News

Amy Stechler, the Emmy-nominated filmmaker of PBS’s The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo (2005) and the ex-wife and early collaborator of documentarian Ken Burns, died Friday, Aug. 26, at her home in Walpole, N.H. She was 67.

Her death was announced to The New York Times by daughters Sarah and Lilly Burns, who said that Stechler had been in declining health due to multiple sclerosis.

Stechler and Burns attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., in the 1970s. After Burns and two other Hampshire classmates, Roger Sherman and Buddy Squires, formed Florentine Films in 1976, Stechler soon joined the venture. The group’s first project was the Oscar-nominated documentary Brooklyn Bridge, which made the festival rounds in 1981 and aired on PBS in 1982.

Stechler and Burns married in 1982 and divorced in 1993. During that time, the couple collaborated on the 1984 documentary The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God, and the following year Stechler...

Nate Parker’s “American Skin” has been added to the Venice Film Festival lineup in the fest’s Sconfini section.

The film, about a black Iraq War veteran who seeks justice for his son killed in a shooting, is the first feature from Parker since his 2016 slavery drama “The Birth of a Nation.”

Parker wrote, directed and stars in the L.A.-set film, which addresses timely subjects like police violence and enduring racism in American society. Co-stars include Omari Hardwick (“Power”), Theo Rossi (“Sons of Anarchy)” and Beau Knapp (“Southpaw”).

Parker plays U.S. Marine veteran Lincoln Jefferson who is working as a janitor at a prestigious California junior high school in California and trying to mend his relationship with his son after his divorce.

Also Read: Venice Festival Juror Jennifer Kent Disappointed by Lack of Female Directors in Competition This Year

When his son is killed during a routine police check,...

The section will also include Graeme A. Scott’s ‘Beyond The Beach: The Hell And The Hope’.

American Skin, the second feature from controversial The Birth Of A Nation director Nate Parker, is one of two world premieres added to the out of competition Sconfini section of this year’s Venice Film Festival (August 28 – September 7).

The festival has also added Beyond The Beach: The Hell And The Hope, a documentary directed by UK producer Graeme A. Scott and Us cinematographer Buddy Squires.

American Skin is about a janitor and Marine veteran Lincoln Jefferson (played by Parker), who takes a police...

The section will also include Graeme A. Scott’s ‘Beyond The Beach: The Hell And The Hope’.

American Skin, the second feature from The Birth Of A Nation director Nate Parker, is one of two world premiere titles added to the Sconfini section of this year’s Venice Film Festival (August 28 – September 7).

The festival has also added Beyond The Beach: The Hell And The Hope, a documentary directed by UK producer Graeme A. Scott and Us cinematographer Buddy Squires.

American Skin is about a janitor and Marine veteran Lincoln Jefferson (played by Parker), who takes a police station hostage after...

The Venice Film Festival has added Birth Of A Nation filmmaker Nate Parker’s American Skin to its Sconfini section, a move that is likely to draw increased attention to the Lido event. The drama about police violence and racism in America is directed, written by and stars Parker and is his first feature since news of rape allegations from his college days surfaced during the release of Birth Of A Nation in 2016. Parker had stood trial in 1999 and was acquitted of the charges, but the controversy derailed his promising directing debut.

In American Skin, Parker plays Lincoln Jefferson, a Marine veteran, and now a janitor at a prestigious junior high school in California, who is trying to mend his relationship with his son after his divorce. One day, during a routine police check, the boy is killed, but the officer guilty of shooting him is declared innocent without having to face trial.

U.S. director Nate Parker’s drama “American Skin,” his second feature after “The Birth of a Nation,” has been added to the Venice Film Festival lineup.

Parker both directs and stars in the movie, which will have its world premiere on the Lido. He plays Lincoln, a Marine veteran who now works as a school janitor and is trying to mend his relationship with his son after his divorce. One day, during a routine police check, the boy is killed, but the officer guilty of shooting him is declared innocent without having to face trial. Lincoln then takes matters into his own hands.

After “The Birth of a Nation” made a splash, winning a prize at Sundance in 2016, Parker found himself engulfed in controversy after it emerged that he had once been charged with — but acquitted of — rape.

Spike Lee is expected attend the premiere of “American Skin,” which...

The pretty faces that give Hollywood its glamour eventually fade, but Alexandra Hall’s documentary reveals a remarkable woman who parlayed her beauty into an incredible life — from nude scenes in a notorious 1933 Austrian film, to eleven years in Hollywood as MGM’s ‘most beautiful girl in the world’, to a seemingly incompatible achievement: she invented a revolutionary communications technology for the WW2 war effort, and only belatedly received credit for it. A remarkable audio interview with the legendary lady brings a fabulous life into focus.

Bombshell, The Hedy Lamarr Story

Blu-ray

Kino Lorber / Zeitgeist

2017 / Color & B&W / 1:78 widescreen / 88 min. / Street Date April 24, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 22.99

Starring: Hedy Lamarr, Jeanine Basinger, Peter Bogdanovich, Mel Brooks, Gillian Jacobs, Wendy Colton, Jan-Christopher Horak, Diane Kruger, Guy Livingston, Anthony Loder, Jimmy Loder, Lodi Loder, Denise Loder-DeLuca, Art McTighe, Fleming Meeks, Robert Osborne.

Cinematography: Buddy Squires, Alex Stikich

Film Editor: Alexandra Dean,...

A Montana rancher, a Kansas farmer and a Louisiana commercial fishermen might not necessarily fit our stereotype of environmental activist, but as the new documentary “Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman” shows the drastic changes to the earth’s environment are directly affecting the professions these men love. In this epic documentary, based on best-selling author Miriam Horn’s book, co-directors Susan Froemke, John Hoffman and Beth Aala had to rely on three different cinematographers to capture the three men’s stories and the stunning landscapes they call their office.

Cinematographer Bob Richman’s work was largely focused on the capturing the footage shot of ranching in Montana, while DPs Buddy Squires and Thorsten Thielow were tasked with shooting in Kansas and Louisiana.

IndieWire recently caught up with Richman to learn about how he approached capturing the majesty of “Big Sky” country and the life of a rancher.

What camera and lenses did you use?...

It took a team of four seasoned documentary DPs to capture the stories of Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman. Shot in Montana, Kansas and Louisiana, the film documents the lives of three men (the titular rancher, farmer and fisherman) who act as environmental conservationists in their respective fields. Directors Susan Froemke and John Hoffman have the action unfold in a vérité fashion, which stresses the land and the people who work it. Among the DPs they hired for the project were Bob Richman (An Inconvenient Truth), Buddy Squires (The Central Park Five) and Thorsten Thielow (30 for 30). Below, these three cinematographers discuss the unique challenges […]...

Check out a fresh poster from Shane Salerno's Salinger documentary including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Edward Norton, John Cusack, Danny DeVito, John Guare, Martin Sheen, David Milch, Robert Towne, Tom Wolfe, E.L. Doctorow, Gore Vidal and Pulitzer Prize winners A. Scott Berg and Elizabeth Frank, among others. The film is produced by Buddy Squires and Deborah Randall and director Salerno, and opens September 6th, 2013 via The Weinstein Company. Salinger features interviews with 150 subjects including Salinger's friends, colleagues and members of his inner circle who have never spoken on the record before as well as film footage, photographs and other material that has never been seen.

New York — For much of the nine years that Shane Salerno worked on his J.D. Salinger documentary and book, the project was a mystery worthy of the author himself.

Code names. Hidden identities. Surveillance cameras. Until 2010, when "The Catcher In the Rye" novelist died at age 91, only a handful of people were fully aware of what he was up to. Even now, with the release date of the film "Salinger" less than three weeks away, little is known about a production that draws upon more than 100 interviews and a trove of documents and rare photographs, and that promises many revelations about an author who still fascinates millions.

"I have worked more than 200 documentaries in my career and Salinger was the most secretive and the most intense film I have ever worked on," said Buddy Squires, the film's cinematographer and co-producer who has worked on such Ken Burns documentaries as "Jazz" and "The Central Park Five.

Weinstein Co have sent along info on the new trailer for the documentary produces by Shane Salerno, Buddy Squires and Deborah Randall. Salinger features interviews with 150 subjects including Salinger's friends, colleagues and members of his inner circle who have never spoken on the record before as well as film footage, photographs and other material that has never been seen. Additionally, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Edward Norton, John Cusack, Danny DeVito, John Guare, Martin Sheen, David Milch, Robert Towne, Tom Wolfe, E.L. Doctorow, Gore Vidal and Pulitzer Prize winners A. Scott Berg and Elizabeth Frank talk about Salinger's influence on their lives, their work and the broader culture.

Weinstein Co has debuted their Salinger poster prepping for the September 6th, 2013 release date. Shane Salerno directs as well as producing alongside Buddy Squires and Deborah Randall. Salinger features interviews with 150 subjects including Salinger's friends, colleagues and members of his inner circle who have never spoken on the record before as well as film footage, photographs and other material that has never been seen. Additionally, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Edward Norton, John Cusack, Danny DeVito, John Guare, Martin Sheen, David Milch, Robert Towne, Tom Wolfe, E.L. Doctorow, Gore Vidal and Pulitzer Prize winners A. Scott Berg and Elizabeth Frank talk about Salinger's influence on their lives, their work and the broader culture. The film is the first work to get beyond the Catcher in the Rye author’s meticulously built up wall: his childhood, painstaking work methods, marriages, private world and the secrets he left behind after his death...

Weinstein Co has debuted their Salinger poster prepping for the September 6th, 2013 release date. Shane Salerno directs as well as producing alongside Buddy Squires and Deborah Randall. Salinger features interviews with 150 subjects including Salinger's friends, colleagues and members of his inner circle who have never spoken on the record before as well as film footage, photographs and other material that has never been seen. Additionally, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Edward Norton, John Cusack, Danny DeVito, John Guare, Martin Sheen, David Milch, Robert Towne, Tom Wolfe, E.L. Doctorow, Gore Vidal and Pulitzer Prize winners A. Scott Berg and Elizabeth Frank talk about Salinger's influence on their lives, their work and the broader culture. The film is the first work to get beyond the Catcher in the Rye author’s meticulously built up wall: his childhood, painstaking work methods, marriages, private world and the secrets he left behind after his death...

The notoriously reclusive “Catcher in the Rye” author J.D. Salinger will finally get his cinematic dues, posthumously, in writer/director Shane Solerno’s upcoming documentary “Salinger.” Update: The Weinstein Company officially announced today their acquisition of the eagerly awaited film’s worldwide distribution rights. TWC, who closed the deal on the film after screening it the morning of the Oscars, anticipates a September 6 release date following a festival run. Salerno, who co-wrote Oliver Stone’s 2012 “Savages” and produced “Salinger” alongside Buddy Squires and Deborah Randall, said in regards to the acquisition, "I have the greatest respect for The Weinstein Company and the remarkable quality and consistency of the films they produce. I am honored to be working with them on what is for me an eight year labor of love." “Salinger” features interviews with 150 subjects, including his closest friends and colleagues who have never spoken about him before, and archival.

VI Issue 1

Join us twice weekly. Send us links to your sizzle reels and film sites.

We are happy to add a new feature to SydneysBuzz! Mitchell Block who, specializes in conceiving, producing, marketing & distributing independent features & consulting. Mitchell will post his commentary on docs and shorts twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday. Stay Tuned!

Ethel a documentary by Rory Kennedy

Ethel is a feature length documentary about the remarkable life of Ethel Kennedy, told from the point of view those who know Ethel best: her family. Produced and directed by Rory Kennedy, the film features candid interviews with Ethel and seven of her children. The film is a personal portrait of Ethel’s political awakening, the life she shared with Robert F. Kennedy, and the years following his death when she raised their eleven children on her own. Ethel offers a personal look inside the political dynasty that helped shape America.

Beautifully directed by Emmy Award winning filmmaker Rory Kennedy, this is her best work to date. Powerful, moving and deeply personal it was short listed for the Documentary Oscar. Produced by Jack Youngelston, smartly written by Mark Bailey, stunningly shot by Buddy Squires, elegantly scored by Miriam Cutler and edited by Azin Samari, this is that rare work that is perfectly crafted and feels like the director did not have to compromise one frame. Compressing an extraordinary life into this one and half ‐ hour work, the film both shares the life of Ethel Kennedy and covers the career of Robert Kennedy who was fatally shot in 1968 leaving Ethel alone to manage her family of eleven children. Never seeming to tire she shows continued strength, intelligence, sensitivity and love for her family and the Kennedys. This work is a tribute to an amazing mom.

The film aired on HBO in 2012.

Credits:

Director, Producer & Narrator: Rory Kennedy

Producer: Jack Youngelson

Writer: Mark Bailey

Cinematographer: Buddy Squires

Editor: Azin Samari

Original Score: Miriam Cutler

Executive Producer: Sheila Nevins

Producer: Nancy Abraham

Salar a short film by Nicholas Greene

In an isolated Bolivian village, on the edge of the vast Uyuni salt flats, two lives collide: Marc, a jaded American doctor looking to leave, and Carlos, a fiery Bolivian salt miner who's just been stabbed in the hand.

In this stunning fiction short student filmmaker Nicholas Greene has made a film worthy of an Oscar nomination. This 19 minute film has great production values, strong acting, an amazing cast and, with the Red camera, a clarity of image that gives a great look. Solidly produced by fellow Columbia University classmate Julie Buck and shot by Hilary Spera this work like many of the thesis films coming from Columbia shows how a solid original story can become a solid film. Short listed for an Academy Award, this thesis film is outstanding.

Director/ Writer’s Bio:

Nicholas Greene is a British writer/director. In 2010 he made the short film Salar in Bolivia, working with La Fabrica Escuela, the country's only film school. The film won the international competition at the Clermont‐Ferrand Film Festival. He holds an Mfa in Film at Columbia University. He works as an editor for non‐profit documentaries in New York.

Producer Bio:

Julie Buck is a New York‐based producer and currently works for Rabbit Bandini, James Franco’s production company, where her co‐producer credits include Child of God and Black Dog Red Dog. She has an Mfa from Brigham Young University, a certificate in film preservation from George Eastman House, and an Mfa from Columbia University.

Credits

Written and Directed by: Nicholas Greene

Produced by: Julie Buck

Co-Producer: Roberto Lanza Lobo

Director of Photography: Hillary Spera

Editor: Faisal Azam

Composer: John Plenge

Columbia University School of the Arts in New York

The Film Mfa Programs

Columbia University’s film program has distinguished itself over the last decade by its students winning more Student Academy Awards in fiction than any other training program in the Us. Its entries are consistently well written, beautifully produced and strongly directed.

There are two Mfa programs in filmmaking, Screenwriting/Directing and Creative Producing, which share a common first year. The course of instruction combines producing, directing, and writing with technical training and even some history and theory to provide students with a deep understanding of all the principles and practice of dramatic filmmaking. All the courses within this unique, integrated curriculum focus on film as a medium for the telling of stories. The graduate programs average 25 students in each class. While Columbia does not “own” the student works they are produced under Columbia’s egis. Since the program is not training camera, sound, editors and other craft areas student films are crewed by friends, colleagues and others interested in working on them rather than the projects being required to use other Columbia University students.

The faculty combines veteran and new members of the New York and Hollywood film communities in both production and writing.

Web site: http://arts.columbia.edu/mfa‐programs

mwblock@gmail.com

Mitchell Block specializes in conceiving, producing, marketing & distributing independent features & consulting. He is an expert in placing both completed works into distribution & working with producers to make projects fundable. He conducts regular workshops in film producing in Los Angeles and most recently in Maine, Russia and in Myanmar (Burma).

"Poster Girl," produced by Block was nominated for a Documentary Academy Award and selected by the Ida as the "Best" Doc Short 2011. It was also nominated for two Emmy Awards and aired on HBO. He is an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning PBS series "Carrier,” a 10-hour series that he conceived & co-created. Block is a graduate of Tisch School and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Television Academy, a founding member of BAFTA-la and has been teaching at USC School of Cinematic Arts since 1979. Currently Block teaches a required class in the USC Peter Stark Producing Program.

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©2012Mwb All Rights Reserved All Rights Reserved. All information and designs on the Sites are copyrighted material owned by Block. Reproduction, dissemination, or transmission of any part of the material here without the express written consent of the owner is strictly prohibited. All other product names and marks on Block Direct, whether trademarks, service marks, or other type, and whether registered or unregistered, is the property of Block.

.The Restaurateur,.

The Definitive Documentary About Danny Meyer,

Now Available On DVD

Acclaimed documentarian Roger Sherman gains full, inside access

to the world of Danny Meyer as he launches Eleven Madison Park and Tabla

This intimate documentary follows Danny Meyer, one of America.s preeminent restaurant owners, over a 12 year span as he struggles to open not one but two ambitious restaurants next to New York.s Madison Square Park. Tabla and Eleven Madison Park, if successful, will join Union Square Café and Gramercy Tavern as the jewels in Meyer.s crown.

We follow the restaurateur and his team as they experience gut-wrenching construction delays, missed deadlines, and the firing of a chef. We visit Tabla.s chef Floyd Cardoz in his tiny home kitchen where he creates his now classic watermelon curry. We.re there as chef Kerry Heffernan takes over Eleven Madison Park just weeks before opening, and then later,...