Exclusive: Sandbox Films (Fire of Love) and Xtr (Ascension) have teamed to produce feature doc A Life Illuminated, exploring the life and legacy of pioneering marine biologist Edie Widder, in association with ocean exploration nonprofit OceanX.
Set to direct the pic is Tasha Van Zandt, the filmmaker behind such award-winning documentaries as After Antarctica, about legendary polar explorer Will Steger, and One Thousand Stories, about renowned artist Jr.
A Life Illuminated watches as Widder undertakes an extraordinary journey into the magical world of bioluminescence, through which she decodes the language of light that allows deep-sea life to communicate in complete darkness. It’s Widder’s unceasing need to understand and communicate with the most enigmatic forms of life on Earth that leads her to dive into the unknown, exploring the profound mysteries hidden beneath the ocean’s surface.
The film will draw upon Widder’s vast archive, from her earliest dives in deep sea submersibles,...
Set to direct the pic is Tasha Van Zandt, the filmmaker behind such award-winning documentaries as After Antarctica, about legendary polar explorer Will Steger, and One Thousand Stories, about renowned artist Jr.
A Life Illuminated watches as Widder undertakes an extraordinary journey into the magical world of bioluminescence, through which she decodes the language of light that allows deep-sea life to communicate in complete darkness. It’s Widder’s unceasing need to understand and communicate with the most enigmatic forms of life on Earth that leads her to dive into the unknown, exploring the profound mysteries hidden beneath the ocean’s surface.
The film will draw upon Widder’s vast archive, from her earliest dives in deep sea submersibles,...
- 12/19/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Werner Herzog And Peter Zeitlinger Set For Camerimage Honors
Camerimage’s special award for cinematographer-director duos will be handed to Werner Herzog and Peter Zeitlinger. Both filmmakers will receive the award in person at Camerimage’s upcoming 31st edition, where they will meet with the festival audience in Toruń, Poland, and present a retrospective review of their films, including both feature and documentary productions. Zeitlinger and Herzog have collaborated for 30 years. Alongside their first joint venture, Death for Five Voices (1995), their productions include the documentaries Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997), My Best Fiend (1999), Wheel of Time (2003), Grizzly Man (2005), Encounters at the End of the World (2007), Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010), Into the Abyss (2011), From One Second to the Next (2013), Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World (2016), Into the Inferno (2016), Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds (2020), Theatre of Thought (2022), and the feature films Invincible (2001), Rescue Dawn (2006), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), My Son,...
Camerimage’s special award for cinematographer-director duos will be handed to Werner Herzog and Peter Zeitlinger. Both filmmakers will receive the award in person at Camerimage’s upcoming 31st edition, where they will meet with the festival audience in Toruń, Poland, and present a retrospective review of their films, including both feature and documentary productions. Zeitlinger and Herzog have collaborated for 30 years. Alongside their first joint venture, Death for Five Voices (1995), their productions include the documentaries Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997), My Best Fiend (1999), Wheel of Time (2003), Grizzly Man (2005), Encounters at the End of the World (2007), Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010), Into the Abyss (2011), From One Second to the Next (2013), Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World (2016), Into the Inferno (2016), Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds (2020), Theatre of Thought (2022), and the feature films Invincible (2001), Rescue Dawn (2006), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), My Son,...
- 8/24/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
When Werner Herzog makes a new documentary, you can always count on one of the most satisfyingly strange occurrences in nonfiction filmmaking: the dulcet Germanic tones of Mr. Herzog making odd connections and going deep into the mystic, even when he’s talking about science.
His new doc, “Theater of Thought,” doesn’t contain anything as wonderful as Herzog’s musings on prehistoric radioactive crocodiles in “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” or his dismissal of dogs too stupid to know about geologic history in “Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds.” But letting the 80-year-old Herzog loose to explore the human mind is predictably fertile territory, in which serious scientific inquiry must make room for questions like these, posed to various scientists and researchers by our director and interlocutor:
“Do fish have souls?”
“How stupid is Siri?”
“Does a mouse suspend disbelief?”
“Could a dying man send a message (through a computer-brain interface) that there is a heaven?...
His new doc, “Theater of Thought,” doesn’t contain anything as wonderful as Herzog’s musings on prehistoric radioactive crocodiles in “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” or his dismissal of dogs too stupid to know about geologic history in “Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds.” But letting the 80-year-old Herzog loose to explore the human mind is predictably fertile territory, in which serious scientific inquiry must make room for questions like these, posed to various scientists and researchers by our director and interlocutor:
“Do fish have souls?”
“How stupid is Siri?”
“Does a mouse suspend disbelief?”
“Could a dying man send a message (through a computer-brain interface) that there is a heaven?...
- 9/4/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
John Skipper and Dan Le Batard’s Meadowlark Media has signed a multi-year first-look deal with Apple.
Under the deal, Meadowlark will produce documentary and unscripted series for the streamer. Meadowlark was launched in January, with the company at that time announcing an initial focus on sports content. However, they have previously stated that they will partner with many different creators in a variety of content areas.
In April, DraftKings and Meadowlark announced a content, distribution, monetization, and sponsorship agreement with Meadowlark Media centered on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.”
Skipper is the former president of ESPN. He resigned from that position in 2017. He first joined ESPN in 1997 and took over as president in 2012. In addition to forming Meadowlark with Le Batard, Skipper is currently the executive chairman of Dazn Group.
Le Batard is a popular TV, radio and podcast host. He also worked at ESPN, leaving the...
Under the deal, Meadowlark will produce documentary and unscripted series for the streamer. Meadowlark was launched in January, with the company at that time announcing an initial focus on sports content. However, they have previously stated that they will partner with many different creators in a variety of content areas.
In April, DraftKings and Meadowlark announced a content, distribution, monetization, and sponsorship agreement with Meadowlark Media centered on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.”
Skipper is the former president of ESPN. He resigned from that position in 2017. He first joined ESPN in 1997 and took over as president in 2012. In addition to forming Meadowlark with Le Batard, Skipper is currently the executive chairman of Dazn Group.
Le Batard is a popular TV, radio and podcast host. He also worked at ESPN, leaving the...
- 11/1/2021
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Eugene Levy is set to host and executive produce a new travel series for Apple.
“The Reluctant Traveler” will see Levy visit some of the world’s most remarkable hotels, as well as explore the people, places and cultures that surround them. Self confessedly not your average travel show host, he’s agreed the time is right for him to broaden his horizons. Levy will be packing his suitcase with some trepidation but hoping his experiences might lead to a whole new chapter in his life – that’s as long as he doesn’t have to battle his motion sickness, and still gets dinner at 7.
The new series will be produced for Apple by Twofour. In addition to starring, Levy executive produces alongside David Brindley.
Levy most recently starred in and co-created the hit comedy series “Schitt’s Creek” with his son, Dan Levy. He earned two Emmy nominations for best...
“The Reluctant Traveler” will see Levy visit some of the world’s most remarkable hotels, as well as explore the people, places and cultures that surround them. Self confessedly not your average travel show host, he’s agreed the time is right for him to broaden his horizons. Levy will be packing his suitcase with some trepidation but hoping his experiences might lead to a whole new chapter in his life – that’s as long as he doesn’t have to battle his motion sickness, and still gets dinner at 7.
The new series will be produced for Apple by Twofour. In addition to starring, Levy executive produces alongside David Brindley.
Levy most recently starred in and co-created the hit comedy series “Schitt’s Creek” with his son, Dan Levy. He earned two Emmy nominations for best...
- 11/1/2021
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Documentary festival to take place online, with plans for physical screenings in May.
Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (Cph:Dox) has revealed the full lineup for its 2021 edition, which includes features by Werner Herzog, Spike Lee, Gianfranco Rosi and Frank Oz.
A total of 180 documentaries have been selected for the festival, which will take place virtually from April 21 to May 5. Cph:dox also plans to screen a selection of films in Copenhagen cinemas from May 6-12, if the Danish government goes ahead with its plan to reopen theatres. Those titles have yet to be revealed.
The programme includes Lee’s American Utopia,...
Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (Cph:Dox) has revealed the full lineup for its 2021 edition, which includes features by Werner Herzog, Spike Lee, Gianfranco Rosi and Frank Oz.
A total of 180 documentaries have been selected for the festival, which will take place virtually from April 21 to May 5. Cph:dox also plans to screen a selection of films in Copenhagen cinemas from May 6-12, if the Danish government goes ahead with its plan to reopen theatres. Those titles have yet to be revealed.
The programme includes Lee’s American Utopia,...
- 3/30/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Apple has ordered a docuseries about the story behind that infamous ’90s Pepsi campaign that advertised a Harriet Jet as a prize — and you won’t need any Pepsi Points to watch it, just an Apple TV+ subscription.
Per the streaming service’s description, “The Jet” tells the compelling true story behind the iconic “Drink Pepsi, Get Stuff” promotional campaign that presented a Harrier Jet at the end of a 1996 TV commercial in exchange for 7 million Pepsi Points.
The docuseries, which comes from the Emmy-nominated filmmakers of HBO’s “McMillion$,” James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte, “promises to be an entertaining and nostalgic deep dive into 1990s pop culture and the events that transpired after someone attempted to cash in their points for a Harrier fighter jet.”
That someone was John Leonard, who ended up suing PepsiCo, Inc. in a contracts case tried in 1999, in an attempt to effort to...
Per the streaming service’s description, “The Jet” tells the compelling true story behind the iconic “Drink Pepsi, Get Stuff” promotional campaign that presented a Harrier Jet at the end of a 1996 TV commercial in exchange for 7 million Pepsi Points.
The docuseries, which comes from the Emmy-nominated filmmakers of HBO’s “McMillion$,” James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte, “promises to be an entertaining and nostalgic deep dive into 1990s pop culture and the events that transpired after someone attempted to cash in their points for a Harrier fighter jet.”
That someone was John Leonard, who ended up suing PepsiCo, Inc. in a contracts case tried in 1999, in an attempt to effort to...
- 3/12/2021
- by Jennifer Maas
- The Wrap
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Thursday revealed the 366 feature films that are eligible for consideration at the 93rd Oscars, which are set to air April 25 live on ABC.
The total number of films is up from last year’s 344 films in contention.
This year’s list was compiled based on tweaked eligibility rules implemented because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has pushed the ceremony to its latest date ever. For this year, feature films had to open by February 28 in a commercial motion picture theater for a seven-day qualifying run in at least one of six metro areas: Los Angeles County, New York City, the Bay Area, Chicago, Miami and Atlanta. Drive-in theaters open nightly were included as qualifying venues, as were films intended for theatrical release but because of the lockdown made available first via streaming, VOD service or other broadcast.
Today’s news comes...
The total number of films is up from last year’s 344 films in contention.
This year’s list was compiled based on tweaked eligibility rules implemented because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has pushed the ceremony to its latest date ever. For this year, feature films had to open by February 28 in a commercial motion picture theater for a seven-day qualifying run in at least one of six metro areas: Los Angeles County, New York City, the Bay Area, Chicago, Miami and Atlanta. Drive-in theaters open nightly were included as qualifying venues, as were films intended for theatrical release but because of the lockdown made available first via streaming, VOD service or other broadcast.
Today’s news comes...
- 2/25/2021
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Netflix has dominated the Oscar documentary race the last few years, winning Documentary Feature in 2020 and 2018, but the release of the Academy shortlists Tuesday confirms it faces a battle this time around, from a rival streamer.
Amazon Studios landed two films on the feature shortlist—Time, directed by Garrett Bradley, and All In: The Fight for Democracy, directed by Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés. Time, which touches on mass incarceration through the experience of one Black family in Louisiana, must be considered a solid favorite in the Oscar race, having tied for the Gotham Award and amassing multiple critics’ prizes.
Netflix made the Oscar shortlist, as expected, with its top two contenders—Crip Camp, directed by Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht, and Dick Johnson Is Dead, from director Kirsten Johnson. It also muscled in with mollusk-themed My Octopus Teacher, ensnaring in its tentacles a fifth of the 15 shortlist slots. But...
Amazon Studios landed two films on the feature shortlist—Time, directed by Garrett Bradley, and All In: The Fight for Democracy, directed by Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés. Time, which touches on mass incarceration through the experience of one Black family in Louisiana, must be considered a solid favorite in the Oscar race, having tied for the Gotham Award and amassing multiple critics’ prizes.
Netflix made the Oscar shortlist, as expected, with its top two contenders—Crip Camp, directed by Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht, and Dick Johnson Is Dead, from director Kirsten Johnson. It also muscled in with mollusk-themed My Octopus Teacher, ensnaring in its tentacles a fifth of the 15 shortlist slots. But...
- 2/10/2021
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Directors Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan currently shooting moth feature in India.
Documentary company Sandbox Films, whose credits include Werner Herzog’s Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds, has signed on to produce Nocturnes, an Indian film about moths that was one of 10 recipients of the Sundance Institute Sandbox Fund in 2020.
Directors Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan are currently shooting the feature on the sub-continent and Sandbox Film’s head of production Jessica Harrop and director and executive producer Greg Boustead plan to be on site with the filmmakers this winter.
Nocturnes centres on a young female scientist studying moths in...
Documentary company Sandbox Films, whose credits include Werner Herzog’s Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds, has signed on to produce Nocturnes, an Indian film about moths that was one of 10 recipients of the Sundance Institute Sandbox Fund in 2020.
Directors Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan are currently shooting the feature on the sub-continent and Sandbox Film’s head of production Jessica Harrop and director and executive producer Greg Boustead plan to be on site with the filmmakers this winter.
Nocturnes centres on a young female scientist studying moths in...
- 2/1/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Directors Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan currently shooting moth feature in India.
Documentary company Sandbox Films, whose credits include Werner Herzog’s Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds, has signed on to produce Nocturnes, an Indian film about moths that was one of 10 recipients of the Sundance Institute Sandbox Fund in 2020.
Directors Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan are currently shooting the feature on the sub-continent and Sandbox Film’s head of production Jessica Harrop and director and executive producer Greg Boustead plan to be on site with the filmmakers this winter.
Nocturnes centres on a young female scientist studying moths in...
Documentary company Sandbox Films, whose credits include Werner Herzog’s Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds, has signed on to produce Nocturnes, an Indian film about moths that was one of 10 recipients of the Sundance Institute Sandbox Fund in 2020.
Directors Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan are currently shooting the feature on the sub-continent and Sandbox Film’s head of production Jessica Harrop and director and executive producer Greg Boustead plan to be on site with the filmmakers this winter.
Nocturnes centres on a young female scientist studying moths in...
- 2/1/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Thursday released its official entries for 2021 Oscars in the categories of Documentary Feature, Animated Feature and International Films. The takeaway: As expected, the eligible Documentary Feature lineup shatters the record for the most ever.
A total of 238 features are eligible for consideration in the Doc Feature category, breaking the previous record of 170 set in 2017. Last year, by contrast, 159 feature documentaries qualified. The Academy relaxed eligibility rules in light of Covid-19, so that any film that could make a claim of an intended theatrical release was deemed eligible. Earning awards from film festivals was an alternative way to qualify.
For the International Feature race, Lesotho, Sudan and Suriname are first-time entrants among the 93 eligible titles, the same total as last year. Earlier this year, the Academy’s Board of Governors boosted the number of films eligible for the shortlist from 10 to 15. Under the new rules,...
A total of 238 features are eligible for consideration in the Doc Feature category, breaking the previous record of 170 set in 2017. Last year, by contrast, 159 feature documentaries qualified. The Academy relaxed eligibility rules in light of Covid-19, so that any film that could make a claim of an intended theatrical release was deemed eligible. Earning awards from film festivals was an alternative way to qualify.
For the International Feature race, Lesotho, Sudan and Suriname are first-time entrants among the 93 eligible titles, the same total as last year. Earlier this year, the Academy’s Board of Governors boosted the number of films eligible for the shortlist from 10 to 15. Under the new rules,...
- 1/28/2021
- by Patrick Hipes and Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
The number of films available to Oscar voters in a screening room devoted to the Best Picture category hit the 200 mark on Wednesday, which means that $2.5 million has entered the Academy coffers from films paying $12,500 each to be represented in the screening room.
The members-only Academy Screening Room hit the milestone with the addition of more than a dozen movies this week, including Fisher Stevens’ “Palmer,” Lee Daniels’ “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” John Lee Hancock’s “The Little Things,” the Russo brothers’ “Cherry,” Josh Trank’s “Capone,” the documentary “Coup 53,” the Studio Ghibli animated film “Earwig and the Witch,” the international films “Funny Boy” and “Bacarau” (neither eligible in the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film category) and some off-the-wall selections, including “Snake White – Love Endures” and “Soorarai Pottru.”
Other late additions to the screening room have included “Minari,” “Promising Young Woman,” “The White Tiger” and “Cherry,” which were not added until January.
The members-only Academy Screening Room hit the milestone with the addition of more than a dozen movies this week, including Fisher Stevens’ “Palmer,” Lee Daniels’ “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” John Lee Hancock’s “The Little Things,” the Russo brothers’ “Cherry,” Josh Trank’s “Capone,” the documentary “Coup 53,” the Studio Ghibli animated film “Earwig and the Witch,” the international films “Funny Boy” and “Bacarau” (neither eligible in the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film category) and some off-the-wall selections, including “Snake White – Love Endures” and “Soorarai Pottru.”
Other late additions to the screening room have included “Minari,” “Promising Young Woman,” “The White Tiger” and “Cherry,” which were not added until January.
- 1/28/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Exclusive: JP Richards has been appointed head of film marketing strategy at Apple TV+. He will report to video marketing chief Chris Van Amburg. Richards will start the job next month, when his exit from Warner Bros is official. Last November, he left his position as Co-President of Worldwide Marketing at Warner Bros, one of several well regarded marketing executives who exited in the WarnerMedia restructure. Marketing head Blair Rich and EVP Marketing Animation and Family Films Jim Gallagher also exited. Josh Goldstine, who was consulting on the slate of Warner Bros films that will simultaneously launch on HBO Max, has named to head the department earlier this month.
Richards will help spearhead the growing ambitions of Apple’s original film slates. Richards spent six years at Warner Bros, starting as EVP of WW Digital Marketing, and then elevated to EVP of WW Marketing and Chief Digital Strategist. He was...
Richards will help spearhead the growing ambitions of Apple’s original film slates. Richards spent six years at Warner Bros, starting as EVP of WW Digital Marketing, and then elevated to EVP of WW Marketing and Chief Digital Strategist. He was...
- 1/19/2021
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
The Oscars Best Documentary Feature race, which set a new record for entries in December when it passed the previous record of 170, has now left all previous years in the dust with 240 eligible films.
An additional 25 documentary features were placed in the members-only online screening room devoted to the category on Saturday, in what the Academy told voters would be “the final batch” of this year’s entries. It was the last of seven groups of documentaries that qualified and were placed into the screening room: 25 in July, 12 in August, 16 in September, 33 in October, 36 in November, a huge group of 93 in December and now 25 in January.
Academy rules put in place because of the Covid-19 pandemic made it easier than usual for documentaries to qualify for the Oscars this year, which opened the door for a field that obliterated the previous record, which was set in 2017. Films could qualify simply...
An additional 25 documentary features were placed in the members-only online screening room devoted to the category on Saturday, in what the Academy told voters would be “the final batch” of this year’s entries. It was the last of seven groups of documentaries that qualified and were placed into the screening room: 25 in July, 12 in August, 16 in September, 33 in October, 36 in November, a huge group of 93 in December and now 25 in January.
Academy rules put in place because of the Covid-19 pandemic made it easier than usual for documentaries to qualify for the Oscars this year, which opened the door for a field that obliterated the previous record, which was set in 2017. Films could qualify simply...
- 1/17/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The Academy has added 93 more films to the members-only screening room devoted to entries in the Best Documentary Feature category, bringing the total number of eligible contenders to a record-shattering 215.
The previous record for entries was 170 in 2017. And this year’s crop of nonfiction films is expected to pass that number by an even bigger margin — at least 50 — once a final, smaller group of films is added to the screening room in January.
New eligibility rules that were passed in the wake of the Covid-19 theater closings made it easier for documentaries to qualify this year by allowing them to do so by playing at film festivals, even virtual ones, and by easing requirements for theatrical runs. In an email to members detailing the new additions, the Academy said, “The Documentary Branch Executive Committee felt it was important to be inclusive and supportive of documentary filmmakers in this unprecedented and challenging year.
The previous record for entries was 170 in 2017. And this year’s crop of nonfiction films is expected to pass that number by an even bigger margin — at least 50 — once a final, smaller group of films is added to the screening room in January.
New eligibility rules that were passed in the wake of the Covid-19 theater closings made it easier for documentaries to qualify this year by allowing them to do so by playing at film festivals, even virtual ones, and by easing requirements for theatrical runs. In an email to members detailing the new additions, the Academy said, “The Documentary Branch Executive Committee felt it was important to be inclusive and supportive of documentary filmmakers in this unprecedented and challenging year.
- 12/22/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
For a filmmaker whose documentary work centers on adventurous treks to remote locations and interviews with ardent outsiders, strict quarantines would seem to be anathema to Werner Herzog’s entire being. But the 78-year-old director, writer, and occasional actor, whose work spans more than 70 features and docs, remains perpetually busy. “I am writing poetry and prose texts, which doesn’t cost much money and I can do it in a reclusive environment,” he says via Zoom from his Los Angeles home. “If I had the finances ready, I could start six feature films.
- 12/9/2020
- by Jason Newman
- Rollingstone.com
If you were to look at the members-only screening room where films in contention for the Academy Award for Best Picture stream for voters, you might think that documentaries are going to do very well in the Oscars top category this year.
As of Dec. 7, there were 104 films in the Academy Screening Room for the Best Picture category, 26 of which were documentaries. That’s a full 25% of the field, which seems to suggest that nonfiction filmmakers and the companies that release them are optimistic that Oscar voters will recognize docs when they vote this year. After all, it costs $12,500 to put a film in that screening room — and all 26 docs that paid the cost to be there are also in the separate screening room available to the Academy’s Documentary Branch. Spots in that screening room are free for any film that qualifies in the Best Documentary Feature category.
Common sense,...
As of Dec. 7, there were 104 films in the Academy Screening Room for the Best Picture category, 26 of which were documentaries. That’s a full 25% of the field, which seems to suggest that nonfiction filmmakers and the companies that release them are optimistic that Oscar voters will recognize docs when they vote this year. After all, it costs $12,500 to put a film in that screening room — and all 26 docs that paid the cost to be there are also in the separate screening room available to the Academy’s Documentary Branch. Spots in that screening room are free for any film that qualifies in the Best Documentary Feature category.
Common sense,...
- 12/8/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Apple TV+ is in final negotiations for Carrie & Me, a new film adapted from Carrie and Me: A Mother-Daughter Love Story, Carol Burnett’s bestselling memoir about her daughter Carrie Hamilton. Tara Miele will write and direct the project, which will be produced by Apple Studios along with iconic entertainer Burnett, Emmy winner Tina Fey, Eric Gurian, Steven Rogers and Josh McLaughlin. Jeff Richmond will executive produce.
In the memoir, described as “a touching tribute to her eldest daughter,” Burnett tells the story of Hamilton, who won the hearts of everyone she met with her kindness, quirky humor and unconventional approach to life. After overcoming her painful and public teenage struggle with drug addiction in a time when personal troubles were kept private, Hamilton lived her adult life of sobriety to the fullest, achieving happiness and success as an actress, writer, musician and director before losing a hard-fought battle with...
In the memoir, described as “a touching tribute to her eldest daughter,” Burnett tells the story of Hamilton, who won the hearts of everyone she met with her kindness, quirky humor and unconventional approach to life. After overcoming her painful and public teenage struggle with drug addiction in a time when personal troubles were kept private, Hamilton lived her adult life of sobriety to the fullest, achieving happiness and success as an actress, writer, musician and director before losing a hard-fought battle with...
- 12/7/2020
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Werner Herzog’s “Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds” is an aptly meditative travelogue from the philosophical German director. In the last decade or so, Herzog’s documentary output has focused on, among other topics, volcanoes (“Into the Inferno”), prehistoric paintings (“Cave of Forgotten Dreams”) and Antarctica (“Encounters at the End of the World”). In “Fireball,” co-directed by Clive Oppenheimer and available now on AppleTV+, he turns his attention to meteors and comets.
Herzog and Oppenheimer jet to all corners of the globe to engage with astrologists, geologists, religious leaders, self-made scientists, space rock collectors, and people in communities living around some of the world’s largest craters.
In one of the film’s most intriguing scenes, Herzog offers a tribute to Hollywood’s contribution to the subject. He shows us a slightly abridged version of the climactic comet strike in Mimi Leder’s 1998 disaster flick “Deep Impact.”
“Deep Impact” is a movie that,...
Herzog and Oppenheimer jet to all corners of the globe to engage with astrologists, geologists, religious leaders, self-made scientists, space rock collectors, and people in communities living around some of the world’s largest craters.
In one of the film’s most intriguing scenes, Herzog offers a tribute to Hollywood’s contribution to the subject. He shows us a slightly abridged version of the climactic comet strike in Mimi Leder’s 1998 disaster flick “Deep Impact.”
“Deep Impact” is a movie that,...
- 12/4/2020
- by Joe McGovern
- The Wrap
Apple TV+ has given a straight-to-series order to Gutsy Women, an event docuseries hosted and executive produced by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, inspired by their best-selling The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience.
The docuseries will feature a diverse cast of trailblazing women, according to Apple. In it, the former first lady, U.S Senator and Secretary of State, and her daughter set out to answer the question: what exactly does it take to be a Gutsy Woman?
Published by Simon and Schuster, the book features portraits of women such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Mary Ritter Beard, Harriet Tubman, Edith Windsor and Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, among others.
The series will be produced for Apple by HiddenLight Productions, the new company founded by Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Sam Branson.
Hillary and Chelsea Clinton will executive produce the docuseries with Johnny Webb and Roma Khanna.
The docuseries will feature a diverse cast of trailblazing women, according to Apple. In it, the former first lady, U.S Senator and Secretary of State, and her daughter set out to answer the question: what exactly does it take to be a Gutsy Woman?
Published by Simon and Schuster, the book features portraits of women such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Mary Ritter Beard, Harriet Tubman, Edith Windsor and Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, among others.
The series will be produced for Apple by HiddenLight Productions, the new company founded by Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Sam Branson.
Hillary and Chelsea Clinton will executive produce the docuseries with Johnny Webb and Roma Khanna.
- 12/3/2020
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Glenn Close is the latest to join the growing ensemble of Swan Song, an upcoming Apple Original film starring Oscar winner Mahershala Ali, Awkwafina and Naomie Harris.
Benjamin Cleary, also an Oscar winner for his short film Stutterer, wrote the screenplay and is directing the pic. Produced by Apple Studios, Anonymous Content and Concordia Studio, it’s described as a genre-bending drama set in the near future that explores how far someone will go, and how much they’ll sacrifice, to make a happier life for the people they love.
Close will play a head scientist at a facility.
Adam Shulman (Defending Jacob) and Jacob Perlin (The Amazing Johnathan Documentary) will produce for Anonymous Content with Jonathan King on behalf of Concordia Studios, as well as Ali.
Close can be seen next in Ron Howard’s Hillbilly Elegy, which is already earning her rave reviews with many pundits expecting her...
Benjamin Cleary, also an Oscar winner for his short film Stutterer, wrote the screenplay and is directing the pic. Produced by Apple Studios, Anonymous Content and Concordia Studio, it’s described as a genre-bending drama set in the near future that explores how far someone will go, and how much they’ll sacrifice, to make a happier life for the people they love.
Close will play a head scientist at a facility.
Adam Shulman (Defending Jacob) and Jacob Perlin (The Amazing Johnathan Documentary) will produce for Anonymous Content with Jonathan King on behalf of Concordia Studios, as well as Ali.
Close can be seen next in Ron Howard’s Hillbilly Elegy, which is already earning her rave reviews with many pundits expecting her...
- 11/19/2020
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Producers are Anonymous Content, Concordia Studio, Know Wonder.
Awkwafina has joined Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris on Apple Original Film Swan Song.
The star of The Farewell will play Kate, a close friend and confidante to Ali’s character Cameron in the drama, which is set in the near future and explores how much people will sacrifice for the ones they love.
Harris, the British actor whose credits include Moonlight and recent entries in the James Bond franchise including the upcoming No Time To Die, plays Poppy, Cameron’s wife and soulmate.
Benjamin Cleary directs Swan Song from his own screenplay.
Awkwafina has joined Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris on Apple Original Film Swan Song.
The star of The Farewell will play Kate, a close friend and confidante to Ali’s character Cameron in the drama, which is set in the near future and explores how much people will sacrifice for the ones they love.
Harris, the British actor whose credits include Moonlight and recent entries in the James Bond franchise including the upcoming No Time To Die, plays Poppy, Cameron’s wife and soulmate.
Benjamin Cleary directs Swan Song from his own screenplay.
- 11/18/2020
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Awkwafina has joined the cast of Swan Song, an upcoming Apple Original film starring Academy Award-winner Mahershala Ali and Academy Award, Golden Globe and SAG nominee Naomie Harris.
Benjamin Cleary, also an Oscar winner for his short film Stutterer, wrote the screenplay and is directing the pic. Produced by Apple Studios, Anonymous Content and Concordia Studio, it’s described as a genre-bending drama set in the near future that explores how far someone will go, and how much they’ll sacrifice, to make a happier life for the people they love.
Awkwafina will play close friend of Ali’s character.
Adam Shulman (Defending Jacob) and Jacob Perlin (The Amazing Johnathan Documentary) will produce for Anonymous Content with Jonathan King on behalf of Concordia Studios, as well as Ali.
Awkwafina is represented by UTA, Artist First and attorney Issac Dunham. She can next be seen in Raya and The Last Dragon...
Benjamin Cleary, also an Oscar winner for his short film Stutterer, wrote the screenplay and is directing the pic. Produced by Apple Studios, Anonymous Content and Concordia Studio, it’s described as a genre-bending drama set in the near future that explores how far someone will go, and how much they’ll sacrifice, to make a happier life for the people they love.
Awkwafina will play close friend of Ali’s character.
Adam Shulman (Defending Jacob) and Jacob Perlin (The Amazing Johnathan Documentary) will produce for Anonymous Content with Jonathan King on behalf of Concordia Studios, as well as Ali.
Awkwafina is represented by UTA, Artist First and attorney Issac Dunham. She can next be seen in Raya and The Last Dragon...
- 11/18/2020
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
“Dick Johnson is Dead” won both Best Documentary Feature and Best Director (Kirsten Johnson) at the fifth annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards. This Netflix film came into the competition with four bids; it lost the cinematography race to another Netflix title, “My Octopus Teacher,” and thee narration award to “David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet.” “The Way I See It” won for score while “Totally Under Control” took editing. See the full list of Ccda winners announced on November 16 below.
The six genre prizes were awarded as follows: “MLK/FBI” (Best Archival Documentary); “John Lewis: Good Trouble” (Best Historical/Biographical Documentary); both “Beastie Boys Story” and “The Go-Go’s” (Best Music Documentary); “Boys State” (Best Political Documentary”); “My Octopus Teacher” (Best Science/Nature Documentary); and both “Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes” and “Athlete A” (Best Sports Documentary).
The Shoes in the Bed title “Mr. Soul!” won one of its...
The six genre prizes were awarded as follows: “MLK/FBI” (Best Archival Documentary); “John Lewis: Good Trouble” (Best Historical/Biographical Documentary); both “Beastie Boys Story” and “The Go-Go’s” (Best Music Documentary); “Boys State” (Best Political Documentary”); “My Octopus Teacher” (Best Science/Nature Documentary); and both “Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes” and “Athlete A” (Best Sports Documentary).
The Shoes in the Bed title “Mr. Soul!” won one of its...
- 11/16/2020
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
With coronavirus cases surging around the country, Friday the 13th might not be the time to test your luck in theaters — though that hasn’t stopped Hollywood from serving up an unusually enticing slate of fresh releases exclusively in cinemas. From body-swap slasher movie “Freaky” to Mel Gibson’s nutzo Santa satire “Fatman,” the week’s new releases will have some weighting the risks.
Meanwhile, the streamers have stepped up. Netflix has an especially strong week, debuting Oscar contender “Mank” (about the screenwriter responsible for “Citizen Kane”) in theaters a month before it hits the service. Subscribers can watch Ron Howard’s “Hillbilly Elegy,” featuring scenery-chewing turns from Glenn Close and Amy Adams, or catch the return of Italian acting legend Sophia Loren in “The Life Ahead”. Speaking of international Oscar contenders, Netflix also launched Spanish contender “The Endless Trench” and Austrian submission “What We Wanted.”
Other digital services are...
Meanwhile, the streamers have stepped up. Netflix has an especially strong week, debuting Oscar contender “Mank” (about the screenwriter responsible for “Citizen Kane”) in theaters a month before it hits the service. Subscribers can watch Ron Howard’s “Hillbilly Elegy,” featuring scenery-chewing turns from Glenn Close and Amy Adams, or catch the return of Italian acting legend Sophia Loren in “The Life Ahead”. Speaking of international Oscar contenders, Netflix also launched Spanish contender “The Endless Trench” and Austrian submission “What We Wanted.”
Other digital services are...
- 11/14/2020
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Continuing his streak of emotionally intelligent globe-trotting documentaries, Werner Herzog’s “Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds,” which he co-directed with University of Cambridge volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer and premiered on Apple TV+, is a rich speculative examination of the role of meteorites on religion, art, and society. While the film is somewhat casual in how it jumps between ideas, Herzog and Oppenheimer show a profound curiosity about the role of otherworldly meteors in creating our planet, and its possible destruction.
Continue reading ‘Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds’: Werner Herzog’s Doc Is A Heartfelt Tribute To Scientific Exploration [Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds’: Werner Herzog’s Doc Is A Heartfelt Tribute To Scientific Exploration [Review] at The Playlist.
- 11/13/2020
- by Christian Gallichio
- The Playlist
As interviews go, not many are as exciting as Werner Herzog. A true icon of cinema, it was our pleasure to sit down with to discuss his latest venture, Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds. He was paired alongside co-director and frequent collaborator Clive Oppenheimer, a volcanologist (how cool is that word?) as we wanted to discuss this new project, and how they managed to succeed in ensuring it remained an entertaining, cinematic endeavour. In short – how did they make a doc about meteors not boring?
We discuss their working relationship, and also ask Herzog about his experiences as a filmmaker, and what this particular film added to what is a long list of incredible life moments, and moments we’re grateful he’s shared with us.
Watch the full interview with Werner and Clive here:
Synopsis
Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds takes viewers on an extraordinary journey to discover how shooting stars,...
We discuss their working relationship, and also ask Herzog about his experiences as a filmmaker, and what this particular film added to what is a long list of incredible life moments, and moments we’re grateful he’s shared with us.
Watch the full interview with Werner and Clive here:
Synopsis
Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds takes viewers on an extraordinary journey to discover how shooting stars,...
- 11/13/2020
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
We all know how charming Werner Herzog can be. Since he first narrated his 1974 documentary “The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner,” he has learned to put himself as a character in his films behind the camera, as probing questioner and witty commentator. More recently this led to acting jobs, including The Client in Season One of Disney+ series “The Mandalorian.”
Now, the prodigious director of some 20 fiction films, 31 documentary features (“Grizzly Man”) and 18 operas (“The Magic Flute”), has fallen in sync with a collaborator on his explorations into the awe and mystery of science, Cambridge volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer (“Eruptions That Shook the World”).
The two men first met on an Antarctica volcano during filming on Herzog’s only Oscar-nominated film, “Encounters at the End of the World” (2007), the filmmaker said during a recent video interview (below). Oppenheimer stood out among the high-tech down jackets by wearing “a tweed jacket like...
Now, the prodigious director of some 20 fiction films, 31 documentary features (“Grizzly Man”) and 18 operas (“The Magic Flute”), has fallen in sync with a collaborator on his explorations into the awe and mystery of science, Cambridge volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer (“Eruptions That Shook the World”).
The two men first met on an Antarctica volcano during filming on Herzog’s only Oscar-nominated film, “Encounters at the End of the World” (2007), the filmmaker said during a recent video interview (below). Oppenheimer stood out among the high-tech down jackets by wearing “a tweed jacket like...
- 11/13/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
We all know how charming Werner Herzog can be. Since he first narrated his 1974 documentary “The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner,” he has learned to put himself as a character in his films behind the camera, as probing questioner and witty commentator. More recently this led to acting jobs, including The Client in Season One of Disney+ series “The Mandalorian.”
Now, the prodigious director of some 20 fiction films, 31 documentary features (“Grizzly Man”) and 18 operas (“The Magic Flute”), has fallen in sync with a collaborator on his explorations into the awe and mystery of science, Cambridge volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer (“Eruptions That Shook the World”).
The two men first met on an Antarctica volcano during filming on Herzog’s only Oscar-nominated film, “Encounters at the End of the World” (2007), the filmmaker said during a recent video interview (below). Oppenheimer stood out among the high-tech down jackets by wearing “a tweed jacket like...
Now, the prodigious director of some 20 fiction films, 31 documentary features (“Grizzly Man”) and 18 operas (“The Magic Flute”), has fallen in sync with a collaborator on his explorations into the awe and mystery of science, Cambridge volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer (“Eruptions That Shook the World”).
The two men first met on an Antarctica volcano during filming on Herzog’s only Oscar-nominated film, “Encounters at the End of the World” (2007), the filmmaker said during a recent video interview (below). Oppenheimer stood out among the high-tech down jackets by wearing “a tweed jacket like...
- 11/13/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Molecular shapes collide into one another, at which point they may as well be falling from the heavens. As scientists examine their glassy, often contradictory patterns, they themselves fall eons into the past. There’s a deep relaxation in acknowledging one’s insignificance. Is this relative? Of course. But it is, in more ways than one, timeless. While the parallel between science and religion isn’t particularly new, Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer’s Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds sees this serendipity sharply enough to compensate for its inconsistencies.
The camera wafts across landscapes—some familiar, some alien. Groups of researchers trek in formations which, shown from just the right angle, create the illusion of their pushing and pulling together into an almost godlike design. But again: this is relative. It’s when our eye draws out that everything seems bigger, often by way of illusion. A logical approach runs through Fireball,...
The camera wafts across landscapes—some familiar, some alien. Groups of researchers trek in formations which, shown from just the right angle, create the illusion of their pushing and pulling together into an almost godlike design. But again: this is relative. It’s when our eye draws out that everything seems bigger, often by way of illusion. A logical approach runs through Fireball,...
- 11/12/2020
- by Matt Cipolla
- The Film Stage
There may be nothing more pleasing than watching a room full of scientists erupt in glee as the probe they spent hurtling into space years prior finally touches down on a moving object in the farthest reaches of space. The information and material that the probe will send back can hopefully answer questions of the universe we’ve been trying to ask since the beginning of our existence. Since before humans even walked the earth, however, the dark blanket of the sky has been depositing meteors to our world that hold important answers of the unknown.
The new Apple TV+ documentary Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds by the filmmaking team of Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer takes a look at the history of meteors falling to Earth, and the impact they have on both science and our cultural roots. We spoke with Werner and Clive to discuss the importance of...
The new Apple TV+ documentary Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds by the filmmaking team of Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer takes a look at the history of meteors falling to Earth, and the impact they have on both science and our cultural roots. We spoke with Werner and Clive to discuss the importance of...
- 11/12/2020
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
“Crip Camp,” “Gunda” and “Time” are among the films that have made Doc NYC’s 2020 “Short List,” an annual attempt by the New York-based festival to identify the nonfiction films most likely to play a significant part in awards season.
Those three films were also included in the Critics Choice Documentary Awards nominations for Best Documentary Feature, and on the International Documentary Association’s shortlist from which the Ida chooses nominees for the Ida Documentary Awards. They are the only three movies to land on all three lists.
Nine additional films on the Doc NYC list were also singled out either by the Ida or Critics Choice: “Boys State,” “Collective,” “Dick Johnson Is Dead,” “The Fight,” “MLK/FBI,” “76 Days,” “The Social Dilemma,” “The Truffle Hunters” and “Welcome to Chechnya.”
Other films on the Doc NYC list, which is made up of 15 documentaries, are “I Am Greta,” “On the Record” and “A Thousand Cuts.
Those three films were also included in the Critics Choice Documentary Awards nominations for Best Documentary Feature, and on the International Documentary Association’s shortlist from which the Ida chooses nominees for the Ida Documentary Awards. They are the only three movies to land on all three lists.
Nine additional films on the Doc NYC list were also singled out either by the Ida or Critics Choice: “Boys State,” “Collective,” “Dick Johnson Is Dead,” “The Fight,” “MLK/FBI,” “76 Days,” “The Social Dilemma,” “The Truffle Hunters” and “Welcome to Chechnya.”
Other films on the Doc NYC list, which is made up of 15 documentaries, are “I Am Greta,” “On the Record” and “A Thousand Cuts.
- 11/9/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
This weekly feature is in addition to TVLine’s daily What to Watch listings and monthly guide to What’s on Streaming.
With more than 530 scripted shows now airing across broadcast, cable and streaming, it’s easy to forget that a favorite comedy is returning, or that the new “prestige drama” you anticipated is about to debut. So consider this our reminder to set your DVR, order a Season Pass, pop a fresh Memorex into the Vcr… however it is you roll.
More from TVLineWhat's New on Netflix in November — Plus: Disney+, HBO Max and Others2021 Renewal Scorecard: What's Coming Back?...
With more than 530 scripted shows now airing across broadcast, cable and streaming, it’s easy to forget that a favorite comedy is returning, or that the new “prestige drama” you anticipated is about to debut. So consider this our reminder to set your DVR, order a Season Pass, pop a fresh Memorex into the Vcr… however it is you roll.
More from TVLineWhat's New on Netflix in November — Plus: Disney+, HBO Max and Others2021 Renewal Scorecard: What's Coming Back?...
- 11/7/2020
- by Ryan Schwartz
- TVLine.com
The Academy dropped another 33 feature films into the online screening room for members of its Documentary Branch on Oct. 30, giving the Oscars doc race its biggest influx of new films to date. The branch now has 86 films to consider, with two or three more batches of films (and potentially more than 50 additional contenders) likely to be added to the field by early January.
Coming the same week that the Critics Choice Documentary Awards announced its nominees and the International Documentary Association’s Ida Documentary Awards revealed the 30-film shortlist from which it will make its final choices, the Academy move kicked the Oscar doc race into another gear in a year that promises to be highly competitive.
Among the docs that were made available to voters this week were Bryce Dallas Howard’s film about fatherhood, “Dads,” which means she’ll be competing against her father, Ron Howard, who is...
Coming the same week that the Critics Choice Documentary Awards announced its nominees and the International Documentary Association’s Ida Documentary Awards revealed the 30-film shortlist from which it will make its final choices, the Academy move kicked the Oscar doc race into another gear in a year that promises to be highly competitive.
Among the docs that were made available to voters this week were Bryce Dallas Howard’s film about fatherhood, “Dads,” which means she’ll be competing against her father, Ron Howard, who is...
- 11/2/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
This strange year is now winding down, and while for much of the month all eyes will be turned towards the U.S. election and its aftermath, as we take a glance at the film offerings, there’s no shortage of worthwhile releases.
From the first batch of five new Steve McQueen films to David Fincher’s first feature in six years to new work by Werner Herzog, Clea DuVall, Gabriel Mascaro, Francis Lee, and more, it’s a stellar line-up as we enter into the final stretch of 2020.
We should also note that some theatrical-only releases earlier this fall are making their digital debuts, such as The Nest and Possessor, so be sure to follow our streaming column for weekly updates.
15. The Giant (David Raboy; Nov. 13)
A highlight at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, David Raboy’s directorial debut The Giant––which follows a young woman who...
From the first batch of five new Steve McQueen films to David Fincher’s first feature in six years to new work by Werner Herzog, Clea DuVall, Gabriel Mascaro, Francis Lee, and more, it’s a stellar line-up as we enter into the final stretch of 2020.
We should also note that some theatrical-only releases earlier this fall are making their digital debuts, such as The Nest and Possessor, so be sure to follow our streaming column for weekly updates.
15. The Giant (David Raboy; Nov. 13)
A highlight at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, David Raboy’s directorial debut The Giant––which follows a young woman who...
- 11/2/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Exculsive: Jacques Colimon has joined the ensemble of The Sky Is Everywhere, a new Apple Original film that hails from Apple’s existing partnership with A24. Grace Kaufman, Cherry Jones and Jason Segel are set to star. The pic is based on the novel by Jandy Nelson, who will adapt the script. Josephine Decker is attached to direct.
The novel follows Lennie (Kaufman), a teen who is working through the loss of her sister Bailey. Her journey includes accidentally falling in love. Colimon will star as ‘Joe Fontaine,’ a musician who becomes intrigued with Lennie.
Denise Di Novi, Allison Carter and Margaret French Isaac will produce for Di Novi Pictures, alongside Decker.
Colimon recently had his star-making turn in the Netflix series The Society. The series became a victim of the Covid-19 pandemic as Netflix was forced to cancel it after one season but the show still had quite the following,...
The novel follows Lennie (Kaufman), a teen who is working through the loss of her sister Bailey. Her journey includes accidentally falling in love. Colimon will star as ‘Joe Fontaine,’ a musician who becomes intrigued with Lennie.
Denise Di Novi, Allison Carter and Margaret French Isaac will produce for Di Novi Pictures, alongside Decker.
Colimon recently had his star-making turn in the Netflix series The Society. The series became a victim of the Covid-19 pandemic as Netflix was forced to cancel it after one season but the show still had quite the following,...
- 10/30/2020
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSThe prolific Rhonda Fleming, a "movie star made for Technicolor" who shone in films like Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound, Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past, and especially Allan Dwan's Slightly Scarlet and Tennessee's Partner, has died at 97. Recommended VIEWINGBarry Jenkins has released a "preamble" for his upcoming Amazon series The Underground Railroad, based on the novel by Colson Whitehead. The series follows two slaves who escape a Georgia plantation by following the Underground Railroad. The trailer for Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer's Apple TV+ documentary, Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds, which focuses on the impact of meteorites on our planet. Roni Moore and James Blagden's Midnight in Paris follows a group of teenagers in Flint, Michigan, during the lead-up to their senior prom. The film will have its online...
- 10/26/2020
- MUBI
“Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution,” “Gunda” and “Mr. Soul” lead the fifth annual Critics Choice Association’s documentary nominations, with five apiece. Among the eclectic list of nominees are Taylor Swift, Greta Thunberg, veteran filmmaker Werner Herzog and longtime disability advocate Judith Heumann, as well as docs about such notables as John Lewis, Muhammad Ali, Bruce Lee and Frank Zappa.
Recognized with four nominations each are “Athlete A,” “Dick Johnson Is Dead,” “My Octopus Teacher” and “Totally Under Control.”
In terms of distributors, Netflix led with 31 nominations, followed by Neon with 14 and Magnolia Pictures with nine. Showtime had six, while HBO, Amazon, National Geographic, PBS Independent Lens and Shoes in the Bed Productions earned five each.
It’s the fifth annual documentary honors for the group, honoring projects released in theaters, on TV and on major digital platforms, as determined by the voting of Cca members. Winners will be announced at a presentation on Nov.
Recognized with four nominations each are “Athlete A,” “Dick Johnson Is Dead,” “My Octopus Teacher” and “Totally Under Control.”
In terms of distributors, Netflix led with 31 nominations, followed by Neon with 14 and Magnolia Pictures with nine. Showtime had six, while HBO, Amazon, National Geographic, PBS Independent Lens and Shoes in the Bed Productions earned five each.
It’s the fifth annual documentary honors for the group, honoring projects released in theaters, on TV and on major digital platforms, as determined by the voting of Cca members. Winners will be announced at a presentation on Nov.
- 10/26/2020
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: What better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? This week, […]
The post This Week In Trailers: Fireball, White Noise, City Hall, Farewell Amor, The Reagans appeared first on /Film.
The post This Week In Trailers: Fireball, White Noise, City Hall, Farewell Amor, The Reagans appeared first on /Film.
- 10/24/2020
- by Christopher Stipp
- Slash Film
Apple TV Plus has scored worldwide distribution rights to “The Velvet Underground,” a new documentary from Oscar-nominated director Todd Haynes.
Haynes tackles the hugely influential 1960s avant-garde group, at one time managed by Andy Warhol and considered the “house band” of his iconic workspace The Factory.
Haynes’ film aims to prove how the group became a cultural touchstone representing a range of contradictions: timely yet timeless; literary yet realistic; rooted in high art and street culture. The film will feature a trove of never-before-seen performances, studio recordings, Warhol movies, and other experimental art that underscores what founding member John Cale called the band’s creative ethos: “how to be elegant and how to be brutal.”
The group, which counted Lou Reed among its ranks, was largely considered a commercial flop during its run, but has proven hugely formative in the music landscape in the decades that followed.
Filmmakers include Haynes...
Haynes tackles the hugely influential 1960s avant-garde group, at one time managed by Andy Warhol and considered the “house band” of his iconic workspace The Factory.
Haynes’ film aims to prove how the group became a cultural touchstone representing a range of contradictions: timely yet timeless; literary yet realistic; rooted in high art and street culture. The film will feature a trove of never-before-seen performances, studio recordings, Warhol movies, and other experimental art that underscores what founding member John Cale called the band’s creative ethos: “how to be elegant and how to be brutal.”
The group, which counted Lou Reed among its ranks, was largely considered a commercial flop during its run, but has proven hugely formative in the music landscape in the decades that followed.
Filmmakers include Haynes...
- 10/21/2020
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
Chicago – One of the most influential documentary makers in film history is Chicagoan Steve James of Kartemquin Films. His lens has commented upon not only the seminal “Hoop Dreams” (1994), but “Stevie” (2002), “The Interrupters” (2011), the Roger Ebert bio doc “Life Itself” (2014) and the recent “America to Me.”
His latest, debuting at the 56th Chicago International Film Festival (and October 29th on the National Geographic Channel), is “City So Real,” a searing inside look at the 2018 Chicago mayoral campaign. One of the subjects of that doc was the young and dynamic outlier candidate Neal Sáles Griffin, who talked issues within the film with HollywoodChicago.com.
Bound to become a defining miniseries (in five parts) on the continuing mystery that is the City of Chicago, director Steve James and Chicago’s Kartemquin Films explores the 2018-19 mayoral campaign during the upheaval of Rahm Emanuel’s decision not to seek another term. Exploring the...
His latest, debuting at the 56th Chicago International Film Festival (and October 29th on the National Geographic Channel), is “City So Real,” a searing inside look at the 2018 Chicago mayoral campaign. One of the subjects of that doc was the young and dynamic outlier candidate Neal Sáles Griffin, who talked issues within the film with HollywoodChicago.com.
Bound to become a defining miniseries (in five parts) on the continuing mystery that is the City of Chicago, director Steve James and Chicago’s Kartemquin Films explores the 2018-19 mayoral campaign during the upheaval of Rahm Emanuel’s decision not to seek another term. Exploring the...
- 10/20/2020
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Werner Herzog has always thirsted for the uncanny. It’s there in the primal awe he imparted to a grizzly bear in “Grizzly Man,” the cracked rapture of Klaus Kinski’s glowering megalomaniacal conquistador in “Aguirre, the Wrath of God,” and the mysteriously intoxicating natural ice-sculpture formations of “Encounters at the End of the World.”
In his new documentary, “Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds,” Herzog hits us with an image in the first two minutes that’s as jaw-droppingly whoa! as any footage you’ve ever seen of a UFO that convinced you, for just a moment, that it was a genuine alien visitation. We see dash cam footage, shot on a highway in Chelyabinsk, Siberia, in 2013, of a fire-light meteor streaking across the sky and plunging toward earth, like an airliner crashing right before our eyes. We witness the fireball photographed from assorted locations and angles — roadways, a public square — as Herzog,...
In his new documentary, “Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds,” Herzog hits us with an image in the first two minutes that’s as jaw-droppingly whoa! as any footage you’ve ever seen of a UFO that convinced you, for just a moment, that it was a genuine alien visitation. We see dash cam footage, shot on a highway in Chelyabinsk, Siberia, in 2013, of a fire-light meteor streaking across the sky and plunging toward earth, like an airliner crashing right before our eyes. We witness the fireball photographed from assorted locations and angles — roadways, a public square — as Herzog,...
- 10/20/2020
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
After going Into the Inferno with Clive Oppenheimer, the duo will look to the skies for their next cinematic exploration. Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds finds them exploring sites that may yield insight into comets and meteorites, helping them understand what they can tell us about the origins of life on Earth.
Following a premiere at Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year, the documentary will arrive on Apple TV+ next month and now the first trailer and poster have landed. Guided by Herzog’s ever-curious voice, the preview shows how meteorites have greatly influenced cultures and religions, with no shortage of epic, globe-spanning footage.
See the trailer below.
Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds arrives on Apple TV+ on November 13.
The post Werner Herzog Looks to the Skies in First Trailer for Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds first appeared on The Film Stage.
Following a premiere at Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year, the documentary will arrive on Apple TV+ next month and now the first trailer and poster have landed. Guided by Herzog’s ever-curious voice, the preview shows how meteorites have greatly influenced cultures and religions, with no shortage of epic, globe-spanning footage.
See the trailer below.
Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds arrives on Apple TV+ on November 13.
The post Werner Herzog Looks to the Skies in First Trailer for Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds first appeared on The Film Stage.
- 10/17/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
"Each one of these stones from darker worlds has its own story. And the bigger ones have changed entire landscapes." Apple has unveiled the first official trailer for Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds, the latest documentary made by Werner Herzog, and co-directed by volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer (also seen in Into the Inferno). This recently premiered at the Toronto Film Festival (where I saw it - it's good!), and will be available streaming on Apple TV+ in November to watch this fall. Fireball is a new documentary from the legendary Werner Herzog all about meteors and comets and their influence on ancient religions and other cultural and physical impacts they've had on Earth. It's a fun 97 minute journey through the world of meteors and down into various-sized craters on planet Earth to explore their impact on humanity. If you are like me, and enjoy watching every Herzog documentary, this is another...
- 10/16/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
“Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds,” the upcoming documentary from acclaimed film director Werner Herzog, is set to premiere on Apple TV+ on November 13. The streaming service revealed the trailer for the project on Friday morning.
Per Apple, “Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds” takes viewers on an extraordinary journey to discover how shooting stars, meteorites, and deep impacts have focused the human imagination on other realms and worlds, and on our past and our future. The upcoming documentary hails from Herzog and volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer, who previously appeared in Herzog’s “Encounters at the End of the World” and “Into the Inferno.”
Although IndieWire’s David Ehrlich had mixed feelings about “Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds” in his grade B- review of the documentary in September, he nonetheless praised Herzog’s work on the project.
“If you learn anything from this documentary, it will be that nukes would be more effective...
Per Apple, “Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds” takes viewers on an extraordinary journey to discover how shooting stars, meteorites, and deep impacts have focused the human imagination on other realms and worlds, and on our past and our future. The upcoming documentary hails from Herzog and volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer, who previously appeared in Herzog’s “Encounters at the End of the World” and “Into the Inferno.”
Although IndieWire’s David Ehrlich had mixed feelings about “Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds” in his grade B- review of the documentary in September, he nonetheless praised Herzog’s work on the project.
“If you learn anything from this documentary, it will be that nukes would be more effective...
- 10/16/2020
- by Tyler Hersko
- Indiewire
In the first trailer for Werner Herzog’s latest documentary film “Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds,” he explains that meteorites aren’t just cool space rocks; they’re the stuff of legend and miracles.
Herzog’s documentary “Fireball” with scientist Clive Oppenheimer examines how meteorites have shaped cultures, religions and landscapes on Earth across millennia. They’re objects that have traveled from across the galaxy to land here, and when you hold one, there is literally nothing else in the world that’s older than the object you have in your hand.
“Each one of these stones from darker worlds has its own story, and the bigger ones have changed entire landscapes,” Herzog says in the trailer. “We do not know what in the future is coming for us, but untold numbers of these voyagers from afar are still on the way.”
“Fireball” is a visually stunning, globe-trotting documentary that...
Herzog’s documentary “Fireball” with scientist Clive Oppenheimer examines how meteorites have shaped cultures, religions and landscapes on Earth across millennia. They’re objects that have traveled from across the galaxy to land here, and when you hold one, there is literally nothing else in the world that’s older than the object you have in your hand.
“Each one of these stones from darker worlds has its own story, and the bigger ones have changed entire landscapes,” Herzog says in the trailer. “We do not know what in the future is coming for us, but untold numbers of these voyagers from afar are still on the way.”
“Fireball” is a visually stunning, globe-trotting documentary that...
- 10/16/2020
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
As with many festivals this year, the AFI Fest, presented by Audi, will unspool virtually, but in its most important aspect, the celebration of cinematic art
is unchanged.
“How we get to it is a lot different,” says Michael Lumpkin, director of AFI Fest, running Oct. 15-22. “But the end product is very much what the festival has always been. People are getting excited about the program.”
The AFI film festival can be guaranteed to bring highly anticipated fare to eager audiences. This year’s special presentations include world premieres such as opening-night film “I’m Your Woman,” a thriller starring Rachel Brosnahan directed by Julia Hart; Kelly Oxford’s “Pink Skies Ahead”; parts one and two of Matt Tyrnauer’s four-part deep dig into “The Reagans”; drama “Really Love” from helmer Angel Kristi Williams; vibrant coming-of-age story “She Paradise” from Maya Cozier; and Lisa Rovner’s doc about the women who helped shape electronic music,...
is unchanged.
“How we get to it is a lot different,” says Michael Lumpkin, director of AFI Fest, running Oct. 15-22. “But the end product is very much what the festival has always been. People are getting excited about the program.”
The AFI film festival can be guaranteed to bring highly anticipated fare to eager audiences. This year’s special presentations include world premieres such as opening-night film “I’m Your Woman,” a thriller starring Rachel Brosnahan directed by Julia Hart; Kelly Oxford’s “Pink Skies Ahead”; parts one and two of Matt Tyrnauer’s four-part deep dig into “The Reagans”; drama “Really Love” from helmer Angel Kristi Williams; vibrant coming-of-age story “She Paradise” from Maya Cozier; and Lisa Rovner’s doc about the women who helped shape electronic music,...
- 10/15/2020
- by Carole Horst
- Variety Film + TV
Haydn Keenan’s Smart Street Films has optioned Geoffrey Robertson’s book which argues that treasures that were forcefully or lawlessly acquired over centuries should be returned to their rightful owners.
Keenan and British/Australian executive producer Amanda Groom are planning an international docuseries as a co-production with the UK’s Spring Films, an Oscar nominated, Emmy Award winning production company specialising in high-end feature and television documentaries.
Headed by André Singer, Spring Films’ credits include Meeting Gorbachev, co-directed by Werner Herzog and Singer; the Channel 4 trilogy Prison, set in women’s prison Foston Hall; and Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds, co-directed by Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer.
Robertson’s Who Owns History?: Elgin’s Loot and the Case for Returning Plundered Treasure makes the case for returning the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum to Athens.
Fronted by Robertson and to be shot in Australia, China, West Africa and the Middle East,...
Keenan and British/Australian executive producer Amanda Groom are planning an international docuseries as a co-production with the UK’s Spring Films, an Oscar nominated, Emmy Award winning production company specialising in high-end feature and television documentaries.
Headed by André Singer, Spring Films’ credits include Meeting Gorbachev, co-directed by Werner Herzog and Singer; the Channel 4 trilogy Prison, set in women’s prison Foston Hall; and Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds, co-directed by Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer.
Robertson’s Who Owns History?: Elgin’s Loot and the Case for Returning Plundered Treasure makes the case for returning the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum to Athens.
Fronted by Robertson and to be shot in Australia, China, West Africa and the Middle East,...
- 10/11/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
The American Film Institute has unveiled its lineup of 124 films, adding notable titles including the documentaries “Belushi,” “Citizen Penn” and “Hopper/Welles” and the Albert and Allen Hughes thriller “Dead Presidents.”
AFI Fest, which is going virtual this year without the usual glitzy Hollywood premieres at the Tcl Chinese Theatre, had announced previously that Rachel Brosnahan’s crime drama “I’m Your Woman” had been selected as its opening night title on Oct. 15. The festival also announced last month that it would close Oct. 22 with “My Psychedelic Love Story,” and host the world premieres of Kelly Oxford’s “Pink Skies Ahead” and Angel Kristi Williams’ “Really Love,” in addition to special presentations of Florian Zeller’s “The Father,” Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer’s “Fireball” and Mira Nair’s “A Suitable Boy.”
“Belushi” is directed by R.J. Cutler and features interviews with John Belushi, Jim Belushi, Chevy Chase, Carrie Fisher, Dan Aykroyd and Penny Marshall.
AFI Fest, which is going virtual this year without the usual glitzy Hollywood premieres at the Tcl Chinese Theatre, had announced previously that Rachel Brosnahan’s crime drama “I’m Your Woman” had been selected as its opening night title on Oct. 15. The festival also announced last month that it would close Oct. 22 with “My Psychedelic Love Story,” and host the world premieres of Kelly Oxford’s “Pink Skies Ahead” and Angel Kristi Williams’ “Really Love,” in addition to special presentations of Florian Zeller’s “The Father,” Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer’s “Fireball” and Mira Nair’s “A Suitable Boy.”
“Belushi” is directed by R.J. Cutler and features interviews with John Belushi, Jim Belushi, Chevy Chase, Carrie Fisher, Dan Aykroyd and Penny Marshall.
- 10/6/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
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