The Urban Chestnut Beer poured freely (because it was free) at the Urban Chestnut Microbrewery in the Grove neighborhood inSt. Louis last night. It was the closing-night party for the 26th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival where the slate of audience-choice and juried-competition winners were announced to an attentive crowd. Sliff presented four major filmmaking awards during the course of the 2017 festival: Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Award to Dan Mirvish; Women in Film Award to Pam Grier; Lifetime Achievement Awards to Sam Pollard; and the Contemporary Cinema Award to Marco Williams.
Tribeca Film Institute’s If/Then Short Documentary Pitch Competition
Tribeca Film Institute, in partnership with Sliff, sought short documentary projects by filmmakers living and working in the Midwest for its new If/Then Short Documentary Program, made possible with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Five projects were invited to enter...
Tribeca Film Institute’s If/Then Short Documentary Pitch Competition
Tribeca Film Institute, in partnership with Sliff, sought short documentary projects by filmmakers living and working in the Midwest for its new If/Then Short Documentary Program, made possible with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Five projects were invited to enter...
- 11/14/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
One hundred seventy features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 90th Academy Awards. That’s 25 more than 2016. Assuming they all book their qualifying runs in New York and Los Angeles, the members of the documentary branch have just a few more weeks to see as many films as possible and file their votes for the shortlist of 15 to be announced in December. They’re each supposed to watch an assigned list of about 20 films, plus as many more as they can.
Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature
It’s possible for documentaries to also vie for Best Picture, although it is rare. Among this year’s most lauded features are “City of Ghosts,” “Faces Places,” “Jane,” “Kedi” and “One of Us.”
The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:
“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”
“Aida’s Secrets”
“Al Di Qua”
“All the Rage...
Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature
It’s possible for documentaries to also vie for Best Picture, although it is rare. Among this year’s most lauded features are “City of Ghosts,” “Faces Places,” “Jane,” “Kedi” and “One of Us.”
The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:
“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”
“Aida’s Secrets”
“Al Di Qua”
“All the Rage...
- 10/27/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
One hundred seventy features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 90th Academy Awards. That’s 25 more than 2016. Assuming they all book their qualifying runs in New York and Los Angeles, the members of the documentary branch have just a few more weeks to see as many films as possible and file their votes for the shortlist of 15 to be announced in December. They’re each supposed to watch an assigned list of about 20 films, plus as many more as they can.
Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature
It’s possible for documentaries to also vie for Best Picture, although it is rare. Among this year’s most lauded features are “City of Ghosts,” “Faces Places,” “Jane,” “Kedi” and “One of Us.”
The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:
“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”
“Aida’s Secrets”
“Al Di Qua”
“All the Rage...
Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature
It’s possible for documentaries to also vie for Best Picture, although it is rare. Among this year’s most lauded features are “City of Ghosts,” “Faces Places,” “Jane,” “Kedi” and “One of Us.”
The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:
“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”
“Aida’s Secrets”
“Al Di Qua”
“All the Rage...
- 10/27/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
The nonfiction organization Cinema Eye and its nominations committee of top international documentary film programmers, curators, and filmmakers has picked their annual list of “Unforgettables” who helped to define documentary cinema in 2017. They selected 30 individuals from 15 different films to be in the running for this year’s Cinema Eye awards. Like the Doc NYC shortlist, many of the films on this curated list are in the running for the year’s top awards, including the Oscar. “Jane,” “Faces Places,” “City of Ghosts,” and “Strong Island” continue to lead the documentary awards pack.
The full slate of Cinema Eye nominations for nonfiction feature, short, and broadcast films/series will be be announced on Friday, November 3 in San Francisco at Sffilm’s Doc Stories event. Awards will be presented in New York City at the Museum of the Moving Image on Thursday, January 11, 2018.
Read More:doc NYC Announces Its Awards Short List, Including ‘Icarus,...
The full slate of Cinema Eye nominations for nonfiction feature, short, and broadcast films/series will be be announced on Friday, November 3 in San Francisco at Sffilm’s Doc Stories event. Awards will be presented in New York City at the Museum of the Moving Image on Thursday, January 11, 2018.
Read More:doc NYC Announces Its Awards Short List, Including ‘Icarus,...
- 10/18/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
The nonfiction organization Cinema Eye and its nominations committee of top international documentary film programmers, curators, and filmmakers has picked their annual list of “Unforgettables” who helped to define documentary cinema in 2017. They selected 30 individuals from 15 different films to be in the running for this year’s Cinema Eye awards. Like the Doc NYC shortlist, many of the films on this curated list are in the running for the year’s top awards, including the Oscar. “Jane,” “Faces Places,” “City of Ghosts,” and “Strong Island” continue to lead the documentary awards pack.
The full slate of Cinema Eye nominations for nonfiction feature, short, and broadcast films/series will be be announced on Friday, November 3 in San Francisco at Sffilm’s Doc Stories event. Awards will be presented in New York City at the Museum of the Moving Image on Thursday, January 11, 2018.
Read More:doc NYC Announces Its Awards Short List, Including ‘Icarus,...
The full slate of Cinema Eye nominations for nonfiction feature, short, and broadcast films/series will be be announced on Friday, November 3 in San Francisco at Sffilm’s Doc Stories event. Awards will be presented in New York City at the Museum of the Moving Image on Thursday, January 11, 2018.
Read More:doc NYC Announces Its Awards Short List, Including ‘Icarus,...
- 10/18/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
The St. Louis-set For Ahkeem’s central character, Daje Shelton, is on a path to avoid a life of poverty and disappointment. Having been suspended from her local high school for a number of petty offenses, Daje’s opportunities are narrowing by the season. Enlisting in a school for troubled youth as a last resort, her future is up in the air. While the documentary is centered around Daja, African-American teenage men are always present. Daja speaks of her many male friends who have been lost to gun violence, and her boyfriend Antonio (and their eventual son, the title character Ahkeem) will have […]...
- 10/13/2017
- by Erik Luers
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Cinema St. Louis has unveiled the narrative and documentary features that comprise the 26th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival, to be held Nov. 2-12, Among the highlights are such St. Louis-related works as “Atomic Homefront,” opening-night film “Bad Grandmas,” and “For Ahkeem” and such festival buzz films as “Call Me by Your Name,” “Dahmer,” “Darkest Hour,” “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool,” “Last Flag Flying,” “The Leisure Seeker,” “Thoroughbreds,” and “Walking Out.”
For a complete list of the films, go Here
http://www.cinemastlouis.org/films-preview
The fest will honor Pam Grier (“Bad Grandmas” and “Jackie Brown”) with a Women in Film Award; Sam Pollard (“Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me” and “Acorn and the Firestorm”) with a Lifetime Achievement Award; Marco Williams (“Tell Them We Are Rising”) with a Contemporary Cinema Award; and Washington U. grad Dan Mirvish (the Jules Feiffer-written “Bernard...
For a complete list of the films, go Here
http://www.cinemastlouis.org/films-preview
The fest will honor Pam Grier (“Bad Grandmas” and “Jackie Brown”) with a Women in Film Award; Sam Pollard (“Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me” and “Acorn and the Firestorm”) with a Lifetime Achievement Award; Marco Williams (“Tell Them We Are Rising”) with a Contemporary Cinema Award; and Washington U. grad Dan Mirvish (the Jules Feiffer-written “Bernard...
- 10/3/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Focusing on a year in the life of three adult students — Melissa, Greg and Shynika — enrolled in Indianapolis’ Excel Center, a publicly-funded high school for those seeking a second chance, Andrew Cohn’s Night School has only grown more vital since its premiere at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Like For Ahkeem and this year’s Step, Night School offers a frank examination of inner-city poverty and the extra burden faced by those without the kinds of advantages that many take for granted. Its subjects make every attempt to buck the trend of poverty for themselves and their children, despite systemic constraints.
Cohn’s vérité-style documentary observes the lives of its three characters in and out of the classroom as they navigate self-doubt and oppressive systematic poverty, from employers who aren’t quick to grant second chances to those that can’t seem to understand why someone wouldn’t...
Cohn’s vérité-style documentary observes the lives of its three characters in and out of the classroom as they navigate self-doubt and oppressive systematic poverty, from employers who aren’t quick to grant second chances to those that can’t seem to understand why someone wouldn’t...
- 6/16/2017
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
"Here I am still trying to get my life together..." Oscilloscope Labs has debuted a trailer for Andrew Cohn's documentary Night School, about struggling adults in Indianapolis, Indiana who have decided to get their high school diploma by attending night school. The doc follows three different adults, profiling their lives and choice to return to school, as well as their struggles and daily challenges. This seems like a powerful film about the will to succeed and the belief that education can change the world. This also goes nicely with a few other recent docs about education in troubled areas, including Step and For Ahkeem. We also just featured a trailer for another school doc titled School Life, about teachers. This looks like it's definitely worth a watch. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Andrew Cohn's documentary Night School, direct from YouTube: Indianapolis has one of the lowest high...
- 6/2/2017
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Opening in a court room, For Ahkeem finds its protagonist Daje, an African American girl from the inner city of North St. Louis, sentenced to Judge Jimmy Edwards’ Inner City Academy (Ica), an alternative high school for those with violent and troubling records, providing one-on-one academic counseling and services. It would appear her path to college seems blocked again by an upbringing in a rough, economically disadvantaged neighborhood, although she does have a support network in her mother and well-meaning administrators at Ica.
Set partly during the Ferguson turmoil in the wake of Michael Brown’s death, For Ahkeem is a film in the classic cinéma vérité tradition, shinning a light on the plight of our inner cities. The film is a great deal less hopeful than the post-Freddie Gray Baltimore-set Step, destined to be a crowdpleaser this summer. For Ahkeem chooses to follow one young African American struggling to...
Set partly during the Ferguson turmoil in the wake of Michael Brown’s death, For Ahkeem is a film in the classic cinéma vérité tradition, shinning a light on the plight of our inner cities. The film is a great deal less hopeful than the post-Freddie Gray Baltimore-set Step, destined to be a crowdpleaser this summer. For Ahkeem chooses to follow one young African American struggling to...
- 5/7/2017
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
For AhkeemEstablished in 2002, the Tribeca Film Festival has had a bit of trouble defining itself during the course of its 15-year run. It lacks the grit and quirk of SXSW or the finesse of Sundance, but like the latter, it serves a springboard with its own lab for first time directors. Tribeca's ambitious programming has evolved to encompass much more than movies. A Virtual Reality sidebar is innovative and conveniently forward-looking, the television slate, chock full of hotly anticipated premieres, is opportunely adaptive, and the Talks section is fascinating in its pairings, both expected (Noah Baumbach and Dustin Hoffman, whose work together will be showcased at Cannes) and funkily improbable (Barbra Streisand and Robert Rodriguez). There's even a curation of interactive media in the Games section.While the festival is often unfairly maligned, there are many decent offerings, including spillover from the international film festival circuit and a premieres of some more well-known titles,...
- 5/4/2017
- MUBI
A coming of age documentary told against the fiery backdrop of teenager Mike Brown’s tragic death and the Ferguson, Missouri riots and protests that followed in 2014, the documentary “For Ahkeem” is a sobering piece of work. One of the most startling and lingering sequences begins when the film’s subject Daje Shelton and her mother sit shell-shocked watching television as protests erupt in Ferguson following the grand jury ruling on the police officers that killed an unarmed teenage boy.
Continue reading ‘For Ahkeem’: One Sobering Story Of Hardship Reflects Many [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘For Ahkeem’: One Sobering Story Of Hardship Reflects Many [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.
- 4/28/2017
- by Ally Johnson
- The Playlist
For Ahkeem Trailer from Weissman Studio on Vimeo.
After Judge Jimmie M. Edwards founded an alternative, last-resort school for juvenile offenders in the same neighborhood as the gang-ridden public housing complex where he’d grown up in St. Louis, Missouri, editors and readers of People selected him as one of the 2011 Heroes of the Year.
Inspired by the mission of the school’s caring staff — but also by the kids who found traction turning their lives around —People Staff Writer Jeff Truesdell, who reported the magazine’s feature about Edwards, and a team of filmmakers have now made Edwards’ Innovative...
After Judge Jimmie M. Edwards founded an alternative, last-resort school for juvenile offenders in the same neighborhood as the gang-ridden public housing complex where he’d grown up in St. Louis, Missouri, editors and readers of People selected him as one of the 2011 Heroes of the Year.
Inspired by the mission of the school’s caring staff — but also by the kids who found traction turning their lives around —People Staff Writer Jeff Truesdell, who reported the magazine’s feature about Edwards, and a team of filmmakers have now made Edwards’ Innovative...
- 4/19/2017
- by People Staff
- PEOPLE.com
In For Ahkeem, nonfiction filmmakers Jeremy S. Levine and Landon Van Soest follow 17-year-old Daje Shelton for more than two years, beginning when she's ordered by a Missouri judge to complete her education in a court-supervised alternative high school as a result of disciplinary infractions. By keeping a tight focus on the subject as she navigates senior year, early motherhood and the crushing stigma of negative expectations, the film assembles a poignant snapshot of black struggle that humanizes a range of social issues through the first-hand experiences of one young woman.
"Either you make it for me or you don't...
"Either you make it for me or you don't...
- 2/12/2017
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Documentary is an infinite form, but — at the risk of being terribly reductive — most documentary subjects can be divided into one of two groups: People who are too exceptional to resist, and people who are too ordinary to ignore. The former hinges on interest, the latter on empathy. A black teenager in a run-down suburb of St. Louis, Daje Shelton not only falls into that second category, her story defines why we need it.
Seventeen years old and already convinced that she’s already doomed to a dead end, Daje is a student who’s teetering on the edge of becoming a statistic; she’s growing up in the state that kicks more black kids out of school than any other, and she can’t help but feel the inertia of that fact. “For Ahkeem” lucidly captures that feeling as well as any non-fiction film since “Hoop Dreams,” even if...
Seventeen years old and already convinced that she’s already doomed to a dead end, Daje is a student who’s teetering on the edge of becoming a statistic; she’s growing up in the state that kicks more black kids out of school than any other, and she can’t help but feel the inertia of that fact. “For Ahkeem” lucidly captures that feeling as well as any non-fiction film since “Hoop Dreams,” even if...
- 2/12/2017
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
“For Ahkeem” follows the story of Daje Shelton, a 17-year old girl who ends up in a court-supervised alternative high school after getting into a fight at her school. She’s from a tough St. Louis neighborhood, but realizes she wants a better future for herself and is committed to turn her life around.
But staying focused on school proves to be a challenge for the eleventh grader, who loses multiple friends to gun violence. She also falls in love for the first time; his name is Antonio. Daje gets pregnant and is faced with the harsh reality of having to raise her son under the same rough circumstances she grew up in. The story takes place just as the Ferguson conflict is erupting a few miles down the road.
Read More: Sony Pictures Classics Acquires ‘A Fantastic Woman’ — Berlin 2017
The documentary film is helmed by Emmy award-winning filmmakers Jeremy S. Levine...
But staying focused on school proves to be a challenge for the eleventh grader, who loses multiple friends to gun violence. She also falls in love for the first time; his name is Antonio. Daje gets pregnant and is faced with the harsh reality of having to raise her son under the same rough circumstances she grew up in. The story takes place just as the Ferguson conflict is erupting a few miles down the road.
Read More: Sony Pictures Classics Acquires ‘A Fantastic Woman’ — Berlin 2017
The documentary film is helmed by Emmy award-winning filmmakers Jeremy S. Levine...
- 2/10/2017
- by Yoselin Acevedo
- Indiewire
World premieres include Barrage, starring Isabelle Huppert and her daughter Lolita Chammah.Scroll down for full list
This year’s Forum programme at the Berlin Film Festival (Feb 9-19), which highlights avant garde and experimental works, will feature 47 films, including 29 world premieres.
These include the premiere of Laura Schroeder’s Barrage, which stars Isabelle Huppert alongside her daughter Lolita Chammah in the story of a young woman who returns to Luxembourg after a 10-year absence to spend time with her estranged child. Huppert plays the grandmother, who has fostered the young girl during that absence.
Read: ‘Barrage’, starring Isabelle Huppert and daughter Lolita, finds sales home
Having its international premiere at Forum this year will be Golden Exits, the new feature from American filmmaker Alex Ross Perry. His previous credits include Queen Of Earth, which premiered at Berlin in 2015. His latest tells the story of a young Australian woman who comes to New York for a few months...
This year’s Forum programme at the Berlin Film Festival (Feb 9-19), which highlights avant garde and experimental works, will feature 47 films, including 29 world premieres.
These include the premiere of Laura Schroeder’s Barrage, which stars Isabelle Huppert alongside her daughter Lolita Chammah in the story of a young woman who returns to Luxembourg after a 10-year absence to spend time with her estranged child. Huppert plays the grandmother, who has fostered the young girl during that absence.
Read: ‘Barrage’, starring Isabelle Huppert and daughter Lolita, finds sales home
Having its international premiere at Forum this year will be Golden Exits, the new feature from American filmmaker Alex Ross Perry. His previous credits include Queen Of Earth, which premiered at Berlin in 2015. His latest tells the story of a young Australian woman who comes to New York for a few months...
- 1/19/2017
- by tom.grater@screendaily.com (Tom Grater)
- ScreenDaily
The San Francisco Film Society has just unveiled the three winners of the 2016 Sffs Documentary Film Fund awards. Totaling $75,000, the funds will support the feature-length documentaries in post-production and help push them towards completion. Chosen for their compelling stories, intriguing characters and innovative visual approach, the winners are: “For Ahkeem” by Jeremy Levine and Landon Van Soest, “The Rescue List” by Alyssa Fedele and Zachary Fink and Peter Bratt’s “Woman in Motion.”
“These projects are great examples of balance between artistic vision and social impact,” stated the jury in a statement. “They tell neglected or overlooked stories by exploring the lives of very interesting characters who stand for larger social issues. For ‘Ahkeem’ is an extremely patient verité film, yet with a sense of political urgency in the way it tackles its complex subject. ‘The Rescue List’ portrays an artful balance of ethnography and visual poetry while it brings...
“These projects are great examples of balance between artistic vision and social impact,” stated the jury in a statement. “They tell neglected or overlooked stories by exploring the lives of very interesting characters who stand for larger social issues. For ‘Ahkeem’ is an extremely patient verité film, yet with a sense of political urgency in the way it tackles its complex subject. ‘The Rescue List’ portrays an artful balance of ethnography and visual poetry while it brings...
- 9/20/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
Sundance Institute Announces Participants & Projects For Weeklong Creative Film Producing Initiative
Today, the Sundance Institute announces the participants for its weeklong Creative Film Producing Initiative at the Sundance Resort in Utah. This includes 11 feature film and documentary projects for the Creative Producing Labs, and more than 50 industry leaders for the Creative Producing Summit. The Institute’s Creative Producing Initiative encompasses a year-round series of Labs and Fellowships, nurturing the next generation of independent producers so that they can help sustain and support the vibrancy of independent film.
Read More: Sundance Institute Announces Projects For Its 2016 Screenwriters Lab, Doc Edit and Story Labs & Theatre-Makers Residency
The Feature Film Creative Producing Lab takes place from August 1st through 5th. It identifies emerging producers and, under the guidance of Creative Advisors, allows them to develop their creative instincts and evolve their skills at all stages of the project. Lab Fellows continue on through the Creative Producing Summit and receive ongoing yearlong mentorship, granting, and...
Read More: Sundance Institute Announces Projects For Its 2016 Screenwriters Lab, Doc Edit and Story Labs & Theatre-Makers Residency
The Feature Film Creative Producing Lab takes place from August 1st through 5th. It identifies emerging producers and, under the guidance of Creative Advisors, allows them to develop their creative instincts and evolve their skills at all stages of the project. Lab Fellows continue on through the Creative Producing Summit and receive ongoing yearlong mentorship, granting, and...
- 7/18/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
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