Exclusive: Film Movement has acquired U.S. and Canadian distribution rights to the acclaimed documentary Obsessed with Light, which explores the influence of one of the most remarkable figures in American arts – dancer-choreographer Loïe Fuller.
Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum directed the film, which premiered at the 2023 Rome Film Festival and has screened at Doc NYC, Hamptons Doc Fest, the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and the Cleveland International Film Festival. Tony Award winner Cherry Jones provides the voice of Fuller, while actress Erin Anderson provides the voice of Isadora Duncan, another pioneer of American dance.
Loïe Fuller
Fuller became a cultural sensation through her innovative use of lighting techniques in her stage performances.
“Obsessed with Light is a meditation on light and the enduring obsession to create,” notes a description of the documentary. “The film...
Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum directed the film, which premiered at the 2023 Rome Film Festival and has screened at Doc NYC, Hamptons Doc Fest, the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and the Cleveland International Film Festival. Tony Award winner Cherry Jones provides the voice of Fuller, while actress Erin Anderson provides the voice of Isadora Duncan, another pioneer of American dance.
Loïe Fuller
Fuller became a cultural sensation through her innovative use of lighting techniques in her stage performances.
“Obsessed with Light is a meditation on light and the enduring obsession to create,” notes a description of the documentary. “The film...
- 4/18/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Greenwich Entertainment has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Swan Song, the ballet-themed documentary that will open Lincoln Center’s 52nd Dance on Camera Festival Friday evening.
The film – a Dogwoof, Visitor Media, Mercury Films, and Quiet Ghost production, directed and co-written by Chelsea McMullan – premiered last September at the Toronto International Film Festival. Greenwich plans to release Swan Song in theaters in the fall.
“Swan Song immerses viewers inside one of the world’s leading ballet companies as it mounts a legacy-defining new production of Swan Lake, directed by ballet icon Karen Kain on the eve of her retirement,” notes a description of the film. “The verité-driven feature documentary closely follows Kain and a group of young dancers drawn from the National Ballet of Canada’s ranks, weaving Swan Lake’s dramatic creation process with intimate scenes from the subjects’ personal lives as they push toward one of...
The film – a Dogwoof, Visitor Media, Mercury Films, and Quiet Ghost production, directed and co-written by Chelsea McMullan – premiered last September at the Toronto International Film Festival. Greenwich plans to release Swan Song in theaters in the fall.
“Swan Song immerses viewers inside one of the world’s leading ballet companies as it mounts a legacy-defining new production of Swan Lake, directed by ballet icon Karen Kain on the eve of her retirement,” notes a description of the film. “The verité-driven feature documentary closely follows Kain and a group of young dancers drawn from the National Ballet of Canada’s ranks, weaving Swan Lake’s dramatic creation process with intimate scenes from the subjects’ personal lives as they push toward one of...
- 2/8/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Marcel Dzama on Loïe Fuller in Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Obsessed With Light: ”She really was the beginning of the past looking to the future.”
Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum’s visually illuminating Obsessed With Light (a Doc NYC highlight) has an impressive list of on-camera interviews, which include Robert Wilson on what came first for Einstein on the Beach; Dior Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri; designer Iris van Herpen (Architectonics); theatrical lighting designer Jennifer Tipton; choreographers Moses Pendleton (Momix), Ola Maciejewska, Bill T Jones, Trajal Harrell and Maite Marcos (Shakira); artists William Kentridge, Elín Hansdóttir, and Marcel Dzama; Drift collective founders Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta; puppeteer Basil Twist on Titan et L’Aurore, and theatre producer Jordan Roth all sharing their insights on the significant impact Loïe Fuller’s creativity and innovation has had on them and their work.
Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbühl with Anne-Katrin...
Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum’s visually illuminating Obsessed With Light (a Doc NYC highlight) has an impressive list of on-camera interviews, which include Robert Wilson on what came first for Einstein on the Beach; Dior Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri; designer Iris van Herpen (Architectonics); theatrical lighting designer Jennifer Tipton; choreographers Moses Pendleton (Momix), Ola Maciejewska, Bill T Jones, Trajal Harrell and Maite Marcos (Shakira); artists William Kentridge, Elín Hansdóttir, and Marcel Dzama; Drift collective founders Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta; puppeteer Basil Twist on Titan et L’Aurore, and theatre producer Jordan Roth all sharing their insights on the significant impact Loïe Fuller’s creativity and innovation has had on them and their work.
Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbühl with Anne-Katrin...
- 11/8/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Oscar-nominated director Matthew Heineman and late filmmaker Nancy Buirski will be honored at the Hamptons Doc Fest in New York next month.
Heineman, whose latest film, American Symphony, premiered to acclaim at the Telluride Film Festival, will receive the prestigious Pennebaker Career Achievement Award, named for the legendary filmmaker and pioneer of “direct cinema” D.A. Pennebaker. Heineman is expected to be on hand to receive the honor, which has previously gone to Richard Leacock, Susan Lacy, Barbara Kopple, Stanley Nelson Jr., Alex Gibney, Liz Garbus, Sheila Nevins, Frederick Wiseman, Dawn Porter, Sam Pollard, and to Pennebaker and and his wife and filmmaking partner Chris Hegedus.
Jon Batiste in ‘American Symphony’
Hamptons Doc Fest will screen American Symphony, which has been acquired by the Obamas’ production company Higher Ground through the former first couple’s deal with Netflix. The documentary about Grammy-winning musician Jon Batiste and his wife, the musician Suleika Jaouad,...
Heineman, whose latest film, American Symphony, premiered to acclaim at the Telluride Film Festival, will receive the prestigious Pennebaker Career Achievement Award, named for the legendary filmmaker and pioneer of “direct cinema” D.A. Pennebaker. Heineman is expected to be on hand to receive the honor, which has previously gone to Richard Leacock, Susan Lacy, Barbara Kopple, Stanley Nelson Jr., Alex Gibney, Liz Garbus, Sheila Nevins, Frederick Wiseman, Dawn Porter, Sam Pollard, and to Pennebaker and and his wife and filmmaking partner Chris Hegedus.
Jon Batiste in ‘American Symphony’
Hamptons Doc Fest will screen American Symphony, which has been acquired by the Obamas’ production company Higher Ground through the former first couple’s deal with Netflix. The documentary about Grammy-winning musician Jon Batiste and his wife, the musician Suleika Jaouad,...
- 10/21/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Leading documentary festival Idfa has selected a diverse lineup for Idfa Forum, the festival’s co-production and co-financing market, which will be entirely online this year, as will the rest of the industry program. Among the 63 projects to pitch at Idfa Forum, there is a strong representation of female pitch teams.
In the Forum, women make up 64% of the producers and directors; in the DocLab Forum, the market’s new media strand, 46% are women. The entire Forum selection includes projects from 45 different production and co-production countries.
Many of the projects center on women. “How to Build a Library,” directed by Maia Lekow and Christopher King, follows two women as they transform a dilapidated, junk-filled library in downtown Nairobi into a vibrant space for the city’s residents.
“Queen of Chess,” directed by Bernadett Tuza-Ritter, tells the story of the relationship and mind games of Judit Polgar, the greatest female chess player of all time,...
In the Forum, women make up 64% of the producers and directors; in the DocLab Forum, the market’s new media strand, 46% are women. The entire Forum selection includes projects from 45 different production and co-production countries.
Many of the projects center on women. “How to Build a Library,” directed by Maia Lekow and Christopher King, follows two women as they transform a dilapidated, junk-filled library in downtown Nairobi into a vibrant space for the city’s residents.
“Queen of Chess,” directed by Bernadett Tuza-Ritter, tells the story of the relationship and mind games of Judit Polgar, the greatest female chess player of all time,...
- 10/13/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Sabine Krayenbühl began her career as an editor in 1994 with a number of small shorts and features. Her breakthrough came in 2003 with My Architect, a documentary on architect Louis Kahn directed by his song Nathaniel. She has since edited more than 10 feature-length docs, including the 2016 film Letters from Baghdad, which she directed. She reunites with Nathaniel Kahn for The Price of Everything, a documentary look at the contemporary art world, which, as she says below, “values money above everything.” Krayenbühl spoke with Filmmaker ahead of the film’s five screenings at Sundance about her editing process. Filmmaker: How and why […]...
- 1/24/2018
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Jairus McLeary in the Soho House screening room on The Work: "It's very masculine. That's why Amy Foote, our editor, and Alice Henty, the producer, they were the first women to see this footage." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Rebecca Miller's Arthur Miller: Writer; Doug Nichol's California Typewriter; Andrew Rossi on Okwui Okpokwasili's Bronx Gothic; Elvira Lind's Bobbi Jene; Michael Almereyda's Escapes on Hampton Fancher; Brett Morgen's Jane on Jane Goodall; Ceyda Torun's KEDi; Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum's Letters From Baghdad with Tilda Swinton voicing Getrude Bell; Griffin Dunne's Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold; Agnès Varda and Jr's Faces Places; Neasa Ní Chianáin and David Rane's School Life; Ferne Pearlstein's The Last Laugh; Lara Stolman's Swim Team; Kirk Simon's The Pulitzer At 100, and Josh Koury and Myles Kane's Voyeur on Gay Talese...
Rebecca Miller's Arthur Miller: Writer; Doug Nichol's California Typewriter; Andrew Rossi on Okwui Okpokwasili's Bronx Gothic; Elvira Lind's Bobbi Jene; Michael Almereyda's Escapes on Hampton Fancher; Brett Morgen's Jane on Jane Goodall; Ceyda Torun's KEDi; Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum's Letters From Baghdad with Tilda Swinton voicing Getrude Bell; Griffin Dunne's Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold; Agnès Varda and Jr's Faces Places; Neasa Ní Chianáin and David Rane's School Life; Ferne Pearlstein's The Last Laugh; Lara Stolman's Swim Team; Kirk Simon's The Pulitzer At 100, and Josh Koury and Myles Kane's Voyeur on Gay Talese...
- 11/17/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Wonder women Thelma Schoonmaker and Tilda Swinton are executive producers of Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum's Letters From Baghdad Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
On Friday, June 2, the opening night for Patty Jenkins's Wonder Woman (starring Gal Gadot) and Jonathan Teplitzky's Churchill (with Brian Cox as Winston Churchill, Miranda Richardson as Clementine Churchill, and John Slattery as Dwight Eisenhower), Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum's Letters From Baghdad with Tilda Swinton as the voice of Gertrude Bell, a real Wonder Woman, had a sold out screening, discussion and audience Q&A at the Angelika Film Center in New York.
Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbühl's Letters From Baghdad post-screening discussion with Anne-Katrin Titze at the Angelika Film Center Photo: Carole Levy
From being confronted by Te Lawrence to being an Ottoman Empire concern, Gertrude Bell overcame a remarkable number of barriers put in front of her and she did so on her own terms.
On Friday, June 2, the opening night for Patty Jenkins's Wonder Woman (starring Gal Gadot) and Jonathan Teplitzky's Churchill (with Brian Cox as Winston Churchill, Miranda Richardson as Clementine Churchill, and John Slattery as Dwight Eisenhower), Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum's Letters From Baghdad with Tilda Swinton as the voice of Gertrude Bell, a real Wonder Woman, had a sold out screening, discussion and audience Q&A at the Angelika Film Center in New York.
Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbühl's Letters From Baghdad post-screening discussion with Anne-Katrin Titze at the Angelika Film Center Photo: Carole Levy
From being confronted by Te Lawrence to being an Ottoman Empire concern, Gertrude Bell overcame a remarkable number of barriers put in front of her and she did so on her own terms.
- 6/4/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
MaryAnn’s quick take… One of the most cinematically beautiful documentaries ever is a phenomenal portrait of a shamefully forgotten woman who helped shape political history. I’m “biast” (pro): I’m desperate for stories about women
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
If there was any justice in the world, T.E. Lawrence — aka Lawrence of Arabia — would be known as “the male Gertrude Bell,” instead of Bell being spoken of, when she is spoken of at all, as “the female Lawrence of Arabia.” Lawrence, 20 years her junior, was barely out of diapers when Bell first journeyed from England to the Middle East, and by the time he was traipsing around the desert, he was using intelligence on the local landscape — political and well as geographical — that she had gathered by living and working among the Arab tribes and gaining their enormous respect.
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
If there was any justice in the world, T.E. Lawrence — aka Lawrence of Arabia — would be known as “the male Gertrude Bell,” instead of Bell being spoken of, when she is spoken of at all, as “the female Lawrence of Arabia.” Lawrence, 20 years her junior, was barely out of diapers when Bell first journeyed from England to the Middle East, and by the time he was traipsing around the desert, he was using intelligence on the local landscape — political and well as geographical — that she had gathered by living and working among the Arab tribes and gaining their enormous respect.
- 4/21/2017
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Letters From Baghdad directors Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum: "In Tilda Swinton's voice, exactly - this dialogue becomes very immediate." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
On the afternoon following the Presidential election and the day before Doc NYC kicks off, Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum met with me for a conversation on their terrific documentary on Gertrude Bell, Letters From Baghdad. The discussion led us to the social circles of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, Winston Churchill and Te Lawrence with Bell in the desert, Whirling Dervishes, a maypole dance, Dorothy Arzner's Christopher Strong starring Katharine Hepburn, Werner Herzog's Queen Of The Desert with Nicole Kidman, and Ridley Scott's interest in the Desert Queen, executive producer Thelma Schoonmaker, finding the right tone, costume designer Allison Wyldeck, and Ahead Of Time: The Extraordinary Journey Of Ruth Gruber.
"It was always a balance between history and information and getting...
On the afternoon following the Presidential election and the day before Doc NYC kicks off, Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum met with me for a conversation on their terrific documentary on Gertrude Bell, Letters From Baghdad. The discussion led us to the social circles of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, Winston Churchill and Te Lawrence with Bell in the desert, Whirling Dervishes, a maypole dance, Dorothy Arzner's Christopher Strong starring Katharine Hepburn, Werner Herzog's Queen Of The Desert with Nicole Kidman, and Ridley Scott's interest in the Desert Queen, executive producer Thelma Schoonmaker, finding the right tone, costume designer Allison Wyldeck, and Ahead Of Time: The Extraordinary Journey Of Ruth Gruber.
"It was always a balance between history and information and getting...
- 11/11/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Tilda Swinton flawlessly communicates Gertrude Bell in Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbühl's astute Letters From Baghdad Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Jon Nguyen, Rick Barnes and Olivia Neergaard-Holm's David Lynch: The Art Life with Lynch's memories including his Mulholland Drive and The Straight Story production designer Jack Fisk; Claire Simon's Le Concours (The Graduation) on the admission process to enter La Fémis; Richard Ladkani and Kief Davidson's The Ivory Game which takes off from Simon Trevor's wake-up call White Gold; Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbühl's Letters From Baghdad, executive produced by Martin Scorsese's favourite editor Thelma Schoonmaker with Tilda Swinton are four more highlights of this year's Doc NYC.
David Lynch: The Art Life
David Lynch: The Art Life
Although the world of his childhood was no larger than two blocks, it contained it all. There is the traumatic, "otherworldly" encounter with...
Jon Nguyen, Rick Barnes and Olivia Neergaard-Holm's David Lynch: The Art Life with Lynch's memories including his Mulholland Drive and The Straight Story production designer Jack Fisk; Claire Simon's Le Concours (The Graduation) on the admission process to enter La Fémis; Richard Ladkani and Kief Davidson's The Ivory Game which takes off from Simon Trevor's wake-up call White Gold; Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbühl's Letters From Baghdad, executive produced by Martin Scorsese's favourite editor Thelma Schoonmaker with Tilda Swinton are four more highlights of this year's Doc NYC.
David Lynch: The Art Life
David Lynch: The Art Life
Although the world of his childhood was no larger than two blocks, it contained it all. There is the traumatic, "otherworldly" encounter with...
- 11/9/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Set to enjoy its North American premiere at Doc NYC this coming Saturday, November 12, Letters From Baghdad is a documentary about Gertrude Bell, who became, arguably, the most powerful woman in the British Empire in the days after World War I. Bell left behind a treasure trove of letters that provide insight into her thinking and also her experiences during that period. In the documentary, Tilda Swinton voices Bell; other actors and actresses dramatize more people from that time period, who comment on Bell and events in the Middle East. Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbühl directed. More than 500 never-before-seen film clips have been assembled from 25 archives from around the world. Here's an excerpt from the official verbiage: The voices of Bell and...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 11/7/2016
- Screen Anarchy
Though T.E. Lawrence is often considered the person who most affected the modern Middle East, historians point to Gertrude Bell, the British explorer, spy and political powerhouse who was recruited by British Military Intelligence to shape Mesopotamia after World War I, and eventually drew the borders of Iraq. A new documentary “Letters From Baghdad” tells Bell’s story in her own words using Bell’s own letters, alongside archival films and photos, featuring actress Tilda Swinton as the voice of Bell. Watch an exclusive trailer for the film below.
Read More: Project of the Day: ‘Letters From Baghdad’
Directed by Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum, the film features astonishing never-before-seen films clips from 25 archives around the world, which tells its own story contrary to popular ideas about Mesopotamia.
“Much of what we found was buried in reels that had been in storage for more than half a century,” says Oelbaum.
Read More: Project of the Day: ‘Letters From Baghdad’
Directed by Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum, the film features astonishing never-before-seen films clips from 25 archives around the world, which tells its own story contrary to popular ideas about Mesopotamia.
“Much of what we found was buried in reels that had been in storage for more than half a century,” says Oelbaum.
- 11/3/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
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