A Record Five Films from The New Yorker Studios Receive Academy Award Nominations

Posted on January 24, 2023 by admin

A record five films from The New Yorker Studios have been nominated for the 95th Academy Awards, joining a list of nominees announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this morning.

Every shorts category is represented: “Stranger at the Gate” and “Haulout” were nominated in the Documentary Short Film category; “Ice Merchants” and “The Flying Sailor” were nominated in the Animated Short Film category; and “Night Ride” was nominated in the Live Action Short Film category.

To date, fifteen New Yorker films have been nominated for an Oscar. The Academy Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, March 12th, in Los Angeles.

“We are delighted that The New Yorker Studios has been recognized with a record five nominations,” Agnes Chu, the President of Condé Nast Entertainment, said. “The New Yorker is a trusted and powerful voice, and our team is passionate about producing films that bring its storytelling to life on screen in ways that connect and unite us all.”
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“Nam June Paik: Moon Is The Oldest TV” Doc Premieres At Sundance

Posted on January 21, 2023 by admin

The documentary is set to premiere at this year’s Sundance Festival tomorrow, Sunday January 22.

“The George Washington of Video Art”…“Cultural Terrorist” … “Citizen Zero of the Electronic Superhighway”…But who really was Nam June Paik, pillar of the American avant-garde in the 20th century and arguably the most famous Korean artist in modern history?

Director Amanda Kim tells, for the first time, the story of Paik’s meteoric rise in the New York art scene and his Nostradamus-like visions of a future in which “everybody will have his own TV channel.” Thanks to social media, Paik’s future is now our present, and “Nam June Paik: Moon Is The Oldest TV” shows us how we got here.

Featuring an extensive archive of performance footage, original interviews from Paik’s contemporaries and collaborators, and a voiceover narration of Nam June Paik’s writings read by Executive Producer Steven Yeun ( Minari , Nope ), “Nam June Paik: Moon Is The Oldest TV” is a timely meditation on the contradictory ways in which technology elicits both fascist tendencies and intercultural understanding

Stephen Curry, Ryan Coogler, & More Premiere “Stephen Curry: Underrated” At Sundance 2023

Posted on January 20, 2023 by admin

Award-winning filmmaker Peter Nicks documentary is an intimate look at NBA superstar Stephen Curry’s improbable coming of age at tiny Davidson College, where, under the wing of coach Bob McKillop, the team made a thrilling run in the 2008 NCAA tournament. With access to Curry throughout the 2021 season, the film also weaves the Golden State Warriors’ attempt to win another NBA championship following one of the worst seasons in franchise history.

The documentary “Stephen Curry: Underrated” is an official selection of the Special Screenings section at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. It is an Apple Original Films along with A24.

The film is a remarkable coming-of-age story of one of the most influential, dynamic and unexpected players in the history of basketball: Stephen Curry.

This feature documentary, blending intimate cinéma vérité, archival footage and on camera interviews, documents Curry’s rise from an undersized college player at a tiny backwater Division I college to a four-time NBA champion, building one of the most dominant sports dynasties in the world.

“Joonam” Sets World Premiere In U.S. Documentary Competition

Posted on January 12, 2023 by admin

“Joonam”, the documentary from director, editor, cinematographer Sierra Urich is set to premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Urich is a Persian-American interdisciplinary visual artist and filmmaker based in Vermont. The film features Behjat Samimi, Mitra Samimi-Urich, and Sierra Urich.

Named for a Farsi term of endearment, Joonam is infused with humor and heart like only a film about family could be.

Official film synopsis:
Spurred by a provocative family memory and a lifetime of separation from the country her mother left behind, a young filmmaker delves into her mother and grandmother’s complicated pasts, and her own fractured Iranian identity.

For screening times, go to programs list at festival.sundance.org.

Stan Lee Marvel Documentary Set to Stream On Disney+

Posted on December 29, 2022 by admin

Disney+ is set to release a documentary about comic book legend Stan Lee in 2023. The documentary will showcasing the life of Lee.

Marvel released the news about “Stan Lee Original Documentary” yesterday, which would be Stan Leee’s 100th birthday.

“100 years of dreaming. 100 years of creating. 100 years of Stan Lee.” reads the caption on Marvel Entertainment’s tweet alongside a short trailer for the upcoming documentary.

Lee was the primary creative leader of Marvel Comics and along with artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created superheroes characters such as Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Black Panther and many others.

Lee started his work in the company in the 1960s, and also he became a prominent figure when the Marvel Cinematic Universe took shape. Stan Lee died in 2018 at the age of 95.

Oscar Contender “Hidden Letters” Sets US Release

Posted on December 4, 2022 by admin

Oscar contender “Hidden Letters” is set to open this Friday, December 9 in select U.S. theaters.

The film is directed by Violet Du Feng and Zhao Qin.

Spanning between past and present, Hidden Letters follows two millennial Chinese women who are connected by their fascination with a secret language of sisterhood, and their desire to protect it against a perpetually patriarchal society.

Here’s the film’s official synopsis:
For centuries in China, the once-secret written language of Nüshu was calligraphed on folded fans and handkerchiefs as hidden letters so women could share stories and express solidarity in a repressive era when many women were denied literacy. Confronting patriarchy, two modern women find solace in Nüshu, rediscovering connections between traditional Chinese womanhood and contemporary feminism.

“I Didn’t See You There” Acclaimed Docu Debuts Jan. 9 On POV

Posted on November 25, 2022 by admin

Gotham & Independent Spirit Award nominee and Sundance winner, “I Didn’t See You There” documentary from director Reid Davenport, is set to debut on Jan. 9 on POV.

The award-winning documentary feature will have its national broadcast premiere on PBS television series POV on Monday, January 9, 2023 at 10:00 pmET (check local listings) and will be available to stream with no PBS Passport membership necessary until February 9, 2023 at pbs.org, and the PBS Video app.

Shot entirely from the filmmaker’s literal physical perspective, both from his wheelchair and his two feet, I Didn’t See You There is a groundbreaking work of documentary cinema by first-time feature director Reid Davenport.

Here’s the film’s official synopsis:
As a visibly disabled person, filmmaker Reid Davenport sets out to make a film about how he sees the world, from either his wheelchair or his two feet, without having to be seen himself. The unexpected arrival of a circus tent outside his apartment in Oakland, CA leads him to consider the history and legacy of P.T. Barnum’s Freak Show and its lingering presence in his daily life in the form of gawking, lack of access, and other forms of ableism. Informed by his position in space, lower to the ground, Davenport captures indelible images, often abstracted into shapes and patterns separate from their meaning. But the circus tent looms in the background, and is reverberated by tangible on-screen interruptions, from unsolicited offers of help to careless blocking of ramps. Personal and unflinching, I Didn’t See You There forces the viewer to confront the spectacle and invisibility of disability. Offering both a perspective and stylistic approach that are rarely seen, Reid brings an urgently needed storytelling eye to filmmaking with a documentary that is powerful and emotional, thoughtful and raw, intimate and political.

Critics Choice Winner “Nuisance Bear” Released On Streaming On The New Yorker

Posted on November 20, 2022 by admin

The New Yorker recently débuted the award-winning new short documentary, “Nuisance Bear,” which presents a portrait of a Manitoba town where travellers arrive in droves every autumn to observe the migration of polar bears. On Nov.13 in New York City it received Best Documentary Short at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards.

The footage that filmmakers Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden captured reveals as much about the behavior of the humans—including the scrums of wilderness paparazzi that descend on Churchill, Manitoba every fall—as that of the bears.

“Nuisance Bear” received three Critics Choice Documentary Award nominations—a first for a short—for Best Cinematography, Best Short Documentary, and Best Science/Nature Documentary.

These nominations join a list of more than a dozen other honors for the film. Most recently, the film was nominated for the 38th IDA Documentary Awards for Best Short and the Cinema Eye Honors for Outstanding Nonfiction Short.

“I Am DB Cooper” Sets Release In Theaters And On-Demand

Posted on October 31, 2022 by admin

The documentary “I Am DB Cooper”, directed by TJ Regan, has set its release on December 9th, 2022 in theaters and on demand.

In the documentary, two bounty hunter brothers encounter an ailing old man named Rodney Bonnifield while coordinating his bail after a violent encounter on a dairy farm involving a machete.

Close to his sentencing, he reveals to the bondsmen that he is in fact the infamous DB Cooper, the man responsible for the 1971 plane hijacking in the Pacific Northwest, and the ransom cash is still buried along the Columbia River.

Up against the clock with Rodney’s prison sentence looming, the group sets out on a modern-day treasure hunt to recover the money he buried near the river 50 years ago, uncovering bizarre truths about Rodney Bonnifield and his connection to the only unsolved plane hijacking in U.S. history.

A Slow Grind Media production, the film is co-written by Regan and Sharmila Sahni. Produced by Regan, Sahni, Corey Molina, and John Miller, and executive produced by Regan, Isaiah Thomas, Mike Rocha, and Carlos Rocha.

IDA Announces Shortlists For 2022 IDA Documentary Awards

Posted on October 26, 2022 by admin

The International Documentary Association (IDA) has announced the shortlists for the 38th IDA Documentary Awards that is set to be held on December 10, 2022, at the Paramount Theater on the Paramount Studios Lot in Los Angeles. The nominee announcement is set on Friday, November 11, 2022.

Rick Pérez, IDA’s Executive Director, stated: “This year’s Best Feature Documentary and Best Short Documentary shortlists reflect a growing awareness that multiple perspectives are necessary to better reflect the worldwide popularity of the form and to recognize the global community of artists working in the field.”

Among those shortlisted for Best Feature Documentary are After A Revolution, All that Breathes, Fire of Love, Delikado, Moonage Daydream, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, and Singing on the Rooftops.

This year’s shortlists and nominees are selected by independent committees of 310 documentary makers, curators, critics, and industry experts from 52 countries. A total of 806 submissions in all categories were received, 40% of which are internationally produced or co-produced projects from 86 countries.

The IDA Documentary Awards is the world’s most distinguished event dedicated exclusively to the documentary genre, celebrating and honoring the year’s best nonfiction films, series, audio documentaries, and programs. It seeks to represent excellence in the documentary field from around the world, by emerging and established docmakers.

To see the full list of shortlisted documentaries, go to documentary.org