Sundance: Documentary ‘Users’ Acquired by Film Constellation (EXCLUSIVE)

A new documentary about Britney Spears has been making headlines since it aired in the US recently. Framing Britney Spears tracks the highs and lows of Britney’s career, including her 2008 breakdown and the conservatorship she was subsequently placed under, has been talked about for the last week.

Frank Moreno, who was known for screening films at Cannes for Roger Corman’s New World Pictures to purchase and distribute in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s, died Wednesday in Florida. He was 82 and died after a brief battle with cancer, according to his daughter.

PBS’s Frontline has acquired a 9/11 documentary from Leaving Neverland director Dan Reed after the film was originally commissioned by UK broadcaster Channel 4.

EXCLUSIVE: Greenwich Entertainment has secured the North American distribution rights to Us Kids, the Kim A. Snyder-directed documentary, which chronicles the March For Our Lives student-led movement that was sparked by the plague of gun violence ravaging their schools. It premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and will be released in theaters and on digital platforms on April 9, shortly after the three-year anniversary of March For Our Lives.

What does dismantling the American carceral state look like? How can meaningful and radical police reform actually be enacted? After years of tireless work by activists, acting upon decades of injustice against the poor and People of Color, these issues of now part of mainstream political platforms.

Curious is the current emphasis on women’s trauma in American genre film—the way it’s discussed online, marketed, singled out in the headlines—as if trauma were not already deeply embedded in the historical fabric of horror movies. Of course, in a time when more women filmmakers than ever are being given the opportunity to tell their stories, the rise of feminist horror should come as no surprise, especially given the #MeToo phenomenon and efforts to destigmatize mental illness.

13-year-old Sammy Ko (Miya Cech) is a problem child. Prone to skipping class, smoking cigarettes, and mouthing off to her teachers, she’s the opposite of the meek model student Hollywood typically imagines when writing young Asian-American characters.

Neon has picked up Jamila Wignot’s documentary Ailey, about dance and choreography legend Alvin Ailey, after its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The deal is Neon's second at Sundance after it nabbed the North American rights to Flee, an animated doc from Jonas Poher Rasmussen that counts Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as executive producers.

Outside episodic television, adult animation is seldom procured at studios in the U.S. Still, the medium has found stateside keepers of mature content among independent creators.

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.

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.

Shane Filan is making sure to look at all the positives over the last week as he had plenty to celebrate alongside his family.

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.

Juno Films has picked up the North American rights to the documentary The Most Beautiful Boy in the World ahead of its world premiere at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival. The film, to bow as part of the World Documentary Competition on Jan.

Oprah Winfrey will have a biographical documentary released on Apple TV+.The streaming platform announced Thursday a two-part documentary focusing on Winfrey’s life.

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.

The first night that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert beat The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in total viewers after his opening night, the bespectacled host sprung for pizza for his crew.