News

It’s not news that the documentary market continues to be in flux, particularly for political documentaries, with many filmmakers complaining about a lack of distribution channels. So it’s good news that Netflix has closed a hybrid licensing deal for six documentary films that played well at festivals over the past year, but were not acquired by any distributor. Rather than leave the orphans in limbo, Netflix opted to give this group of diverse titles a distribution home.

The films include Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk’s “The White House Effect” and “In Waves and War,” Chris Smith’s “Devo,” Kimberly Reed’s “I’m Your Venus,” Matthew O. Henderson’s “A King Like Me,” and the late Sacha Jenkins’ “Sunday Best.”

This out-of-the-box Netflix deal gives the docs Netflix Original status in English-speaking territories the U.K., United States, and Canada. In territories outside the English language, they are available non-exclusively.

Kino Lorber has picked up U.S. rights to Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, a documentary on trailblazing Deaf Oscar winner Marlee Matlin that premiered at this year’a Sundance Film Festival.

The film, marking the directorial debut of Deaf actor and writer Shoshannah Stern, is slated for release in theaters on June 20.

Garnering the spotlight most recently with her role in Apple’s Best Picture winner Coda, spotlighting the Deaf community through the experiences of one family, Matlin broke out back in the ’80s, as she became the first Deaf actor to win an Oscar for her performance in Children of a Lesser God. Catapulted to stardom, she seized the moment to challenge an industry unprepared for her talent, emerging as a trailblazer not only as a performer, but also as an author and activist. Here, Matlin opens up about her personal and professional struggles – her rise to fame,...

Kino Lorber has picked up US rights to the Sundance, SXSW, and upcoming Tribeca documentary Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore.

Deaf actress and filmmaker Shoshannah Stern’s feature directorial debut looks at the life of the Oscar-winning deaf actress through the lens of American Sign Language, removing conventional voice-overs and including open captions to create an immersive experience.

The film chronicles how at age 21 in 1987 Matlin became the first deaf actor to win an Academy Award for her performance in Children Of A Lesser God. The author and activist, who has also starred in The West Wing and best picture Oscar winner Coda,...

So the stock market is crashing and the U.S. is now looking to start a trade war with not only Canada, Mexico, and China, but Europe as well… that doesn’t mean it’s a bad time time to start a business, right? At least not according to the upcoming documentary “Any Problem Is No Problem,” which will be the closing-night screening at the upcoming AmDocs Film Festival in Palm Springs.

From the Emmy-winning team behind “The Rescue List,” this new cinema vérité-style peek into the work of tech-business incubation showcases a three-month crash-course thousands only dream of participating in.

Of the over 8,000 applicants for the Crypto Startup School, only 26 are accepted. These future tech company leaders lay their hopes on the line as they learn from others in the business, network with fellow entrepreneurs and engineers, and ultimately pitch investors during a Demo Day. For many, this opportunity...

Hot Docs, North America’s leading documentary festival, has unveiled the first slate of films to screen as part of its Special Presentations program. Subjects include Oscar-winning actor Marlee Matlin, Christo Grozev, an investigative journalist and co-founder of Bellingcat, Israeli comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi, and Silas Malafaia, Brazil’s most prominent televangelist, in the latest film from Petra Costa, Oscar-nominated for “The Edge of Democracy.”

Chase Joynt and Julietta Singh’s “The Nest,” described as a “deeply personal exploration of memory, identity and intergenerational storytelling,” makes its world premiere.

International premieres include “Deaf President Now!,” a chronicle of the landmark student protest that transformed accessibility rights in the U.S.; and “Life After,” in which filmmaker Reid Davenport investigates the troubling implications of assisted suicide laws for disabled people.

Making their Canadian premieres are “Antidote,” a real-life thriller following investigative journalist Christo Grozev, co-founder of Bellingcat, and political activist Vladimir Kara-Murza...

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil – South America’s largest festival, the Rio International Film Festival, wrapped Sunday, Oct. 13, consolidating its position as the main venue for Brazilian pics’ premieres and an important gathering of filmmakers from around the world.

Following a combination of an unsupportive government, a recession and the pandemic, Rio Fest resurged last year and expanded this year, screening about 270 pics.

“For the first time in years, we were able to invite this year international guests to attend our festival, some 50 filmmakers from different countries”, Rio Fest’s director Ilda Santiago told Variety. “We back on track.

Rio Fest’s Premiere Brasil, which included 90 features and short films, was once again the main showcase of local pics. Two features shared Redentor kudos for fiction film.

Marcelo Caetano’s “Baby,” a co-production between Brazil, France and the Netherlands, is centered on male prostitution in Sao Paulo. Joao Pedro Mariano received...

Exclusive: Sffilm’s prestigious Doc Stories is set to welcome a slew of Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated filmmakers to its 10th anniversary event next month, along with industry heavyweights Keri Putnam, Laura Kim, Carrie Lozano, and Justine Nagan.

The documentary festival, which runs from October 17-20 in San Francisco, unveiled its full lineup this morning, highlighted by new work from Kevin Macdonald, Ben Proudfoot, Raoul Peck, Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk, and Pedro Kos, as well as a classic from Amy Berg about a singer who stunned San Francisco with her talent more than 50 years ago. [Scroll for the full program]

Macdonald opens the festival with One to One: John and Yoko, co-directed by Sam Rice-Edwards, “which chronicles John and Yoko’s musical, personal, artistic, social, and political world set against the backdrop of a turbulent era in American history.”

The closing night film belongs to Suburban Fury,...

The inaugural Climate Film Festival unspools tonight leading into the opening of New York Climate Week with hundreds of events across the city as the United Nations General Assembly comes to order. Look for a celeb actor (under wraps until Monday) staffing a vegan hot dog truck near Union Square courtesy of Yellow Dot, the nonprofit production studio founded last year by Adam McKay (Don’t Look Up). The sauerkraut and mustard dog is called Coal and Gas Pollution are Responsible For One in Five Deaths Worldwide.

Yellow Dot also presents a New York version of its live LA show Let’s Not Die NY!! at Chelsea Music Hall.

Media and entertainment is a growing piece of Climate Week, launched and run for the last 15 years by international nonprofit Climate Group, which has its own agenda — opening night on Sunday — and affiliates with hundreds of other events. The Hollywood Climate Summit,...

Finding distribution for independently made documentaries was a hot topic of conversation at the 20th edition of the Maine-based Camden International Film Festival, which kicked off on Sept. 12.

Founder and CEO of Cinetic Media John Sloss, who sold the Christopher Reeve documentary ‘”Super/Man” to Warner Bros. Discovery for a reported $15 million out of Sundance earlier this year, admitted that finding homes for some of the most popular docs at festivals including “No Other Land” has been difficult.

About the resistance of Palestinian activists against forced displacement and settler expansion in the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta, “No Other Land” was part of the Ciff lineup. Most recently the film screened at TIFF and Telluride. The IDFA-supported doc debuted in February at the 74th edition of the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Documentary Award and Panorama Dokumente Audience Award.

Sloss didn’t go into details about why...

Every American soldier has left Afghanistan, but that doesn’t mean Afghanistan has left them. Jon Shenk and Bonni Cohen’s heartfelt documentary gives new meaning to the term “forever war” by showing the lasting impact that multiple deployments have had on a trio of Navy SEALs still struggling to truly come home years after retiring from the military. “In Waves and War” — the title is taken from a passage in “The Odyssey” about moving on from suffering in order to embark on a new adventure — focuses on, and ultimately becomes part of, an emerging movement to treat post-traumatic stress disorder via two hallucinogens that have shown remarkable results when taken in tandem.

Those would be ibogaine and 5-MeO-dmt. The former is derived from the bark root of the iboga tree in Gabon, while the latter is extracted from Sonoran Desert toads — an imposing cocktail to be sure, but one...

Jon Shenk and Bonni Cohen‘s at times emotionally overwhelming documentary gets its title via a quote from “The Odyssey” that opens the film.

“By now, I am used to suffering. I have endured so much in waves and war. Let this next adventure follow.”

The Navy SEALs who are the subjects of “In Waves and War” aren’t just used to suffering. Many long thought that bearing the emotional cost of suffering was their only option. Multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq over years left unseen scars as wall as visible ones, and Ptsd can be so intractable an enemy, despite multiple therapies and prescription drugs, that a lot are left to think that just “bearing it” is all they can do.

Shenk and Cohen‘s film makes a powerful case that there may be another option: Psychedelic drugs, not approved for use in the U.S., may help...

In “The White House Effect,” directors Bonni Cohen, Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk’s document how a chance to take real action on global warming was not just squandered but deliberately undermined by the George H.W. Bush administration (1988-1992).

Bush took office in 1988, which, at the time, was the planet’s hottest year on record. The former president promised to take on the greenhouse effect with what he called the “White House Effect” and tackle the problem head on. The doc uses only archival footage to tell the story of how seeds of disinformation around climate change were sown in America three decades ago. In the film, the schism between action and denial plays out in the Oval Office as Bush’s head of the Environmental Protection Agency William Riley and his chief of staff John Sununu face off over setting limits on fossil fuel emissions. “The White House Effect...

The opening scenes of “The White House Effect” feel like a nostalgic stroll through an era in which every new problem wasn’t immediately designated as a culture war battlefield. A quaint time when the lack of partisan media outlets, online misinformation, and excessive reliance on small dollar fundraising made for an electoral climate where politicians were, at the very least, serious about giving off the illusion that they took their jobs seriously. When the issue of man-made climate change first became a public issue, the rhetoric from Republican and Democratic politicians was largely the same. Everyone acknowledged that there was a problem to be solved through some form of federal government intervention, they merely disagreed about who was most qualified to do it.

Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk, and Pedro Kos’ new film aims to track the role of the American executive branch in shaping climate policy through the ’70s,...

The White House Effect, Bonni Cohen, Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk’s new documentary, doesn’t make viewers wait long for its most shocking moment.

In a small press conference in August of 1988, then-Vice President George H.W. Bush makes a bold declaration about stopping global warming.

“It can be done and we must do it and these issues know no ideology,” Bush says.

He goes on to observe that when it comes to the greenhouse effect, those doubting the ability to make tangible change have forgotten about one thing: the White House Effect. By that, Bush is referring to the government’s ability to make policy changes to impact the public good.

In this moment, if you didn’t live through that period, you might be flummoxed enough to believe that, as he claimed himself, Bush would be the “environmental candidate” for the presidency.

Spoiler alert: He was not.

Spoiler alert: Those issues did not,...

“The oddest throuple in Telluride,” joked the filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer, while driving from his Beverly Hills home to the film fest in Colorado, will be Tyrnauer and the colorful characters at the center of the two verité documentaries that he is premiering in the Rockies this Labor Day weekend: the legendary Democratic political strategist James Carville, subject of Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid, and sushi chef and restaurateur extraordinaire Nobu Matsuhisa, subject of Nobu.

Tyrnauer, 56, a longtime Vanity Fair editor-at-large and special correspondent turned prolific filmmaker of numerous critically and commercially successful nonfiction works — among them 2009’s Oscar-shortlisted Valentino: The Last Emperor, 2017’s Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, 2018’s Studio 54 and 2019’s Where’s My Roy Cohn? — previously had a film at the fest in 2022, his Benington College doc The End of the World. But coming with two docs, both of which are still seeking U.S. distribution deals,...

Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence and Stanley Tucci as Cardinal Bellini in ‘Conclave’ (Photo Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024)

The 51st Telluride Film Festival announced its lineup just days ahead of the festival’s opening on Friday, August 30, 2024. The festival, which runs through Monday, September 2nd, will include the world premieres of Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night, Edward Berger’s Conclave, and Malcolm Washington’s The Piano Lesson.

This year’s festival includes 60 feature films, shorts, and revival programs.

“This brief weekend of cinematic bliss reminds us every year that movies really are magic,” stated Telluride Film Festival director Julie Huntsinger. “The process of assembling our line-up is both daunting and rewarding, and it never fails to bring the most fantastic sense of satisfaction once we’re finished. Our anticipation matches that of the audience. We’re delighted to now share what we found to be the most exciting, interesting and...

Telluride Film Festival has announced the line-up before the festival starts on Friday, with world premieres for Edward Berger’s Conclave, RaMell Ross’ Nickel Boys, and Robbie Williams musical biopic Better Man.

Also making the cut in the main programme are documentaries Leonardo Da Vinci from Ken Burns, Kevin Macdonald’s One To One: John & Yoko, and R. J. Cutler’s Martha Stewart film.

Tim Fehlbaum’s September 5 and Joshua Openheimer’s The End are in the main programme, alongside Cannes favourites Anora, The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, All We Imagine As Light, and Emilia Pérez.

The 51st...

Unless you’re a major studio or willing to pay for a rent-spiked ski lodge––and even then––few festivals ring more exclusive than Telluride, which has the distinction / misfortune of firing the starting gun for fall festivals and that ever-deleterious phenomenon we call “Oscar buzz.” Their 2024 lineup nevertheless features some films of note: Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson’s Rumours; Alain Guiraudie’s Misericordia; Payal Kapadia’s All That We Imagine as Light; Sean Baker’s Anora; and Alfonso Cuarón’s Apple series Disclaimer.

On a repertory end, Kenneth Lonergan’s been anointed this year’s Guest Director and has programmed the following: Arch of Triumph, Barry Lyndon, Doctor Zhivago, Grand Hotel, and My Darling Clementine. And Telluride’s 2024 Special Medallion goes to Les Films du Losange, who will represent Misericordia and have their history celebrated with the following screenings: Beauty and the Beast; Charles, Dead or...

The world premieres of “The Piano Lesson,” “Conclave” and “Saturday Night” will take place at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival, which begins on Friday in the Colorado mountain town.

“The Piano Lesson” is an August Wilson adaptation directed by Malcolm Washington and starring Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington; it will be released by Netflix. “Conclave” is a Focus Features drama set admidst the election of a new pope, and the first film for German director Edward Berger since his Oscar-winning “All Quiet on the Western Front.” And Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” a Sony release, tells the story of the first episode of the long-running comedy series “Saturday Night Live.”

Other films in this year’s Telluride lineup include “The End,” a dystopian sci-fi musical starring Tilda Swinton and marking the narrative debut of “The Act of Killing” director Joshua Oppenheimer; “Nickel Boys,” a Colson Whitehead adaptation from RaMell Ross; and “The Friend,...

Edward Berger’s “Conclave,” Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” Malcolm Washington’s “The Piano Lesson,” RaMell Ross’s “Nickel Boys,” and Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The End” will world premiere at the 51st edition of the Telluride Film Festival, fest organizers announced on Thursday.

In addition to the world premieres, several expected awards contenders will have North American bows in the small Colorado town over Labor Day weekend, including Pablo Larrain’s “Maria” (which premieres Thursday at the Venice Film Festival), Sean Baker’s “Anora” (this year’s Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner), and Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez” (a Cannes winner for its ensemble of actresses and a jury prize winner at the prestigious event).

In addition to its lineup of features, Telluride organizers also bestow the Telluride Silver Medallion to “a trio of artists who have made significant contributions to the film industry.” This year’s honorees are the French filmmaker Audiard,...

The official lineup for the 51st Telluride Film Festival has been announced, unveiling a series of world premieres from awards hopefuls.

Highlights include Edward Berger’s religious thriller “Conclave,” RaMell Ross’ “Nickel Boys” film adaptation, Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” Joshua Oppenheimer’s apocalyptic musical “The End,” and Malcolm Washington’s film adaptation of the August Wilson play “The Piano Lesson.”

The Colorado-based festival will also honor three distinguished figures in cinema: four-time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan, who stars in and produced the drama “The Outrun”; three-time Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker; and French director Jacques Audiard, whose film “Emilia Pérez” will make its U.S. debut after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won best actress for its stars Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz.

Among the U.S. debuts are several notable Cannes selections, including Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner “Anora,...

The national political conventions may be over, but Hollywood’s version of “the race” is just getting started as the fall festival season begins, and this year’s Telluride has plenty to offer for politicos and cinephiles alike.

The 51st annual festival gets underway Friday in Colorado with a slate of world premieres including a Hillary Clinton- and Jennifer-Lawrence-produced abortion film that is up for acquisition, Zurawski v Texas, a Jason Reitman-directed comedy about Saturday Night Live — Sony’s Saturday Night — and an adaptation of an August Wilson play on intergenerational trauma helmed by first-time director Malcolm Washington, son of Denzel (Netflix’s The Piano Lesson).

A year after the Screen Actors Guild strike robbed festivals of much of their star-power, Telluride is expected to be thick with A-listers once again, including Angelina Jolie, attending for the North American premiere of Pablo Larrain’s Maria, hot off its...

It's an election year, which means everyone and everything is focused on politics—even the season's major festivals. Colorado's Telluride Film Festival just unveiled its 2024 lineup, and it has as much of an eye toward the White House as anything else this time of year.

According to The Hollywood Reporter,...

PBS’ “American Masters” documentary series will tackle the life of actor, activist and author Marlee Matlin with the feature documentary “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore.”

The film will use Asl as its primary language. Along with stylized captioning and dynamic editing, it aims to push the boundaries of conventional documentaries and will bring together Deaf and hearing team members across production and post-production roles.

“The film will explore Matlin’s life as a groundbreaking performer, whose meteoric and tumultuous rise to fame started in 1987 when she became the first Deaf actor to win an Academy Award for her role in ‘Children of a Lesser God.’ At the age of 21, Matlin was thrust into the national spotlight, becoming for many Americans the first Deaf person they saw on TV and overnight becoming the de-facto representative of the Deaf community,” reads its log line.

It continues: “The film boasts never-before-seen home video...

The 20th edition of the Camden Intl. Film Festival, kicking off Sept. 12, features a lineup full of political, hot button documentaries fresh off showings at Toronto, Venice and Telluride. The Maine-based film festival will unfold in a hybrid format, with both in-person events over a four-day period concluding Sept. 15, and online screenings available from Sept. 16 to Sept. 30 for audiences across the U.S.

This year’s Ciff highlights include: Steve Pink’s “The Last Republican,” about former U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger during his last year in office when he attempted to hold his own party accountable through his work on the Jan. 6 Committee. The docu will have its world premiere at TIFF. Also screening is Michael Premo’s “Homegrown,” which follows a group of right-wing activists from the 2020 campaign trail all the way to the attack on the U.S. Capitol. The film will debut in the Venice Film...

Seven filmmakers will benefit from one of the most generous grants in the documentary field, as the North Points Institute today announced the recipients of the inaugural Diane Weyermann Fellowships.

The fellowship, named for the late Participant executive and producer who championed the careers of many leading documentary filmmakers and their work, will provide $100,000 and 18 months of mentorship to each of three nonfiction projects and their filmmaking teams.

“The three supported projects were chosen out of 401 submissions from 70 countries, through a 6-month selection process that included the Points North curatorial team and a jury of veteran filmmakers and programmers,” according to a release. “The projects include: The Last Nomads, directed and produced by Biljana Tutorov, co-directed by Petar Glomazić, and co-produced by Quentin Laurent, Rok Bicek and Eva Kuperman. The film is a co-production of Serbia, Montenegro, France, Slovenia, Belgium, and Croatia; The Production of the World, a co-production of Canada and USA,...

Exclusive: Paramount’s Republic Pictures has acquired worldwide rights to the inspirational documentary Lift, from Academy Award-nominated filmmaker David Petersen, slating it for release via Paramount Global Content Distribution. In the U.S., the film will hit select theaters on September 15th and bow on digital on the 22nd. Pic will also soon hit the UK, debuting on digital on the 25th.

Exec produced by world-renowned ballerina Misty Copeland, who also served as Principal Advisor, Lift shines a spotlight on the transformative power of dance and the invisible story of homelessness in America through young home-insecure ballet dancers and their mentor who inspires them at New York Theatre Ballet. Guided by Steven Melendez, whose journey leads back to his childhood shelter, their path within the Lift scholarship program becomes a celebration of joy and triumph in the face of adversity.

Presented by Vulcan Productions and Beaufort 9 Films, in association...

Exclusive: PBS’s Independent Lens strand has acquired feature doc One with the Whale, spotlighting a Siberian Yupik community facing up to climate change and animal rights activists.

Co-directed by Pete Chelkowski and environmental journalist Jim Wickens (Ecostorm), the doc was filmed over two years on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, and explores the traditions and customs, values and lifestyles of a tight-knit Yupik village known as Gambell.

Being based on a small ice-covered island near the Bering Sea, the Yupiks have witnessed the increasingly damaging impact of climate change on their environment and way of life, while their centuries-old practices as traditional hunter gatherers have been attacked by online animal rights activists. The doc will follow the story of Chris Apassingok, a teenager and local hero who harpooned a 50-foot whale that fed the village for months. After his story emerged, he was...

Jessica Q. Chen, Jeremiah M. Bogert Jr. co-directed completed film.

Los Angeles-based finance, production and sales company Est Studios has added the documentary Surf Nation about aspiring Chinese surfers to its Cannes sales slate.

The feature follows two promising young surfers over two years as they leave their families to join hundreds of other athletes from the southern province of Hainan and get paid to become Olympic hopefuls.

Jessica Q. Chen (Women Of Apollo), an Emmy-winning Chinese American filmmaker and video producer at the Los Angeles Times, and Jeremiah M. Bogert Jr. (Chasing The Swell) co-directed Surf Nation and Oscar-nominated...

Los Angeles, Feb 2 (Ians) A yet-untitled documentary based on the use of experimental psychedelic drugs by former Navy SEALs and other US special operation veterans to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (Ptsd) and traumatic brain injuries is in the works from Participant, Actual Films and Chicago Media Project.

The film, directed by Jon Shenk and Bonni Cohen, will tackle ground-breaking treatments involving psychedelics amid evidence that the incidence of suicide among former military members who either experienced or witnessed traumatic combat is four times higher than the number of US soldiers killed during active military operations, reports ‘The Hollywood Reporter’.

The documentary will feature Marcus Capone, a former Navy Seal left with post traumatic symptoms, like depression and rage, after taking part in special operations. He and his wife Amber founded the nonprofit Vets to help US veterans tap psychedelic assisted therapies as a lifeline.

“Over the years, we have been...

Jon Shenk and Bonni Cohen are directing.

Participant and Actual Films in association with Chicago Media Project are producing a documentary on the use of experimental psychedelics in the treatment of Ptsd and traumatic brain injuries in Navy Seal veterans.

Jon Shenk and Bonni Cohen are directing the feature, which follows a group of former SEALs battling with trauma, physical pain and suicidal thoughts who undertake a cutting-edge psychedelic treatment.

Jessica Anthony produces and executive producers are Participant’s Jeff Skoll and Diane Weyermann, Actual Films’ Justine Nagan, and Chicago Media Project’s Paula Froehle, Steven Cohen, Shizuka Asakawa and Kent McCleerey.

An untitled documentary about the experimental use of psychedelics to treat former Navy SEALs’ traumatic brain injuries and Ptsd is in the works from Participant.

The project, produced by Participant, Actual Films and Chicago Media Project, will depict U.S. special operation veterans as they seek the controversial, transformative treatment.

Following former Navy SEALs who suffer from anxiety, pain and suicidal thoughts, the documentary finds the veterans at their breaking points, which leads them to the cutting edge of alternative treatments. The documentary uses interviews, archival footage, animation and intimate verité to depict the soldiers’ stories, as well as the groundbreaking research on the ancient natural medicines taking place at the Bay Area-based Brain Stimulation Lab.

The documentary features veteran Marcus Capone, who has struggled to acclimate to civilian life. His wife Amber sent him out of the country to receive a lifesaving psychedelic treatment — which includes ibogaine and 5-MeO-dmt...

The use of experimental psychedelic drugs by former Navy SEALs and other U.S. special operation veterans to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (Ptsd) and traumatic brain injuries will get a spotlight in an untitled documentary in the works from Participant, Actual Films and Chicago Media Project.

The film, directed by Jon Shenk and Bonni Cohen, will tackle groundbreaking treatments involving psychedelics amid evidence that the incidence of suicide among former military members who either experienced or witnessed traumatic combat is four times higher than the number of U.S. soldiers killed during active military operations.

The documentary will feature Marcus Capone, a former Navy Seal left with post traumatic symptoms, like depression and rage, after taking part in special operations. He and his wife Amber founded the nonprofit Vets to help U.S. veterans tap psychedelic assisted therapies as a lifeline.

“Over the years, we have been honored to share...

In conjunction with International Women’s Day, ESPN has revealed details about its month-long “Fifty/50” initiative celebrating the 50th anniversary of Title IX in June.

ESPN is programming a series of short and long-form documentaries directed and produced by women to commemorate the landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any educational institution that receives federal funding and gives women the equal opportunity to play.

“This is an important milestone for Title IX and we wanted to find creative ways to celebrate it across ESPN and the Walt Disney Company,” says Jimmy Pitaro, Chairman, ESPN and Sports Content.

Debra OConnell, president of Networks for Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution, called Fifty/50 a significant initiative for the company and its affiliates, adding, “the breadth of content is a reflection of the progress that has occurred over the last 50 years and how much more is still to be done.”

In...

Tonight is the biggest event of the year for the International Documentary Association. It will honor the best in nonfiction film at the IDA Documentary Awards in Los Angeles, where “Summer of Soul” leads with four nominations and winners are closely watched as Oscar precursors. On Monday, the organization’s leaders will return to business as usual: Managing a 40-year-old nonprofit that’s been hamstrung by crisis.

Eight months after the IDA board tapped Rick Pérez as its new executive director, four senior staffers resigned en masse. A fifth left in February; two junior staffers followed suit. All are women or non-binary. This leaves the IDA with five vacant director-level positions on a six-person leadership team.

The four former senior staffers — deputy director Amy Halpin, senior director of development and partnerships Jina Chung, interim director of programming and advocacy Maggie Bowman, and funds and enterprise program director Poh Si Teng...

Exclusive: Four senior staffers who resigned in protest from the International Documentary Association are responding to a public statement from the IDA board dismissing their concerns about how the nonprofit organization is being run under new executive director Rick Pérez.

The board published a letter on the IDA website on Friday acknowledging “a number of documentary community members have expressed concern about recent changes at the IDA – particularly the resignations of four staff members.”

The board wrote that it hired “outside legal counsel and an independent investigator” to look into complaints from the four staffers – Maggie Bowman, Jina Chung, Amy Halpin and Poh Si Teng – about workplace conduct by Pérez.

“To protect the individuals’ privacy, we can’t address the specifics of the complaints in this letter…,” the board said, “however we can share that this investigator concluded that the claims were unsubstantiated.” The letter reiterated, “…[T]his result means that...

The Gotham Awards were handed out on November 29 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. So who won at these annual indie film kudos from The Gotham Film and Media Institute, which streamed on YouTube and Facebook? Scroll down for the complete list of winners in all categories.

Netflix’s “The Lost Daughter” and “Passing” went in as the two most nominated films with five apiece, but that didn’t automatically mean they were the front-runners. Categories at these awards are judged by panels of just a handful of industry insiders, often leading to unexpected, under-the-radar winners. You can’t count anyone out at an event where unique juries review all the nominated material.

Seersvp now for November 30: Film producers panel with ‘Being the Ricardos,’ ‘Belfast,’ ‘The Power of the Dog,’ ‘tick, tick… Boom!’

That means these awards can be quite idiosyncratic — they’re independent thinkers, and not...

Jewish Story Partners, the non-profit film fund that launched six months ago, announced its second round of grant recipients on Monday. The winners came after an open submissions call that saw a 226% increase in participation from the first round.

An additional $280,000 has been awarded this year, bringing Jsp’s 2021 spend to $500,000 as they identify nonfiction work telling diverse Jewish stories. International filmmakers and fiction projects will be sought in the future. The group anticipates to hand out $800,000 in 2022 and $1 million by 2023.

New funders include the Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Films, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, Kronhill Pletka Foundation and Koret Foundation.

Monday’s grants will fund noted documentary filmmakers including: Kate Amend, Marilyn Ness, Pratibha Parmar, Dan Sturman and Ondi Timoner.

“Jewish documentary films are a window into the richness and complexity of the arc of Jewish history and Jewish lives today,” said Lynn and...

To Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, directors of the Netflix documentary Athlete A, the women who came forward to call out rampant sexual abuse within the USA Gymnastics program are “American heroes.”

“We were used to watching them as amazing athletes do incredible things,” Shenk says during the film’s panel at Deadline’s Contenders Documentary awards-season event. “But really when they were presented with this challenge of how to overcome a system that really abused many of them along the way, they had to step up in a totally unexpected way and they did it in such an inspiring way.”

Athlete A exposes the culture within USA Gymnastics, the organization that oversees the U.S. Olympic Team, that in Shenk’s words chose “money and medals over the health and safety of these young athletes.”

Deadline’s Amanda N’Duka asked the filmmakers about the response from USA Gymnastics to their documentary.

The coronavirus pandemic pushed the release of a slew of narrative films into 2021, reducing the number of Best Picture contenders this Oscar season. But it’s a completely different story with documentary. Streaming platforms and other players didn’t hold back their nonfiction slate, and with the Academy relaxing qualification rules, the record for films in contention for Best Documentary is about to be shattered this year.

That makes this the perfect time to launch Deadline’s first Contenders Documentary, a virtual showcase of top nonfiction films this awards season. The event kicks off today at 8 a.m. Pt. Click here to register and join the livestream, and follow along for the day on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram via @Deadline and #DeadlineContenders. See the full schedule of panels below.

The Contenders Documentary program, featuring conversations with a raft of Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated filmmakers including Alex Gibney, Liz Garbus, Ron Howard,...

Following the continuing success of its long-running Contenders events during Oscar and Emmy seasons, Deadline is making new additions to the franchise with Contenders Documentary, focusing on the year’s most noteworthy non-fiction films, and Contenders International, with its eye on a great lineup of foreign-language entries. Both of these events, designed to put the spotlight on worthy movies that don’t always get the attention they deserve, will be presented virtually due to the pandemic — as we did for the Emmys — in their inaugural year over the course of one weekend, with International taking place on Saturday, January 9, and Documentary on Sunday, January 10. Both will be starting their livestreams at 8 a.m. Pt.

Fifteen studios, streamers and distributors will be participating in the kickoff for Contenders International, with an impressive and varied presentation involving clips and filmmaker/talent Q&As from a total of 23 films from around the world...

It’s an understatement to say that real life is more shocking than the movies these days, but documentary filmmakers have always known this to be true. As the nonfiction medium continues to churn through the most popular moment in its history, this year’s documentary highlights met their moment and then some, with a wide range of purposeful work tackling major issues of the moment through ambitious approaches that often transcended formal conventions. Sure, 2020 brought us “Tiger King” and a gazillion election season specials, but the best documentaries of the year didn’t just thrill or enlighten us; they did it in fresh and exciting ways that went beyond the call of duty. Here are the highlights.

David Ehrlich, Kate Erbland, and Kristen Lopez contributed to this report.

“All In: The Fight for Democracy”

A lot of movies about the political process tend to be reductive adventures in talking heads.

“Dick Johnson is Dead” won both Best Documentary Feature and Best Director (Kirsten Johnson) at the fifth annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards. This Netflix film came into the competition with four bids; it lost the cinematography race to another Netflix title, “My Octopus Teacher,” and thee narration award to “David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet.” “The Way I See It” won for score while “Totally Under Control” took editing. See the full list of Ccda winners announced on November 16 below.

The six genre prizes were awarded as follows: “MLK/FBI” (Best Archival Documentary); “John Lewis: Good Trouble” (Best Historical/Biographical Documentary); both “Beastie Boys Story” and “The Go-Go’s” (Best Music Documentary); “Boys State” (Best Political Documentary”); “My Octopus Teacher” (Best Science/Nature Documentary); and both “Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes” and “Athlete A” (Best Sports Documentary).

The Shoes in the Bed title “Mr. Soul!” won one of its...

“Athlete A” was set to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2020, but after the event was cancelled due to Covid-19 the gut-wrenching documentary, which spotlights an ongoing sexual assault scandal within the USA women’s gymnastics program, premiered on Netflix on June 24. Directors Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, the BAFTA-nominated duo behind 2017’s “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power,” follow a team of investigative journalists from the Indianapolis Star as they broke the story of Dr. Larry Nassar abusing young female gymnasts for decades. The shocking film details how the powerful #MeToo movement helped bring decades of corruption within USA Gymnastics to light, and it could be a top contender for the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.

See‘Crip Camp’: Support from critics and the Obamas could help Netflix earn its 2nd consecutive Best Documentary Oscar

The documentary begins with the story of Maggie Nichols, a top...

Earlier today, the Critics Choice Association, of which I happen to be a member, announced the nominations for the fifth annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards. Cca has obviously had the main awards, the Critics Choice Awards, pushed because of Covid, but the Documentary Awards, known as Ccda, is going to be held on November 16th, so there’s a forthcoming awards show to look forward to. Leading the nominees here were Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution, Gunda, and Mr. Soul!, each of which scored five nominations. Read on below for the full list of nominees from the announcement, and stay tuned for winners next month… Here now are the full nominations: Los Angeles, CA — The Critics Choice Association (Cca) has announced the nominees for the fifth annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards (Ccda). The winners will be revealed in a Special Announcement on Monday, November 16, 2020. The Critics Choice Associationwill once again...

Three films lead the fifth annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards with five nominations apiece. “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution” and “Gunda,” both nabbed nominations for Best Documentary Feature and Best Director as well as three others apiece while “Mr. Soul!” was nominated for Best Documentary Feature and Best First Documentary Feature as well as three more.

Netflix led the way of all distributors with an impressive 31 nominations. In addition to “Crip Camp,” the studio also earned Best Documentary Feature bids forr “Athlete A,” “Dick Johnson Is Dead,” “My Octopus Teacher,” “A Secret Love,” and “The Social Dilemma.” Rounding out the top category nominees are “Belushi” and “The Go-Gos” from Showtime, “Feels Good Man” from Wavelength and PBS Independent, “The Fight” from Magnolia, “The Painter and the Thief” from Neon, and “Time” from Amazon. “Gunda” is Neon’s second nominee and “Mr. Soul!” comes to us from Shoes in the Bed.

“Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution,” “Gunda” and “Mr. Soul” lead the fifth annual Critics Choice Association’s documentary nominations, with five apiece. Among the eclectic list of nominees are Taylor Swift, Greta Thunberg, veteran filmmaker Werner Herzog and longtime disability advocate Judith Heumann, as well as docs about such notables as John Lewis, Muhammad Ali, Bruce Lee and Frank Zappa.

Recognized with four nominations each are “Athlete A,” “Dick Johnson Is Dead,” “My Octopus Teacher” and “Totally Under Control.”

In terms of distributors, Netflix led with 31 nominations, followed by Neon with 14 and Magnolia Pictures with nine. Showtime had six, while HBO, Amazon, National Geographic, PBS Independent Lens and Shoes in the Bed Productions earned five each.

It’s the fifth annual documentary honors for the group, honoring projects released in theaters, on TV and on major digital platforms, as determined by the voting of Cca members. Winners will be announced at a presentation on Nov.

“Crip Camp,” “Gunda” and “Mr. Soul!” led all films in nominations for the fifth annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards, which were announced on Monday by the Critics Choice Association.

The three films each received five nominations, including nods in the Best Documentary Feature category. As usual, that category cast a very wide net and contains far more nominees than other awards for nonfiction filmmaking — 14 this year, with nominations also going to “Athlete A,” “Belushi,” “Dick Johnson Is Dead,” “Feels Good Man,” “The Fight,” “The Go-Go’s,” “My Octopus Teacher,” “The Painter and the Thief,” “A Secret Love,” “The Social Dilemma” and “Time.”

Films with four nominations are “Athlete A,” “Dick Johnson Is Dead,” “Octopus Teacher” and “Totally Under Control.”

The list was missing many of the year’s most acclaimed nonfiction films, including “Welcome to Chechnya,” “The Dissident,” “Collective,” “Disclosure,” “76 Days” and “On the Record,” none of which received any nominations.

In a year packed with superb documentaries, the Critics Choice Association Documentary Awards nominations, which honor the best non-fiction achievements of 2020, will help other awards groups to winnow down the list of must-sees. “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution” (Netflix), “Gunda” (Neon), and “Mr. Soul!” lead this year’s nominations with five each. Netflix leads the field with 31 nominations, followed by Neon with 14 and Magnolia Pictures with nine.

“The Documentary Branch faced its greatest task yet considering the quantity and quality of nonfiction cinema released this year,” said Christopher Campbell, President of the Critics Choice Association Documentary Branch, in an official statement. “Ultimately, these nominees represent the best of the best of a remarkably fruitful moment for documentary filmmaking.”

Winners will be announced on November 16, 2020.

The Sundance debut “Crip Camp” is nominated for Best Documentary Feature, and also earned nods for James Lebrecht and Nicole Newnham for Best Director, along with Best Editing,...

In a year packed with superb documentaries, the Critics Choice Association Documentary Awards nominations, which honor the best non-fiction achievements of 2020, will help other awards groups to winnow down the list of must-sees. “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution” (Netflix), “Gunda” (Neon), and “Mr. Soul!” lead this year’s nominations with five each. Netflix leads the field with 31 nominations, followed by Neon with 14 and Magnolia Pictures with nine.

“The Documentary Branch faced its greatest task yet considering the quantity and quality of nonfiction cinema released this year,” said Christopher Campbell, President of the Critics Choice Association Documentary Branch, in an official statement. “Ultimately, these nominees represent the best of the best of a remarkably fruitful moment for documentary filmmaking.”

Winners will be announced on November 16, 2020.

The Sundance debut “Crip Camp” is nominated for Best Documentary Feature, and also earned nods for James Lebrecht and Nicole Newnham for Best Director, along with Best Editing,...