News

Cph:forum, the financing and co-production arm of documentary festival Cph:dox, has unveiled its lineup of projects, including those by director Tamara Kotevska, Oscar nominated for “Honeyland,” and producers Monica Hellström, Oscar nominated for “Flee,” and Sigrid Dyekjær, Oscar nominated for “The Cave” and an Emmy winner with “The Territory.”

Other projects include those by directors such as Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan (“Nocturnes”), Jennie Livingston (“Paris Is Burning”), Peter Middleton (“Notes on Blindness”), Maximilien Van Aertryck and Axel Danielson, Margreth Olin (“Songs of Earth”), Anabel Rodriguez (“Once Upon a Time in Venezuela”), Mark Cousins (“The Story of Film: An Odyssey”), Robin Petré (“Only on Earth”), and Agnieszka Zwiefka (“Silent Trees”), along with producers such as James Paul Dallas (“Invisible Beauty”) and John Archer (“Bogancloch”).

The event, which runs March 24-27 in Copenhagen, Denmark, will bring together 75 directors and producers representing 26 countries who will take the stage to present 30 new documentary...

Feature projects from the directors of Notes On Blindness and Honeylandare among those selected forCPH:Forum, the financing and co-production event on the industry programme of Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (Cph:dox) that will take place in March.

The Forum has also added two new awards to the event which will run from March 24-27.

Scroll down for the full list of projects

The Forum includes 30 documentary projects from 26 contries, spanning early to late development and production.

Director Peter Middleton will present UK title Landfall, produced by Hugh Davies and Clive Patterson for Fee Fie Foe and Insight Film.Middleton and...

As the film begins, we’re immediately plunged into the unfolding events of that famous, flawed mission to the moon. Through restored recordings and footage, we experience the mission as if we were there. Every moment is brought to life with such clarity and intimacy.

We join the astronauts aboard Apollo 13 in the early hours, all going to plan as their craft lifts off from the launchpad. But just over two days into the journey, with the crew encamped over 200,000 miles into the black, distant void, it all changes in an instant. An explosion—the cause still unknown all these years later. Oxygen venting, electrical systems crashing, a wave of panic and uncertainty washing over the crew, and everyone following back on earth.

Director Peter Middleton understands that sometimes the most compelling storytelling comes from simply stepping aside and letting the historical record speak for itself. Through meticulously sourced archives,...

Fall is officially here, and we’re all about embracing those cozy vibes! Imagine yourself wrapped up in your favorite blanket, a steaming cup of tea or cocoa in hand, and the flicker of your TV screen as you dive into an engrossing documentary binge. There’s really no better way to spend those crisp fall evenings, right?

Well, Netflix is making sure your autumn viewing lineup is stacked with fresh documentaries to keep you entertained. Whether you're a true crime junkie or a fan of celebrity insights, Netflix has something for everyone this season. Get ready for the chilling and infamous story of The Menendez Brothers, a case that has intrigued the nation for decades. Or, if you’re looking for something a bit more inspirational, Martha Stewart herself is ready to invite you into her world with an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at her life and career.

And that’s just the beginning!

The new documentary Apollo 13: Survival is now streaming on Netflix, and it tells the true story laid out in Tom Hanks' 1995 hit Apollo 13. The Apollo 13 mission was a standout moment in American history, a disaster-turned-rescue mission that captured the whole world for a week. On April 11, 1970, the Apollo space program launched its seventh crewed mission, meant to land on the moon. The mission went horribly awry and was aborted, however, when, two days into the mission, an oxygen tank ruptured, killing both the life-support and electrical systems.

With their ship damaged beyond repair, the three-man crew Commander Jim Lovell, command module pilot John "Jack" Swigert, and lunar module pilot Fred Haise were forced to abandon the ship and transfer to the much smaller lunar module. Houston's Mission Control quickly outlined new procedures so that the lunar module could support three men for four days, as opposed to...

DC/Dox has unveiled the lineup for its second annual edition, which takes place in Washington, D.C., from June 13-16. The documentary festival will kick things off with “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story,” the Warner Bros. Discovery film that premiered at Sundance earlier this year.

The second edition of the fest includes 51 features and 47 shorts from 17 countries. That’s up from last year’s state of 31 features and 21 shorts from eight countries. This year’s lineup is made of 60% of filmmakers identifying as women or non-binary. Films will screen at venues including Smithsonian’s Museum of American History, the Burke Theatre at the U.S. Navy Memorial, and the National Archives.

“The films on the 2024 slate highlight the remarkable breadth and depth of documentary storytelling today,” says DC/Dox co-founder and festival director Sky Sitney. “From filmmakers around the world, these works recalibrate the past through archival footage, immerse themselves...

The 2024 Cannes Film Festival lineup is expanding thanks to the newly unveiled Immersive competition.

The inaugural offering includes location-based virtual reality and mixed reality experiences, projection mapping, and holographic works. Actors such as Colin Farrell (“Gloomy Eyes”), Olivia Cooke (“Emperor”), Jessica Chastain, Millie Bobby Brown, and Patti Smith (“Spheres”) lend their respective voices to the projects created with cutting-edge technology.

The festival will host eight projects as part of the Immersive Competition, ushering in a new era of storytelling while “challenging convention, embracing new technologies, and above all celebrating new artists as well as old,” per the official press statement.

Outside of the competition, six non-competitive works will be featured at the exhibition exploring the evolution of the medium and drawing parallels between virtual reality, virtual production, cinema, and collective storytelling.

The Best Immersive Work Award will be presented by the President of the Jury at the Closing Ceremony on...

Cannes Film Festival (May 15-24) has unveiled the eight titles for its inaugural immersive competition, including projects featuring Cate Blanchett, Millie Bobby Brown, Patti Smith, Colin Farrell and Jessica Chastain.

The competition includes location-based virtual reality and mixed reality experiences, as well as projection mapping and holographic works.

Evolver is voiced by Blanchett, and has previously played at Tribeca and Geneva International Film Festiva. It is helmed by Barnaby Steel, Ersin Han Ersin and Robin McNicholas of London-based art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast. Dirty Films is also a production company, and Coco Francini, Blanchett, and Andrew Upton are executive producers on the virtual reality project,...

The Cannes Film Festival has unveiled the inaugural lineup for its Immersive Competition section, the first-ever selection of augmented and virtual reality works to screen at the austere French film fest.

The 8 competition titles and 6 out-of-competition screenings include works featuring such talents as Jessica Chastain, Colin Farrell, Millie Bobby Brown, and Tahar Rahim. The lineup highlights cutting-edge VR and Ar techniques and includes location-based virtual reality, mixed reality experiences, projection mapping, and holographic works.

Introducing the new immersive section, Cannes said it hoped to “spotlight the next generation of international artists who are redefining storytelling and inventing new narrative-driven experiences that move beyond the traditional two-dimensional cinema screen.” The section is being organized with support from the French national film board, the Cnc. The immersive works will be presented at an exhibition space in the Cannes Cineum complex on the outskirts of the city and at the campus of Cannes’s Georges Méliès film school.

The Cannes Film Festival has announced the selections for its Immersive lineup, including projects voiced by stars like Cate Blanchett, Colin Farrell and Jessica Chastain.

According to a press release, the Immersive competition includes “collective location-based virtual reality and mixed reality experiences, and projection mapping and holographic works. These carefully selected immersive works showcase the cutting edge of this new era in storytelling, challenging convention, embracing new technologies, and above all celebrating new artists as well as old.”

The eight projects in competition include the French premiere of “Evolver,” voiced by Blanchett, and the European premiere of “Maya: The Birth of a Superhero,” which counts “Bridgerton” star Charithra Chandran among its voice cast.

The out-of-competition lineup comprises six projects, including “Emperor” with “House of the Dragon” star Olivia Cooke; “Gloomy Eyes,” the English version of which is voiced by Farrell; and Eliza McNitt’s “Spheres” with Chastain, Millie Bobby Brown and Patti Smith.

Kate Middleton and Prince William have received more new titles.

King Charles III announced an array of new military appointments on Friday for nine members of the royals, including the Prince and Princess of Wales.

A message on the royal family’s website read, “Following His Majesty’s Accession, The King is pleased to announce further military appointments for working Members of the Royal Family.

“The new appointments will continue to reflect the close relationship between the Armed Forces and the Royal Family in His Majesty’s reign.”

Following His Majesty’s Accession, The King is pleased to announce further military appointments for working members of the Royal Family.

The new appointments will continue to reflect the close relationship between the Armed Forces and the Royal Family in His Majesty’s reign.

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) August 11, 2023

Kate has been appointed the following titles: Commodore-in-Chief, Fleet Air Arm; Colonel-in-Chief,...

Tina Satter’s verbatim film about the FBI’s interrogation of US intelligence leaker Reality Winner, played by The White Lotus’s Sydney Sweeney, is a stranger-than-fiction reflection of our precarious times

Legal transcripts have long provided rich source material for authentically gripping movies. Last year, the Tribeca festival showcased The Courtroom, a well-received deportation drama featuring “dialogue taken directly from court transcripts”. But it’s not just courtrooms that provide such inspiration. Think back to the “verbatim theatre” of Clio Barnard’s 2010 feature debut The Arbor, in which actors lip-synced recorded interviews about the troubled life of the playwright Andrea Dunbar. In the 2013 TV show Nixon’s the One, Harry Shearer reimagined Tricky Dicky’s secret audio tapes as video recordings, creating an absurdist black comedy from word-for-word Oval Office transcripts. More recently, James Spinney and Peter Middleton’s documentary The Real Charlie Chaplin (2021) added dramatised visuals to archived...

Neon, Double Agent and Film4 are partnering to co-finance and exec produce 2073, a new documentary from Academy Award and BAFTA-winning director Asif Kapadia (Amy).

2073 is billed as a genre-bending thriller set in a dystopian future, which will tackle some of the biggest challenges imperiling our future. The project is inspired by Chris Marker’s iconic 1962 featurette La Jetée — about a time traveler who risks his life to change the course of history and save the future of humanity — which previously served as the basis for Terry Gilliam’s sci-fi pic 12 Monkeys, with Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt.

Kapadia and George Chignell are producing. Davis Guggenheim, Nicole Stott and Jonathan Silberberg will exec produce on behalf of Concordia Studio, alongside Riz Ahmed’s Left Handed Films.

Said Kapadia: “I want to make an epic about the state of the world, using elements of science fiction as a lens through which...

Exclusive: Anna Baryshnikov (Dickinson) will join Oscar nominee Kristen Stewart in A24’s romantic thriller Love Lies Bleeding from double BAFTA Award-nominated director Rose Glass (Saint Maud).

The film written by Glass and Weronika Tofilska is reportedly set in the world of bodybuilding, examining a romance fueled by ego, desire and the American Dream. Film4 developed the project alongside the filmmakers and will co-finance alongside A24, which is producing and handling the pic’s global release. Andrea Cornwell is also producing for Lobo Films, alongside Oliver Kassman for Escape Plan Productions.

Baryshnikov starred as Lavinia Dickinson, sister of poet Emily Dickinson (Hailee Steinfeld), in Apple’s Peabody Award-winning series, Dickinson, which came to the end of its third and final season last December. The actress made her feature film debut in Amazon’s Oscar-winning Manchester by the Sea, written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, also appearing opposite Maggie Gyllenhaal in...

From his impoverished alter ego to the many silenced women in his life, the real Chaplin continues to prove elusive – even in his own words – in this inventive documentary

Opening the Gotham hotel press conference for Monsieur Verdoux in 1947, Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) told journalists to “proceed with the butchery”. I’d read that comment before, but in this expansive documentary the original audiotape is dramatised in the verbatim theatre style of Clio Barnard’s The Arbor, enabling us to see and hear it – sort of. As with their wonderful previous work Notes on Blindness (2016), co-directors James Spinney and Peter Middleton make adventurous use of lip-synced recreations, bringing old audio recordings to new cinematic life as they wrestle with the contradictory spectre of one of cinema’s true pioneers.

It’s a technique that proves particularly powerful when applied to the tape-recorded recollections of Effie Wisdom, a childhood friend of Chaplin...

Box office dominated by holdovers including ‘Uncharted’, ‘Sing 2’.

Channing Tatum comedy Dog and Altitude documentary The Real Charlie Chaplin are debuting in a quiet weekend for new openers at the UK-Ireland box office.

Directed by Tatum and Reid Carolin from a screenplay by Carolin, Dog stars Tatum in the story of a US army ranger who must escort the dog of his fallen commander to the funeral. Entertainment Film Distributors is releasing the title in the UK and Ireland.

Animal-themed titles can be a profitable venture: eOne’s Clifford The Big Red Dog opened to a healthy £1.29m in December,...

You may not know his films but you will certainly know who Charlie Chaplin is…

A legend of the silent film era there is more to the man than his signature bowler hat and cane. With films such as The Great Dictator, City Lights & The Kid his impact on film cannot be overstated.

The life of Charlie Chaplin is the subject of a new documentary from directing duo, James Spinney and Peter Middleton, who explore the enigma that is Chaplin.

We sit down with James and Peter to discuss The Real Charlie Chaplin, reflect on his influence, the mammoth task of tackling the story of a legend and controversy in his personal life.

The Real Charlie Chaplin Opens in Cinemas & Digitally on February 18th

The post James Spinney & Peter Middleton on their new documentary The Real Charlie Chaplin appeared first on HeyUGuys.

New archive material brings Chaplin’s unparalleled celebrity, downfall and the women in his life into greater focus

The story of Charlie Chaplin only gets more incredible as the years go by: the man who left behind poverty and the workhouse to become the inventor of cinema, celebrity and modernity. As his movies took off, his globally adored “little tramp” character became mass produced, like the Ford Model T or the populist political movements of interwar history. In his heyday, Chaplin’s wealth and fame fused together to create something beyond anything people had conceived those two things to be. No wonder his triumph created a residue of wariness and resentment among America’s governing classes, which spilled out into outright red-scare rage when Chaplin, the bumptious autodidact and autocrat, opened his mouth about communism.

Film-makers Peter Middleton and James Spinney are well positioned to take advantage of this enduringly...

It’s been over a century since Charlie Chaplin introduced his beloved Tramp character in 1914’s “Kid Auto Races at Venice.” Unlike a lot of the silent film performers of the time, Chaplin breaks the fourth wall and makes eye contact with the audience. And even a century later, there’s an immediacy to that eye contact, there’s a bond between you and the silent clown. “He’s this very fluid character who just communes with the audience,” said James Spinney, who, with Peter Middleton, directed the lauded new Showtime documentary “The Real Chaplin.”

“When you watch him, you feel this crackle as he looks at you,” Spinney noted during a recent Film Independent conversation. “It’s kind of flirtatious and mischievous when he does that. Watching his films today, we found that they felt fresh and subversive, even over a century later, and felt like a type of...

“We had this extraordinary canvas of a life,” declares director Peter Middleton about the subject of the new documentary “The Real Charlie Chaplin.” The documentary, which premiered at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival before airing on Showtime, examines the genius and the tragedy of the legendary filmmaker, a man whose genius was rivaled only by his personal demons. Watch our exclusive video interview with Middleton and co-director James Spinney above.

Many documentaries and films have already documented the life of Chaplin, which posed a unique challenge for the directors: was there anything about Chaplin’s life that hadn’t already been told? Eventually, they came across hours of recordings of Chaplin giving a rare interview to a journalist from Life Magazine. Those recordings, which they found in a garage in San Francisco, proved to be a significant jumping off point for the directors. “”Fortunately, with new digital techniques we were able...

When the nominations for the first Academy Awards were announced in early 1929, Charlie Chaplin‘s name appeared four times for acting, writing, directing and producing “The Circus.” However, by the time of the spring ceremony, the academy had rescinded these nominations, opting instead to give this multi-hyphenate a single honorary award for his cinematic masterpiece. That move precluded the possibility of the popular film star taking home a whopping one-third of the dozen Oscars on offer at the inaugural awards.

This year, the academy could right that wrong by honoring “The Real Charlie Chaplin,” a new documentary feature about this comic genius. Directors Peter Middleton and James Spinney tells Chaplin’s life story using his own recorded words, archival footage and staged reenactments.

Set to debut on Showtime on December 19, the film has been hailed by critics for delivering a “nuanced understanding” and “ingeniously” exploring all of his dimensions and contradictions.

Charlie Chaplin was singled out for a honorary Oscar at the first Academy Awards in 1929 for his “versatility and genius in acting, writing, directing, and producing ‘The Circus.'” Forty-three years later, he was feted a second time by the academy for his “incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century. The following year he won his only competitive Oscar for the score of “Limelight,” which had not been released in Los Angeles during its initial 1952 run.

This year, the new documentary “The Real Charlie Chaplin” could strike Oscar gold as well. The film made the rounds on the fall film festival circuit before its theatrical release on November 19 and its Showtime debut on December 11. And it wouldn’t be the first biography of a show business figure to claim the prize.

“The Real Charlie Chaplin” tells Chaplin’s life story, framed by his own recorded words,...

Directors Peter Middleton and James Spinney said their documentary The Real Charlie Chaplin had two major hurdles. One was that there are already so many biographies about Chaplin, and the other is that Chaplin was so enigmatic, none of the biographies truly capture him.

The filmmakers said during a panel conversation at Contenders Film: Documentary that three archival sources guided them in making the Showtime movie, which premieres on Showtime on December 11.

“The first one is an audio interview that was done with Chaplin in the 1960s,” Middleton said. “It was done by a guy called Richard Meryman who was a journalist for Life magazine. Although this recording wasn’t fantastically recorded, the recording itself is quite roomy, it is no doubt the most in-depth interview done with Chaplin up until this point.”

The second key source for The Real Charlie Chaplin was an interview with Effie Wisdom, a childhood...

Deadline’s Contenders Film: Documentary awards-season event, our virtual showcase of the year’s leading nonfiction, gets underway Sunday beginning at 9 a.m. Pt. This year’s lineup of 25 movies reflects the growing availability of documentary content across a variety of platforms: Showtime and HBO, streamers HBO Max, Netflix, Discovery+, Hulu, Amazon Studios, and Apple TV+, as well as theatrical distributors Neon, Focus Features, Searchlight Pictures and Sony Pictures Classics.

Click here to register and watch the livestream.

If Sunday’s Contenders event came with a soundtrack, it would be a chart topper for the ages. No fewer than four of the films in our panel lineup today throb to a musical beat: Summer of Soul recovers the long-forgotten Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969 that welcomed incredible artists, from a teenage Stevie Wonder to Mahalia Jackson, Sly and the Family Stone, and The Fifth Dimension.

“The Real Charlie Chaplin” is an alluring title for a documentary about the man who was arguably the greatest comic artist in the history of the planet. (I could be wrong in that assessment; I wasn’t around in 1230 or 5600 B.C. But I’ll stand by it.) The title suggests that we’re going to get an unvarnished look at the man behind the curtain — the brilliant and complicated human being that Charlie Chaplin was, a charmer and a scoundrel, a sweetheart and a monster, not to mention a celebrity of scandalous appetites. All of that is covered, quite ingeniously, in “The Real Charlie Chaplin.”

Yet the documentary doesn’t shy away from immersing us in Chaplin’s artistry, a subject that has, of course, been covered once or twice before. We learn a lot about his films and how, exactly, he put them together. And the trick of...

As directed by Peter Middleton and James Spinney, The Real Charlie Chaplin attempts a delicate dance, quite ambitiously trying to understand both Chaplin the genius filmmaker and his iconic character the Tramp. “Enjoy any Charlie Chaplin you have the good luck to encounter, but don’t try to link them up to anything you can grasp,” observed writer Max Eastman. A title card with the above text opens the film, offering a direct warning: as much as one can know Chaplin, one never really will. Given access to an incredible amount of archival footage from the legend’s estate, Middleton and Spinney do their damndest to confront the man from every angle. And though they don’t succeed, perhaps that’s the point?

Pearl Mackie does sharp work as the narrator, guiding the viewer through Chaplin’s downtrodden childhood in London, to his signing with Fred Karno and move to America,...

Doc NYC Artistic Director Thom Powers on Mel Brooks in the Special Event screening of Lisa Hurwitz’s The Automat: “This is a real New Yorker’s film.”

In the final instalment with Doc NYC Artistic Director Thom Powers, we discuss a number of the films that are screening in the 12th edition of Doc NYC. I start with Marc Shaffer’s Exposing Muybridge which has comments from Eadweard Muybridge admirer Gary Oldman; Tom Donahue’s Dean Martin: King Of Cool; Alessandro Rossellini’s The Rossellinis; Andrea Arnold’s Cow; Vincent Liota’s Objects; Eva Orner’s Burning; Abby Epstein’s The Business Of Birth Control; Mads Brügger’s The Mole; Robert B Weide and Don Argott’s Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck In Time; Peter Middleton and James Spinney’s The Real Charlie Chaplin; Lisa Hurwitz’s The Automat As A Special Event, and end with the Closing Night selection,...

The Critics Choice Association awarded “Summer of Soul” the top prize at the sixth annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards, which honors the best achievements in nonfiction released in theaters, on TV, or on major digital platforms. Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s look at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival took home the most awards of any film, with five in total.

This year’s nominees were led by “Ascension” and “Summer of Soul,” two films by first-time documentarians. Each had six nominations. But “Ascension,” Jessica Kingdon’s look at the pursuit of the Chinese dream, failed to score any prizes November 14.

“Summer of Soul,” which won the top documentary prize and an Audience Award following its Sundance premiere earlier this year, won five of the six awards it was nominated for at the critics awards: Best Documentary Feature, Best First Documentary Feature, Best Editing, Best Archival Documentary, and Best Director, a prize Thompson...

"The Real Charlie Chaplin" is a new feature-length doc, directed by Peter Middleton and James Spinney, with narration by Pearl Mackie, premiering December 11, 2021 on Showtime:

"...the new film is a kaleidoscopic portrait of a man who became an immortal legend, whose life was as extraordinary as his art, blending dramatic reconstructions with never-before-heard recordings...

"...intimate home movies, behind-the-scenes material, and newly restored classic films to reveal a side of the worldwide icon that - until now - has been shrouded in mystery. 

"Tracing back a century ago - when Chaplin first stepped onto the screen - the film recounts his meteoric rise from the slums of Victorian London to the heights of Hollywood superstardom..."

Click the images to enlarge...

19 films on international, 14 on documentary list.

Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or winner Titane and Andrea Arnold’s Cow have made the longlists for best international independent film and best documentary respectively at the 2021 British Independent Film Awards (Bifa).

Titane is one of 19 titles on the international list, alongside fellow Cannes 2021 titles A Chiara, Compartment No. 6, Drive My Car, Great Freedom, Paris, 13th District and Red Rocket.

Scroll down for the full list of titles

Six of the 19 international titles hail from North America, with 12 from Europe and one from Japan. Nine of the 19 directors are women.

Alongside Cow on...

The Critics Choice Association has announced nominees for the sixth annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards.

The awards cover documentaries released in theaters, on TV and on major digital platforms. The awards gala takes place Nov. 14 in Brooklyn, N.Y.

“Ascension” and “Summer of Soul, both from first-time documentarians, led the nominations with six each. “Becoming Cousteau” and “The Rescue” both received five nods each.

“This has been and continues to be a fantastic year for documentary storytelling. And the number of first-time feature documentarians in the mix of nominees, alongside proven veterans, shows that nonfiction cinema continues to have a very bright future,” said Christopher Campbell, President of the Critics Choice Association Documentary Branch. “Our world, from its most amazing wonders to its greatest challenges, is being reflected back on the screen so immediately and creatively by today’s filmmakers, and it’s a tremendous honor for us to recognize all of their achievements.

The Critics Choice Association (Cca) has announced the nominees for the sixth annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards (Ccda). This year’s winners will be revealed at a gala on Sunday, November 14, 2021, in Brooklyn, NY. The awards honor the best achievements in nonfiction released in theaters, on TV, or on major digital platforms.

Both films by first-time documentarians, “Ascension” and “Summer of Soul” lead this year’s nominations with six each. “Ascension,” a look at the Chinese dream across social classes, is also up for Documentary Feature, Director (Jessica Kingdon), First Feature, Cinematography, Editing, and Score. Meanwhile, “Summer of Soul” is up for Documentary Feature, Best Director (Ahmir “Questlove’ Thompson), First Documentary, Editing, Archival Documentary, and Music Documentary.

“Becoming Cousteau” and “The Rescue” also picked up five nominations each.

Last year, “Dick Johnson Is Dead” took home the Cca’s top award for Best Documentary as well as the Best Director award for Kirsten Johnson.

Switzerland became Charlie Chaplin’s home after he was hounded out of the U.S. in 1952, so it’s perhaps fitting that the Zurich Film Festival hosted the European premiere of feature documentary “The Real Charlie Chaplin.”

Playing in the festival’s documentary competition section, “The Real Charlie Chaplin” is an innovative montage of film clips, behind-the-scenes footage, newly-unearthed audio recordings, dramatic reconstructions and personal archive about cinema’s first and arguably greatest icon – tracing his meteoric rise from the slums of Victorian London to Hollywood stardom and eventual banishment.

The darker side of Chaplin’s life is explored too, from the treatment of his ex-wives (his second wife Lita Grey was just 15 when their relationship began) to his eccentric working methods.

The film is directed by Peter Middleton and James Spinney, whose acclaimed 2016 debut feature doc “Notes on Blindness” won the British Independent Film Award for Best Documentary Film.

The Hamptons Intl. Film Festival will open with the world premiere of Matthew Heineman’s “The First Wave” on Oct. 7 and buzzy titles including Pablo Larrain’s “Spencer” as the Saturday centerpiece film and Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” in the additional spotlight selection. The in-person festival ends Oct. 13 with Wes Anderson’s “French Dispatch.” The festival takes place in the Hamptons on the Eastern End of Long Island, N.Y. from Oct. 7-13. Masks and proof of vaccination are required in theaters.

Spotlight Titles

Newly announced Spotlight titles include the East Coast premiere of Joe Wright’s “Cyrano,” Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial feature debut of “The Lost Daughter,” Academy Award-winning director Pedro Almodóvar’s “Parallel Mothers,” Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut “Passing” and Campion’s “The Power of the Dog.”

Signature Programs

As part of the Signature Programs, the Conflict and Resolution section will include Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s “Flee,...

“Icon” is the most overused word in film journalism, but there’s no other word to use when describing Charlie Chaplin. So famous that he all but created the idea of the movie star, he was the first person ever to conquer the entire world with simply a mass-produced image of himself — as his creation, the Little Tramp. See that bowler hat, those charcoal-lined eyes, that too-tight coat, baggy points, wobbly cane, and toothbrush mustache, and you know you’re seeing Charlie Chaplin. You may have never seen a Mickey Mouse cartoon all the way through, but you know Mickey Mouse. You may have never seen a Chaplin film either, and yet you’ll know Charlie Chaplin when you see him. There are many contrasting artistic renderings of Jesus. There is only one singular image of the Little Tramp.

From the title of their new documentary, you may think Peter Middleton...

The Showtime documentary The Real Charlie Chaplin isn’t the only film to focus on the legendary comedian, and it isn’t the best, but it’s probably the busiest.

It’s one thing to overcompensate in terms of craft when you lack the resources to tell your story any other way. With The Real Charlie Chaplin, though, directors Peter Middleton and James Spinney are overcompensating despite an impressive wealth of footage and information on The Tramp and the actor-writer-director-editor-composer behind the movie character. The filmmaking choices all too frequently muddle any potential insight, yet the documentary contains so much good stuff that ...

The Showtime documentary The Real Charlie Chaplin isn’t the only film to focus on the legendary comedian, and it isn’t the best, but it’s probably the busiest.

It’s one thing to overcompensate in terms of craft when you lack the resources to tell your story any other way. With The Real Charlie Chaplin, though, directors Peter Middleton and James Spinney are overcompensating despite an impressive wealth of footage and information on The Tramp and the actor-writer-director-editor-composer behind the movie character. The filmmaking choices all too frequently muddle any potential insight, yet the documentary contains so much good stuff that ...

Previously confirmed titles include ‘The Electrical Life of Louis Wain’.

Reinaldo Marcus Green’s King Richard and Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast are among the world premieres on the programme for the 48th Telluride Film Festival (September 2-6).

The festival has confirmed a line-up of 80 films across features, shorts and retrospectives. Francis Ford Coppola, who said this week he is willing to invest up to $100m of his own money to get passion project Megalopolis made, will be among filmmakers attending in person. Coppola has a new cut of The Outsiders and The Rain People playing in Special Screenings.

Barry Jenkins...

As usual, Telluride Film Festival has unveiled their 2021 lineup just moments before the event gets underway. Taking place from Thursday, September 2 through Monday, September 6, 2021, the lineup features Mike Mills’ C’mon C’mon, Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, Pablo Larraín’s Spencer, Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God, Reinaldo Marcus Green’s King Richard, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter, as well as Cannes highlights Bergman Island and Red Rocket, and more.

See the lineup below.

The Automat (d. Lisa Hurwitz, U.S., 2021) In person: Lisa Hurwitz

Becoming Cousteau (d. Liz Garbus, U.S., 2021) In person: Liz Garbus

Belfast (d. Kenneth Branagh, U.K., 2021) In person: Kenneth Branagh, Jamie Dornan

Bergman Island (d. Mia Hansen-Løve, France/Germany/Sweden, 2021) In person: Mia Hansen-Løve

Bitterbrush (d. Emelie Mahdavian, U.S., 2021) In person: Emelie Mahdavian, Colie Moline

C’Mon C’Mon (d. Mike Mills, U.S., 2021) In person: Mike Mills,...

A changing of the guard is underway at the production company formerly led by Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.

The London-based outfit, historically known as Insight Twi (The World Investigates), is rebranding as Insight Films, with producers Clive Patterson and Hugh Davies taking ownership as co-directors of the business, which specializes in hard-hitting documentary fare.

Insight Films’ recent credits include the feature documentary “Sing, Freetown,” in which investigative journalist Sorious Samura travels to Sierra Leone to create a theater production about the nation’s history with playwright Charlie Haffner; and three-part BBC One series “Football’s Darkest Secret,” an in-depth investigation into historical child abuse in English football.

New leadership has been expected for some time, given Ossoff’s election triumph in January. The Atlanta native, who waded into the political ring shortly after Donald Trump was elected president in late 2016, won one of two Georgia Senate seats, alongside Rev.

Altitude Film Sales has taken worldwide sales rights, excluding Australia/New Zealand, for “Wolf Creek 3,” the latest instalment of the Wolf Creek franchise, and will introduce the project to buyers this week at the Virtual Cannes Market.

Altitude will also distribute the film in the U.K.

In the film, an American family takes a dream trip to the Australian outback and soon draws the attention of notorious serial killer Mick Taylor. A hellish nightmare ensues as the couple’s two children escape only to be hunted by Australia’s most infamous killer.

John Jarratt will reprise his role of Mick Taylor. Rachele Wiggins will direct from a screenplay by Duncan Samarasinghe.

Wolf Creek creator Greg McLean will produce through his Emu Creek Pictures banner, alongside Bianca Martino (“The Darkness”) and Kristian Moliere (“The Babadook”).

Production will commence late 2021 in South Australia.

Inspired by real events, “Wolf Creek” (2005) was...

Altitude Film Sales has boarded high concept survival thriller “The Wreck” and will introduce the project to buyers at the upcoming Cannes virtual market.

Based on a screenplay by Nick Saltrese, the film will follow a group of old college friends who reunite on a Caribbean scuba diving trip exploring the wreckage of a WWII battleship and find themselves trapped inside the underwater labyrinth of rusted metal surrounded by great white sharks.

The film will be directed by Liam O’Donnell, who began his career working with Hydraulx VFX on projects including Fox’s “Alien vs. Predator: Requiem” (2007), Marvel’s “Iron Man 2” (2009) and Relativity/Universal’s “Skyline” (2010), which he produced and co-wrote. In 2017, O’Donnell wrote his directorial debut, “Beyond Skyline,” starring Frank Grillo, Bojana Novakovic and Iko Uwais. Recently, O’Donnell wrote and directed the trilogy capper “Skylines,” starring Lindsey Morgan, Rhona Mitra and Alexander Siddig.

Principal photography will...

This year’s Cannes Film Festival lineup may yet again be thin on British movies but UK public financiers the BFI, Film4 and BBC Film have joined with the British Council to launch the fourth edition of their ‘Great 8’ program, which will showcase emerging Brit filmmakers to international distributors and fest programmers. Scroll down for the full list.

In previous years, the ‘Great 8’ was launched during the physical Cannes festival but this year the event will be streamed on June 17 in advance of the Cannes virtual market at the end of the month. Buyers and festival programmers will have exclusive access to unseen footage from each of the titles, which will be introduced by their filmmakers and made available across five different time zones.

All titles are now in post-production and are available to buyers during the online Cannes Marché, which takes place June 21-25. Movies selected in previous years...

Now in its fourth edition, the showcase is funded and run by the BFI and the British Council, in partnership with BBC Film and Film4.

New films from Harry Wootliff, the directors of Notes On Blindness and Yardie star Aml Ameen are among the titles selected for this year’s Great 8, the annual Cannes buyers’ showcase of UK films from emerging directors.

The selected filmmakers will present unseen footage from their films to international buyers and festival programmers online on June 17. All eight films are in post-production and will be available to buyers at the pre-Cannes screenings virtual market (June...

Sundance winner ‘Minari’ leads acquisitions of festival hits.

Altitude Film Entertainment has acquired UK and Ireland distribution rights to three festival hits and plans to release them during the upcoming awards season.

Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari was acquired from A24. It won the grand jury and audience awards at Sundance, where the drama debuted earlier this year. Altitude hopes to release on April 2, 2021.

Steven Yeun, best known for roles in Bong Joon Ho’s Okja and The Walking Dead, stars in the story of a Korean-American family trying to build themselves a new life in small town Arkansas in the 1980s.

While only a handful of documentary features have been selected for Cannes’ Official Selection, plenty of non-fiction action can be found in Cannes Market’s Doc Corner and environs, where doc professionals converge to get first looks at — or the first word on — titles with potential to connect with audiences on screens, large and small, in the near future.

The Docs-in-Progress series, running May 18-20, a main attraction of Doc Corner, presents four works-in-progress apiece from Argentina, Canada, Chile, Norway, Palestine and South Africa. These sessions are programmed with documentary or film partner organizations from the respective countries. This year the Monaco-based International Emerging Film Talent Assn. is sponsoring a €10,000, jury-selected prize that will be given to one of the projects to support completion.

Last month, at the close of the pitch program of Visions du Reel, the Swiss rendezvous for documentary film, filmmaker Alessandra Celesia’s “The Flats (Once...

If the Cannes Market’s Doc Corner, a hub for feature documentary filmmakers and executives, feels more crowded this year, it may have to do with the strong theatrical performance of features docs such as “Free Solo” and “Amazing Grace,” and the slew of U.S. and international titles acquired or admired at Sundance, SXSW (“For Sama”) and Tribeca (“The Apollo”). The combination of the box office and quality product is stoking a competitive marketplace not just in acquisitions but, increasingly, in pre-production involvement.

“With a clear acceleration this decade, feature docs have imposed themselves as a major, indispensable part of the film industry, generating business and revenues, and enabling a strong ecosystem to structure itself, with specialized festivals playing a major role,” says Pierre-Alexis Chevit, project manager of Doc Corner and its conference-style Doc Day on May 21.

Chevit says one of the major talking points in the sector is “inclusion and diversity,...

On the 130th anniversary of Charlie Chaplin’s birth, the team behind the Showtime feature documentary about the movie icon has released the first image from the project, now titled “Chasing Chaplin.”

Altitude Film Sales is handling international rights and will be at Cannes to show the first footage to buyers. Showtime will premiere the film in the U.S., and Altitude will distribute in the U.K. and Ireland.

“Chasing Chaplin” comes from Peter Middleton and James Spinney, who are three-time BAFTA nominees for “Notes on Blindness.” It charts Chaplin’s life in his own words and those of the people closest to him, reflecting on his rags-to-riches story. Middleton and Spinney set out to make a personal portrayal of the artist and entertainer, who was, for part of the 20th century, the most famous man in the world.

Production is now complete on the film, which is produced by Ben Limberg,...

Sam Lavender, who has worked on films including “The Favourite,” “American Animals” and “Lean on Pete” in a 14-year career at Film4 is joining Motive Pictures, the recently-minted TV production outfit launched by Simon Maxwell.

Endeavor Content backs former Channel 4 international drama chief Maxwell’s shingle. Lavender will be an exec producer at the new outfit, working with Maxwell on drama projects for the U.K., U.S., and international markets.

Lavender’s development credits include “Slumdog Millionaire,” “A Most Wanted Man,” and “Shame.” He is currently completing Justin Kurzel’s “The True History of The Kelly Gang” starring George Mackay and Russell Crowe, Rose Glass’ “Saint Maud,” Nick Rowland’s “Calm With Horses,” and Peter Middleton and James Spinney’s “Chaplin.”

“Sam has earned a reputation as a world-class creative executive with an eye for sublime storytelling from singular screenwriters and directors,” Maxwell said. “As long-form drama and...

Film4 executive Sam Lavender, who oversaw films including The Favourite and The Lobster, has joined Simon Maxwell’s Endeavor-backed drama production company Motive Pictures.

Lavender, who was a Senior Commissioning Editor at the Channel 4 film division, will join Motive Pictures as Executive Producer. He will work closely with The First and Electric Dreams commissioner Maxwell to build a slate of high-end drama projects for the UK, U.S. and international markets.

As well as the Yorgos Lanthimos duo, Lavender worked on Bart Layton’s American Animals, Michael Pearce’s Beast, Andrew Haigh’s Lean on Pete and 45 Years, David Mackenzie’s Starred Up and Yann Demange’s ’71.

He also developed Slumdog Millionaire, Anton Corbijn’s A Most Wanted Man starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Steve McQueen’s Shame starring Michael Fassbender. He is currently completing Justin Kurzel’s The True History of The Kelly Gang starring George Mackay and Russell Crowe,...