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It’s one of the oldest ideas about love and romance that exists: that there’s one perfect person for everyone, a soulmate or a “twin flame.” But what happens when the pursuit of that singular, extraordinary love is exploited by those with their own agenda?

From the Emmy-nominated filmmaking team behind Seduced: Inside the Nxivm Cult comes Escaping Twin Flames,a three-part documentary series that pulls back the veil on Twin Flames Universe, a controversial online community that former members accuse of preying on people looking for love. Filmmakers Cecilia Peck and Inbal B. Lessner say their previous work is what inspired them to tell this story.

“We were flooded with messages from people who left high-control groups after releasing our series about the Nxivm cult, and the stories of the survivors and families impacted by Twin Flames Universe emerged as the most urgent to expose,” the filmmakers told Netflix.

Director Cecilia Peck and editor and producer Inbal Lessner are behind one of the most fascinating documentary series recently featured on Netflix: Escaping Twin Flames. The series delves into the story of Jeff and Shaleia Ayan, who sell online courses aimed at helping people find their soulmates or, as they phrase it: their twin flames. However, as recounted by those who became part of the endeavor, it unraveled into a perilous cult that subjected its members to enslavement and exploitation. Members said they were forced to work for free, were abused verbally, were cut off from their families and even were pressured to get into homosexual relationships (even though they didn’t consider themselves gay before that) and even change their genders.

Perhaps you may have already noticed but Netflix’s documentary release schedule has become … aggressive. It seems like every time something like The Devil on Trial premieres, a Get Gotti arrives quickly on its heels to bump it out of the “Top 10” on the streamer’s homepage.

That elevated pace is good news for viewers who crave a consistent content pipeline of non-fiction to consume. It also unfortunately means some quality docs run the risk of falling by the wayside before they have a chance to catch on. We certainly hope that’s not the fate awaiting Escaping Twin Flames – a Netflix docuseries that tackles one of the more interesting subjects that streaming has in some time.

Created by Cecilia Peck and Inbal B. Lessner (the team behind Seduced: Inside the Nxivm Cult), Escaping Twin Flames delves into the modern day high-control group (re: cult) known as “Twin Flames Universe.

Director Cecilia Peck is no stranger to competing docuseries on the same topic. Her last project, Seduced: Inside the Nxivm Cult, came on the heels of The Vow, HBO's own docuseries about the group and its disgraced leader Keith Raniere. At the time, there was much discussion about which project was better, with the general consensus being that Seduced, though less discussed because of its home on Starz and later release (it premiered the night of The Vow's Season 1 finale), offered a more focused look at the cult's insidious practices and a more reliable narrator in victim India Oxenberg.

Every now and then a subject comes along that seemed compelling enough to the right decision-makers to somehow become the focus of multiple projects. Seeing the competition on the horizon, producers and distributors press their pedal to the metal instead of ceding ground. This is how we end up with two documentaries about the infamous Fyre music festival (Netflix’s Fyreand Hulu’s Fyre Fraud). It’s why the market tries to bear two limited series about Texas ax slayer Candy Montgomery (HBO’s Love and Death and Hulu’s Candy). And now,...

“Escaping Twin Flames” is a documentary directed by Cecilia Peck.

“Escaping Twin Flames” is a documentary about the practices of a group called “Twin Flames”.

A couple created this group, which seemingly promised what we all desire: to find our spiritual soulmate among the millions of people in this world, that perfect person who would connect with us on a cosmic level.

The most perfect pairing to be found in this universe.

Sounds appealing, right? It certainly caught the interest of those who responded to the online advertisement, but the group held terrible secrets.

“Escaping Twin Flames” is a documentary about two individuals who, exploiting the vulnerabilities and emotional needs of others, made themselves rich with classes costing $200 monthly.

38,000 people worldwide put their trust in this concept, which eventually grew into a multimillion-dollar business with instructors and more, becoming a “cyber-cult”.

About the Documentary

“Escaping Twin Flames” reveals the tactics...

Cults and multi-level marketing schemes have an awful lot in common: they target the vulnerable, separate members into different tiers to create a hierarchy for control, and only really serve the people at the very top. In the three-episode Netflix documentary miniseries "Escaping Twin Flames," filmmakers Cecilia Peck and Inbal B. Lessner argue that Twin Flames Universe might be both. The doc digs deep into Twin Flames Universe, created by husband and wife Jeff and Shaleia Ayan to be a relationship coaching service to help people find and keep their "twin flame," which is a sort of glorified soulmate. Combining interviews with former members and family of current members with footage from Twin Flames Universe's YouTube, Zoom meetings, and the Ayans' personal YouTube channels, the filmmakers expose Twin Flames Universe as something uniquely dangerous. 

"Escaping Twin Flames" is an uncomfortable look at how two people were able to create immense...

Some people look for love in all the wrong places, and when Netflix‘s new docuseries Escaping Twin Flames debuts, we’ll explore one of the darkest corners of false promises, deception, and cultism. The three-part series investigates the Twin Flames dating platform, which devotes itself to finding people’s true love. However, what sounds like a cure for loneliness is a deceptive scam with cult-like consequences.

Escaping Twin Flames debuts on Netflix on November 8. The investigative series hails from Cecilia Peck, director of Starz’s Seduced: Inside the Nxivm Cult, and Good Caper Content, the ITV America production company. Peck’s new docuseries revolves around Jeff and Shaleia Divine, the orchestrators of the Twin Flames Universe. The couple sells online classes for lonely hearts looking to connect with their destined partner. Sadly, the Twin Flames Universe is a predatory front for an online community that preys on people hoping to connect with their soulmates.

Exclusive: Netflix is lining up its next cult documentary.

The streamer has ordered Escaping Twin Flames, a three-part series about the Twin Flames dating platform. The service promised to find people’s true love, or Twin Flame, but what sounded like love might have been more of a dangerous obsession rooted in a cultish mindset.

The series, which launches November 8, comes from Cecilia Peck, who directed Starz’s Seduced: Inside the Nxivm Cult, and Good Caper Content, the ITV America production company behind TLC’s Taken At Birth.

It will explore the story of Jeff and Shaleia Divine, the leaders of Twin Flames Universe, who sell online classes that guarantee harmonious union with your destined partner and will pull back the veil of the universe, a controversial online community that preys on people looking for love.

Related: ‘Seduced: Inside The Nxivm Cult’: Starz Reveals Trailer For Four-Part Docuseries

The...

Seven years ago, Lionsgate Home Entertainment revived the defunct Vestron Video label for the Vestron Video Collector’s Series of Blu-ray releases, and over the years that series has turned out to be pretty impressive. The list of Vestron Blu-rays includes Chopping Mall, Blood Diner, the Waxwork movies, Return of the Living Dead ///, The Gate, the Wishmaster films, the Warlock films, Slaughter High, Class of 1999, Beyond Re-Animator, Dagon, Maximum Overdrive, Shivers, Little Monsters, The Wraith, Dementia 13, Steel Dawn, Candyman: Day of the Dead, Dream a Little Dream, Extreme Prejudice, Earth Girls Are Easy, the Dentist movies, the Silent Night, Deadly Night sequels, and more. The thirtieth release from the revived Vestron is a Blu-ray of the 1987 horror comedy My Best Friend Is a Vampire – and the street date is next Tuesday, July 25th! Copies can be pre-ordered at This Link.

Directed by Jimmy Huston from a screenplay written by Tab Murphy,...

Gregory Peck’s leather-bound copy of the To Kill a Mockingbird screenplay will soon hit the auction block.

That wildly significant Hollywood artifact is one of 250 items from Peck’s personal collection — along with items belonging to his late philanthropist wife, Veronique — that will go to the highest bidders on Feb. 23 as part of the Property from The Estate of Veronique and Gregory Peck event, hosted by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.

Peck’s performance in Mockingbird, a landmark 1962 civil rights drama based on the best-selling 1960 novel by Harper Lee, earned Peck the Academy Award for best actor in a leading role — his only competitive Oscar win out of five nominations throughout his career.

Other items up for sale include a copy of the Mockingbird source material inscribed by Lee; copies of Peck’s scripts for classic films like the 1945 Alfred Hitchcock thriller Spellbound, 1953’s romantic comedy Roman Holiday and the 1976 supernatural...

Documentarians Cecilia Peck and Inbal B. Lessner (“Seduced: Inside the Nxivm Cult”) and Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (“Love Fraud”) not only share similar shooting philosophies, in focusing on vérité, but they are also passionate about centering their projects on female survivors’ stories.

The four-part Starz series “Seduced” explores the connection between a few women, including India Oxenberg, who escaped the clutches of Nxivm and its more dangerous subsets Jness and Dos, while the four-part “Love Fraud” for Showtime follows a group of women (including bounty hunter Carla Campbell) as they go after the con man who stole their hearts and a lot of their money.

These four powerhouses came together to talk about their experiences making these two Emmy contending series, as well as the sense of healing and justice they wanted for their subjects.

There is often a debate over how much to say a criminal’s name...

The Gracie Awards, which are bestowed by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation to honor standout women in the media industry and recognize entertainment and news programming that addressed timely topics and social issues, has unveiled its winners for its 46th edition.

Kerry Washington, Lena Waithe, Kelly Clarkson, Michelle Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Erin Andrews are among this year’s winners, along with shows including Today, CBS This Morning, Black-ish and Taylor Swift’s hybrid Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions. FX’s Mrs. America won twice, for Limited Series and Ensemble.

In other TV categories, 60 Minutes, Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi and This Is Us also scored wins, as did Caitriona Balfe of Outlander, Catherine O’Hara of Schitt’s Creek, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan of Never Have I Ever and P-Valley’s Shannon Thornton. Obama and Clinton won for their work in their respective podcasts.

Winners will be...

In the narrative world, sequels are all the rage for films and even “limited” series if the first installment is wildly successful, but seldom do you see follow-ups for documentaries. But all six filmmakers at Gold Derby’s Meet the Experts: Documentary panel — Samantha Stark (“The New York Times Presents: Framing Britney Spears”), J. Clay Tweel (“Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults”), Cecilia Peck and Inbal B. Lessner (“Seduced: Inside the Nxivm Cult”), Tom Beard (“The Year Earth Changed”) and Jeff Orlowski (“The Social Dilemma”) — are definitely not opposed to sequels to their films, some of which cover ongoing stories.

Click on each name above to watch that person’s individual panel interview. Watch our full panel above to hear everyone’s answers and more.

“With our film it feels like it just cracked us open,” Stark says of “Framing Britney Spears,” which spotlights the 13-year conservatorship the pop icon...

Nxivm was presented as a self-help group, boasting such enticing but vaguely named seminars as Executive Success Programs (Esp), but the reality was that it was actually a sex cult that targeted young women, masterminded by founder Keith Raniere. And Cecilia Peck, director and co-executive producer of “Seduced: Inside the Nxivm Cult,” was one of the many women targeted for recruitment.

“Inbal [B. Lessner, lead editor and co-executive producer of the series] and I had an intern from a former project who was a college graduate and extremely intelligent and motivated. We had lost touch with her but in 2013 and ’14, I started receiving emails inviting me first to a women’s group and becoming more and more persistent in telling me I should come and it would change my life,” Peck shares at Gold Derby’s Meet the Experts: Documentary panel. “And I never ended up attending any of the events, but when she emerged from Nxivm, she called and said,...

Gold Derby’s group discussion with six outstanding directors of TV documentaries launched our popular “Meet the Experts” panel series featuring Emmy contenders. Our senior editor Joyce Eng moderated the chat that included Samantha Stark (“Framing Britney Spears”), J. Clay Tweel (“Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults”), Cecilia Peck, Inbal B. Lessner (“Seduced: Inside the Nxivm Cult”), Tom Beard (“The Year Earth Changed”), Jeff Orlowski (‘The Social Dilemma’).

Six top TV documentary directors will reveal details behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with key 2021 guild and Emmy contenders this month. Each person will participate in two video discussions to premiere on Monday, May 10, at 5:00 p.m. Pt; 8:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our senior editor Joyce Eng and a group chat with Joyce and all of the group together.

RSVP today to this specific event by clicking here to book your reservation. Or click here to RSVP for our entire ongoing panel series. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.

This “Meet the Experts” panel welcomes the following 2021 guild and Emmy contenders:

“Framing Britney Spears”: Samantha Stark

Stark was a News Emmy nominee for “Coming Out.” Other projects have included “They Get Brave,...

Nxivm marketed itself as a self-help program that would show participants the way to more meaningful lives and greater professional success. The reality was far more sinister.

The four-part Starz documentary Seduced: Inside the Nxivm Cult reveals the organization was actually set up to fleece participants out of their money and, chillingly, to satisfy the misogynistic sexual desires of founder Keith Raniere.

“[Raniere] really was a master salesman and he knew how to target, how to build this product and how to micro-target his customers,” producer Inbal B. Lessner said during Deadline’s Contenders Television: Documentary + Unscripted awards-season event. “He implemented…manipulation tactics to get people hooked, get people in, really all in. …They started manipulating your thinking and brain and making you push and forget your boundaries.”

Nxivm recruited among the wealthy and individuals connected with Hollywood. Actress Catherine Oxenberg signed up for an introductory session and brought her daughter India along.

It’s a couple more months until summer officially starts, but Saturday is shining bright with the new season of Deadline’s Contenders Television franchise. Padma Lakshmi, Demi Lovato, Stephen Colbert, Jameela Jamil, Amy Schumer and the Queer Eye guys are among the panelists in the lineup as we launch our newest TV award-season event.

Deadline’s first-ever Contenders Television: Documentary + Unscripted starts at 8 a.m. Pt with a full day spotlighting the most vital shows and top talent in the genres, packed with virtual presentations from almost 40 shows from 19 outlets.

To watch the livestream of today’s event, click here.

Starting with Starz’s rollicking Men in Kilts: A Roadtrip With Sam and Graham, today’s lineup features Hulu’s Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi, YouTube Originals’ Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil and Netflix’s Queer Eye, as well as Fox’s The Masked Singer and FX...

As Italy’s film and TV industry forges ahead after bearing the brunt of the pandemic in 2020, the Filming Italy — Los Angeles fest, which is a bridgehead between Italy and Hollywood, is pulling out all the stops to drive and promote the country’s restart effort.

After Filming Italy miraculously managed to hold its sister shindig as a physical edition on the island of Sardinia last summer, the upcoming March 18-21 Los Angeles event will be mostly online. But going virtual has just prompted Italian marketing guru Tiziana Rocca, a longtime Italian industry promoter, to double her efforts.

This year the former Taormina Film Festival general manager is serving up twice the number of titles — a selection of more than 50 features, TV skeins, docs and shorts — and a marathon medley of 25 master classes, starting with Edoardo Ponti, director of Oscar-buzzed Sophia Loren-starrer “The Life Ahead,” in conversation with Diane Warren,...

In describing how Nxivm operated, ‘Seduced: Inside the Nxivm Cult” showrunners Cecilia Peck and Inbal Lessner explain that it really is on the same level as being in a physically or emotionally abusive relationship. “I think so many people have been in a coercive relationship that’s hard to get out of. There’s really no difference between a domestic abuse relationship, where you just feel so broken down and you feel there’s nowhere to go,” Peck explains. She hopes that this documentary can help viewers understand how people can become involved with harmful groups like Nxivm. “That’s what these women were in and especially someone like India [Oxenburg], who went in at 19 and was broken down by them for seven years. It’s very hard to imagine that you can have another life.”

“Seduced” is a four-part docuseries, currently available on Starz, that explores the group known as Nxivm.

In the final episode of Starz’s documentary “Seduced: Inside the Nxivm Cult,” there’s a discussion about how cult founder Keith Raniere — sentenced this week to 120 years in prison — specifically preyed on smart, intelligent women of influence. Cecilia Peck, director and showrunner of “Seduced,” might have been one of those women. “I had a personal experience with Nxivm,” Peck told IndieWire. “Someone who I had worked with on a previous project actually targeted me for recruitment. [She] emailed me over the course of about a year and a half about an incredible women’s group that she was a part of; she told me it would change my life and, eventually, she wanted me to meet Allison Mack.”

Mack, the former “Smallville” actress, was one of Raniere’s most devout acolytes, and the women’s group was Dos, a subsidiary of Nxivm revealed in 2017 to be branding and trafficking women as sex slaves.

Nxivm is known as the branding cult, and India Oxenberg was the first person to submit her flesh to the irons. She was told the symbol represented the elements, but will now tell her own story of coercion, abuse, and recovery in Seduced: Inside the Nxivm Cult. The four-part Starz Original docuseries will premiere on Sunday, Oct. 18 at 9 p.m.

Seduced: Inside the Nxivm Cult centers on India Oxenberg, the daughter of Hollywood actress Catherine Oxenberg and a descendant of European royalty. “This is the first time India Oxenberg will speak publicly about her experience with the cult’s abuses as she retraces her steps, taking viewers deep inside the cult, meeting with former members, lawyers, therapists and cult analysts,” Starz President of Original Programming Christina Davis said in a statement.

The series follows India’s seduction, indoctrination, enslavement, escape — and her role as “co-conspirator” in assisting the U.S. government...

For seven years, India Oxenberg was the frog slowly boiling in the pot of water that was so-called self-empowerment group Nxivm. For about three years she was a supporting character in stories told by everyone from directors Karim Amer and Jehan Noujaim to her own mother, Catherine Oxenberg. Now, she has reclaimed her life and is reclaiming her narrative along with it in “Seduced: Inside the Nxivm Cult,” a new four-part docuseries premiering Oct. 18 on Starz.

“I felt like it was my chance to take the story back into my own hands and say, ‘Hey, there’s a person here! Not just branded, sex slave, cult girl — a human being,'” India Oxenberg tells Variety.

For many who have been following the Nxivm saga, including Clare Bronfman’s recent sentencing and the fact that group founder Keith Raniere and his right-hand woman who was one of the heads of Dos,...

It was the kind of story Hollywood might dream up — but not only was it real, it had some ties to the industry. Starz has set Sunday for the premiere of Seduced: Inside the Nxivm Cult, a four-part documentary series that takes a first-person look at the sex cult that was broken open in April 2018. It premieres at 9 p.m. this Sunday, October 16. Watch the trailer above and see the key art below.

Hailing from the filmmaking team of Cecilia Peck and Inbal B. Lessner (Brave Miss World), Seduced follows the harrowing journey of India Oxenberg, the daughter of former Dynasty actress Catherine Oxenberg and a descendant of European royalty — who was seduced into the modern-day sex-slave cult Nxivm. More than 17,000 people, including India, enrolled in its “Executive Success Programs,” a front for the cult and a hunting ground for its leader, master predator Keith Raniere — who was convicted on...

David O. Selznick’s absurdly over-cooked western epic is a great picture, even if much of it induces a kind of hypnotic, mouth-hanging-open disbelief. Is this monument to the sex appeal of Jennifer Jones, Kitsch in terrible taste, or have Selznick and his army of Hollywood talents found a new level of hyped melodramatic harmony? It certainly has the star-power, beginning with Gregory Peck as a cowboy rapist who learned his bedside manners from Popeye’s Bluto. It’s all hugely enjoyable.

Duel in the Sun

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1946 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 144 min. / Special Edition / Street Date August 15, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring Jennifer Jones, Gregory Peck, Joseph Cotten, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Walter Huston, Butterfly McQueen, Charles Bickford, Tilly Losch.

Cinematography Lee Garmes, Ray Rennahan and Harold Rosson

Production Designer J. McMillan Johnson

Film Editor Hal C. Kern, John Saure and William H. Ziegler

Original Music Dimitri Tiomkin

Written by Niven Busch,...

This isn’t the only Alfred Hitchcock film for which the love does not flow freely, but his 1947 final spin on the David O. Selznick-go-round is more a subject for study than Hitch’s usual fun suspense ride. Gregory Peck looks unhappy opposite Selznick ‘discovery’ Alida Valli, while an utterly top-flight cast tries to bring life to mostly irrelevant characters. Who comes off best? Young Louis Jourdan, that’s who.

The Paradine Case

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1947 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 125 min. / Street Date May 30, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring Gregory Peck, Alida Valli, Ann Todd, Charles Laughton, Louis Jourdan, Ethel Barrymore, Joan Tetzel.

Cinematography Lee Garmes

Production Designer J. McMillan Johnson

Film Editors John Faure, Hal C. Kern

Original Music Franz Waxman

Writing credits James Bridie, Alma Reville, David O. Selznick from the novel by Robert Hichens

Produced by David O. Selznick

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

There...

Gabrielle Weller.

Australian director Gabrielle Weller has enlisted Kate Moss, Mick Jagger, Kate Winslet and Laura Bailey to star in her new documentary Never In, Never Out.

Weller is a writer, actor, director and producer..

In 2016 her schedule will find her on both sides of the globe.

This coming June, in the gold rush town of Ballarat, Weller will play the lead role in her first feature length film, Box, directed by Samuel O.Brien..

In August, she will return to London where she will direct Never In, Never Out, which she also wrote and produced, about the life of fashion designer Thea Porter. .

Weller said the two projects have provided a good contrast.

"They.re both challenging, but in completely different ways,. .she says.

Box, developed .by O.Brien is a poetic and surrealist screenplay, which is co-written by Weller. She will also take the lead role..

Box tells...

The second edition of the 'Women in Motion' program will take place in Cannes from May 11 to 22, 2016 at the 69th Festival de Cannes.

The year’s official poster is of Frances McDormand whose presentation at last year’s first edition illuminated gender bias practices within the film industry in the most captivating, funny and serious presentation of the several presentations given.

During her Talk on 22 May 2015, the actress addressed the impact gender discrimination had on budget negotiations for female filmmakers, the lack of money being one of the main issues faced within the industry. Frances McDormand made her point hit home:

"We don't need help, we need money. We don't need more initiatives; we need money."

"Women in motion - it's done! We are moving, we just need to catch up."

Read more on SydneysBuzz about the inaugural sessions of Women in Motion, Cannes 2015.

Launched jointly by Kering and the Festival de Cannes in 2015 as part of an official five year partnership, the 'Women in Motion' program celebrates women's talent in cinema. In keeping with the first edition, the 'Women in Motion' program will be comprised of its two founding pillars: the 'Women in Motion' Talks and the 'Women in Motion' Awards.

The Talks will be announced ahead of the Festival, and will highlight the contribution of women and discuss their role in the film industry.

In addition to the Talks, the first 'Women in Motion' Award will reward the exemplary contribution of a laureate to both the film industry and women's causes. The second Award will be attributed to one or several up-and-coming talents in the film industry, chosen from a shortlist of individuals compiled throughout 2015.

To watch Frances McDormand's Talk on 22 May 2015 visit Here

"I am proud that ‘Women in Motion’ has once again been given the chance to feature in the program of such a major event as the Festival de Cannes this year. In 2015, ‘Women in Motion’ proved to be a powerful platform for supporting women in cinema.

With ‘Women in Motion’ – and even more so this year, given the real support we are providing to several female directors – we are taking another step towards real awareness and tangible changes, promoting a film industry that is more representative of the richness and diversity of our societies." -François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO of the Kering Group

The ‘Women in Motion’ Talks: discussing the role and importance of women in film

Taking place as morning sessions throughout the entire competition, this year’s ‘Women in Motion’ Talks will welcome guests from outside the film industry to enrich the discussions about the place and contribution of women in cinema and underline solutions which would make the industry more representative.

· During the first edition of the ‘Women in Motion’ Talks held in 2015, a number of high-profile men and women eagerly joined the debate. Isabella Rossellini, Claire Denis, Salma Hayek Pinault, Matthias Schoenaerts, Melvil Poupaud, Isabelle Huppert, Sylvie Pialat, Agnès Varda, Thierry Frémaux, Frances McDormand and Deniz Gamze Ergüven all expressed their views on women and cinema during a series of interviews open to journalists and industry professionals.

The ‘Women in Motion’ Awards: celebrating talented women

· In addition to the talks, the 69th Cannes International Film Festival will also be marked by the presentation of the ‘Women in Motion’ Awards.

· In 2015, two honorary awards were attributed; the first to actress, producer and committed philanthropist Jane Fonda, who also holds two Oscars for best actress; and the second to independent producer Megan Ellison to celebrate the launch of the ‘Women in Motion’ programme. Both women are emblematic of their cinematic generations.

· In 2016, the first award will be presented to a laureate who has made an exemplary contribution to both the film industry and women’s causes. The first award winner will then be offered the chance to choose the recipient(s) of the second award, intended to support up-and-coming talents in the film industry, from a shortlist of individuals compiled throughout 2015. The second award will be accompanied by financial support for an ongoing film project.

· The awards will be presented on 15 May 2016, during the ‘Presidential Dinner’ organised by Kering and the Festival de Cannes and hosted by François-Henri Pinault, Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémaux.

A long-term commitment to both Women and Cinema

Kering and cinema

· From financing films and restoring works to producing documentaries and supporting producers and feature films, Kering and its Corporate Foundation have supported a number of films with a strong message: “Desert Flower” by Sherry Hormann (2009), “Home” by Yann-Arthus Bertrand (2009), “Brave Miss World” by Cecilia Peck (2013), and “Ice and Sky” by Luc Jacquet (2015).

· Kering has also been a partner of the Ecole de la Cité film school, part of the Cité du Cinéma complex created by Luc Besson, since its launch in 2012.

· Through its brands, Kering has also supported high-profile film institutions and festivals, such as the Tribeca Film Institute (New York), Britdoc (London), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) and the Lumière Festival (Lyon).

Kering and women

· Kering has been committed to empowering women for many years, primarily through the Kering Foundation, created and chaired by François-Henri Pinault, Kering Chairman and CEO, as well as the Chime for Change initiative launched by Gucci, to empower women and girls around the world.

About Kering

A world leader in apparel and accessories, Kering develops an ensemble of powerful Luxury and Sport & Lifestyle brands: Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Brioni, Christopher Kane, McQ, Stella McCartney, Tomas Maier, Boucheron, Dodo, Girard-Perregaux, JeanRichard, Pomellato, Qeelin, Ulysse Nardin, Puma, Volcom, and Cobra. By 'empowering imagination' in the fullest sense, Kering encourages its brands to reach their potential, in the most sustainable manner.

Present in more than 120 countries, the Group generated revenues of more than €11.5 billion in 2015 and had more than 38,000 employees at year end. The Kering (previously Ppr) share is listed on Euronext Paris (Fr 0000121485, Ker.Pa, Ker.Fp).

“Lady Filmmakers has been so important as a venue in Los Angeles for women filmmakers to present and screen their work, and one of the most amazing things they do is Script 2 Screen where they are actually fostering and championing talent by finding interesting writers, staging readings, and then producing short films. What other festival does this? It’s incredible.” - Producer Cecillia Peck

The 7th Annual Lady Filmmakers Festival begins today and will run throughout the weekend. Lady Filmmakers screens a record number of films directed and filmed by women! The festival boasts 4 feature films and 42 short films with several World, Us, West Coast, and La Premieres in Beverly Hills, CA. The festival kicks off with a “Havana Nights” Opening Party at the Crescent Hotel featuring Live Latin Music and Cuban inspired cuisine.

Lady Filmmakers is a festival that recognizes and celebrates the tremendous contribution of women to film and the importance in the collaborative spirit amongst men and women,” says Disalvo Viayra. One goal of the festival is to screen high quality, entertaining independent Us and international films to show people that they can enjoy Indie films just as much as the big blockbusters. The fest promotes artists and musicians, recognizes and empowers lady filmmakers, artists, and musicians from all ethnic, religious, and Lgbt communities.

Lady Filmmakers Honors Marion Rosenberg, OBE for her leadership and tremendous contributions to film. She served as Executive Producer on Columbia’s Hollow Man. She was the Executive Producer of Revolutionary Road, starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, directed by Sam Mendes for Dreamworks. Marion co-founded BAFTA La, and was its Co-Chair from 1987 to 1995. Until 2008, she served as Chair of the UK Film Council Us Advisory Board.

Lady Filmmakers is more than just a film festival. Under the new 501(c)(3) IRS Tax Exempt Charity Status, The very first Script 2 Screen Film produced by Lady Filmmakers, The Bay Laurel, written by Jan Militello, directed by Lis & Brenda Fies, premieres Sunday October 25th at 8:00 pm at the Laemmle’s Fine Arts Theater in Beverly Hills, CA. “The Bay Laurel” stars Emmy winner David Lagos.

The S2S Program is an extension of the writing contest where award-winning scripts are workshopped and given a Staged Reading in front of a live audience. The script “Pyne”, written by Ingrid Abrams, is in pre-production slated to shoot in November directed by Cecilia Peck. The film stars Adrian Pasdar, Sandra Seacat and Ajarae Coleman. This is just one of the new programs launched to create opportunities for women and diversity in film & the arts!

Special industry speakers confirmed are Ivy Kagan Bierman (Entertainment Lawyer), Tara Kole (Entertainment Lawyer), Andrew Sugerman (Premonition, Conviction), Louise Levison (The Blair Witch Project), Hammad Zaidi (Lonely Seal Releasing), Gil Cates Jr (Life After Tomorrow, Lucky, Job), Pam Dixon, Csa (Zorro, City Slickers, Gosford Park), Kerry Barden, Csa (Boys Don’t Cry, American Psycho).

This year's festival will screen films from Brazil, Norway, Spain, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Republic of Georgia, and Australia. Films will showcase up-and-coming as well as celebrity filmmakers and actors including Courteney Cox, Laura Dern, Rita Wilson, Anna Paquin, Sharon Stone, Maria Bello, Olivia Wilde, Chris Evans, Danny Glover, Glenn Close, James Brolin, and David Lynch.

Visit here for more information.

Thierry Fremaux to address women and the film industry as part of a joint venture with new sponsor Kering.

Cannes Film Festival general delegate Thierry Frémaux will tackle the controversial topic of women and film during this year’s edition, as one of the first participants in a new female-focused programme called ‘Women in Motion’.

The programme – a joint initiative between the festival and its new sponsor, the luxury goods group Kering – will feature a series of talks on women and film as well as an award celebrating talented women in the industry.

The talks will discuss a wide-range of topics related to women and film, including women’s status, representation within the profession and on screen, the nature of their narrative points of view and their perspective behind the camera, said the festival and Kering in a joint statement.

Frémaux will be one of the first high-profile guests at the inaugural edition of the talks. The full...

Thierry Fremaux to address women and the film industry as part of a joint venture with new sponsor Kering.

Cannes Film Festival general delegate Thierry Frémaux will tackle the controversial topic of women and film during this year’s edition, as one of the first participants in a new female-focused programme called ‘Women in Motion’.

The programme – a joint initiative between the festival and its new sponsor, the luxury goods group Kering – will feature a series of talks on women and film as well as an award celebrating talented women in the industry.

The talks will discuss a wide-range of topics related to women and film, including women’s status, representation within the profession and on screen, the nature of their narrative points of view and their perspective behind the camera, said the festival and Kering in a joint statement.

Frémaux will be one of the first high-profile guests at the inaugural edition of the talks. The full...

F rom the works of masters like Costa-Gavras and Asghar Farhadi to newcomers like Nagraj Manjule and Kim Mordaunt, the Mumbai Film Festival 2013 offers above 200 films to choose from for an entire week!

Anu Rangachar, the Program Director of Mumbai Film Festival, lists her 20 favourite films in the lineup.

1. The Act of Killing

Dir.: Joshua Oppenheimer (2012 / Col. / 115′)

Section: The Real Reel

The film won the Panorama Audience Award and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Berlin International Film Festival 2013 and the Cph:dox Award at the Cph:dox Film Festival 2012. It has bagged several other awards in film festivals at Istanbul, Prague, Geneva, Warsaw, Barcelona, Zagreb, Mexico, etc.

An Indonesian documentary, The Act of Killing challenges the total impunity on genocide by the death squad leaders. In 1965, Anwar Congo and his friends were promoted to the ranks of Death Squad Leaders to help the army obliterate more than one million alleged communists,...

Hard to believe it's been almost ten years since the Bush administration led the invasion of Iraq, and sometime-Austinite/Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines made her controversial comment during a 2003 London concert: "We're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas." Documentary directors Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck use behind-the-scenes from that notorious Dixie Chicks concert and others from their 2003 tour, then follow the pop-country trio as they work on their album Taking the Long Way in Shut Up and Sing.

The first time I saw this film was in 2006 at a free screening put on by Norman Lear's liberal org People for the American Way. Those were some angry, frustrated days. Since then I've spotted Natalie Maines at the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar (while her dad Lloyd accompanied Terri Hendrix) and the Dixie Chicks have gone on hiatus. 

read more...

2016 movie still trailing Michael Moore, Al Gore 2016 Obama's America, Dinesh D'Souza and John Sullivan's anti-Obama documentary, has surpassed the concert movie Katy Perry: Part of Me to become the second highest-grossing non-fiction film released in North America in 2012. By Sunday evening, D'Souza and Sullivan's right-wing doc -- current cume according to the web site Box Office Mojo stands at an estimated $27.66 million (as of Wed., September 13) -- should have also surpassed the nature doc Chimpanzee ($28.97 million) to become the year's top documentary in the United States and Canada. Worldwide, 2016 -- a 100% domestic sleeper hit like, say, the Tyler Perry movies (which have no audience overseas) -- remains behind both Chimpanzee (another domestic-only release) and Katy Perry: Part of Me. (Please scroll down for more details about the box-office performances of non-fiction films worldwide both in 2012 and "all-time.") As per numerous box-office reports, as the sixth biggest non-fiction film ever (or rather,...

Veronique Peck, the widow of legendary actor Gregory Peck and a long-time active figure in the cultural life of Los Angeles, died Friday, August 17 at her home in Los Angeles.  She was 80.  The cause was heart failure, said her children, Anthony Peck and Cecilia Peck Voll. She and Gregory Peck were married for nearly 50 years, until his death in 2003. Witty, intellectual, and a sparkling conversationalist known for hosting lively soirees in her Holmby Hills home, Veronique Passani Peck was born in Paris, the daughter of architect Antoine Passani, and...

I like this title, so I found the news.

During our recent interview with Ellis Perez, the Director General of the Dominican Republic's film organization DGCine which you can read tomorrow, he mentioned an interesting factoid about Dr. Aside from its being the site of Christopher Columbus' second landing in 1492 and his naming the country Hispanola, its being the site of the first permanent European settlement in the Americas, its sharing 1/3 of the island with Haiti, and its reign of terror by the dictator Trujillo from 1930 until his assassination in 1961, there was one good act performed by El Jefe. That was his open-door policy which accepted Jewish refugees from Europe, Japanese migration during the 1930s, and exiles from Spain following its civil war. In 1939 Trujillo took in German and Austrian Jewish refugees and gave them a safe haven in Puerto Plata province's town Sosua where many still live or have returned after being educated abroad. Another coincidental connection of the Dr to the Jews is that the current President Leonel Fernandez spent most of his childhood and teenaged years in Washington Heights during its transition from being a German Jewish neighborhood to becoming the Dominican neighborhood it is today.

And speaking of New York, here is a second Jews in the News item which also includes a doc about Sosua!

The New York-based Foundation for Jewish Culture has granted finishing funds to six documentaries.

Finishing funds ranging between $12,000 and $40,000 have recently been granted to six documentaries. The funds are designed to enable the filmmakers to pay licence fees for music and archival footage, complete additional editing and shooting and build audience awareness through outreach and engagement strategies.

The grants fall under the Foundation’s Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film which supports projects expanding understanding of the Jewish experience. 80 projects made applications this year and the final six recipients were selected by a panel including Moma’s Sally Berger, filmmaker Nicole Opper, film critic George Robinson and Daniella Tourgeman from the Jerusalem Cinematheque/ Israel Film Archive.

The fund has supported the completion of over 80 films since 1996 including Waltz With Bashir, Budrus, William Kunstler: Disturbing The Universe and The Rape Of Europa.

The winning projects are:

· Sosua: Dare To Dance Together directed and produced by Peter Miller and Renee Silverman, which follows Jewish and Dominican teenagers over the course of the year as they create a musical theatre piece about German Jews finding refuge in the Dominican Republic in the late 1930s.

How To Re-Establish A Vodka Empire directed by Dan Edelstyn, which traces the history of the film-maker’s Jewish grandmother who fled the Bolshevik revolution and settled in strife-torn Belfast.

· Miss World directed by Cecilia Peck (Shut Up And Sing), which is the story of Israeli beauty pageant queen Linor Abargil and her crusade to combat sexual violence against women.

· My Father Evgeni directed and produced by Andrei Zagdansky, follows the filmmaker’s history working with his father for the Kiev Popular Science Film Studios.

· The Return directed and produced by Adam Zucker (Greensboro: Closer To The Truth), which follows four young Polish women who were raised Catholic only to discover that they were born Jewish.

· Watchers Of The Sky directed by Edet Belzberg (Children Underground) which interweaves stories of four visionaries with the journey of lawyer Raphael Lemkin who drafted and pushed through the Un Genocide Convention.

Gregory Peck's daughter Cecilia Peck discusses her father's classic role as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird

There are certain books that are essentially required reading for nearly every American high school student, no matter where they may hail from. One of those literary classics is Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, which was adapted into the classic film starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, still one of the most beloved performances of all time. Universal Studios Home Entertainment is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of To Kill a Mockingbird with brand new Blu-ray and DVD editions arriving January 31. I had the privilege of speaking with Gregory Peck's daughter, Cecilia Peck, about this timeless classic which finally makes its debut on Blu-ray. Here's what she had to say below.

It's so great that this is getting a Blu-ray version. I don't think I've seen this since high school,...

To Kill a Mockingbird Blu-ray Contest Giveaway Sweepstakes. This To Kill a Mockingbird: 50th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray contest, giveaway, sweepstakes illustrates To Kill a Mockingbird‘s release by Universal Studios Home Entertainment on Blu-ray and one (1) lucky winner will win it.

Robert Mulligan‘s To Kill a Mockingbird stars Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton, Rosemary Murphy, Ruth White, Brock Peters, Robert Duvall, and Richard Hale.

To Kill a Mockingbird‘s plot synopsis: “Atticus Finch, a lawyer in the Depression-era South, defends a black man against a rape charge, and his kids against prejudice.”

For more To Kill a Mockingbird‘ photos, videos, and information, visit our To Kill a Mockingbird Page.

Win a Blu-ray copy of To Kill A Mockingbird

50th Anniversary Edition

To Kill A Mockingbird: Top Ten American Classics of Our Time

Digitally Remastered and Fully Restored with Over Three Hours of Bonus Materials Including Two...

Universal Studios Home Entertainment will release the 1962 classic To Kill a Mockingbird in new 50th Anniversary editions on Blu-ray and DVD January 31. We have a contest running and we're giving away copies of this Blu-ray set to our readers. These prizes will surely go fast, so enter this contest today.

Winners Receive:

To Kill a Mockingbird Blu-ray

Here's How To Win!

Just "Like" (fan) the MovieWeb Facebook page (below) and then leave a comment below telling us why these prizes must be yours!

If you already "Like" MovieWeb, just leave a comment below telling us why these prizes must be yours!

Experience one of the most significant milestones in film history like never before with To Kill a Mockingbird 50th Anniversary Edition. Screen legend Gregory Peck stars as courageous Southern lawyer Atticus Finch - the Academy Award-winning performance hailed by the American Film Institute as the Greatest Movie Hero of All Time.

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Jan. 31, 2012

Price: DVD $19.98, Blu-ray $26.98, Collector’s Series Blu-ray $39.99

Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment

The high-definition Blu-ray debut of classic Academy Award-winning film To Kill a Mockingbird is a 50th Anniversary Edition.

Originally released in theaters in 1962, To Kill a Mockingbird is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee. The movie stars Gregory Peck (The Guns of Navarone) as Atticus Finch, a lawyer in Depression-era Alabama who defends a black man (Brock Peters, Soylent Green) against an undeserved rape charge and deals with prejudice against his own children.

To Kill a Mockingbird also stars Robert Duvall (Crazy Heart) in his first feature film role.

Nominated for eight Oscars, the drama movie won statues for Best Actor (Peck), Best Art Direction and Best Adapted Screenplay. It also was up for supporting actress Mary Badham (Our Very Own), Russell Harlan’s (Hawaii) cinematography, Robert Mulligan’s (Same Time,...

Announcements on a few films coming to blu-ray have recently come out so, and rather than slam you with several quick news updates, I thought it'd be easier to digest in this quick little News Bits style format.

* First up, Fox has announced that What's Your Number, starring Anna Farris and Chris Evans, will be hitting blu-ray and DVD, on January 10th, 2012, and will include an all new uncensored and extended cut of the film. Here's the synopsis:

After reading a magazine article that insists if a woman has slept with at least 20 people that they have already missed Mr. Right, marketing executive Ally Darling (Anna Faris) begins to panic, thinking that she will be alone forever. With the help of her hunky new neighbor (Chris Evans), Ally starts tracking down all her ex-boyfriends, hoping to find her real true love while she helps him escape his latest fling. Hilarious...

Digitally Remastered and Fully Restored with Over Three Hours

of Bonus Materials Including Two Full Length Documentaries

To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the screen.s most beloved and critically acclaimed films, celebrates its 50th anniversary with a commemorative Limited Edition Collector.s Series Blu-ray. Combo Pack as well as on Blu-ray. Combo Pack and DVD from Universal Studios Home Entertainment on January 31, 2012. The powerful and poignant adaptation of Harper Lee.s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel hits the half-century mark, digitally remastered and fully restored from high resolution 35Mm original film elements, plus more than three-and-a-half hours of bonus features chronicling the making of the cinematic masterpiece.

The Limited Edition Collector.s Series Combo Pack of To Kill a Mockingbird: 50th Anniversary Edition will include a Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy of the film, packaged in a hardcover book featuring exclusive movie memorabilia including script pages with Gregory Peck.s handwritten notes,...

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has announced To Kill a Mockingbird will be released in new Blu-ray and DVD editions on January 31, 2012. The studio has also released the Blu-ray trailer for To Kill a Mockingbird, which you can watch below. You can also read the full press release with official details on these special editions below the trailer.

Click to watch To Kill a Mockingbird Blu-ray Trailer!

To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the screen's most beloved and critically acclaimed films, celebrates its 50th anniversary with a commemorative Limited Edition Collector's Series Blu-ray Combo Pack as well as on Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD from Universal Studios Home Entertainment on January 31, 2012. The powerful and poignant adaptation of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel hits the half-century mark, digitally remastered and fully restored from high resolution 35Mm original film elements, plus more than three-and-a-half hours of bonus features chronicling the making of the cinematic masterpiece.

Chicago – As far as punk rock electroclash bands go, concertgoers would be hard pressed to find one as vibrant, charismatic and thrillingly alive as Le Tigre. It’s a band that I had no knowledge of prior to viewing this documentary, and though the film itself is a rather unexceptional tour video, it has made me an instant fan of the group, whose witty and catchy rhythms are simply irresistible.

Comprised of former “Bikini Kill” vocalist Kathleen Hanna, Johanna Fateman and Jocelyn “Jd” Samson, Le Tigre is entrenched in the feminist politics and Diy aesthetics of the “riot grrrl movement” that came to fruition in the early ’90s. Their work promotes both female empowerment and Lgbt equality, while their performance style is both playful and impassioned. A series of well-edited concert montages effectively convey their onstage exuberance, but there’s little in the offstage footage that’s of much substance.

Sharon Stone and Dixie Chicks star Natalie Maines will honour movie icon Gregory Peck when the To Kill A Mockingbird star is feted with a commemorative stamp at the end of April.

The stars will join Morgan Freeman and Laura Dern on the first day of the issue, featuring the legend as Atticus Finch in the 1962 movie - which won him a Best Actor Oscar - at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Hollywood.

The ceremony will feature film clips highlighting Peck’s career interspersed with remarks from family and friends.

Stamps will be available to purchase from the U.S. Postal Service in the Academy’s lobby prior to the event on 28 April.

The stars hosting the celebration might seem random, but Stone, Freeman and Dern are all friends of the Peck family, and Maines is a close friend of Cecilia Peck, Gregory’s daughter, who produced Dixie Chicks documentary Shut Up & Sing.

Lucy Walker's Oscar short-list documentary Waste Land took two top honors as distinguished feature as well as the previously announced Pare Lorentz Award at the 2010 International Documentary Association (Ida) Awards Friday night, hosted by Morgan Spurlock. Waste Land follows artist Vik Muniz on a journey from his home in Brooklyn to his native Brazil to visit the world's largest garbage dump. The Short Award went to HBO’s Woman Rebel, directed by Kiran Deol, about a female soldier in Nepal’s People’s Liberation Army who runs for office and is elected a government official. Producer and director Cecilia Peck presented Ida’s Career Achievement Award to her friend and collaborator, Barbara Kopple (Oscar-winner for Harlan County USA and American Dream). The complete list of winners is below. ...

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For the last couple of years, I've developed something called the "Truth in Advertising" awards, meant to distinguish films whose titles kept their promises from those that did not. Previous winners include Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and There Will Be Blood. Previous losers include March of the Penguins (more like Agonizingly Long Slog of the Penguins) and Man on Fire (more like Nobody On Fire, Ever). All time loser goes to My Life as a Dog. My Best Friend is A Vampire is kind of a draw, because at no point is the lead character's best friend a vampire. However, our lead character does become a vampire, and since he has a best friend, I can't claim that it was totally misleading. Still, kind of a strange choice for this film's plot, which goes as follows:

Jeremy Capello (Robert Sean Leonard...

 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has winnowed the list of feature length documentaries competing in the 79th Annual Academy Awards down to a short list of fifteen films. The titles range from Amy Berg's Deliver Us From Evil, a portrait of a pedophile priest to Davis Guggenheim's warning about global warming An Inconvenient Truth to the Dixie Chicks documentary Shut Up & Sing, directed by Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck.

 The complete list of films includes: Blindsight, Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?, Deliver Us From Evil, The Ground Truth, An Inconvenient Truth, Iraq in Fragments, Jesus Camp, Jonestown: The Life and Death of People's Temple, My Country, My Country, Shut Up & Sing, Sisters in Law, Storm of Emotions, The Trials of Darryl Hunt, An Unreasonable Man, and The War Tapes.

The 28th annual Aspen Filmfest, set for Sept. 26-Oct. 1 in Aspen, Carbondale and Glenwood Springs, Colo., will honor Harrison Ford with its Independent by Nature Award. The fest, which will close with Stephen Frears' The Queen, will feature such documentaries as Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck's Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, and David Leaf and John Scheinfeld's The U.S. vs. John Lennon.