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One great thing about the streaming era is that if one platform drops the ball or decides to cut its losses, another often steps in to pick up where others left off. That’s precisely what happened with the new series Nautilus. Developed initially for Disney+, reportedly at a cost of over $300 million, the platform ultimately scrapped the project.

Fortunately, AMC+ acquired U.S. distribution rights, while Prime Video picked it up for release in the United Kingdom. Considering the high price tag with no big-name stars attached, was Nautilus worth it? The result is a souped-up, lavish series like you used to see with Lucy Lawless or Daniel Goddard, syndicated internationally, and pre-streaming

AMC+’s Nautilus Season 1 Review and Synopsis Shazad Latif, Tyrone Ngatai, and Kayden Pricein in Nautilus (2024) | Image via AMC+ Kayden Price in Nautilus (2024) | Image via AMC+ Thierry Frémont, Ling Cooper Tang, Tyrone Ngatai, Kayden Price, Céline Menvillein,...

Deadline’s Sound & Screen event made its London debut during SXSW London on Saturday, honoring Oscar-winning composer Anne Dudley and featuring live performances from hit screen projects, including Shrinking and Arcane.

On a rainy summer’s day in London, Deadline provided a ray of musical sunshine for a packed audience at the historic Shoreditch Church. Dudley, who won an Academy prize for her work on The Full Monty, took to the stage to perform a medley of her work, including Poldark and Jeeves and Wooster.

She was awarded Sound & Screen’s inaugural Impact Award, with Baz Bamigboye, Deadline columnist and master of ceremonies, presenting her with the prize following her performance.

Check out the day in the video and more photos below:

Dudley said the award would sit alongside her Oscar, Grammy, Brit, and Ivor Novello prizes, telling Bamigboye that there had been a “sea change” in the opportunities for women in music and film.

Welcome back, Insiders. Jesse Whittock with you this week as we report from SXSW, Cologne and further afield. Read on, and don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter.

SXSW Debuts In London

Chris Jackson/Getty Images

London calling: This week Deadline donned its blazer, t-shirt and specs for the inaugural SXSW South London, which took place in trendy Shoreditch. The town was abuzz with people and the lineup boasted an impressive bevvy of names ranging from London mayor Sadiq Khan, who kicked off the week by reopening old Donald Trump-shaped wounds, to Idris Elba, to the CEO of OnlyFans. There was even a right royal visit, with King Charles III rocking up to chat with John Lennon’s son Julian and Yellowstone star Mo Brings Plenty, of all people. We were right in the mix to hear Banijay boss Marco Bassetti address ongoing...

Deadline’s Sound & Screen will make its UK debut during SXSW London, with live performances and conversations with an array of composers set for the showcase Saturday, June 7.

A moment to celebrate the powerful connection between music and film and TV, Sound & Screen is well established in the U.S. In tune with those events, there is a stellar lineup of composers and projects for the first UK edition, to be held at Shoreditch Church.

The lineup includes Natalie Holt with Chad Powers; Tom Howe with Shrinking and Dog Man; Nainita Desai with Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf and Secrets of the Penguin; Anne Dudley with Jeeves and Wooster and The Penguin; and Alex Seaver with Arcane.

Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf will also have its world premiere in the film section of SXSW London, which runs June 2-7. Journalists from Deadline’s international team will conduct the sit-downs with the composers after each performance.

Jack Antonoff was honored as ASCAP’s pop songwriter of the year at the performing rights organization’s 2025 Pop Awards held at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles on Thursday evening.

Antonoff was recognized for his co-writes on songs like Sabrina Carpenter’s smash hit “Please Please Please,” as well as for his work on Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” “Fortnight,” “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” “Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)” and “Karma.” One of the most prolific songwriter-producers in the industry, last year he produced Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, as well as several tracks on Kendrick Lamar’s Gnx and Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet.

Meanwhile Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control,” which was co-written by ASCAP songwriter Joshua “Ammo” Coleman and has spent a massive 88 weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, won pop song of the year. Sony Music Publishing,...

Trent Reznor, Jeff Toyne, David Fleming and Nainita Desai were among the top recipients at ASCAP’s 2025 Screen Music Awards held in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.

The four were the Composer’s Choice Award recipients at the performance rights organization’s annual Screen Music awards, with Reznor taking home the Composers’ Choice award for film score of the year for his work on Challengers. Toyne took home both TV score and TV theme of the year for Palm Royale. Fleming won documentary score of the year for Jim Henson Idea Man while Desai rounded out the Composers’ Choice section with video game score of the year for Tales of Kenzera: Zau.

The Composers’ Choice Awards are chosen by ASCAP’s body of songwriters and composers. The full list of winners is available on ASCAP’s website. Elsewhere for this year’s awards, Andrea Datzman won for top box office...

John Wick: Chapter 4 will open in China on March 14 through Huahua Media, two years after the fourth entry in theKeanu Reeves action vehicle went on release in North America and other markets.

This is the first time a film from the franchise will release in the territory, andScreen understands the R-rated action thriller film has passed local censors without any cuts.

John Wick 4 has grossed more than $440m worldwide to date, of which $253m comes from international markets and $187m from North America.

Chad Stahelski directed the Thunder Road Films and 87eleven Entertainment production in which Wick discovers...

Actor Imelda Staunton, director Sally El Hosaini and composer Nainita Desai are among key UK industry figures taking part in Cinesisters Women’s Day Film Festival, taking place on March 8 at London’s All Is Joy Studios.

Cinesisters is a grassroots collective of female-identifying directors, founded in 2017. The event, open to all genders, includes workshops, panels and short film screenings.

The Swimmers director El Hosaini will be joined in a discussion on filmmaking with Isabelle Sieb, Debs Paterson, Jennifer Sheridan and Miranda Bowen.

An exploration of the legal considerations for composers will encompassFor Sama composer Desai, alongside Aisling Brouwer, Carly...

Actor Imelda Staunton, director Sally El Hosaini and composer Nainita Desai are among the key industry figures taking part in Cinesisters Women’s Day Film Festival, taking place on March 8 at London’s All Is Joy Studios.

Cinesisters is a grassroots collective of female-identifying directors, founded in 2017. The event, open to all genders, includes workshops, panels and short film screenings.

The Swimmers director El Hosaini will be joined in a discussion on filmmaking with Isabelle Sieb, Debs Paterson, Jennifer Sheridan and Miranda Bowen.

An exploration of the legal considerations for composers features For Sama composer Desai, alongside Aisling Brouwer, Carly...

Sparse and precise, this meditative film immerses the viewer in the world of lepidopterist Mansi Mungee and her assistant as they survey hawk moths

This extremely slow, meditative documentary about a scientist and her assistant studying moths in the eastern Himalayas can only be fully appreciated if it’s watched in a darkened room, preferably a cinema, with no distractions. Otherwise, it’s almost impossible to appreciate its unique relationship to time and action, given that practically nothing happens even though it’s full of teeming, humming, vibrating life. And we’re not just talking about the insects, who we often observe blurring their wings to stay warm as they bask on a sheet lit by moon-mimicking Uv light that the scientists have rigged up in the forest to attract the bugs in the first place.

Lepidopterist Mansi Mungee is researching how the rising temperatures of the local ecosystem are affecting hawk moths,...

In the absence of a phenomenon like “Barbenheimer,” which dominated the Grammys’ visual-media categories last year, the outlook for 2025 is considerably more complicated and, some might say, more interesting.

Look for the summer’s biggest movie hits, “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine,” to land spots in the score and compilation soundtrack categories when the Grammy nominees are announced Nov. 8. But everything else is up in the air until then.

The compilation soundtrack category is the toughest to read, as there have been few films with breakout hits. “Twisters” is the summer’s biggest soundtrack, hitting No. 7 on the Billboard charts, so look for the tornado movie to score as an album and potentially in the song category for a pair of original country tunes: Luke Combs’ “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” and Lainey Wilson’s “Out of Oklahoma.”

The eclectic “Deadpool & Wolverine” soundtrack — a wild collection...

Saltburn composer Anthony Willis leads the pack in the second wave of nominations for the World Soundtrack Awards (Wsa) 2024.

As well as his previously announced nomination in film composer of the year, Willis is also up for the discovery and the public choice award.

The winners will be announced on October 16 at the Wsa ceremony and concert, held during Belgium’s Film Fest Ghent.

In discovery, Willis battles it out alongside Jerskin Fendrix for Poor Things; Carlos Rafael Rivera for Ezra; Caroline Shaw for Julie Keeps Quiet; and Diego Baldenweg for In The Land Of Saints And Sinners.

Willis and...

See-Saw Films producer Iain Canning, Barnaby Thompson, producer of Wayne’s World, An Ideal Husband and director of the St Trinian’s films, and Boiling Point actor Ray Panthaki have been elected to Bafta’s film committee.

Canning’s See-Saw credits include The King’s Speech, The Power Of The Dog and Apple TV series Slow Horses.

They have been elected by the Bafta membership, made up of 12,000 creatives from across the screen industries.

Journalist and broadcaster Jason Solomons has been re-elected.

They join chair Anna Higgs and deputy chair Emily Stillman, as well as Anthony Andrews, Julie La’Bassiere,...

BAFTA has added seven new members to its Film, Games, and Television committees.

The new members are Alison Barnett, Iain Canning, Charu Desodt, Alyx Jones, Caroline Levy, Ray Panthaki, and Barnaby Thompson.

The seven newly elected sector committee members are joined today by several re-elected members. Those members are Emma Butt, Des Gayle (also deputy chair of the Games committee), Jason Solomons, Tara Saunders (Games committee chair), and Ade Rawcliffe.

The representatives are elected for two years, voted for by the members. The elections take place every year, with half of the committee retiring each year on rotation. The eligibility, campaigning rules, and voting criteria for the Film, Games, Television, and Television Craft Awards are individually reviewed and set by the sector committees annually.

“We are uniquely fortunate to have a community of over 12,000 creative practitioners,” Sara Putt, chair of BAFTA, said this morning.

Redwood City, Calif. – In an exciting development, Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq: EA) along with Surgent Studios has launched the highly anticipated action-adventure platformer, Tales of Kenzera: Zau. Now gamers across the globe can immerse themselves in an epic adventure available on PlayStation®5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and the EA app, all for $19.99.

Tales of Kenzera: Zau is not just a game; it’s a narrative-rich experience set against the awe-inspiring backdrops inspired by Bantu culture. Players are invited to join a heartfelt coming-of-age story that mirrors a Metroidvania-inspired exploration intertwined with themes of love, loss, resilience, and self-discovery.

Tales of Kenzera™: Zau The Journey of Zau

Created under the visionary direction of BAFTA-nominated actor and Surgent Studios founder Abubakar Salim, Tales of Kenzera: Zau is a personal project that pays homage to the enduring bond between a father and son.

Hulu documentary “The Contestant” is putting “The Truman Show” to shame.

Centered on the shocking true story of Japanese comedian Tomoaki “Nasubi” Hamatsu, the feature is written and directed by Clair Titley. “The Contestant” charts the early days of reality TV in the 1990s, with Nasubi an unknowing participant in a twisted reality show. Nasubi was trapped alone and naked in an apartment for 15 months with cameras surrounding him as he fulfilled tasks like entering magazine sweepstakes to earn food and clothing. The show was watched by more than 15 million people and titled “Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes.”

Per the official synopsis for “The Contestant,” Nasubi thought he was attending an audition when a successful Japanese TV producer, Toshio Tsuchiya, enlisted him to take part in a challenge. Tsuchiya led Nasubi into a room, ordered him to strip naked, and left him with a stack of magazines. Nasubi’s...

Hulu has revealed the trailer and key art for its original documentary, The Contestant, which will premiere on Thursday, May 2, 2024.

This true story of a Japanese reality TV star left naked in a room for more than a year, tasked with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food and clothing, prompts innumerable questions about our culture of oversharing.

Before the onslaught of reality television in the West, there was an ominous harbinger in Japan of what was to come in our oversharing-obsessed culture. The Contestant traces the experience of aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, who unwittingly became an extreme case study.

In 1998, Nasubi thought he was attending an audition when a successful Japanese TV producer, Toshio Tsuchiya, enlisted him to take part in a challenge. Tsuchiya led Nasubi into a room, ordered him to strip naked, and left him with a stack of magazines.

Nasubi’s task was to...

The nature documentary is inherently preservationist, but Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan’s “Nocturnes” offers environmental persuasions not through verbal arguments, or even an aesthetic appreciation. Rather, its meditative, hyper-fixated approach to process — as seen through the eyes of seasoned lepidopterists — proves so hypnotic that any appeals or augments the movie makes are deeply felt before they’re intellectually understood. The pieces snap into place eventually, but the “how” is foregrounded so forcefully and poetically throughout that viewers will likely come to care about these creatures, and this field of study, well before they understand the very real and pressing reasons they should.

In northeastern India, bordering Bhutan, scientist Mansi and her indigenous assistant Bicki (belonging to the local Bugun tribe) partake in the nightly ritual of suspending a cloth sheet and illuminating it with bright lights in the middle of the forest. Slowly, but surely, hundreds of moths flock to this makeshift station,...

Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell won the award for Original Song for a Comedy or Musical for their Oscar-nominated “Barbie” tune “What Was I Made For?” while past Academy Award winner and 2024 nominee Ludwig Göransson took home the Original Score for a Studio Film honor for “Oppenheimer” to pace the Society of Composers & Lyricists Scl Awards tonight at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles in a ceremony hosted by singer-songwriter Siedah Garrett.

Also picking up trophies were Olivia Rodrigo and Dan Nigro for Original Song for a Drama or Documentary for their tune “Can’t Catch Me Now” from “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” while John Powell was awarded the prize for Original Score for an Independent Film for scoring the documentary feature “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.”

SEE5th Annual Scl Awards Nominations: Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Lenny Kravitz among contenders [Full List]

Director...

Billie Eilish and her brother and songwriting partner Finneas took home best original song for a comedy at the 2024 Society of Composers and Lyricists Awards on Tuesday. Olivia Rodrigo, Ludwig Göransson, Nicholas Britell and John Powell were among other winners.

Eilish and Finneas won the award for their hit Barbie track “What Was I Made For,” less than two weeks after winning a Grammy for the same song, which is also nominated for an Oscar. It beat its fellow Barbie song “I’m Just Ken” Flamin’ Hot‘s “The Fire Inside,” The L Word: Generation Q’s “All About Me” and Super Mario Bros. Movie‘s “Peaches.”

Rodrigo and music producer Dan Nigro took home the award for best original song for a drama or documentary for her viral “Can’t Catch Me Now” from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. She beat songs from American Symphony,...

Billie Eilish, Finneas, Ludwig Göransson and Nicholas Britell were among the winners Tuesday evening at the 5th annual Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards.

Eilish and Finneas took home the award for outstanding original song for a comedy or musical for “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie.” The win continued their sweep of the season from the Golden Globes and the Grammy Awards.

Olivia Rodrigo and Dan Nigro won outstanding original song for a drama or documentary for “Can’t Catch Me Now” from “Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” Britell took home the prize for outstanding original score for a television production for “Succession.”

Göransson, who was honored with Variety’s Artisans Award in Santa Barbara this past weekend, won outstanding original score for a studio film for “Oppenheimer.” John Powell won outstanding original score for an independent film, “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” and Stephen Barton...

Hulu has announced the premiere dates for limited series Under the Bridge and the two docs The Contestant and the film Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told.

Under the Bridge is a limited series with eight episodes that’s based on Rebecca Godfrey’s book about the 1997 true story of fourteen-year old Reena Virk who went to join friends at a party and never returned home. The Hulu limited series that stars Lily Gladstone, Archie Panjabi and Riley Keough premieres April 17.

The series was adapted for screen by Quinn Shephard and is executive produced by Samir Mehta, Liz Tigelaar and Stacey Silverman (Best Day Ever), Shephard, Godfrey and Tara Duncan. Keough will executive produce with Gina Gammell (Felix Culpa). Geeta Patel will direct the pilot and EP the episode. The series is produced by ABC Signature.

Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told bows March 21 on Hulu in the U.S.

Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Lenny Kravitz, Diane Warren and Jon Batiste are among the nominees announced Thursday morning for the Fifth Annual Scl Awards from the Society of Composers & Lyricists honoring scores and songs in visual media. The five music titans were all nominated in the Best Song categories for Drama/Documentary or Comedy/Musical, Eilish with her brother Finneas for their tune “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie,” Rodrigo along with Dan Nigro for “Can’t Catch Me Now” from “The Hunger Games: Ball of Songbirds and Snakes,” Kravitz for “Road to Freedom” from “Rustin,” Warren for “The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot” and Batiste along with Dan Wilson for “It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony.”

Rounding out the Drama/Documentary nominees are Nicholas Britell and Laura Stinson for “Slip Away” from “Carmen” along with Sharon Farber and Noah Benshea for “Better Times” from “Jacob the Baker.

The Society of Composers and Lyricists (Scl) has announced the nominees for the 2024 Scl Awards, including songwriters Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Lenny Kravitz, Diane Warren, and Jon Batiste, all who earned spots on the Academy Awards shortlist for Best Original Song.

Also among the dual nominees are composers Anthony Willis for Saltburn, Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt for Barbie, Laura Karpman for American Fiction, the late Robbie Robertson for Killers of the Flower Moon, and Mica Levi for The Zone of Interest.

The awards will be presented on February 13, 2024, at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.

Other categories still to be announced include the Spirit of Collaboration Award which honors the long relationship between a composer and a director.

The Society of Composers & Lyricists is for professional film, television, video game, and musical theater composers and songwriters. The 78-year-old organization is focused on education and addressing the creative, technological...

Exclusive: London-based sales and production outfit Dogwoof has boarded world sales for Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan’s Nocturnes, which will get its world premiere in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

Set in the Eastern Himalayas, the eco-doc sees two curious observers shine a light on a secret universe, transporting audiences to a rarely-seen place where moths help knit together an important ecosystem.

Oscar-nominated Sandbox Films (Fire of Love) is producing.

In addition to co-directing, Dutta is producing along with executive producers Boustead and Harrop. Yaël Bitton (Advocate) is editor; Satya Rai Nagpaul is director of photography; original score is by BAFTA Breakthrough composer Nainita Desai (For Sama). The movie is a production of Sandbox Films and the directors’ Delhi-based Metamorphosis Films Junction.

Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan’s latest documentary, Flickering Lights, competed in the International Competition at the 2023 edition of IDFA, where it...

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie was the top winner at the 2023 Critics Choice Documentary Awards, which were handed out Sunday night.

Among the other prizes the film collected was the best narration award for Michael J. Fox. It also won best biographical documentary, best direction for Davis Guggenheim and best editing for Michael Harte for a total of five awards overall.

Elsewhere, Jon Batiste won best score for American Symphony on the heels of his five Grammy noms, including album of the year. American Symphony also was named best music doc.

20 Days in Mariupol won two awards, for best first documentary feature and best political doc.

The eighth annual edition of the awards show, hosted by Wyatt Cenac, took place at New York’s Edison Ballroom.

Winners were announced in 18 categories spanning theatrical film, TV and digital platforms. Also this year, the Critics Choice Association honored Ross McElwee with its Pennebaker Award,...

One of the first big nights of the 2023 award season took place tonight at Manhattan’s Edison Ballroom when the best nonfiction filmmakers competed for the Critics Choice Documentary Awards. The show, which is hosted by Wyatt Cenac, honors the most acclaimed documentaries of the year in one of the biggest early contests before the Academy Awards.

Netflix’s Jon Batiste documentary “American Symphony” led the pack with six nominations, while “20 Days in Mariupol,” “Kokomo City,” and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” were each honored with five nominations a piece. Other contenders for Best Documentary Feature include “Beyond Utopia,” “The Deepest Breath,” “The Mission,” “The Eternal Memory,” “Judy Blume Forever,” and “Stamped from the Beginning.”

“Still: A Michael J. Fox Story” had the strongest story of the night. In addition to taking home Best Documentary Feature, the film won Best Biographical Documentary, Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Narration for Fox himself.

The Hollywood Music in Media Awards (Hmma) today announced the 2023 nominees for scores and songs in film and other visual media categories. The awards will be presented Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. (Pst) at The Avalon, 1735 Vine Street, in Hollywood, CA.

Song nominees include Oscar-winners Billie Eilish and Finneas for “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie, Olivia Rodrigo and Dan Nigro for “Can’t Catch Me Now” from Hunger Games: The Ballard of Songbirds & Snakes. Justin Timberlake, Alan Menken, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lenny Kravitz, Diane Warren, Metro Boomin, and A$AP Rocky also received nods for their original songs in films.

Composers nominated include Alexandre Desplat, Michael Giacchino, Ludwig Göransson, Laura Karpman, Branford Marsalis, Thomas Newman, James Newton Howard, Daniel Pemberton, John Powell, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Robbie Robertson, Mark Ronson & Andrew Wyatt, Hans Zimmer (The Creator), among many others.

Films nominated in score, song, onscreen performance, and in...

Abramorama has acquired North American theatrical rights for Leslie Shampaine and Pip Gilmour‘s feature documentary “Call Me Dancer.”

The deal was revealed on the sidelines of Tiffcom, the film market attached to the Tokyo International Film Festival.

The film follows Manish Chauhan, a young and talented street dancer from Mumbai who struggles against his parents’ insistence that he follow a traditional path. When he accidentally walks into an inner-city dance school and encounters curmudgeonly 70-year-old Israeli ballet master Yehuda Maor, a hunger develops within him and he is determined to make it as a professional dancer, but the odds are stacked against him.

Since its world premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in February, “Call Me Dancer” has won audience awards at Berkshire International Film Festival, San Francisco Dance Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival and Tasveer South Asian Film Festival, Seattle. The...

The Critics Choice Association just unveiled the nominees for its 8th annual documentary awards. Topping the list is “American Symphony” with six bids, including Best Documentary, Best Director for Matthew Heineman, and notices in Cinematography, Editing, and Music Documentary. Heineman is the Oscar nominated director of “Cartel Land” from 2015. The sixth nomination for “American Symphony” is for Best Score thanks to 2022’s Grammy Award recipient for Album of the Year, Jon Batiste. You may recognize another Aoty winner in the Ccda’s lineup — Taylor Swift‘s record breaking concert movie “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” is also nominated for Music Documentary.

Just behind “American Symphony” are three films that received five nominations each: “20 Days in Mariupol” from Mstyslav Chernov, “Kokomo City” from D. Smith, and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” from Davis Guggenheim, who is also nominated for Director. The other directors that were heralded for their films...

Steve McQueen earns directing nod for A24’s Occupied City.

Matthew Heineman’s American Symphony exploring a year in the life of musician Jon Batiste led the Critics Choice Documentary Awards with six nominations on Monday (October 16).

Heineman also gets a nod for best director, Tony Hardmon, Heineman, and Thorsten Thielow for best cinematography, Sammy Dane, Jim Hession, Heineman, and Fernando Villegas for best editing, Jon Batiste for best score, and best music documentary.

Mstyslav Chernov’s 20 Days In Mariupol, D. Smth’s Kokomo City, and Davis Guggenheim’s Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie each received five nominations...

Jon Batiste in ‘American Symphony’

American Symphony earned six nominations, topping the list of 2023 Critics Choice Documentary Awards (Ccda) nominees. American Symphony, which focuses on Jon Batiste and his wife, Suleika Jaouad, picked up nominations in categories including Best Documentary Feature, Best Director (Matthew Heineman), Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Score (Jon Batiste), and Best Music Documentary.

Three documentaries – 20 Days in Mariupol, Kokomo City, and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie – followed with five nominations each. Documentarian Ross McElwee has been chosen to receive The Pennebaker Award (the Ccda’s lifetime achievement honor).

Winners will be announced during the Eighth Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards to be held at The Edison Ballroom in Manhattan on Sunday, November 12, 2023. Actor and standup comedian Wyatt Cenac (Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas) will host the awards for the second consecutive year.

The Ccda will live-stream on Facebook, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter...

Matthew Heineman’s American Symphony, a portrait of musician Jon Batiste as he experiences professional success amid the personal challenge of his wife Suleika Jaouad’s cancer battle, leads the nominations for the 2023 Critics Choice Documentary Awards.

American Symphony is up for six awards including best documentary feature. The film is also nominated for best director (Heineman), cinematography (Heineman, Tony Hardmon and Thorsten Thielow), editing (Heineman, Sammy Dane, Jim Hession and Fernando Villegas), score (Batiste) and best music doc.

20 Days in Mariupol, Kokomo City and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie each scored five nods, with all three titles up for best doc feature and best editing.

20 Days in Mariupol is additionally nominated for best first doc, narration (Mstyslav Chernov) and political doc. Kokomo City is also up for best first doc, cinematography and score (D. Smith). Still is up for best director (Davis Guggenheim), narration (Fox) and biographical doc.

The eighth annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards nominations are often an early bellwether for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar race, mainly because they signal to Oscar voters many of the key films they should not miss. Last year’s winner, “Good Night Oppy,” did not make it to the documentary Oscar shortlist, but the year before, “Summer of Soul” went on to win the Oscar.

This year’s nominations were led by fall festival favorite “American Symphony,” Matthew Heineman’s moving portrait of musician Jon Batiste as he juggles work demands and his wife’s recurring leukemia, with six nods. It was followed by Mstyslav Chernov’s Ukraine international Oscar submission “20 Days in Mariupol,” D. Smith’s black-and-white portrait of Black trans sex workers “Kokomo City,” and Davis Guggenheim’s editing feat “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” with five each.

The gala to honor the winners, hosted by comedian Wyatt Cenac,...

The Deepest Breath is a documentary that explores the inspiring and heartbreaking story of freediver Alessia Zecchini's attempt to dive without an air tank. The film also focuses on the tragic story of her safety diver partner, Stephen Keenan, who did not survive the attempt. The documentary celebrates the perseverance, drive, and the global community of freediving, and the original soundtrack by Nainita Desai perfectly captures the emotional depth of the film.

The Deepest Breath is a Netflix documentary both inspiring and heartbreaking. The film follows record-breaking free diver Alessia Zecchini as she strives to dive—without any air tank—through Dahab, Egypt’s Blue Hole, which is 85 feet long and 184 feet below sea level. The film tells Zecchini’s story as well as that of her trainer and safety diver partner Stephen Keenan, who would ultimately not survive the attempt. It’s a story of perseverance, drive, and connection,...

Nominees in the categories of discovery of the year, public choice award and the new game music award have been revealed.

Film Fest Gent and The World Soundtrack Academy has unveiled the second and final wave of nominations for the 2023 World Soundtrack Awards, which will take place on October 21 at the Film Fest Gent in Belgium, with Golda, Avatar: The Way Of Water and The Menu among the additional titles represented.

Nominations for discovery of the year, public choice award, Wsa game music award, best original score for a Belgian production and the Sabam Award for best original composition by...

The 10th Sundance Film Festival: London runs July 6-9 and will feature an industry section with keynote sessions led by A24 Execs Harpa Manku and Tom Lazenby and new London Film Festival head Kristy Matheson.

The trio will all headline events during the festival alongside producers Tristan Goligher and Mary Burke; casting agent Heather Basten; composer Nainita Desai; Elysian CEO Danny Perkins; and Black Bear International’s Luane Gauer.

Filmmakers Alice Lowe, Zeina Durra, Gurinder Chadha, and Marianna Palka will also headline sessions. The festival has also added three panel events to the schedule, with speakers including Past Lives director Celine Song, Girl filmmaker Adura Onashile, Polite Society’s Nida Manzoor, and Molly Manning Walker, writer-director of the buzzy Cannes pic How to Have Sex. Ira Sachs, Gregg Araki, Ita O’Brien, intimacy coordinator and founder of Intimacy on Set, and Lío Mehiel, will shepherd a separate panel, while Anthony Bregman will host an industry keynote.

Guests to attend include Harris Dickinson, Emilia Jones, Anton Corbijn.

New BFI London Film Festival director Kristy Matheson, Elysian CEO Danny Perkins and producers Tristan Goligher and Mary Burke are among the recent additions to the industry programme at next month’s Sundance Film Festival: London (July 6-9).

All four will be speaking at the event, as will filmmakers Gurinder Chadha, Alice Lowe, Marianna Palka and Zeina Durra; composer Nainita Desai; and Screen Star of Tomorrow 2021 casting director Heather Basten.

Further new speakers include A24 executives Harpa Manku and Tom Lazenby; and Luane Gauer, SVP, international production and acquisitions at Black Bear International.

Guests to attend include Harris Dickinson, Emilia Jones, Anton Corbijn.

New BFI London Film Festival director Kristy Matheson, Elysian CEO Danny Perkins and producers Tristan Goligher and Mary Burke are among the recent additions to the industry programme at next month’s Sundance Film Festival: London (July 6-9).

All four will be speaking at the event, as will filmmakers Gurinder Chadha, Alice Lowe, Marianna Palka and Zeina Durra; composer Nainita Desai; and Screen Star of Tomorrow 2021 casting director Heather Basten.

Further new speakers include A24 executives Harpa Manku and Tom Lazenby; and Luane Gauer, SVP, international production and acquisitions at Black Bear International.

Composers including Howard Shore, Patrick Doyle and Daniel Pemberton have taken part.

The World Soundtrack Awards (Wsa), taking place annually at Film Fest Gent, is pairing 25 composers with 25 filmmakers for a short film project called 25 x 2 to celebrate the festival’s 50th anniversary.

Composers including Howard Shore, Patrick Doyle and Daniel Pemberton have composed a short piece of music (1-2 minutes) with many recorded by the Brussels Philharmonic orchestra. Filmmakers Including Terence Davies, Radu Jude, Paul Schrader, Naomi Kawase and Ildikó Enyedi are now creating shorts based on the scores.

The shorts will be presented at this year’s Film Fest Gent,...

Composers including Howard Shore, Patrick Doyle and Daniel Pemberton have taken part.

The World Soundtrack Awards (Wsa), taking place annually at Film Fest Gent, is pairing 25 composers with 25 filmmakers for a short film project called 25 x 2 to celebrate the festival’s 50th anniversary.

Composers including Howard Shore, Patrick Doyle and Daniel Pemberton have composed a short piece of music (1-2 minutes) with many recorded by the Brussels Philharmonic orchestra. Filmmakers Including Terence Davies, Radu Jude, Paul Schrader, Naomi Kawase and Ildikó Enyedi are now creating shorts based on the scores.

The shorts will be presented at this year’s Film Fest Gent,...

Composers including Howard Shore, Patrick Doyle and Daniel Pemberton have taken part.

The World Soundtrack Awards (Wsa), taking place annually at Film Fest Gent, is pairing 25 composers with 25 filmmakers for a short film project called 25 x 2 to celebrate the festival’s 50th anniversary.

Composers including Howard Shore, Patrick Doyle and Daniel Pemberton have composed a short piece of music (1-2 minutes) with many recorded by the Brussels Philharmonic orchestra. Filmmakers Including Terence Davies, Radu Jude, Paul Schrader, Naomi Kawase and Ildikó Enyedi are now creating shorts based on the scores.

The shorts will be presented at this year’s Film Fest Gent,...

First programme reveal includes screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst, Argonon CEO James Burstall, Spun Gold TV MD Daniela Neumann, and more.

The Media Production & Technology Show has revealed the first speakers on the seminar programme for its 2023 show.

Taking place on 10-11 May in the iconic Grand Hall at Olympia London, the show will host more than 300 speakers across six theatres, featuring keynote presentations, masterclasses, panel discussions and educational sessions.

This year there is a special focus on disruptive and interactive technologies, including AI and virtual production.

The Keynote Theatre presents a host of industry leaders who will share their successes and visions for the future.

Body Parts is a fascinating and gripping documentary that is sure to recontextualize the way in which audiences view on-screen displays of intimacy. Directed by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, Body Parts traces the evolution of the practices behind filming sex and sexual situations over the course of decades in Hollywood. The film features candid interviews with female creators and actors including Rose McGowan, Jane Fonda, Rosanna Arquette, among others, and it shines a light on the uncomfortable process behind a number of iconic movie sex scenes in addition to advocating for real change behind-the-scenes. Body Parts premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2022, and showed at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January 2023.

The emotional impact of Body Parts is further bolstered by the engaging musical score written by Emmy-winning composer Nainita Desai. Desai, who has scored a number of documentaries and video games (including the award-winning Immortality), wove a tapestry...

Wednesday night at the 2023 Scl Awards (Society of Composers & Lyricists), Michael Abels won the award for top studio film score for his work on “Nope,” while Ryan Lott and his experimental band Son Lux earned the statuette for Outstanding Independent Film Score for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” The 4th annual gala took place at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Read on for all of the 2023 Scl Awards winners.

Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro was a champion along with Alexandre Desplat and Roeban Katz in the Outstanding Song for a Musical or Comedy category for the tune “Ciao Papa” from “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.” Also scoring a victory in a song category was the legendary Diane Warren, who became the first songwriter to receive an honorary Oscar in December. She accepted her award in Outstanding Song for a Drama or Documentary for “Applause” from “Tell It Like a Woman.

Diane Warren and Everything Everywhere All at Once composer Son Lux were among the Oscar nominees who won at the 2023 Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards on Wednesday night.

Warren won best original song for a drama or documentary for “Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman, which is also nominated for best original song at the 2023 Oscars. Son Lux’s Ryan Lott accepted the award for best score for an independent film for Everything Everywhere All at Once. Son Lux is nominated for the Oscar for best original score and Lott is a nominee for best original song for his work on “This Is a Life,” both from Everything Everywhere All at Once.

In the category of best original score for interactive media, Stephanie Economou won for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök, just 10 days after her Grammy win.

Guillermo del Toro and lyricist Roeban Katz won best song...

The Society of Composers & Lyricists (Scl) presented the winners of the 4th Annual Scl Awards for score and songs in visual media tonight at the Skirball Cultural Center.

The evening was hosted by Darren Criss, who also gave the audience a musical performance. Awards were presented across seven categories for music in visual media in addition to the Spirit of Collaboration Award and two Jury Awards.

The Spirit of Collaboration Award was presented to Oscar-winning composer Justin Hurwitz and Oscar-winning filmmaker Damien Chazelle. The composer and filmmaker have collaborated on five films, including Babylon, La La Land, Whiplash, the First Man, and Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench. The presentation of the award was accompanied by a musical performance including “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from La La Land, the First Man theme for harp and theremin, and a Babylon Medley, including “Voodoo Mama” and “Herman’s Hustle.

The world can probably be divided into two camps of people: those who will watch “The Deepest Breath,” a heart-pumping documentary on the extreme sport of free-diving, and understand the dangerous pull of the big blue, and those for whom it might be the most nightmarish vicarious trip into the ocean since “Jaws.” Both factions, however, are likely to be compelled by Laura McGann’s handsomely produced crowdpleaser, which employs startling underwater photography and some canny reconstruction to make immediate on screen a potentially obscure calling. The human narrative it finds amid this spectacle, however, is a little less persuasive, marred by an ill-advised decision to play life-and-death scenarios for suspense.

That won’t deter a large audience from seeking out this A24-produced Sundance premiere when it’s released onto Netflix later this year, though it is a film that will play better theatrically — for the most literally immersive...

Festivals

Leslie Shampaine and Pip Gilmour‘s feature documentary “Call Me Dancer” will have its world premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, in competition for best documentary, on Feb. 9, followed by its New York premiere at the Dance on Camera Film Festival at the Lincoln Center on Feb. 10.

The film follows Manish Chauhan, a young and talented street dancer from Mumbai who struggles against his parents’ insistence that he follow a traditional path.When he accidentally walks into an inner-city dance school and encounters curmudgeonly 70-year-old Israeli ballet master Yehuda Maor, a hunger develops within him and he is determined to make it as a professional dancer, but the odds are stacked

against him.

Filmed in India, Israel, the U.K. and the U.S., the dance documentary features original songs by Jay Sean, music by Bangladeshi-American hip-hop artist Anik Khan and a score by British-Indian composer Nainita Desai.

When it comes to entertainment, we’re a suggestible species. Cooking shows make us salivate. Musicals make us hum along. I’ve been known to randomly cheer (and/or cry) when watching an underdog sports story.

Be very careful when watching Laura McGann’s Netflix and A24 documentary The Deepest Breath. This chronicle of the precarious, haunting and near-mystical world of freediving will make you want to join the competitors in breath-holding as you follow their journeys to aquatic depths. You’ll want to. You may not be able to resist. But you should probably resist. The freedivers? Well, they should also probably resist, but The Deepest Breath fits into a recent tradition of documentaries about extreme athletes whose commitment to events in which death is an accepted consequence beggars common sense, if not belief.

In the most literal sense, The Deepest Breath is a breathtaking documentary, one filled with eye-popping visuals,...