Paris-based sales house Charades has sold the Argentinian Western-inspired documentary “Gaucho Gaucho” across much of Europe.
The film — which won a Sundance Jury Prize in January and recently played at Cph:dox — has landed deals with Tandem (France), Filmin (Spain), Selmer Media, M2, Praesens (Switzerland) and Bantam Films (Benelux). Variety understands a U.K. sale is currently under discussion.
Directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw, the duo behind the box office hit “The Truffle Hunters,” “Gaucho Gaucho” explores the story of a community of cowboys and cowgirls in Northern Argentina who live outside the modern world.
Produced by Dweck and Kershaw for Beautiful Stories Prods., the film is shot in black-and-white and celebrates the beauty and passion of a group of skilled Argentine cowboys and cowgirls, known as gauchos. It weaves together a mosaic of tales about gauchos confronting the fragility of their world in the face of unprecedented change.
The film — which won a Sundance Jury Prize in January and recently played at Cph:dox — has landed deals with Tandem (France), Filmin (Spain), Selmer Media, M2, Praesens (Switzerland) and Bantam Films (Benelux). Variety understands a U.K. sale is currently under discussion.
Directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw, the duo behind the box office hit “The Truffle Hunters,” “Gaucho Gaucho” explores the story of a community of cowboys and cowgirls in Northern Argentina who live outside the modern world.
Produced by Dweck and Kershaw for Beautiful Stories Prods., the film is shot in black-and-white and celebrates the beauty and passion of a group of skilled Argentine cowboys and cowgirls, known as gauchos. It weaves together a mosaic of tales about gauchos confronting the fragility of their world in the face of unprecedented change.
- 5/15/2024
- by Alex Ritman
- Variety Film + TV
Paris-based sales house Charades has acquired international sales rights to Argentinian Western-Inspired documentary “Gaucho Gaucho” which earned a Sundance Jury Prize in January and recently played at Cph:dox.
Directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw, the duo behind the box office hit ‘The Truffle Hunters,’ “Gaucho Gaucho” explores the story of a community of cowboys and cowgirls in Northern Argentina living outside of the modern world.
Produced by Dweck and Kershaw for Beautiful Stories Productions, the film is shot in black-and-white and celebrates the beauty and passion of a group of skilled Argentine cowboys and cowgirls, known as gauchos.
“Gaucho Gaucho” has been praised international critics, including Variety’ Guy Lodge who described the film as a “perfectly framed,” “loving, visually resplendent documentary” that “gives the Argentine cowboy community ample space to bond and merge.”
Charades’ co-founder Carole Baraton said the company was “very proud to bring this special masterpiece from...
Directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw, the duo behind the box office hit ‘The Truffle Hunters,’ “Gaucho Gaucho” explores the story of a community of cowboys and cowgirls in Northern Argentina living outside of the modern world.
Produced by Dweck and Kershaw for Beautiful Stories Productions, the film is shot in black-and-white and celebrates the beauty and passion of a group of skilled Argentine cowboys and cowgirls, known as gauchos.
“Gaucho Gaucho” has been praised international critics, including Variety’ Guy Lodge who described the film as a “perfectly framed,” “loving, visually resplendent documentary” that “gives the Argentine cowboy community ample space to bond and merge.”
Charades’ co-founder Carole Baraton said the company was “very proud to bring this special masterpiece from...
- 4/10/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Landing a good distributor is the holy grail for every indie filmmaker at Sundance. But when it comes to documentaries, while Netflix picked up a few titles out of the festival this year, the market remains soft.
Even as the theatrical market has improved for Oscar nominees and winners like “The Holdovers” and “Poor Things,” it’s tough to find a buyer for a lot of movies these days. For a movie like “Gaucho Gaucho,” which earned a Sundance jury prize and is now playing Cph:dox, the sooner filmmakers Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw land a distributor, the sooner they can start to build toward an awards campaign.
Cinematographer Kershaw and photographer Dweck first met years ago in New York City when they lived in the same Meatpacking District apartment building. They’d hang out in the street and share details of each other’s lives and work. Finally, they...
Even as the theatrical market has improved for Oscar nominees and winners like “The Holdovers” and “Poor Things,” it’s tough to find a buyer for a lot of movies these days. For a movie like “Gaucho Gaucho,” which earned a Sundance jury prize and is now playing Cph:dox, the sooner filmmakers Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw land a distributor, the sooner they can start to build toward an awards campaign.
Cinematographer Kershaw and photographer Dweck first met years ago in New York City when they lived in the same Meatpacking District apartment building. They’d hang out in the street and share details of each other’s lives and work. Finally, they...
- 3/19/2024
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
“Gaucho Gaucho” opens on a pristinely framed, lushly monochromatic shot of something that can only, at first glance, be described as an unidentified lying object. On a flat expanse of matted grassland, under a rolling widescreen canvas of sky, the camera centers a large, dark clump of what may be rock, earth or animal matter. Eventually it stirs, revealing the folds of its composition. A man rises from his slumber, clad in high boots, wide-brimmed hat and layers of hard-wearing fabric; then a horse’s head emerges from the mass, shaking and snorting and returning awkwardly to its feet. It’s an apt visual representation of the close kinship between human life, animal life and landscape that defines the Argentine cowboy community; in frame after perfectly composed frame, Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s loving, visually resplendent documentary gives them ample space to bond and merge.
When it comes to...
When it comes to...
- 2/1/2024
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Sundance documentaries are alive and well. And it looks like there’s some acquisition action this year, too. Which Sundance documentaries have the best shot at landing in Oscar contention this year? It helps to get bought early or to have an international footprint.
A rickety theatrical market for non-fiction features and a dwindling number of active documentary buyers meant that many Sundance 2023 films did not get picked up for distribution, or met serious delays before companies came through. As the top American film festival for docs, Sundance usually supplies as many as four out of the final five Oscar nominees each year.
And usually, by late summer, Oscar promotion is well underway. But last year, “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” which was rumored to be an HBO Documentary Films pickup for months, wasn’t announced until August 29, when other Sundance grads had been campaigning all summer.
One...
A rickety theatrical market for non-fiction features and a dwindling number of active documentary buyers meant that many Sundance 2023 films did not get picked up for distribution, or met serious delays before companies came through. As the top American film festival for docs, Sundance usually supplies as many as four out of the final five Oscar nominees each year.
And usually, by late summer, Oscar promotion is well underway. But last year, “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” which was rumored to be an HBO Documentary Films pickup for months, wasn’t announced until August 29, when other Sundance grads had been campaigning all summer.
One...
- 1/31/2024
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Following the success of The Truffle Hunters, which showed all it takes to make a subject interesting is to approach it with curiosity and openness to wonder, directors Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw are back with Gaucho Gaucho, a stunningly beautiful chronicle of an Argentine gaucho community who closely follow the rules and traditions of their culture, despite time and progress.
Their unique attire and the allure of legends about their courage and strength turned them into defining symbols of Argentina––as well as parts of Uruguay and Brazil––where they mastered the art of horseriding and working with cattle. Like their analogs in other cultures, these cowboys came to signal different values based on the gazer. They represented ideals of masculinity and simplicity as easily as they could be seen as outlaws and fugitives who sought the safety of the plains and mountains, the way pirates hid in open oceans.
Their unique attire and the allure of legends about their courage and strength turned them into defining symbols of Argentina––as well as parts of Uruguay and Brazil––where they mastered the art of horseriding and working with cattle. Like their analogs in other cultures, these cowboys came to signal different values based on the gazer. They represented ideals of masculinity and simplicity as easily as they could be seen as outlaws and fugitives who sought the safety of the plains and mountains, the way pirates hid in open oceans.
- 1/30/2024
- by Jose Solís
- The Film Stage
Update: By Saturday afternoon up to five buyers were understood to be in serious discussions for Jeff Zimbalist’s documentary Skywalkers: A Love Story.
The film caused a stir ever since it premiered on Thursday night and hails from XYZ Films’ documentary division. Sources reported streamers and at least one theatrical buyer were in pursuit.
Meanwhile interest was understood to be building rapidly following the Saturday premiere of Jesse Eisenberg’s US Dramatic Competition entry A Real Pain.
Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin star as cousins on an emotional tour to see their late grandmother’s home in Poland. WME Independent...
The film caused a stir ever since it premiered on Thursday night and hails from XYZ Films’ documentary division. Sources reported streamers and at least one theatrical buyer were in pursuit.
Meanwhile interest was understood to be building rapidly following the Saturday premiere of Jesse Eisenberg’s US Dramatic Competition entry A Real Pain.
Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin star as cousins on an emotional tour to see their late grandmother’s home in Poland. WME Independent...
- 1/20/2024
- ScreenDaily
Heading into the weekend Skywalkers: A Love Story is gathering momentum at Sundance with multiple buyers circling the documentary following a strong response at Thursday night’s world premiere.
The groundswell of interest comes hot on the heels of two early transactions announced on Friday, with Sony Pictures Classics closing a deal for North America and multiple territories on Rich Peppiatt’s Next entry Kneecap and Netflix taking World Cinema Documentary Competition selection Ibelin by The Painter And The Thief director Benjamin Ree.
XYZ Films executives were on Friday locked in discussions with streamers and more traditional documentary distributors on Jeff Zimbalist’s U.
The groundswell of interest comes hot on the heels of two early transactions announced on Friday, with Sony Pictures Classics closing a deal for North America and multiple territories on Rich Peppiatt’s Next entry Kneecap and Netflix taking World Cinema Documentary Competition selection Ibelin by The Painter And The Thief director Benjamin Ree.
XYZ Films executives were on Friday locked in discussions with streamers and more traditional documentary distributors on Jeff Zimbalist’s U.
- 1/20/2024
- ScreenDaily
No strangers to Sundance, filmmaker/cinematographer Gregory Kershaw and filmmaker/visual artist Michael Dweck are back for this 40th edition with their latest unsurprisingly cinematic, nonfiction study “Gaucho Gaucho.” While the acclaimed duo’s previous docs were set at a Long Island racetrack and in the Italian countryside, respectively, “Gaucho Gaucho” is an “Argentinean Western” (according to the Sundance synopsis) that takes place in the remote plains of that faraway, South American land. And therein lies the rub.
On the upside, “Gaucho Gaucho” is exquisitely crafted, with sumptuous black-and-white cinematography, camera angles framed askew, and eye-catching slo-mo sequences. (Cowboys atop galloping horses makes for one heart-pounding mix.) Not to mention an operatic — at times literally — score. (And Los Gatos’s “La Balsa” is an ear worm for sure.) And yet this heavily stylized, and often overly staged, approach actually ends up overwhelming the story the North American filmmakers have supposedly...
On the upside, “Gaucho Gaucho” is exquisitely crafted, with sumptuous black-and-white cinematography, camera angles framed askew, and eye-catching slo-mo sequences. (Cowboys atop galloping horses makes for one heart-pounding mix.) Not to mention an operatic — at times literally — score. (And Los Gatos’s “La Balsa” is an ear worm for sure.) And yet this heavily stylized, and often overly staged, approach actually ends up overwhelming the story the North American filmmakers have supposedly...
- 1/20/2024
- by Lauren Wissot
- Indiewire
“Gaucho Gaucho” marks the third documentary Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw have debuted at Sundance and the second film that they have made that plunges viewers into a remote, yet enchanting world. Their 2020 acclaimed doc “The Truffle Hunters” followed a handful of men in Piedmont, Italy, in the search for rare and expensive white Alba truffles. In “Gaucho Gaucho,” the duo explore the lives of a group of skilled Argentine cowboys and cowgirls, known as gauchos.
Using stunning black-and-white cinematography, “Gaucho Gaucho” captures older generations of gauchos who dispense their wisdom, while also following a new generation who fight to continue their families’ legacies in a modern world.
It took two years to film and edit the 143 shots featured in the 85-minute doc.
Variety spoke to Dweck and Kershaw ahead of the film’s Jan. 19 premiere.
How did you manage to gain the trust of a very small, very tight Argentinian community?...
Using stunning black-and-white cinematography, “Gaucho Gaucho” captures older generations of gauchos who dispense their wisdom, while also following a new generation who fight to continue their families’ legacies in a modern world.
It took two years to film and edit the 143 shots featured in the 85-minute doc.
Variety spoke to Dweck and Kershaw ahead of the film’s Jan. 19 premiere.
How did you manage to gain the trust of a very small, very tight Argentinian community?...
- 1/19/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Returning to an in-person edition, along with the continuation of virtual offerings, the Sundance Film Festival kicks off this Thursday and lasts through January 28, offering a first glimpse at the year in cinema. While the annual festival has its fair share of returning filmmakers, it is certainly most renowned as a beacon of discovery, and we look forward to providing extensive coverage that one can follow via our daily newsletter.
Before reviews arrive, we’re highlighting the premieres that should be on your radar––a few we’ve already had the opportunity to see. If you’re interested in experiencing Sundance in person or from afar, one can see available tickets here ahead of Thursday’s in-person opening and an online viewing window that kicks off January 25.
Between the Temples (Nathan Silver)
After working at a prolific pace throughout his early career, it’s been a few years since we...
Before reviews arrive, we’re highlighting the premieres that should be on your radar––a few we’ve already had the opportunity to see. If you’re interested in experiencing Sundance in person or from afar, one can see available tickets here ahead of Thursday’s in-person opening and an online viewing window that kicks off January 25.
Between the Temples (Nathan Silver)
After working at a prolific pace throughout his early career, it’s been a few years since we...
- 1/16/2024
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Director Marion Neumann not only pays tribute to the magic of mushrooms but claims they could save humanity from the coming climate apocalypse
At once earthy and magical, fungi not only link us to the origins of life itself but also open doors to alternate realms of consciousness. In Marion Neumann’s loose-limbed documentary, just the latest in a string of films that opine on its enigma, the mushroom can even save the world.
Compared with the surreal time-lapse photography of Louie Schwartzberg’s Fantastic Fungi (2019) or the rustic charm of Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s The Truffle Hunters (2020), Neumann’s approach is more free-wheeling and eccentric. Interviews with a wide host of fungi lovers – who include scientists, culinary specialists and devoted enthusiasts – delve into the generative power of mushrooms with vigour and optimism. Considering that the cultivation of fungal cultures has allowed us to ease our physical ailments...
At once earthy and magical, fungi not only link us to the origins of life itself but also open doors to alternate realms of consciousness. In Marion Neumann’s loose-limbed documentary, just the latest in a string of films that opine on its enigma, the mushroom can even save the world.
Compared with the surreal time-lapse photography of Louie Schwartzberg’s Fantastic Fungi (2019) or the rustic charm of Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s The Truffle Hunters (2020), Neumann’s approach is more free-wheeling and eccentric. Interviews with a wide host of fungi lovers – who include scientists, culinary specialists and devoted enthusiasts – delve into the generative power of mushrooms with vigour and optimism. Considering that the cultivation of fungal cultures has allowed us to ease our physical ailments...
- 2/21/2023
- by Phuong Le
- The Guardian - Film News
Exclusive: Ray Nicholson (Licorice Pizza), Elizabeth Lail (Mack & Rita), Leila George (Animal Kingdom) and Grammy winner Rick Springfield (Ricki and the Flash) have signed on for roles in Oscar and Emmy winner Patricia Arquette’s feature directorial debut, Gonzo Girl, based on the novel of the same name by Cheryl Della Pietra. The actors join an ensemble led by Camila Morrone, which also includes Willem Dafoe and Arquette, as we told you first.
The film currently in production in Utah is set in 1992 and follows aspiring writer Alley Russo (Morrone), who has an exciting new job as the assistant to legendary “gonzo journalist” Walker Reade (Dafoe), living in his compound/party house in Aspen. Under orders to help the famously chaotic Walker settle down to work on his long-promised latest blur of fact and fiction, Alley soon learns the truth: a lifetime of chronic substance abuse has chipped away at Walker’s writing ability,...
The film currently in production in Utah is set in 1992 and follows aspiring writer Alley Russo (Morrone), who has an exciting new job as the assistant to legendary “gonzo journalist” Walker Reade (Dafoe), living in his compound/party house in Aspen. Under orders to help the famously chaotic Walker settle down to work on his long-promised latest blur of fact and fiction, Alley soon learns the truth: a lifetime of chronic substance abuse has chipped away at Walker’s writing ability,...
- 8/17/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: French distributor Arp Selection has just acquired Cannes Competition movie Eo by Polish veteran Jerzy Skolimowski.
The film is a vision of modern Europe as seen through the eyes of a donkey. HanWay Films is handling worldwide sales and the deal was negotiated by Gabrielle Stewart and Arp’s Michèle Halberstadt.
Eo is presented by Skopia Film and Jeremy Thomas and stars Sandra Drzymalska, Isabelle Huppert, Lorenzo Zurzolo and Mateusz Kosciukiewicz. Pic was produced by Ewa Piaskowska, Jerzy Skolimowski and Eileen Tasca.
Jeremy Thomas is the executive producer. Screenplay was written by Ewa Piaskowska and Jerzy Skolimowski.
Here’s the film’s official synopsis: “The world is a mysterious place when seen through the eyes of an animal. Eo, a grey donkey with melancholic eyes, meets good and bad people on his life’s path, experiences joy and pain, endures the wheel of fortune randomly turn his luck into...
The film is a vision of modern Europe as seen through the eyes of a donkey. HanWay Films is handling worldwide sales and the deal was negotiated by Gabrielle Stewart and Arp’s Michèle Halberstadt.
Eo is presented by Skopia Film and Jeremy Thomas and stars Sandra Drzymalska, Isabelle Huppert, Lorenzo Zurzolo and Mateusz Kosciukiewicz. Pic was produced by Ewa Piaskowska, Jerzy Skolimowski and Eileen Tasca.
Jeremy Thomas is the executive producer. Screenplay was written by Ewa Piaskowska and Jerzy Skolimowski.
Here’s the film’s official synopsis: “The world is a mysterious place when seen through the eyes of an animal. Eo, a grey donkey with melancholic eyes, meets good and bad people on his life’s path, experiences joy and pain, endures the wheel of fortune randomly turn his luck into...
- 5/12/2022
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Embankment have launched global sales on “Born Wild,” the feature documentary from director Adam McClelland.
Described as an “epic and intimate story of humankind’s deep connection with animals,” “Born Wild” is set in North Carolina’s storm-beaten but beautiful coastline, where humans and wild mustang horses live side-by-side.
The horses have existed there since the first colonies but now are fighting for survival.
“These two dwindling groups of survivors must learn from and support each other if they are to last in this delicately balanced environment between land and sea, already fast disappearing as the effects of climate change take hold,” reads the logline.
McClelland (“Keepers of The Wild”) has spent the past two years embedded in The Outer Banks in North Carolina, documenting not only residents and conservationists but also climate change experts and, of course, the horses themselves.
“Born Wild” is in the final stages of production...
Described as an “epic and intimate story of humankind’s deep connection with animals,” “Born Wild” is set in North Carolina’s storm-beaten but beautiful coastline, where humans and wild mustang horses live side-by-side.
The horses have existed there since the first colonies but now are fighting for survival.
“These two dwindling groups of survivors must learn from and support each other if they are to last in this delicately balanced environment between land and sea, already fast disappearing as the effects of climate change take hold,” reads the logline.
McClelland (“Keepers of The Wild”) has spent the past two years embedded in The Outer Banks in North Carolina, documenting not only residents and conservationists but also climate change experts and, of course, the horses themselves.
“Born Wild” is in the final stages of production...
- 2/3/2022
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Embankment has launched global sales on director Adam McClelland’s feature documentary Born Wild, about mankind’s connection with animals.
Born Wild charts the relationship between two intertwined communities who inhabit North Carolina’s storm-beaten and beautiful Outer Banks coastline: its human population, and its tribes of wild mustang horses. Descendants of the first colonies, the horses have survived for centuries. But now threatened with extinction, the two dwindling groups of survivors must learn from and support each other if they are to last in this delicately balanced environment between land and sea, already fast disappearing as the effects of climate change take hold.
Embankment will show first footage of the film – currently in production – to buyers ahead of the virtual EFM.
Debut director Adam McClelland spent much of the past two years embedded in the tight-knit community of The Outer Banks documenting residents, conservationists, and climate change experts alike,...
Born Wild charts the relationship between two intertwined communities who inhabit North Carolina’s storm-beaten and beautiful Outer Banks coastline: its human population, and its tribes of wild mustang horses. Descendants of the first colonies, the horses have survived for centuries. But now threatened with extinction, the two dwindling groups of survivors must learn from and support each other if they are to last in this delicately balanced environment between land and sea, already fast disappearing as the effects of climate change take hold.
Embankment will show first footage of the film – currently in production – to buyers ahead of the virtual EFM.
Debut director Adam McClelland spent much of the past two years embedded in the tight-knit community of The Outer Banks documenting residents, conservationists, and climate change experts alike,...
- 2/3/2022
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
West Side Story‘s Steven Spielberg, The Power of the Dog‘s Jane Campion, Dune‘s Denis Villeneuve, Licorice Pizza‘s Paul Thomas Anderson and Kenneth Branagh of Belfast have been nominated for the top feature film prize as the Directors Guild unveiled nominations Thursday for its 74th annual DGA Awards.
Winners will be announced March 12 during a planned in-person ceremony at the Beverly Hilton.
The guild, a strong predictor of Oscar success historically, missing the eventual Best Director winner only eight times in 73 years, also handed out noms for its First-Time Feature Film category. Nominees there include Lin-Manuel Miranda for Tick, Tick…Boom!, Maggie Gyllenhaal for The Lost Daughter, Rebecca Hall for Passing, Michael Sarnoski for Pig, Emma Seligman for Shiva Baby and Tatiana Huezo for Mexico’s Oscar International Feature-shortlisted Prayers for the Stolen.
Last year, the guild awarded Chloé Zhao its top film prize for Nomadland, which...
Winners will be announced March 12 during a planned in-person ceremony at the Beverly Hilton.
The guild, a strong predictor of Oscar success historically, missing the eventual Best Director winner only eight times in 73 years, also handed out noms for its First-Time Feature Film category. Nominees there include Lin-Manuel Miranda for Tick, Tick…Boom!, Maggie Gyllenhaal for The Lost Daughter, Rebecca Hall for Passing, Michael Sarnoski for Pig, Emma Seligman for Shiva Baby and Tatiana Huezo for Mexico’s Oscar International Feature-shortlisted Prayers for the Stolen.
Last year, the guild awarded Chloé Zhao its top film prize for Nomadland, which...
- 1/27/2022
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Feature and first-time feature nominees to be announced on Thursday.
Ascension, Attica, Exterminate All The Brutes, Summer Of Soul and The Rescue have been nominated in the Directors Guild of America documentary category announced on Wednesday (26).
Jessica Kingdon is in the running for Ascension, Stanley Nelson for Attica, Raoul Peck for Exterminate All The Brutes, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson for Summer Of Soul, and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin for The Rescue.
The Guild also unveiled nominees in a number of TV categories. Feature and first-time feature nominees will be announced on Thursday and the winners will be unveiled at...
Ascension, Attica, Exterminate All The Brutes, Summer Of Soul and The Rescue have been nominated in the Directors Guild of America documentary category announced on Wednesday (26).
Jessica Kingdon is in the running for Ascension, Stanley Nelson for Attica, Raoul Peck for Exterminate All The Brutes, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson for Summer Of Soul, and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin for The Rescue.
The Guild also unveiled nominees in a number of TV categories. Feature and first-time feature nominees will be announced on Thursday and the winners will be unveiled at...
- 1/26/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Paris-based sales agent Luxbox has acquired world sales rights to “Dos Estaciones” which will world premiere in World Cinema Dramatic Competition at this month’s Sundance Festival.
Produced by Mexico’s Sin Sitio Cine in co-production with France’s In Vivo Films and the U.S., “Dos Estaciones” marks the feature debut of Juan Pablo González, co-director of the Film Directing program at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) whose shorts have won at Slamdance and New Orleans.
Co-written with Ana Isabel Fernández and Ilana Coleman (“The Inventory”), “Dos Estaciones” pays tribute to Mexico’s artisanal tequila makers, a dying breed as they are bought up by foreign corporations.
In striking parallel and contrast, the feature underscores the meticulous craftsmanship and artistic ambition of art films emerging from Mexico and the rest of Latin America which question received wisdom and cliches, offering an alternative narrative.
They are made, however,...
Produced by Mexico’s Sin Sitio Cine in co-production with France’s In Vivo Films and the U.S., “Dos Estaciones” marks the feature debut of Juan Pablo González, co-director of the Film Directing program at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) whose shorts have won at Slamdance and New Orleans.
Co-written with Ana Isabel Fernández and Ilana Coleman (“The Inventory”), “Dos Estaciones” pays tribute to Mexico’s artisanal tequila makers, a dying breed as they are bought up by foreign corporations.
In striking parallel and contrast, the feature underscores the meticulous craftsmanship and artistic ambition of art films emerging from Mexico and the rest of Latin America which question received wisdom and cliches, offering an alternative narrative.
They are made, however,...
- 1/12/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Home of Fiat, birthplace of Gianni Agnelli, and site of one of cinema’s most memorable vehicular chases in 1969’s “The Italian Job,” the northern Italian city of Turin has always been car central. So when it comes to big screen representation, besting that iconic Michael Caine caper might be no easy task, but the local film board isn’t going to stop trying.
Over the past two decades, Film Commission Torino Piemonte has acted as a one-stop-shop offering logistical assistance and production services to visiting shoots. Since the bureau opened in 2000, most have been domestic in origin – with Paolo Sorrentino’s “Il Divo” counting among the more prominent examples – but in recent vintages the Piedmont capital has welcomed a growing share of international visitors as well.
Building on the head of steam offered by the 2020 festival favorite “The Truffle Hunters,” Turin and its surrounding regions recently hosted three large-scale Bollywood productions,...
Over the past two decades, Film Commission Torino Piemonte has acted as a one-stop-shop offering logistical assistance and production services to visiting shoots. Since the bureau opened in 2000, most have been domestic in origin – with Paolo Sorrentino’s “Il Divo” counting among the more prominent examples – but in recent vintages the Piedmont capital has welcomed a growing share of international visitors as well.
Building on the head of steam offered by the 2020 festival favorite “The Truffle Hunters,” Turin and its surrounding regions recently hosted three large-scale Bollywood productions,...
- 12/3/2021
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
Anonymous Content has enlisted Nicholas Shumaker, a longtime producer and former talent agent at UTA, and Kimberly Carver, a veteran manager and TV producer, to join the company’s literary department. Both will work as managers and producers.
Anonymous Content CEO, Dawn Olmstead, said: “Kimberly and Nick have such an incredible passion and commitment to finding creators and artists that not only have authentic voices but that also are the meaningful voices of the future.”
Olmstead said both executives have “tremendous reputations in the entertainment industry, on a global scale,” and that “their fierce dedication to elevating their clients through authentic opportunities is both admirable and unshakeable.”
Shumaker spent the last six years at the UTA Independent Film Group working out of their New York office. During his tenure, Shumaker worked on packaging, financing, and the sales for a variety of international director-driven titles, including the Oscar-winning film “Call Me By Your Name,...
Anonymous Content CEO, Dawn Olmstead, said: “Kimberly and Nick have such an incredible passion and commitment to finding creators and artists that not only have authentic voices but that also are the meaningful voices of the future.”
Olmstead said both executives have “tremendous reputations in the entertainment industry, on a global scale,” and that “their fierce dedication to elevating their clients through authentic opportunities is both admirable and unshakeable.”
Shumaker spent the last six years at the UTA Independent Film Group working out of their New York office. During his tenure, Shumaker worked on packaging, financing, and the sales for a variety of international director-driven titles, including the Oscar-winning film “Call Me By Your Name,...
- 11/16/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Sales
Abacus Media Rights has sold documentary “The Beatles and India” to HBO Max for Latin America, BritBox North America for the U.S. and Canada, Channel 4 for the U.K., Foxtel for Australia, Channel One for Russia, and A Contracorriente Films for Spain, with more deals in the pipeline.
Inspired by Ajoy Bose’s “book Across The Universe – The Beatles in India,” the film marks Bose’s directorial debut, is co-directed by Peter Compton and is produced by Reynold D’Silva, CEO of Silva Screen Music Group.
Abacus MD Jonathan Ford said: “Using rare archival footage, an array of unseen recordings and photographs, eye-witness accounts and stunning location shoots across India, ‘The Beatles and India’ energetically reveals a fascinating journey which was to have a profound impact on The Beatles’ spiritual lives and their music.”
“The universal appeal of the subject has been one of our main aims in...
Abacus Media Rights has sold documentary “The Beatles and India” to HBO Max for Latin America, BritBox North America for the U.S. and Canada, Channel 4 for the U.K., Foxtel for Australia, Channel One for Russia, and A Contracorriente Films for Spain, with more deals in the pipeline.
Inspired by Ajoy Bose’s “book Across The Universe – The Beatles in India,” the film marks Bose’s directorial debut, is co-directed by Peter Compton and is produced by Reynold D’Silva, CEO of Silva Screen Music Group.
Abacus MD Jonathan Ford said: “Using rare archival footage, an array of unseen recordings and photographs, eye-witness accounts and stunning location shoots across India, ‘The Beatles and India’ energetically reveals a fascinating journey which was to have a profound impact on The Beatles’ spiritual lives and their music.”
“The universal appeal of the subject has been one of our main aims in...
- 9/21/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Broadway Rising, a feature length documentary on the reopening of Broadway, has started production, with director Amy Rice (HBO’s By the People: The Election of Barack Obama) producing along with, among others, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Tony-winning Oklahoma! producer Justin Mikita.
The documentary will follow the complex road to reopening Broadway, highlighting not just the familiar onstage faces but the entire theater community, chronicling the hundreds of restaurant owners and staff, costume houses, designers, ushers, specialty craftspeople and theater workers both in back and front of house.
Producers say the film “celebrates their resilience and determination to achieve what at many points seemed impossible. For months, everyone had to pivot to survive. But when the time came, the heroic people that make up the heartbeat of New York City united their community, turned the lights on & lifted the curtains on the stage. As the saying goes, the show must go on — and finally,...
The documentary will follow the complex road to reopening Broadway, highlighting not just the familiar onstage faces but the entire theater community, chronicling the hundreds of restaurant owners and staff, costume houses, designers, ushers, specialty craftspeople and theater workers both in back and front of house.
Producers say the film “celebrates their resilience and determination to achieve what at many points seemed impossible. For months, everyone had to pivot to survive. But when the time came, the heroic people that make up the heartbeat of New York City united their community, turned the lights on & lifted the curtains on the stage. As the saying goes, the show must go on — and finally,...
- 9/8/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Nathalie Seaver has been promoted to Executive Vice President at Jamie Wolf’s award-winning production company, Foothill Productions.
In her new role, she will continue to work closely with Wolf to expand Foothill’s presence in upcoming feature films and documentaries, while supporting filmmakers under the Foothill banner.
“Our goal has always been to support extraordinary films, and Nathalie has been crucial in expanding our ability to be a great partner to and resource for filmmakers,” said Wolf. “I’m thrilled to have her continuing this important work at Foothill.”
Seaver joined Foothill in 2018 as a Creative and Marketing consultant, and has worked there on projects including Emmy and Peabody-nominated documentary Be Natural; Jessica Earnshaw’s Jacinta, which won the Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival; and Mapplethorpe, The Director’s Cut, Ondi Timoner’s scripted portrait of the iconic photographer, among others.
In her new role, she will continue to work closely with Wolf to expand Foothill’s presence in upcoming feature films and documentaries, while supporting filmmakers under the Foothill banner.
“Our goal has always been to support extraordinary films, and Nathalie has been crucial in expanding our ability to be a great partner to and resource for filmmakers,” said Wolf. “I’m thrilled to have her continuing this important work at Foothill.”
Seaver joined Foothill in 2018 as a Creative and Marketing consultant, and has worked there on projects including Emmy and Peabody-nominated documentary Be Natural; Jessica Earnshaw’s Jacinta, which won the Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival; and Mapplethorpe, The Director’s Cut, Ondi Timoner’s scripted portrait of the iconic photographer, among others.
- 8/26/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
New Indie
We’ll probably spend the next decade or so speculating on the impact certain films might have made had they not been released in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. One movie that could have had a bigger splash was “The Water Man” (Rlje Films), David Oyelowo’s impressive directorial debut. It’s a rousing kid adventure and a poignant family tale, and he very skillfully threads the needle between those two genres. Like many an actor-turned-director before him, Oyelowo displays a sure hand with the fine ensemble he’s assembled, including young actors Lonnie Chavis and Amiah Miller and veterans Rosario Dawson, Alfred Molina and Maria Bello.
Also available: The Criterion Collection continues to preserve the best Netflix originals to physical media, the latest being the intense “Beasts of No Nation,” starring Abraham Attah and Idris Elba in an appropriately brutal tale of child soldiers; “Overwhelm the...
We’ll probably spend the next decade or so speculating on the impact certain films might have made had they not been released in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. One movie that could have had a bigger splash was “The Water Man” (Rlje Films), David Oyelowo’s impressive directorial debut. It’s a rousing kid adventure and a poignant family tale, and he very skillfully threads the needle between those two genres. Like many an actor-turned-director before him, Oyelowo displays a sure hand with the fine ensemble he’s assembled, including young actors Lonnie Chavis and Amiah Miller and veterans Rosario Dawson, Alfred Molina and Maria Bello.
Also available: The Criterion Collection continues to preserve the best Netflix originals to physical media, the latest being the intense “Beasts of No Nation,” starring Abraham Attah and Idris Elba in an appropriately brutal tale of child soldiers; “Overwhelm the...
- 8/6/2021
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
The Gotham Film & Media Institute, formerly IFP, has slated the Gotham Week Project Market for September 19 to 24 in a virtual format.
The annual event, held for 43 years under different names, will this year feature 135 fiction and non-fiction features, series and audio projects. Each is looking to move a little more quickly down the development track through the institute’s resources and network. Attendees include a cross-section of distributors, financiers, production companies, festival programmers and sales and talent agents. The venue offers a rare setting for international co-productions to take root.
In recent years, works like Crip Camp, American Factory, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Miss Juneteenth and The Truffle Hunters, among many others, have made important strides during the market.
Gotham Week will feature panels, workshops, case studies, and keynote conversations, hosted online. Covid-19 forced last year’s event to adopt a virtual format, as did the organization’s flagship event,...
The annual event, held for 43 years under different names, will this year feature 135 fiction and non-fiction features, series and audio projects. Each is looking to move a little more quickly down the development track through the institute’s resources and network. Attendees include a cross-section of distributors, financiers, production companies, festival programmers and sales and talent agents. The venue offers a rare setting for international co-productions to take root.
In recent years, works like Crip Camp, American Factory, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Miss Juneteenth and The Truffle Hunters, among many others, have made important strides during the market.
Gotham Week will feature panels, workshops, case studies, and keynote conversations, hosted online. Covid-19 forced last year’s event to adopt a virtual format, as did the organization’s flagship event,...
- 7/29/2021
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
Previous selections include Crip Camp, Miss Juneteenth, Swallow, The Truffle Hunters.
Gotham Film & Media Institute has announced the announced its slate of 135 international and US features, series and audio projects for this year’s virtual event that runs September 19-24.
The meetings-driven forum says it is the only international co-production market in the US featuring stories for multiple platforms, and hosts scheduled artist and industry meetings dedicated to furthering the work and careers of independent artists.
Previous selections include Crip Camp, (pictured), Miss Juneteenth, Monos, Swallow, My Salinger Year, and The Truffle Hunters.
Gotham Week will also feature a roster of panels,...
Gotham Film & Media Institute has announced the announced its slate of 135 international and US features, series and audio projects for this year’s virtual event that runs September 19-24.
The meetings-driven forum says it is the only international co-production market in the US featuring stories for multiple platforms, and hosts scheduled artist and industry meetings dedicated to furthering the work and careers of independent artists.
Previous selections include Crip Camp, (pictured), Miss Juneteenth, Monos, Swallow, My Salinger Year, and The Truffle Hunters.
Gotham Week will also feature a roster of panels,...
- 7/29/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Two-thirds of the way into “Pig,” the offbeat feature debut from director Michael Sarnoski, Nicolas Cage sits at a prestigious restaurant in Portland, bloodied and in rags. It’s the kind of eatery that earns awards and praise, an establishment that prides itself in its outrageously overpriced micro-creations and deconstructions only a few a can afford, and even fewer can pronounce, but whose status make patrons near and far salivate for a reservation.
Playing Robin Feld, a venerated chef that quit the culinary business 15 years ago to live in the forest, Cage harshly judges such food as nothing more than pretentious, nourishing neither soul nor senses but feeding into a vicious cycle of false appearances. With contained authority, his imputation forces the man behind the dish to reconsider his path.
That scene serves as the main dish of a three-course cinematic meal that’s as unexpected as it’s a strangely poignant.
Playing Robin Feld, a venerated chef that quit the culinary business 15 years ago to live in the forest, Cage harshly judges such food as nothing more than pretentious, nourishing neither soul nor senses but feeding into a vicious cycle of false appearances. With contained authority, his imputation forces the man behind the dish to reconsider his path.
That scene serves as the main dish of a three-course cinematic meal that’s as unexpected as it’s a strangely poignant.
- 7/15/2021
- by Carlos Aguilar
- The Wrap
This touching film about the truffle hunters of Piedmont offers a glimpse into a timeless, secretive way of life – and the deep companionship at its core
“Teaching the audience to see again.” That’s how co-director Michael Dweck has described his award-winning documentary The Truffle Hunters – and it’s a description that fits. Set amid the hilly woodlands of the Piedmont region of Italy, this entrancingly low-key affair (whose numerous executive producers include Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino) leads us into a secretive world far removed from the globalised bustle of modern technology. Here, we meet a disparate group of men whose closest relationships seem to be with their dogs as they search for the rare and tasty white truffles that embody their disappearing way of life.
The tone is set by a lengthy opening long-shot – a slow zoom into rich green and yellow foliage amid which...
“Teaching the audience to see again.” That’s how co-director Michael Dweck has described his award-winning documentary The Truffle Hunters – and it’s a description that fits. Set amid the hilly woodlands of the Piedmont region of Italy, this entrancingly low-key affair (whose numerous executive producers include Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino) leads us into a secretive world far removed from the globalised bustle of modern technology. Here, we meet a disparate group of men whose closest relationships seem to be with their dogs as they search for the rare and tasty white truffles that embody their disappearing way of life.
The tone is set by a lengthy opening long-shot – a slow zoom into rich green and yellow foliage amid which...
- 7/11/2021
- by Mark Kermode Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
Disney to give Marvel superhero film the widest release since UK cinemas reopened in May.
After a delay of more than a year, Disney has finally released Marvel superhero adventure Black Widow in the UK and Ireland, and will deliver the territory’s widest theatrical release since cinemas began reopening in May.
The comic book adaptation, starring Scarlett Johansson and directed by Cate Shortland, opened in 622 venues in the UK on Wednesday (July 7) – two days ahead of the US – and generated £1.2m of its first day of release. The takings were impacted by England’s win over Denmark in the...
After a delay of more than a year, Disney has finally released Marvel superhero adventure Black Widow in the UK and Ireland, and will deliver the territory’s widest theatrical release since cinemas began reopening in May.
The comic book adaptation, starring Scarlett Johansson and directed by Cate Shortland, opened in 622 venues in the UK on Wednesday (July 7) – two days ahead of the US – and generated £1.2m of its first day of release. The takings were impacted by England’s win over Denmark in the...
- 7/9/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Poisoned bait, clandestine missions, top secret locations … we meet the directors of a film about the extraordinary Italians who forage for a delicacy that’s worth thousands
Anyone looking for an antidote to digital overload could do worse than spend 90 minutes in the company of some Piedmontese villagers as they root through leaf litter in search of their region’s own treasure: the white truffle. It’s this simplicity that makes new documentary The Truffle Hunters such a balm. With no voiceover, this mesmerically shot film follows a handful of foragers, and their dogs, as they scour the northern Italian forests during winter for the elusive fungus.
“That’s why we made this film,” says co-director Gregory Kershaw. “To escape from our digital lives and spend time in a place like this. You realise how many things that are so important to human existence are missing from our daily lives.
Anyone looking for an antidote to digital overload could do worse than spend 90 minutes in the company of some Piedmontese villagers as they root through leaf litter in search of their region’s own treasure: the white truffle. It’s this simplicity that makes new documentary The Truffle Hunters such a balm. With no voiceover, this mesmerically shot film follows a handful of foragers, and their dogs, as they scour the northern Italian forests during winter for the elusive fungus.
“That’s why we made this film,” says co-director Gregory Kershaw. “To escape from our digital lives and spend time in a place like this. You realise how many things that are so important to human existence are missing from our daily lives.
- 7/7/2021
- by Phil Hoad
- The Guardian - Film News
This story about Cannes’ 2020 selection first appeared in TheWrap’s special digital Cannes magazine.
Last year, Cannes announced a list of 62 new feature films as its official selection for 2020, a year in which the festival itself didn’t take place. Bearing the prestigious imprimatur of the festival, the movies had a variety of releases. Here are some of the ones with the highest profiles since being singled out by Cannes.
“The French Dispatch” / Searchlight Pictures
Faithful
“DNA,” Maïwenn
Premiered at the Deauville Film Festival in September 2020, released by Netflix in the U.S. in December and in France in May.
“True Mothers,” Naomi Kawase
Screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2020; submitted as Japan’s entry in the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film category.
“Peninsula,” Yeon Sang-Ho
Released theatrically in South Korea in July 2020 and in the U.S. (as Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula) in August.
“Another Round,...
Last year, Cannes announced a list of 62 new feature films as its official selection for 2020, a year in which the festival itself didn’t take place. Bearing the prestigious imprimatur of the festival, the movies had a variety of releases. Here are some of the ones with the highest profiles since being singled out by Cannes.
“The French Dispatch” / Searchlight Pictures
Faithful
“DNA,” Maïwenn
Premiered at the Deauville Film Festival in September 2020, released by Netflix in the U.S. in December and in France in May.
“True Mothers,” Naomi Kawase
Screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2020; submitted as Japan’s entry in the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film category.
“Peninsula,” Yeon Sang-Ho
Released theatrically in South Korea in July 2020 and in the U.S. (as Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula) in August.
“Another Round,...
- 7/6/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Italian doc The Truffle Hunters joins the likes of Honeyland and My Octopus Teacher in the canon of idyllic, slow-moving escapist films
The Truffle Hunters is a documentary, but it’s one of the most escapist movies of the year. There is a lot to savour: the rolling Piedmontese countryside; the almost mystical expertise of these sprightly, old Italian men; the bonds between them and their dogs; the simplicity of their lifestyles, in harmony with the natural world and uncomplicated by modern intrusions; and, of course, the food, which you can almost taste. This is the sort of lifestyle we digital-age urbanites fantasise about packing in our careers for, like Daniel Day-Lewis going off to make shoes.
Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips...
The Truffle Hunters is a documentary, but it’s one of the most escapist movies of the year. There is a lot to savour: the rolling Piedmontese countryside; the almost mystical expertise of these sprightly, old Italian men; the bonds between them and their dogs; the simplicity of their lifestyles, in harmony with the natural world and uncomplicated by modern intrusions; and, of course, the food, which you can almost taste. This is the sort of lifestyle we digital-age urbanites fantasise about packing in our careers for, like Daniel Day-Lewis going off to make shoes.
Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips...
- 7/5/2021
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
The 74th Annual Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards are set to take place on March 12, the guild announced Tuesday.
The DGA National Board also reinstated its requirement of an exclusive theatrical run, which was temporarily suspended due to pandemic-related theater closures, for the DGA Theatrical Feature Film Award.
The rule, which was first introduced in 2019, requires that films released after June 15, 2021 have an exclusive theatrical run of at least seven days prior to any other exhibition. Movies released via other distribution platforms, such as streaming services, on the same “day and date” they hit theaters, are not eligible for the Guild’s top award. For theatrical feature films released between March 1 and June 14, 2021, the pandemic exception will still apply.
The DGA also announced that the eligibility period for the top award runs from March 1 to Dec. 31, 2021.
“After over a year of darkness, theater marquees lighting up across our nation...
The DGA National Board also reinstated its requirement of an exclusive theatrical run, which was temporarily suspended due to pandemic-related theater closures, for the DGA Theatrical Feature Film Award.
The rule, which was first introduced in 2019, requires that films released after June 15, 2021 have an exclusive theatrical run of at least seven days prior to any other exhibition. Movies released via other distribution platforms, such as streaming services, on the same “day and date” they hit theaters, are not eligible for the Guild’s top award. For theatrical feature films released between March 1 and June 14, 2021, the pandemic exception will still apply.
The DGA also announced that the eligibility period for the top award runs from March 1 to Dec. 31, 2021.
“After over a year of darkness, theater marquees lighting up across our nation...
- 6/29/2021
- by Ethan Shanfeld
- Variety Film + TV
As the film industry attempts to regain its footing from a tumultuous year, it seems many of our most-anticipated (some long-delayed) titles will be arriving in the back half of 2021. But the midway point still has plenty to recommend. As we do each year, we’ve rounded up our favorite films thus far.
While year’s end will bring personal favorites from all our writers, think of the below entries (and honorable mentions) as a comprehensive rundown of what should be seen before heading forward. As a note: this feature is based solely on U.S. theatrical and digital releases from 2021, with the majority widely available, where listed.
We should also note a number of films that premiered on the festival circuit last year also had a qualifying award, therefore making them 2020 films by our standards—including I Carry You With Me, Minari, The Truffle Hunters, and The Father. Check out our picks below,...
While year’s end will bring personal favorites from all our writers, think of the below entries (and honorable mentions) as a comprehensive rundown of what should be seen before heading forward. As a note: this feature is based solely on U.S. theatrical and digital releases from 2021, with the majority widely available, where listed.
We should also note a number of films that premiered on the festival circuit last year also had a qualifying award, therefore making them 2020 films by our standards—including I Carry You With Me, Minari, The Truffle Hunters, and The Father. Check out our picks below,...
- 6/23/2021
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Fido award winner The Truffle Hunters
Michael Dwek and Gregory Kershaw's The Truffle Hunters and Elizabeth Lo's Stray were jointly proclaimed Best in the World at this year's Fido Awards ceremony in London yesterday, "because they're both so brilliant," as the presenter put it. They also shared the Dog Dox award.
The event, presided over by Toby Rose, celebrated the work of canine cast members in international cinema. Rose said that one of his own favourites was The United States Vs Billie Holliday, whose four legged ensemble won in the Historical Hound category, because it was a reflection on how vital dogs had been in supporting the singer throughout her difficult life.
Several canine nominees attended the ceremony and were very well behaved. The winners were given special collars. Human guests said that they wanted to thank dogs in general for the contribution they have made in recent...
Michael Dwek and Gregory Kershaw's The Truffle Hunters and Elizabeth Lo's Stray were jointly proclaimed Best in the World at this year's Fido Awards ceremony in London yesterday, "because they're both so brilliant," as the presenter put it. They also shared the Dog Dox award.
The event, presided over by Toby Rose, celebrated the work of canine cast members in international cinema. Rose said that one of his own favourites was The United States Vs Billie Holliday, whose four legged ensemble won in the Historical Hound category, because it was a reflection on how vital dogs had been in supporting the singer throughout her difficult life.
Several canine nominees attended the ceremony and were very well behaved. The winners were given special collars. Human guests said that they wanted to thank dogs in general for the contribution they have made in recent...
- 5/24/2021
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Exclusive: Greenwich Entertainment has acquired North American distribution rights to Nicholas Bruckman’s Not Going Quietly, with plans to release the film in theaters on August 13.
The documentary, which won the Audience Award and Special Jury Recognition for Humanity in Social Action at SXSW, offers an intimate and inspiring look at the life of political activist Ady Barkan.
“If you didn’t already know that Ady Barkan is an incredible badass who has overcome every possible obstacle to transform our democracy for the better, soon you will thanks to Greenwich Entertainment,” said director Nicholas Bruckman in a statement. “We’re beyond excited to be working with the passionate team at Greenwich on the release of Not Going Quietly, and to share Ady’s story nationwide at this profound and hopeful moment for our country.”
A progressive hero and loving father, Barkan was diagnosed with Als at age 32. In spite of his declining physical abilities,...
The documentary, which won the Audience Award and Special Jury Recognition for Humanity in Social Action at SXSW, offers an intimate and inspiring look at the life of political activist Ady Barkan.
“If you didn’t already know that Ady Barkan is an incredible badass who has overcome every possible obstacle to transform our democracy for the better, soon you will thanks to Greenwich Entertainment,” said director Nicholas Bruckman in a statement. “We’re beyond excited to be working with the passionate team at Greenwich on the release of Not Going Quietly, and to share Ady’s story nationwide at this profound and hopeful moment for our country.”
A progressive hero and loving father, Barkan was diagnosed with Als at age 32. In spite of his declining physical abilities,...
- 5/12/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Canine star Hero with Dylan O'Brien in Love And Monsters
Dogs have rarely been appreciated as much as they are at present, having played an important role in getting many people through lockdown. They also have important roles to play in the movies, and this year's Fido Award nominations emphasise the quantity and variety of talent on display. This year even sees the creation of a new category, Doggy Dox, to celebrate films made about remarkable real life mutts.
"Notable canine contributions include key cameos in Oscar hottie Nomadland to the full-scale homage to hounds in The Truffle Hunters. Plus a yard dog tussles with Mark Wahlberg in Spencer Confidential. Dogs have shown themselves as a crucial comfort in these lockdown days and have once again demonstrated their ability to steal a big screen scene," said Fidos director Toby Rose.
The award ceremony will be held in London on 23 May.
Dogs have rarely been appreciated as much as they are at present, having played an important role in getting many people through lockdown. They also have important roles to play in the movies, and this year's Fido Award nominations emphasise the quantity and variety of talent on display. This year even sees the creation of a new category, Doggy Dox, to celebrate films made about remarkable real life mutts.
"Notable canine contributions include key cameos in Oscar hottie Nomadland to the full-scale homage to hounds in The Truffle Hunters. Plus a yard dog tussles with Mark Wahlberg in Spencer Confidential. Dogs have shown themselves as a crucial comfort in these lockdown days and have once again demonstrated their ability to steal a big screen scene," said Fidos director Toby Rose.
The award ceremony will be held in London on 23 May.
- 4/23/2021
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Exclusive: CAA has signed director, producer and writer Matthew Perniciaro.
Perniciaro’s five-part docuseries directorial debut Moment of Truth, for Amazon Studios/IMDb TV, debuted April 2 and tells the never-before-seen story behind the murder of beloved husband and father of Michael Jordan, James Jordan, as well as the history of social injustice in Robeson County, Nc, where two teenagers, Larry Demery and Daniel Green, were charged and convicted of the crime. He previously directed the shortform documentary series Marvel’s Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet featuring writer Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Perniciaro co-founded Bow and Arrow Entertainment in 2014 with Michael Sherman to produce artist-driven narrative and documentary feature films.
The company recently produced the critically-acclaimed and award-winning documentaries The Flight for Magnolia/Hulu, The Truffle Hunters for Sony Pictures Classics, and Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen for Netflix. Other previously produced films include: Crystal Moselle’s Skate Kitchen, Josephine Decker’s Madeline’s Madeline,...
Perniciaro’s five-part docuseries directorial debut Moment of Truth, for Amazon Studios/IMDb TV, debuted April 2 and tells the never-before-seen story behind the murder of beloved husband and father of Michael Jordan, James Jordan, as well as the history of social injustice in Robeson County, Nc, where two teenagers, Larry Demery and Daniel Green, were charged and convicted of the crime. He previously directed the shortform documentary series Marvel’s Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet featuring writer Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Perniciaro co-founded Bow and Arrow Entertainment in 2014 with Michael Sherman to produce artist-driven narrative and documentary feature films.
The company recently produced the critically-acclaimed and award-winning documentaries The Flight for Magnolia/Hulu, The Truffle Hunters for Sony Pictures Classics, and Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen for Netflix. Other previously produced films include: Crystal Moselle’s Skate Kitchen, Josephine Decker’s Madeline’s Madeline,...
- 4/21/2021
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Of the eight Best Picture nominees for the 93rd Academy Awards, “The Trial of the Chicago 7” has won the most awards from the Hollywood guilds and professional organizations in the lead-up to the Oscars — but its total pales next to the Pixar film “Soul,” which swept the guild awards by winning the award for animated feature at every single awards show that includes that category.
Wins at the American Cinema Editors’ Ace Eddie Awards and the Cinema Audio Society’s Cas Awards on Saturday gave Pete Docter’s “Soul” 10 guild wins, including prizes from the Producers Guild of America, the Society of Composers and Lyricists, the Visual Effects Society, the Art Directors Guild, the Artios Awards, the Motion Picture Sound Editors, the Guild of Music Supervisors and the Annie Awards, where it took the Best Feature award.
“Soul” didn’t win anything at the Writers Guild Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Awards,...
Wins at the American Cinema Editors’ Ace Eddie Awards and the Cinema Audio Society’s Cas Awards on Saturday gave Pete Docter’s “Soul” 10 guild wins, including prizes from the Producers Guild of America, the Society of Composers and Lyricists, the Visual Effects Society, the Art Directors Guild, the Artios Awards, the Motion Picture Sound Editors, the Guild of Music Supervisors and the Annie Awards, where it took the Best Feature award.
“Soul” didn’t win anything at the Writers Guild Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Awards,...
- 4/20/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Los Angeles The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) presented its annual awards during a virtual ceremony today, with Erik Messerschmidt, ASC claiming the top prize in feature film for Mank. The 35th ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards also honored Aurélien Marra for Two of Us in the Spotlight Award category, and Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw for the documentary The Truffle Hunters. Winners in the TV categories included Steven Meizler for The Queen?s Gambit; Fabian Wagner, ASC, Bsc for The Crown; Jon Joffin, ASC for Motherland: Fort Salem; and Baz Idoine for The Mandalorian. TCM?s Ben Mankiewicz hosted the awards show, which was streamed live from the historic ASC Clubhouse in Hollywood. Below is the complete list of winners and nominees: Feature Award – presented by Roger Deakins, ASC, Bsc, Cbe and James Deakins -Erik Messerschmidt, ASC for Mank – Winner -Phedon Papamichael, ASC, Gsc for The Trial of the...
- 4/18/2021
- by HollywoodNews.com
- Hollywoodnews.com
Congratulations to our User Michael Eduard for the top score of 66.67% when predicting the 2021 American Society of Cinematographers Awards winners on Sunday afternoon. He is actually tied at that percentage with 11 other Gold Derby Users but has the better score of 6,580 by using his 500 point bets wisely.
Over 1,000 people worldwide predicted these ASC champs announced on a virtual ceremony from Los Angeles. Top film winners were “Mank” and “The Truffle Hunters.” TV champs included “The Crown,” “The Mandalorian” and “The Queen’s Gambit.” Our top scorers got four out of six categories correct.
See Complete list of 2021 Oscar nominations in all 23 categories
You can see how your score compares to all others in our leaderboard rankings of all contestants, which also includes links to see each participant’s predictions. To see your own scores, go to the User menu in the top right corner of every page of Gold Derby when...
Over 1,000 people worldwide predicted these ASC champs announced on a virtual ceremony from Los Angeles. Top film winners were “Mank” and “The Truffle Hunters.” TV champs included “The Crown,” “The Mandalorian” and “The Queen’s Gambit.” Our top scorers got four out of six categories correct.
See Complete list of 2021 Oscar nominations in all 23 categories
You can see how your score compares to all others in our leaderboard rankings of all contestants, which also includes links to see each participant’s predictions. To see your own scores, go to the User menu in the top right corner of every page of Gold Derby when...
- 4/18/2021
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
“Mank” cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt upset “Nomadland” Dp Joshua James Richards, the Oscar favorite, at the 35th annual American Society of Cinematographers Awards on Sunday. The win for David Fincher’s monochromatic biopic, with Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) struggling to churn out a first draft of “Citizen Kane,” was a surprise, given the momentum that has been with Richards since he won Camerimage’s prestigious Golden Frog last year. However, Richards (previously nominated for the Spotlight Award for “The Rider” but is not a current ASC member) still remains the Oscar favorite for shooting Chloé Zhao’s Best Picture frontrunner (she is also the favorite to take Best Director).
Yet it is a breakthrough achievement for Fincher’s go-to cinematographer from “Mindhunter.” Messerschmidt recreated a Golden Age of Hollywood in black-and-white, shooting with the Red Ranger Helium Monochrome, and bolstered by the Cinefade variable depth of field tool to emulate...
Yet it is a breakthrough achievement for Fincher’s go-to cinematographer from “Mindhunter.” Messerschmidt recreated a Golden Age of Hollywood in black-and-white, shooting with the Red Ranger Helium Monochrome, and bolstered by the Cinefade variable depth of field tool to emulate...
- 4/18/2021
- by Chris Lindahl and Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
The American Society of Cinematographers handed out its top prize in feature film visual storytelling to Erik Messerschmidt, ASC for “Mank.”
Other winners included “The Crown,” “The Mandalorian,” “The Truffle Hunters,” “Two of Us,” “Motherland: Fort Salem” and “The Queen’s Gambit.”
Turner Classics Movies host Ben Mankiewicz served as the emcee for the ceremony, presenting the awards from the ASC clubhouse in Hollywood. During the ceremony, writer, producer and director Sofia Coppola was presented with the Board of Governors Award. Coppola accepted the award via Zoom and thanked her father “for having me on so many sets where I saw great cinematographers.”
The ASC Awards represent the organization’s picks for the most compelling visual filmmaking over the past 14 months. Roger Deakins and James Deakins presented the feature film prize to Messerschmidt, who beat out stiff competition from “Nomadland” cinematographer Joshua James Richards.
The ASC Awards mark the last guild...
Other winners included “The Crown,” “The Mandalorian,” “The Truffle Hunters,” “Two of Us,” “Motherland: Fort Salem” and “The Queen’s Gambit.”
Turner Classics Movies host Ben Mankiewicz served as the emcee for the ceremony, presenting the awards from the ASC clubhouse in Hollywood. During the ceremony, writer, producer and director Sofia Coppola was presented with the Board of Governors Award. Coppola accepted the award via Zoom and thanked her father “for having me on so many sets where I saw great cinematographers.”
The ASC Awards represent the organization’s picks for the most compelling visual filmmaking over the past 14 months. Roger Deakins and James Deakins presented the feature film prize to Messerschmidt, who beat out stiff competition from “Nomadland” cinematographer Joshua James Richards.
The ASC Awards mark the last guild...
- 4/18/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
“Mank” cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt has won the feature-film award from the American Society of Cinematographers at the 35th annual ASC Awards, which were handed out in a ceremony that streamed live from the ASC clubhouse in Hollywood on Sunday afternoon.
The award came in a category in which four of the five nominees are nominated for the Best Cinematography Oscar. The ASC nominees were “Mank,” “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” “Nomadland,” “News of the World” and “Cherry,” with the first four also landing Oscar nominations and “Cherry” replaced by “Judas and the Black Messiah” on the Oscar ballot.
Over the first 34 years, the ASC has honored the film that would go on to win the Oscar for Best Cinematography less than half the time, with the two groups matching 15 times and disagreeing 19 times. In recent years, though, the ASC has become a better Oscar predictor, with six out of 10 matches in the last decade.
The award came in a category in which four of the five nominees are nominated for the Best Cinematography Oscar. The ASC nominees were “Mank,” “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” “Nomadland,” “News of the World” and “Cherry,” with the first four also landing Oscar nominations and “Cherry” replaced by “Judas and the Black Messiah” on the Oscar ballot.
Over the first 34 years, the ASC has honored the film that would go on to win the Oscar for Best Cinematography less than half the time, with the two groups matching 15 times and disagreeing 19 times. In recent years, though, the ASC has become a better Oscar predictor, with six out of 10 matches in the last decade.
- 4/18/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The American Society of Cinematographers is announcing its winners today for the 35th Annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards this afternoon in the feature film, documentary and television cinematography categories.
They represent the organization’s picks for the most compelling visual filmmaking over the past 14 months.
The Society is bestowing the ASC Board of Governors Award to filmmaker Sophia Coppola for her contributions to cinema through her body of work. It is the only ASC Award not given to a cinematographer and is reserved for industry stalwarts who have been champions for directors of photography and the visual art form.
The Michael Chapman & Allen Daviau Student Heritage Award is being awarded to Ai Chung for A Young Tough in the Michael Chapman Graduate Category and Elias Ginsberg for Milk Teeth in the Allen Daviau Undergraduate Category.
The virtual ceremony is being streamed live via American Cinematographer’s Facebook page from the historic ASC Clubhouse in Hollywood.
They represent the organization’s picks for the most compelling visual filmmaking over the past 14 months.
The Society is bestowing the ASC Board of Governors Award to filmmaker Sophia Coppola for her contributions to cinema through her body of work. It is the only ASC Award not given to a cinematographer and is reserved for industry stalwarts who have been champions for directors of photography and the visual art form.
The Michael Chapman & Allen Daviau Student Heritage Award is being awarded to Ai Chung for A Young Tough in the Michael Chapman Graduate Category and Elias Ginsberg for Milk Teeth in the Allen Daviau Undergraduate Category.
The virtual ceremony is being streamed live via American Cinematographer’s Facebook page from the historic ASC Clubhouse in Hollywood.
- 4/18/2021
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
The Truffle Hunters triumphs in documentary category.
One week before the Oscars, the American Society Of Cinematographers (ASC) gave Netflix’s gave Mank a timely boost by honouring it with the feature award to Erik Messerschmidt.
Last year’s ASC feature film winner was Roger Deakins for 1917 and he went on to win cinematography Oscar.
The 35th ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards on Sunday (April 18) also honoured Aurélien Marra for French romance Two Of Us in the Spotlight Award category, and Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw for The Truffle Hunters in the documentary category.
In the TV categories, Steven Meizler won...
One week before the Oscars, the American Society Of Cinematographers (ASC) gave Netflix’s gave Mank a timely boost by honouring it with the feature award to Erik Messerschmidt.
Last year’s ASC feature film winner was Roger Deakins for 1917 and he went on to win cinematography Oscar.
The 35th ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards on Sunday (April 18) also honoured Aurélien Marra for French romance Two Of Us in the Spotlight Award category, and Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw for The Truffle Hunters in the documentary category.
In the TV categories, Steven Meizler won...
- 4/18/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Angelo Gagliardi in The Truffle Hunters.
Image by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
The Truffle Hunters opens with a camera slowly zooming in on a wooded hill side, with trees twinged with autumn colors as bird sounds filled the air. As we get closer, we see a dog, then two, and finally a man struggling up the steep hill. Their quarry? Truffles.
The poetic, idyllic start sets the tone for The Truffle Hunters, an enchanting, unnarrated documentary directed and photographed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw, about older traditional Italian men who have spent their long lives in the forests with their dogs, hunting this culinary delicacy, It is also about the high prices this this fragrant and delicious fungi commands and the growing hunger of the world’s elite for truffles. But it is mostly an immersive descent into a fairy-tale world, a vanishing...
Image by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
The Truffle Hunters opens with a camera slowly zooming in on a wooded hill side, with trees twinged with autumn colors as bird sounds filled the air. As we get closer, we see a dog, then two, and finally a man struggling up the steep hill. Their quarry? Truffles.
The poetic, idyllic start sets the tone for The Truffle Hunters, an enchanting, unnarrated documentary directed and photographed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw, about older traditional Italian men who have spent their long lives in the forests with their dogs, hunting this culinary delicacy, It is also about the high prices this this fragrant and delicious fungi commands and the growing hunger of the world’s elite for truffles. But it is mostly an immersive descent into a fairy-tale world, a vanishing...
- 4/16/2021
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Look for Cate Marquis’ review of The Truffle Hunters this week at We Are Movie Geeks.
The Hi-Pointe Theater, at 1005 McCausland Ave in St. Louis, is the best place to see movies. The Truffle Hunters opens this Friday April 16th at The Hi-Pointe. The Hi-Pointe’s site can be found Here
Deep in the forests of Piedmont, Italy, a handful of men, seventy or eighty years young, hunt for the rare and expensive white Alba truffle—which to date has resisted all of modern science’s efforts at cultivation. They’re guided by a secret culture and training passed down through generations, as well as by the noses of their cherished and expertly-trained dogs. They live a simpler, slower way of life, in harmony with their loyal animals and their picture-perfect land, seemingly straight out of a fairy tale. They’re untethered to cell phone screens or the Internet, opting...
The Hi-Pointe Theater, at 1005 McCausland Ave in St. Louis, is the best place to see movies. The Truffle Hunters opens this Friday April 16th at The Hi-Pointe. The Hi-Pointe’s site can be found Here
Deep in the forests of Piedmont, Italy, a handful of men, seventy or eighty years young, hunt for the rare and expensive white Alba truffle—which to date has resisted all of modern science’s efforts at cultivation. They’re guided by a secret culture and training passed down through generations, as well as by the noses of their cherished and expertly-trained dogs. They live a simpler, slower way of life, in harmony with their loyal animals and their picture-perfect land, seemingly straight out of a fairy tale. They’re untethered to cell phone screens or the Internet, opting...
- 4/11/2021
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw win documentary prize for The Truffle Hunters; Darius Marder named best first-time feature director for The Sound Of Metal.
Nomadland director Chloe Zhao confirmed her status as Oscar frontrunner on Saturday (April 10) as she became only the second woman and the first woman of colour to win the top honour at the Directors Guild Of America’s virtual 73rd Annual DGA Awards.
Not since Kathryn Bigelow won Outstanding Directorial Achievement In Theatrical Feature Film for The Hurt Locker in 2010 has a woman claimed the top prize. Bigelow went on to become the first woman to...
Nomadland director Chloe Zhao confirmed her status as Oscar frontrunner on Saturday (April 10) as she became only the second woman and the first woman of colour to win the top honour at the Directors Guild Of America’s virtual 73rd Annual DGA Awards.
Not since Kathryn Bigelow won Outstanding Directorial Achievement In Theatrical Feature Film for The Hurt Locker in 2010 has a woman claimed the top prize. Bigelow went on to become the first woman to...
- 4/11/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
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