Exclusive: Bavc Media has named the latest group of nonfiction filmmakers to take part in its prestigious documentary film fellowship program. The octet announced today will receive $10,000 each in “unrestricted funding, mentorship, industry access, feedback sessions, and workshops during an immersive 9-month experience.”
The Bavc MediaMaker Fellowship was established in 1991 to support emerging filmmakers and diverse projects. This year’s cohort includes Ademola (Ellas Vinieron de Las Nubes / They Came From the Clouds); Chelsi Bullard (Unfiltered); Caron Creighton (Wood Street); Julia Hunter (This is Me Loving You); Patrick G. Lee (Untitled Kqt Project); Ivan MacDonald (When They Were Here); Khai Thu Nguyen (The Full Thao), and Pallavi Somusetty (Coach Emily). [Scroll for more about the filmmakers and their projects].
The fellowship provides “two intensive convenings in San Francisco, a slate of virtual workshops throughout the year, and all-access travel to the International Documentary Association’s biennial Getting Real conference in Los Angeles and the Camden International Film Festival in midcoast Maine.
The Bavc MediaMaker Fellowship was established in 1991 to support emerging filmmakers and diverse projects. This year’s cohort includes Ademola (Ellas Vinieron de Las Nubes / They Came From the Clouds); Chelsi Bullard (Unfiltered); Caron Creighton (Wood Street); Julia Hunter (This is Me Loving You); Patrick G. Lee (Untitled Kqt Project); Ivan MacDonald (When They Were Here); Khai Thu Nguyen (The Full Thao), and Pallavi Somusetty (Coach Emily). [Scroll for more about the filmmakers and their projects].
The fellowship provides “two intensive convenings in San Francisco, a slate of virtual workshops throughout the year, and all-access travel to the International Documentary Association’s biennial Getting Real conference in Los Angeles and the Camden International Film Festival in midcoast Maine.
- 4/2/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Aka Mr. Chow
(HBO Documentary Films)
This portrait directed by Nick Hooker follows the life and career of painter turned restaurateur Michael Chow, the owner of the Mr Chow restaurant chain, as he returns to the art world with his first solo show in nearly 60 years.
American Symphony
(Netflix)
Matthew Heineman switches gears from following the front lines of the Mexican drug war (the Oscar-nominated Cartel Land) and the early days of the Covid crisis in New York City (The First Wave), this time helming an intimate profile of Late Night With Stephen Colbert bandleader Jon Batiste as he balances an incredible year of professional success while aiding his wife, writer Suleika Jaouad, through her battle with a rare form of cancer.
Anonymous Sister
(Long Shot Factory/Gravitas Ventures)
Emmy Award-winning director Jamie Boyle chronicles her family’s collision with the opioid epidemic. The film, currently holding a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes,...
(HBO Documentary Films)
This portrait directed by Nick Hooker follows the life and career of painter turned restaurateur Michael Chow, the owner of the Mr Chow restaurant chain, as he returns to the art world with his first solo show in nearly 60 years.
American Symphony
(Netflix)
Matthew Heineman switches gears from following the front lines of the Mexican drug war (the Oscar-nominated Cartel Land) and the early days of the Covid crisis in New York City (The First Wave), this time helming an intimate profile of Late Night With Stephen Colbert bandleader Jon Batiste as he balances an incredible year of professional success while aiding his wife, writer Suleika Jaouad, through her battle with a rare form of cancer.
Anonymous Sister
(Long Shot Factory/Gravitas Ventures)
Emmy Award-winning director Jamie Boyle chronicles her family’s collision with the opioid epidemic. The film, currently holding a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes,...
- 12/8/2023
- by Tyler Coates and Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Esperance Robert Colom in Mountains
This year's Indie Memphis Film Festival will open with Raven Jackson's All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, as it commits to new support for Bipoc filmmakers and puts Black women at the centre of its programming. Jackson will introduce her film and participate in a Q&a with the audience, and the festival will include work by women including Jessica Chaney, Lagueria Davis and Ramata-Toulaye Sy. It will also feature its sixth Black Filmmakers Forum, a three day mini-event which will include speeches by inspirational Black filmmakers and workshops for aspiring black filmmakers led by critics, scholars and industry professionals who have already enjoyed success.
The full festival line-up includes Todd Haynes' Memphis-set May December and locally born Princeton James Echols' horror film Queens Rising. Running from 24 to 29 October, it will also provide an opportunity to catch festival hits Mami Wata, Passages and [film id=42650]The Taste Of.
This year's Indie Memphis Film Festival will open with Raven Jackson's All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, as it commits to new support for Bipoc filmmakers and puts Black women at the centre of its programming. Jackson will introduce her film and participate in a Q&a with the audience, and the festival will include work by women including Jessica Chaney, Lagueria Davis and Ramata-Toulaye Sy. It will also feature its sixth Black Filmmakers Forum, a three day mini-event which will include speeches by inspirational Black filmmakers and workshops for aspiring black filmmakers led by critics, scholars and industry professionals who have already enjoyed success.
The full festival line-up includes Todd Haynes' Memphis-set May December and locally born Princeton James Echols' horror film Queens Rising. Running from 24 to 29 October, it will also provide an opportunity to catch festival hits Mami Wata, Passages and [film id=42650]The Taste Of.
- 10/18/2023
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Black Barbie: A Documentary is heading to Netflix thanks to the streamer and Shondaland’s leading lady Shonda Rhimes. The film directed by Lagueria Davis has landed an overall deal with the streamer with Rhimes and Shondaland’s Betsy Beers attached as executive producers. A work-in-progress cut of the film debuted earlier this year at SXSW, garnering early critical acclaim, and now, viewers will be able to see the finished product on the streaming platform which also houses Shondaland’s original series such as Bridgerton, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, and Inventing Anna among others. (Credit: Lovely Day Films/Courtesy Everett Collection; Jason Mendez/Getty Images ) Black Barbie: A Documentary celebrates the transformative impact three Black women at Mattel had on the evolution of the Barbie brand as people know it. Through these charasmatic insiders’ stories, the documentary serves to tell the story of how the first Black Barbie came...
- 10/10/2023
- TV Insider
Black Barbie: A Documentary, which details Mattel’s introduction of a Black doll to its Barbie collection and the women that brought it to life, has landed at Netflix and Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland.
Lagueria Davis directs the doc and produces alongside Aaliyah Williams.
The logline for the project reads: “Black Barbie celebrates the momentous impact three Black women at Mattel had on the evolution of the Barbie brand as we know it. Through these charismatic insiders’ stories, the documentary tells the story of how the first Black Barbie came to be in 1980, examining the importance of representation and how dolls can be crucial to the formation of identity and imagination.”
The film premiered at SXSW 2023. The Hollywood Reporter‘s review out of that festival reads: “Topics of conversation include the Barbie vlogs on racism during the height of the 2020 protests and feeble attempts to give Black Barbie her own stories.
Lagueria Davis directs the doc and produces alongside Aaliyah Williams.
The logline for the project reads: “Black Barbie celebrates the momentous impact three Black women at Mattel had on the evolution of the Barbie brand as we know it. Through these charismatic insiders’ stories, the documentary tells the story of how the first Black Barbie came to be in 1980, examining the importance of representation and how dolls can be crucial to the formation of identity and imagination.”
The film premiered at SXSW 2023. The Hollywood Reporter‘s review out of that festival reads: “Topics of conversation include the Barbie vlogs on racism during the height of the 2020 protests and feeble attempts to give Black Barbie her own stories.
- 10/10/2023
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Netflix and Shondaland have acquired worldwide rights to “Black Barbie,” a documentary that dives into the history of the first Black Barbie doll — which debuted in 1980, 31 years after the original Barbie — and three Black women at Mattel who advocated for the toy.
Directed by Lagueria Davis, “Black Barbie” debuted at this year’s SXSW and the “work-in-progress” cut of the film was met with widespread acclaim. Now, Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers have signed on to the team of executive producers as part of Shondaland’s overall deal with Netflix.
“Telling Black Barbie’s story has been such a personal journey and it warms my heart to celebrate the legacy of my aunt Beulah Mae Mitchell, Kitty Black Perkins and Stacey McBride Irby in our film,” Davis said in a statement announcing the acquisition. “We couldn’t have asked for better collaborators than Shondaland and Netflix to bring this story to the world.
Directed by Lagueria Davis, “Black Barbie” debuted at this year’s SXSW and the “work-in-progress” cut of the film was met with widespread acclaim. Now, Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers have signed on to the team of executive producers as part of Shondaland’s overall deal with Netflix.
“Telling Black Barbie’s story has been such a personal journey and it warms my heart to celebrate the legacy of my aunt Beulah Mae Mitchell, Kitty Black Perkins and Stacey McBride Irby in our film,” Davis said in a statement announcing the acquisition. “We couldn’t have asked for better collaborators than Shondaland and Netflix to bring this story to the world.
- 10/10/2023
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
In yet another high-profile acquisition from Netflix, the streaming giant and Shondaland have nabbed global rights to “Black Barbie: A Documentary.” The film comes courtesy of director Lagueria Davis with Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers as executive producers.
The feature celebrates the momentous impact of three Black women at Mattel had on the evolution of the Barbie brand. The documentary tells the story of how the first Black Barbie came to be in 1980. It further examines the importance of representation and how dolls can be crucial to the formation of identity and imagination.
As critic Glenn Dunks wrote in The Film Experience, the film “isn’t just about black Barbie dolls. It’s about representation, and about the biases at play in an industry that for so long never ever conceived of the idea of black children wanting a doll like Barbie.”
Critic Clint Worthington noted in The Spool that...
The feature celebrates the momentous impact of three Black women at Mattel had on the evolution of the Barbie brand. The documentary tells the story of how the first Black Barbie came to be in 1980. It further examines the importance of representation and how dolls can be crucial to the formation of identity and imagination.
As critic Glenn Dunks wrote in The Film Experience, the film “isn’t just about black Barbie dolls. It’s about representation, and about the biases at play in an industry that for so long never ever conceived of the idea of black children wanting a doll like Barbie.”
Critic Clint Worthington noted in The Spool that...
- 10/10/2023
- by Scott Mendelson
- The Wrap
‘Black Barbie: A Documentary’ Acquired By Netflix & Shondaland Following Work-In-Progress SXSW Debut
Netflix and Shondaland have snapped up worldwide rights to Black Barbie: A Documentary, a new film from Lagueria Davis that screened a previous cut, to critical acclaim, at this year’s SXSW Film Festival.
Pic is exec produced by Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers as part of their overall deal with Netflix, which was extended in 2021, following the Bridgerton duo’s initial signing with the streamer in 2017. It arrives at a time when the doll made world famous by Mattel has taken on a new level of cultural cachet, thanks to Greta Gerwig’s fantasy comedy Barbie, which has grossed over $1.43B worldwide since its July 21st release by Warner Bros, coming in as the highest-grossing film of 2023, as well as the top grosser in the history of the studio, and for a solo female director.
While resonating with the themes of that film written by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach,...
Pic is exec produced by Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers as part of their overall deal with Netflix, which was extended in 2021, following the Bridgerton duo’s initial signing with the streamer in 2017. It arrives at a time when the doll made world famous by Mattel has taken on a new level of cultural cachet, thanks to Greta Gerwig’s fantasy comedy Barbie, which has grossed over $1.43B worldwide since its July 21st release by Warner Bros, coming in as the highest-grossing film of 2023, as well as the top grosser in the history of the studio, and for a solo female director.
While resonating with the themes of that film written by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach,...
- 10/10/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
A Great Divide, a anti-Asian racism drama that stars Ken Jeong, Jae Suh Park and Emerson Min, is set to open the competitive program for Geena Davis’ Bentonville Film Festival, running June 13-18.
The feature directorial debut of Emmy-winning commercial and short film director Jean Shim, which also star Miya Cech in a lead role, will get a world premiere during the ninth edition of the Bentonville, Arkansas festival. A Great Divide follows a Korean-American family that leaves the Bay Area for a fresh start in rural Wyoming after experiencing a devastating loss.
Also getting a first look at Bentonville is director R. J. Daniel Hanna’s Hard Miles, which dramatizes the true story of a youth prison social worker who took a cycling team comprising teenage inmates on a transformative 1,000-mile ride. The film, written by Hanna and Christian Sander, stars Matthew Modine, Cynthia Kaye McWilliams, Jahking Guillory, Jackson Kelly,...
The feature directorial debut of Emmy-winning commercial and short film director Jean Shim, which also star Miya Cech in a lead role, will get a world premiere during the ninth edition of the Bentonville, Arkansas festival. A Great Divide follows a Korean-American family that leaves the Bay Area for a fresh start in rural Wyoming after experiencing a devastating loss.
Also getting a first look at Bentonville is director R. J. Daniel Hanna’s Hard Miles, which dramatizes the true story of a youth prison social worker who took a cycling team comprising teenage inmates on a transformative 1,000-mile ride. The film, written by Hanna and Christian Sander, stars Matthew Modine, Cynthia Kaye McWilliams, Jahking Guillory, Jackson Kelly,...
- 5/9/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“I hate dolls,” writer-director Lagueria Davis states early in her debut documentary “Black Barbie.” By turns a celebration and an interrogation (sometime both simultaneously), the film delves into the history of the titular Black doll Mattel released in 1980. That was 31 years after the first Barbie began her rise to becoming the most iconic, uncomfortably influential, doll in American history. Davis makes a jam-packed argument that the road to Barbie diversity and inclusion has been long and marked by detours, intersections and, maybe a dead end or two. Davis’ first-person, inflected journey — often witty, often weighty — will lead her to a reconsideration of her antipathy (which she attributed to being a tomboy). Her reason for this rethink is personal — and adorable.
In 1953, Legueria’s aunt Beulah Mae Mitchell made her way from Forth Worth, Texas, to Los Angeles. She landed a job at Mattel in 1955. She left in 1999. Archival photos of...
In 1953, Legueria’s aunt Beulah Mae Mitchell made her way from Forth Worth, Texas, to Los Angeles. She landed a job at Mattel in 1955. She left in 1999. Archival photos of...
- 5/1/2023
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
It is part of American lore on race and progress: In the 1940s, Kenneth and Mamie Clark set out to study the psychological effects of segregation on Black children. The psychologists conducted a series of experiments famously called the “doll test,” in which they asked hundreds of children, between the ages of 3 and 7, about dolls of different colors. The most well-known and damning revelations from the test — which played a major role in the Supreme Court ruling on Brown v. Board of Education — came from the responses to the question of preference. After identifying the Black dolls as bad and the white ones as good, most of the Black children said they preferred the white dolls to the Black ones.
Director Lagueria Davis repeatedly references the doll test and its results in her energetic and informative, if uneven, documentary Black Barbie: A Documentary. The experiment anchors her film, which explores...
Director Lagueria Davis repeatedly references the doll test and its results in her energetic and informative, if uneven, documentary Black Barbie: A Documentary. The experiment anchors her film, which explores...
- 3/16/2023
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Festival runs March 10-19 in Austin, Texas.
SXSW opens on Friday with the world premiere of all-star fantasy romp Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, kicking off what is expected to be a rambunctious 10 days of screenings of films both spoken for and available for worldwide distribution.
Over the years the festival has proved itself to be a valuable launchpad for studio titles and the most recent evidence of that was last year’s edition, where A24 premiered Oscar frontrunner Everything Everywhere All At Once in 2022 as well as Ti West’s horror X, Lionsgate brought The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent...
SXSW opens on Friday with the world premiere of all-star fantasy romp Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, kicking off what is expected to be a rambunctious 10 days of screenings of films both spoken for and available for worldwide distribution.
Over the years the festival has proved itself to be a valuable launchpad for studio titles and the most recent evidence of that was last year’s edition, where A24 premiered Oscar frontrunner Everything Everywhere All At Once in 2022 as well as Ti West’s horror X, Lionsgate brought The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent...
- 3/10/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Mentorship Matters, an initiative aimed at boosting opportunities for emerging writers of color, has been officially unveiled, along with the participants in its inaugural 2021-22 cycle.
Developed by executive producers/showrunners, including Aaron Rahsaan Thomas (S.W.A.T.), Raelle Tucker, Gianna Sobol (Counterpart) and Melinda Hsu Taylor with sponsorship by AMC Networks, Amazon, The Walter Kaitz Foundation and Sony Pictures Entertainment, the year-long mentorship program provides consistent, in-depth mentorship and creative advocacy from a committed showrunner. The first set of pairings will connect 23 leading showrunners with promising mentees to foster growth and build invaluable industry contacts.
The program includes meeting at least monthly in addition to offering guidance with developing and polishing an original writing sample, panels and seminars with high-level industry professionals, and opportunities to meet agents, managers, and executives.
Mentees were selected from over 1,200 applicants throughout the U.S., with varying experiences and backgrounds.
Developed by executive producers/showrunners, including Aaron Rahsaan Thomas (S.W.A.T.), Raelle Tucker, Gianna Sobol (Counterpart) and Melinda Hsu Taylor with sponsorship by AMC Networks, Amazon, The Walter Kaitz Foundation and Sony Pictures Entertainment, the year-long mentorship program provides consistent, in-depth mentorship and creative advocacy from a committed showrunner. The first set of pairings will connect 23 leading showrunners with promising mentees to foster growth and build invaluable industry contacts.
The program includes meeting at least monthly in addition to offering guidance with developing and polishing an original writing sample, panels and seminars with high-level industry professionals, and opportunities to meet agents, managers, and executives.
Mentees were selected from over 1,200 applicants throughout the U.S., with varying experiences and backgrounds.
- 4/29/2021
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
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