During a Distribution Advocates podcast recording at Hot Docs, producer/director Amy Hobby announced a new documentary $200,000 grant called The Marketing Innovations Fund, which will go to independent distributors.
Hobby co-founded Distribution Advocates in 2020 alongside Abby Sun, Avril Speaks, Carlos Gutierrez and Karin Chien. The organization “works to collectively reclaim power for independent storytellers in the current systems of distribution and exhibition.”
The Marketing Innovations Fund launches in August and will provide grants between $5,000 and $50,000. That money will go to independent distributors working with film teams to supercharge audience growth for a wide range of docus. The grants are aimed at encouraging experimentation and innovation in reaching ticket buyers. The number of releases supported each year will vary and depend on applications. This year Fund money will help between four and 15 releases.
“Our goal is to inject much needed capital and resources into an anemic marketplace and ultimately to inspire...
Hobby co-founded Distribution Advocates in 2020 alongside Abby Sun, Avril Speaks, Carlos Gutierrez and Karin Chien. The organization “works to collectively reclaim power for independent storytellers in the current systems of distribution and exhibition.”
The Marketing Innovations Fund launches in August and will provide grants between $5,000 and $50,000. That money will go to independent distributors working with film teams to supercharge audience growth for a wide range of docus. The grants are aimed at encouraging experimentation and innovation in reaching ticket buyers. The number of releases supported each year will vary and depend on applications. This year Fund money will help between four and 15 releases.
“Our goal is to inject much needed capital and resources into an anemic marketplace and ultimately to inspire...
- 5/4/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Independent filmmakers and enthusiasts have a new resource to demystify the often-complex world of film distribution. Distribution Advocates Presents, a podcast hosted by Avril Speaks, filmmaker and co-founder of Distribution Advocates, officially launches on January 31st.
Distribution Advocates is a collective advocating for filmmakers and maintaining plurality and originality. Members currently include Avril Speaks, Karin Chien, Abby Sun, Amy Hobby, and Carlos Gutierrez. Their singular goal is to collectively reclaim power for independent storytellers in the current systems of distribution and exhibition.
This podcast aims to shed light on the inner workings of independent film distribution, by addressing a crucial question: how can we understand and improve the current ecosystem to create more equitable distribution systems?
From the role of sales agents to the functions of film festivals, each episode is a journey into understanding the challenges of distribution and the potential for transformative change. Think of it less as...
Distribution Advocates is a collective advocating for filmmakers and maintaining plurality and originality. Members currently include Avril Speaks, Karin Chien, Abby Sun, Amy Hobby, and Carlos Gutierrez. Their singular goal is to collectively reclaim power for independent storytellers in the current systems of distribution and exhibition.
This podcast aims to shed light on the inner workings of independent film distribution, by addressing a crucial question: how can we understand and improve the current ecosystem to create more equitable distribution systems?
From the role of sales agents to the functions of film festivals, each episode is a journey into understanding the challenges of distribution and the potential for transformative change. Think of it less as...
- 1/31/2024
- Podnews.net
From left: Stefano Knuchel, Khesrau Behrouz, Laurie Anderson, and Maya Shenfeld.On our way to Locarno from the airport, a fellow Critics Academy participant told me that he had made a list of 37 films he wanted to see, while I glanced at my own list feeling underprepared. In the end, he didn’t reach that number—none of us did. We had our writings to do, the glittering Lake Maggiore to bask in, and daily necessities, like scurrying between venues and finding time for meals.When the goal of festival-going is to take in as many films as possible, attending a 24-hour long talk on the “Future of Attention” may not seem like the best way to resolve these anxieties. Film festivals run on an attention economy. It was a statistically risky decision for me to pitch this article instead of several smaller film reviews, since I didn’t know...
- 10/19/2022
- MUBI
The 18th Camden International Film Festival on Maine’s mid-coast – an increasingly important destination for documentary filmmakers – wrapped its in-person portion Sunday after announcing a handful of awards.
Day After…, directed by Kamar Ahmad Simon, won the festival’s Harrell Award, chosen from a group of “some of the most significant documentaries of the year.” The film is described as “A philosophical ballad along the rivers of Bangladesh, transporting the rich and poor, young and old, East and West in a century-old paddle steamer.”
“The jury was unanimous in its admiration for this film, in which an old riverboat seems to contain an entire society’s worth of dreamers and hustlers, politicians and radicals,” juror Eric Hynes said, noting that the documentary employs “both hybrid techniques and dogged observational power. This is a dazzling work of nonfiction.”
The jury awarded a special mention to Polaris, another film with a nautical theme.
Day After…, directed by Kamar Ahmad Simon, won the festival’s Harrell Award, chosen from a group of “some of the most significant documentaries of the year.” The film is described as “A philosophical ballad along the rivers of Bangladesh, transporting the rich and poor, young and old, East and West in a century-old paddle steamer.”
“The jury was unanimous in its admiration for this film, in which an old riverboat seems to contain an entire society’s worth of dreamers and hustlers, politicians and radicals,” juror Eric Hynes said, noting that the documentary employs “both hybrid techniques and dogged observational power. This is a dazzling work of nonfiction.”
The jury awarded a special mention to Polaris, another film with a nautical theme.
- 9/19/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
CNN Films, Points North Institute Announce 2022 American Stories Doc Fellowship Grantees (Exclusive)
Click here to read the full article.
CNN Films and Points North Institute have revealed the five recipients of the 2022 American Stories Documentary Fellowship.
The artist development program fellowship supports independent documentary filmmakers who, from diverse points of view, are exploring themes unique to American experiences. The five filmmaking teams named as this year’s fellowship recipients include Ameha Molla and Rajal Pitroda; Gabriela Díaz Arp and Karla Claudio Betancourt; Paige Bethmann and Jessica Epstein; Jordan Lord and Abby Sun; and Julie Wyman, Lindsey Dryden and Jonna McKone.
The fellows will each receive a 10,000 production grant and have costs covered to attend an immersive week-long working retreat that runs concomitantly with the annual Camden International Film Festival (Ciff) in Maine. The retreat includes feedback sessions, workshops and individual as well as group discussions with veteran filmmakers and industry professionals.
Each of the 2022 filmmaking teams were chosen from 200 applicants from across the U.
CNN Films and Points North Institute have revealed the five recipients of the 2022 American Stories Documentary Fellowship.
The artist development program fellowship supports independent documentary filmmakers who, from diverse points of view, are exploring themes unique to American experiences. The five filmmaking teams named as this year’s fellowship recipients include Ameha Molla and Rajal Pitroda; Gabriela Díaz Arp and Karla Claudio Betancourt; Paige Bethmann and Jessica Epstein; Jordan Lord and Abby Sun; and Julie Wyman, Lindsey Dryden and Jonna McKone.
The fellows will each receive a 10,000 production grant and have costs covered to attend an immersive week-long working retreat that runs concomitantly with the annual Camden International Film Festival (Ciff) in Maine. The retreat includes feedback sessions, workshops and individual as well as group discussions with veteran filmmakers and industry professionals.
Each of the 2022 filmmaking teams were chosen from 200 applicants from across the U.
- 9/13/2022
- by Abbey White
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The International Documentary Association has voluntarily recognized the union organized by its employees, both the IDA and the union announced today. IDA leaders and workers both say they’re hopeful this marks a positive step forward as the embattled organization begins to rebuild after months of strife. One of the first opportunities will be in how management and the union work together to iron out a contract and continue badly needed hiring — the IDA has lost nearly 50 percent of its workforce since December.
“This is a historic day for the IDA workers who worked tirelessly to get a union at our organization,” Hansen Bursic, an organizing committee member of the union, the Documentary Workers United, said in a statement. “We are excited to get to work to accomplish the goals laid out in our mission statement and fight for a contract that benefits staff.”
In his own statement, IDA Executive...
“This is a historic day for the IDA workers who worked tirelessly to get a union at our organization,” Hansen Bursic, an organizing committee member of the union, the Documentary Workers United, said in a statement. “We are excited to get to work to accomplish the goals laid out in our mission statement and fight for a contract that benefits staff.”
In his own statement, IDA Executive...
- 4/6/2022
- by Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
The IDA has announced the hiring of two senior staff members and a consultant, in what the embattled organization calls “a major step forward.”
Arts administrator and film festival programmer Keisha Knight has been appointed director of IDA Funds and Enterprise Program, a critical role that involves interfacing with grant-making entities that fund IDA initiatives.
“In this capacity [Knight] will oversee a portfolio of IDA’s granting programs,” the IDA said in a release, “including IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund, Logan elevate and Equity grants, and the Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund, Xrm Media Incubator, and Netflix Global Emerging Filmmaker Award.”
Abby Sun, a filmmaker, researcher, and artist at the MIT Open Documentary Lab, has been hired as the IDA’s director of artist programs. One of her major responsibilities will be to develop thematic content for the IDA’s Getting Real 2022 conference, which is scheduled for September.
Louise Rosen, a veteran producer,...
Arts administrator and film festival programmer Keisha Knight has been appointed director of IDA Funds and Enterprise Program, a critical role that involves interfacing with grant-making entities that fund IDA initiatives.
“In this capacity [Knight] will oversee a portfolio of IDA’s granting programs,” the IDA said in a release, “including IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund, Logan elevate and Equity grants, and the Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund, Xrm Media Incubator, and Netflix Global Emerging Filmmaker Award.”
Abby Sun, a filmmaker, researcher, and artist at the MIT Open Documentary Lab, has been hired as the IDA’s director of artist programs. One of her major responsibilities will be to develop thematic content for the IDA’s Getting Real 2022 conference, which is scheduled for September.
Louise Rosen, a veteran producer,...
- 3/24/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: New York’s Museum of the Moving Image announced the full lineup today for the 11th edition of First Look, its annual festival showcasing adventurous cinema from around the world.
The in-person festival, running March 16-20 at MoMI in Astoria, Queens, will kick off with Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s Murina, a “simmering, sexually charged coming-of-age tale set in scenic coastal Croatia,” executive produced by Martin Scorsese. Murina won the Caméra d’Or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, an award for Best First Feature.
First Look set The Balcony Movie as its closing night film, a documentary that director Pawel Lozinski shot entirely from the balcony of his apartment in Warsaw, Poland. The film, which MoMI calls “delightful and insightful,” won the Grand Prix at the 2021 Locarno Film Festival’s Critics Week.
In all, 38 films will screen at First Look [see full lineup below], a combination of features, shorts, fiction and nonfiction, “as well...
The in-person festival, running March 16-20 at MoMI in Astoria, Queens, will kick off with Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s Murina, a “simmering, sexually charged coming-of-age tale set in scenic coastal Croatia,” executive produced by Martin Scorsese. Murina won the Caméra d’Or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, an award for Best First Feature.
First Look set The Balcony Movie as its closing night film, a documentary that director Pawel Lozinski shot entirely from the balcony of his apartment in Warsaw, Poland. The film, which MoMI calls “delightful and insightful,” won the Grand Prix at the 2021 Locarno Film Festival’s Critics Week.
In all, 38 films will screen at First Look [see full lineup below], a combination of features, shorts, fiction and nonfiction, “as well...
- 2/7/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Fire of Love For the second year in a row, Sundance went online, canceling what was supposed to be a hybrid event to celebrate its 38th edition as a wholly virtual fare. Once again, the post-premiere debates and sense of community so cardinal to festivals were shunted to tweets, texts, and DMs—even as the fest, IndieWire’s Eric Kohn wrote a few days before kick-off, offered attendees a chance to whip up a digital avatar and socialize with other guests in 3D environments: “a microcosm of the way that the festival community has evolved in recent years.” For all the widespread fears around the pandemic’s impact on the industry, browsing through the usually overwhelming amount of reviews and dispatches one detects a careful optimism. “The decline in theatrical viewing for most movies may have a negative effect on the profitability of independents—and therefore on the ability to release them,...
- 2/1/2022
- MUBI
The subject of debate was how festivals can move with changing times.
IDFA artistic director Orwa Nyrabia spoke virtually with three filmmakers at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) to underline the increasing importance of festivals as spaces for political debate.
Nyrabia was joined by US-based artist, programmer and researcher Abby Sun, and Indian filmmakers Pooja Shetty and Neil Pagedar. They urged festivals to remain flexible as the industry changes.
“[A festival is] about more than just showing a film,” said Nyrabia, who is also a producer and filmmaker. It is about “what needs to be brought to audiences that is particular to here,...
IDFA artistic director Orwa Nyrabia spoke virtually with three filmmakers at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) to underline the increasing importance of festivals as spaces for political debate.
Nyrabia was joined by US-based artist, programmer and researcher Abby Sun, and Indian filmmakers Pooja Shetty and Neil Pagedar. They urged festivals to remain flexible as the industry changes.
“[A festival is] about more than just showing a film,” said Nyrabia, who is also a producer and filmmaker. It is about “what needs to be brought to audiences that is particular to here,...
- 2/1/2022
- by Alina Trabattoni
- ScreenDaily
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSHong Sang-soo's The Novelist's Film (2022)The competition slate has been announced for this year's Berlinale, featuring the latest by Hong Sang-soo, Claire Denis, Rithy Panh, Phyllis Nagy, Ulrich Seidl, and more. Find the rest of the lineup here. In an interview with Variety, executive Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian discuss their plans for the festival to be an in-person event. Actor Michel Subor has died at the age of 86. Subor captivated audiences with his performances in films like Jean-Luc Godard's Le petit soldat (1960)—he also was the narrator for François Truffaut's Jules and Jim (1962)—and a number of films by Claire Denis, from Beau travail (1999) and L'intrus (2004) to White Material (2009) and Bastards (2013). We recommend reading Yasmina Price's excellent essay on L'intrus and Subor's distinct historiography as an actor. Recommended VIEWINGThe...
- 1/19/2022
- MUBI
Above: Steven Soderbergh’s Kafka (1991)In her essay “On Criticism,” Abby Sun notes: “Film festivals are equally sites of inclusion and exclusion, of abundance and scarcity. In fact, they thrive off these paradoxes.” This seems to be the case at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where an ongoing tension between commercial aspirations and professed values tends to yield more breadth than depth. Once called the Festival of Festivals, TIFF started out in 1976 as a showcase of the best titles from other international film festivals. A bit of borrowing from earlier fests like Berlinale and Cannes continues to this day. At the same time, overlapping dates with fall rivals like Venice and Telluride—and the New York Film Festival following closely behind—charge TIFF with the competitive urgency to premiere A-list titles first. In the last few years, the presentation of the TIFF People’s Choice Award to the most...
- 10/13/2021
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Cinemateca Brasileira. (WikiCommons)A devastating fire hit the Cinemateca Brasileira on July 29 and has left significant damage to the longest-running cinema institution in Brazil. In response, the workers of Cinemateca Brasileira have shared a statement regarding the continual mistreatment of facilities and staff by the government: "Without workers archives can not be preserved!" After facing unexpected budget cuts, microcinema No Evil Eye Cinema has announced a fundraising call for action and is seeking grants, foundational support, and other funding opportunities to sustain their programming and educational programs. On the Score podcast last week, composer Carter Burwell stated that "[Ethan Coen] just didn’t want to make movies anymore," in response to a question about Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth. This may mean the Coens are done working as a directing duo,...
- 8/4/2021
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSWe announced today in IndieWire the upcoming launch of our new original podcast! Hosted by arts and travel reporter Rico Gagliano, the first season of the Mubi Podcast will focus on films that have great importance in their home country, but are lesser known by international audiences and critics. We begin with Paul Verhoeven's second feature Turkish Delight and its unique significance during the counterculture movement in 1970s Holland. The episode feaures exclusive interviews with Paul Verhoeven, Monique van de Ven, and Jan de Bont. Check out the trailer above and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts here.Filmmaker Milton Moses Ginsberg, best known for his debut feature Coming Apart (1969) and the horror comedy film The Werewolf of Washington (1973), has died. The Tribeca Film Festival has announced that Steven Soderbergh's latest, the...
- 5/26/2021
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: The Cinerama Dome in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). Decurion has announced that it won't be reopening its Arclight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres locations. The theater chain's most famous location is its Hollywood Arclight multiplex on Sunset Boulevard, home to the Cinerama Dome. Arte France Cinéma will be co-producing three new features: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi's Les amandiers (starring Louis Garrel), Arnaud Desplechin's Brother and Sister (which stars Marion Cotillard and Melvil Poupaud), and Pietro Marcello's L'envol (the filmmaker's first feature in France). The Workers of the Cinemateca Brasileira have released a manifesto calling attention to the many risks facing the Cinemateca's unattended collection, equipment, and facilities due to its "current state of abandonment" by the Ministry of Tourism. Backed by TCM, documentarian Josh Grossberg and his...
- 4/14/2021
- MUBI
Brown Girls Doc Mafia (Bgdm) has selected the recipients of the very first Bgdm Sustainable Artist Grants and the Bgdm Black Directors Grants which will further support and sustain some of the most vital, distinctive voices in documentary today.
“In the last five years, Brown Girls Doc Mafia has created a vibrant online community of over 4,500 members, launched the Bgdm Member Directory for discovering Bipoc women/non-binary filmmakers and executives, and implemented numerous programs advocating for members’ access, visibility, creativity, growth, sustainability, and power in the documentary film industry,” said Bgdm Founder & Director Iyabo Boyd. “Today, we are absolutely thrilled to be able to add grantmaking to our portfolio of initiatives that bolster the creative and professional development of this community and spur change in the documentary field at large.”
This year’s Bgdm Sustainable Artist Grant grants were awarded to Mireya Guzman-Ortiz, Rebeca Huntt, Chithra Jeyaram, Sara Nodjoumi, and Jean Rheem.
“In the last five years, Brown Girls Doc Mafia has created a vibrant online community of over 4,500 members, launched the Bgdm Member Directory for discovering Bipoc women/non-binary filmmakers and executives, and implemented numerous programs advocating for members’ access, visibility, creativity, growth, sustainability, and power in the documentary film industry,” said Bgdm Founder & Director Iyabo Boyd. “Today, we are absolutely thrilled to be able to add grantmaking to our portfolio of initiatives that bolster the creative and professional development of this community and spur change in the documentary field at large.”
This year’s Bgdm Sustainable Artist Grant grants were awarded to Mireya Guzman-Ortiz, Rebeca Huntt, Chithra Jeyaram, Sara Nodjoumi, and Jean Rheem.
- 3/29/2021
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: David Fincher and Gary Oldman on the set of Mank (2020). David Fincher's Mank leads this year's nominations for the Academy Awards. A complete list of all nominations can be found here.Legendary actor Yaphet Kotto, best known for his charismatic presence in films like Alien, Blue Collar, and Live and Let Die has died.Spike Lee will be leading the 2021 Cannes Film Festival Jury, promising to return after the cancellation of last year's festival: "Book my flight now, my wife and I are coming!" After a months-long hiatus, Film Comment has announced its return, marked by a new weekly letter and two new episodes of the Film Comment podcast. Recommended VIEWINGAbove: Mark Rappaport's The Stendhal Syndrome or My Dinner with Turhan Bey. Today's the last day to watch two new essay films...
- 3/17/2021
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Radu Jude's Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn. Radu Jude's Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn has won the Golden Bear at the 71st Berlinale. See the list of this year's award winners here. Recommended VIEWINGFeminist film journal Another Gaze has announced the upcoming launch of its free streaming platform, Another Screen, which will be available worldwide from March 12. Programming will begin with a retrospective dedicated to the late Italian filmmaker Cecilia Mangini. The official trailer for Roy Andersson's About Endlessness, which won Best Director at the Biennale in 2019. Read Leonardo Goi's Venice review of the film here.Janus Films has released its trailer for the restoration of Eric Rohmer's Tale of Four Seasons, an elegant cycle of moral parables. Until March 23, viewers have the opportunity to watch Tsai Ming-Liang's Madam...
- 3/11/2021
- MUBI
Above: In the Same Breath Browsing through the gargantuan output of reviews, dispatches, and reports coming in from Sundance, the festival’s 2021 edition is widely praised as a logistical and curatorial success. Shortened to seven days compared to the usual ten, its films premiered on a bespoke digital platform and in a handful of selected hubs in Utah and other US states—a hybrid approach that worked smoothly, and made up for the social-cultural intangibles lost in the online format. As Eric Kohn notes at IndieWire, the new virtual hangout spaces set up for post-screening discussions helped make sure “#Sundance felt like Sundance,” while the edition’s slimmer lineup also gave more breathing room to smaller, more intriguing titles. If those went on to enjoy “the proverbial big-stage treatment,” A.A. Dowd contends in his roundup at the A.V. Club, it was largely because “they weren’t competing with the more polished,...
- 2/10/2021
- MUBI
Hello Abby, We’ve been Gchatting through our initial Sundance 2021 reactions in between filing festival coverage proper, so it only seems logical to finish out this year by doing a direct handoff in public view. While our experiences were complementary, we had different timelines and levels of willingness to engage. You tried out a good chunk of New Frontier material and went to virtual gatherings in avatar form; true to usual Irl form, I kept a skulking low profile. Our coverage overlapped a few times online: Cusp and Close first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 2/4/2021
- by Vadim Rizov and Abby Sun
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Hello Abby, We’ve been Gchatting through our initial Sundance 2021 reactions in between filing festival coverage proper, so it only seems logical to finish out this year by doing a direct handoff in public view. While our experiences were complementary, we had different timelines and levels of willingness to engage. You tried out a good chunk of New Frontier material and went to virtual gatherings in avatar form; true to usual Irl form, I kept a skulking low profile. Our coverage overlapped a few times online: Cusp and Close first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 2/4/2021
- by Vadim Rizov and Abby Sun
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
As I hinted in my first entry on Sundance 2021, I’ve spent a couple hours a day on the festival’s browser-based New Frontier space, which houses all 14 projects in the New Frontier selection, a space for watching select films in VR and Film Party, an online proximity-based video and audio chat space. There’s also a digital ferry from the Gallery to IDFA DocLab’s do {not} play platform, which was for IDFA what Film Party is to Sundance. Navigating the Sundance digital platform through my […]
The post Sundance 2021 Critic's Notebook 4 (Abby Sun): R#J, We're All Going to the World's Fair, Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Sundance 2021 Critic's Notebook 4 (Abby Sun): R#J, We're All Going to the World's Fair, Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 2/3/2021
- by Abby Sun
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
As I hinted in my first entry on Sundance 2021, I’ve spent a couple hours a day on the festival’s browser-based New Frontier space, which houses all 14 projects in the New Frontier selection, a space for watching select films in VR and Film Party, an online proximity-based video and audio chat space. There’s also a digital ferry from the Gallery to IDFA DocLab’s do {not} play platform, which was for IDFA what Film Party is to Sundance. Navigating the Sundance digital platform through my […]
The post Sundance 2021 Critic's Notebook 4 (Abby Sun): R#J, We're All Going to the World's Fair, Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Sundance 2021 Critic's Notebook 4 (Abby Sun): R#J, We're All Going to the World's Fair, Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 2/3/2021
- by Abby Sun
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Siân Heder's Coda (2021). The winners of this year's Sundance Film Festival have been announced, with Siân Heder's Coda and Questlove's Summer of Soul sweeping the top prizes. Chloé Zhao's Nomadland, David Fincher's Mank, and Jason Woliner's Borat Subsequent Moviefilm lead the Golden Globe film nominations, also announced today. See more hereThe international jury of the 71st Berlinale includes six previous winners of the Golden Bear: Mohammad Rasoulof, Nadav Lapid, Adina Pintilie, Ildikó Enyedi, Gianfranco Rosi and, finally, Jasmila Žbanić. The festival's industry event will be taking place March 1-5, with a "summer special" taking place in June. More information has emerged regarding Tilda Swinton and Joanna Hogg's next collaboration, The Eternal Daughter. Executive-produced by Martin Scorsese and filmed in Wales during lockdown, the film follows a middle-aged daughter and...
- 2/3/2021
- MUBI
Following its initial run last May and June, Sentient.Art Film. has revived the series "My Sight is Lined With Visions: 1990s Asian American Film & Video" as a year-long program, helmed by Sentient.Art.Film Artistic Director Keisha Knight and co-curator Abby Sun. The history of Asian American film and video is shaped by what B. Ruby Rich and Brian Hu describe (in Film Quarterly's recent dossier on fifty years of Asian American cinema) as its "public-ness." Through the initiatives of community-based media arts organizations like the Center for Asian American Media and Visual Communications, burgeoning Asian American filmmakers strove to generate cultural consciousness, just as the term "Asian American" entered the national vocabulary. In the "public" tradition of Asian American cinema, and against the limitations imposed by the pandemic, this series challenges barriers of access by making these hard-to-find titles available online. You can rent the entire selection until...
- 1/29/2021
- MUBI
Following its successful first edition, Sentient.Art.Film’s second season of online repertory series is relaunching the successful online repertory series “My Sight is Lined with Visions,”, which will live online from today, January 26, through January 25 of next year—notably, with no geoblocking. Co-curated by programmers Abby Sun and Keisha N. Knight, the series focuses on 1990s Asian American Cinema. From the press release: Two new programs are added to the relaunch and will be available to the public via online rental for the first time. Marlon Fuentes’s rarely-screened first and only feature, Bontoc […]
The post Sentient.Art.Film Launches Second Edition of 1990s Asian American Film Series "My Sight is Lined with Visions" first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Sentient.Art.Film Launches Second Edition of 1990s Asian American Film Series "My Sight is Lined with Visions" first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/26/2021
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Following its successful first edition, Sentient.Art.Film’s second season of online repertory series is relaunching the successful online repertory series “My Sight is Lined with Visions,”, which will live online from today, January 26, through January 25 of next year—notably, with no geoblocking. Co-curated by programmers Abby Sun and Keisha N. Knight, the series focuses on 1990s Asian American Cinema. From the press release: Two new programs are added to the relaunch and will be available to the public via online rental for the first time. Marlon Fuentes’s rarely-screened first and only feature, Bontoc […]
The post Sentient.Art.Film Launches Second Edition of 1990s Asian American Film Series "My Sight is Lined with Visions" first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Sentient.Art.Film Launches Second Edition of 1990s Asian American Film Series "My Sight is Lined with Visions" first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/26/2021
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
2020 certainly presents a year of firsts, –including the first mostly online presentation (save for select drive-in screenings!) for the world’s largest showcase of Asian American film, Caamfest Forward. This has also been our first time visiting the festival, albeit virtually. After seeing the festival wrap up in the last week, we have listed below the awards alongside their jury statements.
Narrative Award
Jury Members: Hanna Huang, Melanie Elvena, Valerie Soe
Winner: Defnition Please, Dir. Sujata Day
Jury Statement: Sujata Day’s Definition Please is a captivating story of family, friendship, vocabulary, expectations, and not allowing oneself to be defined by a singular moment. With standout performances by Day, Lalaine, Ritesh Rajan, Anna Khaja, and Maya Kapoor, each brings depth and humor to their well-written, fully unfolding characters.
Jury Mention: Chosen Fam, Dirs. Natalie Tsui and Lindsay Sunada
Jury Statement: Lindsay Sunada Natalie Tsui’s web series Chosen Fam is a kicky,...
Narrative Award
Jury Members: Hanna Huang, Melanie Elvena, Valerie Soe
Winner: Defnition Please, Dir. Sujata Day
Jury Statement: Sujata Day’s Definition Please is a captivating story of family, friendship, vocabulary, expectations, and not allowing oneself to be defined by a singular moment. With standout performances by Day, Lalaine, Ritesh Rajan, Anna Khaja, and Maya Kapoor, each brings depth and humor to their well-written, fully unfolding characters.
Jury Mention: Chosen Fam, Dirs. Natalie Tsui and Lindsay Sunada
Jury Statement: Lindsay Sunada Natalie Tsui’s web series Chosen Fam is a kicky,...
- 10/27/2020
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.Newshbo Max has announced plans to release the "Snyder Cut," a highly demanded director's cut of Zack Snyder's Justice League. Hollywood Reporter delves into the development of the project and the fan-based movement behind bringing Snyder's vision to life. Venice's governor has announced that the film festival will proceed as planned this September. Meanwhile, Cannes is unveiling plans for its unprecedented "virtual film market," which will have to mediate different time zones and a lack of premiere buzz. Recommended VIEWINGDavid Lynch has released his 2015 short film Fire (Pozar) for free online. The animated film, a collaboration with Polish musician Marek Zebrowski, is a nightmarish vision of formless beings and houses on fire. For Deadline's new series The Film That Lit My Fuse, Francis Ford Coppola discusses Sergei Eisenstein's October (Ten Days That Shook...
- 5/27/2020
- MUBI
Updated with Audience Award winners: The 31st annual Palm Springs Film Festival has named the Bhutan drama Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom the winner of its Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature, and Gay Chorus Deep South its Audience Award for Best Documentary.
The news Sunday comes after the fest yesterday revealed its juried award winners at a luncheon at the Hilton Palm Springs. There, Russian pic Beanpole took the Fipresci prize, while Bong Joon-Ho’s Oscar favorite Parasite copped the Fipresci Screenplay prize.
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, from director Pawo Choyning Dorji, was filmed on location at more than 16,000 feet in one of the most remote villages in Bhutan. The pic centers on a young displaced teacher who is taught his own life lessons from the happy and kind locals.
David Charles Rodrigues’ U.S. docu Gay Chorus Deep South follows the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus...
The news Sunday comes after the fest yesterday revealed its juried award winners at a luncheon at the Hilton Palm Springs. There, Russian pic Beanpole took the Fipresci prize, while Bong Joon-Ho’s Oscar favorite Parasite copped the Fipresci Screenplay prize.
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, from director Pawo Choyning Dorji, was filmed on location at more than 16,000 feet in one of the most remote villages in Bhutan. The pic centers on a young displaced teacher who is taught his own life lessons from the happy and kind locals.
David Charles Rodrigues’ U.S. docu Gay Chorus Deep South follows the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus...
- 1/13/2020
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Foreign Oscar Contenders Win Big at Palm Springs Fest: ‘Parasite,’ ‘Beanpole,’ ‘Corpus Christi’ Lead
The Palm Springs International Film Festival, which began just after the New Year and wraps January 13, screened 188 films; 51 of them were submitted for the Best International Feature Film Academy Award. The Palm Springs Film Festival prize winners announced Saturday over brunch at the Hilton included a handful of these films. See the full list of winners below. Audience awards will be announced on Sunday.
Fipresci Prize for Best International Feature Film: “Beanpole” (Russia), Director Kantemir Balagov.
Fipresci Prize for Best Actor in a International Feature Film: Bartosz Bielenia from “Corpus Christi” (Poland).
Fipresci Prize for the Best Actress in a International Feature Film: Helena Zengel from “System Crasher” (Germany).
Fipresci Prize for International Screenplay: “Parasite” (South Korea), Screenwriters Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin-Won.
Fipresci Prize for International Screenplay Special Mention: “Antigone” (Canada), Screenwrier Sophie Deraspe.
The Fipresci jury members were film critics Pamela Biénzobas, Alferov Gavrylyshyn, and Tina Hassannia.
Fipresci Prize for Best International Feature Film: “Beanpole” (Russia), Director Kantemir Balagov.
Fipresci Prize for Best Actor in a International Feature Film: Bartosz Bielenia from “Corpus Christi” (Poland).
Fipresci Prize for the Best Actress in a International Feature Film: Helena Zengel from “System Crasher” (Germany).
Fipresci Prize for International Screenplay: “Parasite” (South Korea), Screenwriters Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin-Won.
Fipresci Prize for International Screenplay Special Mention: “Antigone” (Canada), Screenwrier Sophie Deraspe.
The Fipresci jury members were film critics Pamela Biénzobas, Alferov Gavrylyshyn, and Tina Hassannia.
- 1/11/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSLate last month, we were saddened by the death of Jean Douchet, whose criticism as co-editor-in-chief of Cahiers du cinéma and as a mentor figure for many in the French film community was invaluable. Recommended VIEWINGKino Lorber's first trailer for Kantemir Balagov's Beanpole, which follows the bond between two women in post-wwii Leningrad. Read Ela Bittencourt's Close-Up on the film, which received its online premiere in the UK on Mubi earlier this fall. Corneliu Porumboiu's The Whistlers, a crime thriller about a cop, a mob in the Canary Islands, and El Siblo, an intricate indigenous language that involves whistling. Recommended READINGMichael Cimino and Robert De Niro on the set of The Deer HunterThe Guardian has published an excerpt of One Shot: The Making of The Deer Hunter, which includes exclusive photos from Robert De Niro's personal collection.
- 12/11/2019
- MUBI
There were a variety of different movies we could have chosen to relaunch this column, which strives to gather and present together some of the best writing on some of today’s most interesting movies. I’m thrilled that we could begin with a new film directed by not only one of the juggernauts of contemporary art cinema, but also a personal favorite of mine, China’s Jia Zhangke.To describe the story of Ash Is Purest White, I’ve taken the no-nonsense plot summary from its American distributor, Cohen Media Group:"Qiao [Zhao Tao] is in love with Bin [Liao Fan], a local mobster. During a fight between rival gangs, she fires a gun to protect him. Qiao gets five years in prison for this act of loyalty. Upon her release, she goes looking for Bin to pick up where they left off."What we can add for context is that the...
- 3/15/2019
- MUBI
The organizers of the True/False Film Fest, taking place in Columbia, Missouri, on February 28 to March 3, are announcing their lineup exclusively to IndieWire. The 36 feature films and 18 short films (full list below) were culled from “roughly” 1,100 submissions.
Among the 36 new features, four of the films announced are world premieres. “The Hottest August,” is from director Brett Story and explores the anxieties of a “sweltering” New York City. “Midnight in Paris,” the directorial feature debut from Roni Moore and James Blagden, follows the Flint Northern High School’s senior class of 2012 as the Michigan students prepare for prom. Brazil-based filmmaker Maíra Bühler will screen “Let it Burn,” described as a tender portrait of addicts housed in a converted hotel in São Paulo’s notorious Cracolândia neighborhood. And the fourth T/F world premiere is director Jeffrey Peixoto’s exploration into what attracts members to the Church of Scientology in “Over the Rainbow.
Among the 36 new features, four of the films announced are world premieres. “The Hottest August,” is from director Brett Story and explores the anxieties of a “sweltering” New York City. “Midnight in Paris,” the directorial feature debut from Roni Moore and James Blagden, follows the Flint Northern High School’s senior class of 2012 as the Michigan students prepare for prom. Brazil-based filmmaker Maíra Bühler will screen “Let it Burn,” described as a tender portrait of addicts housed in a converted hotel in São Paulo’s notorious Cracolândia neighborhood. And the fourth T/F world premiere is director Jeffrey Peixoto’s exploration into what attracts members to the Church of Scientology in “Over the Rainbow.
- 2/6/2019
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
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