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Utopia has secured worldwide rights to Pedro Kos’ psychological thriller In Our Blood and will commence talks with buyers at the EFM in Berlin next week.

Brittany O’Grady from The White Lotus and It’s What’s Inside stars as filmmaker Emily Wyland who reconnects with her estranged mother tocollaborate on a documentary.

When her mother mysteriously disappears, Emily and her cinematographer Danny embark on a search, uncovering haunting remnants of her past struggles with addiction. E.J. Bonilla, Alanna Ubach, Krisha Fairchild, Steven Klein, Bianca Comparato, and Leo Marks round out the cast.

Mallory Westfall, known for her work in the genre...

The 40th Santa Barbara International Film Festival has announced its entire program which includes 32 World Premieres and 74 U.S. Premieres from 60 countries. The fest will open on February 4, 2025 with the US premiere of Jane Austin Wrecked My Life and will close on February 15 with the US premiere of A Missing Part. Considering the ongoing tragedy of the Los Angeles wildfires this year’s festival is dedicated to L.A. to raise funds in partnership with Direct Relief.

“As the tragic events in our sister city of Los Angeles were unfolding, we debated about moving forward with Sbiff,” said Roger Durling, Executive Director of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. “Film has always been a conduit for comfort and renewal, and film festivals play a vital role in fostering a sense of connection. Festivals build community, and create an outlet for the process of feelings. In light of this, it became...

The 2025 Santa Barbara International Film Festival has announced the lineup for its 40th anniversary event, with 52 percent of the films directed by women. The 12-day extravaganza will raise funds for Los Angeles wildfire relief to help the community that has been devastated by the deadly infernos.

Sbiff will run from Feb. 4 to Feb. 15 — that’s one day longer than usual in honor of its four-decade mark. The festival will showcase movies from 60 different countries, including 33 world premieres and 74 United States premieres, and a majority come from female directors. In addition, there will be tributes to talented artisans, panel discussions, and free community education and outreach programs.

“As the tragic events in our sister city of Los Angeles were unfolding, we debated about moving forward with Sbiff,” said Roger Durling, Sbiff executive director. “Film has always been a conduit for comfort and renewal, and film festivals play a vital role in fostering a sense of connection.

Brittany O’Grady (The White Lotus) and E. J. Bonilla (The Exorcist: Believer) star in the upcoming psychological horror movie In Our Blood. Today, a new clip has emerged ahead of the film’s debut at Fantasia, featuring a tense moment involving a sinister warning.

In the film, “Nothing is as it seems, when filmmaker Emily Wyland (Brittany O’Grady) teams up with cinematographer Danny (E. J. Bonilla) to shoot an intimate documentary about reuniting with Emily’s estranged mother after a decade apart. When her mother suddenly goes missing, possibly succumbing to the addictions that first tore her family apart, Emily and Danny must piece together increasingly sinister clues to find her before it’s too late.”

Watch the clip below to meet the leads in a moment of duress, building toward a bloody warning.

In Our Blood marks the narrative feature directorial debut by Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Pedro Kos.

Exclusive: Brittany O’Grady (The White Lotus) and E. J. Bonilla (The Exorcist: Believer) are leading under-the-radar thriller-horror In Our Blood, which will launch at the Fantasia Film Festival at the end of the month.

Heralding from doc filmmaker and Oscar short nominee Pedro Kos, who recently signed with CAA, the project is the first fully financed by Duncan Jones and Stuart Fenegan’s Liberty Films, under their initiative to support debut features.

Moon filmmaker Jones is among executive producers with actor Morgan Freeman and producing partner Lori McCreary.

In In Our Blood, filmmaker Emily Wyland (O’Grady) teams up with cinematographer Danny (Bonilla) to shoot an intimate documentary about reuniting with Emily’s estranged mother after a decade apart. When her mother suddenly goes missing, possibly succumbing to the addictions that first tore her family apart, Emily and Danny must piece together increasingly sinister clues to find her before it’s too late.

Exclusive: Joel ‘Kachi Benson (Madu) has been tapped to direct the documentary The Harvest, on Nigeria’s infamous Boko Haram Kidnappings of 2014, for Hunting Lane and Impact Partners. A first-look still can be found above.

Following four Nigerian mothers as they fight to educate their children in the wake of tragedy, the film marks the 10th anniversary of terrorist organization Boko Haram’s attack and abduction of 276 young girls from a school in the village of Chibok.

Joel ‘Kachi Benson

Nigerian filmmaker Benson came to helm the film after tackling the aftermath of the attacks with previous work including 2019’s Daughters of Chibok, a VR experience he wrote and produced which won the Lion for Best Immersive Story at the 76th Venice Film Festival.

“I have spent the last five years with the mothers and survivors of the Chibok kidnappings,” the filmmaker told Deadline. “I’ve listened to their stories,...

“TransMexico,” “Edge of Everything” and Andragogy” are among the winners of the 39th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

The Sbiff, whose mission is to discover and showcase the “best in independent and international cinema,” has become one of the leading film festivals in the United States – attracting roughly 100,000 attendees for a packed week slatted with screenings of over 200+ films.

A panel of jury members selected the winners, which included Lesley Chilcott, Alex Keledjian, Chris Landon, Lael Loewenstein, Jacqueline Lyanga, David Magdael, Gail Mancuso, Greg Nava, Pituka Ortega Heilbron, Carla Renata, Gil Robertson, Ondi Timoner, Clay Tweel and Ali Wolfe.

“We are so grateful to our dedicated group of jurors for their fine selections,” Claudia Puig, Sbiff’s programming director, said in a statement. “The winning films tell stories that span the globe, from the magic of movie palaces in the Atacama Desert to the stunning mystery of ice caves...

Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills defensive player who made national headlines when he suffered cardiac arrest during an NFL game early this year, will be the subject of a documentary film about the 25-year-old athlete’s recovery and advocacy work.

The film, entitled Did We Win — which references a question Hamlin asked from his hospital bed about the Bills’ game against the Cincinnati Bengals after he awoke from medically induced sedation — is currently in production. Filmmaker Clay Tweel (Gleason) is directing the project that hails from Skydance Sports and NFL Films.

Producers include FlynnPictureCo’s Beau Flynn and Parkside Films’ Shannon Riggs. Executive producers are FlynnPictureCo.’s Scott Sheldon, Asylum Entertainment Group’s Steve Michaels and Jodi Flynn, and Jaster Athletes’ Jordon Rooney.

Beau Flynn tells The Hollywood Reporter that he got involved with the project back in January, shortly after the Bills-Bengals game, and was proud to make...

Exclusive: The inspiring story of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin and his road back to football after nearly dying on the field last January will be turned into a feature film documentary. Did We Win will highlight the player’s miraculous recovery since stunning the NFL when he collapsed on the field and went into cardiac arrest during a Monday Night Football game last January, after sustaining a blow to the chest.

As his teammates wept, things looked dire as the game stopped for 10 minutes as shocked viewers watched medical personnel administer CPR and an Aed on the field to get Hamlin’s heart beating again.

Aside from the awareness that Hamlin has brought to sudden cardiac arrest, Hamlin might get an opportunity for the ultimate on-field redemption tonight when the Buffalo Bills play the New York Jets. Hamlin is expected to suit up and might play this evening, remarkable...

“Untold: Johnny Football” is a 2023 documentary movie about the life and career of former college football quarterback Johnny Manziel. The film is directed by Clay Tweel and released on Netflix on August 8, 2023.

Johnny Manziel is an iconic quarterback from the University of Texas who, at the age of twenty, became a national star. In just one year, he managed to turn the team’s trajectory around and to become a symbol nationwide. Everyone wanted his autograph, everyone wanted to be with Johnny “Football,” and of course, he and his friends saw the opportunity to turn the star’s popularity into a business.

This implied, though, just one (big) problem: Johnny had a scholarship and couldn’t get paid to play football.

About the Documentary

We are never let down by the “Untold,” franchise, and this occasion was no exception to that “rule”. It gives us an insight into what lies...

“Untold: Johnny Football” is a 2023 documentary movie about the life and career of former college football quarterback Johnny Manziel. The film is directed by Clay Tweel and released on Netflix on August 8, 2023.

Johnny Manziel is an iconic quarterback from the University of Texas who, at the age of twenty, became a national star. In just one year, he managed to turn the team’s trajectory around and to become a symbol nationwide. Everyone wanted his autograph, everyone wanted to be with Johnny “Football,” and of course, he and his friends saw the opportunity to turn the star’s popularity into a business.

This implied, though, just one (big) problem: Johnny had a scholarship and couldn’t get paid to play football.

About the Documentary

We are never let down by the “Untold,” franchise, and this occasion was no exception to that “rule”. It gives us an insight into what lies...

For every must-see docuseries about famous serial killers and notorious crimes, there are a number of fascinating documentary series about lesser-known true-crime cases. In fact, many of the best true-crime shows are those where the story is completely unknown, as these allow for greater twists and surprises that the viewer doesn't see coming. While a lot of true-crime aficionados become fans through well-known cases and popular podcasts, many of which are later adapted to documentary series, once that gateway is crossed, they should seek out other more obscure but equally interesting crime stories that have been turned into episodic entertainment.

The most fascinating true-crime documentary series are those that combine an unbelievable or uniquely intriguing story with compelling cinematic storytelling. Most of them involve wild murder cases, but an increasing amount of great true-crime docuseries chronicle financial misconduct and con artists' scams. Some of these stories are so incredible and...

Exclusive: After bringing Searchlight Pictures its strongest limited opening since 2019 Oscar winner Jojo Rabbit with the acclaimed musical comedy Theater Camp, Topic Studios has announced an expansion of its creative ranks with the appointment of Jasmine Daghighian to the newly created role of Vice President of Film.

Daghighian comes to Topic from 500 Blows, the production company of Frankie Shaw and Zach Strauss fka Our Lady Productions, and in her new position will help build out the studio’s slate on the film side, shepherding projects from development through completion. She’ll be based out of the company’s NYC headquarters, reporting to Executive Vice President, Film and Documentary, Ryan Heller.

Topic’s hiring of Daghighian follows its appointment of Jennifer Westin to the role of Senior Vice President, Physical Production. An executive formerly overseeing production management for the Original Independent Film division at Netflix, Westin now oversees production for Topic...

Andy did you hear about this one?

Ross Dinerstein’s Campfire Studios has teamed with Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia’s Seven Bucks Productions, David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Incorporated and Fifth Season for the first authorized feature documentary on comedy pioneer Andy Kaufman.

The documentary will be fully financed by Fifth Season is directing.

The project marks the second feature doc on Kaufman in development. Morgan Neville and Josh and Benny Safdie set up a film to be directed by Alex Braverman in April 2022.

Also Read:

Andy Kaufman Documentary in the Works From Producers Morgan Neville and Safdie Brothers

An official synopsis describes the latest documentary as featuring “unprecedented and exclusive access to Andy’s family, as well as personal and never-before-seen archives and private recordings – provided by the Kaufman Estate – and all Kaufman-related archival material from the estate of his longtime manager George Shapiro,” and promises that “the...

Filmmaker Clay Tweel has signed on to direct a new documentary based on the life of comedian Andy Kaufman. Produced by Ross Dinerstein’s Campfire Studios, Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia’s Seven Bucks Productions, David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Incorporated and Fifth Season, the film reps the first doc authorized by the Kaufman estate.

Fifth Season (“Being Mary Tyler Moore”) is fully financing the project, which will be overseen by Mary Lisio, executive vice president of non-scripted and documentary, and produced in partnership with the Andy Kaufman estate.

“I’ve always loved Andy because he was able to elicit such emotional reactions to his performances by using both the poignant and the absurd to keep his audience off balance. I hope we can honor his legacy in that way with our film,” Tweel said.

The film’s producers have access to Kaufman’s family, as well as archives and...

Award-winning documentarian Clay Tweel (Gleason) has been set to direct the first authorized feature doc on comedy legend Andy Kaufman for Campfire Studios, Seven Bucks Productions, Worldwide Pants Incorporated and Fifth Season.

Fully financed by Fifth Season – with EVP of non-scripted and documentary Mary Lisio overseeing – the film will be produced in partnership with The Andy Kaufman Estate. Boasting unprecedented and exclusive access to Kaufman’s family, as well as personal and never-before-seen archives and private recordings — provided by the Estate — and all Kaufman-related archival material from the estate of his longtime manager George Shapiro, it will track the creative process of a performance artist who operated at an undefinable frequency.

A comedian uninterested in “telling jokes,” Kaufman was lauded for his live performances, his role as Latka Gravas on ABC’s Taxi and his appearances...

Exclusive: Oscar winner Fisher Stevens has today announced the launch of Highly Flammable, a new director-led production company that will focus on setting up premium unscripted stories for streamers across various series and feature formats, operating out of both New York and Los Angeles.

Joining Stevens as Partners at the company are Emmy nominated director-producer Maura Anderson (Menudo: Forever Young) and producer Zak Kilberg of Social Construct. Iz Web and Caitlin Lawrie are also on board to support the company as part of the development team.

We Are Guardians

Highly Flammable is premiering its first feature doc, We Are Guardians, at the Hot Docs Film Festival on May 3rd, with UTA to handle sales. The company is completing editorial on a documentary about New Orleans’ Zulu Club, directed by Matthew Henderson, with Impact Partners and Terry Douglas/Rhea Films, and is also in production with Exile Content and Muck Media...

Exclusive: Documentary+, the free streaming service launched by non-fiction studio Xtr, is moving into original series for the first time.

The platform is preparing to launch two series – Picture Locked and In My Own Words. It will launch the pair this month, coming on the back of original doc feature launches including The Sentence of Michael Thompson and When The LAPD Blows Up Your Neighborhood.

Picture Locked is an immersive retrospective with documentary filmmakers providing an in-depth breakdown of their breakthrough works, taking audiences shot by shot through the twists and turns of their process, while dissecting their own journeys as directors and the industry at large.

The series will explore films including explore Matt Ogens’ Confessions of a Superhero, chronicling the lives of costumed performers on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Bryan and Amy Storkel’s Holy Rollers, following a blackjack team of devoted card-counting Christians as they win millions from casinos,...

After two years of virtual festivals, Sundance is overdue for a comeback. The Park City event is set to return to Park City on January 19 and continue through January 29. While films will still be available to online ticket holders starting January 24, the main emphasis will be the in-person experience that put Sundance on the map in the first place.

While the pandemic disrupted the film industry in 2020, Sundance managed to take place that year just before the shutdowns, launching future Best Picture winner “Coda” into an unpredictable landscape. Now, the market and culture of moviegoing remains in flux, and Sundance is poised to return to the scene just in time to launch a wide array of movies into that ever-changing climate.

And there are a lot of movies in contention. After countless productions were put on hold at the start of the pandemic, they’ve been revving back to action over the past year,...

Exclusive: 101 Studios (Yellowstone), Above the Line Productions (Official Secrets), Campfire Studios (WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn) and Pzaj (Camp Hideout) are teaming on a feature documentary about the corruption within global soccer organization FIFA.

The feature documentary will follow late journalist Andrew Jennings’ investigation into the misconduct and corruption of FIFA’s executive team and members. Jennings’ background in investigative journalism and knowledge of criminology led him to unravel the organization from within. When his research captured the attention of the FBI and U.S. attorney Loretta Lynch, they teamed to reveal further layers of crime which led to multiple arrests and ultimately, the resignation of FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

Co-directed by Clay Tweel and Maura Anderson, the film will tell the story through the eyes of the investigative reporter who went head-to-head with the world’s most powerful sports organization.

The project was...

Campfire, a producer of scripted and non-scripted content, has been on a tear.

The company debuted three films at this year’s SXSW, the buzzy documentaries “WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn,” “Hysterical,” and “The Lost Sons,” and also fielded “A Glitch in the Matrix,” which scored rave reviews at Sundance. All told, the company will have nearly a dozen movies and shows scheduled to premiere in 2021, a remarkable burst of productivity given that Covid-19 has slowed production for the past 12 months.

“The pandemic didn’t really impede our growth,” says Ross M. Dinerstein, the company’s founder and CEO. “We were able to pivot quickly and figure out how to move much of our post-production remotely.”

The explosion of content is also being fueled by a key investor. In 2019, Wheelhouse Group, the media and investment firm created by Brent Montgomery and late night host Jimmy Kimmel,...

Exclusive: Documentary+, the nascent streaming service from Xtr, is bolstering its rank with the hire of Sundance’s Charlie Sextro.

Sextro is working with the company as its editor-in-chief of the service, overseeing the curation of films for the nonfiction platform. He will also remain a Senior Programmer for the Sundance Film Festival.

The streaming platform features a film library that ranges from Academy Award-winners to festival darlings.

“There are few people on the planet as passionate about documentaries as Charlie Sextro,” said Bryn Mooser, co-founder of Documentary+ and CEO of Xtr. “His work the past decade with Sundance has shaped the modern documentary industry as we know it and it’s an honor for us to have him on our team. We can’t wait to share what we’re working on together.”

Sextro’s possesses over a decade of experience at the Sundance Film Festival, where he helped shape the festival,...

Another new streaming service has launched, this one a niche platform called Documentary+ dedicated solely to nonfiction films.

The free, ad-supported streaming platform is available on Thursday and was launched as a joint venture between the nonfiction studio Xtr and the late former Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh.

Documentary+ currently has a library of over 200 feature-length and short documentary films, including classics, cult favorites, true crime stories, sports films and rock docs. Some of the films in the initial catalog include “The Imposter,” “Life, Animated,” “Born Into Brothels,” “Cartel Land” and more. The service also features docs by filmmakers such as Spike Jonze, Kathryn Bigelow, Terrence Malick, Brett Morgen, Roger Ross Williams, Davis Guggenheim and Werner Herzog, including his “My Best Fiend” and “Little Dieter Learns to Fly.”

Other up-and-coming filmmakers with movies on the platform include Lana Wilson, Ramona S. Diaz, Nanfu Wang, Clay Tweel, Kareem Tabsch and Laura Gabbert.

Documentary+, the non-fiction streamer from You Cannot Kill David Arquette studio Xtr, has unveiled its launch slate.

The service, which launches today, will include feature-length and short documentary films from the likes of Spike Jonze, Kathryn Bigelow, Terrence Malick, Brett Morgen, Andrea Nevins, Roger Ross Williams, Zana Briski, Davis Guggenheim, and Werner Herzog.

Titles include The Imposter, Life, Animated, Born into Brothels, Cartel Land, Dior and I and Being Evel. There are political films such as Cory Booker film Street Fight, Elian Gonzalez story Elian and Lee Atwater’s Boogie Man as well as music documentaries including Seattle grunge doc Hype!, Colin Hanks’ Tower Records doc All Things Must Pass and The Other F Word as well as sports doc One Man and His Shoes about Michael Jordan.

It will also feature the work of up-and-coming filmmakers from the likes of Lana Wilson (Miss Americana), Ramona S. Diaz (A Thousand Cuts...

The occurrence of seemingly unbelievable events often captures the world’s attention, but the reason why and how they happened often specifically engage both casual and serious conspiracy theorists alike. That need to take a comprehensive delve into a shocking event drove seasoned documentarian, Clay Tweel to explore the journey of the titular cult from its […]

The post Interview: Clay Tweel Talks Heaven’s Gate (Exclusive) appeared first on Shockya.com.

Tommy Ward, one of the subjects of Netflix’s true-crime doc series The Innocent Man, is a step closer to freedom after a judge vacated his conviction.

This comes a year after his co-defendant Karl Fontenot was released from prison for the same crime and two years after the show aired on the streamer.

On Friday, the District Judge Paula Inge in Pontotoc County, vacated the convictions and sentences against Ward, dismissed the charges and ordered his release from Dick Conner Correctional Center in Hominy.

Deadline understands that the state can still appeal if it wants to so it’s unclear when he will be released, but it’s another big statement of the power of television on true-crime cases.

You can read the post- conviction findings and conclusion from The District Court of Pontotoc County here.

Directed by Gleason’s Clay Tweel and produced by Ross Dinerstein’s Wheelhouse-backed Campfire,...

From the 1975 disappearance of 20 people in small-town Oregon to the 1997 mass suicide of 39 people all wearing the same pair of Nike Decades in San Diego, “Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults” sketches the evolution of the UFO-worshipping cult that mystified Americans in the last quarter of the 20th century. Director Clay Tweel’s new four-episode HBO Max docuseries ambitiously works to humanize the otherwise dotty members of Heaven’s Gate, led by messiah-wannabe closet case Marshall Applewhite. While most viewers are likely to tune in for, and possibly even skip ahead to, the final episode that details “The Exit,” there’s plenty of fascinating material in the lead-up — even if it doesn’t exactly warrant four hourlong installments.

A half-baked, hokey blend of pseudo-Christianity, New Age mysticism, and “Star Trek” lore, Heaven’s Gate was built on the belief that humans were, in fact, extraterrestrials living in shells known among the sect’s members as “vehicles.

There’s a lot to be shocked by when it comes to the religious UFO cult Heaven’s Gate, but one of the oft-forgotten aspects was the mass-castration cult members willingly took part in.

In an exclusive clip from the upcoming HBO Max docuseries “Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults,” a former member explains why he wanted to be the first person to undergo the procedure despite the fact that it was to be performed by a former nurse in a non-medical facility. “It’s terribly human,” he says regarding his reasoning. Watch the clip above.

“As someone who was so deeply entrenched into the cult for so long, Sawyer’s insight into the group and pivotal moments such as this are key throughout the documentary,” Ross Dinerstein, executive producer on the series, said in a statement. “Not only was he present for these moments, he was typically at the center,...

"Do exactly as I say..." HBO has unveiled an official trailer for a documentary series titled Heaven's Gate: The Cult of Cults, available for streaming starting in December this year. This is the latest documentary made by filmmaker Clay Tweel, who has directed a number of my favorite docs over the years including Finders Keepers, Gleason, Print the Legend, and Make Believe. It will air as a four-part series next month on HBO Max. Most Americans will remember the shocking news story - in March of 1997, 39 people killed themselves in order to reach what they believed was an extraterrestrial spacecraft following Comet Hale–Bopp. This is the story of Heaven's Gate, a UFO religious cult based near San Diego that was founded in 1974 and led by Marshall Applewhite. We've seen many films about cults, many docs about cults, and plenty of TV specials examining Heaven's Gate and how so many...

‘Tis the season for UFO death cults. HBO Max has unveiled the trailer for “Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults,” an upcoming documentary that will premiere December 3 on the streaming service.

Per WarnerMedia, the docuseries is a thorough examination of the infamous UFO cult through the eyes of its former members and loved ones. What started in 1975 with the disappearance of 20 people from a small town in Oregon, ended in 1997 with the largest suicide on U.S. soil and changed the face of modern New Age religion forever. “Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults” uses never-before-seen footage and first-person accounts to explore the infamous UFO cult that shocked the nation with their out-of-this-world beliefs.

All four episodes of the docuseries will premiere Thursday, December 3. The first episode of “Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults” will be available to stream for free on HBO Max’s website starting Friday,...

HBO Max has announced that Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults, a four-part documentary series, will premiere Thursday, December 3rd on the streaming platform.

The docuseries will provide a thorough examination of the infamous UFO cult, which began in 1975 after the disappearance of 20 people from a small town in Oregon. The cult’s members believed that, through following the teachings and practices of the cult, they could chemically and biologically transform their body into “a next-level alien,” as described in the trailer, before boarding a UFO and sailing off into the afterlife.

What kind of fresh hell is this? HBO Max has released the trailer for December docuseries “Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults,” and the footage will take you right back to the late-90s insanity.

HBO Max’s “Heaven’s Gate” docuseries uses never-before-seen footage and first-person accounts to examine the infamous UFO cult through the eyes of its former members and their loved ones, according to the streaming service. What started in 1975 with the disappearance of 20 people from a small town in Oregon, ended in 1997 with the largest mass suicide on U.S. soil and changed the face of modern New Age religion forever.

“The basic idea of Heaven’s Gate was that you would chemically and biologically transform your body, becoming a next-level alien,” one of the docuseries participants explains in the trailer, “and then you would physically get on board the UFO which would then sail off into Heaven.

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness has taken the locked down world by storm, inspiring a whirlwind of memes, at least one lawsuit, and even prompting Netflix to release a hastily put together ‘Aftershow’ catching up with some of the main players after the series became a humungous hit.

Reaching viewers who wouldn’t necessarily have called themselves documentary fans, Tiger King may have inspired audiences to seek out other true life stories. But if you’re someone who just needs more like Tiger King, Finders Keepers, which is available for free with Amazon Prime, is your next stop. So much so that the 2015 documentary, directed by Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel, actually feels like a companion piece.

Here’s the logline: “A story about fame, addiction and a custody battle over a man’s leg.”

Intrigued? It gets weirder.

Finders Keepers is a story about a bitter rivalry between...

Karl Fontenot, the subject of Netflix’s true-crime doc series The Innocent Man, has been released from prison after serving 35 years for a crime that he did not commit.

In an exclusive interview with Deadline, Ross Dinerstein, founder of production company Campfire, which made the adaptation of John Grisham’s non-fiction book, reveals how the six-part series helped shine a spotlight on the case, expediting Fontenot’s release on Thursday.

The series, which is based on Grisham’s The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice In A Small Town, launched on the streaming service in December 2018. It followed two murder cases in Ada, Oklahoma between 1982 and 1984.

Directed by Gleason’s Clay Tweel, one of the cases involved Fontenot (left), who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping and killing of convenience store clerk Donna Denice Haraway. However, a federal judge ordered his released after discovering evidence that provides “solid proof of Mr.

In 1997, 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate cult committed mass suicide in San Diego, CA. They believed in doing so that they would reach an extraterrestrial spacecraft that was trailing the Hale–Bopp as it passed by.

I remember seeing reports of this on the news and seeing the videos that were released of the cult leader Marshall Applewhite. That guy freaked me the hell out! Well, HBO Max is producing a four-part documentary series about Heaven’s Gate and it will focus on the fame, fortune and power from Marshall Applewhite.

The series is being developed by CNN Original Series, and it will explore “the infamous religious movement and the stranger-than-fiction circumstances that culminated in the biggest mass suicide to ever take place on U.S. soil.”

The series will be directed and executive produced by Clay Tweel (Gleason) and this is a story that I’ve been fascinated with for years.

An exploration of the Heaven’s Gate mass suicide pact and a docuseries about fame, fortune and power from Alex Gibney are among CNN’s first slate for HBO Max.

The streaming service has greenlit four original unscripted projects from its sister news brand.

Heaven’s Gate is a four-part series, from CNN Original Series, that explores the infamous religious movement and the stranger-than-fiction circumstances that culminated in the biggest mass suicide to ever take place on U.S. soil. It follows the death of 39 members of the cult in San Diego in 1997, who believed that they would reach an extraterrestrial spacecraft.

Directed and executive produced by Clay Tweel (Gleason), Heaven’s Gate is produced by Ross Dinerstein’s Campfire, which produced lauded documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Dinnerstein exec produces alongside Chris Bannon, Eric Spiegelman, Peter Clowney, and Erik Diehn for the digital media company Stitcher, which produced the Heaven’s Gate podcast.

HBO Max continues to bolster its programming lineup ahead of its launch next spring, adding four projects from fellow WarnerMedia company CNN.

The projects — two docuseries and two features — include a four-part series based on Stitcher’s “Heaven’s Gate” podcast about the infamous Heaven’s Gate cult, a new series from Alex Gibney, and a film following female political reporters covering the 2020 campaign.

“We are tremendously inspired by CNN’s history of award-winning documentary storytelling and journalistic integrity,” Sarah Aubrey, head of original content, HBO Max, said. “This slate of projects with CNN demonstrates our power as a media family to create quality programming that covers the captivating and critical issues of today.”

Also Read: New Adventures for 'Adventure Time': HBO Max Orders 4 New Specials of Series That Ended in 2018

HBO Max will launch next spring and WarnerMedia will hold an investor day next week to officially unveil the service.

Some of CNN’s best-known female political journalists may find themselves inadvertently taking part in Hollywood’s streaming wars.

HBO Max, the WarnerMedia streaming service slated to launch next year, has greenlit four unscripted projects from CNN Films, and one of them will follow the cable-news outlet’s female political reporters as they cover the campaign to win the 2020 presidential election. The documentary is expected to draw “from unprecedented access to the campaign press corps” and reveal “how these powerhouse political reporters deal with the candidates as well as with the challenges of life on the road. HBO Max did not name the CNN personnel who might be depicted in the project.

CNN is the latest WarnerMedia property to take part in launch of HBO Max, which will represent AT&T’s bid to gain revenue from the growing number of consumers turning to streaming video for entertainment. The project will join a crowded field,...

"It's hard. He in hell for staying faithful to a 'hood." Dreamville has released the full official trailer for an American documentary titled Out of Omaha, which premiered at the DocNYC Festival last year and won the main Audience Award prize. The latest feature from acclaimed doc filmmaker J. Clay Tweel, the film is about two black brothers overcoming systemic injustice in the city of Omaha, Nebraska. The social film is described as an "award-winning, intimate portrait of twin brothers Darcell and Darrell Trotter, young black men coming of age in the divided city of Omaha." Executive produced by J. Cole. Check it out below. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Clay Tweel's doc Out of Omaha, direct from Dreamville's YouTube: The documentary follows twin black brothers Darcell and Rell as they come of age in the racially divided city Omaha, ...

Starz announced today that they went on a spree of acquisitions including the drama series MotherFatherSon starring Richard Gere, which premiered earlier this spring on BBC Two. The premium cabler also acquired and set debut dates for the feature film Drunk Parents starring Alec Baldwin and Salma Hayek as well as the documentaries The Great Mother and Kleptocrats. Rounding out the acquisition slate are Out of Omaha and A Boy. A Girl. A Dream starring Omari Hardwick from Starz’s Power.

MotherFatherSon is an eight-part drama series created by Tom Rob Smith and also stars Helen McCrory. It is distributed by BBC Studios. In it, Gere plays the owner of a media empire in Britain where he holds dark secrets on everyone and uses it to fuel is power.

The feature A Boy. A Girl. A Dream. was a Sundance Film...

The Innocent Man is yet another compelling-yet-bleak look at the broken American justice system, courtesy of Netflix.

The six-episode series digs deep into a complex timeline comprising two similar murders in Ada, Ok, in the 1980s, with the legal proceedings for both crimes spanning into the 2000s. Although the identity of the true killer of the show's second murder, that of cashier Denice Haraway, remains a bit of a mystery - Ada natives Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot were sentenced to life in prison for her death, but maintain their innocence - the rape and strangulation of Debbie Carter is solved by the end of John Grisham and director Clay Tweel's docuseries.

Warning: Spoilers and graphic language about the events depicted in The Innocent Man ahead.

On Dec. 7, 1982, 21-year-old Debra "Debbie" Sue Carter drove home, where she lived alone, after working a late-night shift as a waitress at the...

Dec 20, 2018

Gremlins, Macaulay Culkin, MoviePass, and more in today's daily Link Tank!

Here are 20 fun facts about Gremlins.

"You know not to get them wet, expose them to bright light, or feed them after midnight. But here are 20 things you might not know about Joe Dante’s creature-filled dark comedy classic."

Read more at Mental Floss.

Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin reprised his role for a Google Assistant ad.

"Marv and Larry, aka The Wet Bandits aka The Sticky Bandits, from Home Alone were no match for Kevin McCallister back in 1990. As you can see in a new commercial Google released today, the burglars from arguably the best Christmas movie of all time stand even less of a chance outwitting a grown-up Macaulay Culkin armed with Google Assistant."

Read more at PCMag.

Elon Musk has claimed that the Boring Company will create city wormholes.

"Elon Musk has a vision for...

The popularity of shows like Making a Murderer, The Staircase, and I Am a Killer prove that people can't help but be fascinated with all things true crime. Netflix is adding more fuel to the flames of this particular fascination with its new docuseries, The Innocent Man, based on John Grisham's 2006 nonfiction book, The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town.

The story follows two murders that rocked the small town of Ada, Ok, in the 1980s, and the controversial chain of events that took place in their wake. The six-part documentary includes interviews with everyone involved on the case - including the victims' friends and families, other residents of Ada, Innocence Project co-director Barry Scheck, and Grisham, who also serves as an executive producer - with archival video and photos. Did the four men who confessed to the grisly murders of two women actually do the deed,...

There is nothing we love better than a Netflix true crime series, so we are completely thrilled to share the trailer for the upcoming Netflix series “The Innocent Man“. In the series, Netflix uncovers the controversy behind two small town murders! View the trailer below:

In a story that gained national attention with John Grisham’s best-selling non-fiction book, The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town, the six-part documentary series The Innocent Man focuses on two murders that shook the small town of Ada, Oklahoma, in the 1980s — and the controversial chain of events that followed.

In 1982, 21-year-old Debra Sue “Debbie” Carter is raped and killed inside her home. In 1984, another Ada woman, 24-year-old Denice Haraway, is killed after being kidnapped from the convenience store where she works. Local men Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot are charged with Haraway’s murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Netflix has had some of its biggest surprise phenomena in the world of true crime documentaries. Now, with a new venture with legendary author John Grisham, they don’t appear to be letting up any time soon.

After a 2018 that saw Netflix release series like “Evil Genius” and the conclusion of the years-long saga of “The Staircase,” “The Innocent Man” examines the case that Grisham profiled in his 2006 nonfiction book of the same name. Both are a look at a pair of killings in the mid 1980s, both occurring in the town of Ada, Oklahoma.

Much like another Netflix crime series you may have heard of, “The Innocent Man” takes a closer view of the aftermath of the crimes, looking at how law enforcement officials arrived at their conclusions and arresting the young men they believed to be guilty of the abductions and killings. As a result, “The Innocent Man...

Netflix will explore murder, corruption and wrongful convictions in The Innocent Man, an upcoming docuseries based on John Grisham’s best-selling 2006 non-fiction book of the same name.

The six-part project, which launches globally on December 14th, focuses on the controversy behind two killings that occurred in Ada, Oklahoma in 1982 and 1984 – leading to murder charges for four men: Tommy Ward, Karl Fontenot, Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz. The latter two were exonerated in 1999 through DNA evidence with help from non-profit legal organization the Innocence Project; at the time of his release,...

In today’s roundup, VH1 drops a trailer for “RuPaul’s Drag Race Holi-Slay Spectacular” and sets a return date for “Love & Hip Hop: New York.”

First Looks

The official trailer has dropped for the YouTube Originals comedy series, “Wayne.” All 10 episodes of the series will be available on YouTube Premium on Jan. 16. “Wayne” tells the story of a 16-year-old who sets out to take back the 1978 Pontiac Trans Am that was stolen from his father before he died. The series will star Mark McKenna (“Sing Street”) and Ciara Bravo (“Big Time Rush”), and feature Joshua J. Williams (“Mudbound”) in a recurring role.

VH1 has released the trailer for Season 9 of “Love & Hip Hop: New York,” which will premiere Monday, Nov. 26 at 8 p.m. Et/Pt. Cast members include Remy Ma, Papoose, Safaree Samuels, Juelz Santana, Kimbella, and more. The reality show, which helped raise Cardi B’s profile before her rap career took off,...

Joseph Baxter Dec 3, 2018

In the same vein as Making a Murderer, a TV adaptation of John Grisham nonfiction book The Innocent Man is heading to Netflix.

Netflix has teamed up with bestselling legal drama novelist John Grisham for the streaming giant’s next true-crime documentary series offering, The Innocent Man. The series will serve as an adaption of Grisham’s 2006 nonfiction book of the same name that – akin to Netflix’s pop culture proliferating true-crime series Making a Murderer – chronicles the legal ordeal of a man who, purportedly, was wrongfully accused of murder and, in this case, faced execution.

The Innocent Man will arrive on Netflix as a 6-part documentary series on December 14. The series is directed by Clay Tweel, who developed the series with Ross Dinerstein. The series depicts the ordeal of Ron Williamson, an Ada, Oklahoma man whose failure to land in the Majors lead to a spiral of self-destruction involving drugs,...

Netflix has set a December launch for its new six-part true crime docuseries “The Innocent Man,” the streamer announced on Monday.

Premiering Dec. 14, the series is based on John Grisham’s best-selling non-fiction book, “The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town.” The book tells the story of Ronald Keith Williamson, a man wrongfully convicted of rape and murder who spent 11 years on death row before he was exonerated.

Directed by Clay Tweel, the project features interviews with the victims’ friends and families, residents of the Oklahoma town where the crimes were committed, attorneys, journalists, and others involved in the cases. Grisham will also appear.

Also Read: David Harbour Joins Chris Hemsworth in 'Dhaka' for Netflix

Tweel and Ross Dinerstein developed and executive produced the series. It is produced by Maura Anderson and Shannon Riggs, with Grisham and David Gernert also executive producing.

“As a filmmaker...

Netflix has ordered new docuseries The Innocent Man, based on John Grisham’s best-selling book about two Oklahoma murders, for a December 14 premiere on the internet TV network.

Innocent Man is a story that gained national attention thanks to Grisham’s best-selling non-fiction book, The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town. The Netflix six-part documentary series based on it focuses on two murders that shook the small town of Ada, Oklahoma, in the 1980s — and the controversial chain of events that followed.

Directed by Clay Tweel, The Innocent Man features interviews with victims’ friends and families, Ada residents, attorneys, journalists, and others involved in the cases..

Developed as a documentary series by Tweel and Ross Dinerstein, it blends new footage with archival video and photos. The series is produced...