Ken Burns has made a statement after a photo surfaced of the documentary filmmaker with Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas and billionaire David Koch. While Koch has funded one of Burns’ documentaries, Burns maintains that he and the Supreme Court Justice have no connections or relationship.
“Around ten years ago, Ken was stopped and asked to take a photograph with a Supreme Court Justice and David Koch, who was a supporter of public television and would later provide some funding for his film, ‘The Vietnam War.’ So he took the photo, as he has done with many, many others. Other than the taking of that photograph and innocuous pleasantries, that’s the extent of his contact with Justice Thomas,” a spokesperson for Burns said in a statement to Variety.
“The Vietnam War” is a 10-part, 18-hour long PBS documentary piece that chronicles first-hand accounts from witnesses and participants from both sides of the war.
“Around ten years ago, Ken was stopped and asked to take a photograph with a Supreme Court Justice and David Koch, who was a supporter of public television and would later provide some funding for his film, ‘The Vietnam War.’ So he took the photo, as he has done with many, many others. Other than the taking of that photograph and innocuous pleasantries, that’s the extent of his contact with Justice Thomas,” a spokesperson for Burns said in a statement to Variety.
“The Vietnam War” is a 10-part, 18-hour long PBS documentary piece that chronicles first-hand accounts from witnesses and participants from both sides of the war.
- 9/22/2023
- by Sophia Scorziello
- Variety Film + TV
Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns began trending on social media Friday for appearing in a photo with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and billionaire David Koch.
However, Burns said he does not have a relationship with Thomas, other than taking the photo. Koch has funded one of Burns’ documentaries.
“Around ten years ago, Ken was stopped and asked to take a photograph with a Supreme Court Justice and David Koch, who was a supporter of public television and would later provide some funding for his film, The Vietnam War. So he took the photo, as he has done with many, many others. Other than the taking of that photograph and innocuous pleasantries, that’s the extent of his contact with Justice Thomas,” a spokesperson for Burns wrote in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
The photo appeared in a ProPublica article published Friday that described previously unknown details about the relationship between Thomas and Koch,...
However, Burns said he does not have a relationship with Thomas, other than taking the photo. Koch has funded one of Burns’ documentaries.
“Around ten years ago, Ken was stopped and asked to take a photograph with a Supreme Court Justice and David Koch, who was a supporter of public television and would later provide some funding for his film, The Vietnam War. So he took the photo, as he has done with many, many others. Other than the taking of that photograph and innocuous pleasantries, that’s the extent of his contact with Justice Thomas,” a spokesperson for Burns wrote in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
The photo appeared in a ProPublica article published Friday that described previously unknown details about the relationship between Thomas and Koch,...
- 9/22/2023
- by Caitlin Huston
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
On the brink of turning 70, Ken Burns will release his very first film, “Working in Rural New England,” which he made as an undergraduate at Hampshire College. The 28-minute docu will be released July 25 on Unum, Burn’s American history digital platform on PBS.
About Old Sturbridge Village, an outdoor history museum in Massachusetts that re-creates life in rural New England from 1790 through the 1830s, the docu was commissioned by the museum in 1973. The film served as Burns’ senior thesis at the liberal arts college in nearby Amherst, Mass. Accompanying the doc on Unum is a pre-recorded conversation between Burns and New York Times literary critic A.O. Scott.
“It in some ways does not look like a Ken Burns film,” Scott says during his conversation with Burns. “It’s moving images in the present day, in color. So, it doesn’t immediately say to a modern viewer, a film by Ken Burns.
About Old Sturbridge Village, an outdoor history museum in Massachusetts that re-creates life in rural New England from 1790 through the 1830s, the docu was commissioned by the museum in 1973. The film served as Burns’ senior thesis at the liberal arts college in nearby Amherst, Mass. Accompanying the doc on Unum is a pre-recorded conversation between Burns and New York Times literary critic A.O. Scott.
“It in some ways does not look like a Ken Burns film,” Scott says during his conversation with Burns. “It’s moving images in the present day, in color. So, it doesn’t immediately say to a modern viewer, a film by Ken Burns.
- 7/25/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
During a recent Gold Derby video interview, news and features editor Ray Richmond spoke in-depth with Ken Burns about the three-part, six-hour documentary film he co-produced and co-directed for PBS, “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” which is eligible at the 2023 Emmy Awards. Watch the full video above and read the complete interview transcript below.
“I will never work on a more important film than this one,” declares Burns of “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” the film documentary he co-produced and co-directed (with frequent collaborators Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein) and released last September. Coming from Burns, that’s a mouthful, considering he is perhaps the most celebrated documentarian of our time and the foremost chronicler of the American experience. He’s a filmmaker who is responsible for many of the most treasured nonfiction series and biographies ever put to film, among them “The Civil War,” “Baseball,” “Jazz,” “Jackie Robinson” and “The Vietnam War.
“I will never work on a more important film than this one,” declares Burns of “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” the film documentary he co-produced and co-directed (with frequent collaborators Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein) and released last September. Coming from Burns, that’s a mouthful, considering he is perhaps the most celebrated documentarian of our time and the foremost chronicler of the American experience. He’s a filmmaker who is responsible for many of the most treasured nonfiction series and biographies ever put to film, among them “The Civil War,” “Baseball,” “Jazz,” “Jackie Robinson” and “The Vietnam War.
- 6/22/2023
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
The boys are back, and they’re heading to the world of animation once more. Oscar-winning composers and musicians Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross will compose the score for the upcoming Paramount film “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” marking their second animated feature after scoring Pixar’s 2020 film “Soul.”
The animated reboot is produced and co-written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and Rogen called Reznor and Ross’ score “incredible” while adding that the process of working with the duo has been “thrilling.”
Directed by Jeff Rowe, an animation veteran who worked on the acclaimed series “Gravity Falls” before co-directing the Netflix feature “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” this new “Tmnt” movie aims to position the titular turtles as real-life teenagers, drawing inspiration from coming-of-age films. The impressive voice cast features relative newcomers (and youngsters) as the turtles as well as Rose Byrne, Jackie Chan, Ice Cube, Maya Rudolph,...
The animated reboot is produced and co-written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and Rogen called Reznor and Ross’ score “incredible” while adding that the process of working with the duo has been “thrilling.”
Directed by Jeff Rowe, an animation veteran who worked on the acclaimed series “Gravity Falls” before co-directing the Netflix feature “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” this new “Tmnt” movie aims to position the titular turtles as real-life teenagers, drawing inspiration from coming-of-age films. The impressive voice cast features relative newcomers (and youngsters) as the turtles as well as Rose Byrne, Jackie Chan, Ice Cube, Maya Rudolph,...
- 5/30/2023
- by Adam Chitwood
- The Wrap
“I will never work on a more important film than this one,” declares Ken Burns of “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” the three-part, six-hour PBS film he co-produced and co-directed (with frequent collaborators Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein) and released last September. Coming from Burns, that’s a mouthful, considering he is perhaps the most celebrated documentarian of our time and the foremost chronicler of the American experience. He’s a filmmaker who is responsible for many of the most treasured nonfiction series and biographies ever put to film, among them “The Civil War,” “Baseball,” “Jazz,” “Jackie Robinson” and “The Vietnam War.” A two-time Oscar nominee and five-time Emmy winner, Burns is without peer on the documentary production stage. And he is as proud of “U.S. and the Holocaust” as anything he’s ever done in his four-decade filmmaking career. Watch the exclusive video interview above.
What Burns – a...
What Burns – a...
- 5/2/2023
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
Click here to read the full article.
Sean Penn has a date with the Television Academy on Nov. 16.
The actor, filmmaker and founder of Community Organized Relief Effort (Core) will be feted with a Bob Hope Humanitarian Award at the organization’s Hall of Fame event. Held at TV Academy headquarters at the Saban Media Center in North Hollywood, the event serves as the induction ceremony for new members into the Hall of Fame.
This year, six new members will take a turn in the spotlight, including Debbie Allen, Ken Burns, Bob Daly, Robert L. Johnson, Rita Moreno and Donald A. Morgan. The Hall of Fame honors small-screen legends “who have made outstanding contributions in the arts, sciences or management of television over a lifetime career or via singular achievements.”
Debbie Allen, Ken Burns, Bob Daly, Robert L. Johnson, Rita Moreno and Donald A. Morgan
As for Penn, he’s...
Sean Penn has a date with the Television Academy on Nov. 16.
The actor, filmmaker and founder of Community Organized Relief Effort (Core) will be feted with a Bob Hope Humanitarian Award at the organization’s Hall of Fame event. Held at TV Academy headquarters at the Saban Media Center in North Hollywood, the event serves as the induction ceremony for new members into the Hall of Fame.
This year, six new members will take a turn in the spotlight, including Debbie Allen, Ken Burns, Bob Daly, Robert L. Johnson, Rita Moreno and Donald A. Morgan. The Hall of Fame honors small-screen legends “who have made outstanding contributions in the arts, sciences or management of television over a lifetime career or via singular achievements.”
Debbie Allen, Ken Burns, Bob Daly, Robert L. Johnson, Rita Moreno and Donald A. Morgan
As for Penn, he’s...
- 10/26/2022
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Six television legends will be inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame on November 16. Those chosen for the 26th ceremony are: Debbie Allen, Ken Burns, Bob Daly, Robert L. Johnson, Rita Moreno and Donald A. Morgan. In addition, actor Sean Penn will receive the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. The event will be held in North Hollywood at the Saban Media Center.
The Hall of Fame event will take place Wednesday, Nov. 16, at the Television Academy’s Saban Media Center and includes the unveiling of new busts of previous inductees, the induction of the 2022 Hall of Fame recipients, and the presentation of the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.
Seetv Hall of Fame: Top 50 best choices who should be inducted next
The first induction was held in 1984 and it’s been an annual tradition almost every year. That class of legends consisted of actress/executive Lucille Ball, actor/comedian Milton Berle, writer Paddy Chayefsky,...
The Hall of Fame event will take place Wednesday, Nov. 16, at the Television Academy’s Saban Media Center and includes the unveiling of new busts of previous inductees, the induction of the 2022 Hall of Fame recipients, and the presentation of the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.
Seetv Hall of Fame: Top 50 best choices who should be inducted next
The first induction was held in 1984 and it’s been an annual tradition almost every year. That class of legends consisted of actress/executive Lucille Ball, actor/comedian Milton Berle, writer Paddy Chayefsky,...
- 10/25/2022
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Deals close in UK, Australia, France, Germany, South Korea, Middle East.
Highland Film Group has closed multiple territory sales on Aaron Eckhart Vietnam War action thriller Ambush which has been filming in Colombia and relocates to southern California at the end of the month.
Saban Films is set to release Ambush in North America and Highland has licensed rights in the UK (Signature), France and French-speaking Switzerland (Crome Films), Germany, Benelux and German-speaking Switzerland (Splendid Film), Australia and New Zealand (Rialto Distribution), Italy (Notorious Pictures), Scandinavia (Mis.Label) and South Korea (Jane & U).
Further deals have closed in Taiwan (Cai...
Highland Film Group has closed multiple territory sales on Aaron Eckhart Vietnam War action thriller Ambush which has been filming in Colombia and relocates to southern California at the end of the month.
Saban Films is set to release Ambush in North America and Highland has licensed rights in the UK (Signature), France and French-speaking Switzerland (Crome Films), Germany, Benelux and German-speaking Switzerland (Splendid Film), Australia and New Zealand (Rialto Distribution), Italy (Notorious Pictures), Scandinavia (Mis.Label) and South Korea (Jane & U).
Further deals have closed in Taiwan (Cai...
- 5/23/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
More than three decades after he first attended the Cannes Film Festival, Forest Whitaker will receive the honorary Palme d’Or at the event’s 75th opening ceremony this month.
Academy Award winner Whitaker follows Jodie Foster in receiving the award, which is given out as a tribute to those figures whose artistic careers are matched by humanitarian commitments. Jeanne Moreau, Bernardo Bertolucci and Manoel de Oliveira are among the previous recipients.
“Thirty-four years ago, attending Cannes for the first time changed my life, and assured me that I’d made the right decision to devote myself to finding connectivity in humanity through film,” he said. “It’s always a privilege to return to this beautiful festival to both screen my own work, and to be inspired by many of the world’s greatest artists – and I feel incredibly honored to be celebrated as part of the Festival’s momentous 75th anniversary.
Academy Award winner Whitaker follows Jodie Foster in receiving the award, which is given out as a tribute to those figures whose artistic careers are matched by humanitarian commitments. Jeanne Moreau, Bernardo Bertolucci and Manoel de Oliveira are among the previous recipients.
“Thirty-four years ago, attending Cannes for the first time changed my life, and assured me that I’d made the right decision to devote myself to finding connectivity in humanity through film,” he said. “It’s always a privilege to return to this beautiful festival to both screen my own work, and to be inspired by many of the world’s greatest artists – and I feel incredibly honored to be celebrated as part of the Festival’s momentous 75th anniversary.
- 5/5/2022
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
By the time director Michael Mann's crime drama-cum-biopic "Public Enemies" was released in 2009, the cinematic medium had existed for a full century. As a result, historical events lived in the public consciousness more than just in firsthand memories from those still living who experienced them; such memories of events had become superseded by films depicting them. In other words, the look of World War II had become synonymous with the look of a '40s movie, Vietnam and Watergate evoked images of '70s films, and so on.
This was precisely the dilemma Mann faced when making "Public Enemies": how to differentiate his picture about...
The post Michael Mann Didn't Want Public Enemies to Be Just Another Period Piece appeared first on /Film.
This was precisely the dilemma Mann faced when making "Public Enemies": how to differentiate his picture about...
The post Michael Mann Didn't Want Public Enemies to Be Just Another Period Piece appeared first on /Film.
- 4/20/2022
- by Bill Bria
- Slash Film
Upcoming releases from Globalgate partnerships include Hunting Season from Germany, Miss Granny from Mexico.
US-based Globalgate Entertainment has struck a deal with the Ratuken group and added the Japanese e-commerce and internet services company to its global network of producers and distributors.
Ratuken is ramping up its entertainment content creation, marketing and distribution businesses and will work with Globalgate to source co-financing opportunities.
Globalgate’s slate of films and digital/TV series includes Dhamaka from India and Mexico’s Sin Hijos and upcoming releases Hunting Season aka Jagdsaison from Germany, Miss Granny from Mexico and remake No Kids in South Korea.
US-based Globalgate Entertainment has struck a deal with the Ratuken group and added the Japanese e-commerce and internet services company to its global network of producers and distributors.
Ratuken is ramping up its entertainment content creation, marketing and distribution businesses and will work with Globalgate to source co-financing opportunities.
Globalgate’s slate of films and digital/TV series includes Dhamaka from India and Mexico’s Sin Hijos and upcoming releases Hunting Season aka Jagdsaison from Germany, Miss Granny from Mexico and remake No Kids in South Korea.
- 4/12/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
If you were expecting to hear a lot about Will Smith’s slap of Chris Rock at the Oscars on March 27, tonight’s Saturday Night Live cold open didn’t have a lot to offer.
Sure, James Austin Johnson ‘s Donald Trump showed up towards the end to declare that “I saw slap, I enjoyed slap, I was very impressed with my Hitch.” Swirling around a few references to past flicks by the King Richard star, Johnson’s Trump went on to say “quite an arm on Hitch, I always knew Hitch had an arm.”
“Back in Pursuit of Happyness, he’s slugging the machine on and off the subway,” this season’s Trump rambled. “I thought it was great. You know, they slept in the bathroom in that movie. It’s so sad. it’s a sad night for Hitch too.”
And that was kind of it, before the...
Sure, James Austin Johnson ‘s Donald Trump showed up towards the end to declare that “I saw slap, I enjoyed slap, I was very impressed with my Hitch.” Swirling around a few references to past flicks by the King Richard star, Johnson’s Trump went on to say “quite an arm on Hitch, I always knew Hitch had an arm.”
“Back in Pursuit of Happyness, he’s slugging the machine on and off the subway,” this season’s Trump rambled. “I thought it was great. You know, they slept in the bathroom in that movie. It’s so sad. it’s a sad night for Hitch too.”
And that was kind of it, before the...
- 4/3/2022
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
What if E.T. and CJ7 had a movie baby? Versatile director Ham Tran attempts to answer that question in his latest film, Maika, making its debut in the Kids section of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Tran has dipped his toe into a number of genres over the years, starting with his heart wrenching first film, Vietnam-exodus drama, Journey From the Fall (2006), through to his horror film, Hollow (2014), and crime thriller, Bitcoin Heist (2016). Never one to sit still for too long, Tran’s latest is one of Vietnam’s first science fiction features with Maika, a giddy hodge-podge of familiar kids’ movie tropes assembled into a delightfully wacky adventure that is sure to delight the pre-tween set. When a spaceship crash lands nearby, Hung...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 1/29/2022
- Screen Anarchy
Paul Thomas Anderson grew up in the San Fernando Valley, which played an important role in his 1997 breakthrough film “Boogie Nights,” which looked at Valley’s porn industry during the ‘70s and 80s. In his new United Artists release “Licorice Pizza,” Anderson returns to the Sfv for a nostalgia-tinged comedy-of-age story set in 1973 starring Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim. Both young performers received strong notices with the L.A. Times’ Justin Chang declaring Haim as the true star of “this boisterous, bighearted movie and its raison d’être.” And Bradley Cooper has earned positive notices for his funny turn as hairdresser turned film producer Jon Peters, who ironically was a producer on Cooper’s 2018 “A Star is Born.”
So, what was the world like in 1973? It was the year of Watergate, Roe Vs. Wade and “The Exorcist” hitting the big screen. Let’s travel back almost half a century to look at the top films,...
So, what was the world like in 1973? It was the year of Watergate, Roe Vs. Wade and “The Exorcist” hitting the big screen. Let’s travel back almost half a century to look at the top films,...
- 12/2/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Exclusive: Gradually, Then Suddenly: The Bankruptcy Of Detroit, directed by Sam Katz and James McGovern, swept the 2021 Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film, a three-year-old documentary award that carries a finishing grant of $200,000.
The winning entry explores the decline of the American manufacturing city culminating in the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history in 2013 and its aftermath.
Directors of runner-up Free Chol Soo Lee, Julie Ha and Eugene Yi, will receive $50,000 for their story of a Korean immigrant wrongly convicted of a Chinatown gang murder in San Francisco in 1973. Four finalists will be awarded $25,000 apiece.
Filmmakers from Ken Burns’ production company Florentine Films and staff from the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center — the Library’s moving image and recorded sound preservation facility – selected the six entries from a flurry of initial submissions of late-stage American history documentaries. That was winnowed to two by a national jury including filmmakers Sam Pollard,...
The winning entry explores the decline of the American manufacturing city culminating in the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history in 2013 and its aftermath.
Directors of runner-up Free Chol Soo Lee, Julie Ha and Eugene Yi, will receive $50,000 for their story of a Korean immigrant wrongly convicted of a Chinatown gang murder in San Francisco in 1973. Four finalists will be awarded $25,000 apiece.
Filmmakers from Ken Burns’ production company Florentine Films and staff from the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center — the Library’s moving image and recorded sound preservation facility – selected the six entries from a flurry of initial submissions of late-stage American history documentaries. That was winnowed to two by a national jury including filmmakers Sam Pollard,...
- 10/26/2021
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Gordon Lam and Ann Hui, recipients of Variety honors at the New York Asian Film Festival, could scarcely be more different. Actor-turned producer Lam, who is receiving Variety Star Asia Award is ebullient and busy. Hui, for all her renown in Asia and Europe as a top director, is quiet and unassuming. She will be presented with the Variety Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award.
What they have in common is a lengthy career that has taken them from the bottom of the Hong Kong entertainment industry to the upper echelons. Both have achieved reputations that have been earned by endless hard work, which has served their carefully honed talent.
Born in Manchuria of Japanese and Chinese parents, Hui was convent school-educated in Hong Kong and studied film in London, where she brushed up against industry icon King Hu.
Returning to Hong Kong in 1976, Hui was thrown in at the deep end,...
What they have in common is a lengthy career that has taken them from the bottom of the Hong Kong entertainment industry to the upper echelons. Both have achieved reputations that have been earned by endless hard work, which has served their carefully honed talent.
Born in Manchuria of Japanese and Chinese parents, Hui was convent school-educated in Hong Kong and studied film in London, where she brushed up against industry icon King Hu.
Returning to Hong Kong in 1976, Hui was thrown in at the deep end,...
- 8/6/2021
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
After going fully virtual in 2020, the New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff) returns with a hybrid lineup of screenings Aug. 6-22.
The festival will open Aug. 6 with Ryoo Seung-wan’s South Korean action-drama “Escape From Mogadishu,” which depicts the perilous escape attempt by Korean embassy workers stranded during the onset of the civil war in Somalia.
Samuel Jamier, executive director of Nyaff, calls it one of the biggest Korean releases of the year and says the film will open in theaters simultaneously with its in-person international premiere at Film at Lincoln Center.
“‘Escape From Mogadishu’ shows the expansion of Korea and where it’s aiming to be,” Jamier says. “It would have been hard to conceive 10 years ago another war film set in Somalia, a territory that has only been explored in ‘Black Hawk Down’ in some fashion.”
One of the few American film festivals devoted to pics from the Asian continent,...
The festival will open Aug. 6 with Ryoo Seung-wan’s South Korean action-drama “Escape From Mogadishu,” which depicts the perilous escape attempt by Korean embassy workers stranded during the onset of the civil war in Somalia.
Samuel Jamier, executive director of Nyaff, calls it one of the biggest Korean releases of the year and says the film will open in theaters simultaneously with its in-person international premiere at Film at Lincoln Center.
“‘Escape From Mogadishu’ shows the expansion of Korea and where it’s aiming to be,” Jamier says. “It would have been hard to conceive 10 years ago another war film set in Somalia, a territory that has only been explored in ‘Black Hawk Down’ in some fashion.”
One of the few American film festivals devoted to pics from the Asian continent,...
- 8/6/2021
- by Antonio Ferme
- Variety Film + TV
By Raghu Pratap
French-Vietnamese filmmaker Tran Anh Hung came to the cinema world’s attention with his very first film – “The Scent of Green Papaya”: a glacially paced, aesthetically lush work set in 1950s and 1960s Saigon with a significant dose of political subtext that continues to find relevance even today. The film created waves among the film fraternity, winning two awards at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival including the Camera d’Or, a Cesar award for Best Debut Feature, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1993. “The Scent of Green Papaya” forms the first of a triumvirate of films -referred to as Tran’s ‘Vietnam Trilogy’ which includes his later works: “Cyclo” (1995) and “The Vertical Ray of the Sun” (2000).
The movie takes place in two timelines, separated by ten years. In the first section, the film revolves around, and follows a young...
French-Vietnamese filmmaker Tran Anh Hung came to the cinema world’s attention with his very first film – “The Scent of Green Papaya”: a glacially paced, aesthetically lush work set in 1950s and 1960s Saigon with a significant dose of political subtext that continues to find relevance even today. The film created waves among the film fraternity, winning two awards at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival including the Camera d’Or, a Cesar award for Best Debut Feature, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1993. “The Scent of Green Papaya” forms the first of a triumvirate of films -referred to as Tran’s ‘Vietnam Trilogy’ which includes his later works: “Cyclo” (1995) and “The Vertical Ray of the Sun” (2000).
The movie takes place in two timelines, separated by ten years. In the first section, the film revolves around, and follows a young...
- 3/22/2021
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
This year’s Oscar season was always going to be unconventional, with nominations taking place almost two months later than usual ahead of April’s delayed ceremony, but one aspect of the awards cycle remains unchanged: There were plenty of snubs and surprises, with the Academy delivering a diverse set of nominations that challenge many of the assumptions about the way things would play out.
First, the shockers. “One Night in Miami” (Amazon) and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (Netflix) did not make the final eight for Best Picture. It was no surprise that “Da 5 Bloods” (Netflix) wasn’t going to make it — Spike Lee’s Vietnam epic earned just one Oscar slot, for Best Original Score, as critics prize-winner Delroy Lindo and Chadwick Boseman were both overlooked for acting nods. And the late Boseman landed just one, not two, nominations: Best Actor for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” along with his larger-than-life costar,...
First, the shockers. “One Night in Miami” (Amazon) and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (Netflix) did not make the final eight for Best Picture. It was no surprise that “Da 5 Bloods” (Netflix) wasn’t going to make it — Spike Lee’s Vietnam epic earned just one Oscar slot, for Best Original Score, as critics prize-winner Delroy Lindo and Chadwick Boseman were both overlooked for acting nods. And the late Boseman landed just one, not two, nominations: Best Actor for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” along with his larger-than-life costar,...
- 3/15/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
This year’s Oscar season was always going to be unconventional, with nominations taking place almost two months later than usual ahead of April’s delayed ceremony, but one aspect of the awards cycle remains unchanged: There were plenty of snubs and surprises, with the Academy delivering a diverse set of nominations that challenge many of the assumptions about the way things would play out.
First, the shockers. “One Night in Miami” (Amazon) and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (Netflix) did not make the final eight for Best Picture. It was no surprise that “Da 5 Bloods” (Netflix) wasn’t going to make it — Spike Lee’s Vietnam epic earned just one Oscar slot, for Best Original Score, as critics prize-winner Delroy Lindo and Chadwick Boseman were both overlooked for acting nods. And the late Boseman landed just one, not two, nominations: Best Actor for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” along with his larger-than-life costar,...
First, the shockers. “One Night in Miami” (Amazon) and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (Netflix) did not make the final eight for Best Picture. It was no surprise that “Da 5 Bloods” (Netflix) wasn’t going to make it — Spike Lee’s Vietnam epic earned just one Oscar slot, for Best Original Score, as critics prize-winner Delroy Lindo and Chadwick Boseman were both overlooked for acting nods. And the late Boseman landed just one, not two, nominations: Best Actor for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” along with his larger-than-life costar,...
- 3/15/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
The Screen Actors Guild Awards spread the wealth when the organization announced nominations Thursday for its 27th edition, failing to signal there were any clear frontrunners in either the film or television races.
“Minari,” the story of an immigrant family trying to build a life in the rural South, “Da 5 Bloods, a Vietnam epic, “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” a courtroom drama, and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” an adaptation of an August Wilson play, all scored a leading three nominations. The recognition felt like karmic justice for “Minari” and “Da 5 Bloods” after the films were largely shut out of Wednesday’s Golden Globe nominations. It could also breathe fresh life into their Oscar prospects after their awards prospects were looking shaky just 24 hours ago.
In a bittersweet moment, Chadwick Boseman made history, becoming the first person to score four SAG nominations for his lead performance in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,...
“Minari,” the story of an immigrant family trying to build a life in the rural South, “Da 5 Bloods, a Vietnam epic, “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” a courtroom drama, and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” an adaptation of an August Wilson play, all scored a leading three nominations. The recognition felt like karmic justice for “Minari” and “Da 5 Bloods” after the films were largely shut out of Wednesday’s Golden Globe nominations. It could also breathe fresh life into their Oscar prospects after their awards prospects were looking shaky just 24 hours ago.
In a bittersweet moment, Chadwick Boseman made history, becoming the first person to score four SAG nominations for his lead performance in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,...
- 2/4/2021
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Directors Ken Burns and Lynn Novick are promising a “nuanced” portrait of Ernest Hemingway in their three-part, six-hour documentary on the Nobel Prize-winning author coming to PBS in April.
Speaking at the PBS Winter Press Tour session Tuesday, Burns said the film deconstructs Hemingway’s image as a “hyper-masculine” archetype. “We were drawn at trying to get at a real Hemingway and I think the persona of the wild man, the drunk, the bar guy, the big game hunter, the big sea fisherman is sort of what we inherit, the baggage we carry. But almost immediately we began to see how thin and frail that was, not just for him but in fact.”
“The public persona…became such a burden for him, Novick noted. “And it becomes kind of exhausting, someone said in the film, to be Hemingway after a while. So it was especially wonderful to discover him young...
Speaking at the PBS Winter Press Tour session Tuesday, Burns said the film deconstructs Hemingway’s image as a “hyper-masculine” archetype. “We were drawn at trying to get at a real Hemingway and I think the persona of the wild man, the drunk, the bar guy, the big game hunter, the big sea fisherman is sort of what we inherit, the baggage we carry. But almost immediately we began to see how thin and frail that was, not just for him but in fact.”
“The public persona…became such a burden for him, Novick noted. “And it becomes kind of exhausting, someone said in the film, to be Hemingway after a while. So it was especially wonderful to discover him young...
- 2/3/2021
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Shortlists to be announced on February 9.
The Academy on Thursday (January 28) published a list of 93 films eligible for international feature film Oscar category.
Algeria’s Heliopolis, about the brutal suppression by French colonial authorities of an uprising in 1945, is omitted from the list. Screen understands the national selection committee withdrew the submission.
There were also a record number of documentary submissions – 238 compared to the previous high of 170 – in light of amended eligibility rules this season due to the pandemic, and a reduced field of 27 animation contenders.
The shortlists will be announced on February 9. The 93rd annual Academy Awards are scheduled...
The Academy on Thursday (January 28) published a list of 93 films eligible for international feature film Oscar category.
Algeria’s Heliopolis, about the brutal suppression by French colonial authorities of an uprising in 1945, is omitted from the list. Screen understands the national selection committee withdrew the submission.
There were also a record number of documentary submissions – 238 compared to the previous high of 170 – in light of amended eligibility rules this season due to the pandemic, and a reduced field of 27 animation contenders.
The shortlists will be announced on February 9. The 93rd annual Academy Awards are scheduled...
- 1/28/2021
- ScreenDaily
The Ballad Of John Henry screens as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival November 5th – 22nd. Ticket information for the virtual screening can be found Here
The ambitious documentary The Ballad Of John Henry by St. Louis-based filmmaker Matthew Rice analyzes how an ex-slave became one of America’s greatest tall-tale heroes: John Henry. Based on Scott Reynolds Nelson’s book “Steel Drivin’ Man,” the film provides a fresh perspective on the song and folk tale by exploring a myriad of related subjects, including the convict-lease program, an unjust legal system developed after the Civil War as a replacement for slavery. Director Rice worked as an intern on Ken Burns’ “The Vietnam War” series, and his film shares some of that master documentarian’s sensibility. Rice’s debut film, the short “The Yodel Within,” played the 2011 St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase, and “The Ballad of John Henry...
The ambitious documentary The Ballad Of John Henry by St. Louis-based filmmaker Matthew Rice analyzes how an ex-slave became one of America’s greatest tall-tale heroes: John Henry. Based on Scott Reynolds Nelson’s book “Steel Drivin’ Man,” the film provides a fresh perspective on the song and folk tale by exploring a myriad of related subjects, including the convict-lease program, an unjust legal system developed after the Civil War as a replacement for slavery. Director Rice worked as an intern on Ken Burns’ “The Vietnam War” series, and his film shares some of that master documentarian’s sensibility. Rice’s debut film, the short “The Yodel Within,” played the 2011 St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase, and “The Ballad of John Henry...
- 11/13/2020
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The title “Monsoon” implies a furious deluge of sorts, but there’s nothing overly dramatic on the face of writer-director Hong Khaou’s film of that name. The film feels like more of a gentle, melancholy rain, accompanied by a mist that makes things indistinct and foggy. Emotionally, the thunder may be there beneath the surface, but it’s well hidden by characters who’d rather quietly search than scream for answers.
And the film is elusive as well. Khaou, six years after his debut feature “Lilting,” has made another drama that crosses cultures and looks for home and family in the gentlest of ways. “Monsoon” is a lyrical, ambiguous reverie, maddening at times and beautifully resonant at others; it’s quietly disorienting, but deeply felt.
The film begins with an overhead shot of an intersection in Ho Chi Minh City, which was named Saigon when Kit lived there as a child.
And the film is elusive as well. Khaou, six years after his debut feature “Lilting,” has made another drama that crosses cultures and looks for home and family in the gentlest of ways. “Monsoon” is a lyrical, ambiguous reverie, maddening at times and beautifully resonant at others; it’s quietly disorienting, but deeply felt.
The film begins with an overhead shot of an intersection in Ho Chi Minh City, which was named Saigon when Kit lived there as a child.
- 11/13/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Kenneth Branagh (“Death On The Nile”), Olivia Cooke (“Ready Player One”), Laurie Holden (“The Walking Dead”) and William Shatner (“Star Trek”) are set to star the lead voice actors in the animated family adventure “Fireheart.”
Set in New York in the roaring twenties, “Fireheart” tells the story of a young girl aspiring to be the world’s first female firefighter who, refusing to let others define her, heroically fights for her dream.
The ambitious film is being produced by Main Journey (Leap!), Anton and Caramel Films with a scheduled completion in 2021. “Fireheart” will boast an original soundtrack including a re-orchestrated 1920’s style covers of modern pop songs.
The creators and leading producers of the film are Laurent Zeitoun and Yann Zenou, the producers duo behind “The Intouchables,” and the 2017 animated hit feature “Leap!.” The pair is currently overseeing the production from L’Atelier Animation studios in Montreal. Zeitoun is co-directing the...
Set in New York in the roaring twenties, “Fireheart” tells the story of a young girl aspiring to be the world’s first female firefighter who, refusing to let others define her, heroically fights for her dream.
The ambitious film is being produced by Main Journey (Leap!), Anton and Caramel Films with a scheduled completion in 2021. “Fireheart” will boast an original soundtrack including a re-orchestrated 1920’s style covers of modern pop songs.
The creators and leading producers of the film are Laurent Zeitoun and Yann Zenou, the producers duo behind “The Intouchables,” and the 2017 animated hit feature “Leap!.” The pair is currently overseeing the production from L’Atelier Animation studios in Montreal. Zeitoun is co-directing the...
- 11/10/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
“The whole world is watching,” we hear chanted repeatedly in the first The Trial of the Chicago 7 trailer. After riots, which may have begun due to the excessive force by the police, overtook the 1968 Democratic National Convention, the federal government tried to charge a group of counterculture activists with conspiracy in one of the most infamous trials in American history. Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, and featuring an all-star cast headlined by Sacha Baron Cohen, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Mark Rylance, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the Netflix film merits global consideration. Subscribers will have access to the film starting on Oct. 16
The Trial of the Chicago 7 was originally going to be released by Paramount Pictures, but the studio sold the distribution rights to Netflix due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Trial of The Chicago 7 was initially set to be released in September, but the deal between Paramount and Netflix pushed it back a few weeks.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 was originally going to be released by Paramount Pictures, but the studio sold the distribution rights to Netflix due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Trial of The Chicago 7 was initially set to be released in September, but the deal between Paramount and Netflix pushed it back a few weeks.
- 9/14/2020
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
The festival will host the first edition of pitching workshop, Southeast Asian Project Pitch.
Thailand’s Bangkok Asean Film Festival, which marks its sixth edition this year, will be held this week (September 3-6) with physical screenings at Sf World Cinema in central Bangkok.
The festival usually focuses on films from Southeast Asia, with a smaller number of titles from China, Korea and Japan. This year, it will screen a showcase of five feature films, 15 Southeast Asian short films and Charin Nuntanakorn’s 1972 classic The Honeymoon, presented by the Thai Film Archive. All films will be screened free of admission.
Thailand’s Bangkok Asean Film Festival, which marks its sixth edition this year, will be held this week (September 3-6) with physical screenings at Sf World Cinema in central Bangkok.
The festival usually focuses on films from Southeast Asia, with a smaller number of titles from China, Korea and Japan. This year, it will screen a showcase of five feature films, 15 Southeast Asian short films and Charin Nuntanakorn’s 1972 classic The Honeymoon, presented by the Thai Film Archive. All films will be screened free of admission.
- 8/31/2020
- by 89¦Liz Shackleton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Six years ago this week was the tragic passing of comedy legend Robin Williams. A new documentary is now arriving to shed some light on his final days and the struggles he faced. Robin’s Wish, directed by Tylor Norwood (The United States of Detroit), sets out to detail the actor’s private battle with Lewy Body Dementia and the effect it had on his family, friends, and legions of fans who idolized the peerless performer. The trailer of the film hints at both the public and private life of the star, and how he remained positive and steadfast even as he succumbed to his illness.
Rising to prominence in the television show Mork & Mindy and his stand up specials, Williams then made a prominent career in film, starring in such acclaimed movies as Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, The Fisher King, and his Oscar-winning turn in Good Will Hunting,...
Rising to prominence in the television show Mork & Mindy and his stand up specials, Williams then made a prominent career in film, starring in such acclaimed movies as Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, The Fisher King, and his Oscar-winning turn in Good Will Hunting,...
- 8/10/2020
- by Stephen Hladik
- The Film Stage
PBS is preparing to debut a documentary channel on Amazon Prime Video that will feature nearly 900 hours of programming, including the complete filmography from acclaimed documentarian Ken Burns.
The public broadcaster’s PBS Documentaries channel will launch on Prime Video on August 4 and will cost $3.99 per month. Burns’ documentaries will also be made available on PBS Passport, a member benefit of subscribing to one’s local PBS station for $5 per month. The channel will require an Amazon Prime or Prime Video subscription and will only be available in the United States.
“We had long hoped to be able to have all of our films available in one place so the public would have access to the body of work,” Burns said in a statement. “We’re thrilled that this is now possible thanks to the efforts of PBS Distribution and Amazon to launch the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel and...
The public broadcaster’s PBS Documentaries channel will launch on Prime Video on August 4 and will cost $3.99 per month. Burns’ documentaries will also be made available on PBS Passport, a member benefit of subscribing to one’s local PBS station for $5 per month. The channel will require an Amazon Prime or Prime Video subscription and will only be available in the United States.
“We had long hoped to be able to have all of our films available in one place so the public would have access to the body of work,” Burns said in a statement. “We’re thrilled that this is now possible thanks to the efforts of PBS Distribution and Amazon to launch the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel and...
- 7/28/2020
- by Tyler Hersko
- Indiewire
"Covid has immediately taken its place alongside the three great crises in American history, making it the fourth," says Ken Burns, the legendary documentary filmmaker, as we remotely record an episode of The Hollywood Reporter's 'Awards Chatter' podcast. Best known for the PBS event docuseries The Civil War (1990), Baseball (1994), Jazz (2000), The War (2007), The Vietnam War (2017) and, most recently, Country Music (2019), Burns, a Peabody Award and Lincoln Prize winner who has five competitive Emmys and a Lifetime Achievement Award Emmy on his mantelpiece, continues, "The other three are the Civil War, the Great Depression and World War ...
- 6/26/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
"Covid has immediately taken its place alongside the three great crises in American history, making it the fourth," says Ken Burns, the legendary documentary filmmaker, as we remotely record an episode of The Hollywood Reporter's 'Awards Chatter' podcast. Best known for the PBS event docuseries The Civil War (1990), Baseball (1994), Jazz (2000), The War (2007), The Vietnam War (2017) and, most recently, Country Music (2019), Burns, a Peabody Award and Lincoln Prize winner who has five competitive Emmys and a Lifetime Achievement Award Emmy on his mantelpiece, continues, "The other three are the Civil War, the Great Depression and World War ...
- 6/26/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Hulu is moving ahead with Dopesick, an 8-episode limited series focused on America’s opioid crisis, brandishing promising marquee names in headliner Michael Keaton, Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson, Emmy-winning writer/showrunner Danny Strong and veteran Emmy-winning producer Warren Littlefield.
The series, a production of Fox 21 Television Studios eyed for 2021, adapts author Beth Macy’s 2018 journalistic book, Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America. Hulu’s series, like the book, will focus on the ordeal of a Virginia mining town, with Keaton starring as Samuel Finnix, who’s described as “an old-school doctor who approaches his practice with kindness and compassion, but finds himself embroiled in Big Pharma’s deadly secret.” Yet, the series will also intersect “unsparing yet deeply human portraits” of families affected by the pill-pushing encroachment of monolithic companies, all while attempting to shine “a hopeful light” for the future. As Bert Salke, President,...
The series, a production of Fox 21 Television Studios eyed for 2021, adapts author Beth Macy’s 2018 journalistic book, Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America. Hulu’s series, like the book, will focus on the ordeal of a Virginia mining town, with Keaton starring as Samuel Finnix, who’s described as “an old-school doctor who approaches his practice with kindness and compassion, but finds himself embroiled in Big Pharma’s deadly secret.” Yet, the series will also intersect “unsparing yet deeply human portraits” of families affected by the pill-pushing encroachment of monolithic companies, all while attempting to shine “a hopeful light” for the future. As Bert Salke, President,...
- 6/17/2020
- by Joseph Baxter
- Den of Geek
Utilizing three aspect ratios as well as multiple camera formats and a wealth of archival footage over its 2.5-hour-plus runtime, shooting Spike Lee’s Vietnam War epic Da 5 Bloods was no easy feat, but cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel was up to the task. While it was his first feature film collaboration with the director, it was also something of a full-circle moment for the director of photography after beginning his career in the documentary field, particularly shooting the Oscar-nominated Vietnam War doc El Salvador: Another Vietnam in 1981.
With Da 5 Bloods, he brings a palpable sense of both tension and vibrancy as he captures the vistas of Vietnam and Thailand, where the film was shot, and the conflict that is recreated. We had the opportunity to speak with the seasoned vet about his approach to the material, Spike Lee’s mastery, what it was like to shoot the iconic Spike Lee dolly shot,...
With Da 5 Bloods, he brings a palpable sense of both tension and vibrancy as he captures the vistas of Vietnam and Thailand, where the film was shot, and the conflict that is recreated. We had the opportunity to speak with the seasoned vet about his approach to the material, Spike Lee’s mastery, what it was like to shoot the iconic Spike Lee dolly shot,...
- 6/11/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Museum of Modern Art
“It’s All in Me” surveys black heroines onscreen.
Films by Fassbinder, Mike Leigh, and more play in a series on television films.
Metrograph
The earth is ending and there’s nothing we can do, but “Climate Crisis Parables” will send you out with some great movies.
“To Hong Kong with...
Museum of Modern Art
“It’s All in Me” surveys black heroines onscreen.
Films by Fassbinder, Mike Leigh, and more play in a series on television films.
Metrograph
The earth is ending and there’s nothing we can do, but “Climate Crisis Parables” will send you out with some great movies.
“To Hong Kong with...
- 2/20/2020
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Nicolas Cage is certainly building on his resume of genre-driven films with the new sci-fi horror pic Color Out of Space, which opens in limited release January 24. The film marks the first feature from celebrated cult filmmaker Richard Stanley since Hardware.
Based on the short story by H.P. Lovecraft, the film follows Nathan Gardner (Cage) and his family after a meteorite lands in the front yard of their farm. As things unravel, the family finds themselves battling a mutant extraterrestrial organism as it infects their minds and bodies, transforming their quiet rural life into a technicolor nightmare.
The film, which Stanley co-wrote with Scarlett Amaris also stars Joely Richardson, Madeleine Arthur, Brendan Meyer, Julian Hilliard, Elliot Knight, Q’orianka Kilcher and Tommy Chong.
The U.S. rights to the film were acquired by Rlje Films ahead of its Midnight Madness premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this past September. Based on the trailer (which you can watch below), the film is very much in the same vein of Mandy a fever dream of a thriller that also starred Cage. Like Mandy, the film is produced by Elijah Wood’s SpectreVision and Xyz films. Mandy banked a worldwide gross of $1,335,484.
Color Out of Space is produced by SpectreVision’s Daniel Noah, Josh C. Waller, Lisa Whalen and Elijah Wood. Executive producers are Timur Bekbosunov, Johnny Chang, Emma Lee and Peter Wong for Ace Pictures, which is also financing. Stacy Jorgensen serves as executive producer for SpectreVision.
The modern-day B-movie has already garnered a cult audience and has been gaining traction since its world premiere at Tiff with an 89% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film is set to open in 75 theaters with an additional 150 one-night-only eventized screenings at Regal, Drafthouse, AMC, Landmark and various independent chains.
Todd Robinson’s all-star Vietnam drama The Last Full Measure starring Sebastian Stan, Christopher Plummer and William Hurt will also debut this we The film follows the true story of Vietnam War hero William H. Pitsenbarger (Jeremy Irvine), a U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen medic who personally saved over 60 men in the Army’s 1st Infantry Division during a devastating 1966 battle, losing his own life in the process.
Fast forward 32 years later and Pentagon staffer Scott Huffman (Stan) is tasked with investigating a Congressional Medal of Honor request for Pitsenbarger made by his best friend and partner on the mission (Hurt) and his parents (Plummer and Diane Ladd). Scott seeks out the testimony of Army veterans who witnessed Pitsenbarger’s heroic rescues He talks to Takoda (Samuel L. Jackson), Burr (Peter Fonda) and Mott (Ed Harris), but as he more about Pitsenbarger’s courageous acts, he uncovers a high-level conspiracy behind the decades-long denial of the medal, prompting him to put his own career on the line to seek justice for the fallen airman. The film also stars LisaGay Hamilton, Amy Madigan, Linus Roache, John Savage, Alison Sudol and Bradley Whitford.
‘The Last Full Measure’ Review: All-Star Cast Excels In Inspiring True Story Of Nearly Forgotten Heroism
Watch the trailer below.
Also opening this weekend is the Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari-directed Panga, which is inspired by the life of a national level Kabaddi player from India. The film starring Kangana Ranaut, Jassie Gill, Richa Chadda, Neena Gupta and Yagya Bhasin is set to open globally on January 24 with over 100 theaters across North America.
The female-fronted pic is very much a “second act” type of story that sheds light on the ups and downs of a middle-class Indian woman who is a forgotten world champion of the popular South Asian sport of Kabaddi. She looks to give a new meaning to her existing role as a wife and mother and makes the choice to return to the sport and in turn, challenges age stereotypes and a new generation complexities. In turn, she creates an upheaval in her life as she is torn between family responsibility and love for the sport.
Detective Chinatown 3 will also debut this weekend and will continue the wildly successful action-comedy buddy franchise starring Baiqiang Wang and Haoran Liu. The third installment finds detectives Tang Ren and Qin Feng in Tokyo as they investigate a crime alongside Noda Hiroshi (Satoshi Tsumabuki). As a result, a hilarious battle of detectives ensue. With Chen Sicheng returning to the director’s chair, the film is one of the biggest U.S. releases of a Chinese-language film. The first installment debuted in 2015 and earned $125,112,232 in China and $474,252 stateside while the 2018 sequel earned a mind-boggling $541,406,438 at the Chinese box office and $1,983,984 domestically.
Based on the short story by H.P. Lovecraft, the film follows Nathan Gardner (Cage) and his family after a meteorite lands in the front yard of their farm. As things unravel, the family finds themselves battling a mutant extraterrestrial organism as it infects their minds and bodies, transforming their quiet rural life into a technicolor nightmare.
The film, which Stanley co-wrote with Scarlett Amaris also stars Joely Richardson, Madeleine Arthur, Brendan Meyer, Julian Hilliard, Elliot Knight, Q’orianka Kilcher and Tommy Chong.
The U.S. rights to the film were acquired by Rlje Films ahead of its Midnight Madness premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this past September. Based on the trailer (which you can watch below), the film is very much in the same vein of Mandy a fever dream of a thriller that also starred Cage. Like Mandy, the film is produced by Elijah Wood’s SpectreVision and Xyz films. Mandy banked a worldwide gross of $1,335,484.
Color Out of Space is produced by SpectreVision’s Daniel Noah, Josh C. Waller, Lisa Whalen and Elijah Wood. Executive producers are Timur Bekbosunov, Johnny Chang, Emma Lee and Peter Wong for Ace Pictures, which is also financing. Stacy Jorgensen serves as executive producer for SpectreVision.
The modern-day B-movie has already garnered a cult audience and has been gaining traction since its world premiere at Tiff with an 89% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film is set to open in 75 theaters with an additional 150 one-night-only eventized screenings at Regal, Drafthouse, AMC, Landmark and various independent chains.
Todd Robinson’s all-star Vietnam drama The Last Full Measure starring Sebastian Stan, Christopher Plummer and William Hurt will also debut this we The film follows the true story of Vietnam War hero William H. Pitsenbarger (Jeremy Irvine), a U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen medic who personally saved over 60 men in the Army’s 1st Infantry Division during a devastating 1966 battle, losing his own life in the process.
Fast forward 32 years later and Pentagon staffer Scott Huffman (Stan) is tasked with investigating a Congressional Medal of Honor request for Pitsenbarger made by his best friend and partner on the mission (Hurt) and his parents (Plummer and Diane Ladd). Scott seeks out the testimony of Army veterans who witnessed Pitsenbarger’s heroic rescues He talks to Takoda (Samuel L. Jackson), Burr (Peter Fonda) and Mott (Ed Harris), but as he more about Pitsenbarger’s courageous acts, he uncovers a high-level conspiracy behind the decades-long denial of the medal, prompting him to put his own career on the line to seek justice for the fallen airman. The film also stars LisaGay Hamilton, Amy Madigan, Linus Roache, John Savage, Alison Sudol and Bradley Whitford.
‘The Last Full Measure’ Review: All-Star Cast Excels In Inspiring True Story Of Nearly Forgotten Heroism
Watch the trailer below.
Also opening this weekend is the Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari-directed Panga, which is inspired by the life of a national level Kabaddi player from India. The film starring Kangana Ranaut, Jassie Gill, Richa Chadda, Neena Gupta and Yagya Bhasin is set to open globally on January 24 with over 100 theaters across North America.
The female-fronted pic is very much a “second act” type of story that sheds light on the ups and downs of a middle-class Indian woman who is a forgotten world champion of the popular South Asian sport of Kabaddi. She looks to give a new meaning to her existing role as a wife and mother and makes the choice to return to the sport and in turn, challenges age stereotypes and a new generation complexities. In turn, she creates an upheaval in her life as she is torn between family responsibility and love for the sport.
Detective Chinatown 3 will also debut this weekend and will continue the wildly successful action-comedy buddy franchise starring Baiqiang Wang and Haoran Liu. The third installment finds detectives Tang Ren and Qin Feng in Tokyo as they investigate a crime alongside Noda Hiroshi (Satoshi Tsumabuki). As a result, a hilarious battle of detectives ensue. With Chen Sicheng returning to the director’s chair, the film is one of the biggest U.S. releases of a Chinese-language film. The first installment debuted in 2015 and earned $125,112,232 in China and $474,252 stateside while the 2018 sequel earned a mind-boggling $541,406,438 at the Chinese box office and $1,983,984 domestically.
- 1/24/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
Michael Shanks.
Michael Leonard and Jamie Helmer’s The Diver was awarded Best Australian Short Film at the closing of Flickerfest in Sydney yesterday evening, while Michael Shanks’ Rebooted took home the Best Australian Short Animation prize.
Other winners included Alana Hicks, who took home Best Direction in an Australian Short Film for Chicken and Lydia Rui, who was named Outstanding Female Director for This Perfect Day.
The Diver, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival last year, follows Callan, played by Nicholas Denton, whose rage, chaos and confusion that can only be tamed by the soothing solitude of the world underwater. It was produced with Justin Pechberty and Damien Megherbi.
Jane Cho’s The Egg, produced by Ilana Lazar, also earned a special mention in the Best Australian Short category.
Shanks’ Aacta-nominated Rebooted, produced by Nicholas Colla and Chris Hocking, follows an ageing movie star – a stop motion...
Michael Leonard and Jamie Helmer’s The Diver was awarded Best Australian Short Film at the closing of Flickerfest in Sydney yesterday evening, while Michael Shanks’ Rebooted took home the Best Australian Short Animation prize.
Other winners included Alana Hicks, who took home Best Direction in an Australian Short Film for Chicken and Lydia Rui, who was named Outstanding Female Director for This Perfect Day.
The Diver, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival last year, follows Callan, played by Nicholas Denton, whose rage, chaos and confusion that can only be tamed by the soothing solitude of the world underwater. It was produced with Justin Pechberty and Damien Megherbi.
Jane Cho’s The Egg, produced by Ilana Lazar, also earned a special mention in the Best Australian Short category.
Shanks’ Aacta-nominated Rebooted, produced by Nicholas Colla and Chris Hocking, follows an ageing movie star – a stop motion...
- 1/20/2020
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Though the network will not air live coverage during the election cycle, Showtime still very much so intends to have its finger on the political pulse, doubling its dose of “The Circus” during this presidential election year.
“Between ‘The Circus,’ ‘Our Cartoon President,’ and ‘Desus & Mero,’ we feel like we’ll have a very steady stream of either real coverage or satirical coverage,” Showtime entertainment co-head Jana Winograde told Variety on Monday. “One of the things we love about all of those shows are they give us an always-on presence. They’re very well-timed for the political cycle this year to make sure that we’re on when the stories are on that need to be told. And in between we have ‘Vice.’
“The Circus” will debut this season on Jan. 26, a week before the Iowa caucus on Feb. 3, and will cluster episodes around primaries, conventions and elections.
“[Hosts John HeilemannJohn...
“Between ‘The Circus,’ ‘Our Cartoon President,’ and ‘Desus & Mero,’ we feel like we’ll have a very steady stream of either real coverage or satirical coverage,” Showtime entertainment co-head Jana Winograde told Variety on Monday. “One of the things we love about all of those shows are they give us an always-on presence. They’re very well-timed for the political cycle this year to make sure that we’re on when the stories are on that need to be told. And in between we have ‘Vice.’
“The Circus” will debut this season on Jan. 26, a week before the Iowa caucus on Feb. 3, and will cluster episodes around primaries, conventions and elections.
“[Hosts John HeilemannJohn...
- 1/14/2020
- by Elaine Low
- Variety Film + TV
There’s an alien nature to the scores of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Even when the pair’s compositions are connecting with the rawest of human emotions, there’s a way that these two longtime collaborators have embraced a kind of outsider approach to film music and made it more accessible.
2019 saw Reznor and Ross contribute to “Waves” and “Watchmen,” two stories that diverge in more than just the usual film/TV divide. One is an intimate family portrait set in the suburbs of South Florida while the other traverses nearly a century of institutional oppression through the lens of one Oklahoma city. Where the musical expression of that pain and uncertainty typically is the province of a robust string section or a mournful piano solo, Reznor and Ross are part of a generation that’s helping to use that same language to adapt to an increasingly digital age.
2019 saw Reznor and Ross contribute to “Waves” and “Watchmen,” two stories that diverge in more than just the usual film/TV divide. One is an intimate family portrait set in the suburbs of South Florida while the other traverses nearly a century of institutional oppression through the lens of one Oklahoma city. Where the musical expression of that pain and uncertainty typically is the province of a robust string section or a mournful piano solo, Reznor and Ross are part of a generation that’s helping to use that same language to adapt to an increasingly digital age.
- 12/3/2019
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
PBS is launching its British channel, PBS America, on Freeview, meaning it will be available in all homes across the UK for the first time since debuting in 2011.
PBS America will be available on channel 91 on the Freeview TV guide, taking it into 6M more homes. It builds on existing carriage deals PBS has with Sky, Virgin, Freesat, My5 and Amazon.
PBS said the station reaches 2.5M viewers a month and is home to content such as Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s Emmy-nominated series The Vietnam War, which offers a comprehensive retelling of the conflict.
PBS America is also home to Frontline, the Emmy-winning news investigation series, as well as the Nova science and technology strand. It will show The Feud on December 13, offering the real story behind the Hatfields and the McCoys dispute.
“This is a big moment for PBS America. For the first time since launch we...
PBS America will be available on channel 91 on the Freeview TV guide, taking it into 6M more homes. It builds on existing carriage deals PBS has with Sky, Virgin, Freesat, My5 and Amazon.
PBS said the station reaches 2.5M viewers a month and is home to content such as Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s Emmy-nominated series The Vietnam War, which offers a comprehensive retelling of the conflict.
PBS America is also home to Frontline, the Emmy-winning news investigation series, as well as the Nova science and technology strand. It will show The Feud on December 13, offering the real story behind the Hatfields and the McCoys dispute.
“This is a big moment for PBS America. For the first time since launch we...
- 11/14/2019
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
When the Oscar-winning composing duo — and Nine Inch Nails bandmates — Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross learned that the beloved comic book Watchmen was going to be expanded into a TV series, they wanted in. Reznor was already a fan of the graphic novel, but moreover he liked the work of series creator Damon Lindelof, who previously worked on Lost and The Leftovers. So the duo reached out to Lindelof to offer their services, and, after a meeting with the show runner, they realized that they clicked immediately and got the gig.
- 11/5/2019
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
Documentary fans, you’re going to be one happy lot this month. You’ll be able to check out a two-part profile on a powerhouse country music star; enjoy a long, hard look at an icon of haute couture; get a peek at a peerless athlete; tour the educational system in American prisons; and watch folks pay tribute to a show business temple. Those looking to get lost outside of the real world have plenty of options too, courtesy of another black comedy from Team Fleabag, a new live-musical adaptation...
- 10/29/2019
- by Charles Bramesco
- Rollingstone.com
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross — the Oscar-winning composition duo, as well as the two official members of Nine Inch Nails — will issue the music they created for HBO’s Watchmen series in three volumes. The first volume will come out on November 4th, and the other two will be released as the series continues, with Volume Two due out November 25th and the final installment out December 16th. They will be available digitally and on vinyl.
Reznor and Ross planned the trilogy with the series’ writers. Each of the releases...
Reznor and Ross planned the trilogy with the series’ writers. Each of the releases...
- 10/21/2019
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
Though an instantly recognizable face from films such as “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” “A Walk to Remember” and “Erin Brockovich,” it is Peter Coyote’s voice — a coolly authoritative baritone with a Zen master’s holy roll — that has endeared him to documentary lovers and makers. Alrhough director-writer Alex Gibney used Coyote’s wisened narration for “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” and “The Pacific Century,” it is Ken Burns’ work where Coyote’s tones are most welcomed. In a collaboration that started with the 1992 documentary “The West,” Coyote has gone on to narrate 11 of Burns’ PBS film series, becoming almost a DeNiro to the documentarian’s Scorsese.
Being a musician and musical collector since his adolescence made Coyote an apt choice to narrate Burns’ epic new “Country Music” series. But it is the actor-writer’s activist past in the 1960s, cofounding the Diggers — the anarchist communal group that sought...
Being a musician and musical collector since his adolescence made Coyote an apt choice to narrate Burns’ epic new “Country Music” series. But it is the actor-writer’s activist past in the 1960s, cofounding the Diggers — the anarchist communal group that sought...
- 9/20/2019
- by A.D. Amorosi
- Variety Film + TV
Ken Burns was in Dallas some years ago visiting a good friend, philanthropist Cappy McGarr. The filmmaker was working on his 2012 Depression-era miniseries, The Dust Bowl, and as usual for a workaholic who often has six or seven films brewing, Burns was turning over ideas for his next project. When McGarr suggested tackling country music, “it just exploded in my brain — like, of course,” Burns says. “And as we got into it, we saw that it was as real, important, and emotionally compelling as any film we’ve made.”
Related:...
Related:...
- 8/30/2019
- by Will Hermes
- Rollingstone.com
The BBC has acquired FX’s “American Crime Story: Impeachment” and Ken Burn’s upcoming PBS documentary series “Country Music,” the broadcaster announced Wednesday at the Edinburgh TV Festival. “American Crime Story: Impeachment” will air on BBC Two in the U.K., while “Country Music” has been picked up by sister channel BBC Four.
“Impeachment: American Crime Story” is the third instalment of the award-winning franchise, and tells the story of the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Beanie Feldstein will star as Monica Lewinsky, with Sarah Paulson as Linda Tripp and Annaleigh Ashford as Paula Jones. The season is based on Jeffrey Toobin’s book “A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President,” and is set to air in the U.S. in on Sept. 27, 2020.
BBC Two served as the U.K. home of the previous “American Crime Story” instalment, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace.
“Impeachment: American Crime Story” is the third instalment of the award-winning franchise, and tells the story of the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Beanie Feldstein will star as Monica Lewinsky, with Sarah Paulson as Linda Tripp and Annaleigh Ashford as Paula Jones. The season is based on Jeffrey Toobin’s book “A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President,” and is set to air in the U.S. in on Sept. 27, 2020.
BBC Two served as the U.K. home of the previous “American Crime Story” instalment, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace.
- 8/21/2019
- by Tim Dams
- Variety Film + TV
PBS CEO Paula Kerger has re-upped her contract for another five years, the executive announced on stage at the Television Critics Association press tour on Monday.
“I believe so strongly in the purpose and power of public television,” Kerger said. “The content that makes a difference in people’s lives, the conversations that bring people together, the programs and resources that prepare our youngest learners for success. Public television isn’t just relevant for this modern age, I believe that our work has never been more important, and I’m excited about what lies ahead.”
Kerger has held the position since 2006, and the new deal extends her run as the longest-serving president and CEO in PBS history.
Also Read: PBS Signs Carriage Deal With YouTube TV
“I always wanted to be sure that I’m adding value to the organization,” Kerger said, recalling the thought process behind deciding to commit...
“I believe so strongly in the purpose and power of public television,” Kerger said. “The content that makes a difference in people’s lives, the conversations that bring people together, the programs and resources that prepare our youngest learners for success. Public television isn’t just relevant for this modern age, I believe that our work has never been more important, and I’m excited about what lies ahead.”
Kerger has held the position since 2006, and the new deal extends her run as the longest-serving president and CEO in PBS history.
Also Read: PBS Signs Carriage Deal With YouTube TV
“I always wanted to be sure that I’m adding value to the organization,” Kerger said, recalling the thought process behind deciding to commit...
- 7/29/2019
- by Reid Nakamura
- The Wrap
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSRip TornThe great American actor and comedian Rip Torn has died. The New York Times gathers his eclectic accomplishments as a performer with his many personal and artistic eccentricities in their obit. The first poster for Hirokazu Kore-eda's The Truth, starring Catherine Deneuve as a pioneering French actress, set to publish her confessional memoir, and Juliette Binoche as her screenwriter daughter. Recommended VIEWINGAn ominous teaser for Akira director Katsuhiro Otomo's forthcoming third feature, Orbital Era. The film follows a group of young boys surviving in a space colony as it undergoes construction. The Royal Ocean Film Society analyzes the design philosophy of filmmaker and graphic designer Saul Bass in this guided visual tour of his landmark film posters.The divisive, baroque Italian auteur Paolo Sorrentino is back with a crime epic concerning the inner...
- 7/10/2019
- MUBI
The Directors Guild has eliminated films that are released via a “day and date” model in theaters and simultaneously on another platform, dealing a blow to streaming titles competing for awards, the DGA announced Wednesday.
However, the guild said that last year’s winner, Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma,” as well as all the other nominees for its top film award would still have qualified if the the new rule had been in effect.
The award has been renamed the “Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film” from “Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film.” The new rule only applies in that category, with day-and-date releases still eligible in the First-Time Feature Film Award category.
They will also continue to be eligible in the DGA’s documentary category, which in the past has nominated theatrical releases alongside nonfiction miniseries like “The Vietnam War” and “O.J.: Made in America.”
Also Read:...
However, the guild said that last year’s winner, Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma,” as well as all the other nominees for its top film award would still have qualified if the the new rule had been in effect.
The award has been renamed the “Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film” from “Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film.” The new rule only applies in that category, with day-and-date releases still eligible in the First-Time Feature Film Award category.
They will also continue to be eligible in the DGA’s documentary category, which in the past has nominated theatrical releases alongside nonfiction miniseries like “The Vietnam War” and “O.J.: Made in America.”
Also Read:...
- 6/26/2019
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
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