Tribeca Festival Artistic Director Frédéric Boyer with Anne-Katrin Titze on Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Trish Dalton’s .Diane von Furstenberg: Woman In Charge: “It’s great! It’s about fashion but not only. It’s super New York based.”
They All Came Out To Montreux, Oliver Murray’s fantastic tribute to Montreux Jazz Festival founder Claude Nobs; Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s The Devil's Bath (Des Teufels Bad) starring Anja Plaschg (who is also the composer as Soap&Skin), shot by Martin Gschlacht (Silver Bear winner in the 2024 Berlin Film Festival); Dana Flor’s Ani Difranco film, 1-800-on-her-own; David Hinton’s Made In England: The Films Of Powell & Pressburger with Martin Scorsese as our guide; Vinko Tomicic’s The...
They All Came Out To Montreux, Oliver Murray’s fantastic tribute to Montreux Jazz Festival founder Claude Nobs; Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s The Devil's Bath (Des Teufels Bad) starring Anja Plaschg (who is also the composer as Soap&Skin), shot by Martin Gschlacht (Silver Bear winner in the 2024 Berlin Film Festival); Dana Flor’s Ani Difranco film, 1-800-on-her-own; David Hinton’s Made In England: The Films Of Powell & Pressburger with Martin Scorsese as our guide; Vinko Tomicic’s The...
- 6/7/2024
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Trish Dalton and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Diane von Furstenberg: Woman In Charge will open the 23rd edition of the Tribeca Festival. Photo: Anne Katrin Titze
In the Spotlight Documentary program Kelly Anderson and Jay Arthur Sterrenberg’s (co-founder of the Meerkat Media Collective) Emergent City on the Sunset Park community efforts to reign in the developers of the waterfront property now known as Industry City in Brooklyn, New York and Dana Flor’s 1-800-on-her-own on the professional and personal journey singer/songwriter/activist Ani Difranco (who is currently starring on Broadway in Anäis Mitchell’s Hadestown) has taken to remain an independent voice in the music world, plus in the Midnight section Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s The Devil's Bath (Des Teufels Bad) starring Anja Plaschg (who is also the composer as Soap&Skin), shot by Martin Gschlacht (Silver Bear winner in the 2024 Berlin Film Festival), executive...
In the Spotlight Documentary program Kelly Anderson and Jay Arthur Sterrenberg’s (co-founder of the Meerkat Media Collective) Emergent City on the Sunset Park community efforts to reign in the developers of the waterfront property now known as Industry City in Brooklyn, New York and Dana Flor’s 1-800-on-her-own on the professional and personal journey singer/songwriter/activist Ani Difranco (who is currently starring on Broadway in Anäis Mitchell’s Hadestown) has taken to remain an independent voice in the music world, plus in the Midnight section Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s The Devil's Bath (Des Teufels Bad) starring Anja Plaschg (who is also the composer as Soap&Skin), shot by Martin Gschlacht (Silver Bear winner in the 2024 Berlin Film Festival), executive...
- 6/3/2024
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
A documentary about a gay street gang is the natural successor to Paris is Burning and Tangerine
Related: Burning down the house: why the debate over Paris is Burning rages on
In the winter of 2013, film-makers Toby Oppenheimer and Dana Flor took a bunch of Washington DC street kids for a burger at a local branch of the fast-food chain Denny’s. They’d heard about the Check It gang from local radio DJ Ronald “Mo” Moten while researching a documentary on go-go, the raw, indigenous Washington DC music genre. “He said these kids are like nobody you’ve ever met,” says Flor. The go-go doc was soon abandoned. Trouble Funk would have to wait.
Continue reading...
Related: Burning down the house: why the debate over Paris is Burning rages on
In the winter of 2013, film-makers Toby Oppenheimer and Dana Flor took a bunch of Washington DC street kids for a burger at a local branch of the fast-food chain Denny’s. They’d heard about the Check It gang from local radio DJ Ronald “Mo” Moten while researching a documentary on go-go, the raw, indigenous Washington DC music genre. “He said these kids are like nobody you’ve ever met,” says Flor. The go-go doc was soon abandoned. Trouble Funk would have to wait.
Continue reading...
- 8/1/2017
- by Paul Flynn
- The Guardian - Film News
In evaluating a documentary like “Check It,” it’s important to remember that what some might call an “unbelievable” story is in fact, to the film’s subjects, everyday reality. Though the film tells a compelling story — and one that should be seen — it’s not the whole picture.
“Check It” follows members of “the Check-It,” a street gang of queer and transgender black teenagers living in extreme poverty in Washington, D.C. Often made homeless by parents who do not accept them, or skipping school to avoid violent attacks, the kids spend much of their time on the streets. Targeted simply because of the way they walk or talk, a group of 9th graders founded the gang in 2009 as a way to retaliate and protect themselves from the violence they experienced daily. The group quickly grew so large that the founders no longer know everyone’s names.
Read MoreLouis C.
“Check It” follows members of “the Check-It,” a street gang of queer and transgender black teenagers living in extreme poverty in Washington, D.C. Often made homeless by parents who do not accept them, or skipping school to avoid violent attacks, the kids spend much of their time on the streets. Targeted simply because of the way they walk or talk, a group of 9th graders founded the gang in 2009 as a way to retaliate and protect themselves from the violence they experienced daily. The group quickly grew so large that the founders no longer know everyone’s names.
Read MoreLouis C.
- 7/19/2017
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Louis C.K. Really Wants You To See This Documentary About A Black Gay Gang Called ‘Check It’ — Watch
Did Louis C.K. just become an indie film distributor?
The beloved stand-up comedian released “Check It” today via his website, a documentary about an Lgbtq gang that played film festivals last year. Executive-produced by Steve Buscemi, the film follows the members of Washington, D.C.’s all queer gang as they attempt to survive life on the streets.
Announcing the release via an email to his subscribers, C.K. wrote of “Check It”: “It knocked me right over. It was an amazing emotional ride. It was funny and moving, I learned a lot and it gave me a lot to think about after.”
Read More: ‘Louis C.K. 2017’ Review: This Bold Netflix Special Proves Being Free From ‘Louie’ Can Be Better For TV
Directors Toby Oppenheimer and Dana Flor followed their subjects for four years as they dealt with harassment, poverty, and violence. The film also follows a social...
The beloved stand-up comedian released “Check It” today via his website, a documentary about an Lgbtq gang that played film festivals last year. Executive-produced by Steve Buscemi, the film follows the members of Washington, D.C.’s all queer gang as they attempt to survive life on the streets.
Announcing the release via an email to his subscribers, C.K. wrote of “Check It”: “It knocked me right over. It was an amazing emotional ride. It was funny and moving, I learned a lot and it gave me a lot to think about after.”
Read More: ‘Louis C.K. 2017’ Review: This Bold Netflix Special Proves Being Free From ‘Louie’ Can Be Better For TV
Directors Toby Oppenheimer and Dana Flor followed their subjects for four years as they dealt with harassment, poverty, and violence. The film also follows a social...
- 6/30/2017
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Louis C.K. sent an email blast to fans on Friday to announce that the documentary “Check It” is available on his site. C.K. wrote in the message that he discovered the film when he was invited to attend a screening with Steve Buscemi, who co-stars with the comedian in the web series “Horace and Pete” and is an executive producer on “Check It.” “Check It” is directed by Toby Oppenheimer and Dana Flor, and it centers on a gay black street gang in Washington, D.C., comprised of young individuals who were living on the streets and formed the group to protect each other.
- 6/30/2017
- by Wrap Staff
- The Wrap
Steve Buscemi, Stanley Tucci and Wren Arthur’s company credits include recent Berlinale premiere Final Portrait.
The entertainment titan will serve as the studio and will control worldwide rights to television projects produced from the new partnership, which expands eOne Television’s roster of creative partnerships with renowned talent.
New York-based Olive produces an eclectic array of TV projects, fiction and documentary features.
Recent Olive Productions projects include Final Portrait (pictured), which Tucci wrote and directed and stars Geoffrey Rush and Armie Hammer.
The slate includes Amber Tamblyn’s directorial debut Paint It Black starring Janet McTeer and Alia Shawkat, which Imagination is set to release in May; Check It, a documentary about an African-American gay street gang directed by Toby Oppenheimer and Dana Flor; Submission, based on the Francine Prose novel; and Blue Angel, written and directed by Richard Levine and starring Tucci, Addison Timlin and Kyra Sedgwick.
Olive is lining up a New York-based feature...
The entertainment titan will serve as the studio and will control worldwide rights to television projects produced from the new partnership, which expands eOne Television’s roster of creative partnerships with renowned talent.
New York-based Olive produces an eclectic array of TV projects, fiction and documentary features.
Recent Olive Productions projects include Final Portrait (pictured), which Tucci wrote and directed and stars Geoffrey Rush and Armie Hammer.
The slate includes Amber Tamblyn’s directorial debut Paint It Black starring Janet McTeer and Alia Shawkat, which Imagination is set to release in May; Check It, a documentary about an African-American gay street gang directed by Toby Oppenheimer and Dana Flor; Submission, based on the Francine Prose novel; and Blue Angel, written and directed by Richard Levine and starring Tucci, Addison Timlin and Kyra Sedgwick.
Olive is lining up a New York-based feature...
- 2/23/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The 27th edition of the Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov 9 - 20) will present 200 films from 70 countries.
The Stockholm International Film Festival will kick-off with Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake, followed by a mid-festival ‘middle film’ screening in the shape of Nate Parker’s Birth of A Nation, and will close with Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester By The Sea.
Directors attending the festival include Francis Ford Coppola (who will receive the lifetime achievement award, present a public talk, and screen Apocalypse Now), Ken Loach, Francois Ozon (who receives the festival’s Visionary Award), Ira Sachs, Alice Lowe, Mark Cousins, Anne Fontaine, Gabe Klinger, and many more.
The festival’s main competition line-up is:
A Decent Woman by Lukas Valenta Rinner (Arg, S Kor, Aus)A Taste Of Ink by Morgan Simon (Fr)Albüm by Mehmet Can Mertoğlu (Tur, Fr, Rom)Are We Not Cats by Xander Robin (Us)Birth Of A Nation by [link...
The Stockholm International Film Festival will kick-off with Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake, followed by a mid-festival ‘middle film’ screening in the shape of Nate Parker’s Birth of A Nation, and will close with Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester By The Sea.
Directors attending the festival include Francis Ford Coppola (who will receive the lifetime achievement award, present a public talk, and screen Apocalypse Now), Ken Loach, Francois Ozon (who receives the festival’s Visionary Award), Ira Sachs, Alice Lowe, Mark Cousins, Anne Fontaine, Gabe Klinger, and many more.
The festival’s main competition line-up is:
A Decent Woman by Lukas Valenta Rinner (Arg, S Kor, Aus)A Taste Of Ink by Morgan Simon (Fr)Albüm by Mehmet Can Mertoğlu (Tur, Fr, Rom)Are We Not Cats by Xander Robin (Us)Birth Of A Nation by [link...
- 10/18/2016
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
Read More: Louis C.K., Steve Buscemi, Neil Patrick Harris and More Salute New York City at 2014 'Made in NY' Awards To promote the new documentary he's co-producing, called "Check It," Steve Buscemi participated in a Reddit Ama on Monday. According to the actor, the documentary follows, "A gay street gang of 14-22 year olds struggling to survive in the city with the highest Lgbt hate crime rate in the nation. The directors, Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer, have been filming this amazing group of kids for the past three years and focus on a point in their lives when they've seen a ray of hope, in the fashion world." Buscemi promoted the film's Indiegogo campaign to help the directors raise funds to finish editing the film. He then answered various questions pertaining to his past films, his roles on television (including his favorites), what he thinks about a "Con Air" sequel and most importantly,...
- 3/24/2015
- by Travis Clark
- Indiewire
Steve Buscemi has put his producer muscle behind a new documentary titled "Check It," which follows a group of routinely harassed DC teens who, out of necessity (essentially, to protect themselves), started what the film claims is the only documented all-gay and transgender gang in the USA. The project hails from filmmakers Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer ("The Nine Lives of Marion Barry") who have launched a $60,000 Indiegogo campaign to help finish the film - a campaign that runs through April 4, 2015. As of the time of this posting, 16% of the campaign's goal had been met, with 30 days to go. To contribute,...
- 3/6/2015
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Congratulations to Nelson George and his Misty Copeland project, A Ballerina's Tale; and also, a documentary I'm learning about for the very first time, titled Check It, about a gay African American gang in Washington, DC, from directors Dana Flor & Toby Oppenheimer. I'll see what I can dig up on it and return with a profile later.The full story via press release from the Tribeca Film Institute...Today Tfi announced the grantees for the 2014 Tfi Documentary Fund. After more than 500 submissions from 70 countries, 11 projects will receive a total of $175,000 to fund their projects in various stages of development through post-production. This is an increase of $15,000...
- 1/14/2014
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
The Tribeca Film Institute (Tfi) have unveiled the 11 2014 Tfi Documentary Fund grantees who collectively will receive $175,000.
Tfi also announced winners of the second annual Tfi/Espn Prize and of the inaugural Influence Award stemming from its partnership with the Europe-based Influence Film Foundation.
The Tfi Documentary Fund grantees are:
A Ballerina’s Tale directed by Nelson D George and produced by Leslie Norville
Aquarela directed by Victor Kossakovsky and produced by Aimara Reques
Diamond, Silver & Gold directed and produced by Jason Kohn and produced by Jared Goldman and Amanda Branson Gill.
Nuts directed and produced by Penny Lane, who also received a Tfi Documentary Fund in 2012.
Pride directed and produced by Taa and Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund alumnus Mohammed Naqvi and Jared Ian Goldman
Tea Time written and directed by Tfi Latin Fund Bloomberg Fellow Maite Alberdi and produced by Clara Taricco
The Sensitives(pictured) directed by Drew Xanthopoulos and produced by David Hartstein
The Wolfpack Project...
Tfi also announced winners of the second annual Tfi/Espn Prize and of the inaugural Influence Award stemming from its partnership with the Europe-based Influence Film Foundation.
The Tfi Documentary Fund grantees are:
A Ballerina’s Tale directed by Nelson D George and produced by Leslie Norville
Aquarela directed by Victor Kossakovsky and produced by Aimara Reques
Diamond, Silver & Gold directed and produced by Jason Kohn and produced by Jared Goldman and Amanda Branson Gill.
Nuts directed and produced by Penny Lane, who also received a Tfi Documentary Fund in 2012.
Pride directed and produced by Taa and Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund alumnus Mohammed Naqvi and Jared Ian Goldman
Tea Time written and directed by Tfi Latin Fund Bloomberg Fellow Maite Alberdi and produced by Clara Taricco
The Sensitives(pictured) directed by Drew Xanthopoulos and produced by David Hartstein
The Wolfpack Project...
- 1/13/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Eddie Murphy is set to team with Spike Lee on an upcoming biopic. The Washington Post reports that the Tower Heist star is set to play former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry in the biopic, which is based on the book written by Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood's "Dream City: Race, Power and the Decline of Washington, D.C." The movie will also pull from the 2009 documentary by Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer called The Nine Lives of Marion Barry.
Here is some background on the iconic mayor:
Barry served three straight terms as Mayor of the District of Columbia between 1979 and 1991. Despite being arrested and convicted for crack cocaine use in 1990, Barry ran again and won a fourth term between 1995 and 1999 and, despite no longer being in office, is still referred to with the nickname of D.C.'s "Mayor-for-life".
Before Lee and Murphy start work on this biopic,...
Here is some background on the iconic mayor:
Barry served three straight terms as Mayor of the District of Columbia between 1979 and 1991. Despite being arrested and convicted for crack cocaine use in 1990, Barry ran again and won a fourth term between 1995 and 1999 and, despite no longer being in office, is still referred to with the nickname of D.C.'s "Mayor-for-life".
Before Lee and Murphy start work on this biopic,...
- 12/10/2011
- by Tiberius
- GeekTyrant
An untitled TV movie biopic about famed U.S. Democratic politician Marion Barry is in development at HBO Films with Eddie Murphy attached to star says The Washington Post.
Also reportedly onboard are Spike Lee as director and John Ridley as writer while all three will serve as executive producers.
Barry rose to national prominence as mayor of Washington D.C., the first prominent civil-rights activist to become chief executive of a major American city. In 1990 Barry was videotaped smoking crack cocaine and was arrested by FBI officials on drug charges.
After his release he was elected to the D.C. city council in 1992 and ultimately returned as for the second half of the 90's.
D.C. journalists Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood are consulting on the project with their 1994 book "Dream City" said to be partly inspiring the project, as is Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer' 2009 documentary “The Nine Lives of Marion Barry.
Also reportedly onboard are Spike Lee as director and John Ridley as writer while all three will serve as executive producers.
Barry rose to national prominence as mayor of Washington D.C., the first prominent civil-rights activist to become chief executive of a major American city. In 1990 Barry was videotaped smoking crack cocaine and was arrested by FBI officials on drug charges.
After his release he was elected to the D.C. city council in 1992 and ultimately returned as for the second half of the 90's.
D.C. journalists Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood are consulting on the project with their 1994 book "Dream City" said to be partly inspiring the project, as is Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer' 2009 documentary “The Nine Lives of Marion Barry.
- 12/9/2011
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Spike Lee has found a leading man in Eddie Murphy, reports The Washington Post , who say that the Tower Heist actor will play former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry in a biopic based on both Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood's 1994 nonfiction book, "Dream City: Race, Power and the Decline of Washington, D.C." and Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer's 2009 documentary The Nine Lives of Marion Barry . Barry served three straight terms as Mayor of the District of Columbia between 1979 and 1991. Despite being arrested and convicted for crack cocaine use in 1990, Barry ran again and won a fourth term between 1995 and 1999 and, despite no longer being in office, is still referred to with the nickname of D.C.'s "Mayor-for-life". While there is no announced timeline for the biopic,...
- 12/9/2011
- Comingsoon.net
Eddie Murphy may be headed back to the small screen. HBO Films is developing an untitled television biopic centered on former Washington D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, whom Murphy would play should the project move forward, a source confirms to The Hollywood Reporter. Spike Lee is attached to direct with John Ridley (Red Tails, Da Brick) to pen the script. Murphy, Lee and Ridley would all serve as executive producers as the Washington Post first reported. Journalists Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood have been tapped to consult, along with The Nine Lives of Marion Barry filmmakers Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer. Jaffe
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- 12/9/2011
- by Philiana Ng
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Check out new clips from HBO's "The Nine Lives of Marion Barry" as well as a clip from lip from the stand-up special "George Lopez: Tall Dark and Chicano" which premieres on August 8 at 10 p.m. Although Marion Barry became internationally known for his very public downfall, the story of his life before and after that event is less widely known. The Nine Lives Of Marion Barry explores Barry's improbable personal history though archival footage of him as a young activist in the '60s and rising African-American political star in the '70s, chronicling his resugence on the D.C. political scene in 2004 with his most recent campaign. Directors and producers Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer...
- 8/1/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
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