By Glenn Charlie Dunks
We are looking at some of the movies playing Canada's beloved HotDocs festival. This week we're taking a trip through the films of Christine Choy who is the recipient of the 2023 HotDocs Outstanding Achievement Award and is screening a series of her films.
Despite all of the increased attention that has been paid to documentaries over the last decade (and believe it has been a marked improvement!), it can still be frustratingly hard to see recognition for works made before that shift took place. Particularly so when you consider pre-digital and even pre-video era, where widespread praise tends to fall around a certain canon of titles.
As ever, who gets that build the canon does so by means of access and identification. For example, it’s hardly surprising that the films of HotDocs’ Outstanding Achievement Award winner for 2023, Christine Chow, aren’t as widely known or...
We are looking at some of the movies playing Canada's beloved HotDocs festival. This week we're taking a trip through the films of Christine Choy who is the recipient of the 2023 HotDocs Outstanding Achievement Award and is screening a series of her films.
Despite all of the increased attention that has been paid to documentaries over the last decade (and believe it has been a marked improvement!), it can still be frustratingly hard to see recognition for works made before that shift took place. Particularly so when you consider pre-digital and even pre-video era, where widespread praise tends to fall around a certain canon of titles.
As ever, who gets that build the canon does so by means of access and identification. For example, it’s hardly surprising that the films of HotDocs’ Outstanding Achievement Award winner for 2023, Christine Chow, aren’t as widely known or...
- 5/3/2023
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
Two-time Oscar winner Chloé Zhao does not want to be one of the few exceptions.
From Songs My Brothers Taught Me and The Rider to Nomadland and Eternals, Zhao knows how to make an impact onscreen, but now she’s determined to make a difference offscreen, so that the list of Oscar-winning female directors can someday become significantly longer than just her, Jane Campion and Kathryn Bigelow.
To get the ball rolling, Zhao has now teamed up with Johnnie Walker’s First Strides Initiative and Women in Film to celebrate female filmmakers and create further opportunities for women both in front of and behind the camera. To commemorate their partnership at the upcoming 16th Annual Women in Film Oscar Party, Johnnie Walker commissioned a custom red carpet with panels that pay tribute to other notable women directors including Gina Prince-Bythewood, Ana Lily Amirpour, Janicza Bravo, Christine Choy, Julie Dash, Wanuri Kahiu and Claire Denis.
From Songs My Brothers Taught Me and The Rider to Nomadland and Eternals, Zhao knows how to make an impact onscreen, but now she’s determined to make a difference offscreen, so that the list of Oscar-winning female directors can someday become significantly longer than just her, Jane Campion and Kathryn Bigelow.
To get the ball rolling, Zhao has now teamed up with Johnnie Walker’s First Strides Initiative and Women in Film to celebrate female filmmakers and create further opportunities for women both in front of and behind the camera. To commemorate their partnership at the upcoming 16th Annual Women in Film Oscar Party, Johnnie Walker commissioned a custom red carpet with panels that pay tribute to other notable women directors including Gina Prince-Bythewood, Ana Lily Amirpour, Janicza Bravo, Christine Choy, Julie Dash, Wanuri Kahiu and Claire Denis.
- 3/10/2023
- by Brian Davids
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
2nd Chance (Ramin Bahrani)
It’s an eerie image. Richard Davis stands out in a field, wearing a kevlar vest, and points a pistol into his belly. Then he pulls the trigger, skips back a bit, and checks his red-burned skin. Over the course of his life, he would do this—shoot himself—192 times, proving the efficacy of his life-saving device in the most visceral and operatic way possible. “A lot of people think I’m stupid for doing this,” he tells the camera before one of these high-wire demonstrations, and for just a moment, an air of unpredictability hangs over this bullet-proof vest magnate’s next move. – Jake K. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Devotion (J.D. Dillard)
Devotion adheres to...
2nd Chance (Ramin Bahrani)
It’s an eerie image. Richard Davis stands out in a field, wearing a kevlar vest, and points a pistol into his belly. Then he pulls the trigger, skips back a bit, and checks his red-burned skin. Over the course of his life, he would do this—shoot himself—192 times, proving the efficacy of his life-saving device in the most visceral and operatic way possible. “A lot of people think I’m stupid for doing this,” he tells the camera before one of these high-wire demonstrations, and for just a moment, an air of unpredictability hangs over this bullet-proof vest magnate’s next move. – Jake K. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Devotion (J.D. Dillard)
Devotion adheres to...
- 1/13/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
For the last few years, Sundance has had a strong record for premiering Asian titles that would overtake the film festival circuit. Asian diaspora and titles from Asia alike dominated the slate last year, with Indian documentary “All That Breathes” taking home the Grand Jury Prize in World Cinema Documentary; Christine Choy-starring “The Exiles” walking away with the Grand Jury Prize in US Documentary; and Kogonada’s quiet sci-fi “After Yang” winning the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. Other productions have made a splash on the circuit as well, like the Martika Ramirez Escobar’s stunning debut “Leonor Will Never Die” and Julie Ha and Eugene Yi’s well-researched documentary “Free Chol Soo Lee.” The successes of the previous years have ramped up our own excitement for what is to come in 2023 — which will be, for the first time in the last 2 years, premiere in-person,...
- 12/11/2022
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Gravitas Ventures on Wednesday announced a deal to retain the Video On Demand distribution rights for “The Exiles,” a documentary feature project from executive producers Chris Columbus and Steven Soderbergh that won the 2022 Sundance Grand Jury Prize Documentary Award. It will debut on January 10, 2023. The doc, co-directed by Violet Columbus and Ben Klein, focuses on a trio of exiled dissidents who survived the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests and ultimate massacre. It incorporates old footage of the event from documentarian Christine Choy, who was herself nominated for an Oscar in 1989 for her doc “Who Killed Vincent Chin?”
In 1989, Choy started to film the activists of the Tiananmen Square movement before ultimately shelving the project for some three decades. “The Exiles” finds her reuniting with them.
Said Bill Guentzler, Gravitas Ventures’ senior director of acquisitions: “Violet Columbus and Ben Klein intimately capture the passion and strength of Christine Choy and the activists...
In 1989, Choy started to film the activists of the Tiananmen Square movement before ultimately shelving the project for some three decades. “The Exiles” finds her reuniting with them.
Said Bill Guentzler, Gravitas Ventures’ senior director of acquisitions: “Violet Columbus and Ben Klein intimately capture the passion and strength of Christine Choy and the activists...
- 12/8/2022
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
Sundance grand jury prize documentary winner “The Exiles” is finally getting a release on video on demand. Gravitas Ventures will release the documentary executive produced by Chris Columbus and Steven Soderbergh on Jan. 10, almost a full year after its Sundance debut.
The documentary, directed by Violet Columbus and Ben Klein, centers on three exiled dissidents and survivors of the Tiananmen Square massacre, incorporating decades-old footage from the Chinese protests. The use of that footage, part of Christine Choy’s unfinished “Tiananmen/China Today” project, drew criticism from those involved in it following its Sundance victory, but those credit issues have since been addressed.
In 1989, Choy, recently Oscar-nominated for her work on “Who Killed Vincent Chin?,” began filming the leaders of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests. She reunites with the three dissidents in “The Exiles,” which interweaves Choy’s footage, shelved for 30 years, with newly shot interview segments
“Violet Columbus and...
The documentary, directed by Violet Columbus and Ben Klein, centers on three exiled dissidents and survivors of the Tiananmen Square massacre, incorporating decades-old footage from the Chinese protests. The use of that footage, part of Christine Choy’s unfinished “Tiananmen/China Today” project, drew criticism from those involved in it following its Sundance victory, but those credit issues have since been addressed.
In 1989, Choy, recently Oscar-nominated for her work on “Who Killed Vincent Chin?,” began filming the leaders of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests. She reunites with the three dissidents in “The Exiles,” which interweaves Choy’s footage, shelved for 30 years, with newly shot interview segments
“Violet Columbus and...
- 12/7/2022
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
The 45th Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF45), presented by Citi, and a production of Asian CineVision (Acv) in association with Asia Society, announces its Closing Night, Special Presentations, and Media Award Recipient. The AAIFF45 Closing Night honors New York City’s Chinatown and nods to Acv’s roots with its “Chinatown Beat” programming.
Each film in this block is directed by an Acv alum filmmaker. The block includes the New York premiere of Curtis Chin’s new documentary film, Dear Corky, which honors the legacy of Acv pioneer and community activist, Corky Lee who documented the APA community for over 50 years, the New York premiere of Patrick Chen’s short film, A Father’S Son, a narrative tribute to the people and stories of NYC Chinatown, starring Tzi Ma and Ronny Chieng, and a screening of the groundbreaking documentary about Aapi activism in the 1970s, From Spikes To Spindles,...
Each film in this block is directed by an Acv alum filmmaker. The block includes the New York premiere of Curtis Chin’s new documentary film, Dear Corky, which honors the legacy of Acv pioneer and community activist, Corky Lee who documented the APA community for over 50 years, the New York premiere of Patrick Chen’s short film, A Father’S Son, a narrative tribute to the people and stories of NYC Chinatown, starring Tzi Ma and Ronny Chieng, and a screening of the groundbreaking documentary about Aapi activism in the 1970s, From Spikes To Spindles,...
- 7/23/2022
- by Suzie Cho
- AsianMoviePulse
Documentary trailblazer Christine Choy kicked off Hot Docs’ Industry Live conference with a captivating fast-forward through the plot points and ideologies of her experimental, activist filmmaking, including her recent turn in front of the camera in Violet Columbus and Ben Klein’s doc-feature debut “The Exiles,” winner of this year’s U.S. Grand Jury Prize in documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.
The film has its international premiere at Hot Docs on Thursday, with a followup cinema screening on Sunday.
A beloved, outspoken film professor for many years, Choy has also worked steadily behind the camera since the early 1970s, and was a founding director with New York-based Third World Newsreel, one of the oldest alternative media arts organizations in the U.S., and through which she made the seminal “From Spikes to Spindles” (1976). Her current projects include a doc about the WWII U.S. air squadron the Flying...
The film has its international premiere at Hot Docs on Thursday, with a followup cinema screening on Sunday.
A beloved, outspoken film professor for many years, Choy has also worked steadily behind the camera since the early 1970s, and was a founding director with New York-based Third World Newsreel, one of the oldest alternative media arts organizations in the U.S., and through which she made the seminal “From Spikes to Spindles” (1976). Her current projects include a doc about the WWII U.S. air squadron the Flying...
- 5/4/2022
- by Jennie Punter
- Variety Film + TV
Hot Docs’ market events remain online in 2022 to maximize interactions between feature-doc teams, financiers, and other decision-makers, but its three-day, in-person industry conference is mingling hot topics, first looks (works-in-progress screenings), and networking ops (lounges and lunches) to facilitate what the festival’s industry program director Elizabeth Radshaw calls “moments of serendipity.”
Hot Docs Industry Live unfolds April 30 to May 2 in the TIFF Bell Lightbox and nearby Art Gallery of Ontario, repositioning the industry hub in Toronto’s downtown business and entertainment district—familiar ground to many international industry reps—and allowing for deeper integration between Hot Docs’ public screening and industry components.
2022’s transitional, hybrid edition continues the market format of the past two years, online-only editions of the Forum—the festival’s marquee pitch event—and the one-on-one Dealmaker and Distribution Rendezvous meeting programs, which proved successful.
“We were able to bring in buyers that were too busy with Cannes to attend,...
Hot Docs Industry Live unfolds April 30 to May 2 in the TIFF Bell Lightbox and nearby Art Gallery of Ontario, repositioning the industry hub in Toronto’s downtown business and entertainment district—familiar ground to many international industry reps—and allowing for deeper integration between Hot Docs’ public screening and industry components.
2022’s transitional, hybrid edition continues the market format of the past two years, online-only editions of the Forum—the festival’s marquee pitch event—and the one-on-one Dealmaker and Distribution Rendezvous meeting programs, which proved successful.
“We were able to bring in buyers that were too busy with Cannes to attend,...
- 4/28/2022
- by Jennie Punter
- Variety Film + TV
May on the Criterion Channel will be good to the auteurs. In fact they’re giving Richard Linklater better treatment than the distributor of his last film, with a 13-title retrospective mixing usual suspects—the Before trilogy, Boyhood, Slacker—with some truly off the beaten track. There’s a few shorts I haven’t seen but most intriguing is Heads I Win/Tails You Lose, the only available description of which calls it a four-hour (!) piece “edited together by Richard Linklater in 1991 from film countdowns and tail leaders from films submitted to the Austin Film Society in Austin, Texas from 1987 to 1990. It is Linklater’s tribute to the film countdown, used by many projectionists over the years to cue one reel of film after another when switching to another reel on another projector during projection.” Pair that with 2008’s Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach and your completionism will be on-track.
- 4/21/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
To describe documentarian Christine Choy as a bit of a live-wire would be like describing the national grid as a bit of an energy source. "How do I describe myself?" she asks, "Fuck you, you can't describe me." This sort of sparky response is what propels this debut feature from actor-turned-director Violet Columbus and Ben Klein as it flits between being a profile of Choy and her work and a consideration of what happened to the Chinese activists who were exiled in the wake of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Back at 1989, Choy - who had been Oscar-nominated for her documentary Who Killed Vincent Chin two years earlier - was drawn to the news story of the Chinese student protests, encapsulated by footage of an unarmed demonstrator standing in front of a tank. How many hundreds died in the subsequent government crackdown still isn't known. Several of the leaders fled to.
Back at 1989, Choy - who had been Oscar-nominated for her documentary Who Killed Vincent Chin two years earlier - was drawn to the news story of the Chinese student protests, encapsulated by footage of an unarmed demonstrator standing in front of a tank. How many hundreds died in the subsequent government crackdown still isn't known. Several of the leaders fled to.
- 2/18/2022
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
What first appears to be an energetic, biographical sketch of NYU Professor and filmmaker Christine Choy becomes a film about her lost project, one that seemingly has yet to be completed and, by the conclusion of The Exiles, feels incomplete. Choy, who describes herself as “philosophically homeless,” is a half-Chinese, half-Korean 100% New Yorker, finding herself most at home in lower Manhattan—below 23rd St, distinctly. Yet she’s also proud of her Chinese heritage and had been a founding faculty member of NYU’s Shanghai program, where she stumbles across the suppression of the student movement in the late 1980s that culminated in the Tiananmen Square protests. For her, completing a film she started years ago—as many in the movement were traveling to the US—is a challenge to reckon with.
As directed by Choy’s former students Violet Columbus and Ben Klein, this isn’t a dry, neatly...
As directed by Choy’s former students Violet Columbus and Ben Klein, this isn’t a dry, neatly...
- 2/7/2022
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Last weekend, “The Exiles” took home the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for US Documentary. In some ways, this victory is not so surprising. Though this is directors’ Violet Columbus and Ben Klein’s documentary debut, the New York University students possessed a compelling subject and mentor: Christine Choy. Choy – always seen with a cigarette in one hand and a glass of vodka in the other – stands as one of the behemoths of Asian American cinema today. In addition to her sixty-plus awards, she directed the Oscar-nominated documentary “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” (1988). Her other films likewise uncovered buried histories of Asian American suppression. From the 1880s railroads to 1992 LA riots to the model minority myth, her filmography touches upon a century’s worth of Asian American history.
It comes as even less of a surprise, then, that Choy should have her own personal archive of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. When Columbus and Klein investigate,...
It comes as even less of a surprise, then, that Choy should have her own personal archive of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. When Columbus and Klein investigate,...
- 2/2/2022
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Chicago – The 2022 Sundance Film Festival concluded on January 30th, and had a full weekend of award screenings. The festival is wrapping up as virtual/online for the second year in a row, meaning that again anyone/anywhere with a ticket or a pass got to indulge in the film offerings and events throughout the festival.
One of the highlight offerings is free to anyone, with no need for extra tickets or credentials. Beyond Film programming offers something for everyone … with filmmaker chats, meet-ups and a daily talk show with Festival Director Tabitha Jackson. Festivals stars and directors participating include Emma Thompson, Dakota Johnson, Amy Poehler and Eva Longoria Bastón. Click on Beyond Film for the archive. And click Award Winners for list of Sundance Film Festival honorees.
‘Nanny’
Photo credit: Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is an annual event organized by the Sundance Institute – an organization founded by...
One of the highlight offerings is free to anyone, with no need for extra tickets or credentials. Beyond Film programming offers something for everyone … with filmmaker chats, meet-ups and a daily talk show with Festival Director Tabitha Jackson. Festivals stars and directors participating include Emma Thompson, Dakota Johnson, Amy Poehler and Eva Longoria Bastón. Click on Beyond Film for the archive. And click Award Winners for list of Sundance Film Festival honorees.
‘Nanny’
Photo credit: Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is an annual event organized by the Sundance Institute – an organization founded by...
- 2/2/2022
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Every January, the Sundance Film Festival launches a slew of documentary Oscar contenders, and 2022 was no different. While there are exceptions, most eventual documentary Oscar nominees launch at Sundance. It’s the festival of choice for non-fiction films to be seen and discovered.
You can see why: Making the Oscar shortlist for 2022 were Sundance 2021 debuts from Nanfu Wang (HBO’s China Covid exposé “In the Same Breath”), Danish filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen (Neon’s animated immigration saga “Flee”), self-taught Jessica Beshir (Janus’ dive into Ethiopia’s khat industry “Faya Dayi”), Camilla Nielsson (Greenwich Entertainment’s Zimbabwe expose “President”); and rookie filmmaker Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (Searchlight/Hulu’s 1969 concert film “Summer of Soul”).
This year’s new pandemic era Sundance crop is just as impressive.
Documentary award winners get a boost
The jury prizes didn’t go to the buzziest titles: those films nabbed the audience awards. But Sundance award-winners got...
You can see why: Making the Oscar shortlist for 2022 were Sundance 2021 debuts from Nanfu Wang (HBO’s China Covid exposé “In the Same Breath”), Danish filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen (Neon’s animated immigration saga “Flee”), self-taught Jessica Beshir (Janus’ dive into Ethiopia’s khat industry “Faya Dayi”), Camilla Nielsson (Greenwich Entertainment’s Zimbabwe expose “President”); and rookie filmmaker Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (Searchlight/Hulu’s 1969 concert film “Summer of Soul”).
This year’s new pandemic era Sundance crop is just as impressive.
Documentary award winners get a boost
The jury prizes didn’t go to the buzziest titles: those films nabbed the audience awards. But Sundance award-winners got...
- 1/30/2022
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Every January, the Sundance Film Festival launches a slew of documentary Oscar contenders, and 2022 was no different. While there are exceptions, most eventual documentary Oscar nominees launch at Sundance. It’s the festival of choice for non-fiction films to be seen and discovered.
You can see why: Making the Oscar shortlist for 2022 were Sundance 2021 debuts from Nanfu Wang (HBO’s China Covid exposé “In the Same Breath”), Danish filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen (Neon’s animated immigration saga “Flee”), self-taught Jessica Beshir (Janus’ dive into Ethiopia’s khat industry “Faya Dayi”), Camilla Nielsson (Greenwich Entertainment’s Zimbabwe expose “President”); and rookie filmmaker Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (Searchlight/Hulu’s 1969 concert film “Summer of Soul”).
This year’s new pandemic era Sundance crop is just as impressive.
Documentary award winners get a boost
The jury prizes didn’t go to the buzziest titles: those films nabbed the audience awards. But Sundance award-winners got...
You can see why: Making the Oscar shortlist for 2022 were Sundance 2021 debuts from Nanfu Wang (HBO’s China Covid exposé “In the Same Breath”), Danish filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen (Neon’s animated immigration saga “Flee”), self-taught Jessica Beshir (Janus’ dive into Ethiopia’s khat industry “Faya Dayi”), Camilla Nielsson (Greenwich Entertainment’s Zimbabwe expose “President”); and rookie filmmaker Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (Searchlight/Hulu’s 1969 concert film “Summer of Soul”).
This year’s new pandemic era Sundance crop is just as impressive.
Documentary award winners get a boost
The jury prizes didn’t go to the buzziest titles: those films nabbed the audience awards. But Sundance award-winners got...
- 1/30/2022
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
After nine days, 84 feature films, and 59 short films, the Sundance juries have announced their winners, with all films screenings over Saturday and Sunday and tickets now on sale. One can check out the full list below, with Nanny, The Exiles, Cha Cha Real Smooth, and Navalny bringing home the major prizes, and see our complete coverage here.
Grand Jury Prizes
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to Nikyatu Jusu for Nanny / U.S.A. — Aisha is an undocumented nanny working for a privileged couple in New York City. As she prepares for the arrival of the son she left behind in Senegal, a violent supernatural presence invades her reality, threatening the American dream she is painstakingly piecing together. Cast: Anna Diop, Michelle Monaghan, Sinqua Walls, Morgan Spector, Rose Decker, Leslie Uggams.
Juror Chelsea Bernard said: “For this Grand Jury Prize we celebrate a movie that flooded us...
Grand Jury Prizes
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to Nikyatu Jusu for Nanny / U.S.A. — Aisha is an undocumented nanny working for a privileged couple in New York City. As she prepares for the arrival of the son she left behind in Senegal, a violent supernatural presence invades her reality, threatening the American dream she is painstakingly piecing together. Cast: Anna Diop, Michelle Monaghan, Sinqua Walls, Morgan Spector, Rose Decker, Leslie Uggams.
Juror Chelsea Bernard said: “For this Grand Jury Prize we celebrate a movie that flooded us...
- 1/29/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Apple has Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic winner for second consecutive year.
Nanny and The Exiles have won the Sundance 2022 US grand jury prizes and Utama and All That Breathes corresponding world cinema honours while Navalny was voted the audience favourite as the festival announced winners on Friday (Jan 28).
Nikyatu Jusu’s supernatural tale of an undocumented Senegalese nanny working in the US claimed the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and The Exiles from Ben Klein and Violet Columbus earned the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary and follows documentarian Christine Choy and she reunites with exiled dissidents from the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Nanny and The Exiles have won the Sundance 2022 US grand jury prizes and Utama and All That Breathes corresponding world cinema honours while Navalny was voted the audience favourite as the festival announced winners on Friday (Jan 28).
Nikyatu Jusu’s supernatural tale of an undocumented Senegalese nanny working in the US claimed the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and The Exiles from Ben Klein and Violet Columbus earned the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary and follows documentarian Christine Choy and she reunites with exiled dissidents from the Tiananmen Square massacre.
- 1/28/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The Sundance Film Festival revealed award winners for its 2022 edition Friday. Like the rest of this year’s festival, which was forced to go all-virtual because of the recent Omicron surge, the awards ceremony played out on Twitter, with honors spread around across the diverse lineup unlike last year, when Coda swept the top honors.
Nikyatu Jusu’s Nanny won the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, while the U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize went to The Exiles directed by Ben Klein and Violet Columbus. Marquee Audience Awards wins went to Apple’s big sales pickup Cha Cha Real Smooth, and the surprise secrent-screening documentary Navalny, which won both the Audience Award in the U.S. Doc section as well as the omnibus Festival Favorite Award.
Winners were announced in the U.S. Dramatic, U.S. Documentary, World Dramatic and World Documentary competitions as well as...
Nikyatu Jusu’s Nanny won the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, while the U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize went to The Exiles directed by Ben Klein and Violet Columbus. Marquee Audience Awards wins went to Apple’s big sales pickup Cha Cha Real Smooth, and the surprise secrent-screening documentary Navalny, which won both the Audience Award in the U.S. Doc section as well as the omnibus Festival Favorite Award.
Winners were announced in the U.S. Dramatic, U.S. Documentary, World Dramatic and World Documentary competitions as well as...
- 1/28/2022
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Sundance 2022 has officially crowned its winners. On Friday, the Sundance Film Festival’s awards were announced on Twitter via @sundancefest. Juries and audience members alike weighed in to select winners across a variety of categories, out of 84 feature films and 59 short films.
The grand jury prizes went to Nikyatu Jusu‘s feature directorial debut “Nanny,” for the coveted U.S. Dramatic title, along with Christine Choy’s “The Exiles” for U.S. Documentary, Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes” for World Cinema Documentary, and Alejando Loayza Grisi’s “Utama” for World Cinema Dramatic.
The Audience Awards were earned by U.S. documentary “Navalny” and Cooper Raiff’s “Cha Cha Real Smooth” for U.S. Dramatic. “Navalny” also won the Festival Favorite Award.
Jusu is the second Black woman ever to win the Grand Jury Prize U.S. Dramatic, following Chinonye Chukwu in 2019 for “Clemency.”
“This year’s entire program has...
The grand jury prizes went to Nikyatu Jusu‘s feature directorial debut “Nanny,” for the coveted U.S. Dramatic title, along with Christine Choy’s “The Exiles” for U.S. Documentary, Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes” for World Cinema Documentary, and Alejando Loayza Grisi’s “Utama” for World Cinema Dramatic.
The Audience Awards were earned by U.S. documentary “Navalny” and Cooper Raiff’s “Cha Cha Real Smooth” for U.S. Dramatic. “Navalny” also won the Festival Favorite Award.
Jusu is the second Black woman ever to win the Grand Jury Prize U.S. Dramatic, following Chinonye Chukwu in 2019 for “Clemency.”
“This year’s entire program has...
- 1/28/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Given the Chinese government’s frighteningly successful attempts at retroactively erasing the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre from history, there is an urgent need for a soup-to-nuts retelling of that incident, solidly laying out the facts and figures, insofar as they can be known. “The Exiles,” from debut directors Violet Columbus and Ben Klein, is not that film, although some of its most powerful sequences could be repurposed in their entirety to that end.
Instead, Columbus and Klein present a palimpsest of erratically overlapping perspectives. The results are untidy and unbalanced, but derive considerable energy from that eccentric approach. While “The Exiles” honors three of the erstwhile leaders of the protest movement, and also probes some intriguingly melancholy ideas about exile and the passage of time, a significant portion of its hybrid vigor comes directly from the enormously outspoken, rather amazing Christine Choy, the filmmaker who becomes the framing device here.
Shanghai-born,...
Instead, Columbus and Klein present a palimpsest of erratically overlapping perspectives. The results are untidy and unbalanced, but derive considerable energy from that eccentric approach. While “The Exiles” honors three of the erstwhile leaders of the protest movement, and also probes some intriguingly melancholy ideas about exile and the passage of time, a significant portion of its hybrid vigor comes directly from the enormously outspoken, rather amazing Christine Choy, the filmmaker who becomes the framing device here.
Shanghai-born,...
- 1/26/2022
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
“You can write about it, but Americans don’t read.” A firm non-believer in spoon-feeding, Academy Award-nominated documentary pioneer Christine Choy (“Who Killed Vincent Chin?”) may very well never set foot in her home country of China again. “How the f*ck can I explain to anyone where I’m from?” maintains Choy, born to a Korean father who abandoned the family shortly following her birth. “F*ck you! You describe me!”
Identity, as it pertains to nationalism, is an issue that plagues many former Chinese citizens — specifically those who were in the country during the Tiananmen Square massacre of June 4, 1989, which left a number of political activists, many of them students, exiled from the country for actions deemed radical by a totalitarian government.
Continue reading ‘The Exiles’ Review: Tiananmen Square Doc is a Flawed but Essential Testament to the Power of Image-Based Reporting [Sundance] at The Playlist.
Identity, as it pertains to nationalism, is an issue that plagues many former Chinese citizens — specifically those who were in the country during the Tiananmen Square massacre of June 4, 1989, which left a number of political activists, many of them students, exiled from the country for actions deemed radical by a totalitarian government.
Continue reading ‘The Exiles’ Review: Tiananmen Square Doc is a Flawed but Essential Testament to the Power of Image-Based Reporting [Sundance] at The Playlist.
- 1/22/2022
- by Andrew Bundy
- The Playlist
The Sundance Institute today unveiled the 2022 Sundance Film Festival’s Beyond Film line-up of events that are free to the public. Speakers will include such artists from this year’s program as La Guerra Civil director Eva Longoria Bastón, Dual star Karen Gillan, Cha Cha Real Smooth and Am I Ok? star Dakota Johnson, Alice star Keke Palmer and Lucy & Desi director Amy Poehler.
Beyond Film events will range from artist talks to daily meetups and immersive experiences. Additional programming will include the daily talk show How to Fest: Daily; a solo performance by multiple Emmy–winning artist, Lynette Wallworth; a sneak peek at the film Oscar’s Comeback about Black film pioneer Oscar Micheaux and a conversation with its directors; Artist Spotlights with Xr/VR/new media creators showing work in the New Frontier section; a talk centered on the climate crisis, and more.
The in-person, Park City component...
Beyond Film events will range from artist talks to daily meetups and immersive experiences. Additional programming will include the daily talk show How to Fest: Daily; a solo performance by multiple Emmy–winning artist, Lynette Wallworth; a sneak peek at the film Oscar’s Comeback about Black film pioneer Oscar Micheaux and a conversation with its directors; Artist Spotlights with Xr/VR/new media creators showing work in the New Frontier section; a talk centered on the climate crisis, and more.
The in-person, Park City component...
- 1/13/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
When You Finish Saving the World The Sundance Institute has announced the films selected for their hybrid 2022 Festival, which will take place in-person in Park City, online, and in arthouse theaters across the United States.U.S. Dramatic COMPETITION892 (Abi Damaris Corbin): When Brian Brown-Easley’s disability check fails to materialize from Veterans Affairs, he finds himself on the brink of homelessness and breaking his daughter’s heart. No other options, he walks into a Wells Fargo Bank and says “I’ve got a bomb.“ Cast: John Boyega, Michael Kenneth Williams, Nicole Beharie, Connie Britton, Olivia Washington, Selenis Leyva. World Premiere.Alice (Krystin Ver Linden): When a woman in servitude in 1800s Georgia escapes the 55-acre confines of her captor, she discovers the shocking reality that exists beyond the treeline…it’s 1973. Inspired by true events. Cast: Keke Palmer, Common, Jonny Lee Miller, Gaius Charles. World Premiere.blood...
- 12/15/2021
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Lina Wertmüller in Behind the White Glasses (2015).Italian filmmaker Lina Wertmüller, the first woman to be nominated for a directing Oscar (for 1975's Seven Beauties), died on December 9. After working as an assistant director for Federico Fellini on 8 1/2, Wertmüller went on to become a prolific and distinctive filmmaker in her own right, combining politics and sex and humor in films like The Seduction of Mimi and Swept Away. In an interview with Criterion, she stated: "I consider myself a director, not a female director. I think there’s no difference. The difference is between good movies and bad movies. We should not make other distinctions." The prolific critic and theorist bell hooks has died today. In addition to her many writings on the feminist movement and cultural politics, hooks was also an important media theorist.
- 12/15/2021
- MUBI
New York Women in Film & Television has announced that the third annual Nywift Summit will be held between the 22nd and 25th of June.
The summit examines strategies to create meaningful change in the industry, mobilizing support and leadership, which will contribute to creating a more diverse and inclusive Hollywood.
This year’s conference, billed as “The Creative Industry Radically Reimagined,” will specifically hone in on the best practices for indies and media companies, which are actively reassessing their objectives, staffing and community responses. The conference will also look at the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated financial downturn on the industry, as well as lessons taken from the Black Lives Matter Movement, and recent waves of violence against the Aapi community.
In addition to keynote speeches, fireside chats and panels, the conference will allow for daily networking opportunities. Networking events will cover numerous pressing topics relevant to the modern industry landscape,...
The summit examines strategies to create meaningful change in the industry, mobilizing support and leadership, which will contribute to creating a more diverse and inclusive Hollywood.
This year’s conference, billed as “The Creative Industry Radically Reimagined,” will specifically hone in on the best practices for indies and media companies, which are actively reassessing their objectives, staffing and community responses. The conference will also look at the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated financial downturn on the industry, as well as lessons taken from the Black Lives Matter Movement, and recent waves of violence against the Aapi community.
In addition to keynote speeches, fireside chats and panels, the conference will allow for daily networking opportunities. Networking events will cover numerous pressing topics relevant to the modern industry landscape,...
- 6/16/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
There’s a moment early in Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1987), Christine Choy’s documentary about the murder of Chinese-American Vincent Chin by two white Detroit auto workers, in which several auto workers sit around a bar and talk candidly about their jobs being outsourced to Asia. They may be losing their jobs but at least, they contend, it is because there exists in America, unlike in Asian countries, a just and immutable right to good treatment and fair wages, and that would never change. More than thirty years later, American Factory documents the arrival of Chinese Fuyao Glass America (Fga), a Chinese-based automotive glassmaking company, into a disused Gm plant just outside of Dayton, Ohio. American Factory marks a return for directors Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar to the same plant they filmed for The Closing of a Gm Plant (2008), except the tables have turned: American workers now work for...
- 8/26/2019
- MUBI
Doc NYC, the largest documentary festival in America, kicked off its latest edition this week with its annual Visionaries Tribute. Co-founder Thom Powers opened the ceremony with the following speech.
One year ago, our community was gathered at the Visionaries Tribute two days after Donald Trump was elected. In that dark moment, I know many people in this room took strength from being among great storytellers, feeling that documentary-making had an important role to play.
See More:doc NYC 2017: 13 Films We Can’t Wait to See At the Festival, From ‘EuroTrump’ to ‘David Bowie: The Last Five Years’
We were living through a historic moment then, and now we’re living through a different one as we witness the cascading exposure of sexual harassment endemic to our culture.
To an extent, this is something we all knew happened. Only now we have a much more vivid image of what it...
One year ago, our community was gathered at the Visionaries Tribute two days after Donald Trump was elected. In that dark moment, I know many people in this room took strength from being among great storytellers, feeling that documentary-making had an important role to play.
See More:doc NYC 2017: 13 Films We Can’t Wait to See At the Festival, From ‘EuroTrump’ to ‘David Bowie: The Last Five Years’
We were living through a historic moment then, and now we’re living through a different one as we witness the cascading exposure of sexual harassment endemic to our culture.
To an extent, this is something we all knew happened. Only now we have a much more vivid image of what it...
- 11/10/2017
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Direct from Sundance Blogs:
Come Swim
Credit: John GuleserianNight Shift
Credit: Estee OchoaThe Robbery
Credit: Lowell Meyer
Sixty-eight short films will complement the lineup of longer fare at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. The short film slate aligns thematically with other Festival categories, including Midnight and The New Climate, the Festival’s new programming strand highlighting climate change and the environment. The Festival hosts screenings in Park City, Salt Lake City and at Sundance Mountain Resort January 19–29.
The Institute’s support for short films extends internationally and year-round. Select Festival short films are presented as a traveling program at over 50 theaters in the U.S. and Canada each year, and short films and filmmakers take part in regional Master Classes geared towards supporting emerging shorts-makers in several cities. Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program, supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and in partnership with The Guardian and The New York Times’ Op-Docs,...
Come Swim
Credit: John GuleserianNight Shift
Credit: Estee OchoaThe Robbery
Credit: Lowell Meyer
Sixty-eight short films will complement the lineup of longer fare at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. The short film slate aligns thematically with other Festival categories, including Midnight and The New Climate, the Festival’s new programming strand highlighting climate change and the environment. The Festival hosts screenings in Park City, Salt Lake City and at Sundance Mountain Resort January 19–29.
The Institute’s support for short films extends internationally and year-round. Select Festival short films are presented as a traveling program at over 50 theaters in the U.S. and Canada each year, and short films and filmmakers take part in regional Master Classes geared towards supporting emerging shorts-makers in several cities. Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program, supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and in partnership with The Guardian and The New York Times’ Op-Docs,...
- 12/29/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
With their feature film line-up now set (see here and here), Sundance have unveiled their 2017 short program, which in past years has included such gems as World of Tomorrow, Glove, and Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash. This year’s line-up includes Kristen Stewart‘s Come Swim, featuring a score by St. Vincent, as well as Project X, the latest film from Citizenfour director Laura Poitras.
Check out the full line-up of 68 films below, along with the first look at Stewart’s film.
U.S. Narrative Short Films
American Paradise / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Joe Talbot) — A desperate man in Trump’s America tries to shift his luck with the perfect crime in this story inspired by true events.
Cecile on the Phone / U.S.A. (Director: Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Screenwriters: Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Ellen Greenberg) — Overwhelmed by doubt and confusion after her ex-boyfriend’s return to New York, Cecile embarks on...
Check out the full line-up of 68 films below, along with the first look at Stewart’s film.
U.S. Narrative Short Films
American Paradise / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Joe Talbot) — A desperate man in Trump’s America tries to shift his luck with the perfect crime in this story inspired by true events.
Cecile on the Phone / U.S.A. (Director: Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Screenwriters: Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Ellen Greenberg) — Overwhelmed by doubt and confusion after her ex-boyfriend’s return to New York, Cecile embarks on...
- 12/6/2016
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Sundance Film Festival just gave attendees 68 new reasons to look forward to the January event with the announcement of their short films program that features several titles for genre fans to keep an eye on, including the creature short feature Kaiju Bunraku, the suburban satanic cult-centric Fucking Bunnies, and the post-apocalyptic Dawn of the Deaf.
We have the official press release below with full details, and stay tuned to Daily Dead for our upcoming coverage of the festival.
Press Release: Park City, Ut — Sixty-eight short films, announced today, will complement the lineup of longer fare at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. The short film slate aligns thematically with other Festival categories, including Midnight and The New Climate, the Festival’s new programming strand highlighting climate change and the environment. The Festival hosts screenings in Park City, Salt Lake City and at Sundance Mountain Resort January 19-29.
The Institute’s support for...
We have the official press release below with full details, and stay tuned to Daily Dead for our upcoming coverage of the festival.
Press Release: Park City, Ut — Sixty-eight short films, announced today, will complement the lineup of longer fare at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. The short film slate aligns thematically with other Festival categories, including Midnight and The New Climate, the Festival’s new programming strand highlighting climate change and the environment. The Festival hosts screenings in Park City, Salt Lake City and at Sundance Mountain Resort January 19-29.
The Institute’s support for...
- 12/6/2016
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Short film lovers, never fear, the Sundance Film Festival has not forgotten about you. After rolling out their various feature categories, the annual winter festival has now announced their full short film lineup, including narratives, documentaries, animated offerings and midnight chillers. The slate is packed with picks from such diverse filmmakers as Laura Poitras (who will screen her latest, “Project X,” co-directed with Henrik Moltke, at the festival) and Kristen Stewart (who will make her directorial debut with “Come Swim”), along with Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Zachary Zezima, E.G. Bailey and many, many more.
If you’re hoping to find the next big thing in independent filmmaking, start here. Among the shorts the festival has shown in recent years are “World of Tomorrow,” “Thunder Road,” “Whiplash,” “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” and “Gregory Go Boom.”
Read More: Sundance 2017 Announces Competition and Next Lineups, Including Returning Favorites and Major Contenders
Mike Plante,...
If you’re hoping to find the next big thing in independent filmmaking, start here. Among the shorts the festival has shown in recent years are “World of Tomorrow,” “Thunder Road,” “Whiplash,” “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” and “Gregory Go Boom.”
Read More: Sundance 2017 Announces Competition and Next Lineups, Including Returning Favorites and Major Contenders
Mike Plante,...
- 12/6/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
The Film Society of Lincoln Center today announced the lineup for Explorations, a new section featuring bold selections from the vanguard of contemporary cinema, and Main Slate shorts for the 54th New York Film Festival.
Read More: Nyff Reveals Main Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Manchester By the Sea,’ ‘Paterson’ and ‘Personal Shopper’
Explorations is devoted to work from around the world, from filmmakers across the spectrum of experience and artistic sensibility. It kicks off with six features, including Albert Serra’s latest, “The Death of Louis Xiv,” featuring a tour de force performance by French cinema legend Jean-Pierre Léaud; Douglas Gordon’s portrait of avant-garde icon Jonas Mekas, “I Had Nowhere to Go”; João Pedro Rodrigues’s “The Ornithologist”, which won him the Best Director prize at Locarno; as well as Natalia Almada’s “Everything Else”, Gastón Solnicki’s “Kékszakállú,” and Oliver Laxe’s “Mimosas.”
New York Film Festival Director...
Read More: Nyff Reveals Main Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Manchester By the Sea,’ ‘Paterson’ and ‘Personal Shopper’
Explorations is devoted to work from around the world, from filmmakers across the spectrum of experience and artistic sensibility. It kicks off with six features, including Albert Serra’s latest, “The Death of Louis Xiv,” featuring a tour de force performance by French cinema legend Jean-Pierre Léaud; Douglas Gordon’s portrait of avant-garde icon Jonas Mekas, “I Had Nowhere to Go”; João Pedro Rodrigues’s “The Ornithologist”, which won him the Best Director prize at Locarno; as well as Natalia Almada’s “Everything Else”, Gastón Solnicki’s “Kékszakállú,” and Oliver Laxe’s “Mimosas.”
New York Film Festival Director...
- 8/29/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revealed its 276-member-strong class of 2013.
The list, published by The Hollywood Reporter, includes actors, cinematographers, designers, directors, documentarians, executives, film editors, makeup artists and hairstylists, "members-at-large," musicians, producers, PR folks, short filmmakers and animators, sound technicians, visual effects artists, and writers.
Jason Bateman, Rosario Dawson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Milla Jovovich, Lucy Liu, Jennifer Lopez, Emily Mortimer, Sandra Oh, Jason Schwartzman, and Michael Peña are among the roster of actors, while "The Heat" and "Bridesmaids" helmer Paul Feig made the directors' cut.
"We did not change our criteria at all," says Academy president Hawk Koch of this year's larger-than-usual class. "Yes, this year there is a tremendous amount of women, a tremendous amount of people of color, people from all walks of life. This year, we asked the branches to look at everybody who wasn't in the Academy but who deserved to be.
The list, published by The Hollywood Reporter, includes actors, cinematographers, designers, directors, documentarians, executives, film editors, makeup artists and hairstylists, "members-at-large," musicians, producers, PR folks, short filmmakers and animators, sound technicians, visual effects artists, and writers.
Jason Bateman, Rosario Dawson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Milla Jovovich, Lucy Liu, Jennifer Lopez, Emily Mortimer, Sandra Oh, Jason Schwartzman, and Michael Peña are among the roster of actors, while "The Heat" and "Bridesmaids" helmer Paul Feig made the directors' cut.
"We did not change our criteria at all," says Academy president Hawk Koch of this year's larger-than-usual class. "Yes, this year there is a tremendous amount of women, a tremendous amount of people of color, people from all walks of life. This year, we asked the branches to look at everybody who wasn't in the Academy but who deserved to be.
- 7/4/2013
- by Laura Larson
- Moviefone
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today the 276 members of the entertainment industry invited to join organization. The list includes actors, directors, documentarians, executives, film editors, producers and more. Of those listed below, those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy's membership in 2013. "These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today," said Academy President Hawk Koch in a press release. "Their talent and creativity have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and I am proud to welcome each of them to the Academy." Koch also told Variety, "In the past eight or nine years, each branch could only bring in X amount of members. There were people each branch would have liked to get in but couldn't. We asked them to be more inclusive of the best of the best, and each branch was excited, because they got...
- 6/28/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The Academy just added 276 Oscar voters.
That’s 100 more than last year, and part of an easing of a longstanding cap on the number of new members allowed to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences each year.
AMPAS usually adds between 130 and 180 new members, replacing those who have quit or passed away. The membership now stands around 6,000.
Jason Bateman, Jennifer Lopez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emmanuelle Riva, and Chris Tucker are among the actors who have been invited to join, the organization announced today.
Other interesting additions: the musician Prince, Girls and Tiny Furniture writer/director/actress Lena Dunham,...
That’s 100 more than last year, and part of an easing of a longstanding cap on the number of new members allowed to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences each year.
AMPAS usually adds between 130 and 180 new members, replacing those who have quit or passed away. The membership now stands around 6,000.
Jason Bateman, Jennifer Lopez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emmanuelle Riva, and Chris Tucker are among the actors who have been invited to join, the organization announced today.
Other interesting additions: the musician Prince, Girls and Tiny Furniture writer/director/actress Lena Dunham,...
- 6/28/2013
- by Anthony Breznican
- EW - Inside Movies
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 276 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2013.
“These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today,” said Academy President Hawk Koch. “Their talent and creativity have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and I am proud to welcome each of them to the Academy.”
The 2013 invitees are:
Actors
Jason Bateman – “Up in the Air,” “Juno”
Miriam Colon – “City of Hope,” “Scarface”
Rosario Dawson – “Rent,” “Frank Miller’s Sin City”
Kimberly Elise – “For Colored Girls,” “Beloved”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – “Lincoln,” “The Dark Knight Rises”
Charles Grodin – “Midnight Run,” “The Heartbreak Kid”
Rebecca Hall – “Iron Man 3,” “The Town”
Lance Henriksen – “Aliens,” “The Terminator”
Jack Huston – “Not Fade Away,” “Factory Girl”
Milla Jovovich – “Resident Evil,...
“These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today,” said Academy President Hawk Koch. “Their talent and creativity have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and I am proud to welcome each of them to the Academy.”
The 2013 invitees are:
Actors
Jason Bateman – “Up in the Air,” “Juno”
Miriam Colon – “City of Hope,” “Scarface”
Rosario Dawson – “Rent,” “Frank Miller’s Sin City”
Kimberly Elise – “For Colored Girls,” “Beloved”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – “Lincoln,” “The Dark Knight Rises”
Charles Grodin – “Midnight Run,” “The Heartbreak Kid”
Rebecca Hall – “Iron Man 3,” “The Town”
Lance Henriksen – “Aliens,” “The Terminator”
Jack Huston – “Not Fade Away,” “Factory Girl”
Milla Jovovich – “Resident Evil,...
- 6/28/2013
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
In the documentary film, "Long Story Short," Oscar-nominated filmmaker Christine Choy explores the lives of husband-and-wife performers Larry and Trudie Long, who rose from the Chinatown nightclub circuit in the 1940s and '50s to "The Ed Sullivan Show," battling racism along the way. Narrated by their daughter, actress Jodi Long, the documentary weaves together a glamorous showbiz tale with the touching story of the Long family's personal struggles. The documentary film is now available on Netflix.com and the filmmakers are asking everyone to support the project...
- 9/19/2010
- by edmoy
- Examiner Movies Channel
Tze Chun's "Children of Invention" will open the 25th-anniversary edition of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, which runs from April 30-May 7.
The fest will screen 181 films and videos from 26 countries at the DGA Theatre, Laemmle's Sunset 5 Theatres, Downtown Independent Theatre, the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy and the Aratani/Japan America Theatre.
"We are excited to present the Los Angeles premiere screening of 'Children of Invention' as our opening-night film," said Abraham Ferrer, fest co-director and exhibitions director at Visual Communications, which presents the fest. "We have been following director Chun's career since his short 'Windbreaker' was presented at the 2007 festival."
"Treeless Mountain," directed by So Yong Kim, is slated as the Laapff Centerpiece film, screening May 2 at the DGA Theatre.
Closing out the eight-day fest will be the 2008 Academy Award-winning best foreign-language film "Departures," from director Yojiro Takita, screening May 7 at the Aratani Japan...
The fest will screen 181 films and videos from 26 countries at the DGA Theatre, Laemmle's Sunset 5 Theatres, Downtown Independent Theatre, the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy and the Aratani/Japan America Theatre.
"We are excited to present the Los Angeles premiere screening of 'Children of Invention' as our opening-night film," said Abraham Ferrer, fest co-director and exhibitions director at Visual Communications, which presents the fest. "We have been following director Chun's career since his short 'Windbreaker' was presented at the 2007 festival."
"Treeless Mountain," directed by So Yong Kim, is slated as the Laapff Centerpiece film, screening May 2 at the DGA Theatre.
Closing out the eight-day fest will be the 2008 Academy Award-winning best foreign-language film "Departures," from director Yojiro Takita, screening May 7 at the Aratani Japan...
An award winner at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival for cinematography, "My America (... or Honk If You Love Buddha)" is one woman's personal and historical investigation of the Asian immigrant experience, from her own Chicago-born vantage point and through the stories of compelling subjects she finds on a cross-country quest.
The opening film of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film & Video Festival at the Directors Guild of America, the documentary "My America" has limited appeal theatrically, but it's a worthy companion to writer-producer-director Renee Tajima-Pena's Oscar-nominated "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" and will reach a wide audience in other venues.
Having grown up in the 1960s and gone through many personal phases, Tajima-Pena is a somewhat cynical, sharp-witted commentator about her own life and her Japanese-American family. In search of what it means to be Asian in America, she embarks on a road journey to New York, New Orleans, Mississippi and Seattle.
A former film critic for the Village Voice, Tajima-Pena luckily finds the prolific actor-photographer Victor Wong ("The Last Emperor"), whom she mistakes for Wood Moy, the leading man in the 1982 Chinatown comedy "Chan Is Missing". A smooth slinger of ironic, self-deprecating comments, the filmmaker is wryly amused by human behavior and life's contradictions.
She's at her sharpest when the subject turns to stereotypical representations of Asians and other racial myths, while the civil-rights movement and ongoing black-white struggle are discussed as having a profound effect on Asian-Americans.
Searching for heroes and answers, Tajima-Pena finds both in such lively personalities as "the Wong that went wrong" and Mr. Choi, a New York fortune-cookie mogul she calls a "Horatio Alger on amphetamines". From poker-playing Filipino-Southern ladies to Seattle rappers who call themselves the Seoul Brothers, the subjects are fascinating.
A great deal of history is worked in through Tajima-Pena's narration and excellent home movies and newsreels. A Beat painter and pal of Jack Kerouac, Wong, 70, is particularly insightful about his journey from American rebel to Buddha-like believer in ghosts and Chinese traditions.
In a usually direct manner, the filmmaker addresses issues of racism and racial identity, the internment camps, multiracial relationships and familial problems, which are traditionally not openly discussed. She concludes that Asians belong in America, should keep the best aspects of their original cultures and embrace only the best of the new one.
MY AMERICA
(... OR HONK IF YOU LOVE BUDDHA)
National Asian American
Telecommunications Assn.
Independent Television Service
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Writer-producer-director Renee Tajima-Pena
Producer Quynh Thai
Director of photography Christine Choy
Music Jon Jang
Color/B&W
With Victor Wong, Renee Tajima-Pena
Running time -- 87 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The opening film of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film & Video Festival at the Directors Guild of America, the documentary "My America" has limited appeal theatrically, but it's a worthy companion to writer-producer-director Renee Tajima-Pena's Oscar-nominated "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" and will reach a wide audience in other venues.
Having grown up in the 1960s and gone through many personal phases, Tajima-Pena is a somewhat cynical, sharp-witted commentator about her own life and her Japanese-American family. In search of what it means to be Asian in America, she embarks on a road journey to New York, New Orleans, Mississippi and Seattle.
A former film critic for the Village Voice, Tajima-Pena luckily finds the prolific actor-photographer Victor Wong ("The Last Emperor"), whom she mistakes for Wood Moy, the leading man in the 1982 Chinatown comedy "Chan Is Missing". A smooth slinger of ironic, self-deprecating comments, the filmmaker is wryly amused by human behavior and life's contradictions.
She's at her sharpest when the subject turns to stereotypical representations of Asians and other racial myths, while the civil-rights movement and ongoing black-white struggle are discussed as having a profound effect on Asian-Americans.
Searching for heroes and answers, Tajima-Pena finds both in such lively personalities as "the Wong that went wrong" and Mr. Choi, a New York fortune-cookie mogul she calls a "Horatio Alger on amphetamines". From poker-playing Filipino-Southern ladies to Seattle rappers who call themselves the Seoul Brothers, the subjects are fascinating.
A great deal of history is worked in through Tajima-Pena's narration and excellent home movies and newsreels. A Beat painter and pal of Jack Kerouac, Wong, 70, is particularly insightful about his journey from American rebel to Buddha-like believer in ghosts and Chinese traditions.
In a usually direct manner, the filmmaker addresses issues of racism and racial identity, the internment camps, multiracial relationships and familial problems, which are traditionally not openly discussed. She concludes that Asians belong in America, should keep the best aspects of their original cultures and embrace only the best of the new one.
MY AMERICA
(... OR HONK IF YOU LOVE BUDDHA)
National Asian American
Telecommunications Assn.
Independent Television Service
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Writer-producer-director Renee Tajima-Pena
Producer Quynh Thai
Director of photography Christine Choy
Music Jon Jang
Color/B&W
With Victor Wong, Renee Tajima-Pena
Running time -- 87 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 5/19/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.