‘Athlete A’ Directors Say USA Gymnastics Should Do More To End Culture Of Abuse – Contenders Documentary

Malina Saval Associate Editor, FeaturesWhen Bryan Fogel set out to make “The Dissident,” his intrepid and arresting exposé on the assassination of Saudi Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018, he knew there were myriad security risks involved.

Netflix have released the trailer for their upcoming new true crime series, Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel. And fans of the genre are already counting down the days until it airs in February, thanks to the show’s gripping and chilling central case.The anticipated four part series follows one of the US’ most mysterious disappearances – that of Canadian tourist Elisa Lam who seemingly vanished into thin air in 2013 after acting erratically.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer“Phobias,” a group-directed genre title about our worst fears, has sold North American distribution rights to Vertical Entertainment.The anthology film features the directorial debuts of three women — Jess Varley, Maritte Go, and actor Camilla Belle. They’re joined by Chris von Hoffman (“Monster Party”) and Joe Sill (“Stray”).The film follows five dangerous patients at a government testing facility, all suffering from extreme phobias.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentFilm Constellation, the London-based production, finance and sales outfit, has acquired Natalia Almada’s timely documentary “Users,” which will have its world premiere at Sundance.“Users” is set to unspool as part of Sundance’s U.S. documentary competition section on Jan.

Antonio Ferme author“Martha: A Picture Story,” a feature documentary about trailblazing graffiti and street photographer Martha Cooper, has been acquired for North American distribution by Utopia.Cooper was an American photojournalist and the first female staff photographer at the New York Post in the 1970s. She is best known for capturing New York City graffiti in the ’70s and ’80s.

Manori Ravindran International EditorThe International Documentary Association (IDA) has announced grants for seven films through its Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund, totalling $115,000.Seven documentary projects will receive grants of up to $20,000 each through the fund, which received more than 180 applications in 2020.

In his first collaboration with Arnon Manor on the animated short Cops and Robbers, actor Timothy Ware-Hill adapted a spoken word poem he’d written into a stunning eight-minute piece, meditating on rampant displays of police violence within the United States, and the systemic racism behind them.

This season's many awards possibilities directed by women are as different as Nomadland, Chloé Zhao's expansive view of itinerant Americans today, and One Night in Miami, Regina King's tightly focused drama about soon-to-be Black icons in the 1960s. But within that range, one especially eye-opening trend has emerged.

Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow, which won the New York Film Critics’ Association award for best picture of 2020, significantly centers on food and food preparation two centuries ago in the Pacific Northwest region we now call Oregon, four decades before the area became an American state.

“When I thought of Billie Holiday, I just thought of her as a jazz singer, maybe a troubled artist, you hear about drugs, a little bit of trouble with the law,” says Lee Daniels, director of the upcoming biopic The United States vs. Billie Holiday. With all that Holiday accomplished during her storied career, rarely highlighted is her work in the civil rights movement of the 1930s and ’40s, which was why Daniels was inspired to tackle this project.

Lee Isaac Chung’s family drama Minari is named after a Korean herb that “comes in the pockets of immigrants, dies in the first year, thrives in the second, purifies the water and the soil around it.” There couldn’t be a more perfect analogy for this story about the American Dream.

The quirky comedy French Exit, about several disconnected, somewhat lonely American souls who come together in unique ways in Paris, is funny, sad, bittersweet, surreal and altogether different. For star Michelle Pfeiffer, who has won some of the best reviews of her career after the New York Film Festival premiere, it was irresistible to play Frances, a widow and New York society gadfly dealing with her unusual relationship with her son (Lucas Hedges).

In the latest sign of retreat for the traditional pay-TV bundle, NBCUniversal will wind down the operations of its sports cable outlet NBCSN by the end of the year.

Gunning for the gold! The Tokyo Olympics faced delays amid the coronavirus pandemic, but Team USA athletes are ready to take home big wins this summer.

The New York Times and Left/Right Productions have teamed up for a new documentary titled Framing Britney Spears, centred on Britney Spears‘ conservatorship.The film is set to launch as the sixth instalment of The New York Times Presents docuseries, hosted on US television channel FX and FX On Hulu.

A new documentary about Britney Spears‘ conservatorship is being released next month.

Hollywood has taken to Twitter to voice its support for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as they were sworn in as the 46th President and 49th Vice President of the United States. Also capturing much attention and praise is Amanda Gorman, the youngest poet ever to speak at a presidential inauguration, and her poem “The Hill We Climb.”

Best Feature: “Crip Camp” Directors and Producers: Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht. Producer: Sara BolderBest Director: Garrett Bradley, “Time”Best Short: “John Was Trying to Contact Aliens” Director and Producer: Matthew KillipBest Curated Series: “American Experience” Executive Producers: Susan Bellows and Mark SamelsBest Episodic Series: “Last Chance U” Director and Executive Producer: Greg Whiteley.

Rage Against The Machine have shared a short documentary on race called Killing In Thy Name – watch it below.Released in collaboration with international artists collective The Ummah Chroma, the film follows a teacher as he educates a group of small children on the history of oppression in the United States.“The following is a document of true events,” an intro to Killing In Thy Name reads.