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Directors Sebastian Junger and Nick Quested have traveled to the darkest corners of the world, from Afghanistan to Syria and beyond. Together, they earned a News and Documentary Emmy Award and an Oscar nomination for their films, including the harrowing “Restrepo” and “Korengal.” In their new National Geographic documentary “Blood on the Wall,” the journalists-turned-filmmakers pivot to Central America to explore the corruption dictating and impeding the swell of migration into Mexico, diving into such issues as how Acapulco went from tourism hotspot to murder capital of the world. Check out the first trailer for “Blood on the Wall,” exclusive to IndieWire, below. Look for the film on National Geographic on September 30.

Here’s the official synopsis:

“Blood on the Wall” explores the internal and external influences on Mexico as it deals with the key issues of migrant caravans from Central America heading to the U.S., the dangerous but...

Getting out early can be an advantage in the documentary race, which is often front loaded at January’s Sundance Film Festival. While a raft of movies made their mark, the question is which ones can sustain support through the end of the year.

Among that festival’s breakouts were three Syria documentaries. Daring and timely “City of Ghosts” (July 14, A & E/Amazon Studios), which is Matthew Heineman’s follow-up to his Oscar-nominated border drug war thriller “Cartel Land,” will get a major push. Any footage from Syria came from the fearless Raqqa journalists he tracked through Turkey and Germany, where they discover that they are not necessarily safe — anywhere.

It remains to be seen if there will be room for more than one Syrian documentary. HBO Documentary Films is forgoing Emmy consideration for “Winter on Fire” nominee Evgeny Afineevsky’s harrowing “Cries From Syria” (March 10, HBO), planning an Oscar push this fall.

In a world where TV networks fight for the opportunity to showcase the best nonfiction content that will keep viewers on their couches, the Toronto-based Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival (April 27 – May 7) is a very, very good place to be.

What began 24 years ago as a modest showcase for Canadian documentaries is now a sprawling international program that screens 230 titles from 58 countries. The festival still favors homegrown product, but also amplifies movies from Sundance (“Chasing Coral,” “Long Strange Trip,” “City of Ghosts”) and Tribeca (“The Departure,” “A River Below”), as well as some international (Joe Berlinger’s “Intent to Destroy”) and world premieres (“A Moon of Nickel and Ice”).

“Hot Docs creates an environment where you can meet with the best in the documentary world,” said director Cullen Hoback, who brought his sharp pollution whodunit “What Lies Upstream” first to Slamdance, then to Hot Docs (Preferred Content is seeking...

In a world where TV networks fight for the opportunity to showcase the best nonfiction content that will keep viewers on their couches, the Toronto-based Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival (April 27 – May 7) is a very, very good place to be.

What began 24 years ago as a modest showcase for Canadian documentaries is now a sprawling international program that screens 230 titles from 58 countries. The festival still favors homegrown product, but also amplifies movies from Sundance (“Chasing Coral,” “Long Strange Trip,” “City of Ghosts”) and Tribeca (“The Departure,” “A River Below”), as well as some international (Joe Berlinger’s “Intent to Destroy”) and world premieres (“A Moon of Nickel and Ice”).

“Hot Docs creates an environment where you can meet with the best in the documentary world,” said director Cullen Hoback, who brought his sharp pollution whodunit “What Lies Upstream” first to Slamdance, then to Hot Docs (Preferred Content is seeking...

Exclusive: Sales and distribution veteran Mark Lindsay to introduce five new titles to Cannes buyers.

New York-based Saboteur Media has launched a production and finance operation with a broader sales remit and hired former Miramax International senior executive Mark Lindsay as president of distribution.

The moves comes as executive director Nick Quested expands the suite of services beyond those of documentary distributor and sales company initially launched under the auspices of Goldcrest Films.

Saboteur now operates as a stand-alone entity that produces, finances and sells narrative and documentary features, with particular emphasis on empowering the New York creative community and an opportunistic eye towards television.

The company has the ability to finance tax credits and invest equity in select projects, which will not rely on pre-sales in order to get greenlight. It serves as co-producer on all five titles headed for Cannes.

Lindsay, whose executive roles have included head of sales and distribution at Kimmel International, Arclight...

Exclusive: Saboteur will rep two films at the European Film Market.

Goldcrest’s New York-based doc distributor Saboteur Media is entering the international sales arena and will launch two films at the Efm.

Sales will be handled by Pierre Weisbein, formerly of Goldcrest, Canal+ and StudioCanal.

Screening in Berlin’s Panorama is Afghan war documentary Tell Spring Not To Come This Year, told from the Afghan perspective bydirectors Saeed Taji Farouky and Mike McEvoy.

Also on the slate is Shan Nicholson’s Rubble Kings about gangs and hip hop culture in new York between 1968 and 1975 . Saboteur will release day-and-date in the U.S. later this year.

Set up 18 months ago, Saboteur has handled the Us release of ten films including Sebastian Junger’s Korengal.

Nick Quested, executive director of Goldcrest Films, explained: “We aim to put our films in front of audiences wherever they are. Now with a broader reach, Pierre coming...

Award-winning war journalist and filmmaker Sebastian Junger is no stranger to risk-taking. After venturing to Afghanistan and Nigeria for film projects, he is now taking a daring and unconventional approach to marketing and distribution with his latest documentary, “Korengal.” See photos: 20 of Denzel Washington and Liam Neeson's Biggest Box Office Hits (Photos) While the film is available to stream via more traditional services including iTunes and Amazon, Junger and his partners at indie company Goldcrest Films are also releasing a series of extras to potential viewers via BitTorrent's Bundle streaming service. Also read: Facebook Members Memorialize ‘Restrepo’ Director “We don't have a distribution partner,...

Vanity Fair writer Sebastian Junger is well-known not only for "The Perfect Storm" (which was made into a George Clooney action movie) and his intrepid war reporting--which he ended after the untimely death in Libya of his long-time partner, British Vanity Fair photographer and cinematographer Tim Hetherington--but the Oscar-nominated documentary "Restrepo." I interviewed Junger and Hetherington for that movie (see video below), and talked to Junger again recently about the sequel "Korengal," which is in current release and available for pre-order on Vhx.  "Restrepo" didn't resemble your standard documentary, in any way. It's not like other embedded war docs, or voice-over narration films, or movies with a strong personality or clear narrative spine. It's another animal. The film dogged me emotionally, messed up my tear ducts. Junger and Hetherington are strapping, manly men. They could hold their own with U.S. soldiers in the toughest mountain terrain. In our.

From 2007 to 2008, writer, seasoned war journalist and filmmaker Sebastian Junger went on patrol, survived an Ied attack, endured firefights and boredom, and bonded with the soldiers of Camp Restrepo, a remote outpost deep in the Korengal Valley in the northeast region of Afghanistan. Embedded with the men of U.S. Army Battle Company 2nd of the 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Junger and his co-director, Tim Hetherington, documented the experience in their 2010 movie Restrepo — a you-are-there account of modern combat that earned the duo an Academy-Award nomination for Best Documentary.

Here's a rundown of the specialty box office this weekend, which saw Sebastian Junger's doc "Korengal" top openers in its exclusive engagement debut, narrowly beating out the per-theater-average of Kelly Reichardt's "Night Moves," which was in one more theater. News wasn't quite so good for other openers, with "We Are The Best," "Filth" and "Lucky Them" all failing to managed significant audiences. The Debuts: Debut Winner of the Weekend: "Korengal." Sebastian Junger's "Korengal" -- a follow up to the Oscar nominated doc "Restrepo" that Junger made with the late Tim Hetherington --opened exclusively at Landmark's Sunshine cinema in New York to a very strong $15,145 -- giving it the best average of any film in release save studio topper "Maleficent" (though it helped it was only on one screen). The film, a Saboteur Media release, was self financed by Junger. It will open in Los Angeles on June...

Maleficent managed to enchant audiences and take flight opening weekend while Seth MacFarlane’s sophomore effort, A Million Ways to Die in the West, stumbled out of the gates.

Disney’s gothic fantasy, a PG-rated re-imagining of the classic Sleeping Beauty villain starring Angelina Jolie in the titular role, netted an estimated $70 million from 3,948 locations — $6.7 million of which was from the 347 IMAX screens. Boasting an A Cinema Score, the $180 million pic also brought in $100.6 million internationally from 47 territories (40 percent ahead of Oz: The Great and Powerful), bringing its global cume to a mighty $170.6 million. It opens in China on June...

★★★☆☆When is too much enough and not enough moreish is the question one takes away from Sebastian Junger's sequel to his award winning and epoch busting 2010 documentary Restrepo, which he co-directed with recently deceased photographer Tim Hetherington. Battle Company: Korengal (2014) again focuses with a piercing gaze on Battle Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade that were the focus of the previous film. As in the first film, Restrepo refers to the outpost in the Korengal Valley looked upon as the most dangerous posting in Afghanistan, where the soldiers live and fight in spartan conditions with no electricity, running water or internet for up to six months at a time.

Related without narration or score, the 2010 Restrepo was a remarkable vérité documentary account of the war in Afghanistan that immersed the audience in the immediacy, boredom, adrenaline, and fear experienced by the Battle Company of the 173rd Airborne Brigade stationed in the Korengal Valley, widely regarded as one of the most dangerous locations in the country.

The follow-up, Korengal, bears the tagline "This is what war feels like," but this time, director Sebastian Junger means something different. Restrepo co-director Tim Hetherington died in 2012 while covering the civil war in Libya, and Junger revisited unused footage they shot together for the first film and embellished it with retrospective interviews with the soldiers.

The r...

Horses of God

Not Rated, 1 Hr., 55 Mins.

Four boys from the slums of Morocco mutate into suicide bombers in this tense drama, which uses the 2003 Casablanca terror attack as its backdrop. Director Nabil Ayouch hammers his points rather bluntly, but his filmmaking is hypnotic. The camera, initially jittery and handheld, slows to static shots, eerily matching the characters’ stagnant mindsets on their atrocious road to martyrdom. B+ –Joe McGovern

Korengal

Not Rated, 1 Hr., 30 Mins.

Sebastian Junger’s follow-up to 2010′s Restrepo (his Oscar-nominated war doc codirected by the late Tim Hetherington) shifts focus from combat in Afghanistan’s “Valley of Death” to the soldiers’ psychology,...

Sebastian Junger has joined the ranks of Hollywood crowdfunders Zach Braff and Rob Thomas with his recently launched Kickstarter campaign for "Korengal," the follow-up to the Academy-Award nominated "Restrepo." While embedded with the Second Platoon, Battle Company, 173rd Airborne back in 2007 and 2008, Junger and his co-director, the late photographer Tim Hetherington, shot over 150 hours of footage. In "Korengal," Junger returns to his archive of footage except this time from a psychological angle. "'Restrepo' was meant to be completely experiential," said Junger in the Kickstarter video, "like you feel like you're in the Korengal with these guys. We want[ed] you to jump out of your seat in that film. 'Korengal' is a little different. We're trying to understand the experience. The soldiers are talking about fear, about courage." According to the film's Kickstarter page, Junger financed the editing of the film himself, but turned to crowdfunding for the distribution costs.

Filmmaker Sebastian Junger launched a Kickstarter campaign earlier today for a follow-up to his Oscar-nominated documentary Restrepo. And it’s already about a third of the way funded. The new film, titled Korengal: This Is What War Feels Like, is basically a sequel to that 2010 effort, for which he and co-director Tim Hetherington were embedded with a U.S. platoon in Afghanistan for a look at a year on the front lines of the war. Hetherington later died covering another dangerous conflict, the Libyan civil war, and became the subject of Junger’s subsequent film, Which Way Is the Front Line From Here. Korengal takes us back with the duo to the titular valley for events that happened either following or alongside those in Restrepo. Junger says in his campaign statement that it had been an idea during the editing of the earlier film that they’d come back and make another doc out of the...