The 40th edition of Sundance proved that despite corporate consolidation, there is still a market for independently made documentaries. While there haven’t been many sales so far, there has been strong buyer interest in two celeb-focused docs — “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” and “Will & Harper,” featuring Will Ferrell — and healthy interest in others.
“The market didn’t have a pulse six months ago,” says Submarine Entertainment sales agent Josh Braun, who came to the festival with nine documentaries seeking distribution, including “Daughters,” “Gaucho Gaucho” and “Union.” “So there was a reason to be a little bit fearful coming into Sundance. But now we are feeling a pulse. We are heading in a good direction. The patient still needs some treatment, but we are no longer in a Doa situation.”
While Submarine has not yet closed deals for any of the titles, Braun is optimistic, given the fact a...
“The market didn’t have a pulse six months ago,” says Submarine Entertainment sales agent Josh Braun, who came to the festival with nine documentaries seeking distribution, including “Daughters,” “Gaucho Gaucho” and “Union.” “So there was a reason to be a little bit fearful coming into Sundance. But now we are feeling a pulse. We are heading in a good direction. The patient still needs some treatment, but we are no longer in a Doa situation.”
While Submarine has not yet closed deals for any of the titles, Braun is optimistic, given the fact a...
- 1/27/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
The inaugural Hudson Film Festival in Hudson, NY will premiere the 20th anniversary remastered edition of Park Chan-wook’s classic film “Oldboy” this August. In partnership with Neon, the premiere will be in advance of the film’s theatrical re-release on Aug. 16.
Founded by John Maybee, Sarah Peters, and Sonia Marcela Freeman, the festival will take place Aug. 11-13; their website states that the festival “serves as a platform to champion and showcase underrepresented local and global films, filmmakers, artisans and talent.”
The festival co-founders said in a joint statement, “As devotees of Director Park and Neon, we are ecstatic and honored to have been chosen as the only festival to screen ‘Oldboy’ prior to its 20th Anniversary theatrical relaunch.”
“Oldboy,” released in 2003, is a South Korean neo-noir thriller about a man named Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) who attempts to exact revenge on his captor after being mysteriously held prisoner for 15 years.
Founded by John Maybee, Sarah Peters, and Sonia Marcela Freeman, the festival will take place Aug. 11-13; their website states that the festival “serves as a platform to champion and showcase underrepresented local and global films, filmmakers, artisans and talent.”
The festival co-founders said in a joint statement, “As devotees of Director Park and Neon, we are ecstatic and honored to have been chosen as the only festival to screen ‘Oldboy’ prior to its 20th Anniversary theatrical relaunch.”
“Oldboy,” released in 2003, is a South Korean neo-noir thriller about a man named Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) who attempts to exact revenge on his captor after being mysteriously held prisoner for 15 years.
- 7/25/2023
- by Jaden Thompson
- Variety Film + TV
Is AVOD the solution for struggling indie doc filmmakers?
“Beyond Utopia,” “A Still Small Voice,” “Deep Rising,” “It’s Only Life After All,” “Going Varsity in Mariachi,” and “The Grab” are all documentary titles that garnered good reviews, positive audience feedback and plenty of media attention at major film festivals including this year’s Sundance and last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. But despite the high visibility, each title is still seeking distribution.
The chances of any of the six titles garnering a highly coveted distribution deal isn’t likely given the state of the entertainment industry at present. The dismal distribution landscape has forced some nonfiction filmmakers to turn to substantially less lucrative alternatives, such as ad-supported VOD, or AVOD channels, and revenue-sharing arrangements to get their work seen.
That list include filmmakers Violet Columbus and Ben Klein, who directed the 2022 Sundance grand jury prize documentary winner “The Exiles.
“Beyond Utopia,” “A Still Small Voice,” “Deep Rising,” “It’s Only Life After All,” “Going Varsity in Mariachi,” and “The Grab” are all documentary titles that garnered good reviews, positive audience feedback and plenty of media attention at major film festivals including this year’s Sundance and last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. But despite the high visibility, each title is still seeking distribution.
The chances of any of the six titles garnering a highly coveted distribution deal isn’t likely given the state of the entertainment industry at present. The dismal distribution landscape has forced some nonfiction filmmakers to turn to substantially less lucrative alternatives, such as ad-supported VOD, or AVOD channels, and revenue-sharing arrangements to get their work seen.
That list include filmmakers Violet Columbus and Ben Klein, who directed the 2022 Sundance grand jury prize documentary winner “The Exiles.
- 6/30/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
NewportFILM Outdoors, a unique celebration of documentary moviemaking that is held in some of the most iconic locations in one of the most storied summer resorts in America, has unveiled its latest line-up of films for its summer season.
They include “It’s Only Life After All,” a look at the Indigo Girls; “After the Bite,” an examination of a community’s reaction to a shark attack; and “Invisible Beauty,” the story of pioneering model, agent and activist, Bethann Hardison. What makes the Newport, Rhode Island event so memorable is that these screenings take place on the lawns of mansions like Marble House and The Elms, as well as historical locations like Fort Adams, which hosts the annual Newport Jazz Festival, and the Newport Polo Grounds. It’s all very shades of Edith Wharton.
“Patrick and the Whale” will open the weekly series on the lawn of the Great Friends Meeting House.
They include “It’s Only Life After All,” a look at the Indigo Girls; “After the Bite,” an examination of a community’s reaction to a shark attack; and “Invisible Beauty,” the story of pioneering model, agent and activist, Bethann Hardison. What makes the Newport, Rhode Island event so memorable is that these screenings take place on the lawns of mansions like Marble House and The Elms, as well as historical locations like Fort Adams, which hosts the annual Newport Jazz Festival, and the Newport Polo Grounds. It’s all very shades of Edith Wharton.
“Patrick and the Whale” will open the weekly series on the lawn of the Great Friends Meeting House.
- 6/20/2023
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Nicole Holofcener’s ‘You Hurt My Feelings’ will close this year’s festival.
Sundance Film Festival: London has revealed further titles in the line-up for its upcoming 10th edition (July 6-9), with Nicole Holofcener’s You Hurt My Feelings named as the closing night film, and a retrospective on pioneer of queer cinema, Gregg Araki.
The festival will present 11 feature films that premiered at the US edition of Sundance in January, and takes place at London’s Picturehouse Central.
Holofcener’s You Hurt My Feelings is a Brooklyn-set comedy drama, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tobias Menzies as a couple whose...
Sundance Film Festival: London has revealed further titles in the line-up for its upcoming 10th edition (July 6-9), with Nicole Holofcener’s You Hurt My Feelings named as the closing night film, and a retrospective on pioneer of queer cinema, Gregg Araki.
The festival will present 11 feature films that premiered at the US edition of Sundance in January, and takes place at London’s Picturehouse Central.
Holofcener’s You Hurt My Feelings is a Brooklyn-set comedy drama, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tobias Menzies as a couple whose...
- 5/3/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
The Sundance Film Festival: London 2023 will close with the U.K. premiere of Nicole Holofcener’s “You Hurt My Feelings.”
The comedy-drama is set in Brooklyn and stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tobias Menzies as a couple whose marriage is thrown into turmoil when she overhears his honest reaction to her latest book.
As previously announced, the festival will open with the U.K. premiere of “Scrapper,” written and directed by Londoner Charlotte Regan, starring Harris Dickinson and newcomers Lola Campbell and Alin Uzun. It follows Georgie, a dreamy 12-year-old girl, who lives happily alone in her London flat, filling it with magic. Suddenly, her estranged father turns up and forces her to confront reality.
Curated by Picturehouse and the Sundance Institute, the 10th edition of the festival is set to take place from July 6-9 July at Picturehouse Central and will showcase 11 feature films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City,...
The comedy-drama is set in Brooklyn and stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tobias Menzies as a couple whose marriage is thrown into turmoil when she overhears his honest reaction to her latest book.
As previously announced, the festival will open with the U.K. premiere of “Scrapper,” written and directed by Londoner Charlotte Regan, starring Harris Dickinson and newcomers Lola Campbell and Alin Uzun. It follows Georgie, a dreamy 12-year-old girl, who lives happily alone in her London flat, filling it with magic. Suddenly, her estranged father turns up and forces her to confront reality.
Curated by Picturehouse and the Sundance Institute, the 10th edition of the festival is set to take place from July 6-9 July at Picturehouse Central and will showcase 11 feature films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City,...
- 5/3/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The 2023 Nantucket Film Festival, running June 21-26, with kick off with four films on its opening day lineup. For the 12th consecutive year, a Disney and Pixar movie will open the festival with “Elemental,” which premieres in May at the Cannes International Film Festival.
Also on Day 1 are Sophie Barthes’ “The Pod Generation,” coming off stops at Sundance and Sarasota — Barthes will also receive the inaugural Maria Mitchell Visionary Award for the film; SXSW-premiere documentary “Joan Baez I am a Noise,” with Baez herself in attendance; and Austrian documentary “Patrick and the Whale,” which premiered at TIFF 2022.
Recent Bleecker Street acquisition “Jules,” starring Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, and Jane Curtin, will be the closing-night film.
Guests announced to be in attendance include Michaela Watkins (“You Hurt My Feelings”), Allison Williams (“M3GAN”), Lola Tung (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”), Graham Greene (“Dances with Wolves”), and Julio Torres (“Problemista”).
Other films...
Also on Day 1 are Sophie Barthes’ “The Pod Generation,” coming off stops at Sundance and Sarasota — Barthes will also receive the inaugural Maria Mitchell Visionary Award for the film; SXSW-premiere documentary “Joan Baez I am a Noise,” with Baez herself in attendance; and Austrian documentary “Patrick and the Whale,” which premiered at TIFF 2022.
Recent Bleecker Street acquisition “Jules,” starring Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, and Jane Curtin, will be the closing-night film.
Guests announced to be in attendance include Michaela Watkins (“You Hurt My Feelings”), Allison Williams (“M3GAN”), Lola Tung (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”), Graham Greene (“Dances with Wolves”), and Julio Torres (“Problemista”).
Other films...
- 4/26/2023
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
When “Summer of Soul” sold for $15 million out of the 2021 pandemic-virtual Sundance Film Festival, we saw the peak of the documentary boom. Questlove’s feature debut was a Sundance record, but it wasn’t alone; other Sundance docs like “Fire of Love” and “Flee” sold for high-seven figures.
Today, Sundance 2023 premiere “It’s Only Life After All,” which included its subjects the Indigo Girls performing at the festival’s Opening Night fundraiser, has yet to find a buyer. Ditto “Going Varsity in Mariachi,” “The Disappearance of Shere Hite,” or Doug Liman’s Brett Kavanaugh doc “Justice.”
Sundance also had documentaries that came with distribution, like Hulu’s “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” Amazon’s “Judy Blume Forever,” and Apple’s “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.” However, if you’re looking for documentaries that aren’t based on high-recognition IP, or concepts that can’t be parceled into irresistible, cliff-hanging episodes — well,...
Today, Sundance 2023 premiere “It’s Only Life After All,” which included its subjects the Indigo Girls performing at the festival’s Opening Night fundraiser, has yet to find a buyer. Ditto “Going Varsity in Mariachi,” “The Disappearance of Shere Hite,” or Doug Liman’s Brett Kavanaugh doc “Justice.”
Sundance also had documentaries that came with distribution, like Hulu’s “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” Amazon’s “Judy Blume Forever,” and Apple’s “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.” However, if you’re looking for documentaries that aren’t based on high-recognition IP, or concepts that can’t be parceled into irresistible, cliff-hanging episodes — well,...
- 4/11/2023
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
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
In its second post-pandemic, in-person year, True/False was still trying to convince audiences to come back (there were fewer venues this year than pre-pandemic) to watch artful documentary, but the in-person joy was contagious. For one long March weekend, the True/False Film Fest turns the college town of Columbia, Missouri into an arts extravaganza. The films range from the mainstream to surprising, to the strange (Raphaël Grisey and Bouba Touré’s Xaraasi Xanne/Crossing Voices, which uncompromisingly mixes past, present […]
The post Precarity, Therapy Films and Ethics: True/False Film Fest 2023 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Precarity, Therapy Films and Ethics: True/False Film Fest 2023 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 3/14/2023
- by Patricia Aufderheide
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
In its second post-pandemic, in-person year, True/False was still trying to convince audiences to come back (there were fewer venues this year than pre-pandemic) to watch artful documentary, but the in-person joy was contagious. For one long March weekend, the True/False Film Fest turns the college town of Columbia, Missouri into an arts extravaganza. The films range from the mainstream to surprising, to the strange (Raphaël Grisey and Bouba Touré’s Xaraasi Xanne/Crossing Voices, which uncompromisingly mixes past, present […]
The post Precarity, Therapy Films and Ethics: True/False Film Fest 2023 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Precarity, Therapy Films and Ethics: True/False Film Fest 2023 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 3/14/2023
- by Patricia Aufderheide
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
“To make a dream come true, the first requirement is a great capacity to dream; the second is persistence.” This quote from civil rights activist Cesar Chavez embodies the protagonists’ goals and motivations in Alejandra Vasquez and Sam Osborn’s Going Varsity in Mariachi. Though audiences witness the statement only during a quick B-roll shot in the opening minutes, its subtle, bold presence encapsulates the American dream and U.S. immigrant experience in a snapshot.
This year’s Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award recipient explores the world of competitive mariachi in Texas’s high school system through the lens of the 2021-22 Edinburg North High School campaign, located in the Rio Grande Valley near the United States-Mexico border. The wise-and-fun band director Abel Acuña has led the mariachi band program to be one of the state’s highest-ranked division leaders in each of his 11 years. Yet, despite the accomplishment, the school...
This year’s Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award recipient explores the world of competitive mariachi in Texas’s high school system through the lens of the 2021-22 Edinburg North High School campaign, located in the Rio Grande Valley near the United States-Mexico border. The wise-and-fun band director Abel Acuña has led the mariachi band program to be one of the state’s highest-ranked division leaders in each of his 11 years. Yet, despite the accomplishment, the school...
- 3/8/2023
- by Edward Frumkin
- The Film Stage
Competitive scholastic mariachi in South Texas is the subject of Going Varsity in Mariachi, the documentary from filmmakers Alejandra Vasquez and Sam Osborn. Specifically, the focus is on Edinburg North High School’s Mariachi Oro team, featuring passionate coach coach Abel Acuña, driven team captains Abby, Marlena, and Bella as well as the vibrant music produced by the entire team. Dp Michael Crommett discusses lensing the project, including how his past documentary work aided him on this shoot. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your […]
The post “Our Cinematography Hopefully Emphasizes the Elegance of Mariachi”: Dp Michael Crommett on Going Varsity in Mariachi first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Our Cinematography Hopefully Emphasizes the Elegance of Mariachi”: Dp Michael Crommett on Going Varsity in Mariachi first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 2/6/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Competitive scholastic mariachi in South Texas is the subject of Going Varsity in Mariachi, the documentary from filmmakers Alejandra Vasquez and Sam Osborn. Specifically, the focus is on Edinburg North High School’s Mariachi Oro team, featuring passionate coach coach Abel Acuña, driven team captains Abby, Marlena, and Bella as well as the vibrant music produced by the entire team. Dp Michael Crommett discusses lensing the project, including how his past documentary work aided him on this shoot. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your […]
The post “Our Cinematography Hopefully Emphasizes the Elegance of Mariachi”: Dp Michael Crommett on Going Varsity in Mariachi first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Our Cinematography Hopefully Emphasizes the Elegance of Mariachi”: Dp Michael Crommett on Going Varsity in Mariachi first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 2/6/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
This review originally ran January 23, 2023, in conjunction with the film’s US premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
The collected “Discworld” novels by Terry Pratchett are so weird and so imaginative and so wry that very few filmmakers have ever seriously tried to adapt them. We’ve had one short-lived live-action series, one short film, a few animated mini-series and three ambitious live-action mini-series.
But feature films have eluded the dwellers of “Discworld” until just about — actually wait, let me check my watch here — now.
“The Amazing Maurice,” based on the 2001 children’s book “The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents,” features the voice of Hugh Laurie as the title character. He’s a cat who can talk in a world where cats don’t usually do that, even though magic is real, the living personification of Death walks among us and fairy-tale characters abound as well.
Then again, rats can’t talk either,...
The collected “Discworld” novels by Terry Pratchett are so weird and so imaginative and so wry that very few filmmakers have ever seriously tried to adapt them. We’ve had one short-lived live-action series, one short film, a few animated mini-series and three ambitious live-action mini-series.
But feature films have eluded the dwellers of “Discworld” until just about — actually wait, let me check my watch here — now.
“The Amazing Maurice,” based on the 2001 children’s book “The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents,” features the voice of Hugh Laurie as the title character. He’s a cat who can talk in a world where cats don’t usually do that, even though magic is real, the living personification of Death walks among us and fairy-tale characters abound as well.
Then again, rats can’t talk either,...
- 2/3/2023
- by William Bibbiani
- The Wrap
A second wave of film and television programming has been announced for this year’s South by Southwest Conference and Festivals, with highlights including the series debuts of “Swarm” and Steven Yeun starring “Beef” on opening and closing night, respectively.
A full list of honorees in the visions, global presented by Mubi, 24 beats and festival favorites categories was also unveiled in tandem with additions to previously announced sections.
“The second wave of our lineup signals that the countdown to SXSW is on! The hype train is officially leaving the station, baby!” said Claudette Godfrey, V.P. of film and TV at SXSW. “From thought-provoking documentaries and thrilling television series, to hotly anticipated studio tentpoles and micro-budget dramas, we strive to showcase the best of a diverse range of work, and couldn’t be more proud of this year’s lineup.”
From co-creators Donald Glover and Janine Nabers comes the March 10 world premiere of “Swarm,...
A full list of honorees in the visions, global presented by Mubi, 24 beats and festival favorites categories was also unveiled in tandem with additions to previously announced sections.
“The second wave of our lineup signals that the countdown to SXSW is on! The hype train is officially leaving the station, baby!” said Claudette Godfrey, V.P. of film and TV at SXSW. “From thought-provoking documentaries and thrilling television series, to hotly anticipated studio tentpoles and micro-budget dramas, we strive to showcase the best of a diverse range of work, and couldn’t be more proud of this year’s lineup.”
From co-creators Donald Glover and Janine Nabers comes the March 10 world premiere of “Swarm,...
- 2/1/2023
- by Katie Reul
- Variety Film + TV
Festival runs in Austin, Texas, from March 10-19.
Emma Seligman’s Shiva Baby follow-up Bottoms and Jon S. Baird’s Tetris starring Taron Egerton are among the second wave of SXSW unveiled on Wednesday.
Festival organisers announced all selections in Visions, Global presented by Mubi, 24 Beats, and Festival Favorites as well as additions to Headliners, TV Premieres, Narrative and Documentary Spotlight.
New to Headliners are world premieres of Emma Seligman’s Shiva Baby follow-up Bottoms which follows two unpopular queer high school students who start a fight club to have sex before graduation; and Jon S. Baird’s Tetris starring...
Emma Seligman’s Shiva Baby follow-up Bottoms and Jon S. Baird’s Tetris starring Taron Egerton are among the second wave of SXSW unveiled on Wednesday.
Festival organisers announced all selections in Visions, Global presented by Mubi, 24 Beats, and Festival Favorites as well as additions to Headliners, TV Premieres, Narrative and Documentary Spotlight.
New to Headliners are world premieres of Emma Seligman’s Shiva Baby follow-up Bottoms which follows two unpopular queer high school students who start a fight club to have sex before graduation; and Jon S. Baird’s Tetris starring...
- 2/1/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The 2023 Sundance Film Festival, the festival’s first in-person competition since 2020, has revealed its award winners.
The big winners included Maryam Keshavarz‘s The Persian Version, which earned both the Audience Award and Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, and A.V. Rockwell‘s A Thousand and One, which took home the Grand Jury Prize in the same category.
The Persian Version explores an Iranian-American family’s past as its patriarch gets a heart transplant while A Thousand and One centers around a mother who kidnaps her son from the foster care system in order to find a path toward redemption.
Other winners include Festival Favorite Radical directed by Christopher Zalla and Grand Jury Prize winner for U.S. Documentary, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project.
The festival has highlighted 101 different features and 64 shorts. These films were selected from a total of 15,856 submissions. Most of...
The big winners included Maryam Keshavarz‘s The Persian Version, which earned both the Audience Award and Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, and A.V. Rockwell‘s A Thousand and One, which took home the Grand Jury Prize in the same category.
The Persian Version explores an Iranian-American family’s past as its patriarch gets a heart transplant while A Thousand and One centers around a mother who kidnaps her son from the foster care system in order to find a path toward redemption.
Other winners include Festival Favorite Radical directed by Christopher Zalla and Grand Jury Prize winner for U.S. Documentary, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project.
The festival has highlighted 101 different features and 64 shorts. These films were selected from a total of 15,856 submissions. Most of...
- 1/28/2023
- by Alex Nguyen
- Uinterview
Festival runs through January 29.
A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand And One took the 2023 Sundance U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic prize and Charlotte Regan’s UK entry Scrapper earned the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2023 Sundance awards ceremony on Friday.
Audience award winners included Maryam Keshavarz’s The Persian Version in U.S. Dramatic Competition, Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia in U.S. Documentary, Mstylav Chernov’s 20 Days In Mariupol in World Cinema Documentary, and Noora Niasari’s Shayda in World Cinema Dramatic.
Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente said the selection “demonstrated a sense of...
A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand And One took the 2023 Sundance U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic prize and Charlotte Regan’s UK entry Scrapper earned the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2023 Sundance awards ceremony on Friday.
Audience award winners included Maryam Keshavarz’s The Persian Version in U.S. Dramatic Competition, Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia in U.S. Documentary, Mstylav Chernov’s 20 Days In Mariupol in World Cinema Documentary, and Noora Niasari’s Shayda in World Cinema Dramatic.
Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente said the selection “demonstrated a sense of...
- 1/27/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Back in Park City, Utah, for the first time since 2020, the Sundance Film Festival concluded with an in-person awards show. The U.S. dramatic grand jury prize went to the Focus Features release “A Thousand and One,” from debut writer-director A.V. Rockwell, one of eight women in this year’s female-led competition.
Jeremy O. Harris, a member of the three-person U.S. dramatic jury at Sundance, choked back tears as he presented the award to Rockwell, admitting that he left the director’s premiere screening and cried on the street, as the film unearthed “all the feelings I’ve learned to mask in public spaces.”
Rockwell’s film is set in an unforgiving New York City in the late ’90s, where a single mother moving from shelter to shelter kidnaps her 6-year-old son from foster care. As they improbably forge a life and bond, their darkest secret threatens to disrupt what they’ve built.
Jeremy O. Harris, a member of the three-person U.S. dramatic jury at Sundance, choked back tears as he presented the award to Rockwell, admitting that he left the director’s premiere screening and cried on the street, as the film unearthed “all the feelings I’ve learned to mask in public spaces.”
Rockwell’s film is set in an unforgiving New York City in the late ’90s, where a single mother moving from shelter to shelter kidnaps her 6-year-old son from foster care. As they improbably forge a life and bond, their darkest secret threatens to disrupt what they’ve built.
- 1/27/2023
- by Matt Donnelly and Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
As the first in-person Sundance Film Festival since 2020 draws to a close, it’s time to see which films are taking home the festival’s most coveted awards. While there are many ways to measure success at Sundance — and many filmmakers are certainly more interested in a big sale than a trophy — the awards are nevertheless an important way of measuring which films resonated with the Park City crowd.
Friday’s award ceremony is the culmination of what has already been a very eventful festival. Despite the multitude of changes that the independent film world and the streaming industry are currently undergoing, this year’s festival still featured its share of buzzy premieres and splashy acquisitions. One of the most talked about movies in Park City has been Chloe Domont’s erotic thriller “Fair Play,” which sold to Netflix for a reported price of 20 million. The festival also featured some...
Friday’s award ceremony is the culmination of what has already been a very eventful festival. Despite the multitude of changes that the independent film world and the streaming industry are currently undergoing, this year’s festival still featured its share of buzzy premieres and splashy acquisitions. One of the most talked about movies in Park City has been Chloe Domont’s erotic thriller “Fair Play,” which sold to Netflix for a reported price of 20 million. The festival also featured some...
- 1/27/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Aside from Ken Burns or Steve James or Alex Gibney, or maybe Liz Garbus, very few documentarians get to name their formal terms. They make a feature or something longer based on what the marketplace demands or, more frequently, based on limitations of money or access.
So it isn’t like Sam Osborn and Alejandra Vasquez, directors of Going Varsity in Mariachi, necessarily looked at their available footage and said, “Sure, we know this is really best-served being a TV series, but nah.” They told the story they could tell and if Going Varsity in Mariachi is one of those movies that’s good at 104 minutes, but could have been spectacular at eight hours, that’s unfortunately just the state of the business sometimes. And Going Varsity in Mariachi is quite good as it is, an endearingly wholesome and frequently vibrant feature. But almost every one of my reservations boils down to,...
So it isn’t like Sam Osborn and Alejandra Vasquez, directors of Going Varsity in Mariachi, necessarily looked at their available footage and said, “Sure, we know this is really best-served being a TV series, but nah.” They told the story they could tell and if Going Varsity in Mariachi is one of those movies that’s good at 104 minutes, but could have been spectacular at eight hours, that’s unfortunately just the state of the business sometimes. And Going Varsity in Mariachi is quite good as it is, an endearingly wholesome and frequently vibrant feature. But almost every one of my reservations boils down to,...
- 1/23/2023
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
At the premiere of U.S. Documentary Competition title “Going Varsity in Mariachi,” the Q&a featured a rousing performance by the Edinburg North High School’s Mariachi Oro. Members of the “Theater Camp” cast performed a show tune at the premiere of their U.S. Dramatic Competition crowdpleaser. And at the screening of another hotly anticipated sales title, “Magazine Dreams,” the competition jury walked out in protest when captioning was not available for juror Marlee Matlin.
In short, Sundance is back and looks remarkably like its usual self with some excitement here, some disappointment there. That, along with a surprise screening (Doug Liman’s Brett Kavanaugh doc “Justice”), a little controversy (everyone will leave knowing what “open captions” mean), and a lot of snow make for a comfortingly familiar festival experience after a three-year gap.
Sundance 2023 even saw the results of its first bidding wars on Monday morning, with...
In short, Sundance is back and looks remarkably like its usual self with some excitement here, some disappointment there. That, along with a surprise screening (Doug Liman’s Brett Kavanaugh doc “Justice”), a little controversy (everyone will leave knowing what “open captions” mean), and a lot of snow make for a comfortingly familiar festival experience after a three-year gap.
Sundance 2023 even saw the results of its first bidding wars on Monday morning, with...
- 1/23/2023
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
When the 2023 Sundance began on Thursday evening, there was a giddiness in the air after two years of virtual festivals. For filmmakers and audiences, it was thrilling just to be back in crowded theaters to watch movies and bask in the Sundance buzz that, let’s face it, makes a lot of indie films look better at 6,900 feet than they will at sea level.
Sustaining the giddiness is, of course, more difficult than getting there in the first place. So as the delayed-gratification Sundance’s opening weekend nears its conclusion, it’s hard not to acknowledge that the initial rejoicing also required ignoring the fact that the movie business itself has been rocked, with theaters closing and box-office numbers still far from pre-covid numbers. And, oh yes, covid is still with us.
“It is a tough time. I don’t know where these small films go,” said Bob Berney, a...
Sustaining the giddiness is, of course, more difficult than getting there in the first place. So as the delayed-gratification Sundance’s opening weekend nears its conclusion, it’s hard not to acknowledge that the initial rejoicing also required ignoring the fact that the movie business itself has been rocked, with theaters closing and box-office numbers still far from pre-covid numbers. And, oh yes, covid is still with us.
“It is a tough time. I don’t know where these small films go,” said Bob Berney, a...
- 1/23/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The best documentaries take viewers to worlds you never knew existed, even if they are right next door to our own. This is certainly the case with “Going Varsity in Mariachi,” a feature documentary playing at Sundance that focuses on, in the words of the official synopsis “the world of competitive scholastic mariachi.”
Filmmakers Sam Osborne and Alejandra Vasquez’s film charts “Edinburg North High School’s Mariachi Oro as a green team strives for the state championship.” If that synopsis sounds fascinating, well, the filmmakers thought so too. “We learned that for the first time Texas was sanctioning a mariachi competition,” director Alejandra Vasquez told TheWrap in Sundance. “And it immediately intrigued us.” (Tellingly the entire “Going Varsity in Mariachi” team was wearing matching letterman jackets.)
“I grew up listening to the music, so the music was super familiar to me, but I had no idea there was a...
Filmmakers Sam Osborne and Alejandra Vasquez’s film charts “Edinburg North High School’s Mariachi Oro as a green team strives for the state championship.” If that synopsis sounds fascinating, well, the filmmakers thought so too. “We learned that for the first time Texas was sanctioning a mariachi competition,” director Alejandra Vasquez told TheWrap in Sundance. “And it immediately intrigued us.” (Tellingly the entire “Going Varsity in Mariachi” team was wearing matching letterman jackets.)
“I grew up listening to the music, so the music was super familiar to me, but I had no idea there was a...
- 1/23/2023
- by Drew Taylor
- The Wrap
In the opening sequence of “Going Varsity in Mariachi,” a high school mariachi band takes the stage of a dramatically lit an auditorium. Just as the violinist raises her bow, the camera cuts away. We don’t hear what she’s going to play until about an hour and a half later. It’s a frustrating tease that serves as a good example of some of the shortcomings of Sam Osborn and Alejandra Vasquez’s otherwise .
Osborn and Vasquez’s feature plays like a mashup of Netflix’s “Cheer” and Fox’s “Glee” but set in the Rio Grande Valley, where the primary competitive endeavor is mariachi music. Centering on the underdogs of Edinburg North High School’s Mariachi Oro, “Going Varsity in Mariachi” is a thoroughly enjoyable if formulaic narrative that also fails to closely examine the subculture its proclaims to introduce. That is to say: I wish “Going...
Osborn and Vasquez’s feature plays like a mashup of Netflix’s “Cheer” and Fox’s “Glee” but set in the Rio Grande Valley, where the primary competitive endeavor is mariachi music. Centering on the underdogs of Edinburg North High School’s Mariachi Oro, “Going Varsity in Mariachi” is a thoroughly enjoyable if formulaic narrative that also fails to closely examine the subculture its proclaims to introduce. That is to say: I wish “Going...
- 1/22/2023
- by Esther Zuckerman
- Indiewire
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