People are “natural scriptwriters,” Claire Simon noted towards the beginning of what turned out to be a surprisingly lively discussion between the French documentarian and the Us’s own Steve James about one of the hottest topics in the doc industry today: serialized storytelling. The setting was an intimate theater at De Brakke Grond. The moderator was film programmer Sean Farnel. The two veteran directors opened by acknowledging the biggest difference between feature films […]...
- 11/24/2018
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
People are “natural scriptwriters,” Claire Simon noted towards the beginning of what turned out to be a surprisingly lively discussion between the French documentarian and the Us’s own Steve James about one of the hottest topics in the doc industry today: serialized storytelling. The setting was an intimate theater at De Brakke Grond. The moderator was film programmer Sean Farnel. The two veteran directors opened by acknowledging the biggest difference between feature films […]...
- 11/24/2018
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
TORONTO -- Cinema verite pioneer Richard Leacock will receive the 2008 outstanding achievement award at the upcoming Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, organizers said Tuesday.
Hot Docs, North America's largest documentary festival, also will stage a retrospective for Leacock, the British-born filmmaker who headed up a film production house during the 1960s with fellow documentarian D.A. Pennebaker.
During the 1970s and '80s, Leacock was head of the film department at MIT in Massachusetts.
"As a pioneering filmmaker, Richard Leacock has made an essential contribution to the documentary form. And as an inspiring teacher that contribution has been extended to new generations of filmmakers, including those to whom we look forward to introducing this remarkable man at Hot Docs 2008," Hot Docs' director of programming Sean Farnel said in a statement.
Leacock will receive his tribute April 25 in Toronto.
Also this year, Hot Docs will showcase the work of Canadian documentary-maker Jennifer Baichwal ("Manufactured Landscapes") as part of its Focus On retrospective for a mid-career filmmaker.
Hot Docs, North America's largest documentary festival, also will stage a retrospective for Leacock, the British-born filmmaker who headed up a film production house during the 1960s with fellow documentarian D.A. Pennebaker.
During the 1970s and '80s, Leacock was head of the film department at MIT in Massachusetts.
"As a pioneering filmmaker, Richard Leacock has made an essential contribution to the documentary form. And as an inspiring teacher that contribution has been extended to new generations of filmmakers, including those to whom we look forward to introducing this remarkable man at Hot Docs 2008," Hot Docs' director of programming Sean Farnel said in a statement.
Leacock will receive his tribute April 25 in Toronto.
Also this year, Hot Docs will showcase the work of Canadian documentary-maker Jennifer Baichwal ("Manufactured Landscapes") as part of its Focus On retrospective for a mid-career filmmaker.
- 1/16/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- Organizers of the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival said Wednesday that they will showcase Iranian and Mexican filmmakers with programs at next year's event.
Hot Docs director of programming Sean Farnel said the current escalation in tensions between the U.S. and Iran was giving documentary makers in that Middle Eastern country fodder for factual films.
"Having visited both Mexico and Iran this fall, it's clear they have thriving documentary scenes with a plenitude of work from both established and emerging filmmakers," Farnel said, without naming filmmakers from either nation that have been invited to show their films in Toronto.
Iran will be the subject of Hot Doc's national spotlight program, while Mexican filmmakers will feature as part of the "Made In ..". sidebar.
The 15th annual edition of the Hot Docs festival is set to run April 17-27.
Hot Docs director of programming Sean Farnel said the current escalation in tensions between the U.S. and Iran was giving documentary makers in that Middle Eastern country fodder for factual films.
"Having visited both Mexico and Iran this fall, it's clear they have thriving documentary scenes with a plenitude of work from both established and emerging filmmakers," Farnel said, without naming filmmakers from either nation that have been invited to show their films in Toronto.
Iran will be the subject of Hot Doc's national spotlight program, while Mexican filmmakers will feature as part of the "Made In ..". sidebar.
The 15th annual edition of the Hot Docs festival is set to run April 17-27.
- 11/1/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- British filmmaker David Sington's In the Shadow of the Moon, about the astronauts in the Apollo space program, will open this year's Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival on April 19, organizers said Tuesday.
The British documentary, which looks at nine men who walked on the moon, premiered at Sundance and is among a host of films exploring contemporary America booked for Toronto.
Other titles fitting the theme include the international premiere of Norwegian filmmaker Line Halvorsen's USA vs Al-Arian, about the jailed activist and pro-Palestinian professor Sami Al-Arian; U.S. filmmaker Jennifer Venditti's Billy the Kid, a portrait of a troubled 15-year-old boy in small-town Maine; and fellow U.S. filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky Hear and Now, which follows her deaf parents, Paul and Sally Taylor, going through risky implant surgery as elderly patients.
Also Toronto-bound is a world premiere for British filmmaker Oliver Hodge's Garbage Warrior, a film about a visionary American architect who creates eco-friendly homes from refuse.
"Documentaries that agitate and educate are a big part of the mix, but we also have a range of other films from love stories to the playful," Hot Docs director of programming Sean Farnel said before outlining his lineup at a Toronto press conference.
The British documentary, which looks at nine men who walked on the moon, premiered at Sundance and is among a host of films exploring contemporary America booked for Toronto.
Other titles fitting the theme include the international premiere of Norwegian filmmaker Line Halvorsen's USA vs Al-Arian, about the jailed activist and pro-Palestinian professor Sami Al-Arian; U.S. filmmaker Jennifer Venditti's Billy the Kid, a portrait of a troubled 15-year-old boy in small-town Maine; and fellow U.S. filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky Hear and Now, which follows her deaf parents, Paul and Sally Taylor, going through risky implant surgery as elderly patients.
Also Toronto-bound is a world premiere for British filmmaker Oliver Hodge's Garbage Warrior, a film about a visionary American architect who creates eco-friendly homes from refuse.
"Documentaries that agitate and educate are a big part of the mix, but we also have a range of other films from love stories to the playful," Hot Docs director of programming Sean Farnel said before outlining his lineup at a Toronto press conference.
- 3/21/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- The Hot Docs documentary festival on Thursday said it will give Dutch filmmaker Heddy Honigmann, best known for her portraits of displaced people worldwide, an outstanding achievement award at its upcoming event.
North America's largest documentary festival also said it will stage a retrospective of documentaries by Canadian filmmaker Kevin McMahon, while giving Toronto-based documentary programr Rudy Buttignol an outstanding industry achievement award.
Hot Docs programming director Sean Farnel cited Honigmann's ability to draw "moments of profound emotional honesty" from people as diverse as cab drivers in Peru and Iranian ex-patriates in Paris in explaining his choice for this year's outstanding achievement award.
Honigmann will attend Hot Docs in Toronto to receive the tribute on April 27. The festival also will present a retrospective of her work, including the 2001 "Good Husband, Dear Son", a portrait of women in post-war Sarajevo who lost their sons or husbands, and "Metal and Melancholy", a 1993 film about cowboy taxi drivers in Peru.
North America's largest documentary festival also said it will stage a retrospective of documentaries by Canadian filmmaker Kevin McMahon, while giving Toronto-based documentary programr Rudy Buttignol an outstanding industry achievement award.
Hot Docs programming director Sean Farnel cited Honigmann's ability to draw "moments of profound emotional honesty" from people as diverse as cab drivers in Peru and Iranian ex-patriates in Paris in explaining his choice for this year's outstanding achievement award.
Honigmann will attend Hot Docs in Toronto to receive the tribute on April 27. The festival also will present a retrospective of her work, including the 2001 "Good Husband, Dear Son", a portrait of women in post-war Sarajevo who lost their sons or husbands, and "Metal and Melancholy", a 1993 film about cowboy taxi drivers in Peru.
- 1/18/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, which kicks off Monday, could well have critics' tongues wagging with the latest work on display from directors who have risked injury and arrest to make films in global war zones. Festival programming director Sean Farnel said Thursday that documentary filmmakers are bringing festivals stories of global conflict that the TV newscasts miss. "Documentary filmmakers are an itinerant group of people, and at the core of their mission is going out and bringing back stories that aren't been told in the mainstream media," he said.
- 4/27/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, which kicks off Monday, could well have critics' tongues wagging with the latest work on display from directors who have risked injury and arrest to make films in global war zones. Festival programming director Sean Farnel said Thursday that documentary filmmakers are bringing festivals stories of global conflict that the TV newscasts miss. "Documentary filmmakers are an itinerant group of people, and at the core of their mission is going out and bringing back stories that aren't been told in the mainstream media," he said.
- 4/27/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- Spanish director Chema Rodriguez's documentary about Guatemalan prostitutes who form a soccer team for dignity and respect will open the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival on April 28, organizers said Tuesday. Rodriguez's Estrellas de la Linea (The Railroad All-Stars), which bowed in Berlin, portrays sex workers in Guatemala banding together on the field to draw attention to the dangers of their work and the daily prejudice they face. "An issue-oriented work with tremendous personality and emotion, 'The Railroad All-Stars' is the perfect film to carry the documentary flag into the festival," Hot Docs director of programming Sean Farnel said.
- 3/29/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- Spanish director Chema Rodriguez's documentary about Guatemalan prostitutes who form a soccer team for dignity and respect will open the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival on April 28, organizers said Tuesday. Rodriguez's Estrellas de la Linea (The Railroad All-Stars), which initially bowed in Berlin, portrays sex workers in Guatemala banding together on the soccer field to draw attention to the dangers of their work and the daily prejudice they face. "An issue-oriented work with tremendous personality and emotion, 'The Railroad All-Stars' is the perfect film to carry the documentary flag into the festival," Hot Docs director of programming Sean Farnel said of his choice for the opener. Releasing the Hot Docs lineup here Tuesday, organizers said it will screen 99 documentaries from 23 countries, including Canada, while attracting an estimated 1,700 delegates to its official market and industry program.
- 3/29/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival on Wednesday said it has hired Sean Farnel away from the Toronto International Film Festival to become its first-ever director of programming. Farnel, who most recently programd documentaries at the Toronto festival since 2000, will join Hot Docs, North America's largest documentary festival, in November. Over the last five years, Farnel brought a host of award-winning docs to TIFF, including Spellbound in 2002, The Story of the Weeping Camel and The Yes Men in 2003, and Gunner Palace last year. In between his TIFF duties, Farnel programd Hot Docs' monthly documentary series, Doc Soup, which he will continue to do. The 13th edition of Hot Docs is set to run from April 28 to May 7.
- 10/19/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- Politics and war dominate the documentary lineup for the 29th Toronto International Film Festival, announced here Tuesday. In all, 24 feature documentaries will unspool in Toronto, led by the world premiere of Going Upriver -- The Long War of John Kerry, a film by George Butler (Pumping Iron) about the presumptive U.S. presidential candidate's Vietnam experience. Other war-themed documentaries bound for Toronto include world premieres for Peter Raymont's Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire, a portrait of a Canadian lieutenant general returning to Rwanda 10 years after its bloody civil war, and Gunner Palace, an inside look at American soldiers at war in Iraq by Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein. Also on tap is Hubert Sauper's Darwin's Nightmare, a France/Austria/Belgium co-production that exposes a growing rift in Africa between war-torn locals and those profiting from regional fishing industries. In light of the smash boxoffice success of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, festival documentary programmer Sean Farnel said Toronto deliberately programmed films this year that had the potential for breakout success in theatrical release.
- 7/28/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- Politics and war dominate the documentary lineup for the 29th Toronto International Film Festival, announced here Tuesday. In all, 24 feature documentaries will unspool in Toronto, led by the world premiere of Going Upriver -- The Long War of John Kerry, a film by George Butler (Pumping Iron) about the presumptive U.S. presidential candidate's Vietnam experience. Other war-themed documentaries bound for Toronto include world premieres for Peter Raymont's Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire, a portrait of a Canadian lieutenant general returning to Rwanda 10 years after its bloody civil war, and Gunner Palace, an inside look at American soldiers at war in Iraq by Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein. Also on tap is Hubert Sauper's Darwin's Nightmare, a France/Austria/Belgium co-production that exposes a growing rift in Africa between war-torn locals and those profiting from regional fishing industries. In light of the smash boxoffice success of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, festival documentary programmer Sean Farnel said Toronto deliberately programmed films this year that had the potential for breakout success in theatrical release.
- 7/28/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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