean streets of Manhattan. The idea, of course, it to start at the very beginning of their occupational lives. It's kind of funny to watch these yupscale types having to hustle a beverage for bucks. Ultimately, though, it's just not all that interesting. And the elimination process (one member of the losing team must go) seems particularly arbitrary in this context.
At the outset, it's also clear that the show is going to suffer some personality shortfalls -- namely, there seem to be no true standouts among the lot, the faces and personas blending into something of a capitalistic mush. Not even Trump's squinty-eyed dramatics while delivering his obligatory pep talks ("This isn't a game; it's a 13-week job interview!") can save the day.
"The Apprentice" reaches its nadir of absurdity near the close of the "supersized" premiere when members of the winning team are ushered into Trump's impossibly lavish New York penthouse to meet the jewel-encrusted, shimmering interior (not to mention his current, heavily accented girlfriend). They ooh and aah with abandon while being assured that one day this all could be their own. Somehow, it sounds more like a threat than an enticement.
THE APPRENTICE
NBC
Mark Burnett Prods. in association with Trump Productions Llc.
Credits:
Executive producers: Mark Burnett, Donald Trump
Co-executive producers: Conrad Riggs, Jay Bienstock
Supervising producer: Kevin Harris
Producers: Jamie Bruce, James Canniffe, Seth Cohen, Bill Pruitt, Katherine Walker
Co-producer: Chris Campbell
Directors of photography: Scott Duncan, Matt Sohn
Supervising editor: Jon Braun
Music: Jeff Lippencott, David Vanacore, Mark T. Williams
Main title theme: The O-Jays
Casting: Rob LaPlante...
Empire Pictures
NEW YORK -- So fascinated with his subject that he made not just one documentary about him, filmmaker David Teboul has delivered two cinematic portraits of master designer Yves Saint Laurent. The first is a fairly straightforward biography, while the second is a cinema verite look at the process behind the design of one of his women's collections. The two films -- "Yves Saint Laurent: His Life and Times" and the awkwardly titled "Yves Saint Laurent: 5 Avenue Marceau, 75116 Paris" -- will best be appreciated by those already familiar with the fashion world in general and Saint Laurent in particular. Each is receiving its U.S. theatrical premiere at New York's Film Forum.
"5 Avenue Marceau" was actually made first as the filmmaker was granted rare access to the designer's Paris atelier as he worked on his spring/summer collection in winter 2001. The resulting document is a spare, unadorned look, a la Frederick Wiseman, at the lengthy and laborious process in which Saint Laurent fiddled with his creations while a series of exquisite models paraded in front of him and his associates. The proceedings quickly turn tedious for those not fascinated by the craft, though no doubt future generations of fashionistas will be thrilled to have them documented. For this viewer, at least, the highlight occurs in the beginning of the film, when actress Catherine Deneuve makes a brief, charismatic appearance.cludes such notable guests as President Clinton (coming out of a lengthy quiet during his Monica hibernation), Pope John Paul II, Fidel Castro, etc. By the measure of the fiercely competitive cadre who host TV for us, it depends now on the level of notables Smiley can get into his studio.
THE Tavis Smiley SHOW
KCET
KCET/Hollywood and the Tavis Smiley Group
Credits:
Executive producer: Neal Kendall
KCET executive producer: Mary Mazur
Producers: Shanta Covington, Stephanie Storey, Holly Williamson
KCET producer: Karen Hunte
Director: Jonathan X
Writer: Neal Kendall
Associate producer: Christopher McDonald
Anchor: Tavis Smiley
t of some 215,000 applicants. The youngest is 21, the eldest 36. The only other qualifications appear to be geographic diversity and cosmetic appeal -- and an overweening desire to be filthy, stinking rich.
The contestants are divided up into two teams of eight: boys against the girls. They must work together to complete a given task, which in the opener obliges them to peddle lemonade (business attire and all) on the mean streets of Manhattan. The idea, of course, it to start at the very beginning of their occupational lives. It's kind of funny to watch these yupscale types having to hustle a beverage for bucks. Ultimately, though, it's just not all that interesting. And the elimination process (one member of the losing team must go) seems particularly arbitrary in this context.
At the outset, it's also clear that the show is going to suffer some personality shortfalls -- namely, there seem to be no true standouts among the lot, the faces and personas blending into something of a capitalistic mush. Not even Trump's squinty-eyed dramatics while delivering his obligatory pep talks ("This isn't a game; it's a 13-week job interview!") can save the day.
"The Apprentice" reaches its nadir of absurdity near the close of the "supersized" premiere when members of the winning team are ushered into Trump's impossibly lavish New York penthouse to meet the jewel-encrusted, shimmering interior (not to mention his current, heavily accented girlfriend). They ooh and aah with abandon while being assured that one day this all could be their own. Somehow, it sounds more like a threat than an enticement.
THE APPRENTICE
NBC
Mark Burnett Prods. in association with Trump Productions Llc.
Credits:
Executive producers: Mark Burnett, Donald Trump
Co-executive producers: Conrad Riggs, Jay Bienstock
Supervising producer: Kevin Harris
Producers: Jamie Bruce, James Canniffe, Seth Cohen, Bill Pruitt, Katherine Walker
Co-producer: Chris Campbell
Directors of photography: Scott Duncan, Matt Sohn
Supervising editor: Jon Braun
Music: Jeff Lippencott, David Vanacore, Mark T. Williams
Main title theme: The O-Jays
Casting: Rob LaPlante...
NEW YORK -- So fascinated with his subject that he made not just one documentary about him, filmmaker David Teboul has delivered two cinematic portraits of master designer Yves Saint Laurent. The first is a fairly straightforward biography, while the second is a cinema verite look at the process behind the design of one of his women's collections. The two films -- "Yves Saint Laurent: His Life and Times" and the awkwardly titled "Yves Saint Laurent: 5 Avenue Marceau, 75116 Paris" -- will best be appreciated by those already familiar with the fashion world in general and Saint Laurent in particular. Each is receiving its U.S. theatrical premiere at New York's Film Forum.
"5 Avenue Marceau" was actually made first as the filmmaker was granted rare access to the designer's Paris atelier as he worked on his spring/summer collection in winter 2001. The resulting document is a spare, unadorned look, a la Frederick Wiseman, at the lengthy and laborious process in which Saint Laurent fiddled with his creations while a series of exquisite models paraded in front of him and his associates. The proceedings quickly turn tedious for those not fascinated by the craft, though no doubt future generations of fashionistas will be thrilled to have them documented. For this viewer, at least, the highlight occurs in the beginning of the film, when actress Catherine Deneuve makes a brief, charismatic appearance.cludes such notable guests as President Clinton (coming out of a lengthy quiet during his Monica hibernation), Pope John Paul II, Fidel Castro, etc. By the measure of the fiercely competitive cadre who host TV for us, it depends now on the level of notables Smiley can get into his studio.
THE Tavis Smiley SHOW
KCET
KCET/Hollywood and the Tavis Smiley Group
Credits:
Executive producer: Neal Kendall
KCET executive producer: Mary Mazur
Producers: Shanta Covington, Stephanie Storey, Holly Williamson
KCET producer: Karen Hunte
Director: Jonathan X
Writer: Neal Kendall
Associate producer: Christopher McDonald
Anchor: Tavis Smiley
t of some 215,000 applicants. The youngest is 21, the eldest 36. The only other qualifications appear to be geographic diversity and cosmetic appeal -- and an overweening desire to be filthy, stinking rich.
The contestants are divided up into two teams of eight: boys against the girls. They must work together to complete a given task, which in the opener obliges them to peddle lemonade (business attire and all) on the mean streets of Manhattan. The idea, of course, it to start at the very beginning of their occupational lives. It's kind of funny to watch these yupscale types having to hustle a beverage for bucks. Ultimately, though, it's just not all that interesting. And the elimination process (one member of the losing team must go) seems particularly arbitrary in this context.
At the outset, it's also clear that the show is going to suffer some personality shortfalls -- namely, there seem to be no true standouts among the lot, the faces and personas blending into something of a capitalistic mush. Not even Trump's squinty-eyed dramatics while delivering his obligatory pep talks ("This isn't a game; it's a 13-week job interview!") can save the day.
"The Apprentice" reaches its nadir of absurdity near the close of the "supersized" premiere when members of the winning team are ushered into Trump's impossibly lavish New York penthouse to meet the jewel-encrusted, shimmering interior (not to mention his current, heavily accented girlfriend). They ooh and aah with abandon while being assured that one day this all could be their own. Somehow, it sounds more like a threat than an enticement.
THE APPRENTICE
NBC
Mark Burnett Prods. in association with Trump Productions Llc.
Credits:
Executive producers: Mark Burnett, Donald Trump
Co-executive producers: Conrad Riggs, Jay Bienstock
Supervising producer: Kevin Harris
Producers: Jamie Bruce, James Canniffe, Seth Cohen, Bill Pruitt, Katherine Walker
Co-producer: Chris Campbell
Directors of photography: Scott Duncan, Matt Sohn
Supervising editor: Jon Braun
Music: Jeff Lippencott, David Vanacore, Mark T. Williams
Main title theme: The O-Jays
Casting: Rob LaPlante...
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