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This hellhole that we call Earth has been plagued by countless forms of fascism and war since the dawn of time. Among the earliest records of human history are so-called great men boasting of their conquests, be it the Narmer Palette in Egypt or the Stele of the Vultures in ancient Sumeria. Then there is Germany’s reign of terror over all of Europe. As if that wasn’t enough, Russia is waging war on Ukraine, and Israel is erasing Palestine from existence while you’re reading this sentence. Now, when movies (and TV shows) depict these horrifying conflicts, they usually focus on the kinds of oppression and violence that were inflicted by the oppressors on the oppressed, you know, to remind people that it shouldn’t happen again. Yet, it happens again and again. So, I guess, filmmakers are approaching this topic a little differently now by showing how...

The Grierson Trust has announced the shortlist for the 2024 British Documentary Awards, with the BBC coming top at 28 entries.

Channel 4 follows closely behind with 23, Netflix with 17, Sky Documentaries with eight and National Geographic with four. The shortlist spans 15 program and presenter categories to reflect the best documentary singles and series launched across broadcasters, streamers and online, as well as theatrical releases.

This year’s awards includes a new category titled best popular culture documentary, open to single documentaries or an episode from a strand or series that depicts people, events, movements or trends that have had a major impact on pop culture in recent years. Shortlisted entries in this category cover a hoax pedophile scare created by Internet users, one of the U.K.’s most prominent performance poets, and an investigation into allegations of abuse against Kevin Spacey.

The Arts category features several films about fashion industry icons...

Far from the bright lights of Bollywood, the indomitable Indian documentary filmmaking industry has been making waves globally.

The recent past has several examples of India’s international success. In 2021, Payal Kapadia’s “A Night of Knowing Nothing” won the Cannes documentary award, while Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s “Writing With Fire” won Sundance and was Oscar nominated. In 2022, Kartiki Gonsalves’ “The Elephant Whisperers” won the documentary short Oscar; Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes” won both the Sundance and Cannes documentary awards and scored an Oscar nomination, in addition to a plethora of other wins; and Vinay Shukla’s “While We Watched” won awards at Toronto and Busan.

In 2023, Sarvnik Kaur’s “Against the Tide” won a special jury award at Sundance and in 2024, Park City continued to be a happy hunting ground for India with a win for Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan’s “Nocturnes.” 2024 has continued to bring cheer for India,...

“The Bear,” “Bluey,” “Reservation Dogs,” “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” “The Last of Us” and “Jury Duty” are among the series set to receive this year’s Peabody Award, the org was set to announce on Thursday morning. The Peabody Awards’ board of 32 jurors have selected 34 winners, all of which received unanimous vote from TV, podcast/radio and web/digital nominees in entertainment, news, documentary, arts, children’s/youth, public service, and interactive programming.

HBO/Max led the wins with seven total, followed by PBS with five, and then three for Amazon MGM Studios and two each for FX and The Washington Post. This repped the second Peabody for “Reservation Dogs” and the third for “Last Week Tonight.”

“Whether courageously documenting wars across the globe or cleverly bringing much needed smiles to our faces, the winners of the 84th Peabody Awards each crafted compelling and imaginative stories,” said Peabody...

Los Angeles, Feb 25 (Ians) Netflix, reports ‘Variety’, has acquired Nisha Pahuja’s Oscar-nominated documentary feature ‘To Kill a Tiger’, which tells the story of the father of a 13-year-old rape victim in Jharkhand and his long and lonely fight for justice.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022 and was awarded best documentary at Palm Springs.

The 127-minute film charts the emotional journey of Ranjit, a farmer in Jharkhand, whose determined effort forces a social reckoning after his 13-year-old daughter is the victim of a gang rape, adds ‘Variety’.

Pahuja, who spent eight months making the film, is a New Delhi-born Canadian director who was previously in the news about her Emmy nomination for the documentary feature ‘The World Before Her’, which is about the complex and conflicting environment in which young girls grow up in India.

For the last six months, ‘To Kill a Tiger’ executive...

Netflix has acquired the Oscar-nominated documentary feature “To Kill a Tiger.”

The film, about a father’s pursuit of justice in rural India, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022 and was awarded best documentary at the 2023 Palm Springs International Film Festival. “To Kill a Tiger” was, up until now, the only film this year to be nominated for the best feature doc Oscar without distribution.

Directed and written by New Delhi-born director Nisha Pahuja (“The World Before Her”), the 127-minute film charts the emotional journey of Ranjit, a farmer in Jharkhand, who forces a social reckoning after his 13-year-old daughter is the victim of a gang rape.

Variety‘s film critic Siddhant Adlakha wrote in his “To Kill a Tiger” review that the docu “is a powerful and risky example of the vitality of modern nonfiction filmed in South Asia. It joins recent films like “All That Breathes,...

The Cinema Eye Honors announced the winners for its documentary films and series competition Friday in Manhattan, with “32 Sounds” taking the honor for outstanding nonfiction feature. Maite Alberdi won outstanding direction for “The Eternal Memory” together with Kaouther Ben Hania for “Four Daughters,” while “Paul T. Goldman” won outstanding nonfiction series.

See all the winners below:

—Outstanding Nonfiction Feature

32 Sounds

Directed by Sam Green

Produced by Josh Penn and Thomas O. Kriegsmann

—Outstanding Direction

Maite Alberdi

The Eternal Memory

Kaouther Ben Hania

Four Daughters

—Outstanding Editing

Michael Harte

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

—Outstanding Production

Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson Rath, Derl McCrudden and Vasilisa Stepanenko

20 Days in Mariupol

—Outstanding Cinematography

Ants Tammik

Smoke Sauna Sisterhood

—Outstanding Original Score

Jd Samson

32 Sounds

—Outstanding Sound Design

Mark Mangini

32 Sounds

—Outstanding Visual Design

Thomas Curtis and Sean Pierce

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project

—Outstanding Debut

Kokomo...

The rare documentary that opens not just with a content warning, but with a request not to share identifying images of its child subject, To Kill a Tiger is a heavy but necessary work about the legalese and cultural attitudes surrounding sexual violence in rural India. The Oscar-shortlisted doc from New Delhi-born director Nisha Pahuja is a powerful and risky example of the vitality of modern nonfiction filmed in South Asia. It joins recent films like “All That Breathes,” “Against the Tide,” “While We Watched” and “A Night of Knowing Nothing,” which fill the narrative gaps too often left by mainstream Indian fiction, while adopting — and in many ways, re-invigorating — the visual language of traditional drama.

Much of the film follows Ranjit, the father of a 13-year-old survivor of sexual assault, as he searches for justice for his daughter in their village in the eastern state of Jharkhand. However, the...

Bobi Wine: The People’s President won the top prize of best feature documentary at the 2023 International Documentary Awards on Tuesday night.

The film follows music star, activist and opposition leader Bobi Wine amid Uganda’s 2021 presidential election.

Accepting the award during the International Documentary Association’s virtual awards show, co-director Moses Bwayo said, “The awareness this film has brought to world audiences has arguably kept Bobi Wine alive and out of prison for now.”

Asmae El Moudir won best director for The Mother of All Lies, in which El Moudir creates a replica of the Casablanca neighborhood where she grew up, allowing her to reconnect with her past.

The Mother of All Lies was nominated for three awards, along with Milisuthando, while Apolonia, Apolonia had a leading four nominations.

Incident, which reconstructs a Chicago police shooting in 2018 from numerous viewpoints, won best short documentary award. Pov and Pov Shorts...

Apolonia, Apolonia leads the 2023 International Documentary Awards nominations with four nods.

Other top nominees include The Mother of All Lies and Milisuthando, which earned three nominations apiece.

All three films are up for the top prize of best feature documentary, along with two-time nominees Against the Tide, ANHELL69, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project and Q.

All of this year’s best director nominees represent films nominated for best feature.

Other two-time nominees, not up for best feature or director, include Anselm (best cinematography and original music score), To Kill a Tiger (best original music score and best writing) and Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (best editing and cinematography).

Winners will be announced at the IDA’s virtual awards show, set for Dec. 12, which will take place at 8 p.m. Pt and stream on documentary.org and the IDA’s YouTube, Facebook and Instagram channels.

“In the wake of devastating events...

The International Documentary Association has announced nominations in 18 categories for its 39th awards, which will be awarded in a streaming ceremony on Dec. 12.

The nominees for best feature documentary are “Against the Tide,” “ANHELL69,” “Apolonia, Apolonia,” “Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” “In the Rearview,” “Milisuthando,” Q,” “The Mother of All Lies” and “While We Watched.”

The awards will unspool at 8 p.m. Pt on documentary.org and on IDA’s YouTube, Facebook and Instagram channels.

“In the wake of devastating events unfolding in the world and the grief our staff, board, community, and humanity at large are experiencing, we have decided to forego an in-person party. We know that stories have the power to encourage compassion, understanding, and peace. We are committed to preserving space for stories to be shared. Our wish is to recognize and celebrate the nominees and winners together, as a global documentary community,...

The 2023 IDA Documentary Awards has officially unveiled its list of nominees.

The 39th annual awards ceremony for the International Documentary Association will take place virtually on December 12, streaming on documentary.org, as well as the IDA YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram channels. The awards recognize the top films and projects in the documentary genre.

Nominees include “Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” about how a Ugandan pop star disrupted the national political landscape; “Pianoforte,” following the prestigious international piano competition; and HBO documentary “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project.” The shortlist for the nominees was announced earlier this year

The decision to hold the 2023 IDA Documentary Awards virtually was in part due to the current geopolitical landscape, according to IDA Interim Executive Director Ken Ikeda.

“In the wake of devastating events unfolding in the world and the grief our staff, board, community, and humanity at large are experiencing, we have decided to forego an in-person party,...

Lea Glob’s documentary Apolonia, Apolonia earned a leading four nominations today as the IDA Documentary Awards revealed its nominees for the 39th edition of the prestigious event.

Following closely with three nominations apiece were The Mother of All Lies, directed by Asmae El Moudir, and Milisuthando, directed by Milisuthando Bongela.

Apolonia, Apolonia, a personal exploration into the life and work of French artist Apolonia Sokol filmed over the course of 13 years, will compete for Best Documentary Feature, Best Director, Best Writing, and Best Editing. Glob’s film won the top prize at IDFA, where it debuted last November, going on to win awards at Cph:dox in Copenhagen, the Hong Kong International Film Festival, and the Sofia International Film Festival, among others. Despite its many laurels, the film has yet to land a U.S. distributor.

‘The Mother of All Lies’

The Mother of All Lies earned nominations as Best Documentary Feature,...

Social media have completely exploded in Asean countries, with the Philippines and Indonesia seemingly leading the surge. As such, it is by no surprise that a number of movies from these countries lately focus, with “Where is the Lie?” being one of the latest we have watched. John Rogers presents his own take, which does go towards a rather darker path, however, as it also mixes the concept of mental illness.

“While We Watched” is screening at San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase

Gemma Stone became a social media influencer after a video her ex-boyfriend published on the web, with her in complete breakdown after being fired. Soon after, she became quite famous with her fans following her every video of her everyday life. Currently, however, she is burning out from trying to maintain the interest of her followers, while on a fateful night, her partner in crime ‘breaks...

The International Documentary Association announced the 17 feature-length and 25 short documentaries included on the shortlists for the 39th IDA Documentary Awards, which will be held during the week of Dec. 11in Los Angeles.

The nominees will be announced on Nov. 21, and IDA members will vote for Best Feature Documentary and Best Short Documentary until Dec. 5.

“The 39th IDA Documentary Awards continues the tradition of celebrating the best of international nonfiction media of the year,” said Ken Ikeda, IDA’s Interim Executive Director. “This year’s Best Feature Documentary and Best Short Documentary shortlists reflect important work from twenty-one countries. We are excited to celebrate the work of our community and present winners this December in Los Angeles.”

The 2023 shortlists and nominees are selected by independent committees of 280 documentary makers, curators, critics and industry experts from 40 countries. IDA received 669 total submissions in all categories from 48 countries.

Best Feature Documentary Shortlist

Against the Tide...

The International Documentary Association (IDA) on Tuesday announced its best feature and short shortlists for the 2023 IDA Documentary Awards.

The ceremony will be held during the week of Dec. 11 in Los Angeles — venue information is set to follow. Starting Nov. 7, IDA members will be able to view each of the shortlisted films on IDA Virtual Cinema, and up to 10 nominees from each category will be selected. The nominees will be announced on Nov. 21.

“The 39th IDA Documentary Awards continues the tradition of celebrating the best of international nonfiction media of the year,” said Ken Ikeda, IDA’s interim executive director. “This year’s best feature documentary and best short documentary shortlists reflect important work from twenty-one countries. We are excited to celebrate the work of our community and present winners this December in Los Angeles.”

280 documentary filmmakers, curators, critics and industry experts from 40 countries selected the shortlists. IDA received 669 total submissions from 48 countries.

The 39th International Documentary Awards have announced their shortlists for the best nonfiction entries of the year, with a ceremony to take place during the week of Dec. 11 in Los Angeles in a venue to be named. The films were selected by independent committees comprised of 280 documentary makers, curators, critics, and industry experts from 40 countries. IDA received 669 total submissions in all categories from 48 countries.

New York Times Op-Docs dominated the Documentary Short category with seven mentions, including entries from the Netherlands (“Neighbour Abdi”), Mexico (“Victoria”) and Hungary (“Away”) among the shortlisted selections. The Documentary Feature category appeared to favor less-buzzy international titles this season.

What is surprising about the IDA shortlist is how many of the year’s presumed top contenders are not included. Of the 21 nonfiction films that have been nominated by the Critics Choice Documentary Awards or placed on the Doc NYC shortlist of likely awards titles, only...

The International Documentary Association has unveiled their shortlist for their 39th annual award ceremony, celebrating the best in documentary filmmaking.

17 feature-length documentaries — including “Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” and “Anonymous Sister” — were selected for the shortlist, as were 25 short films. The films hail from over 20 countries, including Canada, India, Cambodia, Denmark, Uganda, France, and South Africa.

From the shortlist, up to 10 nominees in both the Best Feature Documentary and Best Short Documentary categories will be selected by IDA members. In addition, awards will be given to additional films in the following categories: Best Curated Series, Best Episodic Series, Best Multi-Part Documentary, Best TV Feature Documentary or Mini-Series, Best Short Form Series, Best Stand-Alone Audio Documentary, Best Multi-Part Audio Documentary or Series, David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award, Best Music Documentary, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Writing, Best Music Score, ABC News VideoSource Award,...

Budget cap for the retitled award has risen to £1m.

Mark Jenkin’s Enys Men and Edward Lovelace’s Name Me Lawand are among the 11 films longlisted for the renamed Bifa Maverick award, which has an increased budget cap this year.

Formerly the Raindance Discovery award, the Maverick prize is now open to independent UK features made for up to £1m – up from the previous cap of £500,000.

Scroll down for the full longlist

There is no limit on UK theatrical distribution for the award.

Nine of the 11 films are documentaries, including Screen Star of Tomorrow Ella Glendining’s Is There Anybody Out There?.

Final five nominations to be announced on November 2.

Steve McQueen’s Occupied City, Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall and Todd Haynes’ May December are among the titles on the latest British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) longlists, for Best Feature Documentary and Best International Independent Film.

15 films are on the documentary longlist, with five of them by first-time directors; with 17 films on the international list.

Scroll down for the longlists

Alongside McQueen’s film combining analysis of Amsterdam during the Second World War with the present day, documentary titles include Kevin MacDonald’s High & Low: John Galliano about the...

A new wave of Indian documentary makers have risen on the international scene in the last decade, exemplified by the Oscar-nominated titles “All That Breathes” and “Writing with Fire.” An important guiding light for this generation is the trailblazing filmmaker Anand Patwardhan and his rigorous socio-political films such as “Reason,” “Jai Bhim Comrade” and “War and Peace.”

Now, at age 73, Patwardhan is premiering his most personal film “The World Is Family,” profiling his own parents, at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. In celebration of this latest film and his rich career so far, we asked six filmmakers to describe what Patwardhan means to them.

Shaunak Sen (“All That Breathes”)

To hail Anand Patwardhan as a mainstay in the non-fiction constellation of Indian cinema has been something of an oft-trotted cliche, for at least three decades now. Yet there is a reason cliches are what they are: they represent a consensus...

Updated with the addition of The Holly and American Symphony to the FallDocs lineup.

The Holly, Julian Rubinstein’s documentary about conflict over a gentrifying neighborhood near Denver, and Matthew Heineman’s film American Symphony, about Grammy-winning musician Jon Batiste, have been added to the IDA’s FallDocs screening series.

American Symphony will hold an in-person screening on Tuesday, Oct. 3 at the Culver Theater in Los Angeles, followed by a live Q&a with Heineman.

The Holly will hold an in-person screening on Tuesday, Nov. 7 at the Culver Theater, followed by a live Q&a with Rubinstein, main participant Terrance Roberts, and Aqeela Sherrills, anti-violence activist and co-founder of Community Based Public Safety Collective.

Earlier: Exclusive: The International Documentary Association announced the lineup for its prestigious FallDocs 2023 program, featuring a slew of Oscar contending nonfiction films as well as more than two dozen films that haven’t yet nailed down distribution.

Documentary producer dedicated to using non-fiction storytelling to bring about change on many vital issues

Jess Search, who has died aged 54 of brain cancer, did much to shape and inspire the world of documentary film. With the colleagues who had joined her in creating the non-profit organisation Doc Society, she sought to harness the power of non-fiction storytelling to bring about change on such issues as the climate crisis and defending democracy.

The many dozens of films she funded, advised, mentored, distributed, produced or executive produced include Citizenfour (2014), about the whistleblower Edward Snowden; Virunga (2014), on protecting gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo; The Look of Silence (2014), recalling the murder of a million supposed communists in Indonesia in the mid-1960s; Knock Down the House (2019), following the campaign in which Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was elected to the House of Representatives; Cow (2021), a portrait of bovine life on the farm; and the...

Annecy animation ‘The Tunnel To Summer…’ has 100+ location release.

Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One heads into its first weekend at the UK-Ireland box office, as the first of several summer blockbusters that will compete for audiences in the coming weeks.

Having started previews on Monday, July 10, Dead Reckoning Part One already has almost £4.1m in the bank. It will play in 717 locations this weekend – Paramount’s second-widest UK-Ireland release of all time, after the 741 of 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, also starring Tom Cruise. 52 of those sites will be Imax, with Paramount looking to make the most...

Disney releases “Elemental” and “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” were locked in a near dead heat at the U.K. and Ireland box office, with the animated elements edging out the veteran archaeologist.

“Elemental” debuted with £3.049 million ($3.876 million), according to numbers from Comscore. In its second weekend, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” whipped up £3.046 million ($3.873 million) for a close second and now has a total of £13.1 million.

If looking at weekend numbers alone, Harrison Ford’s last adventure as the man in the hat won the race as the “Elemental” numbers include “limited secret sneak previews from across the market,” according to Disney.

Sony’s “Insidious: The Red Door” scared up £2.2 million in a third place debut. In its sixth weekend, Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” swung to £964,566 in fourth position for a total of £27.7 million.

Rounding off the top five was Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,...

Moody’s previous roles include director of film programming at Sheffield Doc Fest.

Luke W Moody, the former director of film programming at the UK’s Sheffield DocFest, has been named the head of the BFI Doc Society Fund at Doc Society.

In this role, Moody will lead the team in managing all aspects of the UK-wide BFI Doc Society Fund slate and will collaborate with Doc Society directors Shanida Scotland and Sandra Whipham on the strategic direction of Doc Society’s role as the BFI’s UK-wide delegate partner for documentary.

Scotland and Whipham had been managing the fund on an interim basis.

‘Opponent’ debuted in Panorama at Berlinale.

MetFilm Distribution has acquired UK-Ireland rights to Milad Alami’s Opponent, which plays in the main Crystal Globe competition this week at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff).

The second feature from Iranian director Alami, Opponent follows a man who breaks a promise to his wife and joins a local wrestling club, after the family have fled Iran for northern Sweden.

The film debuted in Panorama at the 2023 Berlinale, going on to win a special jury prize in competition at Seattle International Film Festival in May.

A Separation star Payman Maadi plays the lead role,...

Earlier this year, Indian news network Ndtv — one of the only remaining mainstream media channels in the country that raised questions against its government — was acquired by the country's top oligarch, the Adani Group. An open supporter and old friend of the country's prime minister, Gautam Adani's acquisition further raised doubts about the state's crackdown on freedom of speech and expression, manifested by disqualification of opposition MPs and wide crackdown on dissenters as well as dissidents. Following the acquisition, one of the country's most talked about senior journalists resigned from the news channel. Vinay Shukla's poignant new documentary tells the story of that one journalist.

“While We Watched” is screening at San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase

The 92-minute documentary starts with Ravish Kumar walking into an abandoned floor with its walls and ceilings being taken apart. Holding a flashlight in his hand, he walks across the room,...

All That Breathes.When Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh decided to mount an Oscar campaign in October 2021 for their film Writing with Fire, they were attempting a historic first. Until then, no Indian documentary feature had ever been on the radar for the Academy Awards. The general assumption has always been that India had only one category to gun for: Best International Feature Film. Every year since 1957, the Film Federation of India (Ffi), an apex body comprising Indian film producers, exhibitors, distributors, and studio owners, has appointed a committee to select the country’s official submission from the year’s releases. These selections have often proved to be arbitrary decisions, rarely standing a chance at even making the shortlist, primarily due to a vague selection process that lacks credibility. In the last six decades, only three Indian submissions—Mother India (1957), Salaam Bombay (1988), and Lagaan (2001)—actually ended up with a nomination.

The Sydney Film Festival, which this year will celebrate its 70th edition, has unveiled its first dozen selections. Seven are feature films, five are documentaries.

“The 2023 program will expand on this legacy, promising to ignite stimulating dialogues and present powerful ideas that will broaden audience perspectives,” said festival director Nashen Moodley. He noted that over the previous 69 editions the Sydney festival has showcased more than 10,000 films.

Highlights among the documentaries are two Australian titles. “Rachel’s Farm” follows actor-director Rachel Ward as she revitalizes her beef farm using sustainable farming practices. In “The Last Daughter” Wiradjuri woman Brenda Matthews documents her search to uncover the truth about her government-ordered abduction as a child and to find her white foster family. Both Matthews and Ward will attend the festival in person.

“Red, White and Brass” – presented as a feature, rather than a documentary – is a fact-based tale of a group of...

MetFilm Distribution has acquired the U.K. and Ireland rights to Vinay Shukla’s multi-award-winning documentary ‘While We Watched’, reports ‘Variety’.

Produced by the UK’s Lono Studio and BritDoc Films, the documentary is a newsroom drama chronicling the working days of former popular Ndtv journalist Ravish Kumar as he navigates a spiralling world of truth and disinformation, ‘Variety’ adds.

A Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, Kumar resigned after controversial billionaire Gautam Adani took over the company.

‘While We Watched’ debuted at Toronto in 2022 where it won the Amplify Voices award, followed by Busan, where it picked up the Cinephile award, according to ‘Variety’. Most recently, the film won the international competition at Helsinki’s DocPoint Festival.

Shukla had previously co-directed the 2016 political documentary ‘An Insignificant Man’ on the rise of Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party. ‘While We Watched’, Shukla told ‘Variety’, is “my love letter to journalism”.

He...

MetFilm Distribution has acquired U.K. and Ireland rights to Vinay Shukla’s documentary “While We Watched.”

Produced by the U.K.’s Lono Studio and BritDoc Films, the documentary is a newsroom drama intimately chronicling the working days of Indian broadcast journalist Ravish Kumar as he navigates a spiralling world of truth and disinformation. Kumar, a Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, was a senior journalist at Indian news platform Ndtv, who resigned after billionaire Gautam Adani took over the company.

“While We Watched” debuted at Toronto in 2022 where it won the Amplify Voices award, followed by Busan, where it won the Cinephile award. Most recently, the film won the international competition at Helsinki’s DocPoint Festival.

Shukla previously co-directed controversial Indian political documentary “An Insignificant Man.”

Shukla said: “ ‘While We Watched’ is my love letter to journalism. It’s an urgent newsroom horror film — there is a story of hope...

TIFF 2022Independent Canadian filmmaker Nisha Pahuja’s ‘To Kill a Tiger’ and Indian filmmaker Vinay Shukla’s ‘While We Watched’ (or ‘Namaskar! Main Ravish Kumar’) both won Amplify Voice Awards at TIFF.Suresh NellikodeA scene from To Kill a Tiger | Image courtesy: TIFFAs the 47th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) came to a close on Sunday, September 18, two India-based movies bagged top honours for their directors for bravely taking up challenging subjects. Independent Canadian filmmaker Nisha Pahuja’s To Kill a Tiger and Indian filmmaker Vinay Shukla’s While We Watched (or Namaskar! Main Ravish Kumar) both won Amplify Voice Awards. To Kill a Tiger is a documentary, made with the help of the National Film Board of Canada, that took 8 years to shoot. The film tells the story of a 13-year-old girl from a poor family in a village in Jharkhand who is brutally gang-raped. The...

Canada’s Riceboy Sleeps wins Platform Prize.

Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical The Fabelmans has bolstered its awards season prospects by winning the TIFF People’s Choice Award on Sunday (September 18).

The award is a highly reliable bellwether of Academy voter attention. In the last ten years every TIFF audience award winner has earned a best picture Oscar nomination and three have gone on to win awards season’s top prize: Nomadland in 2021, Green Book in 2019, and 12 Years A Slave in 2014.

The Fabelmans earned a rapturous reception at its world premiere on September 10 and immediately announced itself in the awards race,...

After two weeks and dozens of movies, the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival has come to a close. At Sunday’s Awards Breakfast, all eyes were on the People’s Choice Award, which is frequently a bellwether for the Oscar race. For the past decade, every winner of the coveted award has gone onto receive a nomination for Best Picture. Competition for the People’s Choice Award was stiff, with critical darlings such as “Women Talking” and “The Banshees of Inisherin” vying for the top prize. But ultimately, Steven Spielberg’s crowd pleasing, semi-autobiographical film “The Fabelmans” was named the winner.

“Above all, I am glad I brought this film to Toronto,” Spielberg said in a statement. “This is the most personal film I have made, and the warm reception from everyone in Toronto made my first visit to TIFF intimate and personal for me and my entire ‘Fabelmans’ family.”

“2022 brought...

Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical coming-of-age story “The Fabelmans” took home the Toronto International Film Festival’s people’s choice award, providing a major boost to its awards season chances.

TIFF’s people’s choice award is one of the most reliable predictors of eventual Oscar success. In past years, winners such as “Green Book” and “Nomadland” went on to capture the best picture prize at the Academy Awards. Other recent recipients, including “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” “La La Land” and “Jojo Rabbit,” were best picture nominees and major forces during awards season.

Since the people’s choice category was created in 1978, seven recipients went on to win best picture at the Oscars — five of which were in the past 20 years.

“As I said on stage the other night, ‘Above all, I’m glad I brought this film to Toronto!’ This is the most personal film I’ve ever made,...

Click here to read the full article.

Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans picked up the top People’s Choice honor Sunday at the Toronto Film Festival, which wrapped up its 47th edition.

Spielberg’s latest film grabbed TIFF’s top audience award, which is often a barometer of future Academy Award nominations. “This is the most personal film I’ve ever made, and the warm reception from everyone in Toronto made my first visit to TIFF so intimate and personal for me and my entire Fabelman family,” the director said in a statement following the announcement of his win.

The Fabelmans, co-written with Tony Kushner, marks the first time the Oscar winner debuted a movie at the Toronto Film Festival. The childhood memoir will be released Nov. 11 via Universal. Another autobiographical family film about a director’s childhood, Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast, was named the top audience prize winner in...

Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” has won the 2022 TIFF People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced at an awards breakfast on Sunday in Toronto.

Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking” took the first runner-up slot, while Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” was the second runner-up.

The People’s Choice Documentary award went to Hubert Davis’ hockey doc “Black Ice,” while the Midnight Madness award was won by Eric Appel’s entirely fake rock biopic “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.”

Also Read:

‘The Fabelmans’ Film Review: Steven Spielberg’s Sweet Memory Piece Picks Up Steam as It Goes

In a year with an abundance of high-profile, crowd-pleasing movies in the TIFF lineup, other films in competition for the award included Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin,” Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale,” Florian Zeller’s “The Son,” Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “The Woman King,...