National Geographic Documentary Films Breaks Sundance Deal Logjam With Mid-7 Figure WW Pact For Hot Docu ‘Fire Of Love’

Bill Lawrence, the top comedy showrunner at the moment amid the enormous critical and commercial success of Ted Lasso, is staying put at Warner Bros. TV Group through 2028. After lengthy negotiations, Emmy winner Lawrence, who had a little time left on his current overall pact at the studio, has closed a blockbuster new five-year deal for his Doozer production company, I have learned. Noone is commenting but sources value the pact at more than $100 million, catapulting Lawrence in the very top tear of TV showrunners.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMK2 Films, the banner behind Joachim Trier’s Oscar-nominated “The Worst Person in the World,” has boarded “Nezouh,” from Syrian director Soudade Kaadan.The drama, set against the backdrop of the conflict in Damascus, marks Kaadan’s follow up to her 2018 feature debut, “The Day I Lost My Shadow,” which won the Lion of the Future prize at Venice. Her 2019 short “Aziza,” meanwhile, won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize.Co-financed by BFI, which awarded National Lottery funding, and Film4, “Nezouh” is an allegorical tale of female emancipation.The movie follows 14-year-old Zeina and her family, whose lives are shaken after a bomb rips a giant hole in the roof of their building, exposing them to the outside world.

ever “canceled” celebrity after notoriously getting suspended and reinstated from the A&E hunting show in 2013 over alleged homophobic comments. Now, nearly 10 years on, the “uncancelable” 75-year-old reality TV star says he doesn’t regret the remarks, and claims he wishes cancel culture “sinners” would quit “accusing each other.”Robertson dropped the feather-ruffling remarks while hyping the Tuesday release of his new book, “Uncanceled: Finding Meaning and Peace in a Culture of Accusations, Shame, and Condemnation,” which argues how Christianity is the perfect antidote to cancel culture.“We’re all guilty of sin.

J. Kim Murphy National Geographic is sending Will Smith to both ends of the Earth.

In his review of the film, TheWrap’s Steve Pond wrote “‘Nothing Compares’ is a movie that is both timely and curiously out of time. It’s a potent film that explores the roots of the brilliant but troubled Irish singer, who’s been back in the news recently with the suicide of her teenage son and her own hospitalization, but it also turns her recent years into an afterthought, bypassing many of the highs and lows that led her here over the last two decades.”“Nothing Compares” is produced by Eleanor Emptage and Michael Mallie for Tara Films (UK) and Ard Mhacha Productions (Ireland), and presented by Field of Vision.

EXCLUSIVE: Hostile Planet and Tiny World producer Plimsoll Productions is taking its Channel 4 carpentry format Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker to the U.S. as Channel 4 issues a rare double season order.

A drama about an undocumented nanny in New York City, a documentary about three exiled dissidents from Tiananmen Square and another doc about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny won top prizes at the Sundance Film Festival. Winners were announced Friday evening in a virtual ceremony.

A drama about an undocumented nanny in New York City, a documentary about three exiled dissidents from Tiananmen Square and another doc about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny won top prizes at the Sundance Film Festival. Winners were announced Friday evening in a virtual ceremony.“Nanny,” from writer-director Nikyatu Jusu and starring Anna Diop and Michelle Monaghan, won the Grand Jury Prize in the drama category for its depiction of a Senegalese immigrant working for a wealthy family in New York City.

Angelique Jackson Showtime Documentary Films has acquired “2nd Chance,” about the life and legacy of Richard Davis, from director and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Ramin Bahrani (“The White Tiger,” “99 Homes,” “Chop Shop”).The feature length-documentary centers on Davis, the charming and brash inventor of the modern-day bulletproof vest, who shot himself 192 times to prove his product worked.Written, directed, and produced by Bahrani, “2nd Chance” is produced by Daniel Turcan & Johnny Galvin of Vespucci, Charles Dorfman and Jacob Grodnik. The film is executive produced by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer (“The Act of Killing,” “The Look of Silence”), Myles Estey, Bahareh Azimi and Marlon Vogelgesang.

Showtime Documentary Films today announced that it has acquired North American rights to the Sundance Film Festival documentary 2nd Chance, from director and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Ramin Bahrani (The White Tiger, 99 Homes, Chop Shop). 2ND CHANCE, Bahrani’s feature-length documentary debut, is an exploration of the life and legacy of Richard Davis, the charming and brash inventor of the modern-day bulletproof vest who shot himself 192 times to prove his product worked. SHOWTIME is planning a theatrical release ahead of a network premiere later his year, leading into awards season. The announcement was made by Vinnie Malhotra, Executive Vice President, Nonfiction Programming, Showtime Networks Inc.

Dennis Harvey Film CriticThe sense of a city as a complex, ailing ecosystem is rendered with unusual vividness in “All That Breathes.” Shaunak Sen’s documentary has no formal interviews, onscreen text or omniscient narrator to provide relevant stats on Delhi, where air pollution is reportedly twelve times worse than in Beijing, which ranks second on the global list. Instead, the environmental impact is felt on the microcosmic level of two resident brothers dedicated to urban bird rescue.

“Have you ever felt vertigo looking into the sky?” Nadeem Shahzad asks over voiceover roughly fifteen minutes into “All That Breathes.” The accompanying shot looks straight up into a sunny yet smog-streaked sky as a swirl of black kites swoops and careens overhead. The birds are numerous, too many to count, but their movements are mesmerizing.

EXCLUSIVE: Living, one of the Sundance buzz titles since its January 21 premiere, has been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for around $5 million for North American and some international territories, Deadline hears. This after a brisk auction involving the likes of Neon, Bleecker Street, and Focus Features.

EXCLUSIVE: Living, one of the Sundance buzz titles since its January 21 premiere, is near a deal to be acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for around $5 million for North American and some international territories, Deadline hears. This after a brisk auction involving the likes of Neon, Bleecker Street, and Focus Features.

“Have you ever felt vertigo looking into the sky?” Nadeem Shahzad asks over voiceover roughly fifteen minutes into “All That Breathes.” The accompanying shot looks straight up into a sunny yet smog-streaked sky as a swirl of black kites swoops and careens overhead. The birds are numerous, too many to count, but their movements are mesmerizing.

Padma Lakshmi, 51, had quite the special date when she hit the town on Sunday night, Jan. 23 in NYC. The model/foodie had her 11-year-old daughter Krishna at her side during a game versus the New Knicks and the LA Clippers at Madison Square Garden, which you can see in photos here. Padma was glowing while she and Krishna, who she affectionately calls “Little hands”, sat courtside. Looking effortlessly cool, she covered her long legs with black skinny jeans teamed with a grey top. The Top Chef favorite glammed things up a bit with long, wavy tresses and cute, heeled ankle boots. Besides her, Krishna looked comfy and cool in jeans and a black sleeveless top.

The film follows — and is partially filmed by — the indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau of the Amazon rainforest, who fight desperately against escalating deforestation by illegal loggers and non-native farmers emboldened by the far-right policies of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. Shot over three years, the film includes footage taken by the native activists themselves as they seek to expose the truth.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaNational Geographic Documentary Films has won out in a fierce bidding war for the rights to “Fire of Love,” a documentary and love story about two French scientists who died tracking the volcanoes that were their greatest passion. It’s the first big pact of this year’s virtual Sundance, a festival that has been rather slow-going in terms of dealmaking.Netflix, Amazon, Sony Pictures Classics, Paramount and several other players were in the hunt for the film at various points.