News

Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel (VdR) has unveiled the 28 projects to be presented across four categories at its 2025 VdR-Industry section, taking place April 6-9.

Among 14 projects in development selected for VdR–Pitching are Sarvnik Kaur’s Disruption, which uses a board game to explore climate change, corporate greed, and identity. Kaur’s previous film Against The Tide won the special jury prize at Sundance in 2023

Also being showcased is France’s Mariana Otero, whose History Of A Secret played at VdR in 2023. Her new project From One Body to Another sees her collaborate with 10 visually impaired adults with mental health issues.

Array Releasing, the distribution arm of Ava DuVernay’s Peabody-winning narrative change collective, said Friday that it has acquired Débora Souza Silva’s documentary For Our Children. The deal is for U.S., Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand rights. It will make premiere on Netflix on May 10.

For Our Children unites the voices of resilience and solidarity in a poignant cinematic journey, chronicling the convergence of two mothers, Reverend Wanda Johnson and Angela Williams, whose lives have been forever altered by the scourge of police brutality against young Black men. The doc features appearances by other Black mothers who have lost their children to state-sanctioned violence, as well as civil rights leaders and activists Benjamin Crump and Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza.

To date the film has screened at various film festivals including the San Francisco International Film Festival, Toronto Black Film Festival, Freep Film Festival, Athena Film Festival,...

Array Releasing has acquired “For Our Children” and has set a release date for May 10 on Netflix.

Written, directed and produced by Débora Souza Silva, the documentary chronicles the powerful convergence of two mothers, Reverend Wanda Johnson and Angela Williams, whose lives were forever altered by police brutality against young Black men.

“Array is proud to work with filmmaker Débora Souza Silva to tell the important stories of Reverend Johnson and Angela Williams and their ability to find hope and light in a world too often defined by division and despair,” said Array’s President Tilane Jones in a statement. “Through intimate storytelling and raw authenticity, ‘For Our Children’ illuminates the unbreakable bonds of love and resilience that bind us all.”

Silva’s work has been featured on PBS, BBC and Fusion. In 2021, she received the Creative Capital Award. She was also honored by the National Association of Black Journalists,...

SXSW organizers on Monday announced the Audience Award winners for the festival’s recently wrapped 31st edition.

The list includes Tracie Laymon’s dramedy Bob Trevino Likes It, which prevailed in Narrative Feature Competition, and the action thriller Monkey Man marking Dev Patel’s directorial debut, which dominated the Headliner section. Other notable winners included A24’s Sing Sing starring Colman Domingo, which won out in Festival Favorite, and Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ dark veteran dramedy My Dead Friend Zoe, starring Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales and Ed Harris, which won in Narrative Spotlight.

“We are beyond grateful to all our filmmakers, audiences, and volunteers for creating one of the most exciting SXSW Film & TV Festivals ever,” said Claudette Godfrey, VP Film & TV. “We knew our audiences would flip for our program filled with explosive studio films, surprising indie dramas and comedies, riveting TV, powerful documentaries, gripping gems from around the world, and groundbreaking Xr,...

The Sundance Institute has announced this year’s grantees for the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund, with a total of 1,396,500 in unrestricted grant support bestowed upon 35 projects.

“As we celebrate the Dfp’s 20th anniversary, it’s an exceptional achievement that Sundance has been able to provide documentary filmmakers robust and sustained financial support, from development through post-production, for two decades,” said Carrie Lozano, director of the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program. “Thanks to our incredible funders, supporters, staff, and external reviewers, the Documentary Fund has been able to realize its top priorities during a tumultuous time: supporting underrepresented stories, directors and producers; providing much needed resources to urgent international projects; and elevating human rights and social, civic and environmental justice, all while foregrounding bold and artistic approaches. I am constantly amazed by the breadth and depth of our grantees.”

This year’s grant recipients have roots in 31 countries, with...

Previously supported projects have included American Factory, Collective, Fire Of Love, The Mole Agent.

Projects from Armenia, Chile, Uganda and Palestine are among grantees of the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund, which in the 20th anniversary year of the Documentary Film Program (Dfp) has made 1.4m available in unrestricted grant support to 35 projects.

Of the recipients, five are in development, 15 in production, 10 in post, and the filmmakers behind five are actively pursuing support for audience engagement and social impact campaigns.

Some 57 of the current cycle’s submissions hail from outside the US. Among the 14 US films receiving support, all are directed...

Eleven documentary projects from six countries have been selected for the Intl. Documentary Assn.’s annual Enterprise Documentary Fund Production Grant.

Selected from 248 applicants, the 15 directors behind the 11 docus will receive a total of 600,000 in production grants.

Established in 2017, the IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund supports in-depth explorations of original, contemporary stories that integrate journalistic practice into the filmmaking process. The fund is financially supported by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, with additional support from the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation. In its six-year history, the fund has given over 4.5 million in grant money to nonfiction filmmakers.

The 11 selected projects are currently in production in six countries: Armenia, Ethiopia, India, Japan, Russia and the United States. Of the 15 directors behind the docs, 70 are filmmakers of color, 70 are women or gender-non-conforming filmmakers, and 40 identify as members of the LGBTQ community.

The docus explore various topics, including the climate crisis, Japan’s antiquated rape laws and institutions,...

Exclusive: The Points North Institute today announced recipients of three of its prestigious fellowship programs, ahead of next month’s Camden International Film Festival in Maine.

The trio of programs – the Points North Fellowship, North Star Fellowship, and Lef/Ciff Fellowship – will support a total of 16 documentary projects now in development in the U.S. and a dozen other countries [see full list of projects below].

“Eighty percent of this year’s Points North-supported projects are directed or co-directed by filmmakers from backgrounds historically marginalized or excluded from the film industry,” the institute noted in a release, “including those who identify as Bipoc, LGBTQ+, or as a person with a disability.”

The fellowship programs, consisting of private workshops, screenings, industry meetings and other events, will take place both in-person during the Camden International Film Festival and online. The festival, itself a program of the Points North Institute, unfolds along a bucolic stretch of the Maine coastline.

35 international documentary projects include 11 first-time feature directors.

New works from Mark Cousins and Cow producer Kat Mansoor are among 35 documentary projects selected for Sheffield DocFest’s MeetMarket pitching forum, which returns as an in-person event for 2022 from June 27-28.

The event will run in-person for the first time since 2019; and will continue online in the days following the festival. The selected titles are a mixture of theatrical features, and projects being made for television.

Scroll down for the full list of projects

Cousins is presenting UK title A Sudden Glimpse To Deeper Things, produced by Adam Dawtrey and Mary Bell.

35 international documentary projects include 11 first-time feature directors.

New works from Mark Cousins and Cow producer Kat Mansoor are among 35 documentary projects selected for Sheffield DocFest’s MeetMarket pitching forum, which returns as an in-person event for 2022 from June 27-28.

The event will run in-person for the first time since 2019; and will continue online in the days following the festival. The selected titles are a mixture of theatrical features, and projects being made for television.

Scroll down for the full list of projects

Northern Irish filmmaker Cousins is presenting UK title A Sudden Glimpse To Deeper Things, produced by Adam Dawtrey and Mary Bell.

Exclusive: The National Hispanic Media Coalition revealed its lineup for the upcoming 7th Annual Offical Latino Film and Arts Festival to be presented virtually from Nov. 26 to 28.

Titles include Welcome to Our World, directed by Alfredo Ramos, with performances by Danny Trejo, Emilio Rivera, and Valente Rodriguez. The feature tells the story of Freddie, a young and irresponsible supermarket box boy who is forced to rise to the occasion when his father (Trejo) has a work-related accident. Freddie must now assume the role of “the man of the house and keep the family from going homeless with hilarious results.

“The Nhmc is proud to work with Official Latino and HBO to ensure that our stories are being told and that we are creating space for Latino artists to thrive,” said Brenda Castillo, President and CEO of the Nhmc. “ The more we can uplift and promote Latinx talent in the entertainment industry,...

Institute allocates $590,000 in unrestricted grant support for projects from 20 countries and territories across five continents.

Projects from Rithy Panh and Laura Poitras are among a diverse roster of 18 Sundance Institute Documentary Fund grantees announced on Tuesday (June 8).

There is a strong focus on Bipoc and women directors as the Institute announced a total of $590,000 in unrestricted grant support for projects from 20 countries and territories across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America.

All of the US projects are directed by at least one Bipoc filmmaker. Some 72% of granted projects are directed by women, and the same proportion are working...

The 2021 Tribeca Festival, presented by AT&T, has today unveiled its short film lineup, which includes 46 films from 20 countries worldwide, 70 percent of which are world premieres. The short films will be presented in eight programs: two documentaries, two narratives, two hybrids (including both narrative and documentary), one animation, and one New York shorts program. Additionally, the festival will feature a special curated out-of-competition Juneteenth program and a live performance by Blondie, following the screening of the short film “Blondie: Vivir En La Habana.”

As the festival announced late last month, this year’s event will “transform prominent locations into an expansive 12-day multi-screen outdoor celebration” held June 9 to 20, and is believed to be first major North American film festival to mount such an in-person event. Director Jon M. Chu’s long-awaited “In the Heights,” adapted from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, will open the 20th anniversary edition of Tribeca...

The 2021 Tribeca Festival, which announced its full lineup earlier this week, has unveiled a selection of 46 short films from 20 countries in narrative, documentary and animation.

Blondie will perform live following the North American Premiere of Blondie: Vivir En La Habana about the rock band’s first time performance in Havana, Cuba in 2019.

The Festival will run June 9-20 with live in-person events at outdoor venues across New York City’s five boroughs. Many of the films will be available for U.S. audiences to view online the day after they premiere in person through the Tribeca at Home virtual hub.

The 2020 Shorts Programs will also be screened at the 2021 Festival with 64 films in ten programs. Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind will perform after a screening of Rhythm of Life.

“As we curated these in-person programs, we thought a great deal about the challenges of the past year and what...

Leading documentary festival Hot Docs has selected the 20 projects that will be presented during the online edition of its project market, Hot Docs Forum, which runs May 4-5.

Among the projects’ 25 filmmakers, 10 helmers are Black, Indigenous or People of Color, and 20 directors are women. The projects represent 16 countries.

Lisa Valencia-Svensson, acting industry programs director for Hot Docs, said this year’s edition is “a bold and powerful mix of cinematic artistry and journalism.”

She added: “The slate of projects gives us hope about the future of non-fiction filmmaking in its many forms, and excites us about films that are just over the horizon and will soon reach cinema audiences around the world.”

Dorota Lech, Hot Docs Forum producer, said the projects reflect Hot Docs’ “unwavering commitment to uplifting emerging filmmakers who, due to industry-wide financial constraints, combined with a lack of access to festivals as meeting places to approach bubbles...

The International Documentary Association (IDA) has announced grants for seven films through its Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund, totalling $115,000.

Seven documentary projects will receive grants of up to $20,000 each through the fund, which received more than 180 applications in 2020. Created in 2011 with support from The New York Community Trust, the initiative honors the legacy of legendary American documentary filmmaker Pare Lorentz.

Each year, the fund focuses on select issue areas that were hallmarks of Lorentz’s films.

Since 2017, IDA has provided more than $4.5 million in grants through its documentary funds.

Documentaries receiving Pare Lorentz funding this year, with descriptions provided by the IDA, are:

All We’ve Lost

(Preston Randolph, director/producer)

In the small town of Laurel, Montana, a mother refuses to give up fighting for her wrongfully imprisoned son’s release, culminating in a spectacular bipartisan collective effort spanning local and national exoneration and innocence activist movements.

Black Mothers

(Débora Souza Silva,...

Tribeca Film Institute has selected 14 scripted and documentary projects for the 16th annual Tribeca All Access program which amplifies stories from historically underrepresented voices.

The Tribeca All Access program has supported over 560 filmmakers since it was first established in 2004. It is the Institute’s longest-running filmmaker program. Filmmakers supported by the program include Roger Ross Williams (God Loves Uganda, Traveling While Black), RaMell Ross( Hale County This Morning, This Evening), Natalia Almada (Al Otro Lado), Pacho Velez (The Reagan Show), and Tchaiko Omawale (Solace). Some recent supported films include some of the most critically acclaimed festival favorites including Monsters and Men, Midnight Traveler, Pahokee, Building the American Dream, Selah and the Spades, Whose Streets?, Always in Season and The Unafraid.

This year, The Short History of the Long Road, Stray Dolls and A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem will make their debut at the Tribeca Film Festival...

Filmmakers to attend Tfi Network during Tribeca Film Festival.

Tribeca Film Institute (Tfi) announced on Thursday (21) the selection of 14 scripted and documentary projects for the 16th annual Tribeca All Access (Taa) programme designed to champion under-represented voices.

Taa provides financial support in the form of grants and a range of mentorship for storytellers who “create groundbreaking projects that bring marginalized voices with vital stories to tell, to a mainstream audience.”

The next step for the selected filmmakers will be the Tfi Network, the filmmaker / industry market that takes place during the Tribeca Film Festival and provides an opportunity to meet experts including distributors,...

The Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp), Filmmaker‘s parent organization, announced today the ten documentaries selected for the 2016 Ifp Filmmaker Labs, Ifp’s annual yearlong fellowship for first-time feature directors. The creative teams of the selected films are currently attending the first week’s sessions – The Time Warner Foundation Completion Labs – taking place May 11-15 in New York City. As of 2015, the 196 projects that have gone through the program include such critically acclaimed films as the recent documentaries (T)error by Lyric Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe (Independent Lens), Nanfu Wang’s Hooligan Sparrow (Pov), Sharon Shattuck’s From This Day Forward (Pov), Leah […]...

The 2015 award-winning feature documentary "(T)Error" from directors Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe, is available to watch online, courtesy of PBS. The first film to document on camera a covert counterterrorism sting as it unfolds, via the perspective of a Black revolutionary turned FBI informant, "(T)Error )" made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Prize for Break Out First Feature. It was also awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. A gripping story of a 62-year-old Black Panther turned counter-terrorism informant for the Federal Bureau of...

The 2015 Ida Documentary Awards took place at the Paramount Theater hosted by comedian Tig Notaro. Notaro was quick to point out this was the first year of the awards being “broadcasted…” on Periscope, and for that reason alone maybe the last.

The Best Feature Award was given to Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The Look of Silence,” which made the Oscar shortlist earlier in the week and happens to be the film companion for “The Act of Killing.” “The Look of Silence” has been banned in Indonesia and screenings of the film are only available through NGOs, schools/universities, religious organizations and other limited outlets.

Read More: 12 Things Joshua Oppenheimer Wants You to Know About 'The Look of Silence

The winner for Best Short Award went to the animated short “Last Day of Freedom” directed by Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman. The directors thanked the Ida for giving the award to an animated film.

Read More: Oscar Shortlisted Doc Short 'Last Day of Freedom' is a Gentle Animated Look at Complex Issues

Ida’s Career Achievement Award was presented to Gordon Quinn, Founder and Artistic Director of Kartemquin Films. The award was presented by Chaz Ebert, whose husband Roger Ebert was the subject of Quinn’s film “Life Itself” and by Haskell Wexler, influential cinematographer, producer, and director.

Academy Award® winning director Kathryn Bigelow presented the Courage Under Fire Award to Director Matthew Heineman for his immersive and brave work in the pursuit of truth in “Cartel Land.” Bigelow executive produced Heineman’s “Cartel Land.”

Read More: Matthew Heineman on Going Beyond the Headlines and Body Count in 'Cartel Land'

Ted Sarandos, the Chief Content Officer at Netflix, was awarded with The Pioneer Award, in recognition to the company’s game-changing and support to the production of non-fiction programming. The Pioneer Award is presented by the Ida to acknowledge extraordinary contributions to advancing the nonfiction form and providing exceptional vision and leadership to the documentary community.

Read More: 'Best of Enemies' Co-Director Morgan Neville on Intellectual Divas and the Theatricality of Politics

Actor, director and political activist Danny Glover presented Tony Tabatznik and the Bertha Foundation ( www.berthafoundation.org) with the Ida’s Amicus Award in recognition of their work supporting the essential needs of the non-fiction media landscape.

Full List of 2015 Ida Documentary Awards Honorees & Winners:

Career Achievement Award

Gordon Quinn

Pioneer Award

Ted Sarandos

Amicus Award

Tony Tabatznik and the Bertha Foundation

Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award sponsored by the Archibald Family Foundation

Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe

Courage Under Fire Award

Matthew Heineman

Best Feature Award

"The Look of Silence"

Director: Joshua Oppenheimer

Producer: Signe Byrge Sørensen

Drafthouse Films and Participant Media

Best Short Award

"Last Day of Freedom"

Directors: Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman

Pare Lorentz Award

"How to Change the World"

Director: Jerry Rothwell

Creative Recognition Award Winners

Best Cinematography

"The Russian Woodpecker"

Cinematography by: Artem Ryzhykov

Best Editing

"Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck"

Edited by: Joe Beshenkovsky and Brett Morgen

Best Writing

"Listen to Me Marlon"

Written by: Stevan Riley

Co-Writer: Peter Ettedgui

Best Music

"Best of Enemies"

Original Score by: Jonathan Kirkscey

ABC News VideoSource Award

"Best of Enemies"

Directors: Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville

Magnolia Pictures

Best Curated Series Award

"Independent Lens"

Executive Producers: Sally Jo Fifer and Lois Vossen

Itvs, PBS

Pov

Executive Producers: Simon Kilmurry and Chris White

Pov, PBS

Best Limited Series Award

"The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst"

Executive Producer: Jason Blum

Co-Executive Producer: Zac Stuart-Pontier

Produced by: Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling

HBO

Best Episodic Series Award

"Chef’s Table"

Executive Producers: David Gelb and Andrew Fried

Netflix

Best Short Form Series Award

"Do Not Track"

Executive Producer: Hugues Sweeney

National Film Board of Canada, Upian, Arte, and Br

David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award

"The Archipelago"

Director: Benjamin Huguet

The National Film and Television School...

Joshua Oppenheimer's searing documentary about the 1960s Indonesian genocide won big at the 31st Annual Ida Documentary Awards trampling down award season favorite "Amy." The Best Short Documentary award went to Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman's "Last Day of Freedom."

Here's the complete list of nominees and winners (highlighted) of the 31st Annual Ida Documentary Awards are:

Best Feature

"Amy"

"The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution"

"Listen to Me Marlon"

"The Look of Silence" -- Winner

"The Russian Woodpecker"

"What Happened, Miss Simone?"

Best Short Documentary

"Body Team 12"

"Claude Lanzmann: Specters of the Shoah"

"The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul"

"Object"

"Last Day of Freedom" -- Winner

ABC News VideoSource Award

"(T)error"

"Best of Enemies" -- Winner

"Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll"

"Night Will Fall"

"What Happened, Miss Simone?"

Curated Series Award

"30 For 30" (Espn)

"Independent Lens" (Itvs/PBS) -- Winner...

Joshua Oppenheimer’s companion piece to The Act Of Killing earned the best feature award at the International Documentary Association’s 2015 Ida Documentary Awards on Saturday night.

The Ida’s Career Achievement Award was presented to Gordon Quinn, the Kartemquin Films founder and artistic director, while Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos collected the Pioneer Award.

The prize was presented “in recognition of the company’s game-changing and unwavering support of creating and showcasing nonfiction programming.”

Kathryn Bigelow awarded Matthew Heineman the Ida’s Courage Under Fire Award for Cartel Land.

Full list of winners:

Career Achievement Award

Gordon Quinn

Pioneer Award

Ted Sarandos

Amicus Award

Tony Tabatznik and the Bertha Foundation

Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award sponsored by the Archibald Family Foundation

Lyric R Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe

Courage Under Fire Award

Matthew Heineman

Best Feature Award

The Look Of Silence

Director: Joshua Oppenheimer

Producer: Signe Byrge Sørensen

Best Short Award

Last Day Of Freedom

Directors:...

November 25, 2015 16:9 Post, Archibald Family Charitable Foundation Support the Emerging Filmmaker Award

16:9 Post and Archibald Family Charitable Foundation are proud to sponsor the Emerging Filmmaker Award at the 31st Ida Documentary Awards. This award recognizes the achievements of a filmmaker who has made a significant impact at the beginning of his or her career in documentary film. This year, the honorary award has been granted to Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe, directors of (T)Error.

Read more...

Todd Haynes is in the running for best director and both Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are in contention for best female lead alongside Room’s Brie Larson as Carol earned six 2016 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations in Los Angeles on Tuesday.Scroll down for full list of nominations

Close behind were Spotlight and Beasts Of No Nation on five apiece, followed by indie darling Tangerine and Anomalisa on four each.

Not even a glitch that saw the list of nominees temporarily appear on the Film Independent website prior to the official announcement could spoil what turned out by and large to be a recognition of independent film in its myriad forms.

Besides the more predictable contenders like Carol, Spotlight and Room, there was plenty of love for Tangerine, shot on an iPhone, and Beasts Of No Nation from Netflix, whose day-and-date release (and what that portends) infuriated large swathes of the exhibition sector but has clearly...

Todd Haynes is in the running for best director and both Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are in contention for best female lead alongside Room’s Brie Larson as Carol earned six 2016 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Close behind were Spotlight and Beasts Of No Nation on five apiece, followed by indie darling Tangerine and Anomalisa on four each.

Not even a glitch that saw the list of nominees temporarily appear on the Film Independent website prior to the official announcement could spoil what turned out by and large to be a recognition of independent film in its myriad forms.

Besides the more predictable contenders like Carol, Spotlight and Room, there was plenty of love for Tangerine, shot on an iPhone, and Beasts Of No Nation from Netflix, whose day-and-date release (and what that portends) infuriated large swathes of the exhibition sector but has clearly impressed critics.

Magnolia Pictures earned...

Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards, the La Film Festival and Film Independent at Lacma, announced nominations for the 2016 Spirit Awards this morning. Film Independent President Josh Welsh presided over the press conference held at W Hollywood, with actors John Boyega and Elizabeth Olsen presenting the nominations.

Nominees for Best Feature included Anomalisa, Beasts of No Nation, Carol, Spotlight and Tangerine.

“This year’s nominees are a testament to the strength, vitality and diversity of independent, artist-driven filmmaking,” said Film Independent President Josh Welsh. “It’s an astonishingly strong group of films and performances this year and we look forward to celebrating them all at the Spirit Awards.”

Spotlight was selected to receive the Robert Altman Award, which is bestowed upon one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast. The Altman Award was created in 2008 in honor of legendary director Robert Altman...

The International Documentary Association (Ida) has revealed the nominees for the 2015 Ida Documentary Awards. Winners will be announced at their annual awards gala to be held on Sunday, December 5 at the Paramount Theater in Los Angeles.

The nominees of the 31st Annual Ida Documentary Awards are:

Best Feature

"Amy"

"The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution"

"Listen to Me Marlon"

"The Look of Silence"

"The Russian Woodpecker"

"What Happened, Miss Simone?"

Best Short Documentary

"Body Team 12"

"Claude Lanzmann: Specters of the Shoah"

"The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul"

"Object"

"Last Day of Freedom"

ABC News VideoSource Award

"(T)error"

"Best of Enemies"

"Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll"

"Night Will Fall"

"What Happened, Miss Simone?"

Curated Series Award

"30 For 30" (Espn)

"Independent Lens" (Itvs/PBS)

"Storyville" (BBC)

"America Reframed" (World Channel)

Limited Series Award

"Blood Brothers" (Vara Television)

"Hard Earned" (Al Jazeera, Kartemquin Films)

"The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst...

Other winners include Among The Believers and The Fear Of 13.Scroll Down For Full List

Cph:dox (Nov 5-15), Copenhagen’s festival of documentary cinema, has revealed its award winners for 2015, with God Bless The Child taking the top prize.

Robert Machoian & Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck’s film, which follows four young boys and their 13-year-old sister who are left to their own devices in their Californian home, was presented with the Dox:award, including a prize of $5400 (€5000).

The prize’s jury was composed of Elena Fortes, director of Ambulante, a non-profit organization working to support and promote a documentary film culture in Mexico; Miguel Valverde, festival director and programmer at IndieLisboa; Jim Kolmar, film Programmer for SXSW; Bernie Krause, professional musician turned soundscape ecologist and author; and Katja Adomeit, producer and freelancer for Corpoduction Office Denmark.

Regarding their decision, they stated: “Establishing an otherworldly tone of extraordinary realism and a near magical evocation of family dynamics, the winning...

(T)Error

Directed by Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe

United States, 2015

Philadelphia Film Festival

(T)Error is a bizarre story of FBI informants and terror suspects. Saeed is an unrepentant FBI informant. He’s also a charismatic single father and generally anchorless. His handler charges him with following a Person of Interest (Poi) named Khalifa in Pittsburgh.

Directors Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe have several issues to overcome in their film. For one, they can’t shoot Saeed’s interactions with the FBI. They also can’t shoot Saeed’s meetings with his main Poi, Khalifa. It’s difficult to craft a narrative when the two elements that make up the crux of your story must take place off-camera.

The result is a film with the plot of a spy thriller and the presentation of Slacker. Much time is spent with Saeed smoking pot, drinking cheap beer,...

Anne Wivel’s Mand Falder will open the festival, which will screen 200 docs including 60 world premieres.

Copenhagen documentary festival Cph:dox has revealed the programme for its 13th edition, which runs Nov 5-15.

The line-up features 200 documentaries including 60 world premieres, 18 European premieres and 14 international premieres.

Danish film Mand Falder, directed by Anne Wivel, will open the festival. The film centres around the artist Per Kirkeby and his recovery after suffering from a brain hemorrhage.

16 documentaries will compete in the main competition for the Dox:award, including Friedrich Moser’s journalistic docu-thriller A Good American about William Binney’s programme ‘Thinthread’ that could have prevented 9/11, but was cancelled by the Nsa, and Aslaug Holm’s Norwegian documentary Brodre, which was shot over 8 years and centres around two boys growing up.

Helena Trestikova’s Czech documentary Mallory about life at the bottom of Czech society also features in the competition, which was won last year by Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence.

Sean McAllister...

By Scott Feinberg

The Hollywood Reporter

The International Documentary Association will also honor Gordon Quinn, Tony Tabatznik, Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe at its Dec. 5 ceremony.

Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, will be honored by the International Documentary Association at the 31st Ida Documentary Awards at Paramount Pictures’ Paramount Theatre on Dec. 5.

Read the rest of this entry…...

A farce and a political drama rolled into one, David Felix Sutcliffe and Lyric R. Cabral’s gripping documentary (T)error has the gaze of a persistent, unwelcome house guest. It begins by introducing us to Saeed Torres, or Saeed Sharrif, a Muslim and former Black Panther who met Cabral in 2002, and revealed to her in 2005 that he was an informant for the FBI, spying on others in the Muslim community. In 2011, we’re told, he allowed Cabral and Sutcliffe to film his investigation into a man named Khalifah Al-Akili, an American-born Jihadist and ex-con fond of posting his enthusiastic support for Osama bin Laden and the Taliban on Facebook.This kind of access to a confidential informant in the middle of an elaborate sting operation – without any permission from the FBI or anyone else – is already unprecedented. But as the film proceeds, Saeed, who says this will be his...

In the opening moments of the chilling documentary “(T)error,” a federal judge is heard referring to informants as “sociopaths” by the very nature of their work. They are paid to engage with and earn the trust of suspects then sell them out in the next breath without remorse, before they move on to the next gig. This telling quote sets the stage for the complex and thorny moral dynamics of “(T)error,” a taut and engrossing look at stool pigeons in a post 9/11 era of fear and suspicion. Since September 11th, approximately 500 suspects have been arrested for terrorist activity within the United States. 60% of these arrests have been predicated upon the use of FBI informants. Directed by Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe (“Adama”), and executive produced by Eugene Jarecki (“The House I Live In”), the stark and aptly named doc explores the shady ethical world of federal agency employed informants,...

Co-directed by Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe, "(T)Error" gives viewers unprecedented access to a covert counterterrorism sting, through the perspective of a 63-year-old Black revolutionary turned FBI informant. It is the first documentary to place filmmakers on the ground during an active FBI domestic counterterrorism sting operation.  "(T)Error" premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival where it won a Special Jury Prize for Break Out First Feature. It was also awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. It will have its theatrical premiere on Wednesday, October 7, at IFC Center in New York before a limited national theatrical rollout.  Earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, Indiewire asked Cabral, co-director of "(T)Error," about how she shot the tense thriller. Read More: This Award-Winning Documentary Needs Your Help to Support Journalistic Freedom What camera...

After a successful Kickstarter campaign that ended last month, that raised $61,695 to support the film's theatrical release, the 2015 award-winning feature documentary "(T)Error )" from directors Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe, now has an official commercial premiere date set for tomorrow, Wednesday, October 7, at IFC Center in New York, with a gradual country-wide roll-out to follow. The first film to document on camera a covert counterterrorism sting as it unfolds, via the perspective of a 63-year-old Black revolutionary turned FBI informant, the film made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January of this year, where it won a Special...

In the fourteen years following September 11th, 2001, approximately 500 suspects have been arrested for terrorist activity within the United States with somewhere around 60% of the arrests predicated upon the use of FBI informants. A new documentary, “(T)error,” directed by Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe, follows an actual FBI informant as he takes part in an active FBI case in progress, all without informing his FBI superiors about the filmmakers following him. The first trailer for the film has arrived online (via Indiewire) and is a great first look at the stark and chilling documentary. We caught the Eugene Jarecki-executive produced film at Hot Docs where we gave it an A-grade review, comparing it to the similarly revealing and shocking “Citizenfour” and ultimately calling the film “a gripping parallel investigation of illegitimate counter-terrorist stratagems that not only considers the moral consequences of informing, and...

Read More: Hot Docs Review: FBI Informant Tale ‘(T)error’ Is One Of The Most Riveting Documentaries Of The Year In "(T)error," a camera crew is privy to a live FBI counterterrorism sting for the first time ever. The documentary centers on active informant Saeed "Shariff" Torres, who has let filmmakers follow him -- without telling the FBI. "(T)error" thus shines an unprecedented light on the government's counterterrorism tactics, especially the murky line between access and coercion. The suspenseful documentary, which was directed by Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe, won a special jury award when it screened at Sundance earlier this year. "(T)error" hits theaters on October 7. Watch our exclusive trailer above. Read More: The 20 Best Documentaries Of 2015 So Far...

After a successful Kickstarter campaign earlier this month, that raised $61,695 to support the film's theatrical release, the 2015 award-winning feature documentary "(T)Error )" from directors Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe, now has an official commercial premiere date set for Wednesday, October 7, at IFC Center in New York. The first film to document on camera a covert counterterrorism sting as it unfolds, via the perspective of a 63-year-old Black revolutionary turned FBI informant, the film made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January of this year, where it won a Special Jury Prize for Break Out First Feature. It was also awarded...

Producer/Director David Felix Sutcliffe and producer Su Kim's documentary, "Adama," about a 16 year-old East Harlem teen suspected of connections to terrorism, which ran on public television networks, and was online for a limited time thanks to Itvs and World Compass, has been put back online permanently for you to watch in full, if you missed it the last time. Her story, in brief, on March 24th, 2005, Adama Bah, a 16-year-old Muslim girl, awoke at dawn to discover nearly a dozen armed government agents inside her family’s apartment in East Harlem. She was arrested and taken to a maximum-security juvenile detention center in Pennsylvania. An FBI document leaked to the...

Directors Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to support the theatrical release of their 2015 award-winning feature documentary "(T)Error )," the first film to document on camera a covert counterterrorism sting as it unfolds, via the perspective of a 63-year-old Black revolutionary turned FBI informant. As the filmmaker's state: "Although '(T)Error' is completed, and has screened at festivals around the world - including the Tribeca Film Festival, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, and the Hot Docs International Film Festival - the future of the film is now in jeopardy. Because of the unprecedented nature...

A shocking exposé on the FBI’s counterterrorism efforts, David Felix Sutcliffe and Lyric R. Cabral’s (T)Error is in danger of not seeing an official release due exorbitant legal and insurance fees. In profiling a longtime informant, Saeed “Shariff” Torres, Sutcliffe and Cabral demonstrate enough evidence to suggest that the FBI might invent terrorists just as much as it prevents them. The film is an essential conversation piece, and one that deserve to reach the widest audience as possible, so please consider donating to the Kickstarter to fund the theatrical release.

A shocking exposé on the FBI’s counterterrorism efforts, David Felix Sutcliffe and Lyric R. Cabral’s (T)Error is in danger of not seeing an official release due exorbitant legal and insurance fees. In profiling a longtime informant, Saeed “Shariff” Torres, Sutcliffe and Cabral demonstrate enough evidence to suggest that the FBI might invent terrorists just as much as it prevents them. The film is an essential conversation piece, and one that deserve to reach the widest audience as possible, so please consider donating to the Kickstarter to fund the theatrical release.

American indie film love is on full display at a fest that I’ve coined farm version of Telluride. The 8th edition of the Wassaic Project Film Festival will take off at the tail end of the month and the curators have landed Todd Haynes’ masterwork Safe and a foursome of worthy items (not including a special in-progress feature film screening) for the ’15 edition.

Sundance preemed items in Marielle Heller’s The Diary of a Teenage Girl and Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe’s (T)error will be shown alongside SXSW/Cannes profiled Krisha from Trey Edward Shults and Sam Cullman’s Tribeca showcased Art and Craft. The fest runs from July 31st until August 2nd in Wassaic, New York. Pitch up a tent and go watch these features – as well as shorts selected by the Wassaic Project and Jason Sondhi of Vimeo Staff Picks and Short of the Week.

Montreal’s genre film festival to showcase 135 features and almost 300 shorts across its three-week run from July 14-Aug 4.Scroll down for line-up

Fantasia International Film Festival has unveiled its full line-up for its upcoming 19th edition which kicks off next Tuesday [July 14].

Over its three-week run, the Montreal-based genre film festival will showcase 135 features, including 22 world, 13 international premieres and 21 North American premieres, and almost 300 short films.

Shinji Higuchi’s Attack on Titan will receive its Canadian premiere as the closing film of this year’s edition on Aug 4. The live-action film is based on Hajime Isyama’s steampunk fantasy war opera manga series.

Additional highlights of the final wave of titles include the world premieres of Malik Bader’s thriller Cash Only and Ken Ochiai’s Ninja the Monster, as well as the Canadian premiere of Jonathan Milott & Cary Murnion’s horror comedy Cooties starring Elijah Wood.

A trio of Sion Sono films will also be shown at this...

The 19th Annual Fantasia Film Festival is only a week away, beginning July 14 and running through August 4. And as promised for today, they’ve revealed their full line-up of films screening at 2015’s festival in Montreal.

This year’s line-up boasts 22 World Premieres, 13 International Premieres, and 21 North American Premieres. Both Marvel’s Ant-Man and the animated Miss Hokusai were previously announced, but now they’ve added the much anticipated Attack on Titan movie as their closing night film. Other highlights include the Sundance darlings Cooties, starring Elijah Wood and Rainn Wilson, Cop Car, starring Kevin Bacon and directed by the upcoming Spider-man director Jon Watts, and a trio of films from horror auteur Sion Sono.

See the full line-up announcement of films below via Fantasia’s Facebook page, and be sure to check out their website at fantasiafestival.com for additional information.

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Fantasia 2015:

36 Countries, 135 Features, and Nearly 300 Short Films

- Including 22 World Premieres,...

While not all receive the golden ticket for a Park City premiere, the invaluable support available at the Sundance Institute is ongoing and takes several shapes and forms. Last year’s batch of Documentary Edit and Story Labs attendees included Anna Sandilands & Ewan McNicol who trimmed Uncertain, while Lyric Cabral & David Felix Sutcliffe spliced into shape (T)Error. As underlined in the press release, this year’s eight projects touches of subjects of transgender parents, the aftermath of Sandy Hook tragedy, exonerated death row inmates and AIDS. Among the noteworthy names attending (June 19-27 and July 3-11) we find Lost in La Mancha duo of Keith Fulton & Lou Pepe (see pic above) and Informant director Jamie Meltzer’s tentatively titled Freedom Fighters. Here are the participants and creative folk for ’15.

Editors serving as Creative Advisors for the June 19-27 session are Marshall Curry (Point and Shoot), Ra’anan Alexandrowicz (The...

“(T)Error”, the debut documentary from directors Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe, is a the epitome of a slow burn. The first half of the film, about FBI sting operations in a post-9/11 world, could easily be described as boring. It focuses on Saeed “Shariff” Torres, a black Muslim ex-convict and FBI informant in the middle of an active operation in Pittsburgh. Having helped the FBI on several stings including one that resulted in the conviction of one his closest friends, Saeed is an angry, lonely, and difficult subject to follow. He resents his FBI handlers as much as he relies on them for the money they give him for tracking and befriending persons of interest - most of them...

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival is on in New York and the Voice's Alan Scherstuhl recommends Joey Boink's Burden of Peace, Andreas Dalsgaard's Life Is Sacred, Hajooj Kuka's Beats of the Antonov, François Verster's The Dream of Shahrazad, Ayat Najafi's No Land's Song, Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe's (T)Error and Laurent Bécue-Renard's Of Men and War. Also: Joe Dante in Los Angeles, New Filipino Cinema in San Francisco, the Chicago African Diaspora Film Festival, Masters of Iranian Cinema in Bristol, John Huston's The Misfits in London and Saskia Boddeke and Peter Greenaway in Berlin. » - David Hudson...

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival is on in New York and the Voice's Alan Scherstuhl recommends Joey Boink's Burden of Peace, Andreas Dalsgaard's Life Is Sacred, Hajooj Kuka's Beats of the Antonov, François Verster's The Dream of Shahrazad, Ayat Najafi's No Land's Song, Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe's (T)Error and Laurent Bécue-Renard's Of Men and War. Also: Joe Dante in Los Angeles, New Filipino Cinema in San Francisco, the Chicago African Diaspora Film Festival, Masters of Iranian Cinema in Bristol, John Huston's The Misfits in London and Saskia Boddeke and Peter Greenaway in Berlin. » - David Hudson...