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Apple TV+’s Girls State and HBO’s Ren Faire scored three nominations apiece to lead all broadcast nominees announced Thursday for the 18th Cinema Eye Honors. The group, which recognizes the year’s outstanding nonfiction and documentary films and TV series, also revealed the 16-film longlist for its annual Audience Choice Prize, won last year by National Geographic’s Bobi Wine: The People’s President, which went on to get nominated for the Documentary Feature Oscar.

The past six winners of the Best Documentary Feature Oscar — this year’s winner 20 Days in Mariupol, Navalny, Summer of Soul, My Octopus Teacher, American Factory and Free Solo — were all Audience Choice Prize nominees. Fans voting will whittle the list to 10 beginning next week, with winners in that and all categories to be announced at an awards ceremony January 9 at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem.

The full list...

Cinema Eye Honors today shared a string of announcements, including the 16 films on its Audience Choice Prize Longlist, the unveiling of this year’s Unforgettables Honorees, nominees in its five Broadcast categories, and its annual Shorts List — spotlighting 11 of the year’s top documentary short films — at its 7th annual Cinema Eye Fall Lunch in Downtown Los Angeles on October 24, 2024.

Spotlighted on the film side are several major Best Documentary Feature contenders including “Will & Harper,” “Black Box Diaries,” and “No Other Land,” which all also factored into the organization’s list of Unforgettables — standout on-camera collaborators from eight feature documentaries. This next ceremony will be the first time those honorees, like Harper Steele, Shiori Ito, and Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham for those respective films, receive a special medallion honoring their contribution to their Cinema Eye-winning films.

Highlights among the Broadcast nominees include filmmaker Lance Oppenheim, nominated for both...

The Apple TV+ documentary “Girls State” and the HBO doc series “Ren Faire” led all projects in nominations in the Cinema Eye Honors broadcast categories, which were announced on Thursday in Los Angeles.

“Girls State” was nominated in the Broadcast Film category and also for its editing and cinematography. “Ren Faire” was also nominated in those last two categories, as well as for Nonfiction Series.

Other broadcast films and series with multiple nominations included Netflix’s “America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders,” Apple’s “The Enfield Poltergeist,” HBO’s “Telemarketers” and National Geographic’s “Photographer.”

At its annual Cinema Eye Fall Lunch at Redbird in downtown Los Angeles, the New York-based organization also announced the Audience Choice Award Long List, 16 films that will compete for the audience-voted award; 11 semi-finalists in the short doc category; and “The Unforgettables,” its annual list of the year’s most interesting documentary subjects.

The Audience...

Exclusive: D. Smith, the filmmaker behind the critically acclaimed documentary Kokomo City, which won the Next Audience and Innovator Awards at Sundance 2022, has partnered with Media Res and Brandon Sharp’s Agenda on her next docu project, Blvd, which is said to ask Dr. King the question: Was it just a dream?

Infused with visual poetry, and applying the same innovative techniques and signature style established in Smith’s debut, the genre-bending Blvd aims to show audiences what really connects and divides people from each other and the rest of the country. The film shines a light on Black communities with the aim to tell not just a neighborhood story or a history lesson, but a story about all of who Black people are, here and now.

“Blvd is a raw real reflection of where we are,” Smith told Deadline. “The best way to encourage Black people is to remind them who we are.

Exclusive: Christina Malach, most recently a senior development executive at Amazon Studios, has joined independent studio Media Res as senior vice president of development. She will report to President of Scripted Series Lindsey Springer.

During her more than four years at Amazon Studios, Malach developed and oversaw drama series, including The Terminal List, The Wilds, ZeroZeroZero, The Pursuit of Love, With Love, The Outlaws, A Very British Scandal, Chloe, The English and upcoming series Dead Ringers and Harlan Coben’s Shelter.

Prior to joining Amazon in 2018, Malach served as a vice president at Heyday Television, where she supervised development and production of scripted television projects and was a producer on NBC’s The In-Between, and previously was a creative executive at Amblin Television. She started her career in publishing where she worked for nearly a decade, eventually as an Editor-at-Large, at Random House.

“Christina’s reputation within the industry is reflective of her exceptional taste,...

Media Res, the independent studio behind such productions as “The Morning Show” and “Scenes From A Marriage,” will expand into the international TV market by hiring veteran producer Lars Blomgren to oversee Media Res International.

The company’s new international division, to be called Media Res International. will develop premium TV series from a range of genres by combining talent and material from outside the U.S. with the company’s eye for production value and narrative expertise.

“Audiences have never been more engaged and excited to explore stories and cultures different from their own,” said Michael Ellenberg, CEO of Media Res, in a prepared statement. “Our goal in launching this new division is to collaborate with international creators, filmmakers and producers on innovative, daring and arresting series for global audiences. Lars’ exceptional taste, experience, and perspective make him the ideal person to lead our efforts as we expand in this vital space.

“Echo,” a new MCU series starring Alaqua Cox, has begun production, Disney has announced.

The series is a spinoff of last year’s Disney+ Marvel show “Hawkeye,” which featured the debut of Cox as Maya Lopez. Created by David Mack and Joe Quesada in 1999 as a supporting character for the superhero Daredevil, Maya Lopez, aka Echo, is a deaf Cheyenne woman with Olympic level athletic skills and the ability to perfectly copy people’s movement. In “Hawkeye,” the character was depicted as the leader of the Tracksuit Mafia, a gang of criminals working under Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio). The series will see Maya leave New York for her hometown, where she reconnects with her roots and ends up at the center of a new crisis.

“Echo” stars a largely indigenous cast, which also includes Chaske Spencer, Tantoo Cardinal, Devery Jacobs, Cody Lightning, Graham Greene and Zahn McClarnon. Indigenous directors Sydney Freeland...

Home will return for a second season at Apple TV+.

Unveiled on Tuesday, the streamer shared that it will continue to highlight elevated home design across the world with Season 2 of the Emmy-nominated docuseries Home, which will premiere on Friday, June 17.

Home‘s second season will feature new destinations and offer viewers unprecedented access into the world’s most innovative living spaces. Each episode in the second season will unveil the boundary-pushing imagination of the visionaries who dared to dream and build them around the world, including the Netherlands, South Africa, Indonesia, Australia, Mexico, Iceland, and more. Through these unique stories from the homeowners, their deep intention and unique vision is unveiled in the remarkable homes they’ve created, leaving an indelible impact on those around them.

Home is produced for Apple by A24 and is executive produced by Matthew Weaver, Kim Rozenfeld, Ian Orefice, Alyse Walsh, Collin Orcutt, Ben Cotner,...

Exclusive: Michael Ellenberg’s Media Res, the production company behind high-profile scripted series such as Apple TV+’s The Morning Show and upcoming Pachinko, is expanding into nonfiction. The company has launched a new division, focused on premium nonfiction content, including docuseries, documentary films and unscripted programming.

The new unit will be headed by veteran film and television producer/executive Sarba Das, most recently Head of Creative for Documentaries at A24, and has lined up its first project, Humankind, a docuseries based on Rutger Bregman’s bestelling book. Emmy-winning Boys State directors/producers Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss are attached to direct. They also will executive produce the project through their Mile End Films shingle, along with Ellenberg and Das through Media Res, and author Bregman.

With The Humankind, Ellenberg is extending the strategy he has employed in scripted — optioning bestselling books and developing them into series — to the non-scripted side.

HBO Max released a trailer for Season 4 of “Gomorrah,” which launches on May 20.

The new season focuses on Genny, who, in order to protect his family, commits to legit business and tries to escape the world in which his father raised him.

“Gomorrah” stars Salvatore Esposito, Ivana Lotito, Cristiana Dell’Anna, Arturo Muselli and Loris De Luna.

Based on the book by Roberto Saviano, “Gomorrah” is executive produced by Riccardo Tozzi, Gina Gardini, Giovanni Stabilini, Marco Chimenz, Nils Hartman and Sonia Rovai. The series is developed by Saviano and Stefano Bises, alongside Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli, who also serve as writers with Enrico Audenino and Monica Zapelli. The fourth season is directed by Claudio Cupellini, Marco D’Amore, Enrico Rosati, Ciro Visco and Francesca Comencini, who is also the artistic supervisor.

Also in today’s TV news roundup:

First Looks

PBS released a trailer for “Tulsa: The Fire and the Forgotten,...

The Australian International Documentary Conference (Aidc) will be held entirely online in 2021, with an early line-up of international speakers that includes Sundance Film Festival director Tabitha Jackson, and directors David France (Welcome to Chechnya) and Kirsten Johnson (Dick Johnson is Dead).

Aidc organisers have stated the reconfiguration of the event will allow it to be more accessible, and mean it can offer more international speakers and host a larger contingent of decision makers.

In recognition of the challenges facing the industry, Aidc will also offer a discount on the first 100 All Access passes sold.

The theme for 2021 event will be ‘Moment of Truth’, “recognising that humanity is living in a time when there’s no turning back and crucial decisions need to be made” in areas such as sustainability, resistance, action, truth-telling, innovation and the response to Covid-19.

Aidc CEO and conference director Alice Burgin said: “Aidc is excited to...

Exclusive: Film Independent has unveiled their keynotes, conversations and panelists for the 15th annual Film Independent Forum. The Forum, which is traditionally a weekend event, will now be a week-long virtual event that will reach all corners of the globe from July 31 to August 7.

The event has set a roster of banner names in the industry, featuring a U.S. Filmmaker Keynote with Lulu Wang (The Farewell); a U.S. Executive Keynote with Elissa Federoff, President of Distribution at Neon; a Documentary Keynote with Dawn Porter; and a Global Executive Keynote with Ashok Amritraj, Chairman and CEO of Hyde Park Entertainment Group. Traditionally a weekend event, the Forum has expanded to a full week-long event accessible online to global audiences the week of July 31 to August 7.

In addition, panels will cover financing, production and distribution of films to digital content across diverse platforms...

After making its world premiere earlier this month at the SXSW Film Festival, The Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story has set a limited theatrical run in Los Angeles and New York ahead of its April 3 debut on YouTube.

The Pilgrim Media Group and Lance Bass Productions’ YouTube Original feature documentary will premiere March 27 at ArcLight Cinema in Sherman Oaks and March 29 at AMC 34th St. in New York City. Screenings in both cities will be followed by panels and Q&As featuring Lance Bass, director Aaron Kunkel as well as other cast members and special guests.

The Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story tracks the life of boy band impresario Lou Pearlman from his childhood in Queens, New York through discovering mega-bands the Backstreet Boys and *Nsync, and chronicles his later life, including his perpetration of one of the largest Ponzi schemes in American history.

The docu...

Oscar-winning documentary director Roger Ross Williams (Music by Prudence) and Craig Piligian’s Pilgrim Media are teaming to develop High on the Hog, a docuseries chronicling African American history through the lens of food, based on Dr. Jessica B. Harris’ book High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America.

The book, published in 2011 by Bloomsbury, sets out to document the African Diaspora from a culinary perspective; the potential multi-part series traces the moving story of a people’s survival and triumph via the food that has knit together generations and helped define the American kitchen. It’s described as a culinary journey that stretches from Africa to enslavement, emancipation, the Harlem Renaissance, the march for Civil Rights, and up to the present day, and will explore the food and tastes that have profoundly impacted the American palate, and helped shape the country’s relationship with food, music,...

Tze Chun's "Children of Invention" took home the grand jury prize for outstanding fiction film and also picked up acting awards for Michael Chen and Crystal Chiu at the 2009 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, which concluded Thursday with a screening of Yojiro Takita's "Departures" at the Aratani/Japan America Theater in Los Angeles.

The outstanding director award went to So Yong Kim for "Treeless Mountain," which also picked up acting awards for Hee Yeon Kim and Song Hee Kim.

David Boyle's "White on Rice" received the outstanding screenplay prize and an acting award for Justin Kwong.

First-time filmmaker Mark Tran received the outstanding first film award for his feature "All About Dad."

Christopher Wong's "Whatever It Takes" received the grand jury prize for outstanding nonfiction film, while Alexander Lee's "The Real Shaolin" was recognized with a special jury prize.

The audience awards went to Sarba Das' "Karma Kalling,...