Magnolia Pictures has taken global rights to CNN Films and director Lisa Cortés’ Little Richard: I Am Everything following its world premiere as the opening night selection of Sundance in the US Documentary Competition section.
Magnolia Pictures has taken global rights to CNN Films and director Lisa Cortés’ Little Richard: I Am Everything following its world premiere as the opening night selection of Sundance in the US Documentary Competition section.
In a clip from the documentary, Little Richard: I Am Everything, we hear the young entertainer singing an early version of what would become his signature tune, “Tutti Frutti.” But surprise! The original lyrics were different than the ones we know today: “Tutti frutti, good booty/Tutti frutti, good booty!”
SFFilm’s 9th Annual Doc Stories festival is getting underway, featuring a distinguished lineup of Oscar-contending nonfiction films.
Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor PBS’ “20 Days in Mariupol,” IFC’s “The Disappearance of Shere Hite” and MTV’s “The Eternal Memory” are among DOC NYC‘s 14th edition featuring 114 features and 129 short films. The shortlist for DOC NYC, the largest documentary festival in the U.S., was launched in 2012 and has become a key indicator and predictor for the Academy Awards’ best documentary feature category. Ten out of the last 11 winners for documentary feature were screened at the festival.
Valerie Wu Intern The Urbanworld Film Festival, based in New York City, has released its 2023 slate of screenings and presentations. With HBO and WBD as Founding Partner and Prestige Partner, respectively, the 27th annual festival will take place from Nov. 1 to Nov.
Since NASA’s conception just over six decades ago, 600 astronauts have traveled to space, yet only 18 have been Black Americans. Hindered in equal parts by racial discrimination and the lack of educational and economic resources given to the Black community in the space administration’s formative years led to a significant racial disparity among those who aimed to reach for the stars.
Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events.
UPDATE: CNN has scheduled the premiere of Lisa Cortés’ Little Richard: I Am Everything for September 4.
EXCLUSIVE: Magnolia Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to Invisible Beauty, the Sundance world premiere documentary about the career of pioneering African American model and fashion icon Bethann Hardison.
William Earl Variety and Rolling Stone have announced additional speakers and programming for the Truth Seekers Summit presented by Showtime, which will take place in New York City and virtually on Aug. 2. Newly added programming includes “The Art of Investigative Storytelling” panel, which will take a look at the creative minds behind breakout investigative and true crime storytelling. The panel will feature Tracy Pattin, co-producer and host, “Hollywood and Crime”; Shannon Evangelista, executive producer, “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace”; Sarah Amos, VP, development and production (non-fiction TV, documentaries), Condé Nast Entertainment and executive producer, “The Secrets of Hillsong”; and Mike Gasparro, executive producer, “Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets” and “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal.”
Murtada Elfadl Taking on an expansive topic, the contribution of Black astronauts to the American space program, Lisa Cortés and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza’s “The Space Race” derives its strength from the specific and detailed stories of its subjects. Spanning almost 60 years of historical narrative and concentrating on a handful of scientists who broke barriers, the National Geographic doc is the type that makes the audience question how they have never heard of these people before. Cortés and de Mendoza interweave archival footage with the testimony of the astronauts in a fast-paced and informative way. Rapidly unraveling the fascinating story, they demand the audience’s attention and reward it. Blink or look away for a second and an interesting factoid might be missed. But their greatest asset proves to be the astronauts themselves. Their recollections are emotional and humorous, going a long way to paint such a captivating narrative. The astronauts talk of the weight of being an example and the challenges of having to navigate both white and Black spaces in order to succeed. Yet most movingly, they talk of the camaraderie born of being together in these hallowed and mostly white spaces.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Taormina Film Festival, one of Italy’s oldest movie celebrations, has undergone many makeovers through the years. Held since the mid-1950s in the Sicilian resort that recently got a promotional boost as the location of “The White Lotus” Season Two, this storied summer fest boasts an 8,000-seat open-air ancient Greek amphitheater in the shadow of Sicily’s active Mt. Etna volcano. In 2000, Tom Cruise stood on stage, greeted by hundreds of lit candles and a standing ovation to celebrate his 38th birthday while he was promoting “Mission: Impossible 2.” Ups and downs followed, as several chiefs took the Taormina reins over the the ensuing decades, until more recently the event fell off the international radar.
Flavio Gomez pmc-editorial-manager Variety and Rolling Stone return with their Truth Seekers Summit presented by SHOWTIME® on Aug. 2 in New York City, which will feature such headlining names as Rachel Maddow, Roy Wood, Jr., Dawn Porter and Liz Garbus. Maddow, host of the Emmy Award-winning “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC, will be honored with the 2023 Variety and Rolling Stone Truth Seekers Award, recognizing her extensive accomplishments in journalism, followed by a Q&A about her experience in the news industry. “The Rachel Maddow Show” has won three Emmy Awards, and Maddow individually has received seven Emmy nominations honoring her in-depth and thorough take on the biggest stories of the day and week. Maddow has also written, produced and hosted three original podcasts for MSNBC – “Rachel Maddow Presents: Bag Man,” which won a DuPont Columbia Award and was nominated for a Peabody Award in 2020; “Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra,” which received the first-ever Hillman Prize for Broadcast Journalism for a podcast in 2023; and, most recently, the six-episode series “Rachel Maddow Presents: Deja News,” which debuts June 12, 2023.
The Italian premieres of Cannes Film Festival opener Jeanne du Barry starring Johnny Depp and Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny will be among the international highlights of the 69th Taormina Film Festival which gave a taster of its line-up at press conference in Rome on Tuesday.
EXCLUSIVE: Drake’s DreamCrew Entertainment, producers of Dear Mama, Euphoria, and Top Boy is pleased to announce its association as executive producers with Rosie Filmwaze LLC whose The Melt Goes On Forever: The Art & Times of David Hammons receives its U.S. theatrical premiere at New York’s Film Forum today.
and women, ultimately marrying his bride Ernestine.Richard Wayne Penniman, who died in 2020, was many things, hence the revealing new documentary Little Richard: I Am Everything, directed and produced by Lisa Cortés (All In: The Fight for Democracy), who sought to capture the mercurial musician’s many contradictions and put into perspective his undeniable cultural impact.“I realized that in looking at Richard’s history, he’s like, I always say, a pendulum,” says Cortés. “He’s going back and forth. He’s out, he bursts on the scene.
Brent Lang Executive Editor Connecticut is set to declare Sunday, April 23, 2023 as “Little Richard Day” in honor of the late performer’s “incomparable contributions to the history of music in America.” And no, the rock n’ roll icon doesn’t hail from the Nutmeg state. He was born in Georgia and lived in California, Tennessee and other ports of call until his death in 2020. Rather, Gov. Ned Lamont is issuing the proclamation in recognition of the release this month of “Little Richard: I Am Everything” and Connecticut’s many ties to the production. The film, which Magnolia bought out of the Sundance Film Festival, will premiere at the Bedford Playhouse, which is hosted by the Greenwich International Film Festival on April 23. It was produced by Greenwich International Film Festival board member Robert Friedman and produced and directed by Lisa Cortés, a Connecticut native and an alumna of Yale University.
Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Little Richard — music icon, legend and the man behind hits such as “Tutti Frutti” and “Good Golly Miss Molly” — inspired a generation. But despite his success, there were points in his career where “he doesn’t feel he’s been recognized,” says filmmaker Lisa Cortés. Her latest documentary, “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” in theaters on April 21, seeks to remind a new generation of his legacy. Cortés says the documentary draws parallels with “All In: The Fight for Democracy” which she co-directed with Liz Garbus, in which she followed Stacy Abrams on her political campaign. Speaking with Variety, she said, “Both of these films are talking about issues that are political hot buttons. There are states where Black and queer history are under attack, and they’re passing laws against the teaching of this history. We see those are very important parts of Richard’s origin story and of rock ‘and’n’ roll.” She adds, “It’s a film that is still in conversation with many major things that we are facing right now.”
“Good Golly, Miss Molly,” Little Richard wailed about a bad girl who “sure like to ball.”But no doubt — it was the late rock legend who was a sex fiend himself.“I had all these orgies going on,” he reveals in the new documentary “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” which has a special one-night-only opening in theaters on Tuesday before hitting additional cinemas and pay-per-view on April 21.He was thirsty for both men and women: “I just loved whatever came. You know, I didn’t refuse nothin’ if you knocked on my door and I wanted more.
EXCLUSIVE: For NASA’s pioneering Black astronauts, gravity wasn’t the only barrier impeding them from reaching the highest heights. They also faced another implacable force, in the form of racial bias.
Addie Morfoot Contributor Davis Guggenheim’s “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” will open the eighth edition of Chicago’s Doc10 documentary film festival on May 4.About Fox’s life, career and work as a public advocate for Parkinson’s research, “Still: A Michael J.
Without Richard Wayne Penniman, aka Little Richard, rock ‘n roll as we know it wouldn’t exist today. Don’t believe that claim? Well, Lisa Cortés‘ documentary “Little Richard: I Am Everything” is ready to shed some light on the subject and unveil the black queer roots of the musical genre.
Magnolia Pictures has released the official trailer for “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” Lisa Cortés’ latest documentary, which focuses on the iconic rock n’ roll musician Richard “Little Richard” Penniman. The film explores how Little Richard and the Black queer origins of rock n’ roll founded the whitewashed canon of American pop music. The documentary follows how Richard contributed and created a self-expressive art form for musicians that ultimately would shape the music industry throughout the following decades. “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” interview subjects include the musician’s family, Black and queer scholars and celebrity subjects including Billy Porter, Mick Jagger, Sir Lady Java, John Waters, Nile Rodgers and many more.
Out on Film and Atlanta Pride have announced the lineup of films for a special Out on Film Spring Fest, taking place April 3-6 at the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema. Featuring films that have already made an impact on this year’s film festival circuit, titles will include Lisa Cortes’ Little Richard: I Am Everything, Maryam Touzani’s The Blue Caftan, Georgia Oakley’s Blue Jean, D. Smith’s Kokomo City, and Eva Vitija’s Loving Highsmith.
Charna Flam Outfest has announced the lineup for its 2023 Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous and People of Color) Film Festival, which will run from March 24 through April 2. Outfest Fusion will be celebrating its 20th anniversary by showcasing LGBTQIA+ filmmakers and their various films depicting queer and transgender stories. There will be nine features, including two 2023 Sundance documentaries, “Little Richard: I Am Everything” from Lisa Cortés and “The Stroll” from Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker. Cortés documentary explores how Richard “Little Richard” Penniman worked through his struggles with his sexuality, all while he made his mark on rock n’ roll. While Lovell and Drucker follow transgender women of color as they detail the community’s history of sex work in New York City.
EXCLUSIVE: Renowned documentarian Lisa Cortés has entered into a first-look development agreement with the Museum of the City of New York, the goal being to hone documentary IP based on the museum’s exhibitions.
Magnolia Pictures has scored worldwide rights to “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” which held its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival on Thursday evening.Directed by Lisa Cortés, the CNN Films doc explores the black queer origins of rock ‘n’ roll through the life and career of Richard Penniman. Magnolia plans to release the film in April.
“Little Richard: I Am Everything” opens with exactly the kind of pre-title sequence we’ve come to expect from a contemporary rock-history bio-doc, a fast and furious assemblage of archival imagery and iconic audio, bits and pieces reminding us of what this figure did, a snatch of a song, a flash of footage, a quick hit of a later legend assuring us of their greatness (“I’d never seen any of it before,” Mick Jagger assures us), bold proclamations (“He created the template for the rock and roll icon”), assembled with sleek grace.
EMBARGOED UNTIL 9:40PM PT THURSDAYMost documentaries about pioneering musicians are celebrations that exhibit the performer’s greatness right off the bat through electric concert footage and testimonials. Lisa Cortés’ “Little Richard: I Am Everything” does that, of course, with Little Richard ripping it up onstage and on screen, and Mick Jagger, Tom Jones, and John Waters testifying to his power.
Little Richard left this mortal coil in 2020, but tonight the architect of rock’n’roll is coming to shake up the Sundance Film Festival.
More talent deals are incoming at Blue Ant as the Canadian giant seeks “significant growth” over the coming years, according to Content Production Co-President Sam Sniderman.
CNN Films and HBO Max have commissioned a new documentary about Little Richard, from Emmy-winning director Lisa Cortés (All In: The Fight for Democracy) of Cortés Filmworks. The film, Little Richard: I Am Everything (w/t), will take a deep dive into the life and career of the iconic musician, who did what he felt, and felt what he did—”at all costs”—presenting never-seen-before archival footage, as well as interviews with loved ones, colleagues, contemporary musicians and historians.
EXCLUSIVE: Academy Award and Emmy nominated director Lisa Cortés has signed a new first look deal with Blue Ants Studios.
EXCLUSIVE: Freestyle Digital Media has acquired North American rights to Double Play, the latest feature from award-winning filmmaker Ernest Dickerson (DMZ, Juice). The digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group/Entertainment Studios will release the film, based on Curaçaoan author Frank Martinus Arion’s internationally acclaimed Dutch-language novel Dubbelspel, on digital and VOD platforms on February 22.
Brenda Robinson, an entertainment attorney, producer and partner at film financing and development company Gamechanger Films, has been elected the new chair of the board of directors at Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization behind the Spirit Awards.
EXCLUSIVE: Beanie Mania filmmaker Yemisi Brookes, documentarian-cinematographer Christopher Frierson (DMX: Don’t Try to Understand), director-producer Lisa Cortés (All In: The Fight For Democracy), directors Morgan Pheme and Dan DiMauro (Get Me Roger Stone), Mark Laita’s YouTube channel Soft White Underbelly and The Speed Cubers filmmaker Sue Kim have signed with Black Box Management for representation.
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