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Evoking Gordon Park’s black-and-white photographs of the New Deal Era, cinematographer Brittany Shyne’s powerful debut feature Seeds offers a portrait of a disappearing way of life for Black farmers in the American South. Its casual approach mostly reflects rhythms of life in a vérité style that’s occasionally broken when the camera is acknowledged.

The film spends most of its time with Willie Head Jr. and his great-grandchildren and grandchildren. A third-generation farmer whose great-grandfather purchased the land by digging thousands of stumps, he is forced into advocacy for his farm and way of life. On a phone call with the Farm Service Agency he presents some startling facts: in 1910, 16 million acres were owned by Black families; at present that number has dwindled to 1.5 million. Part of his frustration is the lack of bank loans and support from the Usda for Black farmers. Stuck in a loop, he makes his voice heard,...

A languid, loving portrait of Black farmers in the South, “Seeds” is a mixture of celebration and lament. Family farming has been endangered, but for African American farmers, the land — holding onto it, cultivating it — is even more precarious and precious. Considering recent, breakneck attempts to gut civil rights, director Brittany Shyne’s debut feature — which won the U.S. documentary prize at the Sundance Film Festival — feels elegiac.

A requiem is not the filmmaker’s intention, however. With the patience of a sower, Shyne lets the lives of her subjects unfold gently over two hours. She filmed for nine years, following farm families as they went about their hardscrabble labor, as well as the work of community. Although there are urgent economic and political challenges facing these families, this isn’t muckraking cinema. Instead, the filmmaker hews to the quotidian, the weekly, the annual. Shot in black and white,...

Five documentary filmmaking teams haven been selected to participate in the Catapult Film Fund and True/False Film Fest’s ninth annual Rough Cut Retreat.

The immersive mentorship is designed for documentary feature filmmakers who lack strong feedback networks. This year’s retreat will take place at the Whispertree retreat in Boonville, Calif., over four days beginning on July 21.

The 2024 Rcr selected doc projects and the attending film teams are: “The Inventory” (director ilana coleman and producer Ivonne Villalón), “The Last Nomads” (directors Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić), “Natchez” (director Suzannah Herbert and editor Pablo Proenza), “The Nile Splits” (director Zuff Shoya and sound designer Khaleel Lee), and “Seeds” (director Brittany Shyne and editor Malika Zouhali-Worrall).

“This year, the selected projects represent some of the boldest new voices in nonfiction cinema,” says True/False artistic director Chloé Trayner. “Each of the films has a distinct approach to storytelling, taking risks...

Exclusive: The award-winning documentary Union, about the first successful unionization drive at an Amazon warehouse, has been making the rounds of film festivals – it just held its U.K. premiere at Sheffield DocFest, and on Saturday it plays at DC/Dox in the nation’s capital. In a matter of months, the film will reach its widest audience yet, through a self-distribution plan announced today.

Level Ground Productions has set an October 18 release date in theaters for the film directed by Brett Story and Stephen Maing. “Recognizing the difficulties faced by political documentaries in distribution of late,” a release notes, “but also the enthusiastic and engaged potential audiences that are inspired by the Amazon Labor Union movement, producers Story, Maing, Samantha Curley, Mars Verrone, and Martin Dicicco have worked with distribution expert Michael Tuckman to self distribute the film theatrically.”

Amazon Labor Union President Chris Smalls.

The documentary centers on a...

The Rooftop Films 2024 Filmmaker Fund winners have officially been unveiled, with buzzy titles like Eliza Hittman’s fourth feature “Motherlove” and Debra Granik and Alex Mallis’ collaborative documentary among the top titles.

This year, twenty-three cash and service grants will be provided to independent filmmakers to support the production of their next short or feature film, including two Rooftop Films Water Tower Feature Film cash grants, generously supported by the Laurence W. Levine Foundation. In the past 24 years, Rooftop Films has awarded over $2,300,000 in cash and services to notable films and filmmakers including Alex Ross Perry, Carlos López Estrada, Nikyatu Jusu, and David Lowery.

Among the 2024 grantees are Eliza Hittman for her highly-anticipated fourth feature film, “Motherlove,” and Debra Granik and Alex Mallis for their untitled collaborative documentary investigating the past, present, and future of legalized marijuana in New York state.

Hittman’s acclaimed third feature “Never Rarely Sometimes Always...

Amazon Labor Union (Alu) president Chris Smalls is not the star of the documentary Union. He is just one part of the congregation in Brett Story and Stephen Maing’s co-directed film. An early glimpse of Smalls finds him discreetly flipping burgers and hot dogs at a grill. It took an employee to ask Smalls if he’s the “low-key famous” Smalls for the leader to list his media recognitions. He doesn’t want clout for his union organizing, but rather to be known for making laborers heard, enabling a better society for his children and comrades, and proving to white executives that he can manage a flock in his distinguished streetwear outfits.

The examination of the Alu at Amazon’s Staten Island headquarters, JFK8, is a dream subject of interest for Story and Maing, whose past work has concerned reform. Union traces the intimate, intense vérité approach of being...

The Northwest Film Forum has announced Mirta Desir as the awardee of its fourth annual Lynn Shelton “Of a Certain Age” grant.

Desir, a Haitian American, is producing her first narrative feature film “Angie.” She will receive an unrestricted award of $25,000 to support the making of her film, which she describes as a “love letter to Latin American artists and Haitians’ oral history — a marriage of human drama and the power of Voudou.” For Desir, the grant was “an amazing source of support for women filmmakers.”

“‘Angie’ is a story that I am compelled to tell. It is based on two things: Haiti’s historical interconnectedness with Voudou and my love for my younger sister, who died too young,” Desir said. “Through the lens of magical realism, ‘Angie’ explores the bond between sisters and its power to overcome the worst of circumstances. This grant is appreciated during this development phase...

Sundance Institute on Thursday announced the eight participants selected for the fifth annual Momentum Fellowship, a program at the nonprofit designed to support and provide coaching to mid-career artists with a focus on career development.

Created to support storytellers from historically marginalized communities who have recently achieved a noteworthy accomplishment, such as a regarded feature film or series, Momentum provides fellows with a full-year program of deep, customized support around the goals they have identified for themselves to level up in their craft and career. The fellowship is a program of Women at Sundance with support from Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.

The Momentum Fellowship includes an unrestricted artist grant; professional coaching offered by Renee Freedman & Company, supported by The Harnisch Foundation; connection to Elevate, Sundance’s professional development initiative; and bespoke year-round support from Sundance Institute staff. Additionally, as part of an ongoing partnership with Universal’s Global Talent Development & Inclusion team,...

Year-round support, coaching and 6,250 cash grant.

Sundance Institute has announced the incoming group of eight Women at Sundance | Adobe Fellows working in fiction, documentary, and episodic.

The Fellows will receive year-round mentorship from Sundance Institute and Adobe executives and benefit from two skill-building workshops, referrals to career development opportunities, coaching, a 6,250 cash grant, introductions to industry contacts and advisors, a one-year subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud, and a one-year membership to Sundance Collab.

The Fellows, each of whom has participated in a Sundance Institute Lab or programme relevant to their career path, are: Elizabeth Ai, a filmmaker, show creator, and fellow of Berlinale Talents,...

The Sundance Institute has announced details about the incoming group of Women at Sundance | Adobe Fellows. The eight recipients of the fellowship work across disciplines and stood out for their boundary-pushing work in fiction, documentary, and episodic.

All eight fellows will receive bespoke support throughout the year, including mentorship from the Sundance Institute and Adobe executives, two skill-building workshops, referrals to career development opportunities, coaching, a 6,250 cash grant, introductions to industry contacts and advisors, a one-year subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud, and a one-year membership to Sundance Collab. Each of the fellows has already participated in a Sundance Institute Lab or program relevant to their career path.

Created in 2020, the fellowship was formed by the Institute and Adobe around a shared commitment to champion underrepresented voices. Filmmakers are nominated from across Sundance Artist Programs including the Documentary Film Program, the Episodic Program, the Feature Film Program, the Indigenous Program, and Women at Sundance.

The Sundance Institute has selected Minhal Baig, Marion Hill, Ciara Lacy, Billy Luther, Chanelle Aponte Pearson, Mariem Pérez Riera, Jamila Wignot and Iman Zawahry for its fourth Momentum Fellowship, supporting professional development for mid-career artists from historically marginalized communities as they explore and develop their creative practice.

The eight fellows selected will participate in a full-year program tailored for each by Sundance Institute staffers, receiving access to unrestricted grant funding, as well as industry mentorship and meetings, a writing intensive, and professional coaching offered by Renee Freedman & Company, with support from The Harnisch Foundation. Additionally, as part of the Sundance Institute’s ongoing partnership with NBCUniversal, the studio will provide an opportunity for select Momentum fellows working on fiction projects to participate in the Universal Directors Initiative. The two-year, at-will initiative, led by Universal’s Global Talent Development & Inclusion team, provides access to NBCUniversal’s creative executives and producers to...

Exclusive: LA-based Crazy Rich Asians and Marshall backer Starlight is to extend its diversity funding program Stars Collective.

After initially setting out to support 30-50 diverse, emerging filmmakers, Starlight says it has now helped a total of 50 directors. CEO Peter Luo is now expanding the program with the aim of investing in another 50 filmmakers.

The program affords directors an opportunity to develop content with the guidance of established filmmakers and supports them with funding and creative resources. Starlight claims the fund’s $50M budget could be scaled up to as much as $100M.

Among those to have been supported to date are filmmakers Sohil Vaidya, Yuxi Li, Stephan Lee, Ramez Silyan, Raed Alsemari, Phyllis Tam, Nadav Kurtz, Che Grayson, Avril Z. Speaks, Malika Zouhali-Worrall and Kevin Wilson Jr.

Said Peter Luo: “A bright spot for us during the pandemic has been the ability to spend time looking at the big picture of the entertainment industry,...

Exclusive: Sundance Institute has named the talented group of filmmakers that have been selected for the third class of Momentum Fellows.

The full-year program is a new collaboration with NBCUniversal that gives customized creative and professional support for mid-career writers and directors from underrepresented communities who are poised to take the next step in their careers in fiction and documentary filmmaking. This year’s fellows include Cristina Costantini, Natalie Erika James, Shalini Kantayya, Loira Limbal, Ekwa Msangi, Edson Oda, Jacqueline Olive and Angel Kristi Williams.

The fellowship includes unrestricted grant funding, industry mentorship, professional coaching offered by Renee Freedman & Company supported by The Harnisch Foundation, writing workshops and industry meetings in Spring 2021, and bespoke year-round support from Sundance Institute staff.

Additionally, the FilmTwo Fellowship has merged into the Momentum Fellowship, and NBCUniversal will provide an opportunity for select Momentum fellows working on fiction projects to participate in the Universal Directors Initiative.

The documentary filmmaker mentorship and funding program If/Then Shorts on Monday announced the finalists for its inaugural North Shorts Program: Six teams of diverse storytellers from the Northeast and Puerto Rico. This marks the first major development for If/Then since it moved under the umbrella of the nonprofit Field of Vision in July; it was previously a part of Tribeca Film Institute, which is in the process of winding down operations.

The fellowship and funding program is a partnership between If/Then, Points North Institute, Lef Foundation, and ScreeningRoom. Many of If/Then’s programs are open to filmmakers residing in or making films about particular regions. The North Shorts program is aiding storytellers from the Northeast and Puerto Rico to explore a range of socially, politically, or culturally relevant topics rooted in those areas.

An external jury selected six filmmaking teams to receive a $5,000 post-production grant and...

Firelight Media, headed by veteran documentarian Stanley Nelson, has set the inaugural list of grant recipients for two programs designed to help develop documentary film projects.

Earlier this year Nelson launched the William Greaves Fund to help mid-career filmmakers get a lift toward producing their second film project. As Nelson told Variety‘s “Strictly Business” podcast in March, he knows how hard it can be to get going on a new project after pouring everything into a first labor of love.

“In our work within the Documentary Lab over the last decade, we have seen too many talented filmmakers of color leave the field because they cannot get proper support to make their next project. The William Greaves Fund is Firelight’s response to this persistent problem,” said Loira Limbal, Firelight’s senior VP of programs. “We’ve also consistently seen filmmakers of color struggle to get the resources they...

The Sundance Institute the finalists for the second edition of its Momentum Fellowship, a full-year program of customized creative and professional support for writers, directors, and producers from underrepresented communities who work in the fields of documentary, narrative features, and episodic content. The Institute also announced the recipients of its Launch Grant Fund, a new opportunity for emerging filmmakers from underrepresented communities launching their first feature film.

The 2020 Momentum Fellows are Andrew Ahn, Linda Yvette Chávez, Christina Choe, Deborah Esquenazi, Rodney Evans, Penny Lane, Avril Z. Speaks, and Malika Zouhali-Worrall. The 2020 Launch Grant Fund Recipients are Marion Hill, Meryam Joobeur, Anais Blondet Medina and Kase Peña.

The program evolved from the Women at Sundance Fellowship, and takes a more intersectional approach, applying to artists identifying as women, non-binary and/or transgender, artists of color, and artists with disabilities.

As part of the Momentum Fellowship, Sundance Institute has once again partnered...

Projects include pop-up museum, Vr doc and Vr sci-fi.

Tribeca Film Institute (Tfi) top brass said on Tuesday they had selected nine creators for the Tfi New Media Fund and the Tribeca All Access Interactive Prototype Fund.

The Tfi New Media Fund provides funds and support to non-fiction, social issue-driven media projects that integrate film with content across media platforms.

The fund is supported by Ford Foundation’s JustFilms Initiative and recipients get $50,000 and peer-to-peer support to develop their projects and build audience engagement.

The recipients are: Vr documentary Blackout, co-created and directed by Alexander Porter, and co-directed by Yasmin Elayat; and pop-up museum Micro, co-directed by Charles Philipp and Amanda Schochet.

The Taa Interactive Prototype Fund aims to connect technology and filmmaking and encourage the development of novel ideas.

The fiction portion of the Taa Interactive Prototype Fund is supported by the Time Warner Foundation, and the non-fiction element by the John D. and Catherine...

Brace yourself. The annual multi-pronged South By Southwest Conferences and Festivals — SXSW, of course — is hitting Austin, Texas later this week for days and days of fresh film offerings (and music and interactive stuff, too, but we can only do so much here). With it comes the promise of a brand new season of festival-going, along with a slew of films to get excited about finally checking out (and, because it’s Austin, lots of tasty barbecue to enjoy).

From SXSW regulars like Bob Byington and Joe Swanberg to rising stars like Nanfu Wang and Laura Terruso to marquee names like Terrence Malick and Edgar Wright — and just about everything in between — this year’s SXSW Film Festival is offering up its most robust slate yet. We’ve picked out a baker’s dozen of worthy new features to add to your SXSW schedule.

Check out 13 new films from this...

The election will be over in six days, but this cycle has been unprecedented in so many ways — most of them bad — that it’s likely to take years of hindsight and any number of books and movies to fully understand. Jeff Deutchman will start that process with “11/8/16,” a documentary he’s producing that will be directed by a huge group of directors that includes David Lowery, Lena Dunham and Yung Chang. The Orchard will both fund and produce the project, which is being executive produced by Dana O’Keefe, Brad Navin, Paul Davidson and Danielle Digiacomo.

Read More: Career Moves: Jeff Deutchman Leaves Alchemy, Bob Pilon Goes to Participant and More

More than 30 filmmakers total will document Election Day, from early morning until the polls close and the results are announced, in a follow-up to Deutchman’s earlier “11/4/08.” “This election has started to feel like it is testing the...

FilmBuff has licensed worldwide rights to distribute Thank You For Playing, the Tribeca Film Festival documentary from David Osit and Malika Zouhali-Worrall that follows indie video game developer Ryan Green as he created That Dragon, Cancer, a game based on his youngest son's battle with terminal cancer. The game was released this month, and FilmBuff plans a platform release of the docu on March 18 followed by VOD. "This is an emotionally complex and artistically…...

Tribeca Film Institute (Tfi), in partnership with Ford Foundation’s JustFilms initiative, has announced the grant recipients of the 2015/2016 Tfi New Media Fund. Grantees were selected by an advisory board comprised of Just Vision’s Julia Bacha, director Malika Zouhali-Worrall (Call Me Kuchu), director-producer Sandi Dubowski (Trembling Before G-d), Google’s Lisa Steiman and Chicken & Egg Pictures’ Jenni Wolfson. The fund provides monetary grants and support to nonfiction, transmedia projects which tackle a social issue. Each of the three selected projects will receive $50,000 in funding as well as expert mentorship for producers to help them develop their projects and build engagement with audiences. You […]...

Tribeca Film Institute (Tfi), in partnership with Ford Foundation’s JustFilms initiative, has announced the grant recipients of the 2015/2016 Tfi New Media Fund. Grantees were selected by an advisory board comprised of Just Vision’s Julia Bacha, director Malika Zouhali-Worrall (Call Me Kuchu), director-producer Sandi Dubowski (Trembling Before G-d), Google’s Lisa Steiman and Chicken & Egg Pictures’ Jenni Wolfson. The fund provides monetary grants and support to nonfiction, transmedia projects which tackle a social issue. Each of the three selected projects will receive $50,000 in funding as well as expert mentorship for producers to help them develop their projects and build engagement with audiences. You […]...

Tribeca Film Institute in association with the JustFilms initiative have awarded interactive projects 6X9, Argus Panoptes and Red Red Roll grants from the 2015/2016 Tfi New Media Fund.

Each $50,000 award will enable the creators to explore socially charged issues through transmedia storytelling.

Subjects cover police brutality, sensory deprivation and sexual assault.

An advisory board comprised of filmmaker Julia Bacha, producer Sandi Dubowski of A Jihad For Love, Lisa Steiman, Jenni Wolfson and filmmaker Malika Zouhali-Worrall of Thank You For Playing selected the grantees.

“The creativity of our Tfi New Media Fund applicants each year is beyond inspiring and this year was no different,” said senior director of interactive programs at Tfi Opeyemi Olukemi. “The three selected projects tackle vital social issues while encapsulating the power of transmedia storytelling.”

“We see the power of moving image storytelling as an important component to disrupt dominant cultural narratives that drive inequality around the world,” said director...

Andrew Renzi‘s directorial debut about a third wheel starring Richard Gere, Dakota Fanning and Theo James, Reed Morano‘s relationship testing drama featuring Olivia Wilde and Luke Wilson, Onur Tukel‘s secret unleashed on the airwaves and Gregory Kohn‘s hallucinatory tale with Eléonore Hendricks topling are part of the American independent offerings at the 14th Tribeca Film Festival. Renzi’s Franny and Morano’s Meadowland will be competing in the dozen selected in the World Narrative Competition while Tukel’s Applesauce and Kohn’s Come Down Molly are among the in the Viewpoints sidebar. Here are the selected titles below sans synopsis.

World Narrative Feature Competition (12)

The Adderall Diaries, directed and written by Pamela Romanowsky. (USA) – World Premiere.

Bridgend, directed by Jeppe Rønde, co-written by Jeppe Rønde, Torben Bech, and Peter Asmussen. (Denmark) – North American Premiere.

Dixieland, directed and written by Hank Bedford. (USA) – World Premiere

Franny, directed and written by Andrew Renzi.

Top brass at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival (Tff) presented by At&T have announced the World Narrative and Documentary Competition and Viewpoints selections.

Organisers also said that At&T’s Film For All Friday will return with free screenings on April 24. The festival is set to run in New York City from April 15-26 and the festival hub is Spring Studios.

Tuesday’s announcement covers 51 films out of a total 97 features at the upcoming 14th edition. As previously announced, Tribeca will open with the documentary Live From New York!

The line-up includes world premieres of Andrew Renzi’s Franny starring Richard Gere, Pamela Romanowsky’s The Adderall Diaries with James Franco, Amber Heard, Ed Harris and Cynthia Nixon and documentaries In My Father’s House by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg and In Transit from Albert Maysles and four co-directors.

Thirty of the festival’s feature film directors are women –the highest percentage in Tribeca history. Nine of...

Projects range from a film about centenarians to documentaries about renowned hunger striker Bobby Sands, Winnie Mandela, Ratko Mladic and Madonna’s backing dancers.Scroll down for full list of projects

Idfa (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam) has unveiled the 50 titles that will be presented at its international co-finance and production market, the Idfa Forum (Nov 24-26).

At the market, filmmakers and producers will present their documentary projects to commissioning editors from international television stations and other financiers with the aim of completing finance for their documentary projects.

A total of 50 projects have been selected for the upcoming Idfa Forum, including new projects by Heddy Honigmann, Janus Metz and Vitaly Mansky.

The Idfa 2014 programme contains 17 documentaries that were presented as projects at previous editions of the Idfa Forum.

Projects selected for this year’s Idfa Forum will be pitched in a variety of settings: the central pitches in the main auditorium of the Compagnietheater, the round table...

On the heels of the 39th edition of the Toronto Int. Film Festival (Sept 4-14), Ifp’s Independent Film Week is where a plethora of fiction, non-fiction and new this year, web-based series from the likes of Desiree Akhavan and Calvin Reeder find future coin. Sectioned off as projects at the very beginning of financing to those that are nearing completion, there happens to be tons of Sundance alumni in the names below. Among those that caught our attention we have Medicine for Melancholy‘s Barry Jenkins’ sophomore feature, produced by Bad Milo!‘s Adele Romanski, Moonlight is about “two Miami boys navigate the temptations of the drug trade and their burgeoning sexuality in this triptych drama about black queer youth”. Concussion‘s Stacie Passon digs into the thriller genre with Strange Things Started Happening. Produced by vet Mary Jane Skalski (Mysterious Skin), this is about “a woman who has...

Jennifer Lopez and Tegan and Sara were honoured at the 25th GLAAD Media Awards on Saturday (April 12).

The first of two ceremonies paying tribute to advocates for the Lgbt community was held last night at The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, with Ross Mathews overseeing the festivities.

Lopez was the top honoree of the night, receiving the Vanguard Award for her support of equal marriage.

She was also commended for bringing important issues impacting the Lgbt community to light in The Fosters, the television drama programme that she produces.

The Fosters - which is about an interracial lesbian couple - was the recipient of the Outstanding Drama Series prize.

Tegan and Sara won in the Outstanding Music Artist category over Elton John, Goldfrapp, Lady Gaga and Vampire Weekend.

The Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series Award went to the Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra.

Another slate of awards will be given...

Jennifer Lopez and Tegan and Sara were honoured at the 25th GLAAD Media Awards on Saturday (April 12).

The first of two ceremonies paying tribute to advocates for the Lgbt community was held last night at The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, with Ross Mathews overseeing the festivities.

Lopez was the top honoree of the night, receiving the Vanguard Award for her support of equal marriage.

She was also commended for bringing important issues impacting the Lgbt community to light in The Fosters, the television drama programme that she produces.

The Fosters - which is about an interracial lesbian couple - was the recipient of the Outstanding Drama Series prize.

Tegan and Sara won in the Outstanding Music Artist category over Elton John, Goldfrapp, Lady Gaga and Vampire Weekend.

The Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series Award went to the Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra.

Another slate of awards will be given...

What:

Fd Zone and Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival presents

Rainbow Warriors

Best of Kashish Documentaries

Screening of

Two Girls Against The Rain

Are We So Different (Amraki Etoi Bhinno)

Project Bolo: Indian Lgbt Movement

Call Me Kuchu

Breaking Free

At Fd Zone.

When:

23rd February, 2014.

2 Pm to 6 Pm.

Entry:

Free and open to all.

Venue:

Rr Theatre

10th floor

Films Division

24, Pedder Road

Mumbai-400026

About the event:

Session 1: Lgbt Lives in Asia

Intro — 15 min

Two Girls Against The Rain

Dir: Sao Sopheak

11 mins | 2012 | Khmer with Est | Cambodia

A captivatingly courageous and touching film about a lesbian couple in Cambodia. Soth Yun and Sem Eang, both now in their late 50s, loved each other since the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime,when more than two million people died. Soth and Sem survived. The deep bond existing between them and their strength has helped them overcome all.

Winner of Best...

In the deeply religious Christian nation of Uganda, homosexuality is a crime punishable by death. But after returning from a stint in South Africa, David Kato wanted to fight to liberate oppressed Ugandians who were forced to remain in the closet due to the nation's anti-homosexual bill. As Uganda's first openly gay man, David Kato fights to defeat this bill while overcoming brutal physical and verbal persecution in Call Me Kuchu, a documentary by Malika Zouhali-Worrall and Katherine Fairfax Wright. Working against a violent culture of anti-homosexuality, David's story is ...

Documentaries have come a long way in the past 20 years, especially in the last decade. Documentary film has developed into a popular and visible form of entertainment, while having a bigger effect on society, usually addressing important issues with the goal of informing the public and pushing for social change. Ten years ago, it was more difficult to name 10 “great” documentaries released in one single year. Oh, how times have changed. There are so many incredible docs released each year – most never released wide – that it is impossible to catch up with each – but we try our best here at Sound On Sight. The following is a list of recent documentaries recommended most by our staff. It was hard to choose between the many great docs released this year, but we decided to narrow it down to a list of 10, based on what received the most votes from our end-year...

Thus far this year, we've seen 2 relatively high-profile documentaries on Lgbtq rights in Uganda - Roger Ross Williams' God Loves Uganda and Call Me Kuchu from filmmakers Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall. I've been alerted to an upcoming new documentary that will tackle similar matters, but this time, in a country northwest of Uganda - Nigeria. It comes from New York-based director Habeeb Lawal, who shot the film in Nigeria, which takes on the country's proposed anti-gay bill and the people it ultimately affects.  Titled Veil of Silence, here's an official synopsis: On the brink of an impending law that could re-write their destinies, young...

It's one of two recent high-profile documentaries on Lgbt rights in Uganda - the other being Call Me Kuchu, directed by Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall, which documents the daily lives of David Kato – the first openly gay Ugandan man - and three fellow “kuchus” (Lgbt Ugandans). I'll also add Wanuri Kahiu's Jambula Tree, a South African-Kenya co-production currently in development, which also puts a spotlight on the treatment of LGBTs in Uganda. Although Kahiu's film is a work of fiction, based on a short story that won the Caine Prize for short stories in 2007. Call Me Kuchu is now on home video, while...

Cinedigm Entertainment Group has released, on DVD and VOD, Call Me Kuchu - the powerful and moving film that documents the daily lives of David Kato – the first openly gay Ugandan man - and three fellow “kuchus” (Lgbt Ugandans), culminating in a brutal and senseless murder that sent shock waves throughout the world. Over the course of two years, filmmakers Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall documented the daily lives of the outspoken and inspiring Kato and his fellow “kuchus” as Uganda was emerging as a frontier in the battle for African Lgbt rights. An alum of Film Independent’s Artist Development Program, Call Me Kuchu earned stellar...

The Ifp Independent Filmmaker Conference’s “Blitz Wisdom” panels are quick, Ted-like talks from filmmakers discussing their projects and/or offering tips and pointers. Here are a few highlights from Malika Zouhali-Worrall’s Blitz Wisdom on the making of the documentary Call Me Kuchu and how they created this successful and highly provocative documentary about the first openly gay man in Uganda: – When researching a topic for your film, find a cause that is topical and personal to you and research, research, research. While the filmmakers had no direct connection to the Lgbt situation in Uganda, they had learned a great deal […]...

The Ifp Independent Filmmaker Conference’s “Blitz Wisdom” panels are quick, Ted-like talks from filmmakers discussing their projects and/or offering tips and pointers. Here are a few highlights from Malika Zouhali-Worrall’s Blitz Wisdom on the making of the documentary Call Me Kuchu and how they created this successful and highly provocative documentary about the first openly gay man in Uganda: – When researching a topic for your film, find a cause that is topical and personal to you and research, research, research. While the filmmakers had no direct connection to the Lgbt situation in Uganda, they had learned a great deal […]...

Wedging The Closet Door Open In Uganda

In the United States, the last few decades have been tarnished with the debate over whether or not homosexual couples should have the same legal rights as traditionally married straight couples, but as atrocious as that contention is, it pales in comparison to the injustices that gay citizens of Uganda must endure. There, approximately 95% of the population believes that homosexuality is a blasphemous choice made by perverts hellbent on summoning the wrath of God to destroy Uganda just as he had Sodom and Gomorrah, and for this, they deserve death. This extremist view has ironically been cultivated by wealthy American Evangelical Christian groups and successfully spread to the point where there is now a proposed piece of legislation called the Anti-Homosexuality Bill that, if passed, would make homosexuality punishable by death. Yet, a few brave souls still fight the good fight against obtuse...

There hasn't been a lot of good P.R. for civil rights in Uganda in the last few years, what with its parliament's proposed legislation that would make homosexual activity punishable by death. Call Me Kuchu, a powerful documentary by first-time filmmakers Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall, doesn't cast the country's anti-gay movement in a favorable light at all -- which is to say, it depicts the anti-gay movement fairly and accurately -- but it finds inspiration in the brave efforts of Uganda's small community of gay activists. Taking its title from a Ugandan slang term for gays and lesbians, "Call Me Kuchu" focuses primarily on David Kato, the first openly gay man in Uganda (!) who serves as the Lgbt community's unofficial leader. To...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Shot in Uganda in a time when it is illegal to identify as homosexual, Call Me Kuchu begins as a casual, on-the-ground account of life for an Lgbt person living in a country in which human rights and civic freedoms have been pushed aside by religious extremists and hate groups. It ends as a eulogy for ts own central subject.

In January 2011, Ugandan Lgbt activist David Kato Kisule was found murdered in his house. Often referred to as the first openly gay man in Uganda, he was the figurehead of the small and struggling gay rights movement in his country. At the time Ugandan politicians – led by MP David Bahati – were pushing forward an anti-homosexuality bill that became known in the global press as Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill. Repercussions from the murder sounded globally, with rallies and memorials being held around the world in his honor, and leading voices like Human Rights Watch,...

A few weeks back, we offered up this list of 10 Lgbt films you should see on the film festival circuit this summer, but there's also a few heading to traditional release. Among them is Malika Zouhali-Worrall and Katherine Fairfax Wright's Ugandan Lgbt rights doc "Call Me Kuchu," which is being released this Friday in New York (and then next weekend in La) after nearly a year and half of winning considerable accolades on the festival circuit.  Upon its world premiere at the Berlinale last year, the film won the Teddy Award for best Lgbt documentary. It followed that win with prizes for best international feature at Hot Docs, the audience award at Frameline, and the Amnesty International human rights award at Durban. Specifically focused around Lgbt people and activists in Uganda, "Call Me Kuchu" (gay and transgendered citizens are called "kuchus") centers around the life and tragic death of David Kato,...

Equally gut-wrenching and inspiring, the documentary Call Me Kuchu beams right from Uganda, the global hypocenter in the ongoing and intensifying struggle over Lgbt rights. Directed by Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall, the film—from its opening moments—jumps right into the fray of Uganda's media and government-sanctioned homophobia, outlining its outsider roots (leftover colonial laws from Britain; rightwing American evangelicals stoking the flames of bigotry) while making clear the Ugandan complicity in and responsibility for the anti-gay bigotry that has swept the country.

What makes Kuchu work as taut agitprop, and ultimately to devastating emotional effect, is that Wright and Zouhali-Worrall allow the enormity of the film's pol...

Last fall, Cinedigm Entertainment Group acquired all U.S. distribution rights to Call Me Kuchu - the powerful and moving film that documents the daily lives of David Kato – the first openly gay Ugandan man - and three fellow “kuchus” (Lgbt Ugandans), culminating in a brutal and senseless murder that sent shock waves throughout the world. Over the course of two years, filmmakers Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall documented the daily lives of the outspoken and inspiring Kato and his fellow “kuchus” as Uganda was emerging as a frontier in the battle for African Lgbt rights. Cinedigm has set a theatrical release date for the acclaimed film for this...

Specifically focused around Lgbt people and Lgbt activists in Uganda, the documentary "Call Me Kuchu" (Uganda's gay and transgendered activists refer to themselves as "kuchus"), directed by Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall, centers around the life and tragic death of David Kato, a veteran activist who spent years fighting against his country’s homophobic society. Read More: First-Time Directing Duo Talk Ugandan Lgbt Rights Doc 'Call Me Kuchu' Among other terrifying things, an anti-homosexuality bill proposing death for HIV-positive gay men is introduced and Kato is one of the few brave enough to try and stop it. Unfortunately, after courageously changing the face of Lgbt rights in the country, Kato was brutally murdered. After wowing on the festival circuit, the documentary opens in select theaters this Friday. Below, watch two clips from the film, exclusive to Indiewire.

Like the Nazi propaganda machine, the Christian fundamentalists of Uganda (and some American Evangelicals) worked hand in hand with the popular Ugandan newspaper (that functions more like a gossip tabloid), Rolling Stone, to effectively communicate to the Ugandan population that the Lgbti community was a bunch of disease-carrying rapists who were actively recruiting others to undermine Christianity and destroy the country's moral fibre. The Ugandan Lgbti community -- otherwise known as kuchus -- was left three options: go back into the closet, emigrate to a more queer-friendly environment, or stand up for their personal freedoms. Directors Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall had the premonition to document as a group of Ugandan Lgbti activists took a stand against their government. Wright and Zouhali-Worrall conducted a series of interviews with both sides of the issue; without injecting their own opinions and judgments, they admirably allowed everyone to freely speak their mind.

Call Me Kuchu: The universality of anti-gay hate in Uganda (photo: Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato in Call Me Kuchu) It’s impossible to watch Call Me Kuchu, Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall’s affecting and shocking documentary about the fight for gay rights in Uganda, and not rail against the religion-inspired hatred that many Ugandans hold towards homosexuals. It’s even tempting to look down upon the ignorant and hateful East Africans who embrace such views and consider them the product of "Third World thinking." And yet many Americans hold comparable opinions. Search the various comment boards that deal in such political and social matters and you’ll easily find educated, technology-savvy, big city Americans who use the same justification to condemn, sometimes violently, "the gay lifestyle." So, while Call Me Kuchu bears witness to those fighting against well-organized prejudice in Uganda, it also reminds us...

Last fall, Cinedigm Entertainment Group acquired all U.S. distribution rights to Call Me Kuchu - the powerful and moving film that documents the daily lives of David Kato – the first openly gay Ugandan man - and three fellow “kuchus” (Lgbt Ugandans), culminating in a brutal and senseless murder that sent shock waves throughout the world. Over the course of two years, filmmakers Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall documented the daily lives of the outspoken and inspiring Kato and his fellow “kuchus” as Uganda was emerging as a frontier in the battle for African Lgbt rights. Cinedigm has set a theatrical release date for the acclaimed film for June 14,...

Title: Call Me Kuchu Cinedigm Director: Katherine Fairfax Wright, Malika Zouhali-Worrall Screenwriter: Katherine Fairfax Wright, Malika Zouhali-Worrall Cast: David Kato, Naome Ruzindana, Stosh Mugisha Screened at: Review, NYC, 5/9/13 Opens: June 14, 2013 in NY and June 21, 2013 in L.A. Who needs Idi Amin when fascism is alive and well in Uganda? Ok, not fascism on a government level, yet. But we here in the West, where fifteen countries and several American states have already approved gay marriage, may not realize that in other parts, particularly in Third World nations, not only is gay marriage prohibited. Homosexuality itself is illegal! In Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall’s incisive documentary, [ Read More ]

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Last fall, Cinedigm Entertainment Group acquired all U.S. distribution rights to Call Me Kuchu - the powerful and moving film that documents the daily lives of David Kato – the first openly gay Ugandan man - and three fellow “kuchus” (Lgbt Ugandans), culminating in a brutal and senseless murder that sent shock waves throughout the world. Over the course of two years, filmmakers Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall documented the daily lives of the outspoken and inspiring Kato and his fellow “kuchus” as Uganda was emerging as a frontier in the battle for African Lgbt rights. Cinedigm has set a theatrical release date for the acclaimed film for June 7,...

The Tribeca Institute’s artist program Tribeca All Access, now 10 years old, today announced 11 new projects that it is supporting. Two of these are by 2012 “25 New Faces” alums: Long Year Begin, a doc project co-helmed by Malika Zouhali-Worrall (Call Me Kuchu), and Terence Nance’s political thriller The Lobbyists, a very intriguing follow-up to An Oversimplification of Her Beauty. Other promising projects already on my radar that Taa is funding include Roots & Webs, a mushroom-themed doc produced by Beasts of the Southern Wild‘s Josh Penn; Obvious Child, Gillian Robespierre’s edgy rom com; and Pilgrim Song director Martha Stevens’ third feature, Papaw Easy. Commenting on Tribeca All...