News

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has unveiled two new exhibitions exploring how science has impacted technology, aesthetics and storytelling in cinema Oct. 6.

“Color in Motion: Chromatic Explorations of Cinema,” investigates the role of color in film while “Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema” will examine the global impact of the science fiction subgenre cyberpunk on cinema culture.

Senior Exhibitions Curator Jessica Niebel curated “Color in Motion” with the help of assistant curator Sophia Serrano, curatorial assistant Manouchka Kelly Labouba and research assistant Alexandra James Salichs.

Niebel explained knowledge about the history of color in film is lacking and propelled her team to craft an exhibit that would engage and educate audiences about the area. She highlighted the power of film colors as a storytelling device to create meaning and tone throughout a narrative.

“With every new color technology, there were new ways of cinematic expression,” Niebel said. “When cinema was invented,...

Having recently shifted away from their one-film-a-day approach, Mubi has now unveiled their October lineup, which is headlined by Ira Sachs’ stellar drama Passages following its theatrical run this summer. The slate also features handpicked selections by Sachs, with work by Maurice Pialat, Luchino Visconti, Jack Hazan, Shirley Clarke, and Tsai Ming-liang.

Also arriving in October is “Watch If You Dare: Horror Halloween,” a series featuring a trio of giallo classics, with The Fifth Cord, The Possessed, and Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion, alongside Guillermo del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone and more. The service will also spotlight the work of underseen Japanese director Yasuzô Masumura, including his aching melodrama Red Angel, his biting workplace satire Giants and Toys, his thrilling noir Black Test Car, and more.

Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

October 1

The Infiltrators, directed by Alex Rivera, Cristina Ibarra | National Hispanic Heritage Month

The Vanished Elephant,...

Exclusive: Rain (fka Rain Management Group) has added The Rookery’s Adam Robinson as manager following Rain Management Group’s acquisition of the management and production company. Rain Management Group rebranded to Rain as of the January 1, 2023 merger.

Robinson launched his management and production company, The Rookery in 2008. In 14 years as a manager, he has developed and curated a list of clients including Rob Hardy, Crystle Roberson, Jeff Byrd, Brendan Walsh, James Bamford, Gary Hardwick (Deliver Us From Eva), Brian Egeston, Lamont Magee (All American: Homecoming), Katrina O Gilvie (All Rise), MacArthur Genius award winner Alex Rivera (Sleep Dealer), and Emmy winners Adrian Dukes (All American), Phil Bertelsen (Who Killed Malcolm X?...

Reboots are the bread and butter of Hollywood, which means that we millennials (and even the elder zoomers), are becoming accustomed to seeing our childhood favorites being given the reboot treatment. The IP up for debate today is Zorro and this time we have Antonio Banderas to blame.

While discussing the upcoming "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" with Comicbook.com, the topic of 1998's "The Mask of Zorro," and the possibility of Banderas returning for a sequel, came up. "If they called me to do 'Zorro,' I would do what Anthony Hopkins did for me, which is to pass the torch," shared Banderas. Asked whether there were any actors currently working who could take up the mantle of the masked vigilante, he considered for a moment and then replied, "Tom Holland. I did 'Uncharted' with him, and he's so energetic and fun. He's got this spark too. Why not?...

Hollywood veterans Cheryl Boone Isaacs and Peter Murrieta are optimistic that “so much is possible” in the future as Hollywood and the entertainment industry at large expands to make room for more diverse stories and perspectives across the board.

Murrieta and Boone Isaacs spoke Thursday at an event to herald the recent launch of Arizona State University’s Sidney Poitier New American Film School, a program that launched earlier this year in downtown Los Angeles in the famed former Los Angeles Herald Examiner building at Broadway and 11th. Boone Isaacs is founding director of the Poitier school while Murrieta serves as deputy director and professor of practice. The two joined several other faculty members to discuss how Hollywood can grow its business and audience base by making strides toward inclusion and representation.

Boone Isaacs and Murrieta emphasized the importance of film education being hands-on enough to set students up to...

Exclusive: Kat Taylor & Tom Steyer’s TomKat MeDiA has unveiled its slate of social justice-themed projects for 2022. The multi-platform media company has secured rights to Duff Wilson’s eco-thriller Fateful Harvest and Aaron Bobrow-Strain’s award-winning work of narrative non-fiction, The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez, with plans to develop both as feature films.

Based on a Seattle Times investigative series reported by Wilson that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Fateful Harvest is the riveting account of an alarming environmental scandal. Published in 2001, the book tells the story of Patty Martin — the mayor of a small Washington town called Quincy — who discovers American industries are dumping toxic waste into farmers’ fields and home gardens by labeling it “fertilizer.” She becomes outraged at the contaminated soil, failed crops, dead horses, and fatal, rare diseases in her town, as well as the direct threat to her own children’s health.

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: David Dalaithngu in Nicolas Roeg's Walkabout.Renowned Aboriginal film actor David Gulpilil Ridjimiraril Dalaithngu has died. David Dalaithngu was seen as a trailblazer for his early roles in Walkabout (1971) and Storm Boy (1976), and later performances in films like the semi-autobiographical Charlie's Country (2013). He rose to prominence as an actor and traditional dancer during a time in which Indigenous roles were frequently played by non-Indigenous actors, often in blackface. In his own words, he described acting as a "piece of cake." Steven Soderbergh, Channing Tatum, and writer Reid Carolin have joined forces for the next installment in the Magic Mike franchise, entitled Magic Mike's Last Dance. "The stripperverse will never be the same," Channing Tatum said. First Cow takes the number one in Cahiers du cinéma's top ten list for 2021! The list...

Remember Zorro? He's back, in hacker form. Or that's the plan, at least. Alex Rivera has been tapped by Sobini Films to write and direct "Zorro 2.0," which reimagines the famous swashbuckling character as a modern-day hacker. And no, I'm not making this up. Everything about this pitch, including the title, sounds like a relic from the '90s when the average filmgoer didn't quite understand computers and therefore Hollywood was free to pump out wildly inaccurate entertainment like "Hackers" and "The Net." But hey, maybe reimagining Zorro as a hacker is just what the characters needs. 

Hollywood has been attempting to launch a new Zorro project for a few...

The post Zorro 2.0 Will Reboot the Classic Character as a Hacker appeared first on /Film.

Exclusive: Alex Rivera, a recipient of a 2021 MacArthur Genius grant, is set to write and direct Zorro 2.0 for Sobini Films.

The film reimagines the iconic character as Oscar de la Vega, a young, undocumented hacker known as ‘z0rr0.’ While fighting back against a secret government unit that attacked his mother, he discovers a high-tech conspiracy that threatens not only his family but the world.

“I’ve always been interested in films that address real-world issues through genre,” Rivera said in a statement to Deadline. “This project is an opportunity to connect Zorro—the original masked avenger—to today’s border wars, a conflict in which immigrant families are pitted against regimes of hi-tech surveillance and government control. ‘Zorro 2.0′ will be visually elevated, socially grounded, sci-fi cinema, and I’m thrilled to be working with Sobini to get this vision on the screen.”

Sobini Films’ Mark Amin, Cami Winikoff and Tyler Boehm will produce.

Exclusive: Melissa De Sousa (The Best Man franchise) and McKinley Freeman are set for recurring roles opposite Morris Chestnut and Yaya DaCosta in Fox drama series Our Kind of People, from writer/executive producer Karin Gist and executive producer Lee Daniels. The role reunites De Sousa with Chestnut, with whom she stars in The Best Man franchise. Joe Morton also stars in the series.

Inspired by Lawrence Otis Graham’s book Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class, the series written by Gist takes place in the aspirational world of Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, a historical stronghold where the rich and powerful Black elite have come to play for more than 50 years. Our Kind of People follows strong-willed single mom Angela Vaughn (DaCosta) as she sets out to reclaim her family’s name and make an impact with her revolutionary haircare line that highlights the innate,...

Distributor pivoted after coronavirus pandemic forced theatre closures.

Films released via Oscilloscope Laboratories’ virtual cinema initiative have generated more than $200,000 since the company reconfigured its distribution plans when the coronavirus pandemic forced theatres to close.

Through Thursday (May 14), Saint Frances, Other Music, Best Of CatVideoFest, The Infiltrators and Clementine had generated $215,108 at the virtual box office.

O-Scope kicked off its virtual cinema programme with The Avalon venue in Washington DC on March 16 as soon as it became clear theatre closures would endure for a while.

The New York-based distrbutor splits net revenue with participating theatres, who typically set a $12 price point for online ticket sales.

People risk all kinds of things to make movies — money, reputations, sometimes even their health. But in “The Infiltrators,” it feels as if the crew we see on-screen is putting their lives on the line for a cause they believe in, and that the movie is just a byproduct, as opposed to the principal mission.

In that way, it’s like “The Cove,” the remarkable dolphin-saving doc in which marine-life activists sneaked into a secluded Japanese killing field like soldiers on a special-ops mission. “The Infiltrators” also documents a courageous undercover operation, this one involving Dreamers who turn themselves over to Border Patrol officers in order to assist their fellow undocumented immigrants from inside a federal detention center — except, in this case, directors Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera rely on a mix of talking heads and reenactment footage to dramatize a mission for which principal coverage was limited to a few audio recordings.

The Oscilloscope Laboratories docu-thriller The Infiltrators is hitting virtual cinemas today before making its way to on-demand and digital June 2. The virtual release is becoming a staple for many film titles as it allows audiences to purchase film tickets through a theater’s website and, in turn, helps continue support of theaters that have been closed due to Covid-19.

Directed by Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra, the film made its world premiere last year at the Sundance Film Festival where it the won the Next Section Audience Award. The hybrid pic blends feature filmmaking, re-enactments of real-life events and documentary footage to tell the true story of young undocumented immigrants who are intentionally detained by Border Patrol and thrown into a for-profit detention center.

More from DeadlineWestern Thriller 'True History Of Kelly Gang' And '60s Coming-Of-Age Drama 'To The Stars' Make Debuts - Specialty Streaming PreviewComing-Of-Age Foodie Comedy 'Abe' Fires Up,...

For twelve years now, the Cinema Eye Honors selection committees, comprised of filmmakers from the documentary community, help to whittle down a curated list of must-see non-fiction film and television. At the annual Cinema Eye brunch, Cinema Eye Honors founding director A.J. Schnack and his team unveiled the first in a series of awards announcements, including nominees for two new awards: Outstanding Achievement for a Broadcast Film or Series in Editing and Cinematography.

Netflix, 30 for 30, Hulu and Showtime Documentary Films hosted the lunch at Tartine Bianco in Los Angeles, attended by many filmmakers, including many of this year’s non-fiction contenders: Nanfu Wang + Jialing Zhang, Todd Douglas Miller, Petra Costa, Steven Bognar + Julia Reichert, Lauren Greenfield, and Feras Fayyad.

Beyoncé Knowles-Carter’s “Homecoming” (Netflix) led the Broadcast honorees with three nominations: Broadcast Film, Broadcast Editing and Broadcast Cinematography. Other multiple nominees included National Geographic’s “Apollo: Mission to the Moon,...

For twelve years now, the Cinema Eye Honors selection committees, comprised of filmmakers from the documentary community, help to whittle down a curated list of must-see non-fiction film and television. At the annual Cinema Eye brunch, Cinema Eye Honors founding director A.J. Schnack and his team unveiled the first in a series of awards announcements, including nominees for two new awards: Outstanding Achievement for a Broadcast Film or Series in Editing and Cinematography.

Netflix, 30 for 30, Hulu and Showtime Documentary Films hosted the lunch at Tartine Bianco in Los Angeles, attended by many filmmakers, including many of this year’s non-fiction contenders: Nanfu Wang + Jialing Zhang, Todd Douglas Miller, Petra Costa, Steven Bognar + Julia Reichert, Lauren Greenfield, and Feras Fayyad.

Beyoncé Knowles-Carter’s “Homecoming” (Netflix) led the Broadcast honorees with three nominations: Broadcast Film, Broadcast Editing and Broadcast Cinematography. Other multiple nominees included National Geographic’s “Apollo: Mission to the Moon,...

Beyonce’s “Homecoming” has landed three nominations to lead all films in the first round of noms for the Cinema Eye Honors, a New York-based awards ceremony established in 2007 to honor all aspects of nonfiction filmmaking.

In an announcement made at a luncheon in downtown Los Angeles, Cinema Eye Honors organizers unveiled nominations in seven categories, including new categories for broadcast editing and cinematography. “Homecoming” received nominations in both those new categories, as well as for the outstanding broadcast film of the year.

It faces off in that last category against “Apollo: Mission to the Moon,” “At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal,” “Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists,” “Leaving Neverland” and “The Sentence.”

Also Read: 'Homecoming' Film Review: Beyoncé's Powerful Documentary Captures Her Once-in-a-Lifetime Coachella Triumph

Other shows with multiple nominations were the broadcast series “Salt Fat Acid Heat” and “Tricky Dick,” which received two each.

In today’s film news roundup, Paramount sets up another Will Smith sci-fi project, “Distant Harmony: Pavarotti in China” gets re-released and pro-immigrant “The Infiltrators” finds a home.

Project Launch

Paramount Pictures has signed Will Smith to produce and star in a movie adaptation of Marcus Sakey’s dystopian trilogy “Brilliance.”

Akiva Goldsman will write the script and produce with James Lassiter and Shane Salerno. “Brilliance” will be a co-production between Goldsman’s Weed Road, Smith’s Westbrook and Overbrook and Salerno’s the Story Factory.

The story is set in a world where 1% of the children are born with powerful intellectual gifts and demonized by society. A director is not yet on board.

Smith starred in “Aladdin” and will next be seen in Ang Lee’s sci-fi thriller “Gemini Man,” which Paramount opens on Oct. 11. The news was first reported by Deadline.

Re-release

Giant Pictures, the digital film distribution division of Giant Interactive,...

Exclusive: Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired U.S. rights to the critically acclaimed immigration feature The Infiltrators. Directed by Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra, the film made its world premiere earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival where it went on to won the Audience Award: Next and the Next Innovator Prize. Oscilloscope is set to release the feature in theaters before streaming on digital platforms.

The Infiltrators is a very timely docu-thriller that tells the true story of young immigrants who get detained by Border Patrol, and put in a shadowy for-profit detention center — on purpose. Marco (Maynor Alvarado) and Viri (Vida‘s Chelsea Rendon) are members of the National Immigrant Youth Alliance, a group of radical Dreamers who are on a mission to stop deportations. And the best place to stop deportations, they believe, is in detention. However, when they try to pull off a prison break in reverse,...

Ken Kirby is ready to jump into the soapy prime time drama of Dynasty. The Good Trouble actor is set to recur on the CW reboot of the iconic series in the role of Evan Tate, Trixie’s (Jessi Goei) older brother. And as we all know, Trixie is Fallon’s (Elizabeth Gillies) friend who died ten years ago and whose body was pulled from the lake in the season finale.

Kirby’s casting is refreshing in a time when Dynasty has seen a slew of changes in its casting during the first two seasons. The lead role of Cristal went through two changes. The first time Ana Brenda Contreras replaced original star Nathalie Kelley after the end of Season 1. And recently, Contreras was replaced by Daniella Alonso as the series headed into Season 3. In addition, Elizabeth Gillies recently took over the role of Alexis from Nicollette Sheridan. And original...

Some 40% of selections hail from female directors.

The Us premiere of Argentinian rom-com An Unexpected Love starring Ricardo Darín and the world premiere of Days Of Light bookend the 2019 AFI Latin American Film Festival, set to run in Silver Spring, Maryland, from Sept. 12-Oct. 2.

Some 53 films from 23 countries will screen at the 30th anniversary event during National Hispanic Heritage Month. Organisers said nearly 40% of the selections hail from female directors.

An Unexpected Love, directed by Patagonik’s Juan Vera marks Darín’s first outing as producer and he stars in the rom-com alongside Mercedes Morán.

Days Of Light is an...

In today’s film news roundup, a movie about the deadly Camp Fire is in the works, “The Infiltrators” will open the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival and former Rogers and Cowan topper Tom Tardio will run the Napa Valley Film Festival.

Project Launch

Focus Features is producing the survival story movie “Paradise,” based on events during the deadly 2018 Camp Fire.

The fire caused 85 fatalities and destroyed the small town of Paradise, Calif. Matthew Heineman, who was Oscar-nominated for “Cartel Land,” is set to direct and write the script. Temple Hill will produce along with Heineman.

The story will centers on Heather Roebuck, who gave birth via C-section minutes before the local hospital became engulfed by flames. Focus has optioned life rights for Roebuck, her fiancé and their children along with Butte County emergency medical workers Sean Abrams, Mike Castro, Shannon Molarius and Robin Cranston – who ended up becoming...

Exclusive: Blumhouse Television has optioned the Sundance award-winning documentary-narrative film, The Infiltrators from Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra to adapt as a scripted series. Jenniffer Gomez will write and produce the adaptation. The critically praised film premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was honored with The Audience Award: Next and The Next Innovator Prize.

The Infiltrators, a hybrid of real-time documentary footage and dramatic reconstructions, tells the real – and surreal – story of three young undocumented immigrants, Marco Saavedra, Viridiana Martinez and Mohammad Abdollahi, who in 2012 dared to defy the system by embarking on a high-risk mission to infiltrate a secretive for-profit detention center. By intentionally getting detained by the Border Patrol and voluntarily surrendering their freedom, these “Infiltrators” went into detention to uncover cases of abuse, organize behind bars, and help other detainees (and themselves) eventually get free. The story is a jail-break — in reverse.

Bam has released the full lineup for its 11th annual BAMcinemaFest, a “platform for both emerging and established filmmakers as well as unconventional and often overlooked films,” which will run this year from June 12 — 23. This year’s 12-day festival includes 18 NY premieres, one U.S. premiere, and three world premieres.

Gina Duncan, Associate Vice President of Film, told IndieWire of the programming picks, “We have the same goal every year: to present the best American independent cinema being made today. But this is the first year that I’ve felt the films fit together as a cohesive whole; they are linked by a naturalness, an intimate focus, and boundless creativity. As the larger film conversation continues to focus on record-breaking box offices, it feels defiant to present a program that centers film as art.”

This year’s festival will open on June 12 with the New York premiere of Lulu Wang...

Toronto – Just weeks after the Sundance premiere of “The Infiltrators,” Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera’s documentary about conditions inside a Florida immigration detention center, one of the film’s subjects, Claudio Rojas, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents and deported back to his native Argentina.

Rojas, who spent 19 years living in the U.S., had been an inside source for a documentary that exposed abuses inside the Broward Transitional Center, a for-profit institution that has detained hundreds of immigrants without trial. His ordeal served as a timely reminder of the countless lives still imperiled by the recent migrant crisis — a historical event that’s offered raw material for a number of documentaries screening at the Hot Docs Canadian Intl. Film Festival this year.

“It’s an ongoing theme that’s more important than ever,” said Shane Smith, Hot Docs director of programming. “Filmmakers are...

The Montclair Film Festival will hold the world premiere of the restoration of the 1959 movie “The Diary of Anne Frank,” Variety has learned exclusively.

The black-and-white film, directed by George Stevens, has been restored by Twentieth Century Fox and the Film Foundation. The holocaust drama was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won three, including best supporting actress for Shelly Winters.

The festival, now in its eighth year, will take place May 3-12 in Montclair, N.J., and features more than 150 films, events, discussions and parties. The festival had previously announced that it would open with a screening of Tom Harper’s “Wild Rose,” with star Jessie Buckley attending for a post-screening Q&A.

This year’s Storyteller Series will include A Conversation with Mindy Kaling, moderated by Stephen Colbert, taking place May 4 and A Conversation with Ben Stiller, moderated by Colbert, on May 5. Olympia Dukakis will attend for a...

Ava DuVernay, John Leguizamo, and Laura Poitras have added their signatures to a letter fighting against the impending deportation of Claudio Rojas, subject of the documentary “The Infiltrators.” The non-fiction feature from directors Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra debuted in Park City earlier this year to strong reviews, with IndieWire’s Eric Kohn saying it made a “strong case for abolishing Ice.”

Rojas is a native of Argentina but has lived in the United States for 19 years. The International Documentary Association said in a memo that Rojas has been detained by Ice and is now being held at the Krome Detention Center in South Miami-Dade after what should have been a routine check-in. Rojas is now facing deportation as early as sometime this week.

“We feel strongly that detaining a protagonist of a documentary film has a chilling effect on those whose stories we tell as documentary journalists, and restricts...

March 1

– Now in its fourth year, the Doc10 film festival is proud to announce their official 2019 film slate. Presented by Chicago Media Project, Doc10 will open with the critically acclaimed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez documentary “Knock Down the House” and close with Emmy Award-winning director John Chester’s “The Biggest Little Farm.” In celebration of the highly curated event, filmmakers from this year’s ten best documentaries will be descending on Chicago for screenings and Q&A’s. Doc10 will also showcase Vr content, industry panels, and creative workshops, and takes place from April 11 – 14, 2019 in Chicago, Il.

Winner of the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, “Knock Down the House” follows progressive activist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other insurgent female candidates running for Congress in 2018. Setting their sights on making a difference, the film chronicles these women as they fight for the issues they are most passionate about and shake...

More than a decade after breaking out with Sleep Dealer, Alex Rivera (co-directs with Cristina Ibarra) returns with a docu feature nimbly includes dramatized re-enactments. Much like when young pilot named Luke Skywalker made the impossible three point shot into the Death Star, The Infiltrators details how Dreamer activists embrace the Orange state colors with an unfathomable covert mission to truly help fellow men and women detained by Border Patrol. The world premiere screening (only the second docu film to break the Next section) took place at the Library and cast, crew and super heroes without capes were in attendance.…...

Before we unveil our favorites of Sundance Film Festival 2019, the juries and audiences have selected their 28 feature filmmaking picks from 121 total films. This year’s jurors featured Desiree Akhavan, Damien Chazelle, Dennis Lim, Phyllis Nagy, Tessa Thompson, Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Yance Ford, Rachel Grady, Jeff Orlowski, Alissa Wilkinson, Jane Campion, Charles Gillibert, Ciro Guerra, Maite Alberdi, Nico Marzano, Véréna Paravel, Young Jean Lee, Carter Smith, Sheila Vand, and Laurie Anderson.

Topped by the harrowing documentary One Child Nation, the prison drama Clemency, Joanna Hogg’s astounding The Souvenir, and the beautiful Honeyland, see the winners below and our complete coverage here.

2019 Sundance Film Festival Feature Film Awards

The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented by Rachel Grady to: Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang, for One Child Nation / China, U.S.A. — After becoming a mother, a filmmaker uncovers the untold history of China’s one-child policy and the generations...

Clemency (Chinonye Chukwo)U.S. – DRAMATICGrand Jury PrizeClemency (Chinonye Chukwo)Directing AwardThe Last Black Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot)Special Jury Award for Vision and CraftHoneyboy (Alma Har’el)Special Jury Award for Creative CollaborationThe Last Black Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot)Special Jury Award for Breakthrough PerformanceRhianne Barreto (Share)Waldo Salt Screenwriting AwardShare (Pippa Bianco)Audience AwardBrittany Runs a Marathon (Paul Downs Colaizzo)

Next Next Audience AwardThe Infiltrators (Cristina Ibarra, Alex Rivera)Next Innovator AwardThe Infiltrators (Cristina Ibarra, Alex Rivera)

U.S. – DOCUMENTARYGrand Jury PrizeOne Child NationDirecting AwardAmerican Factory (Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert)Special Jury Award for an Emerging FilmmakerJawline (Liza Mandelup)Special Jury Award for Moral UrgencyAlways in Season (Jacqueline Olive)Special Jury Award for EditingApollo 11 (Todd Douglas Miller)Special Jury Award for CinematographyMidnight Family (Luke Lorentzen)Audience AwardKnock Down the House (Rachel Lears)

World Cinema – DRAMATICGrand Jury PrizeThe Souvenir (Joanna Hogg)Directing AwardThe Sharks (Lucia...

Chinonye Chukwu’s “Clemency,” a drama starring Alfre Woodard as a prison warden agonizing over capital punishment, has won the Grand Jury Prize for dramatic films at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, which handed out its awards at a ceremony in Park City on Saturday evening.

Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang’s “One Child Nation” won the Grand Jury Prize for documentaries.

The directing awards in the U.S. dramatic and documentary competitions went to Joe Talbot for “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” and Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert for “American Factory,” respectively.

Also Read: Sundance's Haves and Have Nots: Can Traditional Indie Distributors Still Compete?

The Grand Jury Prizes in the World Cinema Dramatic competition went to Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir,” while in the World Cinema Documentary competition it went to “Honeyland” by Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska.

Audience awards went to “Paul Downs Colaizzo’s “Brittany Runs a Marathon...

The 2019 Sundance Film Festival drew to a close this evening with the annual awards ceremony, which was hosted by filmmaker and actress Marianna Palka at the Basin Recreation Fieldhouse in Park City, Utah.

Of the four Grand Jury Prizes given to competition films — the festival’s highest honors — each was directed or co-directed by a female filmmaker, reflecting last year’s Directing winners, who were all women. This year’s Grand Jury Prize winners include Chinonye Chukwu’s “Clemency” (U.S. Dramatic), Nanfu Wang’s “One Child Nation” (U.S. Documentary), Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir” (World Dramatic), and Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov’s “Honeyland” (World Documentary).

Both of the U.S. winners are still without U.S. distribution, so here’s hoping a big win at tonight’s show might loosen up some purse strings for these essential — and now award-winning — features.

At this year’s festival, women...

Undocumented immigrants are detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on a regular basis, and their experiences could provide the foundation of a potent documentary, or a riveting social thriller. “The Infiltrators” endeavors to be both: Husband-and-wife co-directors Alex Rivera (“Sleep Dealer”) and Cristina Ibarra (“Las Marthas”) oscillates from real-life accounts of Dreamer activists going undercover in detention facilities to help reunite immigrants with their families, and fictional reenactments of the drama that unfolded inside.

The experimental approach takes some time to settle in and doesn’t always click, but at its best, “The Infiltrators” manages to personalize the undocumented struggle by transforming it into an unlikely blend of activism and suspense that makes a compelling case for the abolishment of Ice.

The two-pronged approach reflects its creators’ many modes: Rivera’s 2008 “Sleep Dealer” was a sci-fi allegory for contemporary immigration concerns, while Ibarra directed several documentaries on the same subject.

Chronicling the audacious acts of a group of organized undocumented youth prior to the Obama-implemented, temporary relief known as Daca (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), “The Infiltrators,” from Latinx directors Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra, is a vital piece of hybrid cinema that shines light into the obscure realm of privately-operated immigration detention facilities. The timely film world-premiered Friday night at the Sundance Film Festival.

Interweaving firsthand accounts in talking-head format and scripted reenactments, Rivera and Ibarra construct a high-stakes, real-life drama centered on the National Immigrant Youth Alliance (Niya), comprised of resourceful and deeply committed DREAMers who’ve dared to defy the system, not only for their own benefit but also for the greater good.

“Everyone needs a plan,” says Niya activist Marco Saavedra (played by Maynor Alvarado in the docufiction sections) when detailing their strategy behind the 2012 infiltration of the Broward Transitional Center, an immigration jail in Florida,...

Sundance has always been pretty gay. Whether the festival was supporting queer filmmakers to lead the indie film boom of the ’90s, ushering in the dawn of the New Queer Cinema, or unofficially partnering with OutFest to share programmers and titles, Park City has always been fertile ground in which Lgbtq cinema can thrive. This year brings fewer solely queer offerings than previous years, but the program still has plenty to look forward to.

This year’s program marks the first in Kim Yutani’s new role as director of programming. Formerly a senior programmer for the festival, Yutani began her career at OutFest, where she lived and breathed queer films in her roles as artistic director and director of programming. Yutani reports to festival director John Cooper, another out and gay power player in independent film.

When Sundance released its first round of programming, it boasted that 40 percent, or...

In today’s film news roundup, immigration drama “The Infiltrators” gets financing, Jake Busey is starring in a high-school comedy, and Stuart Ford’s Agc Studios hires two former Im Global executives.

Project Financing

Chicago Media Project Invest/Impact’s Paula Froehle and Steve Cohen have joined the immigration drama “The Infiltrators” as executive producers and financiers, Variety has learned exclusively.

Cmp I/I has invested previously in the Academy Award-winning documentary “Icarus,” “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” and Showtime’s series “The Fourth Estate.”

Directed and produced by Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra, “The Infiltrators” centers on a small group of young undocumented immigrants who embark on a high-risk mission inside America’s for-profit detention system in order to set people free. The film, which mixes documentary with narrative dramatization, stars Chelsea Rendon, Vik Sahay, Maynor Alvarado, and Manuel Uriza.

Production is currently underway in Southern California. The...

The docs are often the toughest nuggets to guess in our annual Sundance predictions, as we had Cristina Ibarra & Alex Rivera‘s The Infiltrators pegged for a launch this past January.

Continue reading...

Labs take place over two sessions at Sundance Resort, Utah, in July.

Sundance Institute has announced the eight projects selected for its annual Documentary Edit and Story Labs.

The Documentary Edit and Story Lab is centred on nurturing non-fiction storytellers during the later stages of post-production.

The selected projects are:

Always In Season (Us) Jacqueline Olive (director)

Charm City (Us) Marilyn Ness (director), Don Bernier (editor)

Facing The Dragon (Afghanistan/Us) Sedika Mojadidi (director), Sinead Kinnane (editor)

Freedom Fields (UK/Libya) Naziha Arebi (director), Alice Powell (editor)

Impeachment (Brazil) Petra Costa (director), Jordana Berg (editor)

The Infiltrators (Us) Cristina Ibarra (co-director/co-editor), Alex Rivera (co-director/co-editor)

People’s Republic Of Desire (China/Us)Hao Wu (director), Nanfu Wang (editor)

Warrior Women (Us) Christina D. King (co-director), Elizabeth Castle (co-director), Kristen Nutile (editor)

Overseen by documentary film programme director Tabitha Jackson and Labs director Kristin Feeley, each lab connects independent director and editor teams with seasoned documentary filmmakers...

The Sundance Institute has announced the eight projects selected for its annual Documentary Edit and Story Lab, which will take place in two sessions at the Sundance Resort in Utah, including June 23 – July 1 and July 7 – 15. The Documentary Edit and Story Lab was designed to “create an incubation space for nonfiction storytellers to creatively interrogate their projects during the later stages of post-production. Among the breathtaking scenery of the Sundance Mountain Resort, filmmakers take advantage of the Lab’s creative environment to intensively explore story, dramatic structure and character development, centering their work around their own original motivation and intention.”

The Lab will be overseen by Documentary Film Program Director ​Tabitha Jackson ​and Labs Director ​Kristin Feeley​,​ ​and will combine independent director and editor teams with world-renowned documentary filmmakers who serve as mentors and advisors. For the second year, the Lab will also host writers-in-residence Eric Hynes and Logan Hill, as...

“Where is the hope?”

That was the question was posed last week at one of the world’s most prominent launch pads for nonfiction films in development — Hot Docs Pitch Forum — and it reflected the general mood in the room.

As 20 filmmaking teams pitched their projects to dozens of top decision-makers, funders, and broadcasters sitting around the long wooden table in the Gothic-designed Hart House at the University of Toronto, there was a particular excitement for new documentaries that were “fresh,” “optimistic” and “fun”—to use some of the words spoken publically over the two-day pitch-a-thon.

See MoreHow Hot Docs, North America’s Smartest Festival, Could Anoint an Oscar Winner

On the opposite end of the spectrum, you could see those same powerbrokers struggling over what to do with still essential, but tough issue-driven films having to do with post-revolutionary countries in the Middle East or the global refugee crisis.

There’s no question that hordes of people will swarm to theaters to see “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” on opening weekend, and most of them will get their money’s worth — it’s yet another visually dazzling comic space opera about intergalactic heroes trading banter in their meandering quest to save the universe. Writer-director James Gunn was already onboard to direct a third entry before this one hit theaters, a signal that this vibrant formula works really well for a lot of people. Unfortunately, the enthusiasm for a big, flashy blockbuster like “Guardians” has the power to overwhelm everything else out there, and drown out memories of other first-rate science fiction storytelling from recent years that still deserves a larger audience. Here are a few of them worth checking out this weekend. Trust us — “Guardians” will be there next weekend, too.

“Beyond the Black Rainbow” (2010)

The first (and...

No film buff wants to see a promising, or prominent filmmaker pull a disappearing act a la Terrence Malick, (though it seems he isn’t keen to repeat another lapse like the one between Days of Heaven to The Thin Red Line), but whether they’re dealing with unforeseeable professional (endless pre-production woes, writer’s block) or personal issues, sometimes there is a considerable time between projects.

With John Cameron Mitchell, Charlie Kaufman, Rebecca Miller, Patty Jenkins, Kenneth Lonergan and more recently, Barry Jenkins recently moving out of the so called “inactive” period, we decided to compile a list of the top ten American filmmakers who, for the most part, we’ve lost sight of and would like to see get back in the director’s chair again. Most of the filmmakers listed below have gone well over half a decade without a substantial movement in this category. Here is...

Sundance Institute and Time Warner Foundation announced on Tuesday the eight artists who've been selected for the 2015 Sundance Institute - Time Warner Foundation Fellowship Program. The 2015 Fellows are: Cecilia Aldarondo (Documentary Film Program); Kathryn Bostic (Film Music Program); Christopher Chen (Theatre Program); Nia DaCosta (Feature Film Program); Yung Jake (New Frontier); Ciara Lacy (Native American and Indigenous Program); Christopher Makoto Yogi (Feature Film Program); and Alex Rivera (New Frontier). The initiative has been expanded this year to include support for new media, as well as continued support for Fellows in documentary and narrative film, theatre and film music,...

August 12 Update: Sundance Institute and Time Warner Foundation announced on Tuesday the ten artists selected for the 2015 Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellowship Program.

The initiative expanded this year to include support for Fellows working in new media, as well as continued support for Fellows in documentary and narrative film, theatre and film music as well as from the Institute’s Native American and Indigenous Program.

Fellows attend an annual Lab and receive ongoing support from the Institute, including mentoring, strategic granting, attendance at the Sundance Film Festival and participation in screenplay readings, work-in-progress screenings and related programs and events.

Since 2007, Time Warner Foundation has supported more than 54 artists through Sundance Institute, including Fruitvale Station writer-director Ryan Coogler and Mosquita y Mari writer-director Aurora Guerrero.

The 2015 Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellows are: Cecilia Aldarondo (Documentary Film Program); Kathryn Bostic (Film Music Program); Christopher Nataanii Cegielski (Native American and Indigenous Program, Time Warner...

Sundance Institute and Time Warner Foundation announced on Tuesday the eight artists selected for the 2015 Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellowship Program.

The initiative expanded this year to include support for Fellows working in new media, as well as continued support for Fellows in documentary and narrative film, theatre and film music as well as from the Institute’s Native American and Indigenous Program.

Fellows attend an annual Lab and receive ongoing support from the Institute, including mentoring, strategic granting, attendance at the Sundance Film Festival and participation in screenplay readings, work-in-progress screenings and related programs and events.

Since 2007, Time Warner Foundation has supported more than 54 artists through Sundance Institute, including Fruitvale Station writer-director Ryan Coogler and Mosquita y Mari writer-director Aurora Guerrero.

The 2015 Sundance Institute | Time Warner Foundation Fellows are: Cecilia Aldarondo (Documentary Film Program); Kathryn Bostic (Film Music Program); Christopher Chen (Theatre Program); Nia DaCosta (Feature Film Program); Yung Jake (New Frontier); Ciara Lacy (Native...

Two up-and-coming Native talents, Razelle Benally (Navajo/Oglala Lakota) and Randi LeClair (Pawnee) have been selected for the Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab, where the two writers will receive grants for production and targeted support during a residential Lab to prepare for production of their short films.

The Lab takes place in Santa Fe, New Mexico July 10-14. The Lab is a highlight of the Institute’s year-round work with Native American and Indigenous filmmakers and is one of the 24 residential labs the Institute hosts each year to discover and foster the talent of emerging independent artists in film, theater, new media and more recently episodic content.

The Native Filmmakers Lab builds on the Institute’s former NativeLab to include grants to support production of the Fellows’ short films – a first for the Institute’s renowned independent artist Labs. The writers and directors serving as Creative Advisors for this year’s Lab include: Janicza Bravo ("Gregory Go Boom" and "Pauline Alone"), Beck Cole ( "Plains Empty" and "Here I Am" ), Sydney Freeland ("Drunktown's Finest" and "HoverBoard" ), Aurora Guerrero ( "Pura Lengua" and "Mosquita y Mari" ) and Lucas Leyva ( "#PostModem" and "Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke" ).

N. Bird Runningwater (Cheyenne/Mescalero Apache), director of the Sundance Institute Native American and Indigenous Program, said, “Our Native Filmmakers Lab responds to the unique need within our community to support Native American artists with grants and mentorship focusing on the crucial phase of producing their films. I am excited to embark on this creative journey with these two bright female directors as they begin the tactical phase of creating their films.”

The Native Filmmakers Lab will be followed by the inaugural Native Writers Workshop, jointly hosted by Sundance Institute and the Institute of American Indian Arts (Iaia). The Workshop will support six emerging Native storytellers who seek to share their voices in film and television: Gabe Abeyta (Taos Pueblo and Navajo from Santa Fe, Nm), Katie Avery (Iñupiaq from Los Angeles, CA), Kelly D'Angelo (Haudenosaunee from Los Angeles, CA), Felicia Nez (Navajo from Albuquerque, Nm), Blue Tarpalechee (Muscogee from Santa Fe, Nm) and Kaherawaks Thompson (St. Regis Mohawks of Akwesasne from Memphis, Tn).

They will be mentored by: Beck Cole (Writer, "Here I Am" and "Black Comedy" ), Jason Gavin (Writer, "Greek, "Friday Night Lights"), Derek Santos Olson (Writer, "Friday Night Lights" ), Sierra Ornelas (Writer, "Selfie" and "Happy Endings" ), Alex Rivera (Writer/Director, "Sleep Dealer" ) and Joan Tewkesbury (Writer, "Nashville" and "Thieves Like Us" ).

True to founder Robert Redford’s original vision, the Institute maintains a strong commitment to supporting Native and Indigenous filmmakers. The Native program has built and sustained a unique support cycle for Indigenous artists through grants, labs, mentorships, a fellowship program at the Sundance Film Festival, and screenings for Native communities to inspire new generations of storytellers. Currently operating programs in the United States, Canada, and formerly New Zealand and Australia, the Institute has established a rich legacy of work by supporting more than 300 Native and Indigenous filmmakers, including Taika Waititi, Chris Eyre, Sterlin Harjo, Billy Luther, Andrew Okpeaha MacLean, Aurora Guerrero, Sydney Freeland and Yolanda Cruz.

There are the two artists/projects selected for the 2015 Native Filmmakers Lab:

"I Am Thy Weapon"

Razelle Benally (Navajo/Oglala Lakota)

A young artistic Navajo woman relives memories of her deceased sister, that in turn help her heal and battle against the modern-day adversities of reservation life.

Razelle Benally is of Oglala Lakota and Navajo blood. Benally’s firsthand experience while filming and traveling with renowned skateboard company Apache Skateboards has helped her hone a self-developed style of editing and directing. She most notably gained acclaim for her short documentary "The Humble," and six-minute experimental piece "Love is a Losing Game." Benally is one of five young women featured in the 2011 documentary, "Apache Chronicle."

She has shown in galleries in Long Beach, CA and in Phoenix, Az. Her films have been shown nationally and internationally at select screenings in Portland, Winnipeg Manitoba Canada, and Sweden. She earned a third place award in the 2007 Aihec Film Festival, and is the 2010 Santa Fe Indian Market jury-awarded winner for Best Documentary in Swaia’s Classification X. Benally is an alumna of the 2012 Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab.

"The Other Side of the Bridge"

Randi LeClair (Pawnee)

After two high school football stars are found dead, decade’s long racial tensions sizzle in a small-town diner.

Randi LeClair is an enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. She graduated from Oklahoma State University with a BA in English (Creative Writing) and is currently a graduate student in the University of Oklahoma’s Master of Professional Writing program. Recently, Randi and her husband, Todd, signed an option agreement for the screen adaptation of Todd’s book, "60 Feet Six Inches and Other Distances from Home: The (Baseball) Life of Mose YellowHorse," which follows the story of Pittsburg Pirates pitcher Mose YellowHorse, the first full-blood American Indian in the major leagues.

In addition to screenwriting, Randi also engages her love of literary fiction and is currently working on a collection of short stories. As well, she also serves as co-editor for "Out of the Stars: An Anthology of Pawnee Writing, Stories, and Art." Her dream is to help bring Native Cinema to the mainstream. She is an alumna of the 2010 Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab.

A few years ago back in 2008, filmmaker Alex Rivera made a cool sci-fi movie called Sleep Dealer that premiered at Sundance and went on to win both the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award.

A small distribution company (and former backer of Latino Review) picked up the film for distribution but failed to give it a proper release. Then the home video market imploded when Blockbuster went bankrupt and the small distribution company went insolvent and disappeared off the map.

Undeserved misfortune for Alex Rivera and his producers but luckily for the filmmakers they had an opt-out clause in the distribution contract. In short, It took a while but Rivera got his film back.

Sundance Institute Artist Services got involved and selected Sleep Dealer to be one of the films it would support by facilitating digital distribution deals with iTunes, Amazon and, soon, Netflix.

Back in 2008, Alex Rivera's "Sleep Dealer" had the kind of premiere at the Sundance Film Festival that most filmmakers only dream of. Critics gushed about the Rivera's debut feature, the story of Memo Cruz who struggles against a brave new border. Indiewire called the sci-fi thriller, set in Mexico in the near future, "a fantastic journey." Rivera won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award and Alfred P. Sloan Award and "Sleep Dealer" was acquired by a small distributor called Maya Entertainment. Things seemed to be going swimmingly until the theatrical release disappointed and Maya Entertainment went out of business. Rivera hired a legal team and was able to buy the film back. But how do you go about distributing a film that's six years old and was previously distributed? Through social media and a grassroots efforts, Sundance Institute Artist Services signed on to distribute "Sleep Dealer" digitally via a variety of platforms and.

It's already well beyond cliche to say that American independent film is in crisis. The alarms have been sounding for nearly a decade as new technologies, changes in viewing habits and shifts in the global financial structure have rendered the old theatrical release/home video model paleolithic. In its place? Who knows. Little by little, new platforms a la Netflix and Amazon Prime have been popping up presenting filmmakers, producers, and distribution companies with new outlets for experimentation but no one has quite figured out how to make independent filmmaking viable for the 21st century.

Latino film is no exception. In fact, the whole idea of a 'Latino market' only started to matter to the big money movers-and-shakers when the old model was sinking like the Titanic into the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. Over the years, many a brave company has tried to take on the challenge of articulating a Latino film audience in the U.S. only to be crushed by the invisible hand of the global marketplace, leaving many a worthy film orphaned in the process.

Alex Rivera's Sleep Dealer was one of those films. A haunting vision of a dystopian near-future on the Us-Mexico border, Sleep Dealer was the toast of Sundance back in 2008, picking up two important awards, a glowing review by the New York Times' A.O. Scott, and a coveted distribution deal with upstart Latino distribution company Maya Entertainment. All seemed to be going well until 2011 when, virtually without warning, Maya went under. Concerned for the future of their film, Rivera and producer Anthony Bregman found themselves faced with a difficult decision: let their film be absorbed by the unknown distribution company that was picking up Maya's catalogue, or set forth on their own into the uncharted waters of 21st century film distribution.

Helped along by a very prudently negotiated opt-out clause in his distribution contract, Rivera chose to make lemons out of lemonade. He explains, "When Maya went under it provided us an opportunity to say, 'the landscape's shifted, years have gone by, there are new companies and new technologies.' At that moment we were thinking: what's the best new partnership?"

While ostensibly more risky, it seems this adventurous attitude inadvertently helped Rivera and Bregman dodge a bullet. Max 360 Entertainment - the company that absorbed Maya's catalogue - was sued a couple of years later for failing distribute and promote several Maya films as promised, along with some allegedly shady accounting practices.

Be that as it may, Sleep Dealer was an orphaned film adrift in an unforgiving marketplace - that is, until a fortuitous post on Rivera's Facebook wall led to the folks from Sundance contacting Rivera with a new proposal. The initiative, called Sundance Artist Services, proposed a new, artist-friendly model that takes advantage of the numerous new digital platforms available to guarantee a baseline of visibility for films that have passed through the festival.

According to Rivera, the initiative "presents an interesting path for filmmakers because it lets you get the revenue and the contact with your audience almost as if you were self-distributing, but you're getting the institutional support and the brand name of a film society that already has an audience... and can negotiate a deal collectively."

After a year of negotiations, Sleep Dealer's re-release is a go, and for Rivera this second chance is less about profit than reconnecting with fans, discovering new ones and giving the film the long life it deserves. A fundraising campaign recently launched at Rally.org seeks help with ancillary costs related to the re-release, including new poster design, subtitling, and more boring expenses such as insurance. "In short," Rivera summed up, "we're trying to work with the existing family of fans to build a 'force field' or a Matrix of support and love around this film to help it live it's life in peace, on-line, and continue reaching new audiences."

In the end, the story of Sleep Dealer is both a cautionary tale for filmmakers trying to crack the code of a persistently fickle U.S. Latino audience in the midst of an institutional crisis and an inspirational narrative about second chances in which trailblazers like the Sundance Artist Services continue to fight for the future of independent film.

Show your support for the Sleep Dealer re-release by donating: rally.org/sleep-dealer...

Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 13 Feb 2014 - 06:39

Our voyage through history's underappreciated films arrives at the year 2008 - another great year for lesser-seen gems...

For some, 2008 will be memorable as the year of The Dark Knight, with its astonishingly unhinged turn from the late Heath Ledger. Alternatively, it could be remembered as the year a legion Indiana Jones fans left cinemas glum-faced, having sat through Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull.

Elsewhere, Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan sang and danced on a Greek island in Mamma Mia!, while Will Smith played an alcoholic superhero in Hancock. But as usual, 2008 offered plenty of watchable movies outside the top 10, which is where we swoop in - like Hancock after a bottle of gin.

So as usual, here's our selection of 25 underappreciated films from the year 2008 - starting with a British horror film starring Michael Fassbender...

25. Eden Lake

James Watkins had written...