Mandy Chang Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Naman Ramachandran BBC Storyville commissioning editor Philippa Kowarsky is departing the corporation to pursue other ventures. Director of BBC Film Eva Yates will be the interim contact for BBC Storyville until a replacement for Kowarsky is found.In a notice to BBC staff, seen by Variety, Yates wrote: “I’m writing to let you know that Philippa Kowarsky will be leaving the team to pursue other ventures outside of the BBC.

Annika Pham U.S. content management, financing and sales banner Cinetic Media has secured world rights to the life affirming doc “Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other,” about legendary photographer Joel Meyerowitz and his wife, artist and author Maggie Barrett. Rising filmmaking duo Manon Ouimet and Jacob Perlmutter of London-based Manon et Jacob are making their documentary debut, with Ouimet serving as producer alongside multi-Oscar nominated Danish producer Signe Byrge Sørensen of Final Cut Four Real (“Flee,” “The Look of Silence,” “The Act of Killing”).

The 2024 Sundance Film Festival awards ceremony honoring the best of this year’s lineup in Park City is in progress right now at the Ray Theatre. Refresh frequently as the winners are announced.

Naman Ramachandran Fremantle label Undeniable, Big Pond Films and Concordia Studio have teamed on true-crime feature documentary “Whatever It Takes,” which will world premiere at SXSW. The documentary follows the true story of journalists Ina and David Steiner, who were targeted in a Silicon Valley scandal.

The 2024 Sundance Film Festival has set 16 alums from past editions to serve on its Competition Jury, also announcing the set of five set as jurors for the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize.

Hollywood dealmaking is becoming more reliant on the international market. That’s the word from production execs from Universal International Studios, Fremantle, Anonymous Content and Studiocanal talking on an Asia TV Forum & Market panel in Singapore today. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hollywood’s role in Asian TV has changed in the streaming era and age of hyper-local content. A top-down sales and distribution position has eased into one of co-production, co-financing and acquisition. A high-powered array of western executives offered experienced views and discussed their current positions at a panel session Thursday within the Asia Television Forum & Market in Singapore. “We want to be an additive partner on shows that cannot be created locally, said Georgina Gonzalez, director of scripted series and global series at Universal Int’l Studios, NBCU.

EXCLUSIVE: Banijay has taken another leap into the premium docs space with the launch of DSP Films, an offshoot of long-running UK unscripted indie DSP. The super-indie has poached Netflix’s Missing: Dead or Alive EP Graeme McAulay to run DSP Films and he will leave his current role at UK doc indie Blast Films next month.

Devo, the rock band best known for 1980 hit Whip It, is getting the documentary treatment.

Fremantle has launched a premium documentaries label helmed by Mandy Chang.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Fremantle’s Documentaries division has launched Undeniable, a label dedicated to producing premium feature documentaries and series, in partnership with high-profile talent and international commissioners, Mandy Chang, Fremantle’s global head of documentaries, revealed Tuesday at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen. The label is already developing several international projects and partnerships with high-profile filmmakers, including Amy Berg (“Deliver Us From Evil,” “Phoenix Rising”), Chris Smith (“Tiger King,” “Bad Vegan”), and Penny Lane and Gabriel Sedgwick (“Hail Satan?,” “Listening to Kenny G”). Chang said: “The launch of Undeniable further underlines our commitment and ambition to build Fremantle’s documentary output on the premium side. Working with the very best filmmakers and emerging talent, the label will provide editorial and production expertise and support in multiple genres. Importantly, it will provide a platform and freedom for creative talent to unlock and explore important issues and stories to be told.”

Acclaimed documentarian Amy Berg has signed an exclusive first-look agreement with Fremantle. The Oscar and Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker behind projects like “The Case Against Adnan Syed,” “Deliver Us From Evil” and “West of Memphis” will work with Fremantle’s Global Head of Documentaries, Mandy Chang, to create an internationally focused slate of nonfiction films.Berg’s company, Disarming Films, has been producing long-form documentary features and docuseries for over a decade.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Fremantle has struck an exclusive first-look deal with Oscar- and Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Amy Berg. Under the agreement, Berg’s Disarming Films and Fremantle will jointly develop a slate of documentaries, with Berg working closely with Fremantle’s global head of documentaries Mandy Chang to produce premium projects. Berg’s company, Disarming Films, has been producing documentary features and docuseries for broadcast for over a decade. Berg produced “The Case Against Adnan Syed” for HBO and is currently working on a special follow-up episode set to premiere this fall. Other projects include “We Are: The Brooklyn Saints” (Netflix), “Dogs” (Netflix) and “Keep This Between Us” (Freeform). Her latest film, “Phoenix Rising,” premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2022 and on HBO and HBO Max.

Oscar-nominated The Case Against Adnan Syed documentary director Amy Berg has become the latest creative to strike a first-look deal with Fremantle.

Fremantle and Carnivalesque Films have announced their partnership on Kim’s Video, a new feature documentary unearthing the stranger-than-fiction story of the legendary NYC video rental store Kim’s Video Collection, which will world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, as announced earlier today, screening as the opening day film of the NEXT section.

Fremantle has acquired a majority stake in Israeli producer Silvio Productions and Fremantle-owned Shtisel indie Abot Hameiri’s Guy Hameiri will become Chair.

Fremantle has made its second acquisition in the UK in two weeks.

Philippa Kowarsky is leaving her role as Commissioning Editor of BBC’s Storyville documentary strand after a year in post.

Penny Lane is to direct Mrs. America, exploring the changing role of American womanhood through the Mrs. America Beauty Pageant’s half-century history.

Naman Ramachandran Penny Lane (“Listening to Kenny G”) will direct “Mrs. America,” a documentary which will explore the changing role of American womanhood through the Mrs.

Lise Pedersen The Cannes Docs sidebar of the Cannes Film Market has announced the lineup of its annual Doc Day, which takes place on May 24. The day will open with a morning session dedicated to ACID Cannes 2022 title “Polaris,” described by organizers as “a creative and human journey interwoven with uncompromising, gentle and bold filmmaking by a woman filmmaker, set against the backdrop of the Arctic.” Entitled “A Producing Journey,” the session will bring together Marion Schmidt, the co-founder of Cannes Docs partner DAE (Documentary Association of Europe), director Ainara Vera and producers Clara Vuillermoz (Point du Jour – Les Films du Balibari) and Emile Hertling Péronard (Ánorâk Film).

Christopher Vourlias Fremantle’s global head of documentaries Mandy Chang insisted on Thursday that “the golden age of documentary is a cliché” and urged filmmakers to avoid “a two-tier system of haves and have nots,” where independent documentaries are crowded out by splashier commercial projects bankrolled by streaming platforms.“Mainstream docs are popular, but not all documentaries are popular or given prominence,” Chang said to an audience in Copenhagen. “And success for me is a golden age not just for the mainstream, but for a plethora of smaller, less expensive, but still important and powerful films made by…a much more diverse group of filmmakers.”The Fremantle executive was speaking during the four-day conference program at the Copenhagen Intl.

Naman Ramachandran BBC Content has advertised for the high powered role of commissioning director, BBC Film and Storyville, a position formerly held by Rose Garnett under the title director of BBC Film.BBC Film is the feature film-making arm of the BBC, co-producing some 15 films a year. Recent successes include the BAFTA and Critics Choice awards winning “The Power of the Dog” and “The Souvenir” and “The Souvenir: Part II.”Storyville is the broadcaster’s flagship feature documentary strand and showcases films from around the world including “Welcome to Chechnya” and “Collective.” It moved under the remit of BBC Film in 2020.

Fernando Jerez, an industry veteran and former Movistar+ and Discovery exec, is setting up a Fremantle-backed factual and documentary indie in Spain.

Fremantle has recruited Mandy Chang, a commissioning editor for the BBC’s Storyville strand, to lead a newly-created global documentary unit.