On his recent promotional tour for “Pinocchio,” Guillermo del Toro went on more than one tirade about how “animation is a medium, not a genre,” and more than children’s entertainment. That’s a message that documentaries could have used at the 2023 edition of the Sundance Film Festival, which provided a stark reminder that the non-fiction community needs to start talking about its work in broader terms than the so-called “genre” that limits its appeal.
Blockbuster documentaries about treasured icons, thrilling subjects, and complicated pop-culture figures were everywhere at Sundance. For the most part, they came with distribution: Apple had “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” and “Steph Curry: Underrated,” Amazon premiered “Judy Blume Forever,” and Netflix brought diving survival saga “The Deepest Breath.”
Then there was… well, pretty much, everything else. No disrespect to any of the aforementioned titles (I haven’t seen them all), but it was disheartening...
Blockbuster documentaries about treasured icons, thrilling subjects, and complicated pop-culture figures were everywhere at Sundance. For the most part, they came with distribution: Apple had “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” and “Steph Curry: Underrated,” Amazon premiered “Judy Blume Forever,” and Netflix brought diving survival saga “The Deepest Breath.”
Then there was… well, pretty much, everything else. No disrespect to any of the aforementioned titles (I haven’t seen them all), but it was disheartening...
- 2/4/2023
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
A still from Sierra Urich's documentary, "Joonam." Image Source: Sierra Urich
In September 2022, the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in Tehran - for allegedly improperly wearing a hijab - set off unprecedented protests in Iran. These demands for accountability and shows of solidarity were led by young women, who made the chant "women, life, freedom" reverberate across the world.
In a country rife with political conflict, an increasing number of arrests and executions has encouraged women to continue to speak out against the regime's oppressive policies. During the last four months of protests, security forces have killed more than 500 protesters and have made an estimated 20,000 arrests, according to the activist news agency Hrana.
Related: What the Iran Protests Mean to Iranian American Families Like Mine
Despite the truly revolutionary spirit of these calls for change, it seems the Western world has moved onto the next news cycle...
In September 2022, the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in Tehran - for allegedly improperly wearing a hijab - set off unprecedented protests in Iran. These demands for accountability and shows of solidarity were led by young women, who made the chant "women, life, freedom" reverberate across the world.
In a country rife with political conflict, an increasing number of arrests and executions has encouraged women to continue to speak out against the regime's oppressive policies. During the last four months of protests, security forces have killed more than 500 protesters and have made an estimated 20,000 arrests, according to the activist news agency Hrana.
Related: What the Iran Protests Mean to Iranian American Families Like Mine
Despite the truly revolutionary spirit of these calls for change, it seems the Western world has moved onto the next news cycle...
- 2/2/2023
- by Pooja Shah
- Popsugar.com
Sierra Urich’s grandmother, Behjat, has the tart, callused demeanor that comes from a life of tumult and loss. Married at 14 to an Iranian soldier, she grieved for older relatives who were murdered or executed, and raised a family that was scattered in the wake of the Iranian Revolution: As her children emigrated to the United States, she was unable to see them for 16 years, finally joining them in her mid-sixties. Her daughter Mitra, Urich’s mother, left Iran for New England in 1979; haunted by memories of her upbringing and her father’s imprisonment under the police state, she’s too terrified ever to return. Born and raised in upper-class Vermont, Urich’s own life has been comparatively serene and all-American, to the extent that she’s troubled by her distance from her Persian heritage and history. A mixture of cinematic family album and candid family therapy, “Joonam” represents her attempt to bridge that gap.
- 1/28/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
After parting ways with its parent company First Look Media in December, the non-profit documentary production studio Field of Vision is at Sundance with four docus and actively seeking new donors and supporters.
Founded in 2015 by former Hot Docs programming director Charlotte Cook, “CitizenFour” Oscar winner Laura Poitras and SXSW prize winner A.J. Schnack (“We Always Talk to Strangers”), the company now run by Cook has become a force to be reckoned with in recent years. The filmmaker-driven visual journalism documentary company’s credits include the Oscar-winning film “American Factory” as well Academy Award nominated features including “Ascension,” “Strong Island,” and “Hale County This Morning, This Evening.”
Overall, Field of Vision has supported or produced more than 260 features, shorts, and series mainly via grant money provided by First Look Media, the company run by eBay founder Pierre Olmidyar. Over the last several years, the company has begun commercially investing in docus,...
Founded in 2015 by former Hot Docs programming director Charlotte Cook, “CitizenFour” Oscar winner Laura Poitras and SXSW prize winner A.J. Schnack (“We Always Talk to Strangers”), the company now run by Cook has become a force to be reckoned with in recent years. The filmmaker-driven visual journalism documentary company’s credits include the Oscar-winning film “American Factory” as well Academy Award nominated features including “Ascension,” “Strong Island,” and “Hale County This Morning, This Evening.”
Overall, Field of Vision has supported or produced more than 260 features, shorts, and series mainly via grant money provided by First Look Media, the company run by eBay founder Pierre Olmidyar. Over the last several years, the company has begun commercially investing in docus,...
- 1/25/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Filmmaker Maryam Keshavarz’s dramedy The Persian Version opens with a young Iranian American woman played by Layla Mohammadi, wearing a homemade burkini, with a full Islamic face covering and a string bikini on the bottom. It’s a provocative image and one inspired by Keshavarz’s own boldness — born in New York to Iranian parents, she once wore the outfit to a costume party in Brooklyn. “This was just my outlandish expression, and I won best costume,” Keshavarz says. “It’s a commentary both on the American over-exposing of our bodies and, in a lot of the Muslim world, the obsession to cover our bodies. They’re, in some ways, reflections of each other.”
The Persian Version, a cross-cultural family story premiering at Sundance on Jan. 21, is one of three films at the festival this year from female directors of Iranian descent. In the documentary competition, the festival will also screen Joonam,...
The Persian Version, a cross-cultural family story premiering at Sundance on Jan. 21, is one of three films at the festival this year from female directors of Iranian descent. In the documentary competition, the festival will also screen Joonam,...
- 1/23/2023
- by Rebecca Keegan
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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