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
The summer premiere of Shadowhunters season 2, titled "Mea Maxima Culpa," picks up just days after the events of the winter finale, with Jace reveling in the information that not only does he have pure angel blood pumping through his veins but also that Clary is not his sister.
Elsewhere, Izzy is still recovering from her addiction to Yin-Fen, and Simon gets used to being a Daywalker. But it is the introduction of a greater demon that proves to be the biggest obstacle that the Shadowhunters face.
Elsewhere, Izzy is still recovering from her addiction to Yin-Fen, and Simon gets used to being a Daywalker. But it is the introduction of a greater demon that proves to be the biggest obstacle that the Shadowhunters face.
- 6/5/2017
- by editor@buddytv.com
- buddytv.com
MaryAnn’s quick take… A meditative, enormously sad, and sometimes angry-making portrait; provides a stark peek into a mind mentally ill yet remarkably confident and determined. I’m “biast” (pro): I’m desperate for movies about women
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
In May 2008, the body of a middle-aged woman was discovered in an empty New Hampshire farmhouse, after one of the coldest and snowiest winters on record. She had been dead for some months. Her identity was not a mystery: she left a note with her name, date of birth, social security number, and other information, including where she would like to be buried. Did she commit suicide? If so, why, and why here, in a house she did not own and that was not fit for human habitation? If not, why did she think her death was a certainty?...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
In May 2008, the body of a middle-aged woman was discovered in an empty New Hampshire farmhouse, after one of the coldest and snowiest winters on record. She had been dead for some months. Her identity was not a mystery: she left a note with her name, date of birth, social security number, and other information, including where she would like to be buried. Did she commit suicide? If so, why, and why here, in a house she did not own and that was not fit for human habitation? If not, why did she think her death was a certainty?...
- 4/10/2017
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
The film-maker who took on Scientology and the Catholic church has now set his sights on the controversial media mogul and Republican presidential advisor
Oscar-winning documentary-maker Alex Gibney is to target fallen former Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes in his next film.
Gibney, who specialises in films about controversial subjects such as the Church of Scientology (Going Clear), WikiLeaks (We Steal Secrets) and clerical sex abuse (Mea Maxima Culpa), told the Hollywood Reporter he is working on a film about Ailes, but would not provide any details, saying: “As a matter of course, I don’t talk about what I’m working on.”
Continue reading...
Oscar-winning documentary-maker Alex Gibney is to target fallen former Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes in his next film.
Gibney, who specialises in films about controversial subjects such as the Church of Scientology (Going Clear), WikiLeaks (We Steal Secrets) and clerical sex abuse (Mea Maxima Culpa), told the Hollywood Reporter he is working on a film about Ailes, but would not provide any details, saying: “As a matter of course, I don’t talk about what I’m working on.”
Continue reading...
- 1/27/2017
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Famous for his various acclaimed documentaries like "Going Clear," "Mea Maxima Culpa," "Taxi to the Dark Side," "Client 9," "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" and "We Steal Secrets," documentarian Alex Gibney is getting into the narrative feature business.
Gibney has become attached to direct the 1971-set political thriller "The Action" for Lionsgate, the project marking his first non-documentary feature.
The action follows eight anti-war activists who stole and made public classified FBI documents that exposed J. Edgar Hoover's campaign of spying and blackmail against Vietnam War protesters. Details of documents were then leaked to reporter Betty Medsger, who wrote the book "The Burglary: The Discovery Of J. Edgar Hoover's Secret FBI."
Gibeny will direct from a script by Scott Z. Burns ("Contagion") who will produce with Michael Sugar ("Spotlight"), Ashley Zalta, Meredith Milton and Participant Media.
Source: Variety...
Gibney has become attached to direct the 1971-set political thriller "The Action" for Lionsgate, the project marking his first non-documentary feature.
The action follows eight anti-war activists who stole and made public classified FBI documents that exposed J. Edgar Hoover's campaign of spying and blackmail against Vietnam War protesters. Details of documents were then leaked to reporter Betty Medsger, who wrote the book "The Burglary: The Discovery Of J. Edgar Hoover's Secret FBI."
Gibeny will direct from a script by Scott Z. Burns ("Contagion") who will produce with Michael Sugar ("Spotlight"), Ashley Zalta, Meredith Milton and Participant Media.
Source: Variety...
- 3/31/2016
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
"Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief," an expose directed by Alex Gibney, could contend at this year's Oscars, but it's already an Emmy winner after sweeping the top prizes at the Creative Arts Awards on Saturday, September 12 (read our complete breakdown of those dual-eligibility rules here). It claimed Best Documentary Special, Best Nonfiction Writing and Best Nonfiction Directing. -Break- 'The Jinx' wins Emmy for Documentary Series for profiling Robert Durst Gibney is a previous Oscar champ for Best Documentary ("Taxi to the Dark Side," 2007), and he won the Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking for another film about religious crimes: "Mea Maxima Culpa" (2013), about child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. His acclaimed documentary "Going Clear" was nominated for seven Emmys in all. Gibney also directed another nominee in the category: "Sinat..."...
- 9/13/2015
- Gold Derby
The Emmy race for Best Documentary or Nonfiction Special includes three familiar titles. "Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief," an expose directed by Alex Gibney, could contend at this year's Oscars. Netflix's "Virunga" was an Oscar nominee last for Best Documentary Feature and "The Case Against 8" made the motion picture academy's longlist of 15 semifinalists in 2014. They're all eligible at the Emmys because the TV academy makes an exception for films that have very limited theatrical runs to qualify for awards (read our complete breakdown of those rules here). -Break- 'Virunga' producer Leonardo DiCaprio could win Emmy before Oscar Gibney is a previous Oscar champ for Best Documentary ("Taxi to the Dark Side," 2007), and he won the Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking for another film about religious crimes: "Mea Maxima Culpa" (2013), a...
- 9/7/2015
- Gold Derby
“Spotlight” had its fair share of burdens to overcome: It deals with the Catholic church’s sex abuse scandal, which has already been the subject of several powerful documentaries (including “Deliver Us from Evil” and “Mea Maxima Culpa”), and it’s director Tom McCarthy’s first film since the catastrophic Adam Sandler vehicle “The Cobbler.” Neither winds up weighing down this extraordinary drama: While the script (written by McCarthy and Josh Singer, “The Fifth Estate”) certainly doesn’t shy away from the horrors that priests visited upon their young victims — and the institutional conspiracies that kept these predators from ever facing criminal justice.
- 9/3/2015
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
From "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" to the Catholic church exposé "Mea Maxima Culpa," Alex Gibney's documentaries often adopt a straightforward approach to exposing institutional dysfunction. "Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief" falls into that tradition. The director's bracing adaptation of Lawrence Wright's 2013 book on the religion's bizarre history is fairly routine in terms of its allegations. But with such outlandish material, that's more than enough. Read More: Alex Gibney Premieres His Scathing Exposé on the Church of Scientology By now, there's nothing entirely fresh about the story of L. Ron Hubbard's construction of a cult based around far-fetched science fiction conceits and the devious antics that ensued from it — many of which were perpetrated by Hubbard's tyrannical successor, the elusive David Miscavige. Nevertheless, taking cues from gripping testimonies provided by several high profile former...
- 1/26/2015
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Oscar winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney ("Taxi to the Dark Side," "Mea Maxima Culpa") is reportedly putting the finishing touches on "Going Clear," a film that tackles the Church of Scientology and its influence on Hollywood.
Based on Lawrence Wright's controversial book, HBO commissioned the Scientology project two years ago, before the book's publication. The film is expected to feature new revelations about the controversial religion and its famous followers.
HBO Documentary Films president Sheila Nevins says they have "probably 160 lawyers" looking at the film, and are expecting protests.
The plan is to release the project theatrically next year, with the doco likely to be submitted for the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Source: The Live Feed...
Based on Lawrence Wright's controversial book, HBO commissioned the Scientology project two years ago, before the book's publication. The film is expected to feature new revelations about the controversial religion and its famous followers.
HBO Documentary Films president Sheila Nevins says they have "probably 160 lawyers" looking at the film, and are expecting protests.
The plan is to release the project theatrically next year, with the doco likely to be submitted for the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Source: The Live Feed...
- 11/24/2014
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
A few days ago, we asked the online film community to rack their brains and submit their Top 10 films of 2013 for our annual poll. An incredible 94 movie bloggers answered the call, and we have sorted through the deluge of entries to find out what a handful of online journalists have deemed the best films of the year.
If you have a favourite journalist – or would like to follow other like-minded film fanatics through the power of the internet – you can find the blogger’s twitter account and website above their individual lists, which were compiled in no particular order and only take UK release dates into account. These various entries were then collated to bring about the definitive top 10. Have a look at the results below:
Predictably, it’s a landslide victory for Alfonso Cuarón’s magnificent space epic Gravity. Also of note however is the eclectic nature of the final results,...
If you have a favourite journalist – or would like to follow other like-minded film fanatics through the power of the internet – you can find the blogger’s twitter account and website above their individual lists, which were compiled in no particular order and only take UK release dates into account. These various entries were then collated to bring about the definitive top 10. Have a look at the results below:
Predictably, it’s a landslide victory for Alfonso Cuarón’s magnificent space epic Gravity. Also of note however is the eclectic nature of the final results,...
- 12/23/2013
- by Amon Warmann
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The documentary Project Wild Thing hopes to get kids off computers and embracing nature. But do protest films ever change anything – and who actually watches them?
What are you doing about global warming? Or fracking? Arab democracy? Diminishing bee populations? Nuclear energy? Gun control? Repression in Uganda? Russia? Burma? Increasingly, what we're doing about the world's problems seems to be watching documentaries on them – which does feel like doing something, while at the same time being very close to doing nothing. Now, at least, we can do nothing about more issues than ever before. The current cinema landscape is saturated with documentaries and fictionalised movies highlighting important political, humanitarian or environmental issues. That should be a good thing, but somehow, it doesn't always feel like it.
In the past month we've already had films on bees (More Than Honey), the internet and children (InRealLife), and climate change denial (Greedy Lying...
What are you doing about global warming? Or fracking? Arab democracy? Diminishing bee populations? Nuclear energy? Gun control? Repression in Uganda? Russia? Burma? Increasingly, what we're doing about the world's problems seems to be watching documentaries on them – which does feel like doing something, while at the same time being very close to doing nothing. Now, at least, we can do nothing about more issues than ever before. The current cinema landscape is saturated with documentaries and fictionalised movies highlighting important political, humanitarian or environmental issues. That should be a good thing, but somehow, it doesn't always feel like it.
In the past month we've already had films on bees (More Than Honey), the internet and children (InRealLife), and climate change denial (Greedy Lying...
- 10/17/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
It’s like a normal documentary about Lance Armstrong, but on steroids. The Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney has been responsible for some of the best documentaries to hit cinemas in the last decade. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Taxi to the Dark Side and Mea Maxima Culpa were all stunning pieces of work, and now we have the first trailer for Gibney’s Lance Armstrong project, The Armstrong Lie.
- 10/8/2013
- Sky Movies
Prolific documentary director Alex Gibney's career has accelerated to the point where you could be forgiven for losing track of what his latest project actually is. This year alone, the Oscar winner has brought us two topical, well-received docs: "We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks" premiered at Sundance and was released theatrically in May, while his study of the Lance Armstrong doping scandal, "The Armstrong Lie," premiered at Venice earlier this month. It opens in early November. "We Steal Secrets," meanwhile, appeared mere months after his remarkable film about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, "Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in...
- 9/26/2013
- by Guy Lodge
- Hitfix
The International Documentary Association today announced that it will honor filmmaker Alex Gibney with its 2013 Career Achievement Award, its Amicus Award to producer Geralyn Dreyfous, and its Courage Under Fire award to filmmaker Laura Poitras, who broke the story of Nsa whistleblower Edward Snowden. Oscar and Emmy winner Gibney ("Taxi to the Dark Side") has had a remarkably prolific year. "Mea Maxima Culpa" (Toh! interview here), his heartbreaking portrait of now grown-up deaf victims of child abuse and the role of the Catholic Church in hushing it up, debuted on HBO early in 2013; the thrilling "We Steal Secrets" (Toh! interview here) on Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and the now convicted-for-treason whistleblower Chelsea Manning (formerly Bradley Manning), had a spring release; and "The Armstrong Lie" (Toh! interview here) is forthcoming, charting Lance Armstrong's "come-back" year, followed by his doping scandal.Dreyfous’ executive producing and producing credits include...
- 9/25/2013
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
★★★☆☆ It's been a good year for documentaries at Venice, with two selected in competition: Errol Morris' The Unknown Known and Gianfranco Rosi's Sacro Gra. Screening out of competition comes Oscar-winning documentarian Alec Gibney's unveiling of The Armstrong Lie (2013). The origins of the film were fortuitous in the extreme. In 2009, Gibney was initially hired to make a film charting what was to be American cyclist and seven-time Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong's triumphant return to the Tour, as he attempted to win the coveted yellow jersey for an eighth time and silence the clamber of his many critics.
Armstrong's detractors were appalled at what they thought would be a hagiography, but events overtook both the subject and the film crew when incontrovertible evidence of systematic doping was finally put on record. Armstrong was subsequently stripped of his victories and banned from all competitive sporting activities for life.
Armstrong's detractors were appalled at what they thought would be a hagiography, but events overtook both the subject and the film crew when incontrovertible evidence of systematic doping was finally put on record. Armstrong was subsequently stripped of his victories and banned from all competitive sporting activities for life.
- 9/9/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Twenty-seven writers including John Gatins, Quentin Tarantino and David O. Russell were named finalists in nine categories for the 39th annual Humanitas Prize. The writers will compete for $95,000 in prize money to be handed out at the annual luncheon September 20 at the Montage Beverly Hills. The Humanitas Prize was created to honor TV and film writers for telling stories, which “truly and deeply explore the human experience in a way that both entertains and enlightens,” the org says. Of the finalists, executive director Cathleen Young said, “These gifted storytellers made us laugh and cry and ultimately, brought us closer together as a family by deeply exploring what it means to be human!” Click over for the full list of nominees: Feature Film Category Flight Written by: John Gatins Django Unchained Written by: Quentin Tarantino Silver Linings Playbook Written by: David O. Russell Sundance Feature Film Category Fruitvale Station Written by:...
- 7/17/2013
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
Alex Gibney's film We Steal Secrets is the first WikiLeaks documentary out of the gate – but it nearly didn't happen. The prolific film-maker talks Assange, Bradley Manning and paranoia
Had things worked out differently, Alex Gibney and Julian Assange could have been soulmates – instead, they've ended up more as enemies. Gibney is one of the most prolific documentary-makers of today, and his films often take the perspective of the victim or antihero. As such, Assange was hard to resist. "Here's this tremendously romantic figure travelling the world with a laptop in his knapsack, exposing abuses of power," says Gibney. "That sounds like a pretty good story to me."
He's not the only one: the saga of WikiLeaks, the group's part in exposing Us atrocities in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the subsequent sexual charges levelled at Assange, is one of the biggest of our era. It's a real-life, 21st-century spy...
Had things worked out differently, Alex Gibney and Julian Assange could have been soulmates – instead, they've ended up more as enemies. Gibney is one of the most prolific documentary-makers of today, and his films often take the perspective of the victim or antihero. As such, Assange was hard to resist. "Here's this tremendously romantic figure travelling the world with a laptop in his knapsack, exposing abuses of power," says Gibney. "That sounds like a pretty good story to me."
He's not the only one: the saga of WikiLeaks, the group's part in exposing Us atrocities in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the subsequent sexual charges levelled at Assange, is one of the biggest of our era. It's a real-life, 21st-century spy...
- 7/11/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
★★★★☆ Released into UK cinemas earlier this year around the announcement of former Pope Benedict's XVI resignation, Alex Gibney's hard-hitting Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (2012) couldn't have been more timely. An exactingly well-researched documentary, Gibney strikes the fine balance of creating a story that kindles an incredible amount of rage at the events at hand, matched by the bigger picture of the inherent corruption in the Catholic church. Opening in a Us school for the deaf in the late 1950s, we encounter Father Lawrence Murphy - a man who, from photos and archive footage - appears to be a caring priest.
However, cameras don't always capture the truth. Throughout this heart-wrenching account, we're provided with tear-stained, powerful interviews from the paedophilic priest's now-middle-aged victims, voiced by notable actors including Ethan Hawke, Chris Cooper and John Slattery. Described as a "ravenous wolf", Murphy would stalk the dorm...
However, cameras don't always capture the truth. Throughout this heart-wrenching account, we're provided with tear-stained, powerful interviews from the paedophilic priest's now-middle-aged victims, voiced by notable actors including Ethan Hawke, Chris Cooper and John Slattery. Described as a "ravenous wolf", Murphy would stalk the dorm...
- 6/25/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange seemed like an intriguing topic for prolific documentarian Alex Gibney, but little did he know the rabbit hole of secrets, lies and hypocrisy he would find as he dug into his subject. Gibney's latest work, "We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks," about Assange and his "radical transparency," is a fascinating look at one of our era's most fascinating information rebels. WaxWord caught up with Gibney (pictured below) ahead of the movie's May 24 release. You've just produced an Eagles documentary, and last year you made "Mea Maxima Culpa"...
- 5/23/2013
- by Sharon Waxman
- The Wrap
As a documentary subject, WikiLeaks couldn’t be in better hands than those of Alex Gibney. The Oscar-winning director of Taxi to the Dark Side, whose other films include Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Mea Maxima Culpa, has displayed an ongoing interest in exposing corruptions of power. WikiLeaks, the whistleblower website responsible for the largest leaks of classified documents in history, was founded on the same principle. Yet it is surprising that We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks explores the decline of the organization as it became a victim of its own beliefs. The documentary explores the …...
- 5/21/2013
- by Daniel James Scott
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Thom Powers is a friend of ours in the business and amazes us by his acumen, generosity, range of activities and devotion to what many of us consider the most frequently relevant, creative and earth changing form of feature length cinema - the documentary. I came upon this fascinating dialogue on his website (link below) where he ruminated most eloquently about what actually went on at Sundance business wise with documentaries. Fascinating. Please check out his 'Stranger Than Fiction' website which is of great value to any filmmaker wanting clarity on the business of documentary film. Two fascinating reports (for example) listed on the site among others were these two - Guide to Documentary Buyers at Tiff and Guide to Documentary Sales Agents at Tiff. Every docu filmmaker should start here. Thom Powers has been an International Documentary Programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival® since 2006. He is also responsible for Mavericks, the Festival’s discussion series with cinema innovators. Powers is the Artistic Director for the weekly documentary series, “Stranger than Fiction” at Manhattan’s IFC Center and for the Doc NYC festival in November. He also consults on programming for the Miami International Film Festival. He has directed documentaries for HBO and PBS; and is a founding member of the documentary production company Sugar Pictures. He teaches documentary courses at New York University’s School of Continuing Professional Studies and the School of Visual Arts. He is a co-founder of the Cinema Eye Honors, an annual award for documentary excellence; and the Garrrett Scott Development Grant. He has served as a juror for Sundance, SXSW, Cph: Dox and DocAviv festivals; as well as the Emmy, Ida and Independent Spirit Awards. He has written extensively on documentary filmmaking for The Boston Globe, Real Screen, and Filmmaker Magazine. Stranger than Fiction Exclusive documentary film screenings, hosted by Raphaela Neihausen and Thom Powers. Winter Season: Jan 8 - Feb 26, 2013 IFC Center 323 Sixth Ave. @ West Third St.
A Conversation With Thom Powers on the Sundance Film Festival
by Rahul Chadha | Sunday, February 3rd, 2013
For most people on the indie film circuit, the Sundance Film Festival marks the start of the new year. Park City is where filmmakers go to earn buzz for their projects, get some press and maybe even ink a distribution deal. On Jan. 30 I spoke with Thom Powers about the documentary films at Sundance that garnered the most chatter and the biggest checks, among other subjects.
[Q&A has been edited for content and clarity]
Rahul Chadha: It seemed like so much of the press attention around Sundance was focused on sales. The Hollywood Reporter said that four docs sold for at least seven figures and I read a report that Blackfish elicited a bidding war from four or five distributors. Did you get the sense that sales were better this year, and if so, why do you think that was?
Thom Powers: Some of those figures are slightly inflated. I know at least one of those films that is being reported as a million dollar sale is a little under a million dollars. But the fact remains that there were some very strong doc sales, and notably the emergence of a new player in The Weinstein Company’s RADiUS brand run by Tom Quinn and Jason Janego. Tom previously worked for Magnolia, where he worked on several successful docs such as Food Inc. and Man On Wire. Months ago RADiUS announced involvement in the new Errol Morris film about Donald Rumsfeld, The Unknown Known, due out later this year. Tom told me they would be very selective about docs which left me unprepared for their recent buying streak. Their first Sundance acquisition was the opening night title 20 Feet From Stardom, set in the music industry that gives it a solid commercial hook. Then RADiUS acquired Inequality For All, which struck me as less obvious. But if you imagine it following in the footsteps of An Inconvenient Truth you can see the commercial appeal. Then they announced Cutie And The Boxer, which has no celebrity connection and on the surface feels less obviously commercial, although it had strong word of mouth. So it seems RADiUS is trying out a wide range of docs and it’s good for the industry to have a new player in the mix. In addition to their strong showing, there was notable acquisitions by mainstay distributors including Sundance Selects, which bought Dirty Wars and The Summit, and Magnolia Pictures, which bought Blackfish.
Chadha: It seemed like Submarine had a strong presence this year.
Powers: For years Submarine–run by Josh Braun and his brother Dan–has been the dominant doc sales agent making the biggest doc deals at both Sundance and Toronto. There are certainly other big sales agents, including Cinetic and big agencies like Wme, CAA, UTA, or ICM taking on the occasional doc. But no one carries as big a slate of high prestige documentaries as Submarine. This year their lineup included 20 Feet From Stardom, Blackfish, The Summit, Dirty Wars and Cutie And The Boxer, all of which were high-profile deals. Their slate includes other films that have yet to announce deals, including God Loves Uganda, Muscle Shoals, Who Is Dayani Cristal? and Citizen Koch.
Chadha: Do you think this underscores that filmmakers really do need a sales agent at a festival the level of Sundance?
Powers: I think for a film that has real theatrical potential a sales agent is key. For a film that may find it tougher in the American marketplace, such as many of the docs in the world competition that may not be competing for deals – any subtitled film has a harder time in this marketplace – for those films I don’t know that a sales agent necessarily helps for the kinds of smaller deals that may or may not be offered.
Chadha: Do you think that as digital becomes an increasingly important distribution channel that festivals will take on a new importance?
Powers: I do. In an old model, the way a film would imprint itself on the public’s consciousness is to get a theatrical run. But now there are more documentaries and more films in general being released than ever before. There are weeks when the New York Times is reviewing 15 films, so it’s harder to leave an impression on the public. A lot of these films are seeing their financial future on digital platforms. Because viewers aren’t hearing as much about films in theatrical release, I think the festival circuit is going to have increasing importance for the life of a film.
Chadha: There were a few films at Sundance that dealt with the legacy of 9/11. You mentioned Dirty Wars but there was The World According To Dick Cheney and Which Way Is The Front Line From Here? The Life And Time Of Tim Hetherington and We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks.
Powers: Yes that thematic cluster absolutely stood out. The legacy of 9/11 and the response to it through wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as other kinds of counter-terrorism actions played out in other countries, remains a key subject for documentary makers to grapple with. I think the distance of 12 years from 9/11 gives us time to reflect. In the film Manhunt about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, there’s a clear connection. The World According To Dick Cheney is about the chief architect of post-9/11 counter-terrorism actions. It came in for criticism that the filmmakers weren’t hard enough on Dick Cheney, weren’t asking tough enough questions. And while I shared some of those frustrations, I certainly learned a lot about Cheney’s career from watching it.
Chadha: Anthony Kaufman recently wrote a piece that singled out Dirty Wars and the Alex Gibney film We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks as two films that he thought might presage a wave of films by left-leaning filmmakers that are critical of Obama and his policies? Do you agree with that assessment or see a similar trend?
Powers: It’s a smart observation. Dirty Wars – which is one of the films I was most impressed by at Sundance – takes a long view of American foreign policy after 9/11 in the hands of the journalist at the center of that film, Jeremy Scahill, who’s best known for his book on Blackwater, and who now has a new book coming out that ties into this film. Alex Gibney’s Wikileaksfilm looks at the harsh response of the Obama administration to Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier who had leaked the headline grabbing documents to Wikileaks. Those two films make an interesting contrast to documentaries of the past decade which comfortably coincided with a liberal critique of the Bush administration. I’m thinking of docs like Farhenheit 9/11 or No End In Sight that liberals rallied behind to point a finger at their political opponents. These new films force a more uncomfortable confrontation with an administration that those same liberals helped get elected.
Chadha: You previously mentioned to me that you thought that filmmakers screening unfinished films at Sundance were taking a risk. Why is that?
Powers: For some reason at Sundance, more than other festivals that I’m aware of, you find filmmakers rushing to screen works that sometimes aren’t completed. In my seven years of programming at Toronto, I’m not aware of any documentaries that went back for serious editing after their premiere – other than those presented as works-in-progress. But at Sundance every year there seems to be a few films that push the deadline so hard that they get taken back to the edit room afterwards. A notable example a couple of years ago was The Interrupters which played at Sundance in a version close to three hours before getting re-edited and having nearly an hour of material taken out of it. The question is, how much does that hurt a film, to have its first presentation before critics and industry be a version of itself that’s not the best. You can point to The Interrupters as a positive example. A lot of people, myself included, appreciated the long version of that film, and it didn’t diminish our interest at all. A fresh example this year was The Square, Jehane Noujaim’s film about the last two years of protest in Egypt around Tahrir Square. In this case the film arrived without any credits on it and Jehane told audiences that she was going back into the edit room. Normally that would sound to me like a challenging strategy. However, The Square came away from Sundance with an audience award. There’s clearly a power to that film, and a power that touched me watching that film, that transcended any rough edges that it contained. So I’ve just given two examples of films that made it work for them. I wouldn’t want to call out films where I think that strategy has not worked. But there certainly are cases and I’d strongly caution filmmakers not to assume that they’ll be the happy exceptions if they’re rushing their films for a festival deadline.
Chadha: There was a lot of talk this year about how well-represented women were on the doc side. I was wondering why you think this difference exists between the doc side and the fictional narrative side, where women still are underrepresented?
Powers: You can start a documentary with just a camera, as opposed to a fiction film where you need actors, a crew, a script, a lot more start-up resources. It may be self-perpetuating. Because there have been more prominent female doc makers, dating back to Barbara Kopple winning an Academy Award in the mid-70s, they’ve become role models for other women.
Chadha: What lost opportunities do you think filmmakers are struggling through at Sundance in terms of self-promotion? I know you’re a big proponent of filmmakers using Twitter.
Powers: I continue to be surprised by filmmakers who spend thousands of dollars on a publicist, but don’t take more advantage of social media which isfree. The Sundance docs that I saw making strong use of Twitter were Sound City which had 20,000 followers at the end of the festival; and 99% – The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film which had 15,000 followers. Then there’s a sharp drop-off. Films such as After Tiller, Dirty Wars and American Promise had around 1,500 followers each – they are getting off to a good start. Whenever possible, filmmakers need to begin their Twitter strategy well before their first festival in order to accumulate followers who can spread what’s happening at the festival.
Chadha: Which film were you most surprised by, and why?
Powers: It’s a reality of film festivals that you can’t see everything. You’re dividing your time between seeing films and utilizing that unique space to have meetings with people that you can’t otherwise. There were around 40 docs at Sundance and I’ve now seen roughly half. I think the film Blood Brother that won the audience prize and the jury prize took a lot of people by surprise because there was hardly any chatter about it in the corridors where press and industry exchange tips. It shows you that in a big festival, things can always surprise you.
I think certain filmmakers going into Sundance or other big festivals should consider screening more for press and tastemakers before the festival. The traditional wisdom has always been the opposite: to not screen for anyone prior, let your film be seen by an audience, and generate the buzz from there. That works for a film like Supersize Me – where the description made people put it on their priority list. But for a film that doesn’t have an obvious hook – including a lot of the films in the world documentary competition – those filmmakers might be better served trying to strategically screen for certain press and tastemakers so they can enter the festival with people already talking about them.
Chadha: Are there any films that are now on your “can’t miss” list?
Powers: Some of my favorite Sundance titles I’ve programmed for the Miami International Film Festival, which just announced its line-up last week. They include 20 Feet From Stardom, Blackfish, Gideon’S Army, The Crash Reel, Valentine Road, Which Way To The Front Line From Here? and Who Is Dayani Cristal?. There were many other strong films at Sundance that I look forward to showing at the Montclair Film Festival and Stranger Than Fiction. The Square I admire a lot. Muscle Shoals really took me by surprise. It played late in the festival and didn’t gain as much buzz as I thought it deserved. The director, who I believe is a first time director, made all kinds of smart creative decisions. Another film that went under the radar but made a big impression on me was The Stuart Hall Project about the U.K.-based black intellectual Stuart Hall. The film is wholly constructed out of archival sources, primarily from the BBC.
Chadha: What were the lessons about funding that came out of Sundance?
Powers: Sundance is a good survey of how docs are getting funded. This year reflects the important influence of Kickstarter. Recently Kickstarter introduced a tag for its projects that have a Sundance affiliation, and skimming that list I was impressed to see that Inequality For All had raised $83,000 and American Promise had raised $50,000 on Kickstarter. Other documentaries raised more modest sums. What’ so significant about Kickstarter is that those filmmakers did not need to wait around for a grant application committee to give them a green light. They could take matters into their own hands. Other funding players who were prominent are the Sundance Institute, the Tribeca Institute and the Ford Foundation which last year announced a $50 million commitment through the Just Films program. That Ford initiative supported projects like Gideon’S Army, Valentine Road, American Promise, Who Is Dayani Cristal?, God Loves Uganda and Citizen Koch.
Another important player is the equity group Impact Partners, who for several years have had a strong showing of their catalog at Sundance. This year their involvement included American Promise, The Crash Reel, Who Is Dayani Cristal? and Pandora’S Promise. The last group that I would mention is Cinereach, who were the heroes of Sundance last year for their funding of Beasts Of The Southern Wild, and who were back this year with four docs: Cutie And The Boxer, Citizen Koch, God Loves Uganda, and Narco Cultura.
When you look at the kinds of films that are showing up at Sundance, you see the names of some key producers re-occurring. This year the producer Julie Goldman, whose recent Sundance titles include Buck was back with three projects – Gideon’S Army, Manhunt and God Loves Uganda. The producer John Battsek from the U.K. who last year came with Searching For Sugar Man, was back this year with The Summit and Manhunt. And Jess Search, also based in the U.K., who is the founder of Britdoc and the Good Pitch had her name attached to the films Dirty Wars and Who Is Dayani Cristal? Clearly those producers and others like them have a good eye for spotting what makes a strong documentary in development. Those producers perform a variety of roles for filmmakers, whether it’s connecting them to financial support or supplying editorial perspective or connecting them to the other kind of industry players who can take a project further.
Chadha: Going back to Kickstarter for a minute, do you think films that have success on Kickstarter have the added benefit of showing to grantmaking institutions that their films are viable and that there’s an audience for them?
Powers: Absolutely. One bit of industry news this past week was that the HotDocs Forum, which has been a key place for documentaries to raise money, mainly in the broadcast world, announced that they will now accept projects on the basis of a certain amount of funds raised on Kickstarter. It used to be that you had to demonstrate a portion of your budget, like a quarter, was already being supported by a broadcaster or other traditional grantmaking institution. This change in policy signals the way in which Kickstarter funding is being taken more seriously.
In the case of The Square, the producers launched a Kickstarter campaign at Sundance to help finish their film. That seems like a very smart strategy for other filmmakers to consider. When you’re at a film festival, you have a rapt and enthused audience and if you can point them to a Kickstarter campaign, that’s a great way to leverage that enthusiasm. Even if you don’t need finishing funds, it’s a way to get outreach funds. I also saw the team from The Square selling t-shirts. After one screening they came away with few hundred dollars of cash in hand, which can help defray costs of attending a festival. These are strategies that filmmakers like Gary Hustwit have long practiced, emulating the way rock musicians sell t-shirts and posters at live performances. The film community has been slow to catch on. Maybe filmmakers are so busy getting their films made that they don’t have time to think about merchandise. But every bit of revenue helps.
Chadha: Any final thoughts?
Powers: We’ve talked about theatrical and digital distribution and new trends in crowdfunding. But it has to be said that the most long-standing and reliable place for documentary makers to get money is the broadcast world. HBO, which usually has a strong presence at Sundance, had the most overwhelming presence that I can remember, coming with six feature length documentaries. Plus during Sundance HBO bought Pussy Riot-a Punk Prayer. When you consider that HBO also has the film that was the 2012 winner at Idfa, Alan Berliner’s First Cousin Once Removed, and had two films at the Toronto festival – Mea Maxima Culpa by Alex Gibney and First Comes Love by Nina Davenport – that’s an impressive slate of films. There was news generated by other broadcasters getting active in the documentary field, including Showtime, which came with The World According To Dick Cheney. Just before Sundane, The New York Times reported about Showtime’s announcement of several documentaries in progress, including a film about Richard Pryor by Marina Zenovich, who made the Roman Polanski film, that I am personally looking forward to. In addition, CNN made an announcement during Sundance about a slate of feature-length docs, including a film by Alex Gibney. Another major player in that realm is A&E IndieFilms, which didn’t have any films in Sundance this year, but they’re already attached to Errol Morris’s Donald Rumsfeld documentary coming out later this year. All in all, the year is off to a good start.
Link to the original article here...
A Conversation With Thom Powers on the Sundance Film Festival
by Rahul Chadha | Sunday, February 3rd, 2013
For most people on the indie film circuit, the Sundance Film Festival marks the start of the new year. Park City is where filmmakers go to earn buzz for their projects, get some press and maybe even ink a distribution deal. On Jan. 30 I spoke with Thom Powers about the documentary films at Sundance that garnered the most chatter and the biggest checks, among other subjects.
[Q&A has been edited for content and clarity]
Rahul Chadha: It seemed like so much of the press attention around Sundance was focused on sales. The Hollywood Reporter said that four docs sold for at least seven figures and I read a report that Blackfish elicited a bidding war from four or five distributors. Did you get the sense that sales were better this year, and if so, why do you think that was?
Thom Powers: Some of those figures are slightly inflated. I know at least one of those films that is being reported as a million dollar sale is a little under a million dollars. But the fact remains that there were some very strong doc sales, and notably the emergence of a new player in The Weinstein Company’s RADiUS brand run by Tom Quinn and Jason Janego. Tom previously worked for Magnolia, where he worked on several successful docs such as Food Inc. and Man On Wire. Months ago RADiUS announced involvement in the new Errol Morris film about Donald Rumsfeld, The Unknown Known, due out later this year. Tom told me they would be very selective about docs which left me unprepared for their recent buying streak. Their first Sundance acquisition was the opening night title 20 Feet From Stardom, set in the music industry that gives it a solid commercial hook. Then RADiUS acquired Inequality For All, which struck me as less obvious. But if you imagine it following in the footsteps of An Inconvenient Truth you can see the commercial appeal. Then they announced Cutie And The Boxer, which has no celebrity connection and on the surface feels less obviously commercial, although it had strong word of mouth. So it seems RADiUS is trying out a wide range of docs and it’s good for the industry to have a new player in the mix. In addition to their strong showing, there was notable acquisitions by mainstay distributors including Sundance Selects, which bought Dirty Wars and The Summit, and Magnolia Pictures, which bought Blackfish.
Chadha: It seemed like Submarine had a strong presence this year.
Powers: For years Submarine–run by Josh Braun and his brother Dan–has been the dominant doc sales agent making the biggest doc deals at both Sundance and Toronto. There are certainly other big sales agents, including Cinetic and big agencies like Wme, CAA, UTA, or ICM taking on the occasional doc. But no one carries as big a slate of high prestige documentaries as Submarine. This year their lineup included 20 Feet From Stardom, Blackfish, The Summit, Dirty Wars and Cutie And The Boxer, all of which were high-profile deals. Their slate includes other films that have yet to announce deals, including God Loves Uganda, Muscle Shoals, Who Is Dayani Cristal? and Citizen Koch.
Chadha: Do you think this underscores that filmmakers really do need a sales agent at a festival the level of Sundance?
Powers: I think for a film that has real theatrical potential a sales agent is key. For a film that may find it tougher in the American marketplace, such as many of the docs in the world competition that may not be competing for deals – any subtitled film has a harder time in this marketplace – for those films I don’t know that a sales agent necessarily helps for the kinds of smaller deals that may or may not be offered.
Chadha: Do you think that as digital becomes an increasingly important distribution channel that festivals will take on a new importance?
Powers: I do. In an old model, the way a film would imprint itself on the public’s consciousness is to get a theatrical run. But now there are more documentaries and more films in general being released than ever before. There are weeks when the New York Times is reviewing 15 films, so it’s harder to leave an impression on the public. A lot of these films are seeing their financial future on digital platforms. Because viewers aren’t hearing as much about films in theatrical release, I think the festival circuit is going to have increasing importance for the life of a film.
Chadha: There were a few films at Sundance that dealt with the legacy of 9/11. You mentioned Dirty Wars but there was The World According To Dick Cheney and Which Way Is The Front Line From Here? The Life And Time Of Tim Hetherington and We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks.
Powers: Yes that thematic cluster absolutely stood out. The legacy of 9/11 and the response to it through wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as other kinds of counter-terrorism actions played out in other countries, remains a key subject for documentary makers to grapple with. I think the distance of 12 years from 9/11 gives us time to reflect. In the film Manhunt about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, there’s a clear connection. The World According To Dick Cheney is about the chief architect of post-9/11 counter-terrorism actions. It came in for criticism that the filmmakers weren’t hard enough on Dick Cheney, weren’t asking tough enough questions. And while I shared some of those frustrations, I certainly learned a lot about Cheney’s career from watching it.
Chadha: Anthony Kaufman recently wrote a piece that singled out Dirty Wars and the Alex Gibney film We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks as two films that he thought might presage a wave of films by left-leaning filmmakers that are critical of Obama and his policies? Do you agree with that assessment or see a similar trend?
Powers: It’s a smart observation. Dirty Wars – which is one of the films I was most impressed by at Sundance – takes a long view of American foreign policy after 9/11 in the hands of the journalist at the center of that film, Jeremy Scahill, who’s best known for his book on Blackwater, and who now has a new book coming out that ties into this film. Alex Gibney’s Wikileaksfilm looks at the harsh response of the Obama administration to Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier who had leaked the headline grabbing documents to Wikileaks. Those two films make an interesting contrast to documentaries of the past decade which comfortably coincided with a liberal critique of the Bush administration. I’m thinking of docs like Farhenheit 9/11 or No End In Sight that liberals rallied behind to point a finger at their political opponents. These new films force a more uncomfortable confrontation with an administration that those same liberals helped get elected.
Chadha: You previously mentioned to me that you thought that filmmakers screening unfinished films at Sundance were taking a risk. Why is that?
Powers: For some reason at Sundance, more than other festivals that I’m aware of, you find filmmakers rushing to screen works that sometimes aren’t completed. In my seven years of programming at Toronto, I’m not aware of any documentaries that went back for serious editing after their premiere – other than those presented as works-in-progress. But at Sundance every year there seems to be a few films that push the deadline so hard that they get taken back to the edit room afterwards. A notable example a couple of years ago was The Interrupters which played at Sundance in a version close to three hours before getting re-edited and having nearly an hour of material taken out of it. The question is, how much does that hurt a film, to have its first presentation before critics and industry be a version of itself that’s not the best. You can point to The Interrupters as a positive example. A lot of people, myself included, appreciated the long version of that film, and it didn’t diminish our interest at all. A fresh example this year was The Square, Jehane Noujaim’s film about the last two years of protest in Egypt around Tahrir Square. In this case the film arrived without any credits on it and Jehane told audiences that she was going back into the edit room. Normally that would sound to me like a challenging strategy. However, The Square came away from Sundance with an audience award. There’s clearly a power to that film, and a power that touched me watching that film, that transcended any rough edges that it contained. So I’ve just given two examples of films that made it work for them. I wouldn’t want to call out films where I think that strategy has not worked. But there certainly are cases and I’d strongly caution filmmakers not to assume that they’ll be the happy exceptions if they’re rushing their films for a festival deadline.
Chadha: There was a lot of talk this year about how well-represented women were on the doc side. I was wondering why you think this difference exists between the doc side and the fictional narrative side, where women still are underrepresented?
Powers: You can start a documentary with just a camera, as opposed to a fiction film where you need actors, a crew, a script, a lot more start-up resources. It may be self-perpetuating. Because there have been more prominent female doc makers, dating back to Barbara Kopple winning an Academy Award in the mid-70s, they’ve become role models for other women.
Chadha: What lost opportunities do you think filmmakers are struggling through at Sundance in terms of self-promotion? I know you’re a big proponent of filmmakers using Twitter.
Powers: I continue to be surprised by filmmakers who spend thousands of dollars on a publicist, but don’t take more advantage of social media which isfree. The Sundance docs that I saw making strong use of Twitter were Sound City which had 20,000 followers at the end of the festival; and 99% – The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film which had 15,000 followers. Then there’s a sharp drop-off. Films such as After Tiller, Dirty Wars and American Promise had around 1,500 followers each – they are getting off to a good start. Whenever possible, filmmakers need to begin their Twitter strategy well before their first festival in order to accumulate followers who can spread what’s happening at the festival.
Chadha: Which film were you most surprised by, and why?
Powers: It’s a reality of film festivals that you can’t see everything. You’re dividing your time between seeing films and utilizing that unique space to have meetings with people that you can’t otherwise. There were around 40 docs at Sundance and I’ve now seen roughly half. I think the film Blood Brother that won the audience prize and the jury prize took a lot of people by surprise because there was hardly any chatter about it in the corridors where press and industry exchange tips. It shows you that in a big festival, things can always surprise you.
I think certain filmmakers going into Sundance or other big festivals should consider screening more for press and tastemakers before the festival. The traditional wisdom has always been the opposite: to not screen for anyone prior, let your film be seen by an audience, and generate the buzz from there. That works for a film like Supersize Me – where the description made people put it on their priority list. But for a film that doesn’t have an obvious hook – including a lot of the films in the world documentary competition – those filmmakers might be better served trying to strategically screen for certain press and tastemakers so they can enter the festival with people already talking about them.
Chadha: Are there any films that are now on your “can’t miss” list?
Powers: Some of my favorite Sundance titles I’ve programmed for the Miami International Film Festival, which just announced its line-up last week. They include 20 Feet From Stardom, Blackfish, Gideon’S Army, The Crash Reel, Valentine Road, Which Way To The Front Line From Here? and Who Is Dayani Cristal?. There were many other strong films at Sundance that I look forward to showing at the Montclair Film Festival and Stranger Than Fiction. The Square I admire a lot. Muscle Shoals really took me by surprise. It played late in the festival and didn’t gain as much buzz as I thought it deserved. The director, who I believe is a first time director, made all kinds of smart creative decisions. Another film that went under the radar but made a big impression on me was The Stuart Hall Project about the U.K.-based black intellectual Stuart Hall. The film is wholly constructed out of archival sources, primarily from the BBC.
Chadha: What were the lessons about funding that came out of Sundance?
Powers: Sundance is a good survey of how docs are getting funded. This year reflects the important influence of Kickstarter. Recently Kickstarter introduced a tag for its projects that have a Sundance affiliation, and skimming that list I was impressed to see that Inequality For All had raised $83,000 and American Promise had raised $50,000 on Kickstarter. Other documentaries raised more modest sums. What’ so significant about Kickstarter is that those filmmakers did not need to wait around for a grant application committee to give them a green light. They could take matters into their own hands. Other funding players who were prominent are the Sundance Institute, the Tribeca Institute and the Ford Foundation which last year announced a $50 million commitment through the Just Films program. That Ford initiative supported projects like Gideon’S Army, Valentine Road, American Promise, Who Is Dayani Cristal?, God Loves Uganda and Citizen Koch.
Another important player is the equity group Impact Partners, who for several years have had a strong showing of their catalog at Sundance. This year their involvement included American Promise, The Crash Reel, Who Is Dayani Cristal? and Pandora’S Promise. The last group that I would mention is Cinereach, who were the heroes of Sundance last year for their funding of Beasts Of The Southern Wild, and who were back this year with four docs: Cutie And The Boxer, Citizen Koch, God Loves Uganda, and Narco Cultura.
When you look at the kinds of films that are showing up at Sundance, you see the names of some key producers re-occurring. This year the producer Julie Goldman, whose recent Sundance titles include Buck was back with three projects – Gideon’S Army, Manhunt and God Loves Uganda. The producer John Battsek from the U.K. who last year came with Searching For Sugar Man, was back this year with The Summit and Manhunt. And Jess Search, also based in the U.K., who is the founder of Britdoc and the Good Pitch had her name attached to the films Dirty Wars and Who Is Dayani Cristal? Clearly those producers and others like them have a good eye for spotting what makes a strong documentary in development. Those producers perform a variety of roles for filmmakers, whether it’s connecting them to financial support or supplying editorial perspective or connecting them to the other kind of industry players who can take a project further.
Chadha: Going back to Kickstarter for a minute, do you think films that have success on Kickstarter have the added benefit of showing to grantmaking institutions that their films are viable and that there’s an audience for them?
Powers: Absolutely. One bit of industry news this past week was that the HotDocs Forum, which has been a key place for documentaries to raise money, mainly in the broadcast world, announced that they will now accept projects on the basis of a certain amount of funds raised on Kickstarter. It used to be that you had to demonstrate a portion of your budget, like a quarter, was already being supported by a broadcaster or other traditional grantmaking institution. This change in policy signals the way in which Kickstarter funding is being taken more seriously.
In the case of The Square, the producers launched a Kickstarter campaign at Sundance to help finish their film. That seems like a very smart strategy for other filmmakers to consider. When you’re at a film festival, you have a rapt and enthused audience and if you can point them to a Kickstarter campaign, that’s a great way to leverage that enthusiasm. Even if you don’t need finishing funds, it’s a way to get outreach funds. I also saw the team from The Square selling t-shirts. After one screening they came away with few hundred dollars of cash in hand, which can help defray costs of attending a festival. These are strategies that filmmakers like Gary Hustwit have long practiced, emulating the way rock musicians sell t-shirts and posters at live performances. The film community has been slow to catch on. Maybe filmmakers are so busy getting their films made that they don’t have time to think about merchandise. But every bit of revenue helps.
Chadha: Any final thoughts?
Powers: We’ve talked about theatrical and digital distribution and new trends in crowdfunding. But it has to be said that the most long-standing and reliable place for documentary makers to get money is the broadcast world. HBO, which usually has a strong presence at Sundance, had the most overwhelming presence that I can remember, coming with six feature length documentaries. Plus during Sundance HBO bought Pussy Riot-a Punk Prayer. When you consider that HBO also has the film that was the 2012 winner at Idfa, Alan Berliner’s First Cousin Once Removed, and had two films at the Toronto festival – Mea Maxima Culpa by Alex Gibney and First Comes Love by Nina Davenport – that’s an impressive slate of films. There was news generated by other broadcasters getting active in the documentary field, including Showtime, which came with The World According To Dick Cheney. Just before Sundane, The New York Times reported about Showtime’s announcement of several documentaries in progress, including a film about Richard Pryor by Marina Zenovich, who made the Roman Polanski film, that I am personally looking forward to. In addition, CNN made an announcement during Sundance about a slate of feature-length docs, including a film by Alex Gibney. Another major player in that realm is A&E IndieFilms, which didn’t have any films in Sundance this year, but they’re already attached to Errol Morris’s Donald Rumsfeld documentary coming out later this year. All in all, the year is off to a good start.
Link to the original article here...
- 2/19/2013
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
Taxi To The Dark Side director Alex Gibney's new documentary Mea Maxima Culpa found itself arriving onto UK screens in the same week in February 2013 as Pope Benedict XVI announced his departure. Given that Gibney's documentary traces the sordid history of sexual abuse and cover up in the Catholic Church and how this pathology of secrecy and denial extends far up the ranks of the Vatican, the coincidence is eerie and one the filmmaker has been quick to comment on in recent interviews.
Gibney's film examines the case of five deaf men who were abused as boys by one priest at the St John's School for the Deaf, in Milwaukee, during the 1960s. Neither the authorities nor the Vatican seemed willing to help them. Gibney's film expands beyond this one case to look at the wider issue of how the Vatican deals with (or fails to deal...
Gibney's film examines the case of five deaf men who were abused as boys by one priest at the St John's School for the Deaf, in Milwaukee, during the 1960s. Neither the authorities nor the Vatican seemed willing to help them. Gibney's film expands beyond this one case to look at the wider issue of how the Vatican deals with (or fails to deal...
- 2/19/2013
- by Owen Van Spall
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Catch up with the last seven days in the world of film
The big story
And so, the endgame approaches. Like a Bond villain armed with a circular saw, the denouement of the award season moves remorselessly ever closer, cackling as it nears the groin of the spreadeagled movie-going public.
Last weekend saw the slicing of the Baftas, the British rehearsal for the Academy awards in two weeks' time. In their best bibs and tuckers, Hollywood's finest lined up with Britain's luvvie elite to tussle over, to quote Billy Connolly, "a death mask on a stick".
The upshot of the Royal Opera House do was that Argo soundly battered Lincoln, taking best film and best director. Skyfall, against type, won a big award for 007, the best British film.
Here's what the fashion crew made of the pre-show frock parade and here's what the Guardian's film team think it says about the Oscars.
The big story
And so, the endgame approaches. Like a Bond villain armed with a circular saw, the denouement of the award season moves remorselessly ever closer, cackling as it nears the groin of the spreadeagled movie-going public.
Last weekend saw the slicing of the Baftas, the British rehearsal for the Academy awards in two weeks' time. In their best bibs and tuckers, Hollywood's finest lined up with Britain's luvvie elite to tussle over, to quote Billy Connolly, "a death mask on a stick".
The upshot of the Royal Opera House do was that Argo soundly battered Lincoln, taking best film and best director. Skyfall, against type, won a big award for 007, the best British film.
Here's what the fashion crew made of the pre-show frock parade and here's what the Guardian's film team think it says about the Oscars.
- 2/14/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
Back in the middle of October, as the London Film Festival was drawing to a close, I sat down with director Alex Gibney to discuss Mea Maxima Culpa, his Lff Award winning documentary, which examined the conspiracy of silence and obfuscation within the Catholic Church over the abuse of young boys in a Catholic residential school for deaf children – as well as the near endless succession of sexual abuse scandals, from Ireland to Africa, that have been covered up over the last five decades.
One of the key figures in the documentary – the man responsible for the Vatican’s policy on child abuse up until 2005, and on one occasion, responsible for protecting a paedophile priest from being defrocked was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – now Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned his ministry due to ailing health yesterday.
It’s rather remarkable how relevant our interview has now become. During the course of our discussion,...
One of the key figures in the documentary – the man responsible for the Vatican’s policy on child abuse up until 2005, and on one occasion, responsible for protecting a paedophile priest from being defrocked was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – now Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned his ministry due to ailing health yesterday.
It’s rather remarkable how relevant our interview has now become. During the course of our discussion,...
- 2/12/2013
- by Ben Mortimer
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
No | Hitchcock | Warm Bodies | I Give It A Year | Wreck-It Ralph | I Wish | A Liar's Autobiography – The Untrue Story Of Monty Python's Graham Chapman | The Fall Of The Essex Boys
No (15)
(Pablo Larraín, 2012, Chi/Fra/Us) Gael García Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers, Luis Gnecco, Marcial Tagle. 118 mins
Advertising and revolution form an unlikely but powerful allegiance in this factually based Chilean movie, in which archive TV footage blends seamlessly with a bold, retro-video aesthetic. It's 1988 and, bowing to international pressure, General Pinochet has ceded 15 minutes of state airtime to the campaign to vote against him. Enter Bernal as a smart ad exec charged with "selling" democracy, though his Coke-commercial strategy exposes political divisions, media ironies and personal vulnerabilities.
Hitchcock (12A)
(Sacha Gervasi, 2012, Us) Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson. 98 mins
Disappointingly, the real making of Psycho is a mere backdrop for this fanciful tale of Hitch's (fictional) marriage anxieties,...
No (15)
(Pablo Larraín, 2012, Chi/Fra/Us) Gael García Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers, Luis Gnecco, Marcial Tagle. 118 mins
Advertising and revolution form an unlikely but powerful allegiance in this factually based Chilean movie, in which archive TV footage blends seamlessly with a bold, retro-video aesthetic. It's 1988 and, bowing to international pressure, General Pinochet has ceded 15 minutes of state airtime to the campaign to vote against him. Enter Bernal as a smart ad exec charged with "selling" democracy, though his Coke-commercial strategy exposes political divisions, media ironies and personal vulnerabilities.
Hitchcock (12A)
(Sacha Gervasi, 2012, Us) Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson. 98 mins
Disappointingly, the real making of Psycho is a mere backdrop for this fanciful tale of Hitch's (fictional) marriage anxieties,...
- 2/9/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
The title "Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God" does not begin to cover the horrors detailed in the documentary debuting Monday, Feb. 4 on HBO.
"Mea Maxima Culpa" -- the Latin words mean "my most grievous fault" -- concerns a Milwaukee priest who sexually abused more than 200 deaf children over decades.
Some of the victims staged what was the first known protest against Catholic priests, alerting every church official they could. It is remarkable that boys who could not speak made themselves heard.
Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney hopes viewers take "an appreciation of everyday heroes. Even deaf men can raise their voices in ways that make a difference."
The crimes they accuse the late Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy of are reprehensible. And worse, say many in the film, the Vatican knew.
Inspired by reading The New York Times' reports on the crimes, Gibney spent two years on this and traveled to Ireland,...
"Mea Maxima Culpa" -- the Latin words mean "my most grievous fault" -- concerns a Milwaukee priest who sexually abused more than 200 deaf children over decades.
Some of the victims staged what was the first known protest against Catholic priests, alerting every church official they could. It is remarkable that boys who could not speak made themselves heard.
Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney hopes viewers take "an appreciation of everyday heroes. Even deaf men can raise their voices in ways that make a difference."
The crimes they accuse the late Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy of are reprehensible. And worse, say many in the film, the Vatican knew.
Inspired by reading The New York Times' reports on the crimes, Gibney spent two years on this and traveled to Ireland,...
- 2/4/2013
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
Flight | Hyde Park On Hudson | Bullet To The Head | Antiviral | Bullhead | Chained | The Punk Syndrome | Do Elephants Pray? | Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away | A Place In The Sun
Flight (15)
(Robert Zemeckis, 2012, Us) Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Kelly Reilly. 138 mins
A white-knuckle plane crash is just the beginning of Washington's troubles in this unorthodox drama, which finds his hero-pilot status compromised by the fact that he was high on duty. Between the demons of alcoholism and the aviation authority investigation, he goes into a personal tailspin – but it's not your typical rehab story and you'll want to see how he'll get out of it.
Hyde Park On Hudson (12A)
(Roger Michell, 2012, UK) Bill Murray, Laura Linney, 95 mins
Daniel Day-Lewis won't be losing any sleep over Murray's take on Franklin D Roosevelt. This directionless drama deals with the president's special relationships – first with an obliging cousin (Linney), then with Britain, via a visit from George VI.
Flight (15)
(Robert Zemeckis, 2012, Us) Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Kelly Reilly. 138 mins
A white-knuckle plane crash is just the beginning of Washington's troubles in this unorthodox drama, which finds his hero-pilot status compromised by the fact that he was high on duty. Between the demons of alcoholism and the aviation authority investigation, he goes into a personal tailspin – but it's not your typical rehab story and you'll want to see how he'll get out of it.
Hyde Park On Hudson (12A)
(Roger Michell, 2012, UK) Bill Murray, Laura Linney, 95 mins
Daniel Day-Lewis won't be losing any sleep over Murray's take on Franklin D Roosevelt. This directionless drama deals with the president's special relationships – first with an obliging cousin (Linney), then with Britain, via a visit from George VI.
- 2/2/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
The documentary Mea Maxima Culpa sheds light on the silence in the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church has taken some hard knocks over the years for the systemic cover-up of child sexual abuse by priests. Once you watch HBO’s documentary Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God, you'll likely conclude the Church deserves every scandal, lawsuit and embarrassment it has endured.
In the film, director Alex Gibney dug deep to find out about a number of travesties that occurred in the Church, from the streets of Milwaukee all the way to the Vatican, where it seems silence was the golden rule, even in the face of the most horrific injustices.
One of the biggest crimes featured in the film is that of Father Lawrence Murphy, who abused over 200 deaf children in a Milwaukee school that he was in charge of. The victims, years later as adults, brought...
The Catholic Church has taken some hard knocks over the years for the systemic cover-up of child sexual abuse by priests. Once you watch HBO’s documentary Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God, you'll likely conclude the Church deserves every scandal, lawsuit and embarrassment it has endured.
In the film, director Alex Gibney dug deep to find out about a number of travesties that occurred in the Church, from the streets of Milwaukee all the way to the Vatican, where it seems silence was the golden rule, even in the face of the most horrific injustices.
One of the biggest crimes featured in the film is that of Father Lawrence Murphy, who abused over 200 deaf children in a Milwaukee school that he was in charge of. The victims, years later as adults, brought...
- 2/1/2013
- by nyjimmy67
- The Backlot
Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney has taken on corruption and torture in his documentaries "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" and "Taxi to the Dark Side", never holding his tongue when it comes to discussing controversial topics. Gibney spoke to HuffPost Live host Josh Zepps about how torture in "Zero Dark Thirty" is represented, and criticized the film's suggestion that torture lead to the capture of Osama Bin Laden.
"In the film, what's missing is the context of how damaging torture was not only to the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, how much it threw us off the trail because of false information obtained," said Gibney, "but how disastrous it was in all sorts of circumstances." Gibney referenced how false information obtained under torture contributed to the decision to invade Iraq, and returned to "Zero Dark Thirty," saying "there's no counter narrative in the film, no sense of the disastrous...
"In the film, what's missing is the context of how damaging torture was not only to the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, how much it threw us off the trail because of false information obtained," said Gibney, "but how disastrous it was in all sorts of circumstances." Gibney referenced how false information obtained under torture contributed to the decision to invade Iraq, and returned to "Zero Dark Thirty," saying "there's no counter narrative in the film, no sense of the disastrous...
- 2/1/2013
- by Daniel Littlewood
- Huffington Post
Zero Dark Thirty | Lincoln | The Last Stand | Movie 43 | Won't Back Down | The King Of Pigs | Hollow | Karaoglan | Race 2 | Tu Mera 22 Main Tera 22
Zero Dark Thirty (15)
(Kathryn Bigelow, 2012, Us) Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Reda Kateb. 157 mins
The controversy over this film's use of torture is a reflection of how problematic it is to classify. Is it a historical dramatisation? A factual reconstruction? A post-Bourne spy thriller? Whatever it is, it's state of the art film-making: lean, snappy, tense, gripping and as single-minded as its heroine in the 10-year pursuit of Bin Laden. But there's still much room for complexity and ambiguity. Yes, that pursuit involves torture, but also intelligence, personal determination and, ultimately, action – all of which Bigelow is well-equipped to convey.
Lincoln (12A)
(Steven Spielberg, 2012, Us) Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones. 150 mins
Less a civil war Saving Private Ryan than a 19th-century prequel to The West Wing, Spielberg's...
Zero Dark Thirty (15)
(Kathryn Bigelow, 2012, Us) Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Reda Kateb. 157 mins
The controversy over this film's use of torture is a reflection of how problematic it is to classify. Is it a historical dramatisation? A factual reconstruction? A post-Bourne spy thriller? Whatever it is, it's state of the art film-making: lean, snappy, tense, gripping and as single-minded as its heroine in the 10-year pursuit of Bin Laden. But there's still much room for complexity and ambiguity. Yes, that pursuit involves torture, but also intelligence, personal determination and, ultimately, action – all of which Bigelow is well-equipped to convey.
Lincoln (12A)
(Steven Spielberg, 2012, Us) Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones. 150 mins
Less a civil war Saving Private Ryan than a 19th-century prequel to The West Wing, Spielberg's...
- 1/26/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Los Angeles — "Lincoln" and "Zero Dark Thirty" are adding to their front-runner status for Hollywood's awards season.
The two dramas earned nominations from the Writers Guild on Friday for outstanding screen writing.
"Lincoln" is up for adapted screenplay, along with "Argo," "Silver Linings Playbook," "Life of Pi" and "The Perks of Being a Wallflower."
"Zero Dark Thirty" was nominated for original screenplay, along with "Flight," "Looper," "The Master" and "Moonrise Kingdom."
In the documentary category, "The Central Park Five," "The Invisible War," "Mea Maxima Culpa, "West of Memphis," "We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists," and "Searching for Sugar Man" earned nominations.
Winners will be announced during simultaneous ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles on Feb. 17.
___
Online:
www.wga.org...
The two dramas earned nominations from the Writers Guild on Friday for outstanding screen writing.
"Lincoln" is up for adapted screenplay, along with "Argo," "Silver Linings Playbook," "Life of Pi" and "The Perks of Being a Wallflower."
"Zero Dark Thirty" was nominated for original screenplay, along with "Flight," "Looper," "The Master" and "Moonrise Kingdom."
In the documentary category, "The Central Park Five," "The Invisible War," "Mea Maxima Culpa, "West of Memphis," "We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists," and "Searching for Sugar Man" earned nominations.
Winners will be announced during simultaneous ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles on Feb. 17.
___
Online:
www.wga.org...
- 1/5/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
The Writer's Guild Awards nominations are officially here, and several award season favorites have added another notch to their Academy Award-potential belt. Unsurprisingly, Zero Dark Thirty and Lincoln continue to cement their Oscar frontrunner status, as the films were nominated for Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay, respectively. Argo, Life of Pi, and Silver Linings Playbook also nabbed noms, as did documentaries The Central Park Five, The Invisible War and Mea Maxima Culpa. As for the snubs? Les Misérables and Django Unchained failed to make the cut, even though both flicks received Golden Globe and Producers Guild of America nominations. The winners...
- 1/4/2013
- E! Online
2012′s best documentaries understand people. It’s as simple as that. They include beautiful character portraits, from group pictures like Indie Game: The Movie and El Gusto to individual pieces like Jiro Dreams of Sushi and Marley. Even the most issue-oriented films achieved their strength through keeping things personal, building powerful political and social arguments through the lives of their subjects. They chronicle the lives of victims who are also heroes, filmmakers who are also subjects, and unique characters who end up representing us all. 12. Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God We all think we know plenty about the crisis of abuse in the Catholic Church. It’s been in the news for years now, ever more so as the scandal moves from the United States to Europe. Yet it isn’t easy to grasp the full breadth of the story. Alex Gibney brings a great deal of valuable context to the issue in...
- 12/30/2012
- by Daniel Walber
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Narrowing down the best movies of 2012 is a more difficult task than you might assume. This year was one of the strongest in recent memory, with well-crafted indies like "Moonrise Kingdom" and "Beasts of the Southern Wild" succeeding alongside major studio films like "Les Miserables," "Argo" and "Lincoln." There wasn't a "J. Edgar" or "War Horse" to be found among the anticipated fall releases, making it nearly impossible to keep a list of best 2012 movies to 10 entries. Which is why HuffPost Entertainment has listed the 30 best movies of 2012 for your reading pleasure.
As compiled by Huffington Post executive arts and entertainment editor Michael Hogan, entertainment editor Christopher Rosen and senior writer Mike Ryan, these 30-plus films represent the best of 2012's narrative offerings. (To keep the list at a manageable level, documentaries were left off, but 2012 had its fair share of great ones, including "How to Survive a Plague," "Searching for Sugarman,...
As compiled by Huffington Post executive arts and entertainment editor Michael Hogan, entertainment editor Christopher Rosen and senior writer Mike Ryan, these 30-plus films represent the best of 2012's narrative offerings. (To keep the list at a manageable level, documentaries were left off, but 2012 had its fair share of great ones, including "How to Survive a Plague," "Searching for Sugarman,...
- 12/7/2012
- by Christopher Rosen
- Huffington Post
This week on Toh!, we discuss the awards chances of "Lincoln," "Argo" and more in Oscar Talk, divulge details from the "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part Two" premiere and American Cinematheque gala for Ben Stiller, interview "Skyfall" director Sam Mendes, "West of Memphis" director Amy Berg and "Mea Maxima Culpa" director Alex Gibney -- plus much more! Features: Things I Learned at the "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part Two" Premiere: Lionsgate, Cast & Crew Face New Dawn Challenge! Take David Thomson's Second Stump-the-Film-Buff Quiz Ben Stiller and His Penis Saluted By Friends and Colleagues at American Cinematheque Ball Awards: Oscar Talk: "Lincoln" Starts to Pull Ahead, But Can It Beat "Argo"? Ben Stiller and His Penis Saluted By Friends and Colleagues at American Cinematheque Ball It's Official: Disney/Lucasfilm Hire "Toy Story 3"...
- 11/16/2012
- by TOH!
- Thompson on Hollywood
Gibney Exposes Suppression Of Truth Behind Ministerial Molestation
After taking a breather from feature hardline journalism with a series of lighter docs in Catching Hell, Magic Trip and The Last Gladiator, the prolific documentarian Alex Gibney returns to the austere with Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, a film that begins with the personal tale of a religious school for the deaf that became the first public exemplification of pedophilia in the Catholic church, adroitly permeating the depths of cover-up within the organization, leading all the way to the apical seats of the Vatican. Impeccably researched and devastatingly tragic, Gibney’s latest is a magnificent deconstruction of organized crime rather than a blatant attack on religion as one might assume a film of this nature could become.
Starting back in the 1950s, Father Lawrence Murphy, an instructor and caretaker of children at the St. John’s School for the Deaf in St.
After taking a breather from feature hardline journalism with a series of lighter docs in Catching Hell, Magic Trip and The Last Gladiator, the prolific documentarian Alex Gibney returns to the austere with Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, a film that begins with the personal tale of a religious school for the deaf that became the first public exemplification of pedophilia in the Catholic church, adroitly permeating the depths of cover-up within the organization, leading all the way to the apical seats of the Vatican. Impeccably researched and devastatingly tragic, Gibney’s latest is a magnificent deconstruction of organized crime rather than a blatant attack on religion as one might assume a film of this nature could become.
Starting back in the 1950s, Father Lawrence Murphy, an instructor and caretaker of children at the St. John’s School for the Deaf in St.
- 11/15/2012
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
This weekly column is intended to provide reviews of nearly every new release, including films on VOD (and in certain cases some studio releases). Specifics release dates and locations follow each review. Reviews This Week "Anna Karenina" "Funeral Kings" "Generation P" "Hitler's Children" "The King" "First Winter" "Mea Maxima Culpa" "Price Check" "La Rafle" "Silver Linings Playbook" *** "Anna Karenina" With somber-eyed Keira Knightley in the titular role, one might expect the usual from "Anna Karenina": A mopey period piece with little to offer beyond the expected turmoil of Leo Tolstoy's classic. That superficial assumption ignores director Joe Wright's capacity as a visual stylist to inject the material with a greater amount of energy -- both...
- 11/15/2012
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
Ship of Theseus
Anand Gandhi’s debut film Ship of Theseus has won a Special Mention by the Sutherland Award Jury “for tickling our intellect and showing us rarely-seen facets of Indian life” at the BFI London Film Festival 2012.
The film is scheduled to premiere at the 14th Mumbai Film Festival on 24th October, 2012 and is also screening at the on-going Tokyo Film Festival. It had its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last month.
Currently in its 56th year, the British Film Institute’s London Film Festival is an annual film festival that hosts around 300 films from across 50 countries. This year the festival ran from 10th – 21st October, 2012.
The other winners at BFI London Film Festival this year are:
Best Film Award: Rust and Bone by Jacques Audiard.
Sutherland Award for Best First Feature: Beasts of the Southern Wild by BenhZeitlin
Best Documentary Prize: Mea Maxima Culpa...
Anand Gandhi’s debut film Ship of Theseus has won a Special Mention by the Sutherland Award Jury “for tickling our intellect and showing us rarely-seen facets of Indian life” at the BFI London Film Festival 2012.
The film is scheduled to premiere at the 14th Mumbai Film Festival on 24th October, 2012 and is also screening at the on-going Tokyo Film Festival. It had its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last month.
Currently in its 56th year, the British Film Institute’s London Film Festival is an annual film festival that hosts around 300 films from across 50 countries. This year the festival ran from 10th – 21st October, 2012.
The other winners at BFI London Film Festival this year are:
Best Film Award: Rust and Bone by Jacques Audiard.
Sutherland Award for Best First Feature: Beasts of the Southern Wild by BenhZeitlin
Best Documentary Prize: Mea Maxima Culpa...
- 10/23/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
The capital has been the home of some of the biggest names and films in the industry over the past ten days, and with the festival finally coming to a close tomorrow, the results are in for the official competition categories.
Sir David Hare, Tom Hiddleston, David Yates, Sebastian Faulks, Olivia Colman, Kazuo Ishiguru, and many more prominent names presided over the various Juries, and with so much talent this year, I don’t envy what must have been very difficult decisions.
Also being honoured this year are Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter, both of whom have been presented with the BFI Fellowship, the highest honour from the film institute. The former brought his latest feature, Frankenweenie, to the festival for its opening night, whilst the latter stars in Mike Newell’s Great Expectations, bookending the festival nicely as the Closing Night Film.
With the festival now coming to an end tomorrow,...
Sir David Hare, Tom Hiddleston, David Yates, Sebastian Faulks, Olivia Colman, Kazuo Ishiguru, and many more prominent names presided over the various Juries, and with so much talent this year, I don’t envy what must have been very difficult decisions.
Also being honoured this year are Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter, both of whom have been presented with the BFI Fellowship, the highest honour from the film institute. The former brought his latest feature, Frankenweenie, to the festival for its opening night, whilst the latter stars in Mike Newell’s Great Expectations, bookending the festival nicely as the Closing Night Film.
With the festival now coming to an end tomorrow,...
- 10/20/2012
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Best film award goes to Jacques Audiard production while Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter are made BFI fellows
Rust and Bone, the dramatic and gruelling love story starring the Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard, has won the best film prize at the London film festival. The French-Belgian production, directed by Jacques Audiard, is the first to be honoured with the top award at a ceremony revamped this year as a more fitting finale for the annual festival.
Audiard's victory was announced by Sir David Hare, president of the competition jury, who said Audiard "has a unique handwriting, made up of music, montage, writing, photography, sound, visual design and acting. He is one of only a very small handful of film-makers in the world who has mastered, and can integrate, every element of the process to one purpose, making in Rust and Bone a film full of heart, violence and love.
Rust and Bone, the dramatic and gruelling love story starring the Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard, has won the best film prize at the London film festival. The French-Belgian production, directed by Jacques Audiard, is the first to be honoured with the top award at a ceremony revamped this year as a more fitting finale for the annual festival.
Audiard's victory was announced by Sir David Hare, president of the competition jury, who said Audiard "has a unique handwriting, made up of music, montage, writing, photography, sound, visual design and acting. He is one of only a very small handful of film-makers in the world who has mastered, and can integrate, every element of the process to one purpose, making in Rust and Bone a film full of heart, violence and love.
- 10/20/2012
- by Vanessa Thorpe
- The Guardian - Film News
CNN has created a film unit to acquire feature-length documentaries to air on the cable news organization's U.S. and international networks. CNN Films has signed development deals with Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer) and director Andrew Rossi (Page One: Inside the New York Times) to create original documentaries for CNN. Gibney has worked closely with HBO, where many of his films including Taxi to the Dark Side and the upcoming Mea Maxima Culpa, about child sexual
read more...
read more...
- 10/8/2012
- by Marisa Guthrie
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Toronto — One particularly upsetting tale of exploitation serves as the entry point for a wider look at Catholic sex abuse in Alex Gibney's Mea Maxima Culpa, a film less about exposing fresh horrors than solidifying an argument much of the non-Catholic world already feels is well made. Gibney's tone will sometimes give ammo to those quick to conflate prosecution of crimes with persecution of an entire religion, but the journalism here should prove hard to debunk. Sure to draw attention in its eventual HBO run, the doc could make a solid theatrical showing if marketers can convince auds
read more...
read more...
- 9/27/2012
- by John DeFore
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Indiewire kicked off its Tiff Talks earlier this week with both the cast of "Imogene" (Kristen Wiig, Darren Criss, and Christopher Fitzgerald) and "Mea Maxima Culpa" director Alex Gibney, video of which is below. Wiig plays the titular "Imogene," a washed-up playwright who fakes a suicide at the movie's start in an attempt to win her ex-boyfriend. “The character was this weird, messed-up girl, which I like to play” said Wiig at the talk. “I hadn’t read anything like that in a long time... or ever.” Imogene reconnects with her dysfunctional family, including her gambling-addicted mother (Annette Bening) and her introvert brother (Fitzgerald). Criss is a young lodger/ Backstreet Boy cover artist whom Imogene falls for “Obviously working with Kristen is huge win for anybody,” said "Glee" star Criss, who was offered the role after Wiig was attached. “It was fun reading the...
- 9/13/2012
- by Noah Taylor
- Indiewire
Set to premiere in September at the Toronto Film Festival, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God looks to be a chilling exposé of the Catholic Church's systematic cover up of decades of sex abuse by Rev. Lawrence Murphy (trailer video below). Murphy worked as a priest at a Catholic school for deaf boys in Wisconsin, and preyed upon hundreds of boys during his tenure there, from 1950 to 1974.
Rev. Murphy's abuse, and the Church's organised cover up, was written about extensively in the New York Times in 2010. As far back as the 1950s, Murphy's victims told everyone they could think to tell about what Murphy had done to them: other priests, nuns, priests, three archbishops, two police departments and a district attorney. But the allegations were repeatedly shrugged off or not believed.
The Vatican never defrocked Murphy, even though word of his abuse travelled as far as the Vatican,...
Rev. Murphy's abuse, and the Church's organised cover up, was written about extensively in the New York Times in 2010. As far back as the 1950s, Murphy's victims told everyone they could think to tell about what Murphy had done to them: other priests, nuns, priests, three archbishops, two police departments and a district attorney. But the allegations were repeatedly shrugged off or not believed.
The Vatican never defrocked Murphy, even though word of his abuse travelled as far as the Vatican,...
- 8/17/2012
- by Bison Messink
- Filmology
The Toronto International Film Festival adds sixty new films to its previously announced titles, including titles in the Documentary, Midnight Madness, Vanguard, Kids and Cinematheque programs, as well as the ten films from Mumbai playing in City to City. Still not listed in the official line-up is Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master," which reportedly has a slot. Count on Harvey Weinstein to seek yet another splashy headline after holding out for solo stories on Venice. Among the films filling out the 2012 edition of Tiff are Martin McDonagh's latest exploration of comedic violence, "Seven Psychopaths," Don Coscarelli's horror comedy "John Dies at the End," starring Paul Giamatti, Norwegian director Eva Sørhaug's murder exploration "90 Minutes" and Adrian Garcia Bogliano's Mexico vacation thriller, "Here Comes the Devil." Docs include Alex Gibney’s Vatican expose "Mea Maxima Culpa:...
- 7/31/2012
- by Anne Thompson & Sophia Savage
- Thompson on Hollywood
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.