Jaka Bizilj, the founder of the Berlin-based Cinema for Peace Foundation which organized the airlift from Russia of opposition activist Alexei Navalny after his poisoning in 2020, has responded to his sudden death in an Arctic Circle jail on Friday.
“Seeing the kind of treatment that they were giving him, I’ve been afraid for months that they were going to kill him,” Bizilj told Deadline.
He suggested the writing had been on wall for Navalny ever since the death of Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash in August in the wake of his aborted coup over the summer.
“The Prigozhin case, the uprising, showed that Russia is not as stable as we all believed. After the killing of Prigozhin, Navalny was next on the list… I don’t think Putin saw him as an immediate threat but he was afraid of him in the long run,...
“Seeing the kind of treatment that they were giving him, I’ve been afraid for months that they were going to kill him,” Bizilj told Deadline.
He suggested the writing had been on wall for Navalny ever since the death of Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash in August in the wake of his aborted coup over the summer.
“The Prigozhin case, the uprising, showed that Russia is not as stable as we all believed. After the killing of Prigozhin, Navalny was next on the list… I don’t think Putin saw him as an immediate threat but he was afraid of him in the long run,...
- 2/17/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once directors Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Michael J. Fox, Padma Lakshmi and Patrick Dempsey are among the entertainment industry figures set to participate in the 2023 Clinton Global Initiative meeting.
The two-day summit, led by President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, will feature leaders from around the world and across industries exploring how to “keep going,” as the Clintons put it in a letter to the CGI community, amid difficulties to create a stronger future for everyone.
Other entertainment industry participants in CGI 2023 include Liev Schreiber and will.i.am and the previously announced Matt Damon, Ashley Judd and Orlando Bloom. Other well-known leaders expected to join the meeting include Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Nicholas Kristof, José Andrés, Cindy McCain,...
The two-day summit, led by President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, will feature leaders from around the world and across industries exploring how to “keep going,” as the Clintons put it in a letter to the CGI community, amid difficulties to create a stronger future for everyone.
Other entertainment industry participants in CGI 2023 include Liev Schreiber and will.i.am and the previously announced Matt Damon, Ashley Judd and Orlando Bloom. Other well-known leaders expected to join the meeting include Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Nicholas Kristof, José Andrés, Cindy McCain,...
- 8/21/2023
- by Hilary Lewis
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Everything started in the 90s when the digital revolution and the emergence of the first camcorders coincided with the Chinese documentarians' need to record the rapidly changing post-Tiananmen reality. Wu Wenguang's “Bumming in Beijing” (1990) became the first documentary outside of the official channels in China, and the whole wave of guerilla filmmaking was to soon follow suit. Among them was “West of the Tracks” (2003), a seminal work by Wang Bing demonstrating the New Documentary Movement's artistic potential. 2023 sees Wang's two most recent films included in Cannes Film Festival's official selection, marking a watershed moment for Chinese independent documentary cinema. The recognition, unsurprisingly, was long overdue.
The clash of the modern with the traditional, the main topic of 6th Generation's filmmakers, represented by the likes of Wang Xiaoshuai and Jia Zhangke, captivated the international festival audiences. Yet, the grimy and unglamorous works of their non-fiction colleagues never achieved the same level of recognition.
The clash of the modern with the traditional, the main topic of 6th Generation's filmmakers, represented by the likes of Wang Xiaoshuai and Jia Zhangke, captivated the international festival audiences. Yet, the grimy and unglamorous works of their non-fiction colleagues never achieved the same level of recognition.
- 5/27/2023
- by Olek Młyński
- AsianMoviePulse
“This was a sex club called The Zone. So a lot of good vibes in here,” says Lisson Gallery CEO Alex Logsdail, as he gives a tour of Lisson’s newly opened space in Los Angeles’ ever-growing Sycamore District, the globe-spanning art business’ first outpost on the West Coast.
Lisson found the location after The Zone, which catered to gay and bisexual men in L.A., closed in 2020. Its transformation into a high-gloss art gallery fits into the larger conversion of the neighborhood where it’s located, which Wwd has called “L.A.’s newest luxury retail destination” and the L.A. Times has called “L.A.’s coolest new neighborhood.” The area’s one-time warehouses and industrial shops have in the last few years been renovated to become buzzy retail shops, restaurants and art galleries, including Jeffrey Deitch, Gaga & Reena Spaulings and Carpenters Workshop.
“It’s a great area,” says Logsdail,...
Lisson found the location after The Zone, which catered to gay and bisexual men in L.A., closed in 2020. Its transformation into a high-gloss art gallery fits into the larger conversion of the neighborhood where it’s located, which Wwd has called “L.A.’s newest luxury retail destination” and the L.A. Times has called “L.A.’s coolest new neighborhood.” The area’s one-time warehouses and industrial shops have in the last few years been renovated to become buzzy retail shops, restaurants and art galleries, including Jeffrey Deitch, Gaga & Reena Spaulings and Carpenters Workshop.
“It’s a great area,” says Logsdail,...
- 4/27/2023
- by Degen Pener
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Liu Ximei, who was diagnosed with HIV at 10, is shown as a dauntless campaigner whose home provides a warm haven for patients still neglected in China
Produced by Ai Weiwei, this is a rousing portrait of Liu Ximei, an astonishingly resilient Aids activist; it also sheds light on a controversial government campaign that accelerated the epidemic in 1990s China. During the first half of the decade, poor farmers were encouraged to donate their blood in exchange for money. Due to a lack of health and safety standards, a staggering number of donors as well as those who received transfusions contracted HIV. In Ximei’s province of Henan, more than 300,000 villagers live with the debilitating effects of the condition, all while facing societal discrimination and neglect.
In following Ximei’s day-to-day routines, the film captures the gruelling reality of simply making your voice heard in an environment that is determined to...
Produced by Ai Weiwei, this is a rousing portrait of Liu Ximei, an astonishingly resilient Aids activist; it also sheds light on a controversial government campaign that accelerated the epidemic in 1990s China. During the first half of the decade, poor farmers were encouraged to donate their blood in exchange for money. Due to a lack of health and safety standards, a staggering number of donors as well as those who received transfusions contracted HIV. In Ximei’s province of Henan, more than 300,000 villagers live with the debilitating effects of the condition, all while facing societal discrimination and neglect.
In following Ximei’s day-to-day routines, the film captures the gruelling reality of simply making your voice heard in an environment that is determined to...
- 11/28/2022
- by Phuong Le
- The Guardian - Film News
This story about the best international film schools first appeared in the College Issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.
Australian Film, Television And Radio School
Sydney, Australia
“Aftrs was perfect because it was…practical,” says songwriter Christine Kirkwood, who graduated from Australia’s national screen and broadcast school after a six-month government program to train women in filmmaking. Her fellow alums include Gillian Armstrong and Phillip Noyce, who were in the school’s first graduating class in 1973, as well as Jane Campion, Cate Shortland and cinematographer Andrew Lesnie. Located near the Fox Studios in Sydney, the campus includes studios, post-production facilities and an extensive library.
Aftrs has a robust First Nations and Outreach program for indigenous students, and in early 2023 a new partnership with Industrial Light & Magic will allow the school to begin offering a two-semester Graduate Diploma in Visual Effects program. Other new offerings include a Screen Warriors program that will recruit,...
Australian Film, Television And Radio School
Sydney, Australia
“Aftrs was perfect because it was…practical,” says songwriter Christine Kirkwood, who graduated from Australia’s national screen and broadcast school after a six-month government program to train women in filmmaking. Her fellow alums include Gillian Armstrong and Phillip Noyce, who were in the school’s first graduating class in 1973, as well as Jane Campion, Cate Shortland and cinematographer Andrew Lesnie. Located near the Fox Studios in Sydney, the campus includes studios, post-production facilities and an extensive library.
Aftrs has a robust First Nations and Outreach program for indigenous students, and in early 2023 a new partnership with Industrial Light & Magic will allow the school to begin offering a two-semester Graduate Diploma in Visual Effects program. Other new offerings include a Screen Warriors program that will recruit,...
- 11/2/2022
- by TheWrap Staff
- The Wrap
MetFilm Sales has acquired worldwide sales rights, excluding the U.K., to filmmaker Margy Kinmonth’s feature documentary “Eric Ravilious: Drawn to War.”
Written, directed and produced by Kinmonth, executive produced by Maureen Murray and made by Foxtrot Films, the film is the true story of one of Britain’s greatest landscape artists. Eric Ravilious was the first war artist to die in WWII. Set against the wartime locations that inspired him, the film brings to life the undervalued British artist.
Made in co-operation with Imperial War Museums, the documentary unfolds in Ravilious’ own words, through previously unseen private correspondence and rare archive film. Shot entirely on location in the U.K., Portugal and Ireland, the film features contributions from Ai Weiwei, Alan Bennett, Grayson Perry, Robert Macfarlane, Freddy Fox and Tamsin Greig.
Currently on theatrical release in the U.K., the film has grossed more than £275,000 at the box...
Written, directed and produced by Kinmonth, executive produced by Maureen Murray and made by Foxtrot Films, the film is the true story of one of Britain’s greatest landscape artists. Eric Ravilious was the first war artist to die in WWII. Set against the wartime locations that inspired him, the film brings to life the undervalued British artist.
Made in co-operation with Imperial War Museums, the documentary unfolds in Ravilious’ own words, through previously unseen private correspondence and rare archive film. Shot entirely on location in the U.K., Portugal and Ireland, the film features contributions from Ai Weiwei, Alan Bennett, Grayson Perry, Robert Macfarlane, Freddy Fox and Tamsin Greig.
Currently on theatrical release in the U.K., the film has grossed more than £275,000 at the box...
- 10/8/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
He was the first war artist to die on active service in the second world war – and one of the greatest. Now, a new film, featuring Alan Bennett and Ai Weiwei, uncovers his complicated life
On 2 September 1942, a plane on a search-and-rescue mission off the coast of Iceland crashed into the sea, killing its pilot and 39-year-old passenger. The passenger was Eric Ravilious, whose final letter to his wife, three days earlier, had extolled the deep shadows and leaflike cracks of the subarctic landscape. He was one of 300 artists hired by the War Artists Advisory Committee to cover the second world war, and the first to die on active service.
Back home in their dank Essex farmhouse where she was marooned with their three young children, his wife, Tirzah Garwood, was struggling: she had recently been operated on for the breast cancer that would kill her nine years later. The...
On 2 September 1942, a plane on a search-and-rescue mission off the coast of Iceland crashed into the sea, killing its pilot and 39-year-old passenger. The passenger was Eric Ravilious, whose final letter to his wife, three days earlier, had extolled the deep shadows and leaflike cracks of the subarctic landscape. He was one of 300 artists hired by the War Artists Advisory Committee to cover the second world war, and the first to die on active service.
Back home in their dank Essex farmhouse where she was marooned with their three young children, his wife, Tirzah Garwood, was struggling: she had recently been operated on for the breast cancer that would kill her nine years later. The...
- 6/24/2022
- by Claire Armitstead
- The Guardian - Film News
Styx (2018).When another imminent lockdown is announced, I rush to the cinema to catch Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary Flee (2021). Sitting in the dark theater, unsure when I’ll have this luxury again, I’m hit with a pang of anxiety, as if I’m about to lose home once again. The film, which recounts Amin Nawabi’s escape from Afghanistan and eventual arrival in Denmark as an unaccompanied minor, strikes a chord, reminding me of my own refugee displacement. Specifically, I’m drawn to Amin’s charismatic persona, imbued with melancholic introspection. His remembrances, which constitute the narrative content, are at turns harrowing, bittersweet, and heartwarming. It is undeniable that Flee is well-crafted and genuinely moving.Yet, I also felt unease with the film’s confessional framing, or how Amin’s story is told. While the film has been acclaimed for pushing the bounds of documentary, it is...
- 6/23/2022
- MUBI
Turkish producer Cigdem Mater, known on the festival circuit for backing arthouse titles such as the 2013 Venice competition drama “Sivas,” has been arrested and sentenced to 18 years in prison on trumped-up charges, along with other activists, in connection with the 2013 Gezi Park anti-government protests.
Mater, who is also a journalist, was incarcerated on Monday in Istanbul at the conclusion of a trial during which Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala, who was already in custody, was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of “attempting to overthrow the government” of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by allegedly financing the protests.
Mater and six other activists are accused by the Turkish court of supporting Kavala and being behind the protests that were prompted by construction of a mall in an Istanbul park. The protests snowballed and grew into nationwide anti-government unrest. Mater is also specifically accused of trying to raise financing for a documentary...
Mater, who is also a journalist, was incarcerated on Monday in Istanbul at the conclusion of a trial during which Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala, who was already in custody, was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of “attempting to overthrow the government” of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by allegedly financing the protests.
Mater and six other activists are accused by the Turkish court of supporting Kavala and being behind the protests that were prompted by construction of a mall in an Istanbul park. The protests snowballed and grew into nationwide anti-government unrest. Mater is also specifically accused of trying to raise financing for a documentary...
- 4/27/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Over the course of a celebrated 40-year career, veteran Danish editor Niels Pagh Andersen has worked on critically acclaimed films including Pirjo Honkasalo’s “The 3 Rooms of Melancholia” and Joshua Oppenheimer’s Oscar-nominated “The Act of Killing” and “The Look of Silence.”
One of the key takeaways from those collaborations, which he explores in his new book “Order in Chaos: Storytelling and Editing in Documentary Film,” is the importance of the creative synergy that forms between an editor and a filmmaker.
“The artistic vision is the director’s responsibility. But with the [editing] process, there I feel it’s also my responsibility that we get the best out of the two of us,” says Andersen, who gave a masterclass this week at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. “If you can have the creative dialogue, then you create something that is bigger than the individual.”
In “Order in Chaos,” Andersen offers readers a...
One of the key takeaways from those collaborations, which he explores in his new book “Order in Chaos: Storytelling and Editing in Documentary Film,” is the importance of the creative synergy that forms between an editor and a filmmaker.
“The artistic vision is the director’s responsibility. But with the [editing] process, there I feel it’s also my responsibility that we get the best out of the two of us,” says Andersen, who gave a masterclass this week at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. “If you can have the creative dialogue, then you create something that is bigger than the individual.”
In “Order in Chaos,” Andersen offers readers a...
- 3/16/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
In 2015, tens of thousands of Rohingya people fled their homeland of Myanmar. Buddhist extremists actively campaigned for this majority Muslim peoples’ demise. Despite Aung San Suu Kyi’s promises of democracy, governmental and military institutions devoted themselves to mass arson, forced displacement, and apartheid-like discrimination. At the time, news coverage of the ethnic cleansing flooded the Western media. National Geographic, PBS, Vice, and even Ai Weiwei have released documentaries about the mass exodus. The rest of the world turned their eyes to the Rohingya refugee crisis.
But what about those who stayed?
“Midwives” is playing in the Sundance World Cinema – Documentary Competition. This film’s distribution is managed by Dogwoof.
Myanmar-based filmmaker Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing investigates this in her documentary debut, “Midwives,” which is now playing in the Sundance World Cinema – Documentary Competition. Here, she follows two women – one Buddhist (Hla) and one Muslim (Nyo Nyo) – in a Rakhine State village.
But what about those who stayed?
“Midwives” is playing in the Sundance World Cinema – Documentary Competition. This film’s distribution is managed by Dogwoof.
Myanmar-based filmmaker Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing investigates this in her documentary debut, “Midwives,” which is now playing in the Sundance World Cinema – Documentary Competition. Here, she follows two women – one Buddhist (Hla) and one Muslim (Nyo Nyo) – in a Rakhine State village.
- 1/27/2022
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
On Saturday at the Egyptian Theater in Park City, Carrie Mae Weems moderated a conversation between artists in the industry that have pushed the envelope when it comes to storytelling and representation. The panelists each had films at Sundance including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ai Weiwei (Vivos), Kerry Washington (The Fight) and Julie Taymor (The Glorias). When the topic of appropriation in storytelling came up, Taymor chimed in.
“Before Across the Universe, I really didn’t do anything that had to do with me personally,” she said. “I lived in Indonesia for 4 years, I had a theater company — my work was very cross-cultural.”
She continued, “I did Frida in Mexico; The Lion King is whatever you want to say — I heard the term ‘cultural appropriation’ in the past and it’s a fascinating subject.”
She went on to talk about authenticity and said that authenticity...
“Before Across the Universe, I really didn’t do anything that had to do with me personally,” she said. “I lived in Indonesia for 4 years, I had a theater company — my work was very cross-cultural.”
She continued, “I did Frida in Mexico; The Lion King is whatever you want to say — I heard the term ‘cultural appropriation’ in the past and it’s a fascinating subject.”
She went on to talk about authenticity and said that authenticity...
- 1/26/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
A segment of the ensemble drama Berlin, I Love You, directed by and starring Chinese dissent artist Ai Weiwei, was cut from the final version of the movie because some of the producers and financiers of the film feared a backlash from China.
The romantic drama — featuring 10 short films from 10 different directors all set in the German capital and centered on the subject of love — was released Feb. 8 in the U.S. by Saban Films. Berlin, I Love You is the latest installment in the City of Love series created by Emmanuel Benbihy, which also features Paris, je t'...
The romantic drama — featuring 10 short films from 10 different directors all set in the German capital and centered on the subject of love — was released Feb. 8 in the U.S. by Saban Films. Berlin, I Love You is the latest installment in the City of Love series created by Emmanuel Benbihy, which also features Paris, je t'...
- 2/18/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
One of the top actresses in China has not been seen in public since June, disappearing without a trace.
Fan Bingbing, one of that nation’s highest-paid and most bankable stars, is well-known to Hollywood audiences, having appeared in the X-Men franchise and other western films.
In China, Bingbing is one of the top celebrities, launched in thousands of ads and affiliated with top luxury brands. Time magazine called her China’s most famous actress in 2015, and she was a red carpet regular at major awards.
All that changed in June, when she noted on social media that she was visiting a children’s hospital in Tibet. Since that post, she vanished without a trace, and speculation is building that it may be related to a tax evasion matter.
A clue to her whereabouts came on September 6th, when an article in Securities Daily, part of the state-run media, said...
Fan Bingbing, one of that nation’s highest-paid and most bankable stars, is well-known to Hollywood audiences, having appeared in the X-Men franchise and other western films.
In China, Bingbing is one of the top celebrities, launched in thousands of ads and affiliated with top luxury brands. Time magazine called her China’s most famous actress in 2015, and she was a red carpet regular at major awards.
All that changed in June, when she noted on social media that she was visiting a children’s hospital in Tibet. Since that post, she vanished without a trace, and speculation is building that it may be related to a tax evasion matter.
A clue to her whereabouts came on September 6th, when an article in Securities Daily, part of the state-run media, said...
- 9/15/2018
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Why are you creative? It’s the titular question, and it’s a good one. Why. That one word makes the question, that really makes you stop for a second and think. Our question for you is, have you ever wondered what makes your favorite creatives create? Well, if the answer to that is yes, look no further.
Read More: 55 Must-See Films: The 2018 Fall Movie Preview
In a new documentary focusing on that exact question by Hermann Vaske, he conducts some 50 candid interviews with people such as David Bowie, Quentin Tarantino, Ai Weiwei, Björk, Wim Wenders, Philippe Stark, Yoko Ono, John Hegarty, David Lynch, Yohji Yamamoto, Damien Hirst, Angelina Jolie, Nobuyoshi Araki, Tarantino, Bono, Nick Cave, Neo Rauch, Stephen Hawkins, the Dalai Lama, Peter Ustinov, Marina Abramovic, Diane Kruger, Julian Schnabel, Jimmy Page, Vivienne Westwood, Takeshi Kitano, and many others.
Continue reading ‘Why Are You Creative’ Trailer Features David Bowie,...
Read More: 55 Must-See Films: The 2018 Fall Movie Preview
In a new documentary focusing on that exact question by Hermann Vaske, he conducts some 50 candid interviews with people such as David Bowie, Quentin Tarantino, Ai Weiwei, Björk, Wim Wenders, Philippe Stark, Yoko Ono, John Hegarty, David Lynch, Yohji Yamamoto, Damien Hirst, Angelina Jolie, Nobuyoshi Araki, Tarantino, Bono, Nick Cave, Neo Rauch, Stephen Hawkins, the Dalai Lama, Peter Ustinov, Marina Abramovic, Diane Kruger, Julian Schnabel, Jimmy Page, Vivienne Westwood, Takeshi Kitano, and many others.
Continue reading ‘Why Are You Creative’ Trailer Features David Bowie,...
- 9/1/2018
- by Jamie Rogers
- The Playlist
The documentary features some 50 candid interviews with world-renowned luminaries in their fields.
Screen can reveal the first trailer for German filmmaker Hermann Vaske’s documentary Why Are We Creative? ahead of its world premiere in Venice Days.
Vaske spent some 30-years globe-trotting and tracking down world-renowned luminaries in their fields to quiz them on what drives their creativity.
The resulting documentary features some 50 candid interviews with David Bowie, Quentin Tarantino, Ai Weiwei, Björk, Wim Wenders, Philippe Stark, Yoko Ono, John Hegarty, David Lynch, Yohji Yamamoto, Damien Hirst, Angelina Jolie, Nobuyoshi Araki, Tarantino, Bono, Nick Cave, Neo Rauch, Stephen Hawkins, the Dalai Lama,...
Screen can reveal the first trailer for German filmmaker Hermann Vaske’s documentary Why Are We Creative? ahead of its world premiere in Venice Days.
Vaske spent some 30-years globe-trotting and tracking down world-renowned luminaries in their fields to quiz them on what drives their creativity.
The resulting documentary features some 50 candid interviews with David Bowie, Quentin Tarantino, Ai Weiwei, Björk, Wim Wenders, Philippe Stark, Yoko Ono, John Hegarty, David Lynch, Yohji Yamamoto, Damien Hirst, Angelina Jolie, Nobuyoshi Araki, Tarantino, Bono, Nick Cave, Neo Rauch, Stephen Hawkins, the Dalai Lama,...
- 8/31/2018
- ScreenDaily
Pen America announced today that globally lauded artist Ai Weiwei will receive the Artistic Expression Award at the organization’s 2018 LitFest Gala in Los Angeles.
Ai is renowned for making bold aesthetic statements that expose fault lines, unmask hypocrisies, and unleash empathy on a global scale. This honor comes in the wake of the razing last weekend of Ai Weiwei’s Beijing studio, including the destruction of several artworks, purportedly to make way for gentrification. In the fall of 2018, Ai Weiwei will open three major exhibitions in Los Angeles. The 2018 LitFest Gala, which will take place on November 2, 2018, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, will also recognize media and entertainment litigator and Pen America Trustee Marvin Putnam with the 2018 Distinguished Leadership Award for exceptional work in support of Pen America and its mission to defend free expression and celebrate literary excellence.
Now in its 28th year, Pen America’s LitFest Gala...
Ai is renowned for making bold aesthetic statements that expose fault lines, unmask hypocrisies, and unleash empathy on a global scale. This honor comes in the wake of the razing last weekend of Ai Weiwei’s Beijing studio, including the destruction of several artworks, purportedly to make way for gentrification. In the fall of 2018, Ai Weiwei will open three major exhibitions in Los Angeles. The 2018 LitFest Gala, which will take place on November 2, 2018, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, will also recognize media and entertainment litigator and Pen America Trustee Marvin Putnam with the 2018 Distinguished Leadership Award for exceptional work in support of Pen America and its mission to defend free expression and celebrate literary excellence.
Now in its 28th year, Pen America’s LitFest Gala...
- 8/16/2018
- Look to the Stars
“I’m very sweet,” Shirin Neshat tells me, “but I’m also very domineering when it comes to my work.” Few who meet Neshat can doubt either part of that sentence. By turns fragile and forceful, Neshat operates these days out of Bushwick, Brooklyn, where she lives in self-imposed exile from her home country of Iran. Her new film, Looking for Oum Kulthum, debuted at the 2017 Venice Film Festival and begins its theatrical run in New York this week.
Oum Kulthum is Neshat’s first film since Women Without Men, which won the Silver Lion at Venice in 2009. Since then, she’s continued to work as a visual artist in photo, video, and film. Among other projects, she received her first major retrospective at the Detroit Institute of Art in 2013 and directed a trailer for the 2013 Vienna International Film Festival starring Natalie Portman. Neshat’s work has long explored issues...
Oum Kulthum is Neshat’s first film since Women Without Men, which won the Silver Lion at Venice in 2009. Since then, she’s continued to work as a visual artist in photo, video, and film. Among other projects, she received her first major retrospective at the Detroit Institute of Art in 2013 and directed a trailer for the 2013 Vienna International Film Festival starring Natalie Portman. Neshat’s work has long explored issues...
- 7/26/2018
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Feature-length doc includes interviews with David Bowie, Björk, Wim Wenders, David Lynch, Angelina Jolie, Quentin Tarantino, Bono and Diane Kruger.
Paris-based sales company Celluloid Dreams has taken world sales rights to Hermann Vaske’s feature documentary Why Are We Creative? which explores the question of creativity through interviews with more than 50 top movers and shakers in the worlds of culture, business and science, including David Bowie, Quentin Tarantino, Angelina Jolie, Vivienne Westwood and John Cleese.
The documentary pulls together interviews conducted by German director, author and producer Vaske with more than 50 luminaries in their fields over a 30-year period.
They include Bowie,...
Paris-based sales company Celluloid Dreams has taken world sales rights to Hermann Vaske’s feature documentary Why Are We Creative? which explores the question of creativity through interviews with more than 50 top movers and shakers in the worlds of culture, business and science, including David Bowie, Quentin Tarantino, Angelina Jolie, Vivienne Westwood and John Cleese.
The documentary pulls together interviews conducted by German director, author and producer Vaske with more than 50 luminaries in their fields over a 30-year period.
They include Bowie,...
- 4/27/2018
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
A Palestinian cameraman who worked on Ai Weiwei’s Venice 2017 documentary Human Flow has died after being shot while covering clashes between protesters in Gaza and the Israeli military.
According to local health officials, Yasser Murtaja, 30, was shot in the side of his stomach on Friday by the Israeli military while covering demonstrations along the Israel-Gaza border and died later in hospital. The Ain Media journalist was the 29th Palestinian killed in the week-long protests, according to Reuters.
Murtaja was a known figure in the local film and media community. He worked on Participant Media and Amazon Studio-backed Human Flow, which captures the tragedy of the global migration crisis, and he had worked on Basma Alsharif’s 2017 feature Ouroboros, which played at Locarno and London, as well as with the BBC.
Filmmaker Ai Weiwei retweeted a number of posts relating to the incident, including multiple in which artists and mainstream...
According to local health officials, Yasser Murtaja, 30, was shot in the side of his stomach on Friday by the Israeli military while covering demonstrations along the Israel-Gaza border and died later in hospital. The Ain Media journalist was the 29th Palestinian killed in the week-long protests, according to Reuters.
Murtaja was a known figure in the local film and media community. He worked on Participant Media and Amazon Studio-backed Human Flow, which captures the tragedy of the global migration crisis, and he had worked on Basma Alsharif’s 2017 feature Ouroboros, which played at Locarno and London, as well as with the BBC.
Filmmaker Ai Weiwei retweeted a number of posts relating to the incident, including multiple in which artists and mainstream...
- 4/9/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Palestinian filmmakers pay tribute to Yasser Murtaja, who dreamed of travelling the world.
A Palestinian cameraman who worked on dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s Human Flow as well as on compatriot Basma Alsharif ’s feature Ouroboros, has died after being shot while covering clashes between Gaza protestors and the Israeli military on Friday.
Both Palestinian and Israeli media outlets reported that Yasser Murtaja, 30, was shot in the stomach by the Israeli military while covering demonstrations along the Israel-Gaza border and died later in hospital.
Murtaja, who was married with a young son, was a rising star in Gaza’s...
A Palestinian cameraman who worked on dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s Human Flow as well as on compatriot Basma Alsharif ’s feature Ouroboros, has died after being shot while covering clashes between Gaza protestors and the Israeli military on Friday.
Both Palestinian and Israeli media outlets reported that Yasser Murtaja, 30, was shot in the stomach by the Israeli military while covering demonstrations along the Israel-Gaza border and died later in hospital.
Murtaja, who was married with a young son, was a rising star in Gaza’s...
- 4/7/2018
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
To mark the release of Human Flow on 2nd April, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on DVD, along with a signed Human Flow poster for each winner.
A film of epic proportions, it really demonstrates the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its personal impact, using some astonishing drone footage to really illustrate the crisis. The film was captured over the course of an eventful year in 23 countries. Ai Weiwei follows a chain of urgent human stories that stretches across the globe in countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, France, Greece, Germany, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, and Turkey. Human Flow is a witness to its subjects and their desperate search for safety, shelter and justice.
From teeming refugee camps to perilous ocean crossings to barbed-wire borders; from dislocation and disillusionment to courage, endurance and adaptation; Human Flow comes at a crucial time when tolerance, compassion and trust are needed more than ever.
A film of epic proportions, it really demonstrates the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its personal impact, using some astonishing drone footage to really illustrate the crisis. The film was captured over the course of an eventful year in 23 countries. Ai Weiwei follows a chain of urgent human stories that stretches across the globe in countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, France, Greece, Germany, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, and Turkey. Human Flow is a witness to its subjects and their desperate search for safety, shelter and justice.
From teeming refugee camps to perilous ocean crossings to barbed-wire borders; from dislocation and disillusionment to courage, endurance and adaptation; Human Flow comes at a crucial time when tolerance, compassion and trust are needed more than ever.
- 3/28/2018
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Netflix won its second-ever Oscar Sunday for the doping documentary “Icarus,” and the site wasted no time readying its next exposé on performance-enhancing drugs. “Take Your Pills” will be a Day One premiere at SXSW this Friday. The 87-minute feature unpacks the $13 billion industry that exists for cognitive enhancements like Adderal and Ritalin.
Director Alison Klayman spoke with many individuals who’ve used (and and abused) pharamceuticals to boost their productivity, including college students, a Silicon Valley software engineer, and former Chicago Bear player Eben Britton. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, approximately 54 million Americans have ingested opioids, depressants, or stimulants for non-medical reasons. Our country’s opioid epidemic was the subject of another 2018 Academy Award nominee from Netflix, the documentary short “Heroin(e).”
Klayman won the Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize for Spirit of Defiance for her 2012 debut, “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,...
Director Alison Klayman spoke with many individuals who’ve used (and and abused) pharamceuticals to boost their productivity, including college students, a Silicon Valley software engineer, and former Chicago Bear player Eben Britton. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, approximately 54 million Americans have ingested opioids, depressants, or stimulants for non-medical reasons. Our country’s opioid epidemic was the subject of another 2018 Academy Award nominee from Netflix, the documentary short “Heroin(e).”
Klayman won the Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize for Spirit of Defiance for her 2012 debut, “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,...
- 3/7/2018
- by Jenna Marotta
- Indiewire
The annual multi-pronged South By Southwest Conferences and Festivals — SXSW, of course — is hitting Austin, Texas later this week for days and days of fresh film offerings (plus music, interactive, and a litany of exciting panels and conversations). With it comes the promise of a brand new festival-going season, along with a slew of films to get excited about finally checking out (and, because it’s Austin, lots of tasty barbecue).
From SXSW regulars like Mark Duplass and Joel Potrykus to rising stars like Carole Brandt and Suzi Yoonessi to marquee names like Wes Anderson and John Krasinski, this year’s SXSW Film Festival is offering up a robust new slate. We’ve picked out a dozen worthy new features to add to your SXSW schedule.
Check out 12 new films from this year’s SXSW that you’re going to want to see Asap.
“A Quiet Place”
The last thing...
From SXSW regulars like Mark Duplass and Joel Potrykus to rising stars like Carole Brandt and Suzi Yoonessi to marquee names like Wes Anderson and John Krasinski, this year’s SXSW Film Festival is offering up a robust new slate. We’ve picked out a dozen worthy new features to add to your SXSW schedule.
Check out 12 new films from this year’s SXSW that you’re going to want to see Asap.
“A Quiet Place”
The last thing...
- 3/7/2018
- by Kate Erbland, Eric Kohn, Jenna Marotta, Jude Dry, David Ehrlich and Steve Greene
- Indiewire
A man arrives in purgatory, eager to learn his eternal fate. The divine judgement, however, is slow to arrive. The minutes turn to hours, the hours turn to days, and the days begin to blur together in a place where time has no meaning. Eventually, after what feels to him like a hundred years, the man begs for a verdict. “What are you talking about?” comes the reply. “You’ve been in hell since you got here.”
That grim parable is told to Georg (“Happy End” breakout Franz Rogowski) roughly halfway into Christian Petzold’s “Transit,” and yet the poor bastard doesn’t seem to realize that it’s about him. The inscrutable hero of an inscrutable film that unfolds like a remake of “Casablanca” as written by Franz Kafka, Georg has just escaped occupied Paris by the skin of his teeth, stowing away on a train to the port of Marseille.
That grim parable is told to Georg (“Happy End” breakout Franz Rogowski) roughly halfway into Christian Petzold’s “Transit,” and yet the poor bastard doesn’t seem to realize that it’s about him. The inscrutable hero of an inscrutable film that unfolds like a remake of “Casablanca” as written by Franz Kafka, Georg has just escaped occupied Paris by the skin of his teeth, stowing away on a train to the port of Marseille.
- 2/17/2018
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
We take for granted how easy it is to travel between countries nowadays. But it wasn't always so easy. And it might not be so easy in the future. The latest film from German filmmaker Christian Petzold (Jerichow, Barbara, Phoenix) is a feature titled Transit, which is premiering at the Berlin Film Festival. The film feels similar to something Aki Kaurismäki would make, specifically his most recent film The Other Side of Hope, and even feels like it would play nice with Ai Weiwei's documentary Human Flow. Transit is about refugees and transit papers, and the lives of people who are just trying to find a way out, a way to somewhere else. They're just trying to move on. It's the kind of film you need to sit on and think about for days or weeks, and not instantly process, because there's so much more going on beyond just what's presented on the surface.
- 2/17/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Carol star Cate Blanchett has said that documentary makers can help shine a light on the issue of the 65M refugees displaced around the world. Blanchett was speaking in Davos to promote her work as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees (Unhcr). She highlighted the likes of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who directed doc Human Flow, which told the story of the global crisis. "There doesn't seem to be as much time [now] for deep…...
- 1/23/2018
- Deadline
$37.56m (£28m) haul is the third-biggest UK opening of all time.
Source: Disney
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Dollar amounts are based on today’s conversions.
Disney
Star Wars: The Last Jedi landed with a huge four-day total of $37.56m (£28m).
Disney made The Last Jedi the UK’s widest ever release by opening it in 708 sites, eclipsing Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Bfg’s 680 sites.
The haul makes the film the third-biggest opening of all time behind The Force Awakens’ $50.5m (£33.9m) and Spectre’s $61.5m (£41.3m), though the latter had a mammoth seven-day opening.
The film’s Fri-Sun total was $27.23m (£20.3m), narrowly besting fellow 2017 release Beauty And The Beast’s $26.31m (£19.7m), though that film opened on 567 screens.
Overall, the film is third on the UK Fri-Sun list, behind The Force Awakens ($32.49m / £24.33m), Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2 ($31.72m / £23.75m).
The...
Source: Disney
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Dollar amounts are based on today’s conversions.
Disney
Star Wars: The Last Jedi landed with a huge four-day total of $37.56m (£28m).
Disney made The Last Jedi the UK’s widest ever release by opening it in 708 sites, eclipsing Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Bfg’s 680 sites.
The haul makes the film the third-biggest opening of all time behind The Force Awakens’ $50.5m (£33.9m) and Spectre’s $61.5m (£41.3m), though the latter had a mammoth seven-day opening.
The film’s Fri-Sun total was $27.23m (£20.3m), narrowly besting fellow 2017 release Beauty And The Beast’s $26.31m (£19.7m), though that film opened on 567 screens.
Overall, the film is third on the UK Fri-Sun list, behind The Force Awakens ($32.49m / £24.33m), Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2 ($31.72m / £23.75m).
The...
- 12/18/2017
- by Tom Grater
- Screen Daily Test
$37.56m (£28m) haul is the third-biggest UK opening of all time.
Source: Disney
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Dollar amounts are based on today’s conversions.
Disney
Star Wars: The Last Jedi landed with a huge four-day total of $37.56m (£28m).
Disney made The Last Jedi the UK’s widest ever release by opening it in 708 sites, eclipsing Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Bfg’s 680 sites.
The haul makes the film the third-biggest opening of all time behind The Force Awakens’ $50.5m (£33.9m) and Spectre’s $61.5m (£41.3m), though the latter had a mammoth seven-day opening.
The film’s Fri-Sun total was $27.23m (£20.3m), narrowly besting fellow 2017 release Beauty And The Beast’s $26.31m (£19.7m), though that film opened on 567 screens.
Overall, the film is third on the UK Fri-Sun list, behind The Force Awakens ($32.49m / £24.33m), Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2 ($31.72m / £23.75m).
The Last Jedi posted an opening day total of...
Source: Disney
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Dollar amounts are based on today’s conversions.
Disney
Star Wars: The Last Jedi landed with a huge four-day total of $37.56m (£28m).
Disney made The Last Jedi the UK’s widest ever release by opening it in 708 sites, eclipsing Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Bfg’s 680 sites.
The haul makes the film the third-biggest opening of all time behind The Force Awakens’ $50.5m (£33.9m) and Spectre’s $61.5m (£41.3m), though the latter had a mammoth seven-day opening.
The film’s Fri-Sun total was $27.23m (£20.3m), narrowly besting fellow 2017 release Beauty And The Beast’s $26.31m (£19.7m), though that film opened on 567 screens.
Overall, the film is third on the UK Fri-Sun list, behind The Force Awakens ($32.49m / £24.33m), Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2 ($31.72m / £23.75m).
The Last Jedi posted an opening day total of...
- 12/18/2017
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
A no-miss episode of Real America with Jorge Ramos airs tonight on Fusion, as two very popular artist/activists reveal how they are fighting the current anti-immigration movement in the USA led by President Donald Trump. Ramos — who Trump physically had removed from a press conference prior to his election — speaks with Ai WeiWei, the “feared dissident” and critic of the Chinese government. The artist, who first came to the USA and New York in his twenties, takes Jorge to his most ambitious public art project yet. Jorge also travels to California where artist Jr has unveiled a poignant and emotional installation...read more...
- 12/12/2017
- by April Neale
- Monsters and Critics
Ai Weiwei’s film about the world migration crisis moves from the universal to the personal to make an emphatic point
Broad in scope, vast in ambition but a little overbearing in execution, this documentary by the artist Ai Weiwei is a direct extension of the themes present throughout his work. Human Flow is an interrogation of the world’s response to its unprecedented migrant crisis. It looks at mass movement from Syria, Iraq and parts of Africa to Europe; of the Rohingya people from Myanmar to Bangladesh; from Palestine to Jordan, among others.
The title is interesting – “flow” suggests something inanimate but inexorable. It invokes the alarmist language of some media coverage – the “floods” and the “tides”. And at first the sheer scale of movement is such that it’s hard to see the human story. But then, through brief but intimate exchanges, Ai brings the individuals behind the statistics into focus.
Broad in scope, vast in ambition but a little overbearing in execution, this documentary by the artist Ai Weiwei is a direct extension of the themes present throughout his work. Human Flow is an interrogation of the world’s response to its unprecedented migrant crisis. It looks at mass movement from Syria, Iraq and parts of Africa to Europe; of the Rohingya people from Myanmar to Bangladesh; from Palestine to Jordan, among others.
The title is interesting – “flow” suggests something inanimate but inexorable. It invokes the alarmist language of some media coverage – the “floods” and the “tides”. And at first the sheer scale of movement is such that it’s hard to see the human story. But then, through brief but intimate exchanges, Ai brings the individuals behind the statistics into focus.
- 12/10/2017
- by Wendy Ide
- The Guardian - Film News
Jane Goodall with Jane director Brett Morgen Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Abacus: Small Enough To Jail, directed by Steve James; Jeff Orlowski's Chasing Coral; Matthew Heineman's City Of Ghosts; Frederick Wiseman's Ex Libris: New York Public Library; Agnès Varda and Jr's Faces Places; Ai Weiwei's Human Flow; Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk's An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power; Brett Morgen's Jane; Daniel Lindsay and Tj Martin's La 92; Firas Fayyad and Steen Johannessen's Last Men In Aleppo; Amir Bar-Lev's Long Strange Trip; Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady's One Of Us; Yance Ford's Strong Island, and Jennifer Brea's Unrest are another step closer to garnering a Best Documentary Oscar nomination.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Documentary Branch determined the shortlist in a preliminary round of voting on the 170 submitted titles. Documentary Branch members will now select...
Abacus: Small Enough To Jail, directed by Steve James; Jeff Orlowski's Chasing Coral; Matthew Heineman's City Of Ghosts; Frederick Wiseman's Ex Libris: New York Public Library; Agnès Varda and Jr's Faces Places; Ai Weiwei's Human Flow; Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk's An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power; Brett Morgen's Jane; Daniel Lindsay and Tj Martin's La 92; Firas Fayyad and Steen Johannessen's Last Men In Aleppo; Amir Bar-Lev's Long Strange Trip; Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady's One Of Us; Yance Ford's Strong Island, and Jennifer Brea's Unrest are another step closer to garnering a Best Documentary Oscar nomination.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Documentary Branch determined the shortlist in a preliminary round of voting on the 170 submitted titles. Documentary Branch members will now select...
- 12/8/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 90th Academy Awards®. One hundred seventy films were originally submitted in the category.
The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, Mitten Media, Motto Pictures, Kartemquin Educational Films and Wgbh/Frontline.
Director Steve James
A small financial institution called Abacus becomes the only company criminally indicted in the wake of the United States’ 2008 mortgage crisis.
Chasing Coral, Exposure Labs in partnership with The Ocean Agency & View Into the Blue in association with Argent Pictures & The Kendeda Fund. Directed by Jeff Orlowski
Coral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate. A team of divers, photographers and scientists set out on a thrilling ocean adventure to discover why and to reveal the underwater mystery to the world.
The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, Mitten Media, Motto Pictures, Kartemquin Educational Films and Wgbh/Frontline.
Director Steve James
A small financial institution called Abacus becomes the only company criminally indicted in the wake of the United States’ 2008 mortgage crisis.
Chasing Coral, Exposure Labs in partnership with The Ocean Agency & View Into the Blue in association with Argent Pictures & The Kendeda Fund. Directed by Jeff Orlowski
Coral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate. A team of divers, photographers and scientists set out on a thrilling ocean adventure to discover why and to reveal the underwater mystery to the world.
- 12/8/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ documentary branch has advanced 15 films out of 170 submissions to vie for the final five Documentary Feature nominations.
As expected, Brett Morgan’s “Jane,” Agnes Varda and Jr’s “Faces Places,” two Syria non-fiction features, “Last Men in Aleppo” and “City of Ghosts,” two social action environmental documentaries, “An Inconvenient Sequel” and “Chasing Coral,” and timely Russian doping expose “Icarus” made the shortlist.
Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature
Netflix landed four films, including “Chasing Coral,” “Icarus,” “One of Us” and transgender filmmaker’s Yance Ford’s black lives matter documentary “Strong Island.” Amazon delivered Grateful Dead movie “Long Strange Trip,” which qualified even at four hours long, as well as “City of Ghosts” and Ai Weiwei’s immigration feature “Human Flow,” which was backed by Participant Media along with Paramount’s “An Inconvenient Sequel.”
Four features were directed or co-directed by women,...
As expected, Brett Morgan’s “Jane,” Agnes Varda and Jr’s “Faces Places,” two Syria non-fiction features, “Last Men in Aleppo” and “City of Ghosts,” two social action environmental documentaries, “An Inconvenient Sequel” and “Chasing Coral,” and timely Russian doping expose “Icarus” made the shortlist.
Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature
Netflix landed four films, including “Chasing Coral,” “Icarus,” “One of Us” and transgender filmmaker’s Yance Ford’s black lives matter documentary “Strong Island.” Amazon delivered Grateful Dead movie “Long Strange Trip,” which qualified even at four hours long, as well as “City of Ghosts” and Ai Weiwei’s immigration feature “Human Flow,” which was backed by Participant Media along with Paramount’s “An Inconvenient Sequel.”
Four features were directed or co-directed by women,...
- 12/8/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ documentary branch has advanced 15 films out of 170 submissions to vie for the final five Documentary Feature nominations.
As expected, Brett Morgan’s “Jane,” Agnes Varda and Jr’s “Faces Places,” two Syria non-fiction features, “Last Men in Aleppo” and “City of Ghosts,” two social action environmental documentaries, “An Inconvenient Sequel” and “Chasing Coral,” and timely Russian doping expose “Icarus” made the shortlist.
Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature
Netflix landed four films, including “Chasing Coral,” “Icarus,” “One of Us” and transgender filmmaker’s Yance Ford’s black lives matter documentary “Strong Island.” Amazon delivered Grateful Dead movie “Long Strange Trip,” which qualified even at four hours long, as well as “City of Ghosts” and Ai Weiwei’s immigration feature “Human Flow,” which was backed by Participant Media along with Paramount’s “An Inconvenient Sequel.”
Four features were directed or co-directed by women,...
As expected, Brett Morgan’s “Jane,” Agnes Varda and Jr’s “Faces Places,” two Syria non-fiction features, “Last Men in Aleppo” and “City of Ghosts,” two social action environmental documentaries, “An Inconvenient Sequel” and “Chasing Coral,” and timely Russian doping expose “Icarus” made the shortlist.
Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature
Netflix landed four films, including “Chasing Coral,” “Icarus,” “One of Us” and transgender filmmaker’s Yance Ford’s black lives matter documentary “Strong Island.” Amazon delivered Grateful Dead movie “Long Strange Trip,” which qualified even at four hours long, as well as “City of Ghosts” and Ai Weiwei’s immigration feature “Human Flow,” which was backed by Participant Media along with Paramount’s “An Inconvenient Sequel.”
Four features were directed or co-directed by women,...
- 12/8/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
This documentary by the Chinese conceptual artist offers no easy answers, revealing instead a deeply affecting empathy for those caught up in a global crisis
The exiled Chinese conceptual artist Ai Weiwei has here created an ambitious, humane and often shocking cine-essay on the subject of migrants and the 21st century migrant condition. With his camera crew, he travels around the world, and finds a globalised story of desolation and desperation. These are people who are frantic enough to jettison everything in their lives and leave – and who by that token have become enigmatic, opaque, difficult to interview. It is not just the language barrier. They have detached themselves from the cultural context in which they have grown up and have not yet been granted admission to that context in which the privileged interviewer or film-maker exists. The connective tissue of conversation has not been cultivated. It puts a greater onus on imagery,...
The exiled Chinese conceptual artist Ai Weiwei has here created an ambitious, humane and often shocking cine-essay on the subject of migrants and the 21st century migrant condition. With his camera crew, he travels around the world, and finds a globalised story of desolation and desperation. These are people who are frantic enough to jettison everything in their lives and leave – and who by that token have become enigmatic, opaque, difficult to interview. It is not just the language barrier. They have detached themselves from the cultural context in which they have grown up and have not yet been granted admission to that context in which the privileged interviewer or film-maker exists. The connective tissue of conversation has not been cultivated. It puts a greater onus on imagery,...
- 12/7/2017
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
It’s one of the biggest challenges facing humanity today. But film-makers from Michael Haneke to Ai Weiwei have struggled to represent this highly sensitive issue
There’s a moment near the (not particularly happy) ending of Michael Haneke’s new film, Happy End, where a group of African refugees turns up uninvited at a posh, exclusively white restaurant in Calais, to the surprise and embarrassment of all concerned. It’s the type of predicament Haneke enjoys: the bubble of European bourgeois smugness punctured by a sobering dose of reality. For cinema audiences in affluent parts of the world, it is an equally discomfiting experience. Aren’t we just like those restaurant diners, trying to enjoy our leisure time and forget about what’s going on outside? Happy End isn’t specifically about Europe’s migrant crisis, but as Haneke put it in a recent interview: “Calais has become a...
There’s a moment near the (not particularly happy) ending of Michael Haneke’s new film, Happy End, where a group of African refugees turns up uninvited at a posh, exclusively white restaurant in Calais, to the surprise and embarrassment of all concerned. It’s the type of predicament Haneke enjoys: the bubble of European bourgeois smugness punctured by a sobering dose of reality. For cinema audiences in affluent parts of the world, it is an equally discomfiting experience. Aren’t we just like those restaurant diners, trying to enjoy our leisure time and forget about what’s going on outside? Happy End isn’t specifically about Europe’s migrant crisis, but as Haneke put it in a recent interview: “Calais has become a...
- 12/1/2017
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Cartel Land, revisits similar territory with IFC's City of Ghosts, which follows a group of citizen journalists fighting Isis in Raqqa, Syria, before the recent liberation. New Century's Nowhere to Hide is director Zaradasht Ahmed's grim look at life in Central Iraq's triangle of death. And internationally renowned artist-activist Ai Weiwei's Human Flow, a Magnolia release, presents a close-up look at life in refugee camps spanning more than 20 countries.
"The casualties number...
"The casualties number...
- 11/9/2017
- by Jordan Riefe
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This pre-Halloween weekend, multiple specialized distributors opened and expanded significant fall season releases. Comedy “The Square” (Magnolia), this year’s top Cannes prize-winner, launched at a high level for a subtitled film on the road to national release and Oscar contention.
No other opening reached its levels. “The Novitiate” (Sony Pictures Classics) drew disappointing results. “Bill Nye: Science Guy” (PBS) showed some initial promise, while “Jane” (Abramorama/National Geographic), another documentary about a well-known scientist, primate conservationist Jane Goodall, showed strong second weekend results. A24’s “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” led second weekend expansions.
Opening
The Square (Magnolia) – Metacritic: 74; Festivals include: Cannes, Toronto 2017
$76,000 in 4 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $19,000
Ruben Ostlund’s Cannes Palme d’Or-winner, despite a 2.5 hour length, opened unusually well for a subtitled film. The Swedish Oscar entry, a comedy about the art world, opened at four prime New York/Los Angeles locations with...
No other opening reached its levels. “The Novitiate” (Sony Pictures Classics) drew disappointing results. “Bill Nye: Science Guy” (PBS) showed some initial promise, while “Jane” (Abramorama/National Geographic), another documentary about a well-known scientist, primate conservationist Jane Goodall, showed strong second weekend results. A24’s “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” led second weekend expansions.
Opening
The Square (Magnolia) – Metacritic: 74; Festivals include: Cannes, Toronto 2017
$76,000 in 4 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $19,000
Ruben Ostlund’s Cannes Palme d’Or-winner, despite a 2.5 hour length, opened unusually well for a subtitled film. The Swedish Oscar entry, a comedy about the art world, opened at four prime New York/Los Angeles locations with...
- 10/29/2017
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
Human. Flow. The central issue with Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei‘s meticulously well-intentioned, undeniably colossal and beautifully shot documentary, which debuted in Venice and now embodies the refugee-focus of the competition line-up at the Antalya Film Festival in Turkey, exists right there in its title. The words summon the image of a swell of collective humanity engaged in a gracefully epic, natural process, like the flocking of birds in the sky, or the glimmering progress of a school of fish through darkened waters on their yearly pilgrimage to a far-off spawning ground.
Continue reading Ai Weiwei’s Well-Intentioned But Abstract ‘Human Flow’ [Antalya Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading Ai Weiwei’s Well-Intentioned But Abstract ‘Human Flow’ [Antalya Review] at The Playlist.
- 10/26/2017
- by Jessica Kiang
- The Playlist
At this point during the prime fall awards season (“Moonlight” opened one year ago), the arthouse box office should be humming along. It’s not. This weekend, Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” (A24) and the documentary “Jane” (National Geographic/Abramorama) showed credible initial results, while the anticipated opening of Todd Haynes’ “Wonderstruck” (Roadside Attractions) fell shy of expectations.
These three films are catching attention ahead of a glut of upcoming biopics, which can be hit or miss. While “Victoria & Abdul” (Focus) continues to be the biggest success of the season so far, and “Loving Vincent” (Good Deed) is an arthouse sleeper, middling performer “Battle of the Sexes” (Fox Searchlight) failed to reach hoped-for heights. The next round comes in the face of widespread audience disinterest for such true stories as “Goodbye Christopher Robin” (Fox Searchlight), “Marshall” (Open Road) and “Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman” (Annapurna).
Building...
These three films are catching attention ahead of a glut of upcoming biopics, which can be hit or miss. While “Victoria & Abdul” (Focus) continues to be the biggest success of the season so far, and “Loving Vincent” (Good Deed) is an arthouse sleeper, middling performer “Battle of the Sexes” (Fox Searchlight) failed to reach hoped-for heights. The next round comes in the face of widespread audience disinterest for such true stories as “Goodbye Christopher Robin” (Fox Searchlight), “Marshall” (Open Road) and “Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman” (Annapurna).
Building...
- 10/22/2017
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
Among the many filmmakers who have made the jump to television in recent years, one of the most intriguing names to join the fray is Wong Kar Wai. The Hong Kong auteur’s lyrical, romantic dramas about poetic loners — including such beloved titles as “Chungking Express” and “In the Mood for Love” — treasure texture over dense plot. So it was something of a surprise when Amazon unveiled five new series in the works in early September, including one from Wong called “Tong Wars,” described as combining the history of Chinese immigration to the U.S. with a crime potboiler and scripted by Paul Attanasio (“Quiz Show,” “Donnie Brasco”).
Details on the series were scant at the time, but in a conversation with journalists at the Lumiere Festival in Lyon, Wong explained the epic sweep of the show. “The thing that attracted me to this project was the first opportunity to...
Details on the series were scant at the time, but in a conversation with journalists at the Lumiere Festival in Lyon, Wong explained the epic sweep of the show. “The thing that attracted me to this project was the first opportunity to...
- 10/21/2017
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Refugees walking near Idomeni Camp, Greece in the documentary Human Flow, an Amazon Studios release. Photo courtesy of Amazon Studios ©
Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei was the subject of a 2012 documentary titled AI Weiwei: Never Sorry. Now the artist has made his own documentary, about refugees, mostly fleeing war in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, called Human Flow.
Ai Weiwei knows something of this experience, having been an undocumented immigrant in New York in his youth. He returned to his native China, gained fame as an artist but the artist has since left, following his release from house arrest. Ai Weiwei’s sympathy lies firmly with the refugees and their plight in this emotional film.
In his documentary, Ai turns his camera on refugees fleeing Iraq and Syria, landing on the shore of Lesvos, Greece, and in refugee camps in Iraq. Ai documents the arrival of refugees by boat, as well as assisting some,...
Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei was the subject of a 2012 documentary titled AI Weiwei: Never Sorry. Now the artist has made his own documentary, about refugees, mostly fleeing war in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, called Human Flow.
Ai Weiwei knows something of this experience, having been an undocumented immigrant in New York in his youth. He returned to his native China, gained fame as an artist but the artist has since left, following his release from house arrest. Ai Weiwei’s sympathy lies firmly with the refugees and their plight in this emotional film.
In his documentary, Ai turns his camera on refugees fleeing Iraq and Syria, landing on the shore of Lesvos, Greece, and in refugee camps in Iraq. Ai documents the arrival of refugees by boat, as well as assisting some,...
- 10/20/2017
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
When Ai Weiwei was detained by China’s secret police, the dissident artist imprisoned for 81 days for his supposed crimes against the state, the men tasked with interrogating him must have faced a unique challenge: He speaks in a stage whisper, murmuring with the flatness of someone to whom the world is always revealing itself. “They said I watched too many Hollywood movies,” he remembered. His voice barely went up a tick, even when imitating his furious jailers: “’This person is out of his mind! He’s talking about human rights and freedom of speech… can’t he just grow up?’”
The reasons for Ai’s release were as arbitrary as those for his incarceration, but perhaps he was set free because the Chinese government realized that he was fundamentally inextricable from his ideals. Born into exile during the Cultural Revolution, Ai was displaced before he even had a home...
The reasons for Ai’s release were as arbitrary as those for his incarceration, but perhaps he was set free because the Chinese government realized that he was fundamentally inextricable from his ideals. Born into exile during the Cultural Revolution, Ai was displaced before he even had a home...
- 10/18/2017
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Roy Price has resigned as head of Amazon Studios, just days after being placed on “indefinite leave” by the company. Price’s exit followed allegations made by producer Isa Hackett, who revealed to reporter Kim Masters that the exec made sexual remarks to her in July 2015 at San Diego Comic-Con.
Hackett, the daughter of author Philip K. Dick, runs Electric Shepherd Prods. and is a producer on the Amazon series “The Man in the High Castle,” as well as another upcoming series for the streaming service, “Electric Dreams.” Among the things that Price said to Hackett, in propositioning her, was “you will love my dick.”
Read More:Harvey Weinstein Fallout at Amazon Studios: Roy Price Faces Sexual Harassment Allegations, Placed on Leave of Absence
Price was suspended on Oct. 12. Since then, his fiancée, TV writer-playwright Lila Feinberg, also called off their wedding.
The allegations against Price were first posted...
Hackett, the daughter of author Philip K. Dick, runs Electric Shepherd Prods. and is a producer on the Amazon series “The Man in the High Castle,” as well as another upcoming series for the streaming service, “Electric Dreams.” Among the things that Price said to Hackett, in propositioning her, was “you will love my dick.”
Read More:Harvey Weinstein Fallout at Amazon Studios: Roy Price Faces Sexual Harassment Allegations, Placed on Leave of Absence
Price was suspended on Oct. 12. Since then, his fiancée, TV writer-playwright Lila Feinberg, also called off their wedding.
The allegations against Price were first posted...
- 10/17/2017
- by Michael Schneider
- Indiewire
By Daniel Walber
Ai Weiwei’s Human Flow is the result of a truly enormous undertaking. Spread across four continents, the film is a distillation of the current refugee crisis. All of it. Rather than focus on a single geographic region or the fallout from a particular international conflict, this is a whirlwind tour of the entire global situation. Its scenes from the Us-Mexico Border to the Mediterranean, Sub-Saharan Africa to Bangladesh. If that sounds like far too much, that’s because it is.
If the purpose were totally aesthetic and metaphorical, a wordless and breathtaking aerial tour of large-scale human movement, the scope might not have been a problem. It might have bypassed the head and gone straight to the heart. But Human Flow tries to have it both ways...
Ai Weiwei’s Human Flow is the result of a truly enormous undertaking. Spread across four continents, the film is a distillation of the current refugee crisis. All of it. Rather than focus on a single geographic region or the fallout from a particular international conflict, this is a whirlwind tour of the entire global situation. Its scenes from the Us-Mexico Border to the Mediterranean, Sub-Saharan Africa to Bangladesh. If that sounds like far too much, that’s because it is.
If the purpose were totally aesthetic and metaphorical, a wordless and breathtaking aerial tour of large-scale human movement, the scope might not have been a problem. It might have bypassed the head and gone straight to the heart. But Human Flow tries to have it both ways...
- 10/17/2017
- by Daniel Walber
- FilmExperience
With prestige picture season now in full swing, this weekend’s indie slate was an extremely crowded one. But Amazon’s “Human Flow” managed to rise above the fray, making $47,000 from three screens for the top per screen average of the weekend with $15,667. Directed by Chinese filmmaker Ai Weiwei and premiered at Venice, “Human Flow” takes a hard, comprehensive look at refugee crises across the globe. The film has been extremely well received by critics, receiving a 91 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. Also Read: With 'Blade Runner 2049' Struggles, October Box Office Looks Rough Also releasing this weekend to decent numbers are.
- 10/15/2017
- by Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
Noah Baumbach’s “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected),” which debuted in competition in Cannes and scored fresh acclaim at the New York Film Festival, is a day-and-date Netflix release, so no numbers are reported. It’s likely that the family comedy starring Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller and Dustin Hoffman, who all did substantial press, played well enough at high-end theaters in New York and L.A. to take a bite out of its competitors.
Despite the lack of reported numbers, a glance at the pre-buy seating chart for the Landmark theater in West Los Angeles for Sunday shows in a theater with over 100 seats that are close to sellouts hours ahead of time suggests a weekend total that might be roughly $20,000 (roughly).That’s impressive for a film that any Netflix subscriber can see at home.
Other openers continued the string of movies about real people that are dominating the specialized release schedule.
Despite the lack of reported numbers, a glance at the pre-buy seating chart for the Landmark theater in West Los Angeles for Sunday shows in a theater with over 100 seats that are close to sellouts hours ahead of time suggests a weekend total that might be roughly $20,000 (roughly).That’s impressive for a film that any Netflix subscriber can see at home.
Other openers continued the string of movies about real people that are dominating the specialized release schedule.
- 10/15/2017
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
Human Flow by Chinese-born artist Ai Weiwei catapulted above a crowded list of new Specialty releases over the weekend, topping out a fairly unimpressive Friday to Sunday among limited releases. The Amazon Studios title bowed in three theaters, grossing $47K, averaging $15,667. Kino Lorber's Tom Of Finland also opened to decent numbers in its exclusive New York bow, taking in $13K. Other more high-profile debuts averaged less than half of that. Searchlight's Goodbye Christ…...
- 10/15/2017
- Deadline
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