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Update March 10, 2025: Bong Joon Ho's Mickey 17 topped the box office in its first weekend of release, earning $19.1 million from March 7 to March 9. The Warner Bros. movie starring Robert Pattinson came in slightly under its $20 million forecast. Disney's latest Marvel movie Captain America: Brave New World held on for second place, adding $8.5 million to the film's total domestic gross of $176 million. Focus Features' Last Breath finished in third place with $4.2 million, followed by Neon's The Monkey and Sony's Paddington in Peru, each earning $3.9 million over the weekend.

Original story published March 7, 2025:What will be the winners and the losers this week at the U.S. box office? Five new movies are crashing theaters this weekend led by Mickey 17, Bong Joon Ho's follow-up to his Oscar-winning 2019 film, Parasite. They will be facing off against the current top five money-makers: Captain America: Brave New World, Last Breath,...

You cannot deny how awe-inspiring the story of Rule Breakers is despite the melodramatic, made-for-television trappings on full display. However, at its core, this feel-good film is empowering, showcasing the steep hill women from this part of the world must climb for their right to greatness.

The thing is, the tale of these characters is about a group that doesn’t have an inherent right—far from it. Their story is so compelling that it transcends clichés and tropes, highlighting something we often discuss, see in Instagram posts, or pull from our favorite quote books.

Rule Breakers is about resilience—the key to any good story—and it has it in droves.

RelatedKinda Pregnant Review — Schumer’s Netflix Comedy is Brutally Unfunny and Misguided Rule Breakers Review and Synopsis

The story follows Roya Mahboob (Nikohl Boosheri), a young girl with a passion for computers, living in a community that expects...

The streets of Herat, Afghanistan, are paved not with gold but with scrolling code in the spirited drama “Rule Breakers.” Teacher and startup owner Roya Mahboob believes in the transformative possibilities of computers. Portrayed with a mix of stubbornness and smarts by Nikohl Boosheri, Roya is the kind of ponderer who sees images from computer screens and lines of iridescent code on the building walls and roadways of Herat.

“The first time I touched a computer, it was like a light in the dark,” the young educator says, standing in front of a classroom of rapt high school girls in Herat Province. Something similar could be said of “Rule Breakers,” which tells the story of Roya and the four gifted students she enlists for Afghanistan’s first robotics team.

While director Bill Guttentag leans into the rules of genre more than breaks with them, the film is a beam of light — about math,...

Roya Mahboob is a true icon of Afghanistan, particularly for being a female CEO in a country where women largely do not work outside the home and for staffing her company primarily with women. One of the most interesting episodes in her life concerns the Afghan Dreamers, an all women robotics team who made headlines in 2017 when they were rejected for U.S. travel visas twice while trying to travel to the country for an international robotics competition in Washington. Bill Gutenberg revolves his movie around this episode, but also the lives of all the protagonists.

As such, the story begins with Roya and her beginnings, where she convinced a local shop owner to allow her to use a computer that was gathering dust in his establishment, eventually teaching herself how to operate it. Their efforts to allow women in school to also learn about computers is also met with success,...

Mickey 17, Warner Bros.’ expensive auteur sci-fi feature from Parasite Oscar winner Bong Joon Ho, finally arrives in theaters this weekend with a global outlook around $45M.

The Robert Pattinson movie carries a net production cost after UK tax credits of $118M before P&a. It will take turnstiles in overdrive for Mickey 17 to break even which, sources say, exists between $240M-$300M.

On the upside, U.S. tracking has improved for Mickey 17 from the teens to the point where a $20M+ domestic opening could be possible. Original sci-fi is a hard nut to expand an audience for; typically, it’s a cold genre aimed at older men. The gist of the campaign has been making Pattinson’s space cog worker — an “expendable” who sacrifices himself only to be “reprinted” or reborn again — relatable to general moviegoers. The comp among sci-fi movies is Denis Villeneuve’s 2016 Oscar winner Arrival,...

This latest movie from Angel Studios demonstrates that the distributor’s interest in releasing films that veer away from proselytizing is paying off artistically. Relating the true-life story of the Afghan Dreamers, a group of young women who groundbreakingly participated in international robotics competitions, Bill Guttentag’s Rule Breakers proves inspirational in the best sense of the word. The film’s release is perfectly timed for Women’s History Month.

Scripted by the two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker (for the documentary shorts Twin Towers and You Don’t Have to Die), along with Jason Brown and Elaha Mahboob, the film centers on Roya Mahboob (Nikohl Boosheri), whose interest in computers wasn’t exactly encouraged in her native Afghanistan, as demonstrated by an early scene in which she’s nearly assassinated.

When she was a young student, she was ordered to leave the classroom along with the other girls when the teacher began...

Rule Breakers, a powerful, uplifting new film based on an inspirational true story about the Afghan Dreamers, a Muslim girls’ robotics team entering the world of international competitions, will be released on March 7th to coincide with International Women’s Day.

Directed by Bill Guttentag, the film stars Nikohl Boosheri and features Ali Fazal in an extended special appearance. The cast is elevated by the brilliant and talented young team that includes Amber Afzali, Nina Hosseinzadeh, Sara Malal Rowe, and Mariam Saraj. Also featured are Waj Ali, Naseer Memarzia, Nada El Belkasmi, and Noorin Gulamgaus.

Rule Breakers is based on the true story of Roya Mahboob, who longed to learn about and use computers as a young girl in Afghanistan. The film follows her as she strives to learn and eventually succeeds in teaching herself to use a computer at a cafe. This visionary woman spearheaded the creation of a...

Releasing in cinemas all across North America this Friday, March 7, is the uplifting new film Rule Breakers based on an inspirational true story. Directed by Bill Guttentag, the film stars Nikohl Boosheri and features Ali Fazal in an extended special appearance, along with the brilliant young cast that includes Amber Afzali, Nina Hosseinzadeh, Nada El Belkasmi, Sara Malal Rowe and Noorin Gulamgaus.

A visionary woman dares to teach young minds to dream in a nation where educating girls is seen as rebellion. When their innovation draws global attention, their success sparks hope—and opposition. As threats loom and sacrifices are made, their courage and unity ignite a movement that could forever transform the world.

Bill Guttentag said, “I was profoundly moved by the story of Roya Mahboob and her extraordinary courage and dedication in fighting for girls’ Stem education in Afghanistan. I felt honored when Roya and our co-writer, Elaha Mahboob...

The faith-based movie industry has become more sophisticated in recent years. During the home video era, it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a Christian-themed film to feature a script that wasn’t formulaic comfort food for a hungry demographic happy to gobble up any corny helping of low-budget uplift. That’s starting to change, mostly due to the efforts of Angel Studios.The Provo, Utah-based company launched in 2021 from the ashes of the blatantly illegal VidAngel, a service that would circumvent the encryption on studio DVDs and Blu-rays, re-cut the films to remove whatever content a particular customer found objectionable, and then charge that customer to view the edited version.

Since its inception, Angel Studios has positioned itself as a production company whose films and television series “amplify light,” which is careful, if vague, wording to suggest that their product...

The producer of Michelle Trachtenberg’s final film confirmed that the late actress was scheduled to make a rare public appearance at the 2025 South by Southwest (SXSW) festival set for March 12 in Austin, Texas. The Buffy the Vampire Slayerstar was found deceased in her apartment on Feb. 26.

Jennifer Hutchins, who produced the film Spyral (2024), which Trachtenberg stars in, told People that Trachtenberg was set to appear at an upcoming benefit screening of the documentary film. Hutchins said Trachtenberg was going to attend either in person or virtually “depending on her health.” Spyral was written and directed by two-time Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Bill Guttentag.

“There was no public announcement planned as we knew it would be a last-minute decision if she was up for it,” Hutchins said.

RelatedSarah Michelle Gellar Pays Tribute to Michelle Trachtenberg With Buffy the Vampire Slayer Quote

The two shared the screen for 66 episodes since...

Rule Breakers, the latest feature film from Oscar-winning director Bill Guttentag and Angel Studios, is a powerful and deeply moving tribute to the transformative power of education for women and girls. Based on the extraordinary true story of the Afghan Dreamers, this film goes beyond a simple underdog narrative to explore what it truly means to resist oppression with defiance, intelligence and fearlessness.

The film tells the inspiring story of Roya Mahboob (played by Circumstance star Nikohl Boosheri), a bright young woman in Afghanistan who dared to dream big. In a society where computers were considered only for boys, Roya’s passion for technology was clear to see and even encouraged by her family. Determined to learn, Roya struck a deal with Abdul (Nasser Memarzia), the local coffee shop owner, trading computer lessons for precious early-morning access to his sole machine. This act of defiance, small in scale, ignited a much grander ambition.

In light of the restrictions imposed on women in Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul in 2021, Bill Guttentag’s “Rule Breakers” couldn’t feel more urgent. It’s a story that relies on human resilience – women who stand up against all adversities to strive for recognition that is harder for them because of the relatively extremist and regressive regime that they live in. This would consequently mean that the movie that tells their tale should also be somewhat of a standout. Sadly, that’s not the case.

The only rule the movie breaks is being relatively secular about its stance while being distributed by the faith-based “Angel Studios.” I mean, there’s not a single shred of rule-breaking, or reinventing narrative conveniences in this tired, by-the-numbers underdog tale that is only sparingly inspiring. However, even the inspiring part should be attributed to the true story of the “Aghan Dreamers” that the film is based on.

Over the years, the entertainment industry has seen great auteurs and creators who continue to baffle audiences with the amazing fictional worlds they have created. Among these is Richard Anthony Wolf, more famously known as Dick Wolf. The American film and television producer is known for his work in the crime and order genre, creating several brilliant and versatile TV shows that have now become cornerstones of the genre.

Dick Wolf | Credit: Today Show / YouTube

While he might be best known for his Law & Order franchise, he also co-created and executive produced the Chicago franchise as well as the FBI franchise. One of the most prolific people in television history today, his portfolio spans decades and has shaped the way we watch crime and legal dramas. So, here is a look at the many TV shows he has created over his decades-long career.

1. Law & Order Law & Order...

Has Ali Fazal Finished Filming For Kamal Hassan’s Thug Life? (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Ali Fazal is recognized for his performances in both Indian and international cinema. He is best known for his roles in Fukrey, Mirzapur, and Death on the Nile, among others. Now, he is all set to debut in the South Indian film industry with the Tamil-language film Thug Life, which also stars Kamal Hassan. It is a highly anticipated film directed by the renowned filmmaker Mani Ratnam.

This new project has been creating a buzz due to its director and the stellar cast, including the legendary Haasan, Trisha, Abhirami, Nasser, Joju George, Sanya Malhotra, Rohit Saraf, Aishwarya Lekshmi, and Fazal as well. The film’s music is composed by iconic A.R. Rahman. It is currently slated for a release date of June 5, 2025. Amidst the hype, fans have something to be happy about. The film is aiming to complete its filming schedule,...

Exclusive: Sound Of Freedom outfit Angel Studios has picked up domestic rights to Rule Breakers (formerly known as Afghan Dreamers), starring Nikohl Boosheri (The Bold Type) and Ali Fazal (Death on the Nile).

A theatrical release is planned for March 2025 of the true story about the first all-girls robotics team from Afghanistan. Angel is also handling international sales on the completed film and will be selling it at AFM in markets that remain open.

Set between 2017 and 2019, Rule Breakers charts the story of a brave Afghan college girl who recruited high school girls to learn robotics – defying fathers, uncles, and tradition to form a highly skilled traveling team. Despite the dangerous backdrop of Afghani politics, the team went on to participate in competitions around the world.

An under-the-radar cast addition is Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag), while talent also includes Fahim Fazli (Superman: Legacy), Waj Ali (Carnival Row), Christian Contreras (Halo: Nightfall...

Michael Groom’s “Between the Lights” and Leon Lozano’s “A Little Hope for Chicago” were two of the grand jury prize winners of Dances With Films: LA. The celebration, hosted at the Tcl Chinese Theatre on June 30, saw “Between the Lights” (pictured) win best narrative feature and “A Little Hope for Chicago” take home best documentary feature.

The indie film festival lineup included 232 films, with 117 making world, international, North American or U.S. premieres.

The full award list for Dances With Films: LA is as follows:

Grand Jury – Narrative Features

“Between the Lights”

Director/Writer: Michael Groom

Producers: David Groom, Michael Groom

Honorable Mentions:

“Dreaming of You”

Director/Writer: Jack McCafferty

Producers: Bridgett Greenberg, McCafferty

“Tallywacker”

Director/Writer: Brendan Boogie

Producers: Jeremy Dubs, Chris Goodwin, Boogie

Grand Jury – Documentary Features

“A Little Hope for Chicago”

Director: Leon Lozano

Writers: Kevin Nichols, Lozano

Producers: Garrett E.B. Thompson, Kevin Nichols, Lozano...

Exclusive: Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins (Freud’s Last Session) has signed on to star in Bruno Penguin and the Staten Island Princess, the latest film from director Nick Cassavetes. Billed as the first-ever major Hollywood production to shoot in Antarctica, the film also has Shia Labeouf (Padre Pio) in talks to star and will enter production in November.

Scripted by Daniel Barnz and Ned Zeman, Bruno Penguin is based on a Vanity Fair article from the latter which tells the true story of adventurous Swiss photographer Bruno Zehnder, a superb artist who spent the last 20 years of his life in Antarctica photographing Emperor penguins. He was obsessed by them – their kindness, the way they lived, their deep levels of affection for one another. Bruno spent his life trying to learn how to communicate with them and over time, the colonies grew to know him and return his fondness.

Exclusive: Dick Wolf and his Wolf Entertainment are planning a feature documentary about Emmett Till.

Wolf and his longtime collaborator Tom Thayer are exec producing Murder In America: The Lynching of Emmett Till, a two-hour feature documentary, alongside James Moll, the Oscar winner behind Holocaust doc The Last Days.

It will be directed by Sam Pollard, who has directed documentaries including MLK/FBI, and Llewellyn Smith, who directed South to Black Power and produced American Experience.

Based on A Few Days Full of Trouble by Reverend Wheeler Parker, Jr. and Christopher Benson, the feature doc will explore two parallel tracks of the Till story. One was set in motion by the last four years of an FBI investigation with details never revealed before, including significant new revelations of the case and its findings. The traumatic memory of Reverend Wheeler Parker Jr., the last surviving witness to the crime and Emmett Till’s cousin,...

Actor Ali Fazal, who has been constantly making a splash with his international projects, is to now work in two-time Oscar winner Bill Guttentag’s ‘Afghan Dreamers’.

Bill won the prestigious Academy title for his two short films, ‘You Don’t Have to Die’ and ‘Twin Towers’.

Shoot for ‘Afghan Dreamers’ began recently in Morocco and will be a 50-day schedule, with a majority of the film being shot across Morocco and Budapest.

The film is the true story about the programme that was started by Afghan tech entrepreneur Roya Mahboob in 2017 as a way to help young women develop their skills in the field of science and technology, despite the patriarchal society in the country they hail from.

The film throws light on the chaotic, sometimes dangerous backdrop of the country’s politics.

The story tells the tale of the team of the Afghan girls who travelled across the world and participated in competitions,...

Exclusive: Nikohl Boosheri (The Bold Type) and Ali Fazal (Victoria & Abdul) have been set to lead cast in movie Afghan Dreamers (working title), based on the inspiring true story of the all-girls robotics team from Afghanistan.

The English-language project will chart the story of the heralded program, which was launched by Afghan tech entrepreneur Roya Mahboob in 2017, as a way to help young Afghan women develop their skills in science and technology, despite a highly patriarchal society and the chaotic and often dangerous backdrop of the country’s politics. The team went on to participate in competitions around the world, garner global media attention and meet leading politicians, including former U.S Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. Former President Donald Trump intervened to help several team members get visas for a robotics competition in Washington DC and Mahboob was named among Time’s most influential people in the world.

U.

Exclusive: Discovery+ is just over a month old and the streamer is already restocking its slate of original documentaries.

The digital platform has added eight documentaries, including a number of festival titles, to its slate. This comes ahead of its virtual TCA presentation.

Films include My Beautiful Stutter, Future People: The Family of Donor 5114, The Walrus and the Whistleblower, Groomed, Miracle Fishing: Kidnapped Abroad, Genius Factory, Apocalypse ’45 and Yellowstone: Super Volcanoes.

My Beautiful Stutter, which launches March 11, follows five kids who stutter, ages 9 to 18, from all over the United States and all walks of life. After experiencing a lifetime of bullying and stigmatization, these children meet others who stutter at an interactive arts-based program, The Stuttering Association for the Young, based in New York City. It is directed by Ryan Gielen (Stop the Bleeding) and exec produced by Paul Rudd, Mariska Hargitay, Peter Hermann, George Springer and Patrick James Lynch...

Z2 Comics has announced the graphic novel Sublime: $5 at the Door, out in June.

Named after a lyric from 1998’s “Garden Grove,” Sublime: $5 at the Door was written by Ryan Cady with cover art by Sublime artists Opie Ortiz and DJ Product. It focuses on the adventures of the Long Beach trio fronted by the late Bradley Nowell. Surviving members Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh assisted with the project, seen as a companion to the 2019 documentary directed by Bill Guttentag.

Sublime: $5 At the Door contains 120 pages and will be released in various editions,...

Exclusive: Fathom Events and Brainstorm Media are teaming on the theatrical release of Recon, the Robert Port military thriller starring Alexander Ludwig, Sam Keeley, Chris Brochu and Franco Nero. They are aiming to premiere the pic, set during World War II and based on a true story, as an exclusive one-night nationwide event November 10, the day before Veterans Day.

So far, the companies have lined up screenings on almost 350 screens at AMC and Regal venues as well as at smaller exhibitors, with an eye on 500 total before the event, which will feature behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew at each screening.

Port, who with Bill Guttentag won the Documentary Short Oscar in 2003 for Twin Towers, adapted Richard Bausch’s 2008 novel Peace about the true war story into Recon and made it his feature debut. The film centers on one long day as four American soldiers stationed in...

In today’s TV news roundup, the cast and creator of “The West Wing” will reunite for a voting special, and Syfy greenlit “The Pole,” an animated adult comedy show featuring Bobby Moynihan and Jillian Bell, with Nicole Byer and Colin Jost.

Dates

“Somebody Feed Phil,” a show where creator and host Phil Rosenthal travels the world and explores different cuisines, will have its Season 4 premiere Oct. 30 on Netflix. The upcoming season will see Rosenthal travel to Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, Singapore, The Mississippi Delta and Hawaii on his food-tasting mission, which also combines comedy into the mix. Rosenthal also serves as an executive producer for “Somebody Feed Phil” alongside Rich Rosenthal, John Bedolis, Christopher Collins and Lydia Tenaglia.

HBO Max revealed a that its upcoming project starring fashion designer Jenna Lyons, “Stylish with Jenna Lyons,” will premiere on Nov. 26. She previously served as the creative director and president of J. Crew,...

In today’s TV news roundup, “The Bachelorette’s” Rachel Lindsay has been named “Extra” correspondent for Season 27, and Netflix set”The Queen’s Gambit’s” premiere date.

Dates

“That Animal Rescue Show,” from filmmakers Richard Linklater and Bill Guttentag, will premiere on CBS All Access on Oct. 29. The 10-episode docuseries follows unique animal rescue communities in and around Texas, including a ranch where people heal alongside goats and an arena where children with disabilities learn to walk from horses. The show is produced by CBS Television Studios, in association with Stage 29, Detour Filmproduction and 1891 Productions.

Netflix will premiere its limited series “The Queen’s Gambit” on Oct. 23. Based on the novel by Walter Tevis, the coming-of-age drama follows Beth Harmon, who is abandoned and entrusted to a Kentucky orphanage in the 1950s. She discovers an incredible talent for chess, growing up to be a skilled outcast in a male-dominated field.

There will be no Telluride Film Festival this Labor Day in Colorado, but the programmers have unveiled what this year’s selections would have been. Much like the Cannes Film Festival’s 2020 lineup, this year’s Telluride films can at least carry the imprimatur of the festival as we head into the fall circuit. The 47th edition of the Telluride Film Festival was scheduled for September 3-7. See the full lineup, as revealed on Monday, below.

The idea in presenting the Telluride selections is to recommend the best in film this year in hopes that audiences will seek out these movies at other fall festivals (or what remains of them) down the line. With the 2021 Academy Awards pushed way out to April 25, there’s at once less pressure on these films to perform for awards but also a crush of movies backlogged since quarantine hit, making for a competitive season.

CBS All Access has unveiled its premiere plans for previously announced The Stand limited event series, a Richard Linklater animal rescue docuseries, and new original series The Man Who Fell To Earth, The Harper House and Guilty Party.

The Untitled Richard Linklater Project hails from the Boyhood and Where’d You Go Bernadette director and Knife Fight helmer Bill Guttentag. The 10-episode docuseries takes place in and around Linklater’s hometown of Austin, Texas, and looks at the colorful and diverse world of animal rescue through the stories of the animals and the humans who love them. It’s set for premiere this fall.

The Stand, a limited-series adaptation of Stephen King’s classic novel, is slated for a late 2020 premiere. Written by Josh Boone and Ben Cavell and starring Alexander Skarsgard, The Stand is King’s apocalyptic vision of a world decimated by plague and embroiled in an elemental struggle between good and evil.

Apple TV+’s See is adding more muscle to its cast: Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) will star opposite Jason Momoa in Season 2 of the dystopian drama, our sister site Deadline reports.

The series is set in a distant future, after a deadly virus decimated humankind — and those who survived emerged blind. Momoa stars as Baba Voss, the father of twins born centuries later with the ability to see. With the help of spiritual leader Paris (played by Oscar nominee Alfre Woodard), Baba Voss must protect his tribe against a powerful yet desperate queen who wants the twins destroyed.

Filmmaker Richard Linklater has long been admittedly “pretty slow on the TV thing,” as he once said at the Television Critics Association panels back in 2017. However, he’s coming to the small screen with a nonfiction project for CBS All Access, as announced today at the winter TCA event. The streamer has given a series order for “The Untitled Richard Linklater Project,” a docuseries executive-produced by Linklater and documentary filmmaker Bill Guttentag, both of whom are Oscar winners.

The 10-episode series, per CBS, “takes place in and around Austin, Texas, Linklater’s hometown, and will provide a window onto the colorful and diverse world of animal rescue through moving, humorous and powerful stories of animals and the humans who love them.” His last TV foray was the 2012 Hulu travel series “Up to Speed.”

“I come to this project hoping to shine a light on the folks I’ve met who...

Boyhood and Where’d You Go, Bernadette director Richard Linklater has teamed with Knife Fight director Bill Guttentag for a ten-part animal rescue docuseries for CBS All Access.

The untitled project takes place in and around Linklater’s hometown of Austin, Texas, and looks at the colorful and diverse world of animal rescue through the stories of the animals and the humans who love them.

Linklater and Guttentag, who created NBC’s Law & Order reality spin-off Crime & Punishment, will exec produce. It will be produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Dr. Phil’s Stage 29, Linklater’s Detour Filmproduction, and Guttentag and Nayeema Raza’s 1891 Productions.

Dr. Phil McGraw and Jay McGraw of Stage 29 and Julia Eisenman also exec produce, with Nayeema Raza as co-executive producer.

“I come to this project hoping to shine a light on the folks I’ve met who are making a difference...

Richard Linklater and Dr. Phil will executive produce a docuseries on animal rescue for CBS All Access, it was announced Sunday during the Television Critics Association press tour.

The 10-episode series will take place in and around Linklater’s hometown of Austin, Texas, and “provide a window onto the colorful and diverse world of animal rescue through moving, humorous and powerful stories of animals and the humans who love them,” according to CBS All Access.

“I come to this project hoping to shine a light on the folks I’ve met who are making a difference everyday in the lives of unwanted, abused and disabled animals. What strikes me most is the joy and discovery on both sides of the relationship between the animals and their human caregivers. These are inspirational stories that I believe will be a positive force in the world.” said Linklater. “I’m grateful to CBS...

Streaming service CBS All Access has ordered to series an original 10-episode animal rescue docuseries executive produced by filmmaker Richard Linklater and Bill Guttentag.

“The Untitled Richard Linklater Project” will explore the “colorful and diverse world of animal rescue through moving, humorous and powerful stories of animals and the humans who love them,” focusing its efforts in Linklater’s hometown of Austin, Texas.

“I come to this project hoping to shine a light on the folks I’ve met who are making a difference everyday in the lives of unwanted, abused and disabled animals,” said Linklater. “What strikes me most is the joy and discovery on both sides of the relationship between the animals and their human caregivers. These are inspirational stories that I believe will be a positive force in the world. I’m grateful to CBS All Access for their support in this adventure.”

The series will be...

A day before the release of her new LP Norman Fucking Rockwell, Lana Del Rey has dropped a video for her sultry cover of Sublime’s “Doin’ Time,” in which a super-sized version of the singer stomps around Venice Beach.

Directed by Rich Lee and homage of sorts to the b-movie classic Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, the grainy clip opens with Del Rey the Giant waking up in an aqueduct. She stretches, stands up and begins to stomp around Los Angeles, gently stepping over highways to avoid crushing cars like a peaceful Godzilla.

Lana Del Rey has dropped her cover of Sublime’s laid-back single “Doin’ Time.” The singer, who previously teased the cover, takes on late singer Bradley Nowell’s smooth-talking vocals, adding her signature sultry vibe to the song. The glittering song was produced by Andrew Watt and Happy Perez, and will appear in the upcoming documentary Sublime, which “outlines the history of the iconic California band.”

“Not a day goes by that I don’t listen to at least one Sublime song,” Del Rey said in a statement. “They epitomized...

Unless you were of the right age and geographic orientation, Sublime might be an easy band to overlook. A number of their songs haven’t aged particularly well; from a distance they might blend in with the glut of bleached-blond ska-punks who followed in their wake; and their longevity was limited by the untimely passing of frontman Bradley Nowell, who died of a heroin overdose just before they released the album that would make them household names. But if you happened to be a teenager in Southern California in the late 1990s, Sublime was second only to Snoop and Dre for party and parking lot sound system ubiquity, and the time seems right for a full-scale exploration of one of the decade’s unlikeliest superstar bands.

Unfortunately, Bill Guttentag’s paint-by-numbers documentary “Sublime” never delves far enough beneath the surface, nor does it make much of an attempt to contextualize...

Sublime has chosen two-time Oscar-winning director Bill Guttentag to tell its story in a theatrical documentary detailing the Southern California reggae punk band's rise and tragic loss of lead singer Bradley Nowell. 

Guttentag will write and direct the documentary, which will be released theatrically in late 2018, and will include rare and unreleased music from the group. The five-time Oscar nominee won the Academy Award for best short subject documentary in 1989 for You Don't Have to Die and again in 2003 for Twin Towers. In 2009, he co-directed Soundtrack for a Revolution, a documentary that told the story of...

The story of attorney Steven Donziger's David vs. Goliath battle against big-oil giant Chevron is being developed into not one, but two feature films. Bill Guttentag, who won an Oscar for docs You Don’t Have to Die and Twin Towers, has signed on to helm Rumble in the Jungle about Donziger, who spent more than two decades on the legal case that resulted in one of the largest environmental settlements in history. The legal case, led by Donziger, was a suit filed by 30,000 residents of Ecuador, that stated that Texaco (which was purchased by Chevron in 2001)

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When Michael Ware got back from Iraq, he dumped all the handycam footage he'd shot there in a tupperware container at his mother's house.

When the former correspondent for Time and Newsweek finally brought himself to dredge them out, he realised he had a film on his hands.

"I was sitting there with a friend of mine who's an editor, and she helped me realise that there was a story buried in that archive", Ware said. "That led to us to ingest those tapes, which I'm extraordinarily thankful for because the first of them were just starting to deteriorate"..

Ware first approached Screen Queensland with the idea of fashioning his footage into a feature.

"I sat down with a three-person panel, very clumsily talking about a project I didn't yet have a handle on, about financing I didn't yet understand, and about logistics still beyond me. One of the three...

Journalist Michael Ware's feature Only the Dead .has won the Walkley documentary award.

The film, which was recently bought by HBO Documentary Films is produced by Queensland-based Patrick McDonald (Predestination) and directed by Ware and two-time Academy Award-winning Us documentarian Bill Guttentag (Nanking, Twin Towers).

It is also vying for an Academy Award and is elibible to shortlisted for Best Documentary..

The shortlist will be announced in early December.

Only the Dead is a visceral and compelling documentary which follows Ware, a war correspondent reporting for Time Magazine and then CNN.

Ware finds himself launched into the Middle East following the geopolitical upheaval of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Ware, whose journalism career began at Queensland.s The Courier Mail, shot hundreds of hours of camcorder footage between 2003 and 2007 in war-torn Iraq. .

He was the first western journalist to get access to combat insurgents and as the nature of the war changed,...

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HBO Documentary Films has bought the Us rights to feature documentary Only the Dead, which centres on Australian journalist Michael Ware.

The film is produced by Queensland-based Patrick McDonald (Predestination) and directed by Ware and two-time Academy Award-winning Us documentarian Bill Guttentag (Nanking, Twin Towers).

Only the Dead recently screened at Colorado.s 42nd Annual Telluride Film Festival.

The film is also vying for an Academy Award and is elibible to shortlisted for Best Documentary..

The shortlist will be announced in early December.

Only the Dead is a visceral and compelling documentary which follows Ware, a war correspondent reporting for Time Magazine and then CNN.

Ware finds himself launched into the Middle East following the geopolitical upheaval of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Ware, whose journalism career began at Queensland.s The Courier Mail, shot hundreds of hours of camcorder footage between 2003 and 2007 in war-torn Iraq. .

He was the first western...

George Gittoes. Snow Monkey and Bill Guttentag and Michael Ware.s Only the Dead will screen at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (Idfa).

Filmed in Afghanistan in 2014 when foreign forces leave and an internal power struggle begins, Snow Monkey will screen in official competition at the festival which runs November 18-29.

Produced by Lizzette Atkins and Gittoes, the final film in his What the World Needs Now! trilogy premiered at Miff this year and followed the lives of those living in the Yellow House at Jalalabad, a collective of artists, film makers and social revolutionaries as they again face the threat of a Taliban-ruled society. It was funded through Screen Australia's Signature Documentary program.

Only the Dead, which follows Ware, an Australian journalist for CNN and Time Magazine as he journeys through the deepest recesses of the Iraq War, will unspool in the Best of Fests section. Patrick McDonald produced with Ware.

Top brass at the 42nd edition of the Colorado event have announced the roster of 27 films, with surprises to come over the September 4-7 run date.

The line-up is as follows:

Carol (Us), Todd Haynes

Amazing Grace (Us, 1972/2015), Sydney Pollack

Anomalisa (Us), Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson

Beast Of No Nation (Us), Cary Fukunaga

He Named Me Malala (Us), Davis Guggenheim

Steve Jobs (Us), Danny Boyle

Ixcanul (Guatemala), Jayro Bustamante

Bitter Lake (Us), Adam Curtis

Room (UK), Lenny Abrahamson

Black Mass (Us), Scott Cooper

Suffragette (UK), Sarah Gavron

Spotlight (Us), Tom McCarthy

Rams (Iceland), Grímur Hákonarson

Mom And Me (Ireland), Ken Wardrop

Viva (Ireland), Paddy Breathnach

Taj Majal (France-India), Nicolas Saada

Siti (Indonesia), Eddie Cahyono

Heart Of The Dog (Us), Laurie Anderson

45 Years (UK), Andrew Haigh

Son Of Saul (Hungary), Lázló Nemes,

Only The Dead See The End Of The War (Us-Australia), Michael Ware, Bill Guttentag

Taxi (Iran), Jafar Panahi

Hitchcock/Truffaut (Us), Kent Jones

Time To Choose...

Top brass at the 42nd edition of the Colorado event have announced the roster of 27 films, with surprises to come over the September 4-7 run date.

The line-up is as follows:

Carol (Us), Todd Haynes

Amazing Grace (Us, 1972/2015), Sydney Pollack

Anomalisa (Us), Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson

Beast Of No Nation (Us), Cary Fukunaga

He Named Me Malala (Us), Davis Guggenheim

Steve Jobs (Us), Danny Boyle

Ixcanul (Guatemala), Jayro Bustamante

Bitter Lake (Us), Adam Curtis

Room (England, pictured), Lenny Abrahamson

Black Mass (Us), Scott Cooper

Suffragette (UK), Sarah Gavron

Spotlight (Us), Tom McCarthy

Rams (Iceland), Grímur Hákonarson

Mom And Me (Ireland), Ken Wardrop

Viva (Ireland), Paddy Breathnach

Taj Majal (France-India), Nicolas Saada

Siti (Indonesia), Eddie Cahyono

Heart Of The Dog (Us), Laurie Anderson

45 Years (England), Andrew Haigh

Son Of Saul (Hungary), Lázló Nemes,

Only The Dead See The End Of The War (Us-Australia), Michael Ware, Bill Guttentag

Taxi (Iran), Jafar Panahi

Hitchcock/Truffaut (Us), Kent Jones

Time To...

This is a golden era for Australian feature documentaries as typified by the five critically-acclaimed titles in contention for the best feature doc prize at the fifth Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards.

Maya Newell.s Gayby Baby, Michael Ware and Bill Guttentag.s Only the Dead, Jen Peedom.s Sherpa, Damon Gameau.s That Sugar Film and Gillian Armstrong.s Women He.s Undressed are the nominees.

The Aacta Awards will be presented in Sydney in December, with the Seven Network telecasting the major awards on December 9.

Also revealed today were the nominees for best short animation and best short fiction film. In the running for the former are Adam Elliot.s Ernie Biscuit, Joe Brumm.s The Meek, Mikey Hill.s The Orchestra and Janette Goodey and John Lewis. The Story of Percival Pilts.

The nominees for best short fiction are Matt Holcomb.s Flat Daddy,...

Portuguese director Miguel Gomes. Arabian Nights has won the top award, the Sydney Film prize, at the 62nd Sydney Film Festival.

The 3-part opus, which draws on the folk tales One Thousand and One Nights to create a portrait of modern-day life in Portugal, took the $62,000 cash prize at the closing night awards at the State Theatre.

Jury president Liz Watts hailed a film of "ambition and political vision which confronts, frustrates, and spellbinds - and ultimately reminds us that cinema continues to be a powerful vehicle to examine the human condition..

Journalist Michael Ware and two-time Oscar winner Bill Guttentag received the $10,000 Documentary Australia Foundation Award for Australian documentary for Only the Dead; with a special mention to The Lost Aviator directed by Andrew Lancaster. .A Single Body directed and written by Sotiris Dounoukos won the best live action short award; Grace Under Water directed and produced by Anthony Lawrence...

Miguel Gomes’ three-volume epic wins eight on the closing night of the Sydney Film Festival.

Director Miguel Gomes and his three-volume 383-minute film Arabian Nights has won the $48,000 (A$62,000) Sydney Film Prize, it was announced on Sunday, the closing night of the 62nd Sydney Film Festival.

Journalist Michael Ware was awarded the $7,730 (A$10,000) Documentary Australia Foundation Award for Australian Documentary for Only the Dead, about his experiences in Afghanistan. The film was co-directed with Bill Guttentag.

Director Andrew Lancaster’s The Lost Aviator received a special mention for a family story of murder, love and aviation.

Jury president and Australian producer Liz Watts said Arabian Nights, which had its world premiere in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, was a film of ambition and political vision which confronts, frustrates, and spellbinds – and ultimately reminds us that cinema continues to be a powerful vehicle to examine the human condition.

“A subject that is so timely – oppression and exploitation are at...

The two-time Oscar winner will be among the first teachers on the online platform alongside Serena Williams and James Patterson.

Based in San Francisco, MasterClass aims to curate a programme of sessions involving the best in their fields.

“We’re students,” said Hoffman, who will teach an acting class. “The first year. The first five years, the first 10 years. We’re students after 50 years.

“I never like to give advice, but I wanted to teach what I wish someone had taught me.”

Jay Roach and Bill Guttentag will direct the first set of classes.

For further details click here.

Neil Armfield.s Holding the Man, Simon Stone.s The Daughter, Jeremy Sims. Last Cab to Darwin and Jen Peedom.s feature doc Sherpa will have their world premieres at the Sydney Film Festival.

The festival program unveiled today includes 33 world premieres (including 22 shorts) and 135 Australian premieres (with 18 shorts) among 251 titles from 68 countries.

Among the other premieres will be Daina Reid.s The Secret River, Ruby Entertainment's. ABC-tv miniseries starring Oliver Jackson Cohen and Sarah Snook, and three Oz docs, Marc Eberle.s The Cambodian Space Project — Not Easy Rock .n. Roll, Steve Thomas. Freedom Stories and Lisa Nicol.s Wide Open Sky.

Festival director Nashen Moodley boasted. this year.s event will be far larger than 2014's when 183 films from 47 countries were screened, including 15 world premieres. The expansion is possible in part due to the addition of two new screening venues in Newtown and Liverpool.

As previously announced, Brendan Cowell...

Anton Corbijn’s Life also set to get direct government investment from Screen Australia.

Many Australian filmgoers were today thrilled to hear that director Clayton Jacobson and his brother, the actor Shane Jacobson, the two brains behind the good-natured local box office hit Kenny [pictured], are finally going to be making a followup.

The family movie Oddball is one of two features to get direct government investment from Screen Australia, it was announced today. In the other, the official co-production Life, starring Robert Pattinson of Twilight fame, Australia and Germany are minority partners alongside Canada.

“Oddball has the perfect mix to really carry across to an international audience,” Clayton Jacobson told Screendaily. “It is your classic four quadrant film. Both Shane and I were invited on board for the ride… We are thrilled to be able to work together again. It’s not every day someone pays you to hang out with family.”

Kenny was made...

Screen Australia board.s first meeting since Graeme Mason was hired as CEO was eventful as the agency approved $11 million investment in four feature films, four adult dramas and one children.s series.

All told, that will trigger $70 million in production. The features include family film Oddball from the team who made Kenny, starring Shane Jacobson and directed by his brother Clayton; and See-Saw Films. Life, which stars Dane DeHaan and Robert Pattinson.

Two theatrical documentaries were funded: Only the Dead, which explores the career of Australian war correspondent Michael Ware; and Sherpa: In the Shadow of the Mountain, which looks at the drama of a high altitude Everest expedition from the point of view of the Sherpas.

.This is a strong line-up of character-driven feature projects coming from an incredibly talented mix of filmmakers,. said Mason.

Scripted by Peter Ivan, Oddball centres on an eccentric chicken farmer who saves...