Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.
Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:
Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys
2024 Oscars Predictions:
Best Documentary Feature
Weekly Commentary: With the Directors Guild of America and BAFTA Awards in hand, in addition to the tragic news of the death of Alexei Navalny, the subject of the Oscar-winning “Navalny” last year, “20 Days in Mariupol” is too important to ignore.
Will Win:...
Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:
Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys
2024 Oscars Predictions:
Best Documentary Feature
Weekly Commentary: With the Directors Guild of America and BAFTA Awards in hand, in addition to the tragic news of the death of Alexei Navalny, the subject of the Oscar-winning “Navalny” last year, “20 Days in Mariupol” is too important to ignore.
Will Win:...
- 3/7/2024
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer and Robert Downey Jr is Lewis Strauss in ‘Oppenheimer’ (Photo by Melinda Sue Gordon © Universal Pictures)
Oppenheimer went into the 2024 Ee BAFTA Film Awards with the most nominations with 13, and earned the most wins overall with seven. Christopher Nolan took home his first BAFTA Best Director win, and the film also earned Best Film, Leading Actor (Cillian Murphy), Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr), Editing, Cinematography, and Original Score awards.
Poor Things followed with five wins in the Leading Actress (Emma Stone), Costume, Make Up & Hair, Production Design and Special Visual Effects categories. The Zone of Interest collected three wins: Outstanding British Film, Film Not in the English Language, and Sound. And The Holdovers was recognized with Supporting Actress (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) and Casting honors.
David Tennant (Good Omens) hosted the 2024 Ee BAFTA Film Awards which took place on February 18th at The Royal Festival Hall in London.
Oppenheimer went into the 2024 Ee BAFTA Film Awards with the most nominations with 13, and earned the most wins overall with seven. Christopher Nolan took home his first BAFTA Best Director win, and the film also earned Best Film, Leading Actor (Cillian Murphy), Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr), Editing, Cinematography, and Original Score awards.
Poor Things followed with five wins in the Leading Actress (Emma Stone), Costume, Make Up & Hair, Production Design and Special Visual Effects categories. The Zone of Interest collected three wins: Outstanding British Film, Film Not in the English Language, and Sound. And The Holdovers was recognized with Supporting Actress (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) and Casting honors.
David Tennant (Good Omens) hosted the 2024 Ee BAFTA Film Awards which took place on February 18th at The Royal Festival Hall in London.
- 2/18/2024
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Oppenheimer was the major winner at the 2024 Bafta Film Awards, winning seven awards including best film.
Scroll down for full list of winners
The event was held tonight (February 18) at London’s Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank, with David Tennant on hosting duties for the first time.
Samantha Morton received the Bafta Fellowship, whilst film curator June Givanni was honoured with Bafta’s outstanding British contribution to cinema award.
More to follow
Full list of winners
Winners in bold
Best Film
Anatomy Of A Fall - Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion The Holdovers - Mark Johnson Killers Of The Flower Moon - Dan Friedkin,...
Scroll down for full list of winners
The event was held tonight (February 18) at London’s Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank, with David Tennant on hosting duties for the first time.
Samantha Morton received the Bafta Fellowship, whilst film curator June Givanni was honoured with Bafta’s outstanding British contribution to cinema award.
More to follow
Full list of winners
Winners in bold
Best Film
Anatomy Of A Fall - Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion The Holdovers - Mark Johnson Killers Of The Flower Moon - Dan Friedkin,...
- 2/18/2024
- ScreenDaily
The 2024 Bafta Film Awards ceremony is taking place today (February 18) at London’s Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank.
The show started at around 4:45pm UK time and finishes at approximately 8pm, and will be broadcast with a time delay on BBC One starting at 7pm. Unlike last year’s ceremony, the final categories will not be broadcast live. David Tennant is on hosting duties.
Screen will be posting all the winners on this page as they are announced during the live ceremony (refresh the page for latest updates).
Christopher Nolan’s historical drama Oppenheimer leads the nominations with 13 nods.
The show started at around 4:45pm UK time and finishes at approximately 8pm, and will be broadcast with a time delay on BBC One starting at 7pm. Unlike last year’s ceremony, the final categories will not be broadcast live. David Tennant is on hosting duties.
Screen will be posting all the winners on this page as they are announced during the live ceremony (refresh the page for latest updates).
Christopher Nolan’s historical drama Oppenheimer leads the nominations with 13 nods.
- 2/18/2024
- ScreenDaily
The stars and artists behind the biggest films of 2023 descended on London this weekend for the BAFTA Film Awards. British film’s biggest night is often seen as the best predictor of Oscar momentum before the Academy Awards and the results often mirror each other.
If that’s the case this year, it will be all “Oppenheimer” all the time. Universal’s Christopher Nolan epic took home many of the night’s biggest categories, winning the top prize of Best Film along with Best Director for Nolan, Leading Actor for Cillian Murphy, and Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr. The film also picked up major craft wins for Cinematography, Editing, and Original Score.
While the dominant showing makes an “Oppenheimer” Oscar sweep seem even more likely, Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” won for Costume Design, Makeup & Hair, Production Design, and Visual Effects, and star Emma Stone won Leading Actress for her...
If that’s the case this year, it will be all “Oppenheimer” all the time. Universal’s Christopher Nolan epic took home many of the night’s biggest categories, winning the top prize of Best Film along with Best Director for Nolan, Leading Actor for Cillian Murphy, and Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr. The film also picked up major craft wins for Cinematography, Editing, and Original Score.
While the dominant showing makes an “Oppenheimer” Oscar sweep seem even more likely, Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” won for Costume Design, Makeup & Hair, Production Design, and Visual Effects, and star Emma Stone won Leading Actress for her...
- 2/18/2024
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
It’s the biggest day in the British Film Industry’s calendar as the 2024 BAFTA Awards Ceremony is held at the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank in London. Hosted by David Tennant and attended by British Academy of Film and Television Arts President Hrh Prince William, Hannah Waddingham will deliver an exclusive live music performance, in addition to Sophie Ellis-Bextor who will perform her iconic hit ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’. Samantha Morton to receive BAFTA Fellowship and June Givanni to receive Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award.
A full list of BAFTA winners can be found below the interviews.
Scott Davis and Colin Hart were on the red carpet for HeyUGuys. All the red carpet interviews follow.
2024 BAFTA Red Carpet + Winners Room Interviews
BAFTA 2024 Winners Room Interviews
BAFTA 2024 Winners Best Film
“Anatomy of a Fall” — Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion
“The Holdovers” — Mark Johnson
“Killers of the Flower Moon” — Dan Friedkin,...
A full list of BAFTA winners can be found below the interviews.
Scott Davis and Colin Hart were on the red carpet for HeyUGuys. All the red carpet interviews follow.
2024 BAFTA Red Carpet + Winners Room Interviews
BAFTA 2024 Winners Room Interviews
BAFTA 2024 Winners Best Film
“Anatomy of a Fall” — Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion
“The Holdovers” — Mark Johnson
“Killers of the Flower Moon” — Dan Friedkin,...
- 2/18/2024
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Two of the top contenders for Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards have something to celebrate ahead of their upcoming Oscar showdown.
On Saturday night, The Eternal Memory, directed by Chilean filmmaker Maite Alberdi, was named Best IberoAmerican Film at the Goya Awards in Valladolid, Spain. Meanwhile, on this side of the Atlantic, Mstyslav Chernov’s 20 Days in Mariupol won Best Documentary at the DGA Awards held at the Beverly Hilton.
As she accepted the Goya – Spain’s equivalent of the Oscar – Alberdi was joined on stage by Paulina Urrutia, one of the two protagonists of the film. The Eternal Memory, or La Memoria Infinita as it is called in Spanish, tells the love story between Urrutia and Augusto Góngora, a bond that only deepened after Augusto was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at the age of 62.
Director Maite Alberdi gestures toward Paulina Urrutia as she accepts the Goya Award.
On Saturday night, The Eternal Memory, directed by Chilean filmmaker Maite Alberdi, was named Best IberoAmerican Film at the Goya Awards in Valladolid, Spain. Meanwhile, on this side of the Atlantic, Mstyslav Chernov’s 20 Days in Mariupol won Best Documentary at the DGA Awards held at the Beverly Hilton.
As she accepted the Goya – Spain’s equivalent of the Oscar – Alberdi was joined on stage by Paulina Urrutia, one of the two protagonists of the film. The Eternal Memory, or La Memoria Infinita as it is called in Spanish, tells the love story between Urrutia and Augusto Góngora, a bond that only deepened after Augusto was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at the age of 62.
Director Maite Alberdi gestures toward Paulina Urrutia as she accepts the Goya Award.
- 2/11/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
It was a celebration of film and TV directors at the 2024 DGA Awards on Saturday, February 10. The ceremony emceed by Judd Apatow honored the year’s top helmers of narrative films, documentaries, television and variety, sports and news programs. Gold Derby associate editor Latasha Ford and senior editor Denton Davidson enjoyed an exclusive spot on the red carpet, interviewing many of the celebrities who were nominated, presenting or part of their movie or TV show’s ensembles.
Watch each short video below by clicking that person’s name:
Celine Song (“Past Lives”), winner for Film First-Time Directing
Noora Niasari (“Shayda”), nominee for Film First-Time Directing
Mark Ruffalo (“Poor Things”), Feature Film Nomination presentation to Yorgos Lanthimos
Glenn Weiss (“The 95th Annual Academy Awards”), nominee for Variety/Talk/News/Sports — Specials
Moses Bwaya & Christopher Sharp (“Bobi Wine: The People’s President”), nominee for Film Documentary Director
Madeleine Gavin (“Beyond Utopia”), nominee for...
Watch each short video below by clicking that person’s name:
Celine Song (“Past Lives”), winner for Film First-Time Directing
Noora Niasari (“Shayda”), nominee for Film First-Time Directing
Mark Ruffalo (“Poor Things”), Feature Film Nomination presentation to Yorgos Lanthimos
Glenn Weiss (“The 95th Annual Academy Awards”), nominee for Variety/Talk/News/Sports — Specials
Moses Bwaya & Christopher Sharp (“Bobi Wine: The People’s President”), nominee for Film Documentary Director
Madeleine Gavin (“Beyond Utopia”), nominee for...
- 2/11/2024
- by Latasha Ford and Denton Davidson
- Gold Derby
Christopher Nolan has won the feature-film prize from the Directors Guild of America for “Oppenheimer,” reinforcing his film’s status as the heavy favorite this awards season. The honor went to Nolan at the end of the 76th annual DGA Awards, which took place on Saturday night in Beverly Hills.
In the other film categories, Celine Song won the award for first-time directing for her gentle drama “Past Lives” and Mstyslav Chernov won the documentary award for “20 Days in Mariupol,” his on-the-ground report from the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Peter Hoar won the drama-series award for “The Last of Us,” in a category in which the other four nominees were all from different episodes of “Succession.”
The award for Comedy Series directing went to Christopher Storer for the “Fishes” episode of “The Bear.” Sarah Adina Smith won the award for TV movie or limited series for...
In the other film categories, Celine Song won the award for first-time directing for her gentle drama “Past Lives” and Mstyslav Chernov won the documentary award for “20 Days in Mariupol,” his on-the-ground report from the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Peter Hoar won the drama-series award for “The Last of Us,” in a category in which the other four nominees were all from different episodes of “Succession.”
The award for Comedy Series directing went to Christopher Storer for the “Fishes” episode of “The Bear.” Sarah Adina Smith won the award for TV movie or limited series for...
- 2/11/2024
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The 76th Directors Guild of America Awards took place on Saturday, February 10 at 7:30 p.m. Pt with Judd Apatow hosting the in-person, non-televised ceremony. These kudos honored the best helmers of the year in movies and television, as voted on by more than 18,000 members of the directing guild. Scroll down for the 2024 DGA Awards winners list in three film and eight TV categories.
As always, the all-important feature film category is one of the most telling bellwethers for the eventual Best Director Oscar. The guild and the academy have only disagreed for Best Director eight times over the past seven decades, with the last three years lining up perfectly for Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (2022’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once”), Jane Campion (2021’s “The Power of the Dog”) and Chloé Zhao (2020’s “Nomadland”).
This year, just three of the DGA’s nominees also reaped directing Oscar bids: Yorgos Lanthimos...
As always, the all-important feature film category is one of the most telling bellwethers for the eventual Best Director Oscar. The guild and the academy have only disagreed for Best Director eight times over the past seven decades, with the last three years lining up perfectly for Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (2022’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once”), Jane Campion (2021’s “The Power of the Dog”) and Chloé Zhao (2020’s “Nomadland”).
This year, just three of the DGA’s nominees also reaped directing Oscar bids: Yorgos Lanthimos...
- 2/11/2024
- by Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer and Robert Downey Jr is Lewis Strauss in ‘Oppenheimer’ (Photo by Melinda Sue Gordon © Universal Pictures)
Oppenheimer continues with its awards season domination, picking up 13 2024 Ee BAFTA Film Awards nominations. BAFTA also found a lot to admire in Poor Things, nominating it 11 times in categories including Best Film and Leading Actress (Emma Stone).
Killers of the Flower Moon and The Zone of Interest received nine nominations, followed by Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, and Maestro with seven. All of Us Strangers was nominated in six categories, and Barbie and Saltburn received five nominations.
“The 38 films nominated by BAFTA voters today span an extraordinary range of genres and stories. The field this year is incredibly strong. More films were entered, making the selection process particularly tough for our voting members. The films and talented people nominated represent some of the most talked about films of the year,...
Oppenheimer continues with its awards season domination, picking up 13 2024 Ee BAFTA Film Awards nominations. BAFTA also found a lot to admire in Poor Things, nominating it 11 times in categories including Best Film and Leading Actress (Emma Stone).
Killers of the Flower Moon and The Zone of Interest received nine nominations, followed by Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, and Maestro with seven. All of Us Strangers was nominated in six categories, and Barbie and Saltburn received five nominations.
“The 38 films nominated by BAFTA voters today span an extraordinary range of genres and stories. The field this year is incredibly strong. More films were entered, making the selection process particularly tough for our voting members. The films and talented people nominated represent some of the most talked about films of the year,...
- 1/18/2024
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
The 2024 BAFTA Award nominees have been unveiled, with Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” leading with 13 total nominations.
The epic period piece is up for Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Leading Actor for Cillian Murphy, Best Supporting Actress for Emily Blunt, and Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr., as well as a slew of crafts categories.
The 77th BAFTA Awards will take place Sunday, February 18 at London’s Royal Festival Hall. David Tennant is hosting the ceremony.
Behind “Oppenheimer,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” landed 11 nominations including Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Leading Actress for Emma Stone. Lanthimos, however, was shut out of the Best Director category.
The BAFTA Award snubs don’t stop there: Despite “Killers of the Flower Moon” earning nine nominations including Best Film, director Martin Scorsese and Golden Globe-winning actress Lily Gladstone are not recognized in their respective categories. “Barbie...
The epic period piece is up for Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Leading Actor for Cillian Murphy, Best Supporting Actress for Emily Blunt, and Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr., as well as a slew of crafts categories.
The 77th BAFTA Awards will take place Sunday, February 18 at London’s Royal Festival Hall. David Tennant is hosting the ceremony.
Behind “Oppenheimer,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” landed 11 nominations including Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Leading Actress for Emma Stone. Lanthimos, however, was shut out of the Best Director category.
The BAFTA Award snubs don’t stop there: Despite “Killers of the Flower Moon” earning nine nominations including Best Film, director Martin Scorsese and Golden Globe-winning actress Lily Gladstone are not recognized in their respective categories. “Barbie...
- 1/18/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Awards season continues. For a year with a lot of notable box office anomalies, the award recognitions are stacked with popular choices. The Golden Globes kicked things off, and then the SAG Awards and Critics Choice Awards started to show audiences who are seen as the favorites to win this year. Then, the Emmys threw a spotlight on the achievements made in television this past year, and now the list for the 2024 BAFTAs have been announced.
As seen in the previous awards ceremonies, Oppenheimer and Poor Things lead the charge in nominations. Christopher Nolan’s atomic bomb film is a stunning achievement for the director as he is known to put out summer films that straddle the line of prestigious awards movies, and Oppenheimer is finally cracking through with nominations for his actors’ performances, as well as his directing and screenwriting. Emma Stone has also been the favorite this year with Poor Things,...
As seen in the previous awards ceremonies, Oppenheimer and Poor Things lead the charge in nominations. Christopher Nolan’s atomic bomb film is a stunning achievement for the director as he is known to put out summer films that straddle the line of prestigious awards movies, and Oppenheimer is finally cracking through with nominations for his actors’ performances, as well as his directing and screenwriting. Emma Stone has also been the favorite this year with Poor Things,...
- 1/18/2024
- by EJ Tangonan
- JoBlo.com
This afternoon the full list of nominations for the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards were announced in London, with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things leading the nominees.
Jonathan Glazer’s adaptation of Martin Amis’s The Zone of Interest received nine nominations, the same as Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. Other notable films we’ll be looking out for on the night include Andrew Haigh’s brilliant and touching film All of Us Strangers, and the enthralling Anatomy of a Fall.
British films are well represented with Rye Lane, Scrapper and How to Have Sex among the nominees.
The 77th annual British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards will be held on Sunday, the 18th of February. We’ll see you there.
Full List of 2024 BAFTA Nominations
Best Film
Anatomy Of A Fall Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion
The Holdovers Mark Johnson
Killers Of The Flower Moon Dan Friedkin,...
Jonathan Glazer’s adaptation of Martin Amis’s The Zone of Interest received nine nominations, the same as Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. Other notable films we’ll be looking out for on the night include Andrew Haigh’s brilliant and touching film All of Us Strangers, and the enthralling Anatomy of a Fall.
British films are well represented with Rye Lane, Scrapper and How to Have Sex among the nominees.
The 77th annual British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards will be held on Sunday, the 18th of February. We’ll see you there.
Full List of 2024 BAFTA Nominations
Best Film
Anatomy Of A Fall Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion
The Holdovers Mark Johnson
Killers Of The Flower Moon Dan Friedkin,...
- 1/18/2024
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Nominations for the 2024 BAFTAs have been revealed!
This year, Oppenheimer scored the most nominations with a total of 13. Poor Things received the second-most nominations this year with a total of 11.
There are some big surprises within the nominations including no nomination for Lily Gladstone and her director Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon. In addition, Barbie’s Greta Gerwig and Poor Things‘ Yorgos Lanthimos were not nominated in the Best Director category.
The British Academy announced the nominees for their annual awards on Thursday (January 10).
This year’s ceremony is set to take place on February 18 live from London, England with David Tennant hosting.
Keep reading to see the full list of nominees…
Outstanding British Film
“All of Us Strangers” — Andrew Haigh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey
“How to Have Sex” — Molly Manning Walker, Emily Leo, Ivana MacKinnon, Konstantinos Kontovrakis
“Napoleon” — Ridley Scott, Mark Huffam, Kevin J. Walsh,...
This year, Oppenheimer scored the most nominations with a total of 13. Poor Things received the second-most nominations this year with a total of 11.
There are some big surprises within the nominations including no nomination for Lily Gladstone and her director Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon. In addition, Barbie’s Greta Gerwig and Poor Things‘ Yorgos Lanthimos were not nominated in the Best Director category.
The British Academy announced the nominees for their annual awards on Thursday (January 10).
This year’s ceremony is set to take place on February 18 live from London, England with David Tennant hosting.
Keep reading to see the full list of nominees…
Outstanding British Film
“All of Us Strangers” — Andrew Haigh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey
“How to Have Sex” — Molly Manning Walker, Emily Leo, Ivana MacKinnon, Konstantinos Kontovrakis
“Napoleon” — Ridley Scott, Mark Huffam, Kevin J. Walsh,...
- 1/18/2024
- by Just Jared
- Just Jared
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Beyond Utopia (Madeleine Gavin)
A harrowing, brave account of what it’s like to defect from North Korea, Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia follows a heroic pastor and the people he helps. Perhaps most unforgettable is a multigenerational family whose escape is shown through furtive, horror-movie-like handheld camera and revealing interviews. As Gavin offers a rundown of North Korean politics, we see this family slowly reckon with their own brainwashing and realize the world outside North Korea is not what their upbringing taught them to believe. – Lena W.
Where to Stream: PBS
The Florida Project (Sean Baker)
How, exactly, did Sean Baker do it? How did the director of Tangerine make this story of a mother and daughter living at a rundown...
Beyond Utopia (Madeleine Gavin)
A harrowing, brave account of what it’s like to defect from North Korea, Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia follows a heroic pastor and the people he helps. Perhaps most unforgettable is a multigenerational family whose escape is shown through furtive, horror-movie-like handheld camera and revealing interviews. As Gavin offers a rundown of North Korean politics, we see this family slowly reckon with their own brainwashing and realize the world outside North Korea is not what their upbringing taught them to believe. – Lena W.
Where to Stream: PBS
The Florida Project (Sean Baker)
How, exactly, did Sean Baker do it? How did the director of Tangerine make this story of a mother and daughter living at a rundown...
- 1/12/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Because the Primetime Emmys and the DGA Awards are operating on two different schedules, nominations often have little overlap. However, with the Director Guild of America (DGA) coincidentally releasing the TV nominations for its DGA Awards the same week as the postponed 75th Primetime Emmys, it’s become even more noticeable the ways in which the two awards bodies aligned and differed on shows from 2023.
For instance, DGA Awards favorite “Succession” once again dominates the Drama Series category, receiving four nominations (one less than the last time the show was eligible). While the guild was on the same page about honoring directors Andrij Parekh and Mark Mylod (a past winner) for their work on the fourth and final season of the HBO awards juggernaut, DGA voters opted to recognize Becky Martin and duo Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman for their “Succession” Season 4 episodes over Lorene Scafaria, the show’s...
For instance, DGA Awards favorite “Succession” once again dominates the Drama Series category, receiving four nominations (one less than the last time the show was eligible). While the guild was on the same page about honoring directors Andrij Parekh and Mark Mylod (a past winner) for their work on the fourth and final season of the HBO awards juggernaut, DGA voters opted to recognize Becky Martin and duo Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman for their “Succession” Season 4 episodes over Lorene Scafaria, the show’s...
- 1/9/2024
- by Marcus Jones
- Indiewire
The Directors Guild of America announced the nominees for television, commercials and documentary for its 76th annual DGA Awards today, a list headed by three-time winner Bill Hader and installments of the third and final season of HBO’s “Succession,” which claimed four of the five Drama Series nomination slots – the fifth going to an episode of fellow HBO hour “The Last of Us.”
The Comedy Series nomination lineup features the directors of a pair of episodes of Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” along with two installments of FX’s “The Bear” (including a repeat nomination for showrunner Christopher Storer – the acclaimed “Fishes” edition from Season 2 of the series – and a first for comedian and actor Ramy Youssef).
SEEBill Hader will set multiple SAG Award records with win for ‘Barry’
The Apple TV+ limited series “Lessons in Chemistry” also scored multiple bids in the Movies For Television/Limited Series category with three.
The Comedy Series nomination lineup features the directors of a pair of episodes of Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” along with two installments of FX’s “The Bear” (including a repeat nomination for showrunner Christopher Storer – the acclaimed “Fishes” edition from Season 2 of the series – and a first for comedian and actor Ramy Youssef).
SEEBill Hader will set multiple SAG Award records with win for ‘Barry’
The Apple TV+ limited series “Lessons in Chemistry” also scored multiple bids in the Movies For Television/Limited Series category with three.
- 1/9/2024
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
Imagine living in a country where you have to struggle even to get drinking water! You have to pack and submit your feces to your government, thanks to the lack of sewage systems and the fear of punishment! You don’t have any basic human rights, and you aren’t even allowed to leave the country and go somewhere else! So what do you do then? You escape, risking your life, because you would rather die trying to be free than live in the hellhole called North Korea. Madeleine Gavin’s latest documentary, titled Beyond Utopia, deals with this grave subject matter. It talks about every terrible thing the North Korean regime endorses in a never-before-seen, no-holds-barred manner. Unfolding like a pulsating thriller from the get-go, Beyond Utopia centers on Pastor Kim and documents his attempt to help out two North Korean families fleeing the country. It’s a fascinating watch from start to finish,...
- 1/9/2024
- by Rohitavra Majumdar
- Film Fugitives
Clockwise from top left: Uncharted (Sony Pictures Releasing), The Baker (Darius Films/Productivity Media), Deliver Us (Magnet Releasing)Image: The A.V. Club
To begin the new year with something new, Hulu has added some under-the-radar movies as well as a few big-budget favorites from the past few years to its streaming library.
To begin the new year with something new, Hulu has added some under-the-radar movies as well as a few big-budget favorites from the past few years to its streaming library.
- 1/1/2024
- by Robert DeSalvo
- avclub.com
By one measure, 2023 was a very tough year in documentary. The first indications of what lay ahead came in January at Sundance, where the usual panoply of films entered the arena in hopes of earning awards and the ultimate prize – distribution.
But streamers and other major distributors showed no inclination to loosen their purse strings and many acclaimed Sundance titles languished for months without distribution deals – King Coal, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, The Disappearance of Shere Hite among them. Bad Press never did get a distribution deal. Netflix, after spending handsomely at Sundance in recent years, didn’t buy any docs at the festival (it did acquire American Symphony at Telluride).
As the year advanced, the acquisition pace remained sluggish and smaller distributors found themselves in a buyer’s market, landing films that in previous years would have gone to bigger entities. On the continuum of feast and famine,...
But streamers and other major distributors showed no inclination to loosen their purse strings and many acclaimed Sundance titles languished for months without distribution deals – King Coal, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, The Disappearance of Shere Hite among them. Bad Press never did get a distribution deal. Netflix, after spending handsomely at Sundance in recent years, didn’t buy any docs at the festival (it did acquire American Symphony at Telluride).
As the year advanced, the acquisition pace remained sluggish and smaller distributors found themselves in a buyer’s market, landing films that in previous years would have gone to bigger entities. On the continuum of feast and famine,...
- 1/1/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
In the snowy hills of Park City this year, North Korea refugee documentary “Beyond Utopia” made a splash. This 115-minute feature keeps its viewers at the edge of their seats. In follows the harrowing defection journeys for the Roh family, which includes two children and an octogenarian, and records the brutal capture and torture of Soyeon Lee's son at the North Korean border.
Throughout the course of the film, the proximity to the subject material is quite jarring. The American film crew witnesses the Roh family and Pastor Kim, their South Korean guardian, through the Yalu River, China, the jungles of Laos, and eventually reaching the Thai shores of the Mekong River.
Now, in light of awards season, we revisit our own close encounter with the team – an in-person interview with producers Sue Mi Terry, Rachel Cohen, and documentary subjects Pastor Kim and Soyeon Lee – at the Larsen office in San Francisco.
Throughout the course of the film, the proximity to the subject material is quite jarring. The American film crew witnesses the Roh family and Pastor Kim, their South Korean guardian, through the Yalu River, China, the jungles of Laos, and eventually reaching the Thai shores of the Mekong River.
Now, in light of awards season, we revisit our own close encounter with the team – an in-person interview with producers Sue Mi Terry, Rachel Cohen, and documentary subjects Pastor Kim and Soyeon Lee – at the Larsen office in San Francisco.
- 12/21/2023
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Six directors of standout 2023 documentary features gathered at The Hollywood Reporter’s Los Angeles offices in mid-November for THR’s annual Documentary Roundtable.
Among them were two revered veterans with Oscars to their name: Davis Guggenheim (2006’s An Inconvenient Truth), who helmed Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, a film about the life and struggles of the beloved actor who was stricken at a young age with Parkinson’s disease; and Roger Ross Williams (2009’s Music by Prudence), director of Stamped From the Beginning, a film about the history of anti-Black racism in America. Meanwhile, a first-time filmmaker, twice-Grammy-nominated producer D. Smith, profiled four Black transgender women who have performed sex work in Kokomo City.
Oscar nominee Nicole Newnham (2020’s Crip Camp) made a documentary portrait of a person once famous but now largely forgotten: The Disappearance of Shere Hite, about the titular sex researcher and her landmark 1976 book about female sexuality.
Among them were two revered veterans with Oscars to their name: Davis Guggenheim (2006’s An Inconvenient Truth), who helmed Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, a film about the life and struggles of the beloved actor who was stricken at a young age with Parkinson’s disease; and Roger Ross Williams (2009’s Music by Prudence), director of Stamped From the Beginning, a film about the history of anti-Black racism in America. Meanwhile, a first-time filmmaker, twice-Grammy-nominated producer D. Smith, profiled four Black transgender women who have performed sex work in Kokomo City.
Oscar nominee Nicole Newnham (2020’s Crip Camp) made a documentary portrait of a person once famous but now largely forgotten: The Disappearance of Shere Hite, about the titular sex researcher and her landmark 1976 book about female sexuality.
- 12/13/2023
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Aka Mr. Chow
(HBO Documentary Films)
This portrait directed by Nick Hooker follows the life and career of painter turned restaurateur Michael Chow, the owner of the Mr Chow restaurant chain, as he returns to the art world with his first solo show in nearly 60 years.
American Symphony
(Netflix)
Matthew Heineman switches gears from following the front lines of the Mexican drug war (the Oscar-nominated Cartel Land) and the early days of the Covid crisis in New York City (The First Wave), this time helming an intimate profile of Late Night With Stephen Colbert bandleader Jon Batiste as he balances an incredible year of professional success while aiding his wife, writer Suleika Jaouad, through her battle with a rare form of cancer.
Anonymous Sister
(Long Shot Factory/Gravitas Ventures)
Emmy Award-winning director Jamie Boyle chronicles her family’s collision with the opioid epidemic. The film, currently holding a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes,...
(HBO Documentary Films)
This portrait directed by Nick Hooker follows the life and career of painter turned restaurateur Michael Chow, the owner of the Mr Chow restaurant chain, as he returns to the art world with his first solo show in nearly 60 years.
American Symphony
(Netflix)
Matthew Heineman switches gears from following the front lines of the Mexican drug war (the Oscar-nominated Cartel Land) and the early days of the Covid crisis in New York City (The First Wave), this time helming an intimate profile of Late Night With Stephen Colbert bandleader Jon Batiste as he balances an incredible year of professional success while aiding his wife, writer Suleika Jaouad, through her battle with a rare form of cancer.
Anonymous Sister
(Long Shot Factory/Gravitas Ventures)
Emmy Award-winning director Jamie Boyle chronicles her family’s collision with the opioid epidemic. The film, currently holding a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes,...
- 12/8/2023
- by Tyler Coates and Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Mast-Del.“There are two festivals occurring at the same time,” I heard from multiple attendees at this year’s Camden International Film Festival. They were alluding to a split in Ciff’s creative vision, but this was also something of a geographical fact: the four-day Maine documentary festival has two hubs, Camden and Rockland, which were linked by a 20-minute shuttle ride. Screenings overlapped throughout the festival, and since the vast majority of films played only once, each choice closed off a possibility. The two opening night films, Beyond Utopia and El Castillo, started in the same hour, essentially asking festivalgoers to select one film, or festival, or the other. This also meant that any interruptions caused by Hurricane Lee, forecasted to reach the West Penobscot Bay on the penultimate day of the festival, would be definitive. Thus another duality: the linear plan for the festival nearly a year in the making,...
- 12/7/2023
- MUBI
Madeleine Gavin’s Sundance award-winning documentary “Beyond Utopia” will kick off the winter season of PBS documentary series “Independent Lens” on Jan. 9.
Using hidden camera footage, the 115-minute doc follows the high-stakes journey that a handful of desperate families make in order to defect from North Korea — a country with the most brutal regime on earth, led by a dictator, Kim Jong-un. The doc, which was acquired by Roadside Attractions in August, is vying for Academy Award attention.
“Beyond Utopia” is one of six feature docus that make up the program’s winter slate, which begins in January and concludes on Mach 25. Notably, all six films were directed by women and filmmakers of color.
The selected titles cover a wide range of timely issues including racial tensions, gentrification, mental health, representation, and humanity through the lens of individuals, families, and tight-knit communities,
“At a time of tremendous upheaval around the world,...
Using hidden camera footage, the 115-minute doc follows the high-stakes journey that a handful of desperate families make in order to defect from North Korea — a country with the most brutal regime on earth, led by a dictator, Kim Jong-un. The doc, which was acquired by Roadside Attractions in August, is vying for Academy Award attention.
“Beyond Utopia” is one of six feature docus that make up the program’s winter slate, which begins in January and concludes on Mach 25. Notably, all six films were directed by women and filmmakers of color.
The selected titles cover a wide range of timely issues including racial tensions, gentrification, mental health, representation, and humanity through the lens of individuals, families, and tight-knit communities,
“At a time of tremendous upheaval around the world,...
- 12/5/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Going deep inside the human body, rethinking a Thelonious Monk interview, solitary island life, capturing one of the finest restaurants in the world, exploring the trans experience, and examining how we listen to movies—just a few of the subjects and stories this year’s documentaries brought us. With 2023 wrapping up, we’ve selected the non-fiction features that left us most impressed. If you’re looking for where to stream them, check out our handy guide here.
32 Sounds (Sam Green)
Filmmaker Sam Green captures something so specific here: he makes audio the star of a motion picture. It’s a lovely inclination and a worthwhile escapade. There are funny moments, clever moments, plenty that are heartfelt. Sound can do so many different things! This is an exceedingly well-produced work, its perfect length and the audible narrative it designs building succinctly to a lovely finale. Toss on those headphones and get...
32 Sounds (Sam Green)
Filmmaker Sam Green captures something so specific here: he makes audio the star of a motion picture. It’s a lovely inclination and a worthwhile escapade. There are funny moments, clever moments, plenty that are heartfelt. Sound can do so many different things! This is an exceedingly well-produced work, its perfect length and the audible narrative it designs building succinctly to a lovely finale. Toss on those headphones and get...
- 12/4/2023
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Beyond Utopia (Madeleine Gavin)
The name Pastor Kim comes up early in Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia. A gentle, aching man, Pastor Kim tells Gavin he has ensured the escape of over 1,000 people from North Korea in the last 10 years. He’s one of the leaders of this Underground Railroad in the area, leading defectors through rivers, mountains, and forests with rods in his neck, rolled ankles, and multiple surgeries plaguing his physical health over the years. Kim becomes the doc’s lynchpin, the character who provides light to the defectors and audience. In short: he’s a hero. – Michael F. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Bottoms (Emma Seligman)
It’s beginning to feel like South By Southwest is the Rachel Sennott Festival.
Beyond Utopia (Madeleine Gavin)
The name Pastor Kim comes up early in Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia. A gentle, aching man, Pastor Kim tells Gavin he has ensured the escape of over 1,000 people from North Korea in the last 10 years. He’s one of the leaders of this Underground Railroad in the area, leading defectors through rivers, mountains, and forests with rods in his neck, rolled ankles, and multiple surgeries plaguing his physical health over the years. Kim becomes the doc’s lynchpin, the character who provides light to the defectors and audience. In short: he’s a hero. – Michael F. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Bottoms (Emma Seligman)
It’s beginning to feel like South By Southwest is the Rachel Sennott Festival.
- 12/1/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Cinema Eye Honors for achievement in nonfiction and documentary films and series has announced nominees for the 17th awards ceremony. “Kokomo City” from D. Smith led the nominees with six. “20 Days in Mariupol,” “32 Sounds” and “The Eternal Memory” each received five nominations. The nominees for outstanding fiction feature also include “Four Daughters,” “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.”
Outstanding direction nominees include Maite Alberdi for “The Eternal Memory,” Sam Green for “32 Sounds,” Kaouther Ben Hania for “Four Daughters,” Smith for “Kokomo City,” Claire Simon for “Our Body” and Wim Wenders for “Anselm.”
The Cinema Eye 2024 Awards Ceremony takes place on Jan. 12 at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem.
Full list of nominees follows.
2024 Cinema Eye Honors Nominations
Outstanding Nonfiction Feature
20 Days in Mariupol
Directed by Mstyslav Chernov
Produced by Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson Rath...
Outstanding direction nominees include Maite Alberdi for “The Eternal Memory,” Sam Green for “32 Sounds,” Kaouther Ben Hania for “Four Daughters,” Smith for “Kokomo City,” Claire Simon for “Our Body” and Wim Wenders for “Anselm.”
The Cinema Eye 2024 Awards Ceremony takes place on Jan. 12 at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem.
Full list of nominees follows.
2024 Cinema Eye Honors Nominations
Outstanding Nonfiction Feature
20 Days in Mariupol
Directed by Mstyslav Chernov
Produced by Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson Rath...
- 11/16/2023
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie was the top winner at the 2023 Critics Choice Documentary Awards, which were handed out Sunday night.
Among the other prizes the film collected was the best narration award for Michael J. Fox. It also won best biographical documentary, best direction for Davis Guggenheim and best editing for Michael Harte for a total of five awards overall.
Elsewhere, Jon Batiste won best score for American Symphony on the heels of his five Grammy noms, including album of the year. American Symphony also was named best music doc.
20 Days in Mariupol won two awards, for best first documentary feature and best political doc.
The eighth annual edition of the awards show, hosted by Wyatt Cenac, took place at New York’s Edison Ballroom.
Winners were announced in 18 categories spanning theatrical film, TV and digital platforms. Also this year, the Critics Choice Association honored Ross McElwee with its Pennebaker Award,...
Among the other prizes the film collected was the best narration award for Michael J. Fox. It also won best biographical documentary, best direction for Davis Guggenheim and best editing for Michael Harte for a total of five awards overall.
Elsewhere, Jon Batiste won best score for American Symphony on the heels of his five Grammy noms, including album of the year. American Symphony also was named best music doc.
20 Days in Mariupol won two awards, for best first documentary feature and best political doc.
The eighth annual edition of the awards show, hosted by Wyatt Cenac, took place at New York’s Edison Ballroom.
Winners were announced in 18 categories spanning theatrical film, TV and digital platforms. Also this year, the Critics Choice Association honored Ross McElwee with its Pennebaker Award,...
- 11/13/2023
- by Kimberly Nordyke
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
‘Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie’ Sweeps the Critics Choice Documentary Awards (Complete Winners List)
One of the first big nights of the 2023 award season took place tonight at Manhattan’s Edison Ballroom when the best nonfiction filmmakers competed for the Critics Choice Documentary Awards. The show, which is hosted by Wyatt Cenac, honors the most acclaimed documentaries of the year in one of the biggest early contests before the Academy Awards.
Netflix’s Jon Batiste documentary “American Symphony” led the pack with six nominations, while “20 Days in Mariupol,” “Kokomo City,” and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” were each honored with five nominations a piece. Other contenders for Best Documentary Feature include “Beyond Utopia,” “The Deepest Breath,” “The Mission,” “The Eternal Memory,” “Judy Blume Forever,” and “Stamped from the Beginning.”
“Still: A Michael J. Fox Story” had the strongest story of the night. In addition to taking home Best Documentary Feature, the film won Best Biographical Documentary, Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Narration for Fox himself.
Netflix’s Jon Batiste documentary “American Symphony” led the pack with six nominations, while “20 Days in Mariupol,” “Kokomo City,” and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” were each honored with five nominations a piece. Other contenders for Best Documentary Feature include “Beyond Utopia,” “The Deepest Breath,” “The Mission,” “The Eternal Memory,” “Judy Blume Forever,” and “Stamped from the Beginning.”
“Still: A Michael J. Fox Story” had the strongest story of the night. In addition to taking home Best Documentary Feature, the film won Best Biographical Documentary, Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Narration for Fox himself.
- 11/13/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
For the 10th year in a row, the Scad Savannah Film Festival, the 26th edition of which ran from Oct. 21 through Oct. 28, was the place to be for documentary filmmakers and documentary lovers — specifically on Oct. 25, when The Hollywood Reporter presented and your humble correspondent hosted the fest’s Docs to Watch panel that brings together the directors of up to 10 of the year’s finest documentary features.
Over the past nine years, 45 films were nominated for the best documentary feature Oscar, 19 of which were first highlighted as Docs to Watch. And in seven of those nine years, one of the Docs to Watch went on to win the best documentary feature Oscar: 2015’s Amy, 2016’s O.J.: Made in America, 2017’s Icarus, 2018’s Free Solo, 2019’s American Factory, 2021’s Summer of Soul and 2022’s Navalny. (The other two eventual winners — 2014’s Citizenfour and 2020’s My Octopus Teacher — were not screened...
Over the past nine years, 45 films were nominated for the best documentary feature Oscar, 19 of which were first highlighted as Docs to Watch. And in seven of those nine years, one of the Docs to Watch went on to win the best documentary feature Oscar: 2015’s Amy, 2016’s O.J.: Made in America, 2017’s Icarus, 2018’s Free Solo, 2019’s American Factory, 2021’s Summer of Soul and 2022’s Navalny. (The other two eventual winners — 2014’s Citizenfour and 2020’s My Octopus Teacher — were not screened...
- 11/4/2023
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Every year the race for the Oscar for best documentary feature gets more expensive and less inclusive.
The challenging doc marketplace favors a handful of big-name filmmakers commissioned to make one-off films or docuseries. During the last two years, directors of independently made docs, especially those tackling hard-hitting social issues, have been facing an uphill battle to secure distribution.
The major streaming services, who just a few years ago were spending millions to acquire indie fare, seem to no longer be interested in garnering titles out of festivals.
There have, of course, been exceptions. Matthew Heineman’s “American Symphony” sold to Netflix immediately after the film’s Telluride premiere in September, and HBO Documentary Films/Max picked up Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize U.S. Documentary winner “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” eight months after it debuted in Park City. Netflix acquired Laura McGann...
The challenging doc marketplace favors a handful of big-name filmmakers commissioned to make one-off films or docuseries. During the last two years, directors of independently made docs, especially those tackling hard-hitting social issues, have been facing an uphill battle to secure distribution.
The major streaming services, who just a few years ago were spending millions to acquire indie fare, seem to no longer be interested in garnering titles out of festivals.
There have, of course, been exceptions. Matthew Heineman’s “American Symphony” sold to Netflix immediately after the film’s Telluride premiere in September, and HBO Documentary Films/Max picked up Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize U.S. Documentary winner “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” eight months after it debuted in Park City. Netflix acquired Laura McGann...
- 11/3/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
You may think you have a notion of how terrible it is to live in North Korea. You don’t. The media shows us military parades and atomic bomb tests. But many of the isolated country’s 26 million inhabitants are hungry or starving, and believe that America is their sworn enemy. It is impossible to cross the Dmz between North and South Korea, riddled with 2 million landmines, so anyone brave enough to defect must follow an elaborate route through China, which is friendly to North Korea, as well as several other hostile Communist countries, in order to reach safety in Thailand. And if a defector is caught, they go straight to the gulag, where they are beaten and tortured.
In the eye-opening “Beyond Utopia”, from editor-turned-director Madeleine Gavin (“City of Joy”), which won the U.S. documentary audience award at Sundance 2023, we follow a heroic and fearless Christian pastor, Seungeun Kim,...
In the eye-opening “Beyond Utopia”, from editor-turned-director Madeleine Gavin (“City of Joy”), which won the U.S. documentary audience award at Sundance 2023, we follow a heroic and fearless Christian pastor, Seungeun Kim,...
- 11/1/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
North Korea. Your house is on fire. What do you try to rescue first? Your kids? Your pet? No, the first thing you reach for is the portrait of the Dear Leader, Kim Jong-un and his father and grandfather that is hanging on your wall, as mandated by the authoritarian government. Everything else can wait.
Such is the bizarre and grim reality of North Korea that emerges in Beyond Utopia, the award-winning documentary directed by Madeleine Gavin. She obtained remarkable footage surreptitiously recorded in the secretive, isolated state that shows what life is truly like for ordinary people – people told from birth that their leader is a human god who demands and deserves total fealty.
Despite the North Korean regime’s attempts to brainwash the populace into believing they live in an earthly paradise, over a period of years hundreds of thousands of people have risked death to try to escape.
Such is the bizarre and grim reality of North Korea that emerges in Beyond Utopia, the award-winning documentary directed by Madeleine Gavin. She obtained remarkable footage surreptitiously recorded in the secretive, isolated state that shows what life is truly like for ordinary people – people told from birth that their leader is a human god who demands and deserves total fealty.
Despite the North Korean regime’s attempts to brainwash the populace into believing they live in an earthly paradise, over a period of years hundreds of thousands of people have risked death to try to escape.
- 10/31/2023
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline Film + TV
The name Pastor Kim comes up early in Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia. A gentle, aching man, Pastor Kim tells Gavin he has ensured the escape of over 1,000 people from North Korea in the last 10 years. He’s one of the leaders of this Underground Railroad in the area, leading defectors through rivers, mountains, and forests with rods in his neck, rolled ankles, and multiple surgeries plaguing his physical health over the years. Kim becomes the doc’s lynchpin, the character who provides light to the defectors and audience. In short: he’s a hero.
Gavin’s doc looks at the people Kim attempts to help––specifically three generations of a family attempting to flee together and the son of a woman who’s already out. The film intersperses footage taken by the defectors, a few talking heads, animated reimaginings of what happens to defectors, and archival material from North Korea.
Gavin’s doc looks at the people Kim attempts to help––specifically three generations of a family attempting to flee together and the son of a woman who’s already out. The film intersperses footage taken by the defectors, a few talking heads, animated reimaginings of what happens to defectors, and archival material from North Korea.
- 10/31/2023
- by Michael Frank
- The Film Stage
Harrowing stories have been told by those who’ve survived their escape from North Korea, but that struggle emerges with a startling urgency in director Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia with footage unlike any we’ve seen before. The film uses interviews with defectors and archival footage to provide historical context about the stringent control that North Korea’s security apparatus has over its citizens and how they’re bombarded and controlled by propaganda. But it’s the hidden camera and cellphone footage taken by defectors themselves that most terrifyingly attests to the horrors committed by the kleptocratic dynastic regime.
The on-the-grounds footage focuses primarily on Hyukchang Wu and his family, who at the start of the film are hiding along the border between China and North Korea. We witness their first contact with Seungeun Kim, a well-known pastor who, with minimal resources, has managed to help numerous people escape from North Korea.
The on-the-grounds footage focuses primarily on Hyukchang Wu and his family, who at the start of the film are hiding along the border between China and North Korea. We witness their first contact with Seungeun Kim, a well-known pastor who, with minimal resources, has managed to help numerous people escape from North Korea.
- 10/30/2023
- by Derek Smith
- Slant Magazine
Studiocanal launches short story adaptation ‘Cat Person’.
Thriller Five Nights At Freddy’s heads the new titles at this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, as one of a selection of genre choices available to audiences on the pre-Halloween weekend.
Opening in 609 cinemas through Universal, Five Nights At Freddy’s is adapted from Scott Cawthon’s videogame franchise of the same name. The film stars Hunger Games actor Josh Hutcherson as a security guard at an abandoned entertainment venue, who discovers that its animatronic mascots move and kill anyone still there after midnight.
Directed by Emma Tammi, the film is produced by horror...
Thriller Five Nights At Freddy’s heads the new titles at this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, as one of a selection of genre choices available to audiences on the pre-Halloween weekend.
Opening in 609 cinemas through Universal, Five Nights At Freddy’s is adapted from Scott Cawthon’s videogame franchise of the same name. The film stars Hunger Games actor Josh Hutcherson as a security guard at an abandoned entertainment venue, who discovers that its animatronic mascots move and kill anyone still there after midnight.
Directed by Emma Tammi, the film is produced by horror...
- 10/27/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The Critics Choice Association just unveiled the nominees for its 8th annual documentary awards. Topping the list is “American Symphony” with six bids, including Best Documentary, Best Director for Matthew Heineman, and notices in Cinematography, Editing, and Music Documentary. Heineman is the Oscar nominated director of “Cartel Land” from 2015. The sixth nomination for “American Symphony” is for Best Score thanks to 2022’s Grammy Award recipient for Album of the Year, Jon Batiste. You may recognize another Aoty winner in the Ccda’s lineup — Taylor Swift‘s record breaking concert movie “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” is also nominated for Music Documentary.
Just behind “American Symphony” are three films that received five nominations each: “20 Days in Mariupol” from Mstyslav Chernov, “Kokomo City” from D. Smith, and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” from Davis Guggenheim, who is also nominated for Director. The other directors that were heralded for their films...
Just behind “American Symphony” are three films that received five nominations each: “20 Days in Mariupol” from Mstyslav Chernov, “Kokomo City” from D. Smith, and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” from Davis Guggenheim, who is also nominated for Director. The other directors that were heralded for their films...
- 10/24/2023
- by John Benutty
- Gold Derby
The 2023 Cinema Eye Honors have unveiled the 20 titles for its Audience Choice Prize Long List, with voting now open.
The 17th annual awards ceremony also recognized the best nonfiction and documentary films and series across five Broadcast categories and a Shorts List with 10 of the year’s top documentary short films, as well as the 20 films in the running for the Audience Choice Prize Long List.
This year’s list includes films from Cinema Eye Honors alumni including “The Eternal Memory,” “American Symphony,” “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” “Stamped from the Beginning,” “32 Sounds,” “A Compassionate Spy,” “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” “The Mission,” “The Pigeon Tunnel,” and “Stephen Curry: Underrated.”
Hulu series “The 1619 Project” and Showtime’s “Nothing Lasts Forever” lead the Broadcast Film and Series nominations with three nods each. The “1619 Project,” adapted from Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones’s work with The New...
The 17th annual awards ceremony also recognized the best nonfiction and documentary films and series across five Broadcast categories and a Shorts List with 10 of the year’s top documentary short films, as well as the 20 films in the running for the Audience Choice Prize Long List.
This year’s list includes films from Cinema Eye Honors alumni including “The Eternal Memory,” “American Symphony,” “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” “Stamped from the Beginning,” “32 Sounds,” “A Compassionate Spy,” “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” “The Mission,” “The Pigeon Tunnel,” and “Stephen Curry: Underrated.”
Hulu series “The 1619 Project” and Showtime’s “Nothing Lasts Forever” lead the Broadcast Film and Series nominations with three nods each. The “1619 Project,” adapted from Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones’s work with The New...
- 10/19/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Steve McQueen earns directing nod for A24’s Occupied City.
Matthew Heineman’s American Symphony exploring a year in the life of musician Jon Batiste led the Critics Choice Documentary Awards with six nominations on Monday (October 16).
Heineman also gets a nod for best director, Tony Hardmon, Heineman, and Thorsten Thielow for best cinematography, Sammy Dane, Jim Hession, Heineman, and Fernando Villegas for best editing, Jon Batiste for best score, and best music documentary.
Mstyslav Chernov’s 20 Days In Mariupol, D. Smth’s Kokomo City, and Davis Guggenheim’s Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie each received five nominations...
Matthew Heineman’s American Symphony exploring a year in the life of musician Jon Batiste led the Critics Choice Documentary Awards with six nominations on Monday (October 16).
Heineman also gets a nod for best director, Tony Hardmon, Heineman, and Thorsten Thielow for best cinematography, Sammy Dane, Jim Hession, Heineman, and Fernando Villegas for best editing, Jon Batiste for best score, and best music documentary.
Mstyslav Chernov’s 20 Days In Mariupol, D. Smth’s Kokomo City, and Davis Guggenheim’s Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie each received five nominations...
- 10/16/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Jon Batiste in ‘American Symphony’
American Symphony earned six nominations, topping the list of 2023 Critics Choice Documentary Awards (Ccda) nominees. American Symphony, which focuses on Jon Batiste and his wife, Suleika Jaouad, picked up nominations in categories including Best Documentary Feature, Best Director (Matthew Heineman), Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Score (Jon Batiste), and Best Music Documentary.
Three documentaries – 20 Days in Mariupol, Kokomo City, and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie – followed with five nominations each. Documentarian Ross McElwee has been chosen to receive The Pennebaker Award (the Ccda’s lifetime achievement honor).
Winners will be announced during the Eighth Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards to be held at The Edison Ballroom in Manhattan on Sunday, November 12, 2023. Actor and standup comedian Wyatt Cenac (Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas) will host the awards for the second consecutive year.
The Ccda will live-stream on Facebook, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter...
American Symphony earned six nominations, topping the list of 2023 Critics Choice Documentary Awards (Ccda) nominees. American Symphony, which focuses on Jon Batiste and his wife, Suleika Jaouad, picked up nominations in categories including Best Documentary Feature, Best Director (Matthew Heineman), Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Score (Jon Batiste), and Best Music Documentary.
Three documentaries – 20 Days in Mariupol, Kokomo City, and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie – followed with five nominations each. Documentarian Ross McElwee has been chosen to receive The Pennebaker Award (the Ccda’s lifetime achievement honor).
Winners will be announced during the Eighth Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards to be held at The Edison Ballroom in Manhattan on Sunday, November 12, 2023. Actor and standup comedian Wyatt Cenac (Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas) will host the awards for the second consecutive year.
The Ccda will live-stream on Facebook, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter...
- 10/16/2023
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Netflix’s “American Symphony,” which follows Grammy and Oscar winner Jon Batiste as he prepares for his performance at Carnegie Hall, leads the 2023 Critics Choice Documentary Award nominations with six, including best documentary feature and directing for Matthew Heineman. PBS’ “20 Days in Mariupol,” Magnolia Pictures’ “Kokomo City” and Apple Original Films’ “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” are tied for second with five nominations apiece. Each were also were nominated in the top category.
Other nominees for documentary feature include Roadside Attraction’s “Beyond Utopia,” MTV Documentary Films’ “The Eternal Memory,” Amazon’s “Judy Blume Forever,” National Geographic’s “The Mission” and Netflix’s “The Deepest Breath” and “Stamped from the Beginning.”
Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Oscars predictions in all categories.
Now in its eighth year, the Critics Choice Documentary Awards have previously given the top prize to Oscar winners “O.J.: Made in America” (2016) and...
Other nominees for documentary feature include Roadside Attraction’s “Beyond Utopia,” MTV Documentary Films’ “The Eternal Memory,” Amazon’s “Judy Blume Forever,” National Geographic’s “The Mission” and Netflix’s “The Deepest Breath” and “Stamped from the Beginning.”
Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Oscars predictions in all categories.
Now in its eighth year, the Critics Choice Documentary Awards have previously given the top prize to Oscar winners “O.J.: Made in America” (2016) and...
- 10/16/2023
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Matthew Heineman’s “American Symphony” leads all films with six nominations for the 8th annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards, the Critics Choice Association announced on Monday.
The film, a Netflix doc that follows musician Jon Batiste and his wife, writer Suleika Jaouad, as Batiste prepares a composition for Carnegie Hall and Jaouad battles the return of her cancer, was nominated in the Best Documentary Feature, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Score and Best Music Documentary categories. Mstyslav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol,” D. Smith’s “Kokomo City” and Davis Guggenhein’s “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” received five nominations each.
Apart from “American Symphony,” “20 Days in Mariupol,” “Kokomo City” and “Still,” films nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category were “Beyond Utopia,” “The Deepest Breath,” “The Eternal Memory,” “Judy Blume Forever,” “The Mission” and “Stamped From the Beginning.”
All of those films received nominations in multiple categories,...
The film, a Netflix doc that follows musician Jon Batiste and his wife, writer Suleika Jaouad, as Batiste prepares a composition for Carnegie Hall and Jaouad battles the return of her cancer, was nominated in the Best Documentary Feature, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Score and Best Music Documentary categories. Mstyslav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol,” D. Smith’s “Kokomo City” and Davis Guggenhein’s “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” received five nominations each.
Apart from “American Symphony,” “20 Days in Mariupol,” “Kokomo City” and “Still,” films nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category were “Beyond Utopia,” “The Deepest Breath,” “The Eternal Memory,” “Judy Blume Forever,” “The Mission” and “Stamped From the Beginning.”
All of those films received nominations in multiple categories,...
- 10/16/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Matthew Heineman’s American Symphony, a portrait of musician Jon Batiste as he experiences professional success amid the personal challenge of his wife Suleika Jaouad’s cancer battle, leads the nominations for the 2023 Critics Choice Documentary Awards.
American Symphony is up for six awards including best documentary feature. The film is also nominated for best director (Heineman), cinematography (Heineman, Tony Hardmon and Thorsten Thielow), editing (Heineman, Sammy Dane, Jim Hession and Fernando Villegas), score (Batiste) and best music doc.
20 Days in Mariupol, Kokomo City and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie each scored five nods, with all three titles up for best doc feature and best editing.
20 Days in Mariupol is additionally nominated for best first doc, narration (Mstyslav Chernov) and political doc. Kokomo City is also up for best first doc, cinematography and score (D. Smith). Still is up for best director (Davis Guggenheim), narration (Fox) and biographical doc.
American Symphony is up for six awards including best documentary feature. The film is also nominated for best director (Heineman), cinematography (Heineman, Tony Hardmon and Thorsten Thielow), editing (Heineman, Sammy Dane, Jim Hession and Fernando Villegas), score (Batiste) and best music doc.
20 Days in Mariupol, Kokomo City and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie each scored five nods, with all three titles up for best doc feature and best editing.
20 Days in Mariupol is additionally nominated for best first doc, narration (Mstyslav Chernov) and political doc. Kokomo City is also up for best first doc, cinematography and score (D. Smith). Still is up for best director (Davis Guggenheim), narration (Fox) and biographical doc.
- 10/16/2023
- by Hilary Lewis
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The eighth annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards nominations are often an early bellwether for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar race, mainly because they signal to Oscar voters many of the key films they should not miss. Last year’s winner, “Good Night Oppy,” did not make it to the documentary Oscar shortlist, but the year before, “Summer of Soul” went on to win the Oscar.
This year’s nominations were led by fall festival favorite “American Symphony,” Matthew Heineman’s moving portrait of musician Jon Batiste as he juggles work demands and his wife’s recurring leukemia, with six nods. It was followed by Mstyslav Chernov’s Ukraine international Oscar submission “20 Days in Mariupol,” D. Smith’s black-and-white portrait of Black trans sex workers “Kokomo City,” and Davis Guggenheim’s editing feat “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” with five each.
The gala to honor the winners, hosted by comedian Wyatt Cenac,...
This year’s nominations were led by fall festival favorite “American Symphony,” Matthew Heineman’s moving portrait of musician Jon Batiste as he juggles work demands and his wife’s recurring leukemia, with six nods. It was followed by Mstyslav Chernov’s Ukraine international Oscar submission “20 Days in Mariupol,” D. Smith’s black-and-white portrait of Black trans sex workers “Kokomo City,” and Davis Guggenheim’s editing feat “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” with five each.
The gala to honor the winners, hosted by comedian Wyatt Cenac,...
- 10/16/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Matthew Heineman’s documentary profiling Grammy and Oscar winning musician Jon Batiste and the medical struggles for his wife that have marked trying times in their marriage leads the pack of nominees for the 8th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards with six. The inspiring docu from Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground was picked up by Netflix after premiering and winning acclaim at the Telluride Film Festival last month. Not far behind are a trio of docus each with 5 mentions including 20 Days In Mariupol, Kokomo City, and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie. And not to be ignored, this weekend’s boxoffice champ, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour which landed a nomination as Best Music Documentary. The Ccda nod marks the first awards recognition for the film (however it is not eligible for a Documentary Oscar) which only just had its first premiere screening on Wednesday of last...
- 10/16/2023
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
There were no clear Oscar signals coming out of the 31st Hamptons International Film Festival. Still, there were some admirable stats for the eastern Long Island event that’s a favorite with filmmakers and locals. This year Hiff screened a lineup of films that were 49% female-directed and represented 42 countries from around the world. The festival had a record number of submissions this year and screened 72 features and 46 shorts with eight world premieres, three North American premieres, 12 US premieres, 13 East Coast premieres, and seven New York premieres.
SEEJennifer Esposito (‘Fresh Kills’): First-time director brings feminist mob movie to 31st Hamptons Film Festival
Best Narrative Film went to “20,000 Species Of Bees,” directed by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (watch the trailer above). “Tell Them You Love Me,” directed by Nick August-Perna, nabbed the Award for Best Documentary Feature. Hiff audiences selected narrative feature “Fresh Kills,” by first time director Jennifer Esposito, and documentary feature “Angel Applicant,...
SEEJennifer Esposito (‘Fresh Kills’): First-time director brings feminist mob movie to 31st Hamptons Film Festival
Best Narrative Film went to “20,000 Species Of Bees,” directed by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (watch the trailer above). “Tell Them You Love Me,” directed by Nick August-Perna, nabbed the Award for Best Documentary Feature. Hiff audiences selected narrative feature “Fresh Kills,” by first time director Jennifer Esposito, and documentary feature “Angel Applicant,...
- 10/14/2023
- by Bill McCuddy
- Gold Derby
The Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival is set to return from October 27 for 10 days of a loaded line-up of films from across the world to treat the cinephiles. It will feature 250 films from October 27 to November 5. Farhan Akhtar, Rana Daggubati, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Vikramaditya Motwane, Zoya Akhtar, Rohan Sippy, Ajay Bijli and Anupama Chopra unveiled line-up whhich includes over 40 World Premieres, 45 Asia Premieres, and 70+ South Asia Premieres.
This time, the festival received over 1000 submissions for the South Asia programme. The festival promises to spotlight contemporary films and new cinematic voices from South Asia. The main competition at the festival this year is the South Asia Competition.
This competitive section aims to showcase breakthrough contemporary South Asian films, will see 14 films from debutant and second-time filmmakers from across India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal, as well as diaspora filmmakers from the UK and Germany. South Asian films are also part of a...
This time, the festival received over 1000 submissions for the South Asia programme. The festival promises to spotlight contemporary films and new cinematic voices from South Asia. The main competition at the festival this year is the South Asia Competition.
This competitive section aims to showcase breakthrough contemporary South Asian films, will see 14 films from debutant and second-time filmmakers from across India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal, as well as diaspora filmmakers from the UK and Germany. South Asian films are also part of a...
- 10/9/2023
- by Agency News Desk
- GlamSham
The Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival is set to return from October 27 for 10 days of a loaded line-up of films from across the world to treat the cinephiles. It will feature 250 films from October 27 to November 5. Farhan Akhtar, Rana Daggubati, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Vikramaditya Motwane, Zoya Akhtar, Rohan Sippy, Ajay Bijli and Anupama Chopra unveiled line-up whhich includes over 40 World Premieres, 45 Asia Premieres, and 70+ South Asia Premieres.
This time, the festival received over 1000 submissions for the South Asia programme. The festival promises to spotlight contemporary films and new cinematic voices from South Asia. The main competition at the festival this year is the South Asia Competition.
This competitive section aims to showcase breakthrough contemporary South Asian films, will see 14 films from debutant and second-time filmmakers from across India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal, as well as diaspora filmmakers from the UK and Germany. South Asian films are also part of a...
This time, the festival received over 1000 submissions for the South Asia programme. The festival promises to spotlight contemporary films and new cinematic voices from South Asia. The main competition at the festival this year is the South Asia Competition.
This competitive section aims to showcase breakthrough contemporary South Asian films, will see 14 films from debutant and second-time filmmakers from across India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal, as well as diaspora filmmakers from the UK and Germany. South Asian films are also part of a...
- 10/9/2023
- by Agency News Desk
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