Sundance Documentary Fund to Support 23 Projects With Over $1 Million in Grants

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent While at the Deauville American Film Festival to present “May December,” Todd Haynes spoke to Variety, during a one-on-one interview at the Royal Hotel, about bringing Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore together in a film for the first time, provoking audiences and pushing against American conservatism. Haynes, who is attending Deauville with his producers Christine Vachon and Sophie Mas, also teased his next directorial effort starring Joaquin Phoenix, a “sexually explicit” movie telling a “love story between two men set in the 30s.” Loosely based on the story of Mary Kay Letourneau, the teacher who had an affair with her 6th grade student, “May December” has already earned awards buzz since world premiering in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was bought by Netflix. In France, the movie will be released by ARP Selection in January.

“Keep your crayons sharp.”

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Cinemalovers has acquired all rights in Germany and Austria for “Mami Wata,” which world premiered in the World Cinema – Dramatic section of the Sundance Film Festival, and won the cinematography award. The film, written and directed by C.J. “Fiery” Obasi, with cinematography by Lílis Soares, is based on West African mermaid folklore and mythology.

McKinley Franklin editor Rodrigo Reyes’s “Sansón and Me” and Bernardo Ruiz’s” El Equipo” are among PBS’ Award-winning docuseries Independent Lens’ fall slate of documentary films. The portfolio of documentaries will showcase the stories of marginalized communities, with coverage surrounding timely topics including immigration, incarceration, human rights, the Muslim American experience and religious freedom, ITVS announced Tuesday. Reyes’s “Sansón and Me,” which landed the best film award at the 2022 Sheffield DocFest, will kick off Independent Lens’ fall slate on Sept.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor How much longer will the Oscars wait? That is, wait to embrace the quality and sheer brilliance of documentary filmmaking in a significant way, meaning nominating one in the best picture category? Matthew Heineman’s deeply moving “American Symphony,” which follows Oscar and Grammy-winning composer Jon Batiste as he prepares for his performance at Carnegie Hall, is yet another home run for the filmmaker behind “Cartel Land” and “City of Ghosts,” not to mention a singular love story. Batiste’s larger-than-life personality was on full display following the Telluride screening of the documentary, when he led a band down to the main street of Telluride.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic “Be kind, because everyone you meet is fighting a great battle” — that popular maxim (or some variation thereof) is often brought up in the context of remembering to have some sympathy for jerks. But it could also be applied to people whose lives seem too charmed to be true.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Mexico’s Teresa Sánchez, winner of a 2022 Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for acting in Juan Pablo González’s “Dos Estaciones,” is set to star in the follow-up, his sophomore outing “Warm Water.” Co-directed with Ana Isabel Fernández, co-writer of “Dos Estaciones,” “Warm Water” will also star Rafaela Fuentes, who played opposite Sánchez in “Dos Estaciones.” Set up at Mexico’s Sin Sitio Cine, whose partners are González, Ilana Coleman, Makena Buchanan and Jamie Gonçalves, “Warm Water,” produced by Bruna Haddad (“La Hija de Todas Las Rabias,” “Dos Estaciones”) and Gonçalves, will be brought onto the market at the San Sebastian Europe-Latin American Co-Production Forum, where it ranks as one of its highest-profile projects. In development and scheduled to shoot in fall 2024, “Warm Water” turns on Ana María, a renowned actress who, after a devastating break-up, reluctantly travels to the rural countryside in Mexico to lead an acting workshop.

It was one of the most tragic hate crimes to rock North America.

Christopher Vourlias When the last American transport plane left the tarmac at Kabul’s international airport in August 2021, ending a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and marking an unceremonious conclusion to what had been known as the “forever war,” the U.S. left more than unfulfilled promises and unanswered questions in its wake: Also left behind was more than $7 billion in military equipment, now in the hands of an Islamist government that rose to power not at the ballot box, but at the barrel of a gun.

Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín returns to Venice this evening with his latest pic El Conde, a black-and-white satire of dictator Augusto Pinochet, which he co-wrote and directed for Netflix.

Juan Gabriel, the beloved Mexican singer and queer icon, will be getting his own Netflix documentary. The company shared the announcement, claiming they’d reached an agreement with Juan Gabriel’s estate for a documentary film looking into his life.

Richard Shepard (“Ugly Betty,” “Girls,” “The Perfection,” “Welcome to Chippendales”) has announced his latest project, a documentary titled “Film Geek,” which will premiere on Sept. 22 at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles.

Brent Lang Executive Editor It’s a nail-biter at the box office. Sony’s “Gran Turismo” is projected to narrowly outrace the competition with $17.3 million at the box office. But “Barbie” is close behind with $17.1 million, so it’s possible that when the final tally is revealed, the summer blockbuster will have reclaimed its crown and “Gran Turismo” will have the settle for second place.

Few 20th century American writers had the wide-ranging influence of Tom Wolfe. Don’t believe that? Well, here comes a new doc about the writer and New Journalism pioneer that proves that point, and it hits NYC/LA theaters next month before opening wide later this year.

Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) has unveiled a first wave of international titles due to play at its upcoming comeback sixth edition, unfolding from October 13 to 20 after a one-year hiatus.

SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America West are among more than 20 labor organizations lobbying for passage of a bill pending in the California legislature that would make striking workers in the state eligible for unemployment benefits, as they are in New York and New Jersey.

Reverend Al Green has made his return by sharing a cover of Lou Reed’s ‘Perfect Day’. Check it out below.The track is the first new music that the American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer has recorded in five years.

Pakistani-American documentary filmmaker and political activist Mohammad Ali Naqvi’s Primetime Emmy-nominated film The Accused: Damned or Devoted? has been called a “scarily acute portrait of how religion and politics intersect” by the U.K.’s Telegraph. 

EXCLUSIVE: Greenwich Entertainment has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Pianoforte directed by Jakub Piatek (Prime Time).

Icarus Films has taken North American rights to Youth (Spring), the newest feature from Venice prizer winner Wang Bing, which earlier this year became one of the first documentaries admitted to Cannes’ main competition in decades. A release date has not yet been disclosed.