Tom Stourton co-wrote the screenplay and stars.
Boutique label Super Ltd has acquired North American rights to Andrew Gaynord’s UK feature directorial debut and Tribeca selection All My Friends Hate Me.
The film received its world premiere in the international narrative competition and centres on a college reunion that turns sour when Pete suspects his friends may be out to get him.
Tom Palmer and Tom Stourton co-wrote the screenplay, and Palmer produced. Stourton stars alongside Charly Clive, Georgina Campbell, Joshua Mcguire, and Antonia Clarke.
Mason Speta negotiated the deal for Super Ltd with Endeavor Content on behalf of the filmmakers.
Boutique label Super Ltd has acquired North American rights to Andrew Gaynord’s UK feature directorial debut and Tribeca selection All My Friends Hate Me.
The film received its world premiere in the international narrative competition and centres on a college reunion that turns sour when Pete suspects his friends may be out to get him.
Tom Palmer and Tom Stourton co-wrote the screenplay, and Palmer produced. Stourton stars alongside Charly Clive, Georgina Campbell, Joshua Mcguire, and Antonia Clarke.
Mason Speta negotiated the deal for Super Ltd with Endeavor Content on behalf of the filmmakers.
- 7/30/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Autlook handles international sales.
All Light, Everywhere, the Sundance award-winning selection that premiered last month, has landed a North American deal with Neon’s boutique division and incubator Super Ltd.
Theo Anthony’s film debuted in U.S. Documentary Competition and won a special jury prize for non-fiction experimentation.
It explores of the shared histories of cameras, weapons, policing and justice and questions the objectivity of point of view amid an explosion in surveillance technology.
All Light, Everywhere is a Memory production in association with Sandbox Films. Riel Roch-Decter and Sebastian Pardo produced for Memory, alongside Jonna McKone. Executive producers...
All Light, Everywhere, the Sundance award-winning selection that premiered last month, has landed a North American deal with Neon’s boutique division and incubator Super Ltd.
Theo Anthony’s film debuted in U.S. Documentary Competition and won a special jury prize for non-fiction experimentation.
It explores of the shared histories of cameras, weapons, policing and justice and questions the objectivity of point of view amid an explosion in surveillance technology.
All Light, Everywhere is a Memory production in association with Sandbox Films. Riel Roch-Decter and Sebastian Pardo produced for Memory, alongside Jonna McKone. Executive producers...
- 2/17/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Documentary premiered in Arquette’s California home 24 hours after festival cancellation.
Neon boutique division and incubator Super Ltd has picked up North American rights from Cinetic to the documentary You Cannot Kill David Arquette in what the distributor claimed was the first documentary acquisition out of the cancelled SXSW Film Festival.
David Darg and Price James directed the film, which shot over three years and chronicles the actor’s life in pro wrestling as he makes a bid at redemption following years of notoriety in the ring, and family and addiction troubles.
You Cannot Kill David Arquette includes interviews with sisters Patricia and Rosanna Arquette,...
Neon boutique division and incubator Super Ltd has picked up North American rights from Cinetic to the documentary You Cannot Kill David Arquette in what the distributor claimed was the first documentary acquisition out of the cancelled SXSW Film Festival.
David Darg and Price James directed the film, which shot over three years and chronicles the actor’s life in pro wrestling as he makes a bid at redemption following years of notoriety in the ring, and family and addiction troubles.
You Cannot Kill David Arquette includes interviews with sisters Patricia and Rosanna Arquette,...
- 5/1/2020
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
Butler’s naval maverick investigates simultaneous torpedo attacks on Us and Russian submarines in a long, loud game of Battleships
When we last encountered Gerard Butler, in the semi-enjoyably derivative Den of Thieves, he was rerunning Al Pacino’s old Heat moves. Tonight, Matthew, cinema’s loudest Scotsman will be impersonating The Hunt for Red October-era Alec Baldwin.
Swerving any lawsuit that might have followed from calling his character, say, Jack Bryan, Butler’s maverick sub commander has been assigned the no less no-nonsense name of Joe Glass. Joe has an intense rep. “He never went to Annapolis!” a Pentagon functionary gasps. “I heard he once punched his Co,” gossips a passing seaman. Glass is first seen tracking elk with manly bow and arrow; you’re surprised the filmmakers didn’t go the whole alpha hog and have a shirtless Butler best the poor creatures in an arm wrestle.
When we last encountered Gerard Butler, in the semi-enjoyably derivative Den of Thieves, he was rerunning Al Pacino’s old Heat moves. Tonight, Matthew, cinema’s loudest Scotsman will be impersonating The Hunt for Red October-era Alec Baldwin.
Swerving any lawsuit that might have followed from calling his character, say, Jack Bryan, Butler’s maverick sub commander has been assigned the no less no-nonsense name of Joe Glass. Joe has an intense rep. “He never went to Annapolis!” a Pentagon functionary gasps. “I heard he once punched his Co,” gossips a passing seaman. Glass is first seen tracking elk with manly bow and arrow; you’re surprised the filmmakers didn’t go the whole alpha hog and have a shirtless Butler best the poor creatures in an arm wrestle.
- 10/19/2018
- by Mike McCahill
- The Guardian - Film News
Exclusive: Active Measures documentarian Jack Bryan is under new management. The Gotham Group has signed the filmmaker behind the pic that chronicles Vladimir Putin’s attack on the 2016 American election and the Donald Trump campaign’s collaboration.
The film, which bowed day-and-date on August 31 via Super Ltd, is about what allegedly was the most successful espionage operation in Russian history. Bryan claims to expose a 30-year history of covert political warfare devised by the ex-Kgb chief to disrupt and ultimately control world events. Featuring exclusive interviews with Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Michael McFaul and others, Active Measures follows a trail of money, real estate, mob connections and on-the-record confessions to expose an insidious plot that leads directly back to the White House.
Bryan’s first documentary feature was 2009’s Life After Dark, which features Anthony Bourdain, Michael Imperioli, and chronicles the life and death of Siberia Bar, New York’s most notorious dive bar.
The film, which bowed day-and-date on August 31 via Super Ltd, is about what allegedly was the most successful espionage operation in Russian history. Bryan claims to expose a 30-year history of covert political warfare devised by the ex-Kgb chief to disrupt and ultimately control world events. Featuring exclusive interviews with Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Michael McFaul and others, Active Measures follows a trail of money, real estate, mob connections and on-the-record confessions to expose an insidious plot that leads directly back to the White House.
Bryan’s first documentary feature was 2009’s Life After Dark, which features Anthony Bourdain, Michael Imperioli, and chronicles the life and death of Siberia Bar, New York’s most notorious dive bar.
- 9/10/2018
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s been close to two years since the 2016 presidential election and although a few documentaries about President Trump have been released, including Jack Bryan’s “Active Measures” and Maxim Pozdorovkin’s “Our New President,” there has yet to be a seminal film about the making of America’s 45th president.
Until Tiff 2018.
This year’s fest nonfiction lineup features a crop of powerful films from veteran doc directors that explore not only the rise of Trump, but also the people responsible for his success. People such as Steve Bannon and Roger Ailes.
“It makes sense that we’re seeing films directly reflective of the 2016 election now, two years later,” said Tiff documentary programmer Thom Powers. “I think two years is the kind of typical gestation period for filmmakers to really pull off a great documentary.”
Powers was referring to the cluster of docus that tackle and reflect upon America...
Until Tiff 2018.
This year’s fest nonfiction lineup features a crop of powerful films from veteran doc directors that explore not only the rise of Trump, but also the people responsible for his success. People such as Steve Bannon and Roger Ailes.
“It makes sense that we’re seeing films directly reflective of the 2016 election now, two years later,” said Tiff documentary programmer Thom Powers. “I think two years is the kind of typical gestation period for filmmakers to really pull off a great documentary.”
Powers was referring to the cluster of docus that tackle and reflect upon America...
- 9/9/2018
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Mexican drama Ya Veremos is dominating the slew of specialty newcomers this Labor Day weekend, though overall limited release launches are trending slow. IFC Films doc Pick Of The Litter, however, is showing some gusto, scoring the weekend’s highest per-theater average among the specialties. Sony Classics, meanwhile, expanded Glenn Close starrer The Wife, crossing $1M, while A24’s Eighth Grade is expected to go over $13M by the end of the holiday weekend.
Pantelion/Lionsgate Ya Veremos opened in 369 locations, grossing an estimated $1,800,000 in the three-day. The company is estimating a $2.27M gross for the entire weekend, for a 4-day $6,165 average. Pantelion has had a good run with Labor Day weekend period releases including Instructions Not Included, opening at the end of August, 2013, eventually totaling over $44.46M, the highest-grossing Spanish-language film stateside. There was also Un Gallo con Muchos Huevos which opened in early September 2015, which had a cume of $9M.
Pantelion/Lionsgate Ya Veremos opened in 369 locations, grossing an estimated $1,800,000 in the three-day. The company is estimating a $2.27M gross for the entire weekend, for a 4-day $6,165 average. Pantelion has had a good run with Labor Day weekend period releases including Instructions Not Included, opening at the end of August, 2013, eventually totaling over $44.46M, the highest-grossing Spanish-language film stateside. There was also Un Gallo con Muchos Huevos which opened in early September 2015, which had a cume of $9M.
- 9/2/2018
- by Brian Brooks
- Deadline Film + TV
Awards and fall releases are on the mind for industry insiders heading to the Telluride Film Festival this Labor Day weekend, while the final vestiges of specialty summer roll outs head to theaters. Focus Features is taking psychological-thriller The Little Stranger to 500 theaters Friday. The title by Oscar nominee Lenny Abrahamson and starring Domhnall Gleeson, Charlotte Rampling and Ruth Wilson headlines the weekend’s specialty narratives. The weekend also offers multiple documentaries that could not be more different from one another.
Filmmaker Jack Bryan speaks to a who’s-who in the political world including the late John McCain in a film that seeks to connect the dots between the Donald Trump campaign and collusion with Vladimir Putin’s Russia in Active Measures. The feature, bowing via Super Ltd, opens day and date. Laura Nix’s Inventing Tomorrow from Fishbowl Films and Eamonn Films spotlights teens competing in the Intel International...
Filmmaker Jack Bryan speaks to a who’s-who in the political world including the late John McCain in a film that seeks to connect the dots between the Donald Trump campaign and collusion with Vladimir Putin’s Russia in Active Measures. The feature, bowing via Super Ltd, opens day and date. Laura Nix’s Inventing Tomorrow from Fishbowl Films and Eamonn Films spotlights teens competing in the Intel International...
- 8/31/2018
- by Brian Brooks
- Deadline Film + TV
Active Measures, a documentary featuring Hillary Clinton and John McCain, is a comprehensive and at times frenetic analysis of Trump’s relationship with Russia
The defining paradox of what’s come to be known as the “Trump-Russia scandal” is that it’s both the most-covered story of the Trump presidency and the one that, broadly speaking, seems to interest voters least. Either its gravity is lost on us, or we struggle to unfurl the complex web of financial ties, or it’s given so much airtime on cable news, often at the expense of a litany of other cruel and corrupt acts, that “Russiagate” amounts to less than the sum of its parts. That’s a shame since, as the film-maker Jack Bryan sees it, we’ve come upon one of the wildest and most comprehensively orchestrated scandals in political history.
Related: From box office to Oval Office: can a...
The defining paradox of what’s come to be known as the “Trump-Russia scandal” is that it’s both the most-covered story of the Trump presidency and the one that, broadly speaking, seems to interest voters least. Either its gravity is lost on us, or we struggle to unfurl the complex web of financial ties, or it’s given so much airtime on cable news, often at the expense of a litany of other cruel and corrupt acts, that “Russiagate” amounts to less than the sum of its parts. That’s a shame since, as the film-maker Jack Bryan sees it, we’ve come upon one of the wildest and most comprehensively orchestrated scandals in political history.
Related: From box office to Oval Office: can a...
- 8/31/2018
- by Jake Nevins
- The Guardian - Film News
Active Measures Super Ltd Reviewed by: Harvey Karten Director: Jack Bryan Screenwriter: Jack Bryan, Marley Clements Cast: John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Michael McFaul, Sheldon Whitehouse, Steven Hall, Michael Isikoff, John Podesta, Jeremy Bash, James Woolsey, Evan McMullin Screened at: Dolby24, NYC, 8/9/18 Opens: August 31, 2018 In the concluding scene of Spike Lee’s terrific new […]
The post Active Measures Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Active Measures Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 8/26/2018
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
“Active Measures” could hardly be more perfectly timed. It’s a documentary that digs into the relationship between Donald Trump and the powers of Russia, and while it’s not as if the film comes up with some smoking gun that Robert Mueller hasn’t yet, it fills in the Trump-Russia connection in a dogged, rigorously reported, eyebrow-raising way.
The movie is a follow-the-money exposé, and the director, Jack Bryan, lays out the roadmap of cash by making bracing and detailed connections between all the forces at work: the snaky leader-thug Vladimir Putin; the oligarchs he placed under his thumb (except for those who wouldn’t cooperate — he got rid of them); the Russian mobsters who are enmeshed in the workings of the Putin government; and Trump himself. “Active measures” is a phrase used in Russia to describe political warfare by the security services to influence the course of world events,...
The movie is a follow-the-money exposé, and the director, Jack Bryan, lays out the roadmap of cash by making bracing and detailed connections between all the forces at work: the snaky leader-thug Vladimir Putin; the oligarchs he placed under his thumb (except for those who wouldn’t cooperate — he got rid of them); the Russian mobsters who are enmeshed in the workings of the Putin government; and Trump himself. “Active measures” is a phrase used in Russia to describe political warfare by the security services to influence the course of world events,...
- 8/25/2018
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Super Ltd has acquired Jack Bryan’s documentary “Active Measures,” which details the decades-long connection between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and set an Aug. 31 release.
The film, which premiered in April at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto, includes reporting on Trump’s alleged dealings with Russian mob figures, and analysis on Russia’s meddling in the 2016 Us Presidential Election.
The release will be day and date with exclusive theatrical engagements in New York and Los Angeles and on digital platforms.
Bryan alleges in the the film that Putin has engaged for 30 years in covert political warfare devised to disrupt, influence, and ultimately control world events through cyber attacks, propaganda campaigns, and corruption. He asserts that the trail of money, real estate, mob connections, and on the record confessions lead directly back to the White House.
The film includes interviews with Senator John McCain, Hillary Clinton, former Us Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul,...
The film, which premiered in April at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto, includes reporting on Trump’s alleged dealings with Russian mob figures, and analysis on Russia’s meddling in the 2016 Us Presidential Election.
The release will be day and date with exclusive theatrical engagements in New York and Los Angeles and on digital platforms.
Bryan alleges in the the film that Putin has engaged for 30 years in covert political warfare devised to disrupt, influence, and ultimately control world events through cyber attacks, propaganda campaigns, and corruption. He asserts that the trail of money, real estate, mob connections, and on the record confessions lead directly back to the White House.
The film includes interviews with Senator John McCain, Hillary Clinton, former Us Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul,...
- 8/2/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
An opening title card in Jack Bryan's documentary Active Measures informs us that its title stems from a "Soviet term for the actions of political warfare conducted by Russian security forces to influence the course of world events." For nearly two hours, the rest of the film proceeds to chronicle, in exhaustive and sometimes exhausting detail, Russia's efforts to meddle in our election and the symbiotic relationship, as yet not fully disclosed, between the country's ruler and oligarchs and Donald Trump. While the headline of a recent Vanity Fair article about the film, "Is This the Documentary That Can Take...
- 5/8/2018
- by Frank Scheck
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
If the constant onslaught of revelations about the Trump administration’s relationship with various foreign nationals doesn’t already give you grey hairs on a daily basis, try watching “Active Measures,” a damning concentration of allegations that will undoubtedly leave liberals pulling those hairs out in frustration.
A methodical look at Vladimir Putin’s rise to power and the latticework of criminality that has enveloped governments worldwide, Jack Bryan’s documentary enlists a who’s-who of high-profile experts and insiders — including Hillary Clinton, John Podesta and more — for a brutal dressing-down of worldwide, metastasized corruption that falls short in laying out straight its particularly slippery bag of snakes only by suggesting the solution is to cut off their tails, not their heads.
Opening with a brief but potent biography of Putin and winding through an abridged but detailed list of transgressions to which his administration is connected, Bryan’s film explores the often intangible but wildly destructive tactics hostile governments employ as “active measures,” including propaganda, cyberattacks and agents of influence. Murdering journalists, opponents and in some likely cases, allies and even innocent civilians, Putin consolidated power under Boris Yeltsin before claiming the mantle of leadership over post-Soviet Union Russia, developing strategies (that would later be used to undermine the U.S. election) against newly-liberated countries like Georgia.
Also Read: Trump Ignores Advisers' Subtle Message About Putin: 'Do Not Congratulate'
Bryan and his co-writer Marley Clements connect the dots with methodical precision, and minimal sensationalism, although they hardly need to overdramatize connections between Putin and notorious Russian mobster Semion Mogilevich, especially given the numerous flunkies (and their various criminal acts) who overlapped the pair’s Venn diagram of manipulation and malfeasance.
Putin and Mogilevich’s relationship to Trump’s mysteriously indefatigable gift for failing upward is easy to track, though the filmmakers possibly overemphasize the current president’s ability to foresee the many ways he was being manipulated, or maybe just the distance at which Putin and co. recognized he even could be a potential leader. Certainly, and with the added benefit of recent comments made by Forbes reporters about Trump’s obsession with their annual list of power players, the film makes an effective case for the abject corruption of Trump’s dealings in the 1980s, when Trump Towers served — in several cases, according to successful criminal prosecution — as “a money-laundering paradise” for shell companies to buy and sell condominiums without identifying themselves. Later, Deutsche Bank, a company with significant ties to Russia, supported many of Trump’s endeavors long after they imploded or otherwise failed.
Watch Video: Stephen Colbert Congratulates Putin for His Win 'by the Most Made-up Votes'
Most damning, though, is the sophisticated way that Bryan and Clements lay flat the history of technological attacks launched against oppositional regimes, and how brutally impactful they were because of attackers’ profound understanding of the psychologies of the sociocultural ecosystems into which they were released. Footage from a Cambridge Analytica presentation, paired with interviews from experts on Russia’s history of cyberattacks, elucidates the depths of attackers’ knowledge about the way that various cultures work, and in particular, how the unrelenting onslaught of fake sites and phony Facebook posts (among other disseminated stories) preyed upon our specific vulnerabilities as Americans to disseminate materials that would fundamentally undermine our trust in particular candidates, our government and the system as a whole.
(The extra chill comes when an interviewee points out that literally nothing has been done to slow the spread of this attack since Trump took office.)
Also Read: Joe Scarborough: Republicans 'Doing the Bidding of Vladimir Putin and His Intelligence Agencies'
At 110 minutes, the film’s laserlike focus keeps its talking heads from droning on too long, but also from relaying some of the anecdotal details that are probably juicier than they are relevant. (One that makes the cut is Clinton’s observation that Putin likes to manspread, one of the very few instances where she digresses in any way from essential information.) But like with many other documentaries attempting to chronicle our turbulent recent history, we seem to have moved beyond an era when such thing as a clean or definitive ending exists; at the very least, we’re not yet at anything that resembles one.
Not that the film doesn’t try: Citing semi-successful examples in Georgia and Russia, the filmmakers end with a call to arms that suggests the divided electorate, the citizenry of the U.S., rise up and demand change, for our officials to hold themselves and their colleagues accountable and to do something to secure free and fair elections. If there’s anything that “Active Measures” does most effectively, it’s to demonstrate the depths and the breadth of the corruption, the criminality, the immorality operating in contemporary politics — and after seeing what we’re up against, the last thing people may want to do is to get more involved.
Read original story ‘Active Measures’ Film Review: How Putin’s Tactics Stole Russia, and How They’re Corrupting the USA At TheWrap...
A methodical look at Vladimir Putin’s rise to power and the latticework of criminality that has enveloped governments worldwide, Jack Bryan’s documentary enlists a who’s-who of high-profile experts and insiders — including Hillary Clinton, John Podesta and more — for a brutal dressing-down of worldwide, metastasized corruption that falls short in laying out straight its particularly slippery bag of snakes only by suggesting the solution is to cut off their tails, not their heads.
Opening with a brief but potent biography of Putin and winding through an abridged but detailed list of transgressions to which his administration is connected, Bryan’s film explores the often intangible but wildly destructive tactics hostile governments employ as “active measures,” including propaganda, cyberattacks and agents of influence. Murdering journalists, opponents and in some likely cases, allies and even innocent civilians, Putin consolidated power under Boris Yeltsin before claiming the mantle of leadership over post-Soviet Union Russia, developing strategies (that would later be used to undermine the U.S. election) against newly-liberated countries like Georgia.
Also Read: Trump Ignores Advisers' Subtle Message About Putin: 'Do Not Congratulate'
Bryan and his co-writer Marley Clements connect the dots with methodical precision, and minimal sensationalism, although they hardly need to overdramatize connections between Putin and notorious Russian mobster Semion Mogilevich, especially given the numerous flunkies (and their various criminal acts) who overlapped the pair’s Venn diagram of manipulation and malfeasance.
Putin and Mogilevich’s relationship to Trump’s mysteriously indefatigable gift for failing upward is easy to track, though the filmmakers possibly overemphasize the current president’s ability to foresee the many ways he was being manipulated, or maybe just the distance at which Putin and co. recognized he even could be a potential leader. Certainly, and with the added benefit of recent comments made by Forbes reporters about Trump’s obsession with their annual list of power players, the film makes an effective case for the abject corruption of Trump’s dealings in the 1980s, when Trump Towers served — in several cases, according to successful criminal prosecution — as “a money-laundering paradise” for shell companies to buy and sell condominiums without identifying themselves. Later, Deutsche Bank, a company with significant ties to Russia, supported many of Trump’s endeavors long after they imploded or otherwise failed.
Watch Video: Stephen Colbert Congratulates Putin for His Win 'by the Most Made-up Votes'
Most damning, though, is the sophisticated way that Bryan and Clements lay flat the history of technological attacks launched against oppositional regimes, and how brutally impactful they were because of attackers’ profound understanding of the psychologies of the sociocultural ecosystems into which they were released. Footage from a Cambridge Analytica presentation, paired with interviews from experts on Russia’s history of cyberattacks, elucidates the depths of attackers’ knowledge about the way that various cultures work, and in particular, how the unrelenting onslaught of fake sites and phony Facebook posts (among other disseminated stories) preyed upon our specific vulnerabilities as Americans to disseminate materials that would fundamentally undermine our trust in particular candidates, our government and the system as a whole.
(The extra chill comes when an interviewee points out that literally nothing has been done to slow the spread of this attack since Trump took office.)
Also Read: Joe Scarborough: Republicans 'Doing the Bidding of Vladimir Putin and His Intelligence Agencies'
At 110 minutes, the film’s laserlike focus keeps its talking heads from droning on too long, but also from relaying some of the anecdotal details that are probably juicier than they are relevant. (One that makes the cut is Clinton’s observation that Putin likes to manspread, one of the very few instances where she digresses in any way from essential information.) But like with many other documentaries attempting to chronicle our turbulent recent history, we seem to have moved beyond an era when such thing as a clean or definitive ending exists; at the very least, we’re not yet at anything that resembles one.
Not that the film doesn’t try: Citing semi-successful examples in Georgia and Russia, the filmmakers end with a call to arms that suggests the divided electorate, the citizenry of the U.S., rise up and demand change, for our officials to hold themselves and their colleagues accountable and to do something to secure free and fair elections. If there’s anything that “Active Measures” does most effectively, it’s to demonstrate the depths and the breadth of the corruption, the criminality, the immorality operating in contemporary politics — and after seeing what we’re up against, the last thing people may want to do is to get more involved.
Read original story ‘Active Measures’ Film Review: How Putin’s Tactics Stole Russia, and How They’re Corrupting the USA At TheWrap...
- 5/1/2018
- by Todd Gilchrist
- The Wrap
While there’s an impressive roster of talking heads, including Hillary Clinton, this exhaustive documentary struggles to move past outrage
The most widespread affliction facing documentary cinema today is known as Wikipediitis, a malady wherein a feature-length film would be better served by the form of a written article. Telltale symptoms include questionably necessary animated interludes, an excess of padding via points restated ad nauseam, and an overall prioritization of the subject material over its method of presentation. Too many recent nonfiction films have attempted to fill a 90-minute bag with 40 minutes of informational manure, but the Hot Docs premiere Active Measures goes a touch too far in the other direction. Director Jack Bryan synthesizes dozens upon dozens of articles for a more circumspect view of Russia’s ongoing meddling in American politics, running the risk of overloading his viewers instead of, er, under-loading them. If something like Three Identical Strangers...
The most widespread affliction facing documentary cinema today is known as Wikipediitis, a malady wherein a feature-length film would be better served by the form of a written article. Telltale symptoms include questionably necessary animated interludes, an excess of padding via points restated ad nauseam, and an overall prioritization of the subject material over its method of presentation. Too many recent nonfiction films have attempted to fill a 90-minute bag with 40 minutes of informational manure, but the Hot Docs premiere Active Measures goes a touch too far in the other direction. Director Jack Bryan synthesizes dozens upon dozens of articles for a more circumspect view of Russia’s ongoing meddling in American politics, running the risk of overloading his viewers instead of, er, under-loading them. If something like Three Identical Strangers...
- 5/1/2018
- by Charles Bramesco
- The Guardian - Film News
Watching Jack Bryan’s explosive documentary “Active Measures,” about Russia’s espionage program and the effect it had on the 2016 U.S. presidential election, could be likened to watching a 21st century version of Watergate.
The film, debuting at Hot Docs film festival in Toronto Monday features archival footage and a bevy of interviews with key Washington figures including former CIA director James Woolsey, former United States Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, former F.B.I. special agent Clint Watts, Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Via these interviews “Active Measures” constructs a powerful argument as to how Soviet modern warfare tactics – “active measures” — shifted the 2016 U.S. presidential elections and weakened Western democracy. The film also meticulously documents Trump’s problematic financial relationship with the Russian oligarchy that began decades ago.
“Russians have a particular type of mark who they go after,” explains one of the film’s interview subjects, senator Sheldon Whitehouse.
The film, debuting at Hot Docs film festival in Toronto Monday features archival footage and a bevy of interviews with key Washington figures including former CIA director James Woolsey, former United States Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, former F.B.I. special agent Clint Watts, Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Via these interviews “Active Measures” constructs a powerful argument as to how Soviet modern warfare tactics – “active measures” — shifted the 2016 U.S. presidential elections and weakened Western democracy. The film also meticulously documents Trump’s problematic financial relationship with the Russian oligarchy that began decades ago.
“Russians have a particular type of mark who they go after,” explains one of the film’s interview subjects, senator Sheldon Whitehouse.
- 4/30/2018
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
When Hot Docs, the documentary film festival held annually in Toronto, staged its first event back in 1994, the program presented a mere 21 features, including the Noam Chomsky profile “Manufacturing Consent” and Nick Broomfield’s “Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer.”
From the humble beginning, this celebration of nonfiction short subjects and features has become the largest of its kind, and one of the most internationally recognized, receiving 3,000 submissions from across the globe for possible inclusion in the 2018 event.
“We’re in the golden age of documentary, and we’re seeing that in the volume of films submitted,” says Hot Docs director of programming Shane Smith, “but also the range and quality of the stories being told. I never have trouble finding films for the festival. The problem is deciding on the final selection because of the number of quality films that we see.”
This year’s Hot Docs,...
From the humble beginning, this celebration of nonfiction short subjects and features has become the largest of its kind, and one of the most internationally recognized, receiving 3,000 submissions from across the globe for possible inclusion in the 2018 event.
“We’re in the golden age of documentary, and we’re seeing that in the volume of films submitted,” says Hot Docs director of programming Shane Smith, “but also the range and quality of the stories being told. I never have trouble finding films for the festival. The problem is deciding on the final selection because of the number of quality films that we see.”
This year’s Hot Docs,...
- 4/20/2018
- by Robert Ham
- Variety Film + TV
Canadian documentary festival Hot Docs has added 17 additional special presentations.
They include McQueen, Ian Bonhôte’s documentary about fashion designer Alexander McQueen, and Steve Loveridge’s Matanga / Maya / M.I.A., the Sundance world premiere about British rapper and record producer M.I.A. that has been picked up for the UK by Dogwoof.
Other highlights in the programme include Liz Garbus’s The Fourth Estate, a look into how The New York Times covered the first year of the Trump presidency, and Mercury 13, the story of Nasa’s first female astronaut training programme.
The full selection from Hot Docs,...
They include McQueen, Ian Bonhôte’s documentary about fashion designer Alexander McQueen, and Steve Loveridge’s Matanga / Maya / M.I.A., the Sundance world premiere about British rapper and record producer M.I.A. that has been picked up for the UK by Dogwoof.
Other highlights in the programme include Liz Garbus’s The Fourth Estate, a look into how The New York Times covered the first year of the Trump presidency, and Mercury 13, the story of Nasa’s first female astronaut training programme.
The full selection from Hot Docs,...
- 3/13/2018
- by Adam Weddle
- ScreenDaily
U.S. presidential and racial politics feature in the first wave of world premieres unveiled for the upcoming Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.
The fest on Tuesday said it will debut Jack Bryan's Active Measures, which uncovers Trump-Putin ties dating back to the 1970s that led up to Russian cyber-warfare impacting the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
There also will be a world premiere for Oscar-nominated director Richard Rowley's Blue Wall, which probes the 2014 Chicago police killing of Laquan McDonald and the City Hall cover-up that followed.
Also on tap is the Canadian bow of Maxim Pozdorovkin's Sundance title Our...
The fest on Tuesday said it will debut Jack Bryan's Active Measures, which uncovers Trump-Putin ties dating back to the 1970s that led up to Russian cyber-warfare impacting the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
There also will be a world premiere for Oscar-nominated director Richard Rowley's Blue Wall, which probes the 2014 Chicago police killing of Laquan McDonald and the City Hall cover-up that followed.
Also on tap is the Canadian bow of Maxim Pozdorovkin's Sundance title Our...
- 3/13/2018
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The deal covers North American rights to the thriller starring Fran Kranz. Separately Sundance Selects has picked up The Search For General Tso, Image Entertainment has acquired Roadside and WellGo USA has set a Us release date for Supremacy.
Jack Bryan directed The Living, about a man who takes out a hit on his sister’s abusive husband. Jocelin Donahue, Chris Mulkey, Joelle Carter and Kenny Wormald round out the key cast.
Producers Jack Bryan, Laura DuBois and John Snyder brokered the acquisition with monterey media managing partner Scott Mansfield.
Sundance Selects has picked up North American rights to Ian Cheney’s documentary and Tribeca 2014 world premiere The Search For General Tso and will release theatrically and on VOD on January 2. Cinetic Media represented the filmmakers. Image Entertainment has acquired all Us rights to Eric England’s action thriller Roadside starring Ace Marrero, Katie Stegeman, Lionel D Carson and Jack E Curenton. Elias Axume of international...
Jack Bryan directed The Living, about a man who takes out a hit on his sister’s abusive husband. Jocelin Donahue, Chris Mulkey, Joelle Carter and Kenny Wormald round out the key cast.
Producers Jack Bryan, Laura DuBois and John Snyder brokered the acquisition with monterey media managing partner Scott Mansfield.
Sundance Selects has picked up North American rights to Ian Cheney’s documentary and Tribeca 2014 world premiere The Search For General Tso and will release theatrically and on VOD on January 2. Cinetic Media represented the filmmakers. Image Entertainment has acquired all Us rights to Eric England’s action thriller Roadside starring Ace Marrero, Katie Stegeman, Lionel D Carson and Jack E Curenton. Elias Axume of international...
- 12/10/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
An interesting choice was made on Jack Bryan‘s film The Living—one that occurred before the camera rolled. If you’re familiar with Fran Kranz‘s emotionally fractured science nerd Topher from Dollhouse and Kenny Wormald‘s coolly confident Ren from the Footloose remake, you’d probably have a pretty good idea of who would play who inside a plot dealing […]...
- 10/22/2014
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
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