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Back in 2021, Max premiered the new documentary Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground.

Despite being an extension of one of the most acclaimed television franchises ever produced, Hallowed Ground was basically ignored by critics.

I mean, I reviewed it, but to date, Sophia Nahli Allison’s film doesn’t have enough reviews to have an average score on either Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes.

And I get it. HBO/Max barely promoted the documentary and it was an extremely complicated project to approach — not exactly a sequel to Henry Hampton’s seminal chronicle of the Civil Rights Movement, which aired its first six episodes in 1987 and the eight-hour second part in 1990, both on PBS. Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground was a 61-minute complement to the brand, a formally experimental meditation on Eyes on the Prize, its importance and its limitations. But if you were looking for something that picked up...

Lizzo sent the world of social media into a frenzy when she posted just days ago on her Instagram that she is quitting. Although the singer did not clarify what exactly was she quitting, fans and haters took it as her quitting music and the music industry for good following the many lawsuits lodged against her.

Lizzo (Image: 2 Be Loved music video)

As her post went viral, fans were disheartened while her haters rejoiced. Meanwhile, the lawyer representing the three dancers suing her went on to state that it was just another PR stunt by the Grammy winner. And proving him right is Lizzo’s recent statement explaining that she isn’t going anywhere.

Lizzo is Not Quitting Music After All Lizzo said she isn’t quitting music (Image: Tempo music video)

Since last year, Lizzo has been busy battling the clout of lawsuits and the backlash she has been receiving following them.

Music artist Lizzo (real name: Melissa Viviane Jefferson) is one of the most influential artists who rose to fame with the release of her third studio album in 2019: Cuz I Love You. The artist’s 2017 single Truth Hurts became a sleeper hit two years after its release and topped the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming the longest-leading solo by a female rapper.

The artist, due to her weight, has been the subject of constant trolling online, but she decided to use the opportunity and advocate for plus-size women, and she has faced a lot of challenges in doing so. She has expressed over the years how she feels constantly dragged down just because she doesn’t fit in the standards of an ideal woman body type. The last couple of months haven’t been as smooth for the artist as she would have liked, and her recent statement has forced...

Bodies come in all shapes and sizes and thus, body positivity has a different meaning for everyone. For some, it’s feeling proud of your body as it is while for others it means working hard to achieve a healthier version of yourself. Singer/rapper Lizzo has always been a vocal and loud advocate of body positivity which sometimes, receives mixed reactions from the entertainment industry’s audience.

Lizzo in the music video of About Damn Time

Right now, things are not looking good for Lizzo who has been caught in a lawsuit for having a hostile work environment as well as s-xually demeaning behavior toward her former dancers. Recently, she took to her Instagram to announce that she’s been working on new music and fans have noticed that Lizzo has seemingly lost a bunch of weight.

Lizzo Shares New Update on Social Media

Lizzo posts her new look...

“Oh, I’ve been so down and under pressure,” Lizzo sings in her award-winning hit song “About Damn Time,” and the Watch Out for the Big Grrrls host might be feeling the poignancy of those lyrics more than ever right now.

A year after Lizzo won Record of the Year at the 65th annual Grammys for “About Damn Time,” the singer today finds herself facing a trial on sexual harassment, discrimination and other claims from a trio of her former tour dancers. The Marty Singer-represented Lizzo and fellow defendants Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc and dance team head Shirlene Quigley came up short in their attempt to have the explosive lawsuit filed in August gutted on free speech grounds.

“It is dangerous for the court to weigh in, ham-fisted, into constitutionally protected activity,” LA Superior Court Judge Mark Epstein wrote in a ruling made public today, rejecting a large...

(Updated with Lizzo spokesperson statement) The legal battle over assault, harassment and discrimination claims between Lizzo and a trio of former tour dancers and reality show contestants has turned into a constitutional squabble, at least for now.

“Can a global celebrity be forever insulated from civil liability because all their conduct is protected as free speech under the anti-slapp statute?” rhetorically ask lawyers for Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez in an opposition filing this week to the Grammy winner’s attempt to have the matter tossed out of court. “Defendant Lizzo asks this Court to rule in exactly that fashion. Fortunately for all victims of celebrity malfeasance, the law says otherwise.”

(Read the opposition memo to Lizzo’s anti-slapp filing here)

The recipient of the Record of the Year at the 65th Grammys, Lizzo plus her Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc and dance team head Shirlene Quigley have...

“I’m about to get into my feelings,” Lizzo sings in her ‘About Damn Time’ tune from 2022.

This week, the Grammy winner and recent Quincy Jones Humanitarian Award recipient made her feelings very clear about a sexual harassment, assault, discrimination and fostering a “hostile work environment” lawsuit brought against her by former tour dancers and Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls contestants.

The Marty Singer represented Lizzo wants Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez legal action from earlier this summer “dismissed in its entirety with prejudice.” In the otherwise pretty standard September 27 response filing, the Juice singer, real name Melissa Jefferson, denies “each and every allegation” against her and production company Big Grrrl touring company (read Lizzo’s legal response here).

“This is the first step of a legal process in which Lizzo and her team will demonstrate that they have always practiced what they’ve preached...

The official Instagram for Lizzo’s Big Grrrls dance crew posted a letter in support of the singer amid a lawsuit filed against her by three former dancers.

With the nearly yearlong Special Tour concluding July 30, the letter thanked Lizzo for “shattering limitations and kicking in the door way for the Big Grrrl & Big Boiii Dancers to do what we love.”

“You have created a platform where we have been able to parallel our Passion with a purpose! Not only for Us, but for Woman and All people breaking barriers,...

Organizers of the Made in America Festival have canceled this year’s event, citing “severe circumstances outside of production control.” Among the scheduled headliners was Lizzo, who is facing a new lawsuit by three of her former touring dancers.

“Due to severe circumstances outside of production control, the 2023 Made In America festival will no longer be taking place,” according to a post on the fest’s social media sites. “This decision has been difficult and has not been made lightly nor without immense deliberation.” Read the full statement below.

Sza and Lizzo were set to headline the show on September 2 and 3 at Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. The bill also featured more than a dozen other acts including Miguel, Ice Spice, Lil Yachty, Coco Jones and Paris Texas.

Although Lizzo is not mentioned in the cancellation announcement, the timing is interesting given the lawsuit filed a week ago that alleges assault,...

When Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls reality show, championing body positivity and inclusivity, captured an Emmy last year, perhaps more notable than its upset win was the entertainer’s emotional acceptance speech.

Calling the trophy for outstanding competition series “nice” after beating out extremely popular TV programs like RuPaul’s Drag Race, The Voice, The Amazing Race and Top Chef, Lizzo said: “When I was a little girl, all I wanted to see was me in the media, someone fat like me, Black like me, beautiful like me.”

She closed her speech by pointing to her cast of plus-size female dancers of color, who cheered loudly from their seats. “One year ago these women were filming this television show that would change their lives forever. They are Emmy Award-winning superstars who are going on a world tour. Make some noise for my Big Grrrls. I love you guys so much.

Updated, 10:43 Am: One day after a trio of former dancers for Lizzo took the Grammy winner to court for harassment, assault and discrimination, the war of words has intensified.

Following an early morning statement online from Lizzo over the so-called “sensationalized stories” and denying some of the claims, an attorney for Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez says prove it.

“Given Lizzo is denying that any of this happened, let’s take it to trial, “said Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Employment Lawyers. “More witnesses are coming forward every day corroborating the plaintiffs’ allegations, so we’re looking forward to facing Lizzo and her team in court.”

Playing a bit of damage control, Davis also put out a statement addressing a video that has popped up online of her praising Lizzo.

The former contestant on Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls said:

Of course, I...

Lizzo denied allegations of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment in a new statement Thursday that followed a lawsuit filed against her by three of her former dancers.

“These last few days have been gut wrenchingly difficult and overwhelmingly disappointing,” Lizzo wrote on Instagram.

“My work ethic, morals and respectfulness have been questioned. My character has been criticized. Usually I choose not to respond to false allegations but these are as unbelievable as they sound and too outrageous to not be addressed.”

Earlier this week, three of Lizzo’s former dancers — Crystal Williams,...

Another person has stepped forward with allegations against singer Lizzo in the wake of a sexual harassment and hostile workplace lawsuit from former backup dancers.

Documentary filmmaker Sophia Nahli Allison, an Oscar nominee for her 2019 documentary short, A Love for Latasha, alleged on social media today that she was “treated with such disrespect” by Lizzo that it caused her to walk away from the project.

Allison claimed that she left the documentary project after two weeks of shadowing the singer because of “arrogant, self-centered, and unkind” behavior from Lizzo. Allison added she was “thrown into a sh*tty situation with little support.”

The post references the lawsuit against Lizzo and her production company, Big Grrrl Big Touring, filed Tuesday by three former backup dancers. The plaintiffs alleged a pattern of sexual, religious, and racial harassment from Lizzo and members of her production company.

“I usually do not comment on anything pop culture related,...

Sophia Nahli Allison, a documentary filmmaker who earned an Oscar nomination for her Netflix short doc “A Love Song for Latasha,” has spoken out against the pop star Lizzo in a series of social media posts, saying she left a documentary project on the singer after being “treated with such disrespect.”

The posts come after three of Lizzo’s former background dancers filed a lawsuit against the singer, accusing her of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment among other charges.

“I usually do not comment on anything pop culture related,” Allison wrote in her post. “But, in 2019, I traveled a bit with Lizzo to be the director of her documentary. I walked away after about two weeks.”

“I was treated with such disrespect by her. I witnessed how arrogant and unkind she is. I was not protected and was thrown into a shitty situation with little support. My...

As Lizzo has been hit with a sexual harassment and hostile workplace lawsuit from her former backup dancers, documentary filmmaker Sophia Nahli Allison has come forward with her own claims of bad behavior from the pop star. Allison, an Oscar nominee for her 2019 documentary short “A Love for Latasha,” alleged on social media Wednesday that she left the directing position for a Lizzo documentary after “being treated with such disrespect” by the Grammy winner.

Allison shared her allegations via an Instagram story she posted on Wednesday and on Twitter. In the story, Allison claimed that she shadowed Lizzo for two weeks in order to direct a documentary about her. However, Allison said she left the project because of “arrogant, self-centered, and unkind” behavior from Lizzo, claiming she was “thrown into a shitty situation with little support.”

“I usually do not comment on anything pop culture related,” Allison wrote in her post.

Sophia Nahli Allison, a filmmaker who said she worked with Lizzo several years ago, said she was “treated with such disrespect” by the pop star that she left the job after only about two weeks.

Allison shared her claims on social media Tuesday night, not long after news broke that three of Lizzo’s former dancers had sued the singer over sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment. The claims in the lawsuit stem from incidents that allegedly took place between 2021 and 2023, while Allison said she worked with Lizzo in 2019.

In her post,...

New allegations against Lizzo have come to light in the wake of the lawsuit filed by several of the “Truth Hurts” singer’s dancers.

Filmmaker Sophia Nahli Allison took to social media on Tuesday to share her alleged experiences with the 35-year-old musician while briefly working on her documentary.

Posting a photo of herself seemingly filming Lizzo on stage, Allison noted that she was sharing her experiences “because validating other Black women’s experiences is deeply important to me.”

“In 2019, I traveled a bit with Lizzo to be the director of her documentary. I walked away after about two weeks,” Allison claimed. “I was treated with such disrespect by her. I witnessed how arrogant, self-centred, and unkind she is.”

Calling the situation “s***ty,” Allison added, “My spirit said to run as fast as you f**king can and I’m so grateful I trusted my gut. I felt gas lit and was deeply hurt,...

No matter how you measure it, Nikole Hannah-Jones’ The 1619 Project was an earth-shaking thing when it premiered in The New York Times in 2019. It won a Pulitzer Prize. It sparked conversation. It generated waves of backlash from people who absolutely, positively didn’t read the full 100-page collection of essays.

It also offered a reminder of how effectively legacy media can still move the needle in terms of discourse.

As a six-part Onyx Collective/Hulu series driven by Hannah-Jones and executive produced by Oprah Winfrey, The 1619 Project proves something different. However provocative the connections and contexts that Hannah-Jones and company provided were within the print and online confines of The New York Times, television has been tackling the bigger-picture topic in earnest (and with some success) for years. Hulu’s The 1619 Project remains cogent, smartly argued and persuasive, but in failing to sufficiently adjust its storytelling to...

The International Documentary Association came out with its shortlist of the year’s best documentaries today, a list as notable for what was left out as what made it in.

A total of 29 feature films earned a spot on the IDA shortlist, including some considered Oscar frontrunners: Summer of Soul, Ascension, and Flee—each of which earned nominations last week for both the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards and the Gotham Awards. But several other films making a strong bid for Oscar attention were snubbed, among them The Rescue, Becoming Cousteau, Attica, Procession, and My Name Is Pauli Murray.

The IDA gave recognition to several documentaries with an international dimension, like Faya Dayi, from Mexican-Ethiopian director Jessica Bashir, Chinese-born filmmaker Nanfu Wang’s Covid-19-related doc In The Same Breath, and Miguel’s War, the story of a gay Lebanese man who exiles himself to Spain. The IDA-shortlisted President focuses on...

HBO Max, HBO and Anonymous Content’s AC Studios have teamed to bring the legacy of Henry Hampton’s critically acclaimed civil rights documentary Eyes on the Prize to the small screen.

Starting today, Part 1 of the Oscar-nominated and Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Eyes on the Prize docuseries is available for streaming on HBO Max. It will be followed by the premiere of Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground, a one-hour Max Original documentary special directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sophia Nahli Allison (A Love Song For Latasha), on Thursday, August 19 on HBO Max.

HBO is also in production on a new documentary series reflecting on the legacy of the movement covered in the original Eyes on the Prize, and its ties to the present day. The new docuseries also will be available for streaming on HBO Max.

Created and executive produced by Hampton and his Blackside film production company, the...

The groundbreaking Oscar-nominated and Peabody and Emmy award-winning documentary “Eyes on the Prize,” from documentarian and historian Henry Hampton, is coming to a new audience.

HBO Max, HBO and Anonymous Content’s AC Studios are joining forces to bring the 14-part PBS docuseries to HBO, where, starting Monday, viewers will be able to stream part one of Hampton’s chronicle of Black history and the civil rights movement, which debuted in 1987.

But the legacy of “Eyes on the Prize” does not end there — part one of “Eyes on the Prize” will be followed by the premiere of a one-hour Max Original documentary special, “Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground” on Aug. 19.

The new special is directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker and artist Sophia Nahli Allison (“A Love Song for Latasha”) with executive producers including Patrisse Cullors, Mervyn Marcano and De La Revolución Films’ Melina Matsoukas, as well as Anonymous Content’s Joy Gorman Wettels,...

The landmark documentary series Eyes on the Prize is getting a new home.

As of Monday, the first part of the series on the civil rights movement is available to stream on HBO Max. The WarnerMedia outlet will also air a new special, Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground, in August from Anonymous Content’s AC Studios and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sophia Nahli Allison (A Love Song for Latasha). The special counts Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors among its executive producers.

Additionally, HBO Max is in production on a new documentary series that will reflect on the legacy of the movement covered in Henry ...

The landmark documentary series Eyes on the Prize is getting a new home.

As of Monday, the first part of the series on the civil rights movement is available to stream on HBO Max. The WarnerMedia outlet will also air a new special, Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground, in August from Anonymous Content’s AC Studios and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sophia Nahli Allison (A Love Song for Latasha). The special counts Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors among its executive producers.

Additionally, HBO Max is in production on a new documentary series that will reflect on the legacy of the movement covered in Henry ...

There were high hopes for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)’ 93rd Academy Awards ceremony. For the first time in history, nearly half of the nominees in acting categories were people of color, and 70 women were nominated across all 23 categories. These were unprecedented numbers for an awards show that has existed for nearly a century. While some of this change resulted from AMPAS’ Academy Aperture 2020 Diversity Initiative (A2020) and the Tarana Burke-founded #MeToo Movement, the events of 2020 also shook Hollywood to its core.

As the world shuttered in early 2020 amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, we found new ways to connect through cinema. Stories like Sophia Nahli Allison’s “A Love Song for Latasha” and Garrett Bradley’s “Time” became easily accessible to audiences worldwide. There was also a racial reckoning in the final months of a tumultuous presidential administration, giving rise to a second Civil Rights Movement.

Facebook just won its first Oscar.

“Colette,” from the social giant’s Oculus Studios and EA’s Respawn Entertainment game studio, picked up the trophy for documentary short subject Sunday at the 93rd Academy Awards. It’s also the first project from the game industry to win an Oscar.

The 25-minute film follows former French Resistance member Colette Marin-Catherine as she travels to Germany for the first time in 74 years. “Colette” was created for the World War II-set VR video game “Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond.”

“Colette” beat out the other contenders on the category: “A Concerto Is a Conversation,” from Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers; “Do Not Split,” from Anders Hammer and Charlotte Cook; “Hunger Ward,” from Skye Fitzgerald and Michael Scheuerman; and “A Love Song for Latasha,” from Sophia Nahli Allison and Janice Duncan.

In “Colette,” directed by Anthony Giacchino and produced by Alice Doyard, Marin-Catherine’s...

For decades, the three Oscar shorts prizes — live action, animated and especially documentary — have confounded those who watch the awards. Shorts were all but impossible to see and subject to a different set of rules. That was until ShortsTV came along to distribute the nominees, but even then, at the qualification stage, virtually every other category had to play theatrically, whereas the shorts didn’t, causing some to question whether they even belonged in the Oscar telecast at all. And then the pandemic hit: In 2020, hardly any features opened in cinemas, whereas short films enjoyed more exposure than ever, thanks to the rapidly expanding number of streaming platforms that carried them — from Netflix to Paramount Plus to outlets like The Guardian and The New York Times. Suddenly, the doc shorts category seems more accessible and relevant than ever.

When it comes to topicality, it’s hard to beat Sophia Nahli Allison...

Some 70 women representing a record total of 76 overall nominations have been nominated for Oscars this year, a very encouraging statistic for the Academy and the industry.

In honor of this, Academy Museum trustee Diane von Furstenberg and the Academy Museum have released a video (click the link above to watch) celebrating the women nominees of the 93rd Oscars. In a year that posed exceptional challenges to filmmaking, it is especially important to uphold the tradition launched seven years ago to honor talented women filmmakers who continue to break glass ceilings in the entertainment industry.

This year’s women nominees were asked to submit short videos or statements about their film and/or creative process. Cohost von Furstenberg, designer; Jacqueline Stewart, chief artistic and programming officer, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Cynthia Erivo, actor, singer, and producer, and Dawn Hudson, CEO, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, present a video...

TheWrap has continued its annual tradition of showcasing the Oscar nominees for Best Documentary Short, gathering the filmmakers behind them to discuss how they brought their stories of injustice past and present to the screen.

Joining TheWrap awards editor Steve Pond on this year’s nominee panel were producer Alice Doyard, (“Colette”) along with directors Sophia Nahli Allison (“A Love Song For Latasha”), Skye Fitzgerald (“Hunger Ward”), Anders Hammer (“Do Not Split”) and Kris Bowers (“A Concerto Is A Conversation”).

Doyard, alongside “Colette” director Anthony Giacchino, took a great deal of time gaining the trust of the film’s subject, Colette Marin-Catherine, one of the last remaining veterans of the French Resistance. The film follows the 90-year-old Colette as she travels with teenage student Lucie Fouble for the first time to the ruins of Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, where her brother was imprisoned as a Resistance member and was worked to...

With the growing overlap between journalism and non-fiction filmmaking, documentary shorts have become an increasingly powerful showcase for critical real-world stories. Easily accessible and shareable online, non-fiction filmmaking has a greater potential to have a far-reaching impact than ever before. More filmmakers are drawn to the genre, which has only improved the quality, subject matter, and level of artistic risk-taking.

The five contenders for Best Documentary Short tackle devastating humanitarian crises, urgent political movements, and deep-rooted social justice causes. Two of the year’s contenders hail from up-and-coming Black filmmakers, who address vastly different facets of racial inequality in ways both lyrical and profound. Another film has provoked the Chinese government to ban the Oscars broadcast from the country, proving the undeniable power of the medium. Here’s a ranking of all five contenders.

5. “Hunger Ward” (Skye Fitzgerald)

Certain tragedies cannot be ignored, even if they feel impossible to look at.

The name Latasha Harlins, Esq. might be etched on a law firm window today if tragedy had not ended the life, and the dreams, of one African-American girl in South Central Los Angeles years ago.

In March 1991, 15-year-old Harlins, a straight-a student at Westchester High School, entered a corner store to buy orange juice for her family. Soon Ja Du, the store owner, falsely accused her of trying to steal the drink, and after a struggle, as Harlins’ back was turned, Du shot her in the back of the head with a pistol. The $2 to pay for the orange juice was gripped in Harlins’ hand.

Today, the shocking incident and the lenient sentence given to Du for voluntary manslaughter is remembered as one of the triggers of the 1992 L.A. uprising. What has been forgotten, or more likely never received attention, was the humanity of the young victim. The Oscar-nominated...

An Oscar nomination goes a long way when it comes to attracting new streaming viewers, new data from Netflix suggests.

Notoriously guarded when it comes to sharing numbers, the content giant exclusively reveals to Variety that its 16 Oscars hopefuls enjoyed considerable viewership increases in the days following the March 15 announcement of the Academy Award nominations.

The figures below — impacting a variety of originals including “Da 5 Bloods,” “Pieces of a Woman,” and “Mank” — represent an increase in the number of households that chose to watch a given film in the 7 days following the nominations, compared to the 7 days prior. These figures only accounted for first-time viewers of the films.

David Fincher’s “Mank,” the leader of the Oscar pack with 10 nominations, saw a 702% increase in new viewers, the streamer said. The documentary short “A Love Song for Latasha,” a dreamlike biographical piece from Sophia Nahli Allison, saw a staggering 1802% increase in new viewers.

Every year, ShortsTV brings the best in short film to the big screen, with a presentation of Oscar nominated shorts in the Animated, Live-Action and Documentary arenas. While movie theaters only recently reopened in Los Angeles and Orange County—with Covid cases, hospitalizations and fatalities on the descent—the distributor has already set theatrical and virtual premiere dates in both counties, for the Oscar Nominated Shorts of 2021.

ShortsTV’s live-action and animated short film programs will be released theatrically and virtually on Friday, April 2. Its documentary program, meanwhile, will become available virtually on April 2, with a theatrical opening scheduled for April 9.

Nominees in the category of Best Live-Action Short Film that will screen for LA audiences include Feeling Through (directed by Doug Roland), Oscar Isaac-starrer The Letter Room (Elvira Lind), The Present (Farah Nabulsi), Two Distant Strangers (Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe) and White Eye (Tomer Sushan).

Doc...

Never underestimate the power of a good short film prediction to give you an edge on the office Oscars pool. With the Academy nominations newly announced, the Oscar contenders for documentary short have been whittled down to a lucky 5 films for the 93rd Academy Awards. Per usual, the group includes a range of social issue films, addressing topics from gun violence to the war in Yemen to the Hong Kong protests. When it comes time to bet on the winners, always go for old people and tearjerkers.

Netflix scored a nomination with Sophia Nahli Allison’s powerful “A Love Song for Latasha,” a lyrical ode to Latasha Harlins, a 15-year-old girl from South Central Los Angeles whose 1991 shooting death became a flashpoint in the LA uprisings. The 19-minute film, which screened as part of Ava DuVernay’s Array 360 programming, is bursting with sun-kissed sidewalks and faded basketball courts, clean line...

For Colette Catherine, the subject of the Oscar-nominated short documentary Colette, April 25 will be a very special day—for a couple of reasons.

“April 25th is Colette’s 93rd birthday, which is the 93rd Oscars…The two dates cross over,” director Anthony Giacchino tells Deadline. “It was meant to be. She turns 93 on the 93rd Academy Awards.”

By a curious coincidence, Colette is not the only subject of a nominated short documentary to be the same age as Oscar. So is Horace Bowers Sr., who along with his grandson Kris Bowers are the focus of A Concerto Is a Conversation.

“The first Oscar nominations were announced in 1928…Horace Bowers was born in 1928,” notes Ben Proudfoot, who directed A Concerto Is a Conversation with Kris Bowers. “So this is a story 93 years in the making.”

Horace Bowers Sr. was born in the Jim Crow South of Bascom, Florida and hitchhiked cross...

The documentary film community gathered virtually on Facebook Tuesday night to chat and cheer each other on at the annual Cinema Eye Honors Awards. Oscar ballots are due Wednesday at 5pm Pt, and many documentary branch voters were on the livestream.

At the start of the evening, as we waited for the pre-taped presentation to begin, “Crip Camp” nominee Jim Lebrecht congratulated “The Dissident” director Bryan Fogel for his BAFTA nomination that morning. International Documentary Association chief Simon Kilmurry was on the chat, along with Sundance artistic director Tabitha Jackson and Kirsten (Kj) Johnson.

She took home the directing prize for “Dick Johnson is Dead,” one of nine Netflix films nominated and among three winners for the streamer, including “Rolling Thunder Revue” and non-fiction short “Love Song for Latasha.”

Many filmmakers sent in videos introducing themselves, from Martin Scorsese in New York (“Rolling Thunder Revue” won an editing award) and...

The documentary film community gathered virtually on Facebook Tuesday night to chat and cheer each other on at the annual Cinema Eye Honors Awards. Oscar ballots are due Wednesday at 5pm Pt, and many documentary branch voters were on the livestream.

At the start of the evening, as we waited for the pre-taped presentation to begin, “Crip Camp” nominee Jim Lebrecht congratulated “The Dissident” director Bryan Fogel for his BAFTA nomination that morning. International Documentary Association chief Simon Kilmurry was on the chat, along with Sundance artistic director Tabitha Jackson and Kirsten (Kj) Johnson.

She took home the directing prize for “Dick Johnson is Dead,” one of nine Netflix films nominated and among three winners for the streamer, including “Rolling Thunder Revue” and non-fiction short “Love Song for Latasha.”

Many filmmakers sent in videos introducing themselves, from Martin Scorsese in New York (“Rolling Thunder Revue” won an editing award) and...

The Romanian film “Collective” has been named the best nonfiction film of 2020 at the 13th annual Cinema Eye Honors, a New York-based awards show devoted to all facets of documentary filmmaking.

Kirsten Johnson took the directing prize for “Dick Johnson Is Dead,” while the award for outstanding debut went to Garrett Bradley for “Time,” which also won for its editing.

“Boys State” won the Audience Award, the only Cinema Eye Honor category in which the public was invited to cast ballots.

The Spotlight Award, which was designed to put attention on a film that deserves wider exposure, went to “The Earth is Blue as an Orange,” directed by Iryna Tsilyk. The Heterodox Award, given to a film that combines nonfictional and fictional techniques, was won by Bill and Turner Ross’ “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets.”

“The Truffle Hunters” won for cinematography, while “Feels Good Man” won in the graphic design or...

Each year, IndieWire partners with MIT’s Open Documentary Lab to offer a deeper look at Sundance’s New Frontiers work. Here, Master’s Candidate Andrea S. Kim highlights the innovative use of browser-based media by Black storytellers, which are still accessible at the links provided in the article.

While the idea of extended reality (Xr) may evoke traditions of cyberpunk dystopias, at this year’s Sundance New Frontiers, five Black storytellers were leading a shift to place cultural memory and ancestral knowledge at the center of designing collective futures. “Secret Garden” and “Traveling the Intertitium with Octavia Butler” are exemplary pieces that leverage interactive, browser-based media (WebXR) to challenge our current notions of futurity while also demonstrating the potential for Xr when led by Black creators.

“Our stories are algorithms,” artist Stephanie Dinkins suggests in the descriptive text for “Secret Garden, an interactive web experience (available here) and in-person...

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars from Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis. Following Academy Awards history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar predictions are updated regularly with the current year's contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long: Draft, Pre-Season, Regular Season and Post Season. Eligibility calendar and dates of awards will determine how long each phase lasts and will be displayed next to revision date.

To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Collective

Draft>>>Pre Season>>>Regular Season>>>Post Season

2021 Oscars Predictions:

Best Documentary Short Film

Updated: Feb. 25, 2021

Awards Prediction Commentary: Netflix has three contenders, all of which have the goods to win the category. The prestige of “What Would Sophia Loren Do” will keep it in the conversation while the charms of “Speed...

Sophia Nahli Allison’s “A Love Song for Latasha” (streaming on Netflix) centers on the life of Latasha Harlins, a young Black girl killed by a convenience store owner. Her death contributed to the outcry that led to the 1992 L.A. uprising, and now in 2020, her story remains more relevant than ever. Rather than recount the details about the injustice of her murder, Allison focused in her film on a life reimagined, recreated. She shared her thoughts on memories, dreams and creativity.

I remember the future as deeply as I remember the past.

Drifting through the galaxies.

Seated at the birthplace of my mother.

Flying.

Resting.

Rising with the tides as the moon pulls me back.

Black womxn artists have always conjured memories that were not their own. Memories from our ancestors and our posterity, memories that bend and avert laws of linearity. We exist between the realm of waking and dreaming,...

Over the past several years, Best Documentary Short has become arguably the strongest specialty category at the Academy Awards, and 2021 is proving to be the same as the directors of four short docs spoke at TheWrap’s Awards Screening Series about how their unique stories were created.

Among them is Sophia Nahli Allison’s “A Love Song for Latasha,” a dream-like short that tells the life of Latasha Harlins, a teen who was killed by a Korean store owner in 1991. The store owner avoided jail time despite being convicted of voluntary manslaughter, and his sentencing is believed to be one of the factors behind the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Allison is a resident of South Central where Harlins lived, and she combined photos and interviews of Harlins’ family and friends with artistic editing to create a unique depiction of a Black girl’s life cut abruptly short.

“I knew I wanted...

Sundance Institute today announced the latest additions to the programming slate of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, which kicks off Thursday, January 28th at Festival.Sundance.org and via a network of Satellite Screens across the U.S.

Thursday evening’s Opening Night Welcome on the Festival platform, at 6pm Mt, will feature remarks from Institute CEO Keri Putnam, Festival Director Tabitha Jackson, musical performances from Red Spirit and Rhiannon Giddens, and messages from Festival alumni. February 2’s Awards Night, whose juries were announced last week, will be hosted by actor and comedian Patton Oswalt, and feature special appearances from Alison Brie, Shira Haas and Diego Luna alongside the jurors.

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“What makes Sundance, Sundance is of course more than simply the films,” said Jackson. “We are excited that the conversations, provocations, performances, and celebration of this community are even richer this...

“A Love Song For Latasha” delivers on the promise of its title: This arresting documentary short is a lyrical celebration of the life of Latasha Harlins, the 15-year-old girl from South Central Los Angeles whose 1992 shooting death became a flashpoint in the LA uprisings. While the Black community that mourns her to this day will recall the grainy footage of her death, which circulated widely on news stations at the time, the footage is nowhere to be seen in “A Love Song for Latasha.” On the contrary, the 19-minute film is bursting with sun-kissed sidewalks and faded basketball courts, clean line animation and radiant Black girls posed gracefully, like young queens.

The visionary film made the Cinema Eye Honors Shorts List, an IDA nomination for Best Short, and the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Short at AFI Fest. Filmmaker Sophia Nahli Allison was singled out by Doc NYC for...

The influential Cinema Eye Honors nominations, voted on by documentary filmmakers, help to narrow the wide field for documentary awards contenders. Amazon Studios release “Time,” Garrett Bradley’s poetic black-and-white portrait of one family’s struggle through years of incarceration, leads the field with six nominations, including Outstanding Feature, Direction, Editing, Score and Debut.

Garnering four nominations: Alexander Nanau’s Romanian health system exposé “Collective” (Magnolia), Victor Kossakovsky’s story of a mother pig, “Gunda” (Neon), and David France’s “Welcome to Chechnya” (HBO) with four.

With three nominations each: Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss’ “Boys State” (Apple), Kirsten Johnson’s “Dick Johnson is Dead” (Netflix), Liz Garbus’ series “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” (HBO), Gianfranco Rosi’s Italian Oscar submission “Notturno” (Super Ltd), and Michael Dweck & Gregory Kershaw’s “The Truffle Hunters” (Sony Pictures Classics).

Per usual, prolific Netflix leads all distributors/broadcasters with thirteen nominations, while HBO Documentary Films grabbed ten,...

The influential Cinema Eye Honors nominations, voted on by documentary filmmakers, help to narrow the wide field for documentary awards contenders. Amazon Studios release “Time,” Garrett Bradley’s poetic black-and-white portrait of one family’s struggle through years of incarceration, leads the field with six nominations, including Outstanding Feature, Direction, Editing, Score and Debut.

Garnering four nominations: Alexander Nanau’s Romanian health system exposé “Collective” (Magnolia), Victor Kossakovsky’s story of a mother pig, “Gunda” (Neon), and David France’s “Welcome to Chechnya” (HBO) with four.

With three nominations each: Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss’ “Boys State” (Apple), Kirsten Johnson’s “Dick Johnson is Dead” (Netflix), Liz Garbus’ series “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” (HBO), Gianfranco Rosi’s Italian Oscar submission “Notturno” (Super Ltd), and Michael Dweck & Gregory Kershaw’s “The Truffle Hunters” (Sony Pictures Classics).

Per usual, prolific Netflix leads all distributors/broadcasters with thirteen nominations, while HBO Documentary Films grabbed ten,...

David France’s “Welcome to Chechnya,” a documentary about LGBTQ activists trying to help during the Chechnya government’s brutal crackdown on gays and lesbians, leads all films in nominations in the Cinema Eye Honors’ broadcast categories, which were announced on Thursday during a virtual edition of its annual fall lunch.

Cinema Eye, a New York-based organization founded in 2007 to recognize all aspects of nonfiction filmmaking, also announced its new Stay Focused initiative. The program spotlights 12 films by up-and-coming filmmakers who lost the chance for theatrical exhibition and film-festival exposure because of the coronavirus pandemic. Cinema Eye has pledged to find “in-person opportunities” for the filmmakers once the pandemic subsides, starting with theatrical screenings at the new Vidiots Theatre in Los Angeles in late 2021.

The 12 films include Cecilia Aldorondo’s “Landfall,” which recently won a jury award at Doc NYC; David Osit’s “Mayor,” about the Christian mayor of a...

The documentaries “Landfall” and “Five Years North” have won the top jury prizes at the 2020 Doc NYC film festival, the largest festival in the United States devoted to nonfiction filmmaking.

“Landfall,” director Cecilia Aldarondo’s portrait of a Puerto Rican community in the wake of Hurricane Maria, won the Grand Jury Prize in the Viewfinders Competition, with a special jury prize going to “Through the Night.” In the Metropolis Competition, made up of films about New York City, the top winner was “Five Years North,” Zach Ingrasci and Chris Temple’s film about a Cuban-American Ice agent and a teenage Guatemalan immigrant. “Wojnarowicz” received a special award for its use of archival material.

Jury prizes in the Short List: Features section, which was made up of 15 films deemed by Doc NYC programmers to be likely awards contenders, were awarded to “Time” for directing, “Welcome to Chechnya” for producing, “Boys State...

“Crip Camp,” “Gunda” and “Time” are among the films that have made Doc NYC’s 2020 “Short List,” an annual attempt by the New York-based festival to identify the nonfiction films most likely to play a significant part in awards season.

Those three films were also included in the Critics Choice Documentary Awards nominations for Best Documentary Feature, and on the International Documentary Association’s shortlist from which the Ida chooses nominees for the Ida Documentary Awards. They are the only three movies to land on all three lists.

Nine additional films on the Doc NYC list were also singled out either by the Ida or Critics Choice: “Boys State,” “Collective,” “Dick Johnson Is Dead,” “The Fight,” “MLK/FBI,” “76 Days,” “The Social Dilemma,” “The Truffle Hunters” and “Welcome to Chechnya.”

Other films on the Doc NYC list, which is made up of 15 documentaries, are “I Am Greta,” “On the Record” and “A Thousand Cuts.

AFI Fest on Friday announced the winners of its 2020 audience award and jury prizes. The winners include “76 Days,” a documentary about Wuhan, China’s response to the pandemic, and “Pillars,” a short that explores Black girlhood in today’s America.

The festival, now in its 34th year, attracted its largest audience ever with a mostly virtual program, which opened up the festival to an audience of residents of all 50 states. It screened 125 titles, over half of which were directed by women, 39 percent directed by people of color, and 17 percent directed by members of the LGBTQ community.

“With an audience of more than double from last year, we welcomed over 200 filmmakers and guests from around the world for Q&As and panels,” said Michael Lumpkin, director AFI Festivals. “This year’s festival was truly a celebration of film across the country with festival goers joining us online from all 50 states.

After a quiet summer punctuated with a handful of culture-shaking hits, Netflix is ramping up its original content as we roll into the fall. The result is the most unusual, diverse, and even controversial slate the streamer has rolled out all year. Charlie Kaufman’s mind-bending and extraordinary “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” has to be at the top of the list, but a handful of other must-see movies will be vying for your attention, from well-vetted festival standouts like “Cuties” (recently the target of an uninformed online smear campaign) to vital documentaries like Sophia Nahli Allison’s “Love Song for Latasha” (about the 15-year-old Black girl whose murder sparked the L.A. Riots), and unknown quantities like Antonio Campos’ star-studded Southern gothic “The Devil All the Time” and the Millie Bobby Brown detective comedy “Enola Holmes.” This month’s library titles include recent favorites like Paul Dano’s “Wildlife...