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Vivek Chaudhary’s Indian entry I, Poppy, has been named Hot Docs Best International Feature Documentary as the Toronto festival running April 24-May 4 entered its final weekend.

The film follows a son who fights corrupt officials while his mother tends their poppy farm in India and received a Cad $10,000cash prize. Hot Docs is an Academy Awards-qualifying festival for feature documentaries and I Poppy will qualify for consideration in the category without the standard theatrical run, provided it complies with Academy rules.

The Hot Docs Emerging International Filmmaker Award went to Amilcar Infante and Sebastian Gonzalez Mendez for Unwelcomed, which...

Spacey Unmasked, the Channel 4-Max documentary series detailing new allegations against the double-Oscar winner, has been nominated at the prestigious UK Grierson Awards, as the shortlist in each category is whittled down from eight docs to four.

Spacey Unmasked is nominated in the new Best Popular Culture Documentary category, which depicts people, events, movements or trends that have had a major impact on popular culture in recent years. The series is up against Arena – Being Kae Tempest, Big Zuu Goes to Mecca and Milli Vanilli, the latter of which is also nominated in the Best Music Documentary category.

From Mike Lerner and Dorothy Byrne, Spacey Unmasked detailed sexual misconduct allegations by 10 men against Spacey, which he denies, coming around a year after he was acquitted of sex crimes in a UK trial.

Meanwhile, Netflix’s American Nightmare, which came seventh in the streamer’s most-watched shows of the first...

After stirring controversy in Venice with her documentary Russians at War, and seeing her North American premiere postponed in Toronto over apparent security threats, director Anastasia Trofimova on Tuesday said she still doesn’t understand the political reasons for the Russia-Ukraine war.

“The reason I went into this war is to understand the people who are fighting. In terms of finding political reasons, I still don’t know,” the Russian-Canadian filmmaker said during a post-screening Q&a as she defended the film being made while Trofimova was embedded with a Russian army battalion in Eastern Ukraine.

She was responding to a TIFF filmgoer asking if Trofimova had learned anything from her three years making Russians at War. “I say, I still don’t understand the reasons behind this war. If you do, and everything is so clear, I mean, I congratulate you. But I don’t. I don’t really know,...

Hello Insiders. It’s getting colder in Europe, but the news in TV and film has been hot and spicy in the week Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris. Jesse Whittock here taking you. Let’s go, and don’t forget to sign up here.

TIFF’s Russia Doc Pulled

‘Russians at War’ director Anastasia Trofimova in Venice

War doc shelved: This year’s Toronto Film Festival had been surprisingly quiet until Thursday afternoon when the festival said it had paused upcoming screenings of Russian-Canadian director Anastasia Trofimova’s documentary Russians at War “effective immediately” after learning about “significant threats to festival operations and public safety.” The decision was made “in order to ensure the safety of all festival guests, staff, and volunteers,” TIFF said in a statement, adding, “This is an unprecedented move.” Russians at War provides a rare insight into life for Russian soldiers on the frontline in Ukraine.

Updated with producers’ response: The Toronto Film Festival said Thursday that it has paused upcoming screenings of Russian-Canadian director Anastasia Trofimova’s documentary Russians at War “effective immediately” after learning about “significant threats to festival operations and public safety.”

“While we stand firm on our statement shared yesterday, this decision has been made in order to ensure the safety of all festival guests, staff, and volunteers,” TIFF said in a statement today, adding, “This is an unprecedented move for TIFF.”

Russians at War provides a rare insight into life for Russian soldiers on the frontline in Ukraine. Trofimova embedded herself under the radar with Russian troops after making the connection via a soldier she met on a train as he returned home briefly from the front to visit his family. Her aim, she said, was not to glorify the Russian troops, but rather to get to the bottom of what as happening on the frontline.

Russian-Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova has responded to a protest at the Toronto Film Festival on Tuesday against her controversial Russians at War documentary ahead of a North American premiere on Friday.

Trofimova tells The Hollywood Reporter her first-person film has her talking to ordinary Russian soldiers over seven months in Ukraine to get a perspective no one else, including official Russian TV or Western journalists, has captured.

“Because of the geopolitical climate that exists, these guys [Russian soldiers] just wanted to share with someone. Yes, I went there and no one else has,” she explains. Her comments follow the Ukrainian-Canadian community protesting the Toronto Film Festival giving Trofimova’s film a North American premiere on Friday after a world premiere in Venice.

Ukrainian-Canadian protest outside TIFF Lightbox.

Around 400 Ukrainian Torontonians gathered outside TIFF Lightbox, the headquarters of the major film festival. They held signs that read “‘Russians at War’ Justifies and Victimizes...

Russian-Canadian director Anastasia Trofimova’s doc Russians at War makes its North American debut in Toronto this week, following a world premiere in Venice, amid calls from Ukrainian diplomats in Canada for the festival to pull the film.

The two-hour work, for which Trofimova embedded with Russian soldiers serving in Ukraine over a period of seven months, gives never before seen insight into their lives on the frontline.

But the empathetic gaze on these men and women as Russia continues to wage war in Ukraine – in a military campaign that has caused at least 35,000 civilian casualties, including 11,520 deaths; flattened cities, towns and villages, and displaced 16 million people – has provoked outrage in some quarters.

Comments on Deadline to an article on the film out of the Venice press conference, have likened Trofimova to German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, who was branded a Nazi propagandist for her films Triumph of the Will and Olympia,...

The Russian-Canadian director of documentary Russians At War, which is screening Out of Competition in Venice, has pushed back against suggestions that the film is an attempt to whitewash war crimes by Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

Anastasia Trofimova spent seven months embedded under the radar with a Russian army battalion in Eastern Ukraine for the documentary giving a rare insight into the lives of Russian troops.

The work ultimately presents a portrait of ordinary men grappling to make sense of what they are doing on the front, living in harsh conditions and risking their lives thousands of miles from friends and family.

Related: Lady Gaga, Joaquin Phoenix & Todd Phillips On Why ‘Joker: Folie À Deux’ Isn’t Really A Musical, Phoenix Also Talks Exit From Todd Haynes Pic — Venice

Estimates are varied but between 66,000 to 120,000 Russian soldiers are reported to have died in the invasion, with equally heavy military casualties on the Ukrainian side,...

Refresh for updates: The votes are in, the tuxes are pressed, and the envelopes are sealed: It’s time for the 96th Academy Awards. Deadline is updating the winners list live as they are announced, so check it out below.

Christopher Nolan’s near-billion-dollar juggernaut Oppenheimer has been collecting trophies at nearly every stop this awards season and comes into the ceremony as the odds-on favorite for Best Picture, among other nods. It’s vying for the Big Prize on Hollywood’s Big Night against the No. 1 movie of 2023, Barbie, along with American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Past Lives, Poor Things and The Zone of Interest.

Here are the winners announced so far at the Oscars, followed by the remaining nominees:

Winners

Tba

Nominees

Best Picture

American Fiction

Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson, Producers

Anatomy of a Fall...

Updated with news that Ranjit will attend the Oscars as director Nisha Pahuja’s guest. It’s a momentous weekend for To Kill a Tiger, the award-winning documentary directed by Nisha Pahuja.

The film about an Indian man’s longshot fight for justice for his daughter debuts on Netflix on Sunday, the very day it competes at the Oscars for Best Documentary Feature. Pahuja began work on To Kill a Tiger almost a decade ago, filming primarily in a small village in India’s Jharkhand state.

“It’s been a long, fascinating 9 year journey with To Kill a Tiger and to be here at this juncture–to announce we’re releasing globally on Netflix on March 10th, Oscar Sunday, we simply couldn’t have asked for anything better,” Pahuja said in a statement. “I’m filled with gratitude for all the partners along the way–our co-Producer the National Film Board of Canada,...

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys

2024 Oscars Predictions:

Best Documentary Feature

Weekly Commentary: With the Directors Guild of America and BAFTA Awards in hand, in addition to the tragic news of the death of Alexei Navalny, the subject of the Oscar-winning “Navalny” last year, “20 Days in Mariupol” is too important to ignore.

Will Win:...

Netflix has secured worldwide rights to Oscar-nominated documentary To Kill A Tiger and actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas has joined the feature as executive producer.

Directed by India-born Canadian filmmaker Nisha Pahuja, the documentary follows a farmer in India who fights to see justice served on three men who sexually assaulted his daughter when she was 13 years old. It premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in 2022, where it won the Amplify Voices Award, and won best documentary at Palm Springs.

A release date on Netflix has yet to be announced.

Indian actress Chopra joins a string of high-profile executive producers championing...

Disney+ Hotstar announced today that the 96th Oscars® will be live-streamed in India on Monday, March 11 at 4 Am Ist. Emmy Award-winning late-night talk show host and producer Jimmy Kimmel will return to host the live show for the fourth time.

Actor In A Leading Role (Nominees)

Bradley Cooper

Maestro

Colman Domingo

Rustin

Paul Giamatti

The Holdovers

Cillian Murphy

Oppenheimer

Jeffrey Wright

American Fiction

Actor In A Supporting Role (Nominees)

Sterling K. Brown

American Fiction

Robert De Niro

Killers of the Flower Moon

Robert Downey Jr.

Oppenheimer

Ryan Gosling

Barbie

Mark Ruffalo

Poor Things

Actress In A Leading Role (Nominees)

Annette Bening

Nyad

Lily Gladstone

Killers of the Flower Moon

Sandra HÜLLER

Anatomy of a Fall

Carey Mulligan

Maestro

Emma Stone

Poor Things

Actress In A Supporting Role (Nominees)

Emily Blunt

Oppenheimer

Danielle Brooks

The Color Purple

America Ferrera

Barbie

Jodie Foster

Nyad

Da’Vine Joy Randolph

The Holdovers

Animated Feature Film...

Major news today for Oscar-nominee To Kill a Tiger. Actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas is joining the award-winning feature documentary as an executive producer, alongside Dev Patel, Mindy Kaling, and other bold-faced names. The news comes as Netflix inks a deal to launch the film globally on its platform soon.

“Priyanka has stood as an unwavering advocate for the film since debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022,” a release noted, “captivated by its poignant narrative depicting a father’s valiant struggle within the judicial system to secure justice for his daughter.”

Ranjit’s daughter in ‘To Kill a Tiger’

To Kill a Tiger, directed by Nisha Pahuja, has earned two dozen awards around the world, including Best Documentary at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the Amplify Voices Award at TIFF, and Best Feature Documentary at the Canadian Screen Awards. Pahuja earned the 2023 Excellence in Documentary Award from the Directors Guild of Canada.

Exclusive: Nisha Pahuja’s Oscar-nominated documentary To Kill a Tiger is returning to theaters this Friday, extending through the end of the month.

The film will be showcased in select specialty theaters across the U.S., according to a release, including (but not limited to) Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Phoenix, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Washington DC, and Dallas.

“To Kill a Tiger follows a riveting story of Ranjit, a farmer in Jharkhand, India, who takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the victim of sexual assault,” notes a description of the film. “The documentary highlights Ranjit’s relentless support for his daughter, a feat that is virtually unheard of in India.”

Director Nisha Pahuja attends a special screening of ‘To Kill a Tiger’ in London.

Pahuja, an Emmy nominee for the 2014 documentary The World Before Her, earned the first Oscar...

India’s To Kill A Tiger At The 2024 Oscars (Picture Credit: Facebook & Instagram)

India has once again got the chance to shine in the 2024 Oscars because of To Kill A Tiger, which has been nominated for the Best Documentary Feature. Last year, SS Rajamouli’s Rrr and Guneet Monga‘s The Elephant Whisperers made us proud. Delhi-born Nisha Pahuja has directed the film. It deals with a susceptible subject revolving around a sexually assaulted victim. Filmmaker Nisha hopes that this recognition gained by the film will help in bringing attention to the survivors of sexual violence.

About Nisha Pahuja

Pahuja and her family moved to Canada in the 1970s. She studied English Literature at the University of Toronto and, after meeting with local Canadian producer Geeta Sondi, whom Sondhi hired as a researcher on a CBC documentary, she became a documentary filmmaker.

After the terrifying 2012 Delhi gang r*pe To Kill A Tiger,...

Nisha Pahuja, whose film To Kill a Tiger received a nomination in the best feature documentary category for the 2024 Oscars, says she learnt about the honor along with the rest of the world while watching the live announcement.

“I was in shock. I couldn’t believe it. I was over the moon. Yeah, I just couldn’t believe it,” Pahuja told The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday morning about her emotional reaction. To Kill a Tiger follows Ranjit, a farmer in Jharkhand, India, who takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, Kiran, after she survived a sexual assault by three men in 2017.

Out of a father’s love for his daughter and his uphill battle for justice for her has come the Oscar nomination for Pahuja, who was born in New Delhi and raised in Toronto. But aside from her career milestone, the...

The documentary film ‘To Kill a Tiger’, directed by Indian-born Canadian filmmaker Nisha Pahuja, has been nominated for the upcoming edition of the Oscar awards. The film has been nominated in the Documentary Feature Film category.

The fellow nominees are ‘Bobi Wine: The People’s President’, ‘The Eternal Memory’, ‘Four Daughters’,and ‘20 Days in Mariupol’.

‘To Kill a Tiger’ follows the story of a family in Jharkhand, India, who are campaigning for justice after their teenage daughter was brutally raped. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022. It had its American premiere at the Lighthouse International Film Festival in June 2023.

The film’s official website states about the story, “Ranjit goes to the police, and the men are arrested. But Ranjit’s relief is short-lived, as the villagers and their leaders launch a sustained campaign to force the family to drop the charges. A cinematic documentary, ‘To Kill a Tiger...

Oscar Nominations 2024 Full List (Photo Credit – Instagram/IMDb)

Oscar Nominations 2024: It is time for the most significant awards in the film industry. Yes, we are talking about the 96th Academy Awards. Oppenheimer has successfully dominated this year’s awards, including the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards. Scroll below to find out the nominations for this year’s awards.

The Boys star, Jack Quaid, and the Deadpool 2 star, Zazie Beetz, announced the nominations this year. For the unversed, Jack was also a part of the 2023 blockbuster Oppenheimer.

Jack Quaid and Zazie Beetz will be announcing the nominations across 23 categories. Last year, India’s Rrr made history by bagging the Oscar for the song Naatu Naatu. Let’s see how many nominations are secured by Oppenheimer. Will Robert Downey Jr and Cillian Murphy get the award for their performance? Or Barbie’s Margot Robbie win the Best Actress in a Leading Role?...

Oppenheimer leads the 2024 Oscar nominations, which were unveiled Tuesday morning.

The film nabbed a total of 13 noms, followed by Poor Things with 11, Killers of the Flower Moon with 10 and Barbie with eight.

All four films will compete for best picture of the year, along with American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, Maestro, Past Lives and The Zone of Interest.

Among those setting records with their noms were Lily Gladstone, who is the first Native American acting nominee, and Martin Scorsese, who is now the most nominated living movie director.

Meanwhile, the high-profile snubs included Leonardo DiCaprio and Greta Gerwig.

Zazie Beetz and Jack Quaid announced the nominees in all 23 categories live from the Film Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The 2024 Oscars are the first in which films must meet two of four representation and inclusion standards in order to be eligible for the top prize of best picture.

Mindy Kaling and Dev Patel have boarded the doc To Kill a Tiger as executive producers prior to the film’s Oct. 20 release.

The synopsis for the film reads: “Ranjit, a farmer in India, takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the victim of a brutal gang rape. His decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented.”

Nisha Pahuja, whose previous work includes doc The World Before Her, directs the feature, which screened at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival and has earned three Canadian Screen Awards. To Kill a Tiger is Notice Pictures production in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada.

“I feel so lucky to be part of this remarkable film by the gifted filmmaker, Nisha Pahuja. The story is heart-wrenching but triumphant, and stays with you long after you’ve seen it. To Kill...

Hot Docs has announced the winners of the festival's 2012 awards, with Nisha Pahuja's "The World Before Her" and Malika Zouhali-Worrall and Katherine Fairfax Wright's "Call Me Kuchu" taking top prizes in the Canadian and international categories, respectively. The ceremony took place at the Windsor Arms Hotel in Toronto last night. Ten awards and $71,000 in cash prizes were presented to filmmakers. The award for Best Canadian Feature was presented to The World Before Her (D: Nisha Pahuja; P: Cornelia Principe, Nisha Pahuja, Ed Barreveld), a look at the clash between modernity and tradition faced by young women in India. Sponsored by the Documentary Organization of Canada, the award includes a $10,000 prize courtesy of Hot Docs. “For its brave and provocative exploration of the role of women at its two extremes in contemporary Indian society, the jury recognizes the exceptional storytelling of The World Before Her," the...

Documentaries, especially feature length ones are becoming harder and harder to finance. This one took a very long time. Normally the process is– we find a key Canadian broadcaster and then work our way around the globe. But the Canadian doc industry has been hit hard and most broadcasters were not able to get involved.

The World Before Her, a documentary by Indo-Canadian filmmaker Nisha Pahuja opens the World Documentary Competition at the

Still from The World Before Her

11th Tribeca Film Festival in April. The film portrays the situation of contemporary women in India, drawing parallels between those nurtured in modern vis-à-vis traditional cultures. It follows the journey of girls participating in the Miss India pageant in contrast with girls in a camp of Durga Vahini, the women’s wing of Vishva Hindu Parishad. Nisha Pahuja talks about her experiences and discoveries while making this film:

What was the idea you started out with?...