For years HBO Documentary Films, under the stewardship of Sheila Nevins, dominated the Oscars, racking up nominations and wins left and right. But since her departure in 2018 it has faced an Oscar dry spell, at least in the documentary feature category. All that could change this year, in a major way.
HBO Documentary Films has roared into awards season with perhaps the strongest slate of contenders of any distributor, beginning with Oscar favorite All That Breathes (with theatrical partners Sideshow and Submarine Deluxe). Shaunak Sen’s lyrical film about two brothers in Delhi, India who rescue and rehabilitate injured birds of prey won the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary at Sundance and followed that up by winning the L’Œil d’or prize for documentary at Cannes. All That Breathes has kept the momentum going, taking top honors at the IDA Documentary Awards on Saturday and a nomination from the Cinema Eye Honors.
HBO Documentary Films has roared into awards season with perhaps the strongest slate of contenders of any distributor, beginning with Oscar favorite All That Breathes (with theatrical partners Sideshow and Submarine Deluxe). Shaunak Sen’s lyrical film about two brothers in Delhi, India who rescue and rehabilitate injured birds of prey won the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary at Sundance and followed that up by winning the L’Œil d’or prize for documentary at Cannes. All That Breathes has kept the momentum going, taking top honors at the IDA Documentary Awards on Saturday and a nomination from the Cinema Eye Honors.
- 12/11/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
In the inspiring HBO documentary, the gifted classical painter George Anthony Morton looks back at his past of hardship and incarceration
The first images in the HBO documentary Master of Light show George Anthony Morton chopping up white powder. That crafty opening knowingly plays on our assumptions that Morton is cooking dope. A few beats later and it’s revealed that he’s actually just making paint.
Morton acknowledges the fake-out on a Zoom call. “I was preparing drugs in a similar fashion,” the ex-convict turned celebrated painter says with an ear-to-ear grin. He also praises the way Dutch film-maker Rosa Ruth Boesten encapsulates the Kansas City native’s harrowing and inspiring journey with a few suggestive strokes.
The first images in the HBO documentary Master of Light show George Anthony Morton chopping up white powder. That crafty opening knowingly plays on our assumptions that Morton is cooking dope. A few beats later and it’s revealed that he’s actually just making paint.
Morton acknowledges the fake-out on a Zoom call. “I was preparing drugs in a similar fashion,” the ex-convict turned celebrated painter says with an ear-to-ear grin. He also praises the way Dutch film-maker Rosa Ruth Boesten encapsulates the Kansas City native’s harrowing and inspiring journey with a few suggestive strokes.
- 11/16/2022
- by Radheyan Simonpillai
- The Guardian - Film News
In just 13 yearsDOC NYC has become America’s most influential documentary festival.
The nine-day affair, which runs Nov. 9-17, will feature more than 124 short docus and 112 feature-length nonfiction films that will screen at New York City’s IFC Center, Sva Theater and Cinépolis Chelsea. (The 2022 version will be both in person in New York and accessible online across the U.S.)
One key factor in the festival’s success has to do with where it falls on the calendar — one month before the AMPAS documentary branch begins voting to determine the Oscar documentary shortlist. Then there’s Doc NYC’s 15-feature film shortlist, which has become famous for including docus that eventually earn Oscar nominations and/or wins.
“Summer of Soul,” “American Factory,” “Free Solo,” “Icarus,” “O.J.: Made in America,” “Amy,” “Citizenfour,” “20 Feet From Stardom,” “Searching for Sugar Man,” and “Undefeated” are all films that won the Academy Award for...
The nine-day affair, which runs Nov. 9-17, will feature more than 124 short docus and 112 feature-length nonfiction films that will screen at New York City’s IFC Center, Sva Theater and Cinépolis Chelsea. (The 2022 version will be both in person in New York and accessible online across the U.S.)
One key factor in the festival’s success has to do with where it falls on the calendar — one month before the AMPAS documentary branch begins voting to determine the Oscar documentary shortlist. Then there’s Doc NYC’s 15-feature film shortlist, which has become famous for including docus that eventually earn Oscar nominations and/or wins.
“Summer of Soul,” “American Factory,” “Free Solo,” “Icarus,” “O.J.: Made in America,” “Amy,” “Citizenfour,” “20 Feet From Stardom,” “Searching for Sugar Man,” and “Undefeated” are all films that won the Academy Award for...
- 11/10/2022
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Showtime Sports Documentary Films is set to release a documentary feature based on the life of basketball star Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, entitled “Stand.” The documentary will premiere in early 2023.
Directed by Joslyn Rose Lyons, “Stand” explores the personal and professional struggles of Abdul-Rauf, from being bullied as a child due to his Tourette’s syndrome to becoming a target of hate speech and Islamophobia during his basketball career. The documentary film features exclusive interviews with several basketball and entertainment stars including Stephen Curry, Steve Kerr, Shaquille O’Neal, Jalen Rose, Mahershala Ali and Ice Cube.
“It is an honor to be collaborating with Showtime and the production team and working with our director, Joslyn Rose Lyons,” Abdul-Rauf said in a statement. “Joslyn has brought a stellar, brilliant vision to this film. My hope is that my story will help heal and bring new perspective to the world.”
The film marks Lyons’ feature-length directorial debut.
Directed by Joslyn Rose Lyons, “Stand” explores the personal and professional struggles of Abdul-Rauf, from being bullied as a child due to his Tourette’s syndrome to becoming a target of hate speech and Islamophobia during his basketball career. The documentary film features exclusive interviews with several basketball and entertainment stars including Stephen Curry, Steve Kerr, Shaquille O’Neal, Jalen Rose, Mahershala Ali and Ice Cube.
“It is an honor to be collaborating with Showtime and the production team and working with our director, Joslyn Rose Lyons,” Abdul-Rauf said in a statement. “Joslyn has brought a stellar, brilliant vision to this film. My hope is that my story will help heal and bring new perspective to the world.”
The film marks Lyons’ feature-length directorial debut.
- 8/25/2022
- by Michaela Zee
- Variety Film + TV
HBO Documentary Films has acquired worldwide television and streaming rights to Master of Light, the SXSW award-winning film about artist George Anthony Morton, who honed his exceptional talent while serving a prison sentence.
Dutch filmmaker Rosa Ruth Boesten directed the documentary, which is produced by Oscar winner Roger Ross Williams, Ilia Roomans, and Anousha Nzume.
“I learned about George through a mutual friend who met George in New York and told me about his story,” Boesten told Deadline at SXSW, where her film premiered, winning the Grand Jury Prize for documentary. “He just had a New York Times article that came out and I read about the story and was just blown away by his artwork. And that’s when I reached out, and that’s where it started for me.”
Morton “is a classical painter who spent ten years in federal prison for dealing drugs. While incarcerated, he nurtured...
Dutch filmmaker Rosa Ruth Boesten directed the documentary, which is produced by Oscar winner Roger Ross Williams, Ilia Roomans, and Anousha Nzume.
“I learned about George through a mutual friend who met George in New York and told me about his story,” Boesten told Deadline at SXSW, where her film premiered, winning the Grand Jury Prize for documentary. “He just had a New York Times article that came out and I read about the story and was just blown away by his artwork. And that’s when I reached out, and that’s where it started for me.”
Morton “is a classical painter who spent ten years in federal prison for dealing drugs. While incarcerated, he nurtured...
- 8/25/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
HBO Documentary Films announced on Thursday that it has acquired “Master of Light,” the debut documentary from filmmaker Rosa Ruth Boesten which won the Grand Jury Award at this year’s South By Southwest Festival.
“Master of Light” follows the story of George Anthony Morton, a Black painter who was sentenced to ten years in prison for dealing drugs and spent his time behind bars honing his craft as a classical artist. After returning to the outside world, he heads home to Kansas City to use his art to mend his broken relationship with his mother while trying to break into an artistic world dominated by white painters.
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“As a first-time director, I am overwhelmed with excitement to work with such an acclaimed company as HBO Documentary Films,” Boesten said in a statement. “We...
“Master of Light” follows the story of George Anthony Morton, a Black painter who was sentenced to ten years in prison for dealing drugs and spent his time behind bars honing his craft as a classical artist. After returning to the outside world, he heads home to Kansas City to use his art to mend his broken relationship with his mother while trying to break into an artistic world dominated by white painters.
Also Read:
‘Mike’ Review: Hulu’s Mike Tyson Series Offers Complicated Look at Boxer’s Demise
“As a first-time director, I am overwhelmed with excitement to work with such an acclaimed company as HBO Documentary Films,” Boesten said in a statement. “We...
- 8/25/2022
- by Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
Mexican Immigrant Tale ‘Sansón And Me’ Wins Best Film At Sheffield Doc/Fest
U.S.-based Mexican director Rodrigo Reyes’s Sansón And Me has won Best Film at the UK’s Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 23-28). Set between Mexico and the United States, it explores the journey of a Mexican man who was orphaned as a child and ends up serving two life sentences for first-degree murder in California’s Bay State Prison. Special mentions went to Ukrainian director Volodymyr Tykhyy’s One Day in Ukraine and Lebanese filmmaker Nadim Mishlawi’s After the End of the World. In other awards, Dutch filmmaker Rosa Ruth Boesten’s won Best First Feature for Master of Light, a biopic about classical painter George Anthony Morton, who spent a decade in federal prison in the U.S. for dealing drugs before finding his calling.
Pedro Almodóvar Signs Ethan Hawke, Pedro Pascal For Western...
U.S.-based Mexican director Rodrigo Reyes’s Sansón And Me has won Best Film at the UK’s Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 23-28). Set between Mexico and the United States, it explores the journey of a Mexican man who was orphaned as a child and ends up serving two life sentences for first-degree murder in California’s Bay State Prison. Special mentions went to Ukrainian director Volodymyr Tykhyy’s One Day in Ukraine and Lebanese filmmaker Nadim Mishlawi’s After the End of the World. In other awards, Dutch filmmaker Rosa Ruth Boesten’s won Best First Feature for Master of Light, a biopic about classical painter George Anthony Morton, who spent a decade in federal prison in the U.S. for dealing drugs before finding his calling.
Pedro Almodóvar Signs Ethan Hawke, Pedro Pascal For Western...
- 6/29/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow and Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Festival reveals award winning docs, and the winners of its pitching sessions.
Rodrigo Reyes’s Sansón And Me, the story of an unlikely friendship between two Mexican migrants, has won the best film prize of the the international competition at this year’s Sheffield DocFest.
The DocFest jury lauded Reyes for choosing “to explore a subject matter which is all too often invisible and neglected: the incarceration of immigrants in the US.” The documentary sees Reyes reconnect with Sansón, a Mexican migrant sentenced to life in prison, whom he met when the director was a translator at his trial.
Special...
Rodrigo Reyes’s Sansón And Me, the story of an unlikely friendship between two Mexican migrants, has won the best film prize of the the international competition at this year’s Sheffield DocFest.
The DocFest jury lauded Reyes for choosing “to explore a subject matter which is all too often invisible and neglected: the incarceration of immigrants in the US.” The documentary sees Reyes reconnect with Sansón, a Mexican migrant sentenced to life in prison, whom he met when the director was a translator at his trial.
Special...
- 6/29/2022
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
NewportFILM Outdoors has unveiled its upcoming season of award-winning documentaries. The organization showcases non-fiction features and screens them in dramatic, often opulent settings around Newport, Rhode Island, a legendary summer getaway. This year is no exception, with some of the screenings taking place at such storied venues as Rough Point, a Gilded Age mansion that was the home of Doris Duke, and Marble House, the “summer cottage” of William K. Vanderbilt.
The season kicks off on Thursday, June 23rd with a Sundance favorite, Jono McLeod’s “My Old School” from Magnolia Pictures, which will open the series. Showtime’s upcoming documentary “McEnroe,” a look at tennis great John McEnroe, has the closing night slot and will screen, quite fittingly, at the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The series runs weekly through Sept. 1.
Highlights include HBO Documentary Films’ “The Princess,” a deep dive into the life of Princess Diana; “Master of Light,...
The season kicks off on Thursday, June 23rd with a Sundance favorite, Jono McLeod’s “My Old School” from Magnolia Pictures, which will open the series. Showtime’s upcoming documentary “McEnroe,” a look at tennis great John McEnroe, has the closing night slot and will screen, quite fittingly, at the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The series runs weekly through Sept. 1.
Highlights include HBO Documentary Films’ “The Princess,” a deep dive into the life of Princess Diana; “Master of Light,...
- 6/16/2022
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Chicago – Groundbreaking filmmakers often start at the South by Southwest Festival. Influencers like the Duplass brothers, Chicago’s Joe Swanberg and Lena Dunham got their first prominent notices at the fest. In that spirit, the 2022 SXSW Grand Jury Awards were announced on March 15th.
The top film in Narrative Features was “I Love My Dad” by writer/director James Morosini, featuring Patton Oswalt and Morosini himself as father and son reconnecting under odd circumstances. The Documentary Feature awardee was “Master of Light” by Rosa Ruth Boesten, an unusual profile of painter George Anthony Morton, as he struggles to render his mother. And the Narrative Short deemed best is by writer/director Tang Yi, entitled “All the Crows in the World,” with its “inventive story and critiques of patriarchal culture.”
The following is the list of top honorees …
Grand Jury Prize - Narrative Feature
I Love My Dad
Photo credit: SXSW.
The top film in Narrative Features was “I Love My Dad” by writer/director James Morosini, featuring Patton Oswalt and Morosini himself as father and son reconnecting under odd circumstances. The Documentary Feature awardee was “Master of Light” by Rosa Ruth Boesten, an unusual profile of painter George Anthony Morton, as he struggles to render his mother. And the Narrative Short deemed best is by writer/director Tang Yi, entitled “All the Crows in the World,” with its “inventive story and critiques of patriarchal culture.”
The following is the list of top honorees …
Grand Jury Prize - Narrative Feature
I Love My Dad
Photo credit: SXSW.
- 3/17/2022
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
“Darkness is my friend.” Those sober words by Black classical painter George Anthony Morton, the introspective subject of Rosa Ruth Boesten’s “Master of Light” — which won the Grand Jury Award for documentary feature at SXSW — refracts the film’s title from an aesthetic ethos to a way of life. It paints Morton’s present mental health struggles — the obvious and unconscious reverberations of his socio-economic environment on his past and current life — and the seemingly inescapable cycles that still crush his family.
Boesten, however, doesn’t reduce Morton’s painful history to degradation. Because you don’t measure light through its absence; you find it in the human eye. And Black folks are filled with light. Even when the world, from conception to death, distorts Black people’s worth — even during structural racism and anti-blackness — or against the ceaseless undertow of mental trauma, Black people still project radiance. Morton...
Boesten, however, doesn’t reduce Morton’s painful history to degradation. Because you don’t measure light through its absence; you find it in the human eye. And Black folks are filled with light. Even when the world, from conception to death, distorts Black people’s worth — even during structural racism and anti-blackness — or against the ceaseless undertow of mental trauma, Black people still project radiance. Morton...
- 3/16/2022
- by Robert Daniels
- Indiewire
At its live awards ceremony SXSW announced tonight the jury and special award winners of the 29th annual SXSW Film Festival. James Morosini’s I Love My Dad — starring the writer/director along with Patton Oswald — won the Narrative Feature Competition, and Rosa Ruth Boesten’s documentary about painter George Anthony Morton, Master of Light, won the Documentary Feature Competition. Other notable winners include Iliana Sosa, a Filmmaker 25 New Face whose What We Leave Behind won two awards: The Fandor New Voices Award and the Louis Black Lone Star Award. Films will continue to be available on the SXSW platform […]
The post I Love My Dad, Master of Light Win Top Feature Prizes at SXSW first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post I Love My Dad, Master of Light Win Top Feature Prizes at SXSW first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 3/16/2022
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
At its live awards ceremony SXSW announced tonight the jury and special award winners of the 29th annual SXSW Film Festival. James Morosini’s I Love My Dad — starring the writer/director along with Patton Oswald — won the Narrative Feature Competition, and Rosa Ruth Boesten’s documentary about painter George Anthony Morton, Master of Light, won the Documentary Feature Competition. Other notable winners include Iliana Sosa, a Filmmaker 25 New Face whose What We Leave Behind won two awards: The Fandor New Voices Award and the Louis Black Lone Star Award. Films will continue to be available on the SXSW platform […]
The post I Love My Dad, Master of Light Win Top Feature Prizes at SXSW first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post I Love My Dad, Master of Light Win Top Feature Prizes at SXSW first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 3/16/2022
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
In “Master of Light,” Rosa Ruth Boesten’s superbly intimate portrait of painter George Anthony Morton, shadows matter as much as light. The documentary, which won the grand jury prize at the SXSW Film Festival, deals with Black trauma, gently acknowledging change without over-trumpeting resilience.While serving time in federal prison for selling drugs, Morton studied the works of Rembrandt and other classical painters. Unlike too many formerly incarcerated people, he found work when he was released after a 10-year stint. He painted the portrait of the Black owner of a gym, which led to more painting.
“Master of Light” makes clear that just because Morton — who lives in Atlanta with his partner and young daughter — has found his calling doesn’t mean he’s at peace. And the film toggles between Atlanta and the Kansas City neighborhood of his ruptured youth, where he returns to paint portraits of some of his family members,...
“Master of Light” makes clear that just because Morton — who lives in Atlanta with his partner and young daughter — has found his calling doesn’t mean he’s at peace. And the film toggles between Atlanta and the Kansas City neighborhood of his ruptured youth, where he returns to paint portraits of some of his family members,...
- 3/16/2022
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
The South by Southwest 2022 Film Festival grand jury awarded James Morosini’s “I Love My Dad,” a comedy starring Patton Oswalt, its top jury prize in the festival’s Narrative Feature Competition.
Among some of the other top film prizes, “Master of Light” about painter George Anthony Morton and directed by Rosa Ruth Boesten won the Documentary Feature Competition jury prize, Tang Yi’s “All the Crows in the World” won the Narrative Short Competition, and “Long Line of Ladies” from directors Rayka Zehtabchi and Shaandiin Tome won the Documentary Short Competition.
“I Love My Dad” is the feature debut by writer, director and star Morosini (also an actor known for “The Sex Lives of College Girls”), and the film stars Oswalt as an estranged father who, desperate to reconnect with his depressive son, inadvertently catfishes him online, pretending to be a waitress that his son inevitably falls for. The...
Among some of the other top film prizes, “Master of Light” about painter George Anthony Morton and directed by Rosa Ruth Boesten won the Documentary Feature Competition jury prize, Tang Yi’s “All the Crows in the World” won the Narrative Short Competition, and “Long Line of Ladies” from directors Rayka Zehtabchi and Shaandiin Tome won the Documentary Short Competition.
“I Love My Dad” is the feature debut by writer, director and star Morosini (also an actor known for “The Sex Lives of College Girls”), and the film stars Oswalt as an estranged father who, desperate to reconnect with his depressive son, inadvertently catfishes him online, pretending to be a waitress that his son inevitably falls for. The...
- 3/16/2022
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Back together in person after two years of going virtual during the pandemic, the Austin-based SXSW Film Festival has announced its juried prizes. As in previous editions, the awards show happened at the midpoint of the nine-day event, before SXSW’s music events suck much of the attention away from film screenings.
The top prize in narrative feature competition went to “I Love My Dad,” written and directed by James Morosini, who also stars as a younger version of himself in this uncomfortable retelling of how he was catfished by his father (played by Patton Oswalt).
“Morosini displays massive empathy as a filmmaker to get into the mind of the father he feels betrayed by, and also as an actor portraying the impact of that betrayal,” said the jury, who also gave special jury prizes to the cast and crew of “It Is in Us All” and Elizaveta Yankovskaya, star of the Russian film “Nika.
The top prize in narrative feature competition went to “I Love My Dad,” written and directed by James Morosini, who also stars as a younger version of himself in this uncomfortable retelling of how he was catfished by his father (played by Patton Oswalt).
“Morosini displays massive empathy as a filmmaker to get into the mind of the father he feels betrayed by, and also as an actor portraying the impact of that betrayal,” said the jury, who also gave special jury prizes to the cast and crew of “It Is in Us All” and Elizaveta Yankovskaya, star of the Russian film “Nika.
- 3/16/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
A stunning work of cinematic nonfiction, Rosa Ruth Boesten’s Master of Light follows the classical painter George Anthony Morton, a fan of Rembrandt who conjures exquisite portraits of his own family members in the style of the Old Masters. Never formally trained, Morton nonetheless managed to land a spot at the New York branch of The Florence Academy of Art, eventually going on to study in Europe and win awards abroad. Which would be a remarkable feat for any American, let alone a Black man from Kansas City who spent a decade behind bars for dealing drugs. But likewise remarkable […]
The post “It’s About the Emotion, the Performance, the Rhythm and the Space in Between the Words”: Rosa Ruth Boesten on Her SXSW-Debuting doc Master of Light first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “It’s About the Emotion, the Performance, the Rhythm and the Space in Between the Words”: Rosa Ruth Boesten on Her SXSW-Debuting doc Master of Light first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 3/12/2022
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
A stunning work of cinematic nonfiction, Rosa Ruth Boesten’s Master of Light follows the classical painter George Anthony Morton, a fan of Rembrandt who conjures exquisite portraits of his own family members in the style of the Old Masters. Never formally trained, Morton nonetheless managed to land a spot at the New York branch of The Florence Academy of Art, eventually going on to study in Europe and win awards abroad. Which would be a remarkable feat for any American, let alone a Black man from Kansas City who spent a decade behind bars for dealing drugs. But likewise remarkable […]
The post “It’s About the Emotion, the Performance, the Rhythm and the Space in Between the Words”: Rosa Ruth Boesten on Her SXSW-Debuting doc Master of Light first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “It’s About the Emotion, the Performance, the Rhythm and the Space in Between the Words”: Rosa Ruth Boesten on Her SXSW-Debuting doc Master of Light first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 3/12/2022
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
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