The breakdown of the Writers Guild of America’s contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers could benefit the documentary industry. Especially those documentary filmmakers with projects seeking distribution.
At least that’s the hope.
Like film and television scribes worried about the survival of screenwriting as a viable profession, hundreds of nonfiction filmmakers with independently made docus are grappling with the streamers’ new distribution landscape, which, for the most part, no longer includes acquiring titles that aren’t commissioned.
If the writers strike lasts for several months, the thought is that not only broadcast networks but also streaming companies will begin to face holes in their narrative content, which could, in turn, lead to the purchase of indie docus to fill the void.
At the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto, documentary producers, programmers and filmmakers are not only celebrating independently made fare but also...
At least that’s the hope.
Like film and television scribes worried about the survival of screenwriting as a viable profession, hundreds of nonfiction filmmakers with independently made docus are grappling with the streamers’ new distribution landscape, which, for the most part, no longer includes acquiring titles that aren’t commissioned.
If the writers strike lasts for several months, the thought is that not only broadcast networks but also streaming companies will begin to face holes in their narrative content, which could, in turn, lead to the purchase of indie docus to fill the void.
At the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto, documentary producers, programmers and filmmakers are not only celebrating independently made fare but also...
- 5/4/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
The growing amount of homeless, independently made documentaries has made film festivals like Hot Docs, arguably more important than ever before. Many docus that premiered at Sundance 2023 but have yet to find distribution are part of the Toronto-based documentary festival’s lineup, which in turn allows those titles to stay on buyers’ radars.
But corporate consolidation, along with streamers’ current mandate for nonfiction content that fits into one of three boxes – celebrity, true crime, or sports – means that many docu filmmakers will eventually have to turn to non-traditional distribution to get their films seen outside the fest circuit.
Tracy Droz Tragos’ docu “Plan C” follows a grassroots organization fighting to expand access to abortion pills across the United States. The timely film premiered at Sundance in January, but despite good reviews, Tragos hasn’t found distribution for “Plan C.”
“We are hearing things from the big buyers like, ‘The subject matter is hugely important,...
But corporate consolidation, along with streamers’ current mandate for nonfiction content that fits into one of three boxes – celebrity, true crime, or sports – means that many docu filmmakers will eventually have to turn to non-traditional distribution to get their films seen outside the fest circuit.
Tracy Droz Tragos’ docu “Plan C” follows a grassroots organization fighting to expand access to abortion pills across the United States. The timely film premiered at Sundance in January, but despite good reviews, Tragos hasn’t found distribution for “Plan C.”
“We are hearing things from the big buyers like, ‘The subject matter is hugely important,...
- 4/27/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Davis Guggenheim’s “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” will open the eighth edition of Chicago’s Doc10 documentary film festival on May 4.
About Fox’s life, career and work as a public advocate for Parkinson’s research, “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” debuted at Sundance in January. Guggenheim, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind “An Inconvenient Truth” will be at Doc10 to participate in a post-screening conversation.
Doc10, a four-day fest running May 4-7, features a selection of 10 of this year’s most acclaimed documentaries and a package of prestigious doc shorts. Dedicated to supporting social-impact documentary films, the fest is hosted by Chicago Media Project, a company that raises funds for and produces docus including “Crip Camp” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
In addition to “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” Doc10 will screen: Penny Lane’s “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” Nicole Newnham’s “The Disappearance of the Shere Hite,...
About Fox’s life, career and work as a public advocate for Parkinson’s research, “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” debuted at Sundance in January. Guggenheim, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind “An Inconvenient Truth” will be at Doc10 to participate in a post-screening conversation.
Doc10, a four-day fest running May 4-7, features a selection of 10 of this year’s most acclaimed documentaries and a package of prestigious doc shorts. Dedicated to supporting social-impact documentary films, the fest is hosted by Chicago Media Project, a company that raises funds for and produces docus including “Crip Camp” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
In addition to “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” Doc10 will screen: Penny Lane’s “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” Nicole Newnham’s “The Disappearance of the Shere Hite,...
- 3/27/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Investigating the nature of altruism, director Penny Lane turns the camera on herself in Confessions of a Good Samaritan, showing her process as an organ donor navigating the uncomfortable space of “gifting” a part of your body to a stranger. Single, in her early 40s, and financially secure after a decade of building her career, she decides its time to give back to the universe as a way of saying thank you for life ultimately working out.
For Lane, this is a rare work to proceed in a fairly straightforward manner. Extensive self-interviews frame her donation, which was made before Covid disrupted every industry, and Confessions unpacks the history of donations, including a 1984 decree that outlawed the exchange of money or anything of value for a body part. Though most donations are made to family members in need, online exchanges––similar to a dating website––are an option for those...
For Lane, this is a rare work to proceed in a fairly straightforward manner. Extensive self-interviews frame her donation, which was made before Covid disrupted every industry, and Confessions unpacks the history of donations, including a 1984 decree that outlawed the exchange of money or anything of value for a body part. Though most donations are made to family members in need, online exchanges––similar to a dating website––are an option for those...
- 3/25/2023
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Sundance documentary “Stephen Curry: Underrated” and SXSW television premiere “I’m a Virgo” will open and close Sffilm, the 66th annual San Francisco International Film Festival.
Sffilm unveiled the full lineup for the fest along with the openers and closers. The Bay Area film festival, which screens in theaters across San Francisco as well as Oakland and Berkeley, will host 50 feature film programs (includes Workshop and “mid-lengths”), 46 shorts, and one TV screening (“I’m a Virgo”). Both directors behind “I’m a Virgo” and “Underrated” — Boots Riley and Peter Nicks — grew up in the Bay Area, more specifically in Oakland. Other films from Bay Area filmmakers whose projects will screen include W. Kamau Bell’s “1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed,” Savanah Leaf’s “Earth Mama,” and Babak Jalali’s “Fremont.”
“It is Sffilm Festival season once again and I cannot wait to share this year’s program with local audiences,” Jessie Fairbanks, Sffilm’s director of programming,...
Sffilm unveiled the full lineup for the fest along with the openers and closers. The Bay Area film festival, which screens in theaters across San Francisco as well as Oakland and Berkeley, will host 50 feature film programs (includes Workshop and “mid-lengths”), 46 shorts, and one TV screening (“I’m a Virgo”). Both directors behind “I’m a Virgo” and “Underrated” — Boots Riley and Peter Nicks — grew up in the Bay Area, more specifically in Oakland. Other films from Bay Area filmmakers whose projects will screen include W. Kamau Bell’s “1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed,” Savanah Leaf’s “Earth Mama,” and Babak Jalali’s “Fremont.”
“It is Sffilm Festival season once again and I cannot wait to share this year’s program with local audiences,” Jessie Fairbanks, Sffilm’s director of programming,...
- 3/22/2023
- by Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
Two days after ”Everything Everywhere All at Once“ won seven Oscars, including best picture, the SXSW Film Festival, where Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s movie launched last year, has announced its own awards. To be clear, “Eeaao” was a studio-backed opening night premiere (not one of the smaller movies launched in competition at the indie-focused fest), but you can still feel the excitement in Austin around the landmark Oscar win. After all, SXSW was the first festival to take Daniels seriously, awarding them top prize for their Battles music video (“My Machines”) in 2012.
Will any of the movies or directors screening here this year go on to change film history?
With five days still to go at SXSW, the juries convened to present the winners.
Narrative feature honors went to writer-director Paris Zarcilla’s “Raging Grace.” On the surface, the tense story of an undocumented Filipina house cleaner and...
Will any of the movies or directors screening here this year go on to change film history?
With five days still to go at SXSW, the juries convened to present the winners.
Narrative feature honors went to writer-director Paris Zarcilla’s “Raging Grace.” On the surface, the tense story of an undocumented Filipina house cleaner and...
- 3/15/2023
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
After launching less than three years ago, production company Sandbox films celebrated Oscars weekend this year with a nominated documentary, “Fire of Love.” The company will also premiere two new documentary films, “Confessions of a Good Samaritan” from Penny Lane and “The Arc of Oblivion” from Ian Cheney.
Founding director Greg Boustead tells Variety that the boutique company seeks to share stories that pack an emotional punch, as he felt that element was often missing when it came to the science non-fiction genre. “One of the motivations for founding a company is to find those stories of where science and technology intersect with society in interesting and unexpected ways,” Boustead says.
Cheney’s film is executive produced by Werner Herzog. Set against the backdrop of the filmmaker’s quixotic quest to build an ark in Maine, the doc heads far afield — to salt mines in the Alps, fjords in the...
Founding director Greg Boustead tells Variety that the boutique company seeks to share stories that pack an emotional punch, as he felt that element was often missing when it came to the science non-fiction genre. “One of the motivations for founding a company is to find those stories of where science and technology intersect with society in interesting and unexpected ways,” Boustead says.
Cheney’s film is executive produced by Werner Herzog. Set against the backdrop of the filmmaker’s quixotic quest to build an ark in Maine, the doc heads far afield — to salt mines in the Alps, fjords in the...
- 3/13/2023
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
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