Elsa Zylberstein, one of the most famous – and bankable — faces of French cinema, known for her Cesar-winning performance in “I’ve Loved You For So Long,” is preparing to emerge as a major film producer.
Having recently set up banners in France and the U.S., Zylberstein is actively developing a raft of films and series, working with the likes of Oscar-winning Syrian filmmaker Feras Fayyad (“The Cave”), Ted Braun (Darfur Now”) and Oscar-winning screenwriter Christopher Hampton (“The Father”), among others. These include “Kingdom of Hope,” a movie about Elise Boghossian, a French acupuncturist and humanitarian worker in a war zone who has healed children victims of Isis . The movie will be directed by Fayyad, who is based in Berlin, and is being penned by Braun, based on Boghossian’s autobiographical book “Au royaume de l’espoir, il n’y a pas d’hiver.”
Zylberstein, who stands out from the...
Having recently set up banners in France and the U.S., Zylberstein is actively developing a raft of films and series, working with the likes of Oscar-winning Syrian filmmaker Feras Fayyad (“The Cave”), Ted Braun (Darfur Now”) and Oscar-winning screenwriter Christopher Hampton (“The Father”), among others. These include “Kingdom of Hope,” a movie about Elise Boghossian, a French acupuncturist and humanitarian worker in a war zone who has healed children victims of Isis . The movie will be directed by Fayyad, who is based in Berlin, and is being penned by Braun, based on Boghossian’s autobiographical book “Au royaume de l’espoir, il n’y a pas d’hiver.”
Zylberstein, who stands out from the...
- 2/20/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
German sales company has also done good business on Berlinale titlte ’Nelly & Nadine’.
Germany-based Rise And Shine World Sales has completed deals on Cph:Dox titles including Einari Paakkanen’s Finnish feature Karaoke Paradise, which had its world premiere last week at the festival.
Docs Barcelona Distribution has acquired the film for Spain, with a date still to be confirmed for the release.
Described as a “feel-good film”, Karaoke Paradise tells the story of how karaoke culture has unexpectedly taken hold in the cold north of Finland.
Rise and Shine has also sold Germany and Austria rights for Magnus Gertten...
Germany-based Rise And Shine World Sales has completed deals on Cph:Dox titles including Einari Paakkanen’s Finnish feature Karaoke Paradise, which had its world premiere last week at the festival.
Docs Barcelona Distribution has acquired the film for Spain, with a date still to be confirmed for the release.
Described as a “feel-good film”, Karaoke Paradise tells the story of how karaoke culture has unexpectedly taken hold in the cold north of Finland.
Rise and Shine has also sold Germany and Austria rights for Magnus Gertten...
- 3/31/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Feras Fayyad, the Syrian filmmaker who helmed Emmy-winning National Geographic film The Cave, has told Deadline that he would never knowingly cause “worry and sorrow” to a woman after becoming embroiled in an alleged sexual harassment scandal in Denmark.
The Scandinavian country has been gripped by a #MeToo reckoning in recent weeks and Fayyad is among a number of high-profile individuals who have been accused of inappropriate behavior after living and working in Copenhagen, where he made The Cave with influential local production outfit Danish Documentary Production.
The most prominent allegations against Fayyad have been leveled by former Danish Documentary production assistant Emilia Moth, who went on record in an interview with local newspaper Ekstra Bladet. Moth has accused Fayyad of making inappropriate comments about her and looking at her “ass” in the office. She told Deadline in a statement that she stands by everything that has been reported by Ekstra Bladet.
The Scandinavian country has been gripped by a #MeToo reckoning in recent weeks and Fayyad is among a number of high-profile individuals who have been accused of inappropriate behavior after living and working in Copenhagen, where he made The Cave with influential local production outfit Danish Documentary Production.
The most prominent allegations against Fayyad have been leveled by former Danish Documentary production assistant Emilia Moth, who went on record in an interview with local newspaper Ekstra Bladet. Moth has accused Fayyad of making inappropriate comments about her and looking at her “ass” in the office. She told Deadline in a statement that she stands by everything that has been reported by Ekstra Bladet.
- 11/23/2020
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
Filmmaker Feras Fayyad joined me for Deadline’s Contenders Television: The Nominees all-day event to discuss his multiple-Emmy nominated The Cave, the harrowing documentary he spent 3 1/2 years making.
It chronicles the plight of hospitals trying to provide urgent medical care during the five-year Syrian civil war. His focused on one that, as many have been forced to do, became an underground operation in order to remain undetected. In particular, The Cave centered on Dr. Amani Ballour, who ran the operation at great risk to her own life.
The Cave is up for Outstanding Merit in Documentary Film as well as writing, directing and cinematography. Earlier this year, it was nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar, Fayyad’s second after being Oscar nominated and awarded an Emmy for 2018’s Last Men in Aleppo.
Talking to me from Berlin, Fayyad, who is Syrian, explained why this was a personal story affecting...
It chronicles the plight of hospitals trying to provide urgent medical care during the five-year Syrian civil war. His focused on one that, as many have been forced to do, became an underground operation in order to remain undetected. In particular, The Cave centered on Dr. Amani Ballour, who ran the operation at great risk to her own life.
The Cave is up for Outstanding Merit in Documentary Film as well as writing, directing and cinematography. Earlier this year, it was nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar, Fayyad’s second after being Oscar nominated and awarded an Emmy for 2018’s Last Men in Aleppo.
Talking to me from Berlin, Fayyad, who is Syrian, explained why this was a personal story affecting...
- 8/16/2020
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Feras Fayyad would have been forgiven for not wanting to return to Syria.
After winning a Sundance grand jury prize and an Oscar nomination for his 2017 feature doc, Last Men in Aleppo, which follows the work of Syria's White Helmets volunteer force, the filmmaker was warned in no uncertain terms that his success would make him a more visible target for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and his murderous regime.
Having already been arrested and tortured twice by Syrian troops in 2011, Fayyad had no desire to return to a jail cell.
"But even though my picture was well ...
After winning a Sundance grand jury prize and an Oscar nomination for his 2017 feature doc, Last Men in Aleppo, which follows the work of Syria's White Helmets volunteer force, the filmmaker was warned in no uncertain terms that his success would make him a more visible target for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and his murderous regime.
Having already been arrested and tortured twice by Syrian troops in 2011, Fayyad had no desire to return to a jail cell.
"But even though my picture was well ...
Feras Fayyad would have been forgiven for not wanting to return to Syria.
After winning a Sundance grand jury prize and an Oscar nomination for his 2017 feature doc, Last Men in Aleppo, which follows the work of Syria's White Helmets volunteer force, the filmmaker was warned in no uncertain terms that his success would make him a more visible target for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and his murderous regime.
Having already been arrested and tortured twice by Syrian troops in 2011, Fayyad had no desire to return to a jail cell.
"But even though my picture was well ...
After winning a Sundance grand jury prize and an Oscar nomination for his 2017 feature doc, Last Men in Aleppo, which follows the work of Syria's White Helmets volunteer force, the filmmaker was warned in no uncertain terms that his success would make him a more visible target for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and his murderous regime.
Having already been arrested and tortured twice by Syrian troops in 2011, Fayyad had no desire to return to a jail cell.
"But even though my picture was well ...
When the 2020 Oscar nominations were announced, critics immediately seized upon the glaring lack of women recognized in the Best Director competition. But on the nonfiction side, it’s a completely different story.
In the Best Documentary Feature category, four of the five nominated films are directed or co-directed by women. In Best Documentary Short, it’s the same story—four of five nominees are directed or co-directed by women.
It’s also a year when Greta Gerwig was overlooked for Best Director in the fiction realm. “Narrative is so badly handling women,” comments Carol Dysinger, who earned an Oscar nomination for her short doc Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl). “But in my community, documentary, we do Ok.”
Among the women documentary filmmakers recognized with an Oscar nomination this year is Syrian-born Waad Al-Kateab, who directed For Sama with Edward Watts.
“Two days before the nominations,...
In the Best Documentary Feature category, four of the five nominated films are directed or co-directed by women. In Best Documentary Short, it’s the same story—four of five nominees are directed or co-directed by women.
It’s also a year when Greta Gerwig was overlooked for Best Director in the fiction realm. “Narrative is so badly handling women,” comments Carol Dysinger, who earned an Oscar nomination for her short doc Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl). “But in my community, documentary, we do Ok.”
Among the women documentary filmmakers recognized with an Oscar nomination this year is Syrian-born Waad Al-Kateab, who directed For Sama with Edward Watts.
“Two days before the nominations,...
- 1/30/2020
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Syria’s brutal civil war has cost the lives of tens of thousands of civilians—men, women and children. It would have cost even more were it not for the life-saving efforts of Dr. Amani Ballour, the heroine of Feras Fayyad’s Oscar-nominated documentary The Cave.
Dr. Amani, who trained as a pediatrician, ran a subterranean hospital in Eastern Ghouta, an area outside Damascus that came under relentless attack from Syrian government forces and their Russian allies. For her work she was recently awarded the Council of Europe’s Raoul Wallenberg Prize, named for the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jews during World War II.
“Dr. Amani Ballour is a shining example of the empathy, virtue and honor that can flourish even in the worst circumstances: in the midst of war and suffering,” the Council of Europe’s secretary general noted. “[She] risked her own safety and security to help those in the greatest need.
Dr. Amani, who trained as a pediatrician, ran a subterranean hospital in Eastern Ghouta, an area outside Damascus that came under relentless attack from Syrian government forces and their Russian allies. For her work she was recently awarded the Council of Europe’s Raoul Wallenberg Prize, named for the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jews during World War II.
“Dr. Amani Ballour is a shining example of the empathy, virtue and honor that can flourish even in the worst circumstances: in the midst of war and suffering,” the Council of Europe’s secretary general noted. “[She] risked her own safety and security to help those in the greatest need.
- 1/30/2020
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
“The Cave” director Feras Fayyad has arrived in the United States after dealing with a number of visa and family issues in recent weeks, National Geographic shared on Monday morning. The Syrian filmmaker made it to the U.S. on Sunday — exactly two weeks before the Academy Awards, where “The Cave” is nominated for Best Documentary Feature.
“The outpouring of support from the documentary and entertainment community to help us in our efforts to have ‘The Cave’s’ director Feras Fayyad return to the U.S. has been overwhelming,” National Geographic said in a statement. “After weeks of turmoil and struggle and obstacles no one should have to endure, we can report that Feras arrived safely this evening in Los Angeles.”
Fayyad had struggled to gain a visa into the U.S. until Sunday and missed several industry events this month as a result. He was unable to attend the...
“The outpouring of support from the documentary and entertainment community to help us in our efforts to have ‘The Cave’s’ director Feras Fayyad return to the U.S. has been overwhelming,” National Geographic said in a statement. “After weeks of turmoil and struggle and obstacles no one should have to endure, we can report that Feras arrived safely this evening in Los Angeles.”
Fayyad had struggled to gain a visa into the U.S. until Sunday and missed several industry events this month as a result. He was unable to attend the...
- 1/27/2020
- by Sean Burch
- The Wrap
Statement from Sigrid Dyekjær, Producer The Cave. Given to The Television Critics Association on 1/17/2020
We were hoping that Feras Fayyad could be here with us today.
As has been widely reported, in December Feras was denied an extended U.S. visa by the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen and has missed several industry events, including the Ida Awards and Cinema Eye Awards.
He has had quite the ordeal these past weeks.
While waiting on the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen to grant him another appointment, Feras received news that his aunt’s house was bombed and his parents’ and childhood home was in the line of fire in Syria.
As the oldest of 10, he feels a great responsibility for his siblings and his parents. So, instead of continuing to wait on the embassy, Feras went to Turkey to be as close to his family as possible and help in any way he could.
We were hoping that Feras Fayyad could be here with us today.
As has been widely reported, in December Feras was denied an extended U.S. visa by the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen and has missed several industry events, including the Ida Awards and Cinema Eye Awards.
He has had quite the ordeal these past weeks.
While waiting on the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen to grant him another appointment, Feras received news that his aunt’s house was bombed and his parents’ and childhood home was in the line of fire in Syria.
As the oldest of 10, he feels a great responsibility for his siblings and his parents. So, instead of continuing to wait on the embassy, Feras went to Turkey to be as close to his family as possible and help in any way he could.
- 1/23/2020
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The Television Academy and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences have teamed on a joint letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging him to act on journalists and documentary filmmakers who are “being denied entry into the United States despite recognition by the American television industry.”
The letter sent Tuesday was focused on Syrian-born The Cave director Feras Fayyad, who was denied a visa to enter the U.S. to support his National Geographic Documentary Films pic, which on Monday was nominated for the Documentary Feature Oscar. It is Fayyad’s second Oscar nomination after 2018’s Last Men in Aleppo, which also won the Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary award at that year’s News & Doc Emmys.
The Cave won the People’s Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival and already has won this year at the Ida Awards, the Cinema Eye Honors and the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards.
The letter sent Tuesday was focused on Syrian-born The Cave director Feras Fayyad, who was denied a visa to enter the U.S. to support his National Geographic Documentary Films pic, which on Monday was nominated for the Documentary Feature Oscar. It is Fayyad’s second Oscar nomination after 2018’s Last Men in Aleppo, which also won the Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary award at that year’s News & Doc Emmys.
The Cave won the People’s Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival and already has won this year at the Ida Awards, the Cinema Eye Honors and the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards.
- 1/14/2020
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Netflix's American Factory, National Geographic's The Cave, Netflix's The Edge of Democracy, PBS' For Sama and Neon's Honeyland on Monday earned nominations for best documentary feature for the 2020 Academy Awards.
American Factory director Julia Reichert earned her fourth career nomination for her film, while The Cave helmer Feras Fayyad scored his second career nom after a previous mention for Last Men in Aleppo.
Watch the trailers for all five best documentary feature nominees below.
American Factory director Julia Reichert earned her fourth career nomination for her film, while The Cave helmer Feras Fayyad scored his second career nom after a previous mention for Last Men in Aleppo.
Watch the trailers for all five best documentary feature nominees below.
- 1/13/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Netflix's American Factory, National Geographic's The Cave, Netflix's The Edge of Democracy, PBS' For Sama and Neon's Honeyland on Monday earned nominations for best documentary feature for the 2020 Academy Awards.
American Factory director Julia Reichert earned her fourth career nomination for her film, while The Cave helmer Feras Fayyad scored his second career nom after a previous mention for Last Men in Aleppo.
Watch the trailers for all five best documentary feature nominees below.
American Factory director Julia Reichert earned her fourth career nomination for her film, while The Cave helmer Feras Fayyad scored his second career nom after a previous mention for Last Men in Aleppo.
Watch the trailers for all five best documentary feature nominees below.
- 1/13/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
‘The Cave’ Director Feras Fayyad Gains Support From Ida, Sundance After State Department Denies Visa
The documentary community is rallying around Syrian-born filmmaker Feras Fayyad, director of Oscar-shortlisted film The Cave, after he was denied a visa to enter the United States.
The International Documentary Association wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Friday, urging him to let Fayyad into the country to represent his film, one of 15 feature documentaries still in contention for the Academy Award.
“Feras Fayyad is a respected and accomplished documentary filmmaker, but because he is Syrian he has been denied a visa to visit the United States in support of his latest film, The Cave, distributed by National Geographic Documentary Films,” the letter said. “The film tells an urgent story of doctors saving lives while under constant bombardment in Syria.”
[Read the letter here]
The letter was signed by the Ida’s executive director, Simon Kilmurry, and other prominent figures in documentary including Oscar winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) and Academy...
The International Documentary Association wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Friday, urging him to let Fayyad into the country to represent his film, one of 15 feature documentaries still in contention for the Academy Award.
“Feras Fayyad is a respected and accomplished documentary filmmaker, but because he is Syrian he has been denied a visa to visit the United States in support of his latest film, The Cave, distributed by National Geographic Documentary Films,” the letter said. “The film tells an urgent story of doctors saving lives while under constant bombardment in Syria.”
[Read the letter here]
The letter was signed by the Ida’s executive director, Simon Kilmurry, and other prominent figures in documentary including Oscar winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) and Academy...
- 1/4/2020
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Feras Fayyad is the award-winning director behind the new National Geographic documentary “The Cave,” about a female doctor in charge of an underground hospital in Syria. Fayyad was previously nominated for an Oscar for his previous documentary, 2017’s “Last Men in Aleppo.” “The Cave” is currently among 15 documentaries on the shortlist to potentially earn an Oscar nomination.
Fayyad spoke with Gold Derby senior editor Joyce Eng in November to discuss what prompted him to tell this story, the dangerous situations he found himself in, and how the film tackles sexism. Watch the exclusive video interview above and read the complete transcript below.
SEE2020 Oscar nominations shortlists for 9 Academy Awards categories
Gold Derby: Your film follows Dr. Amani Ballour, who is a pediatrician and the first female hospital manager in Syria and she’s stayed behind to work in this underground hospital called the Cave. So can you talk about how...
Fayyad spoke with Gold Derby senior editor Joyce Eng in November to discuss what prompted him to tell this story, the dangerous situations he found himself in, and how the film tackles sexism. Watch the exclusive video interview above and read the complete transcript below.
SEE2020 Oscar nominations shortlists for 9 Academy Awards categories
Gold Derby: Your film follows Dr. Amani Ballour, who is a pediatrician and the first female hospital manager in Syria and she’s stayed behind to work in this underground hospital called the Cave. So can you talk about how...
- 1/3/2020
- by Kevin Jacobsen and Joyce Eng
- Gold Derby
Sun Valley, Idaho has been a holiday haven for members of the entertainment industry since the golden era of Hollywood, when the likes of Gary Cooper and Clark Gable flocked to the affluent ski resort. Today, the area remains a favored vacation getaway for such actors and filmmakers as Tom Hanks, Clint Eastwood and Chelsea Handler.
With a bounty of fir trees bedecked with twinkling lights and a blanket of pristine powdery snow, Sun Valley also marked the perfect spot for Variety and Sun Valley Film Festival’s Screening Series on Dec. 27 and 29, where more than 200 voting members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences gathered at the Argyros Performing Arts Center for each of the two screenings—Clint Eastwood’s “Richard Jewell” and “The Cave,” the latest documentary from Oscar-nominated Syriran filmmaker Feras Fayyad.
Teddy Grennan, founder of the Sun Valley Film Festival, and Candice Pate, the fest’s director,...
With a bounty of fir trees bedecked with twinkling lights and a blanket of pristine powdery snow, Sun Valley also marked the perfect spot for Variety and Sun Valley Film Festival’s Screening Series on Dec. 27 and 29, where more than 200 voting members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences gathered at the Argyros Performing Arts Center for each of the two screenings—Clint Eastwood’s “Richard Jewell” and “The Cave,” the latest documentary from Oscar-nominated Syriran filmmaker Feras Fayyad.
Teddy Grennan, founder of the Sun Valley Film Festival, and Candice Pate, the fest’s director,...
- 12/31/2019
- by Malina Saval
- Variety Film + TV
‘Frozen II’ will look for a third session at number one.
Shia Labeouf’s autobiographical Honey Boy and Edward Norton’s directorial debut Motherless Brooklyn are among the titles opening in a quiet weekend at the UK box office, which should see Frozen II hold the number one spot for a third week running.
Released through Sony, Honey Boy is directed by Alma Har’el, from a screenplay by Labeouf based on his childhood and relationship with his father.
The film debuted at Sundance 2019, where it won the special jury prize in the Us Dramatic section, and followed that up with...
Shia Labeouf’s autobiographical Honey Boy and Edward Norton’s directorial debut Motherless Brooklyn are among the titles opening in a quiet weekend at the UK box office, which should see Frozen II hold the number one spot for a third week running.
Released through Sony, Honey Boy is directed by Alma Har’el, from a screenplay by Labeouf based on his childhood and relationship with his father.
The film debuted at Sundance 2019, where it won the special jury prize in the Us Dramatic section, and followed that up with...
- 12/6/2019
- by 1101321¦Ben Dalton¦26¦
- ScreenDaily
“For Sama,” which chronicle’s one woman’s experiences in the Syrian civil war, won big at the British Independent Film Awards on December 1. It is the first documentary to be named Best Film at the BIFAs. “For Sama” also picked up three other prizes: Best Director (Waad Al-Khateab and Edward Watts), Best Editing (Chloe Lambourne and Simon McMahon) and, not surprisingly, Best Documentary.
While the the movie was made for Channel 4 and PBS (it recently aired on Frontline) it has been submitted to the Oscars. The ongoing crisis in Syria was the subject of two recent Academy Awards nominees for Best Documentary: “Of Father and Sons” (2019) and “Last Men in Aleppo” (2018).
For Al-Khateab, “An Oscar would give us the chance to make people want to see our film. The award would be amazing because I would have more platforms to share this story with many other people all over the world,...
While the the movie was made for Channel 4 and PBS (it recently aired on Frontline) it has been submitted to the Oscars. The ongoing crisis in Syria was the subject of two recent Academy Awards nominees for Best Documentary: “Of Father and Sons” (2019) and “Last Men in Aleppo” (2018).
For Al-Khateab, “An Oscar would give us the chance to make people want to see our film. The award would be amazing because I would have more platforms to share this story with many other people all over the world,...
- 12/2/2019
- by Jacob Sarkisian
- Gold Derby
"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'" (–Fred Rogers) The people who give everything to help others when things are bad are the true heroes of this world. By now, most people are familiar with the war in Syria and the atrocities occurring there. Yet it's still important, for the sake of history above all, that we document what's happening in the Middle East and show how regular people are trying to survive. Syrian filmmaker Feras Fayyad is without a doubt the best Syrian filmmaker working today, and his latest is an extraordinary work of cinema. The Cave is Fayyad's follow-up to his Academy Award-nominated doc film Last Men in Aleppo, and it's an unforgettable, affecting documentary that deserves our time and attention. The Cave...
- 12/1/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Exclusive: CAA has signed Syrian filmmaker Feras Fayyad, whose 2017 feature documentary Last Men in Aleppo was Oscar-nominated and won an Emmy.
The pic, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won the World Cinema grand jury doc prize, follows three men as they volunteer with the White Helmets civil defense organization trying to save lives of hundreds of victims in the besieged city of Aleppo during the Syrian Civil War. In total, the pic received 18 international awards including a Peabody.
Fayyad’s cinematic canon typically revolves around contemporary Syrian issues and the Arab world’s political transformation. The filmmaker was imprisoned and tortured by the Assad regime in 2011 because of this work.
Most recently, Fayyad directed The Cave, a documentary that chronicles the work in Syria of pediatrician and managing physician Dr. Amani Ballour and her colleagues Samaher and Dr. Alaa as they contend with daily bombardments, chronic supply...
The pic, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won the World Cinema grand jury doc prize, follows three men as they volunteer with the White Helmets civil defense organization trying to save lives of hundreds of victims in the besieged city of Aleppo during the Syrian Civil War. In total, the pic received 18 international awards including a Peabody.
Fayyad’s cinematic canon typically revolves around contemporary Syrian issues and the Arab world’s political transformation. The filmmaker was imprisoned and tortured by the Assad regime in 2011 because of this work.
Most recently, Fayyad directed The Cave, a documentary that chronicles the work in Syria of pediatrician and managing physician Dr. Amani Ballour and her colleagues Samaher and Dr. Alaa as they contend with daily bombardments, chronic supply...
- 11/16/2019
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
French-German broadcaster Arte is teaming with U.K.-based production house Vernon Films to co-produce Ilinca Călugăreanu’s non-scripted hybrid miniseries “Celluloid Dreams.”
Stefan Kloos’ German production company Kloos & Co, whose co-production credits take in Oscar-nominated documentary “Last Men in Aleppo,” is also on board for the project.
Romanian-born writer-director Călugăreanu is best known for her debut documentary feature, “Chuck Norris vs. Communism,” a 2015 Sundance player.
Vernon Films plans a Spring 2021 release for “Celluloid Dreams,” currently in pre-production.
The five-seg miniseries is one of the five episodic content projects selected for pitching at the upcoming edition of Los Cabos International Film Festival’s Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund sidebar.
“With a relatively modest budget for an independent production, the project is being financed through a mixture of broadcast and equity,” according to producer Mara Adina, Vernon Films co-founder alongside sister Ilinca Călugăreanu.
Chicken & Egg Pictures, the U.S.-based organisation...
Stefan Kloos’ German production company Kloos & Co, whose co-production credits take in Oscar-nominated documentary “Last Men in Aleppo,” is also on board for the project.
Romanian-born writer-director Călugăreanu is best known for her debut documentary feature, “Chuck Norris vs. Communism,” a 2015 Sundance player.
Vernon Films plans a Spring 2021 release for “Celluloid Dreams,” currently in pre-production.
The five-seg miniseries is one of the five episodic content projects selected for pitching at the upcoming edition of Los Cabos International Film Festival’s Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund sidebar.
“With a relatively modest budget for an independent production, the project is being financed through a mixture of broadcast and equity,” according to producer Mara Adina, Vernon Films co-founder alongside sister Ilinca Călugăreanu.
Chicken & Egg Pictures, the U.S.-based organisation...
- 11/11/2019
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
By Glenn Dunks
The sheer audacity of making a documentary in Syria is something that astounds me. But part of what makes Syria such a fascinating subject for continued exploration is that theirs is a story we have seen unfold in real time. From its initial uprising to its deafening destruction and their continued traumas, the last decade have granted audiences a unique interior look into many facets of the Syrian Civil War from the side of rebels and side of the radicals, humanitarians and civilians.
So when I say that Feras Fayyad’s The Cave is easily among the very top of the docket, I don’t do so lightly. Fayyad is already an Oscar nominee for Last Men in Aleppo about the men known as The White Helmets. Here he has shifted gears to focus on the women doctors of what’s known as The Cave, an underground...
The sheer audacity of making a documentary in Syria is something that astounds me. But part of what makes Syria such a fascinating subject for continued exploration is that theirs is a story we have seen unfold in real time. From its initial uprising to its deafening destruction and their continued traumas, the last decade have granted audiences a unique interior look into many facets of the Syrian Civil War from the side of rebels and side of the radicals, humanitarians and civilians.
So when I say that Feras Fayyad’s The Cave is easily among the very top of the docket, I don’t do so lightly. Fayyad is already an Oscar nominee for Last Men in Aleppo about the men known as The White Helmets. Here he has shifted gears to focus on the women doctors of what’s known as The Cave, an underground...
- 10/30/2019
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
You are invited to attend our Q&a discussion with four of film’s top documentarians who now compete for Oscars and more. Our event is on Tuesday, November 5, at 7:00 p.m. at the Landmark Theater at 10850 W. Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles. Admission and parking are free. Academy and guild members will get priority seating.
To RSVP, make your reservation here: https://goldderbydocumentarypanel2019.splashthat.com/
Gold Derby managing editor Joyce Eng will moderate this “Meet the Film Experts” panel with the following contenders for 2019/2020 awards consideration:
Petra Costa represents Netflix for “The Edge of Democracy”
The film explores one of the most dramatic periods in Brazilian history, combining unprecedented access to Presidents Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff. Costa has had other awards contenders with “Elena,” “Olmo and the Seagull” and “Undertow Eyes.”
Feras Fayyad represents NatGeo for “The Cave”
This film follows a dedicated team of female...
To RSVP, make your reservation here: https://goldderbydocumentarypanel2019.splashthat.com/
Gold Derby managing editor Joyce Eng will moderate this “Meet the Film Experts” panel with the following contenders for 2019/2020 awards consideration:
Petra Costa represents Netflix for “The Edge of Democracy”
The film explores one of the most dramatic periods in Brazilian history, combining unprecedented access to Presidents Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff. Costa has had other awards contenders with “Elena,” “Olmo and the Seagull” and “Undertow Eyes.”
Feras Fayyad represents NatGeo for “The Cave”
This film follows a dedicated team of female...
- 10/22/2019
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Never in the recent specialized film era has a non-holiday weekend achieved such exciting box office. Arriving after last weekend’s sensational record-breaking opening of Neon’s “Parasite” (which expanded well) are strong debuts for both Taika Waititi’s “Jojo Rabbit” (Fox Searchlight) and Robert Eggers’ “The Lighthouse” (A24). And top awards contenders “Pain and Glory” (Sony Pictures Classics) and “Judy” (Roadside Attractions) continue steady as they go.
In the same crowded four week period in 2018, only “Free Solo” went on to specialized success. Why are things so much better this year? The films themselves are a factor, but the earliest awards calendar season ever has forced smart distributors to recalibrate. Getting started now allows for gradual growth heading toward maximum attention over the Thanksgiving holiday. Also, opening early allows the option of home-viewing availabilities around the time of the Oscar nominations.
Whatever the reasons, it is working. After a...
In the same crowded four week period in 2018, only “Free Solo” went on to specialized success. Why are things so much better this year? The films themselves are a factor, but the earliest awards calendar season ever has forced smart distributors to recalibrate. Getting started now allows for gradual growth heading toward maximum attention over the Thanksgiving holiday. Also, opening early allows the option of home-viewing availabilities around the time of the Oscar nominations.
Whatever the reasons, it is working. After a...
- 10/20/2019
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
The plight of Syrians under aerial bombardment from the Assad regime (in sinister partnership with Russia’s war might) has been one of the more jarring subjects of late in the documentary world. Brave souls in front of and behind the camera have, in film after film, brought to vividly tense life the abiding terror of being relentlessly under siege, and trying to survive when your world is rubble, the sky kills, and death stalks the ruins.
Syrian filmmaker Feras Fayyad’s “The Cave,” the follow-up to his acclaimed White Helmets documentary “Last Men in Aleppo” from two years ago, is not just another installment from the front lines, however. In its intimate, nerve-rattling look at the hard work of doctors in chemically attacked Ghouta, treating patients in the titular underground matrix of tunnels and rooms beneath their targeted hospital, the movie also delivers an ironically liberating portrait of social...
Syrian filmmaker Feras Fayyad’s “The Cave,” the follow-up to his acclaimed White Helmets documentary “Last Men in Aleppo” from two years ago, is not just another installment from the front lines, however. In its intimate, nerve-rattling look at the hard work of doctors in chemically attacked Ghouta, treating patients in the titular underground matrix of tunnels and rooms beneath their targeted hospital, the movie also delivers an ironically liberating portrait of social...
- 10/17/2019
- by Robert Abele
- The Wrap
Feras Fayyad’s follow-up to his Oscar-nominated documentary “Last Men in Aleppo” is another immersive film about the effects of the Syrian war on the country’s residents: “The Cave.”
This time, Fayyad goes underground to follow the staff of a subterranean hospital in the besieged city of Al Ghouta. Led by pediatrician Dr. Amani Ballor, who must combat ingrained sexism in addition to the bombs that regularly strike the city, the dedicated doctors and staff care deeply about their patients. Any danger Fayyad encountered while filming was worth it, he told the crowd at a Q&a following an International Documentary Association screening of the film, because he wanted to accomplish two major goals.
The first, he said, is to give the Syrian people a voice.
“What the Syrian regime wants to do is silence the people, same as the journalists, same as the artists, [from doing] what they do. And...
This time, Fayyad goes underground to follow the staff of a subterranean hospital in the besieged city of Al Ghouta. Led by pediatrician Dr. Amani Ballor, who must combat ingrained sexism in addition to the bombs that regularly strike the city, the dedicated doctors and staff care deeply about their patients. Any danger Fayyad encountered while filming was worth it, he told the crowd at a Q&a following an International Documentary Association screening of the film, because he wanted to accomplish two major goals.
The first, he said, is to give the Syrian people a voice.
“What the Syrian regime wants to do is silence the people, same as the journalists, same as the artists, [from doing] what they do. And...
- 10/15/2019
- by Jean Bentley
- Indiewire
John Chester’s “The Biggest Little Farm,” a film about a husband and wife trying to establish a small farm in Southern California, led all films in nominations for the fourth annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, the Critics Choice Association announced on Monday.
The film received seven nominations in 16 categories, including Best Documentary Feature and Best Director. Todd Douglas Miller’s “Apollo 11,” which used 50-year-old footage to reconstruct the moon mission, received six, as did Peter Jackson’s “They Shall Not Grow Old,” which used enhanced 100-year-old footage to bring World War I to movie screens in special-event engagements.
Other films nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category are “American Factory,” “The Cave,” “Honeyland,” “The Kingmaker,” “Knock Down the House,” “Maiden” and “One Child Nation.” And because the Bfca has given up trying to draw a line between film and television docs, the HBO two-part series “Leaving Neverland” was...
The film received seven nominations in 16 categories, including Best Documentary Feature and Best Director. Todd Douglas Miller’s “Apollo 11,” which used 50-year-old footage to reconstruct the moon mission, received six, as did Peter Jackson’s “They Shall Not Grow Old,” which used enhanced 100-year-old footage to bring World War I to movie screens in special-event engagements.
Other films nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category are “American Factory,” “The Cave,” “Honeyland,” “The Kingmaker,” “Knock Down the House,” “Maiden” and “One Child Nation.” And because the Bfca has given up trying to draw a line between film and television docs, the HBO two-part series “Leaving Neverland” was...
- 10/14/2019
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Further releases include For Sama and Hustlers.
This week sees the release of Universal Pictures’ period drama Downton Abbey, adapted from the enormously popular ITV series that ran from 2010 to 2015.
Michael Engler directed the feature, having helmed several episodes of the series, from a screenplay by its original creator Julian Fellowes. Returning cast members include Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael and Jim Carter. The film sees the Crawley film await a visit from King George V and Queen Mary.
The project is tailor-made for a UK cinema-going audience thanks to the popularity of the series combined with the typical success of...
This week sees the release of Universal Pictures’ period drama Downton Abbey, adapted from the enormously popular ITV series that ran from 2010 to 2015.
Michael Engler directed the feature, having helmed several episodes of the series, from a screenplay by its original creator Julian Fellowes. Returning cast members include Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael and Jim Carter. The film sees the Crawley film await a visit from King George V and Queen Mary.
The project is tailor-made for a UK cinema-going audience thanks to the popularity of the series combined with the typical success of...
- 9/13/2019
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
Feras Fayyad’s “The Cave” plunges viewers into the midst of Syria’s civil war, reminding audiences of a brutal conflict that doesn’t appear frequently enough on cable news programs or in the headlines of Western newspapers. It viscerally illustrates the human cost of a struggle that is now in its eighth year.
But Fayyad’s documentary, which premieres at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, isn’t just interested in proving the old adage that war is hell. It is also focused on presenting a portrait of an unlikely heroine, Dr. Amani Ballor, a pediatrician and the manager of an underground hospital in besieged Ghouta. Even as bombs drop around her and gunfire echoes in the distance, Ballor takes pains to put her young patients at ease, trying to provide a friendly, sympathetic face in the midst of death and destruction.
“I wanted people to see that...
But Fayyad’s documentary, which premieres at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, isn’t just interested in proving the old adage that war is hell. It is also focused on presenting a portrait of an unlikely heroine, Dr. Amani Ballor, a pediatrician and the manager of an underground hospital in besieged Ghouta. Even as bombs drop around her and gunfire echoes in the distance, Ballor takes pains to put her young patients at ease, trying to provide a friendly, sympathetic face in the midst of death and destruction.
“I wanted people to see that...
- 9/6/2019
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Even with a steady supply of eye-opening documentaries coming out of Syria, we’re just beginning to scratch the surface of the human stories emerging from the country’s ongoing crisis. Two years after his multi-award-winning “Last Men In Aleppo” — co-directed by Steen Johannessen and following a trio from the selfless volunteer rescue collective “The White Helmets” — writer-director Feras Fayyad plunges inside another astonishing account of bravery with the female-driven “The Cave.” Beneath the surface of the besieged Eastern Ghouta, a region where some 400,000 people remain trapped, he takes us through the dimly lit hallways and limited means of a miraculously operational subterranean hospital, the Cave, managed by a patriarchy-defying female pediatrician.
Unsurprisingly, this is both an immensely humanist film, and a tough, heartbreaking watch — “The Cave” doesn’t pull its punches when it comes to graphic images, many of them involving severely wounded children. In one scene, “Please be honest with me,...
Unsurprisingly, this is both an immensely humanist film, and a tough, heartbreaking watch — “The Cave” doesn’t pull its punches when it comes to graphic images, many of them involving severely wounded children. In one scene, “Please be honest with me,...
- 9/6/2019
- by Tomris Laffly
- Variety Film + TV
The civil war in Syria has led to one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the 21st century, and documentary filmmakers have been paying attention. For the last four years, films about the attacks on Syrian citizens by the Assad regime with the help of the Russian military, and about the resultant flood of refugees trying to flee the country, have surfaced at nearly every film festival that showcases nonfiction filmmaking.
The latest is “The Cave,” which opened the documentary program at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.
“The Cave” follows on the heels of 2017’s “Cries From Syria,” “City of Ghosts,” “Hell on Earth” and the Oscar-nominated “Last Men in Aleppo,” 2018’s “Of Fathers and Sons” and of the Oscar-nominated short docs “Lifeboat,” “Watani: My Homeland,” “4.1 Miles” and “The White Helmets” (which won), as well as “For Sama” which provoked a strong response at this year’s Cannes film festival in May.
The latest is “The Cave,” which opened the documentary program at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.
“The Cave” follows on the heels of 2017’s “Cries From Syria,” “City of Ghosts,” “Hell on Earth” and the Oscar-nominated “Last Men in Aleppo,” 2018’s “Of Fathers and Sons” and of the Oscar-nominated short docs “Lifeboat,” “Watani: My Homeland,” “4.1 Miles” and “The White Helmets” (which won), as well as “For Sama” which provoked a strong response at this year’s Cannes film festival in May.
- 9/5/2019
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
There have been many recent documentaries capturing the harrowing destruction of the Syrian civil war, but none that descend to the literal depths of “The Cave.” Director Feras Fayyad’s gripping followup to the Oscar-nominated “Last Men in Aleppo” takes place almost exclusively within the confines of an underground hospital that may as well be post-apocalyptic. As Russian bombs rain down on Eastern Gouta, and government forces keep some 40,000 people trapped within the city limits, Fayyad captures a desperate struggle for survival at the behest of a young doctor and her team. It’s a frantic, unnerving window into Syria’s collapse, and
Fayyad’s “Aleppo” unfolded as a real-time thriller about volunteer recovery missions, and “The Cave” operates as a thematic sequel, deepening his exploration of the raggedy ecosystem that has sprung up to sustain life during wartime. However, “The Cave” goes beyond merely lingering in its setting, and...
Fayyad’s “Aleppo” unfolded as a real-time thriller about volunteer recovery missions, and “The Cave” operates as a thematic sequel, deepening his exploration of the raggedy ecosystem that has sprung up to sustain life during wartime. However, “The Cave” goes beyond merely lingering in its setting, and...
- 9/5/2019
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
The film will world premiere in Toronto.
Dogwoof has swooped to take international sales rights and UK distribution to Oscar-nominated Feras Fayyad’s latest feature, The Cave.
The film will premiere as the opening night film of Tiff Docs next month, and as a Documentary Special Presentation at the London Film Festival.
The film tells the story of an underground Syrian hospital and the staff who work against enormous odds to keep it going despite the ongoing conflict.
Dogwoof will be beginning sales efforts in Toronto and is planning a UK theatrical release for December 6, placing it in good position for the 2020 awards season.
Dogwoof has swooped to take international sales rights and UK distribution to Oscar-nominated Feras Fayyad’s latest feature, The Cave.
The film will premiere as the opening night film of Tiff Docs next month, and as a Documentary Special Presentation at the London Film Festival.
The film tells the story of an underground Syrian hospital and the staff who work against enormous odds to keep it going despite the ongoing conflict.
Dogwoof will be beginning sales efforts in Toronto and is planning a UK theatrical release for December 6, placing it in good position for the 2020 awards season.
- 8/30/2019
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
"We don't have anesthesia, but we have music!" National Geographic has debuted an official trailer for the documentary titled The Cave, the latest film from Syrian filmmaker Feras Fayyad who last made the Oscar-nominated doc Last Men in Aleppo. This is premiering at the Toronto Film Festival coming up soon, and will be released in theaters sometime later in the fall. Not to be confused with the horror film The Cave, or the Thai rescue film also called The Cave. Fayyad's new documentary titled The Cave tells the story of a hidden underground hospital in Syria and the unprecedented female-led team who risk their lives to provide medical care to the besieged local population. This looks as compelling and as heartbreaking, and also as inspiring, as Fayyad's Last Men in Aleppo, another important story from Syria being shared with the world. Here's the first official trailer for Feras Fayyad's documentary The Cave,...
- 8/28/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
New works from celebrated documentary filmmakers Alex Gibney, Barbara Kopple, Lauren Greenfield, Alan Berliner, Feras Fayyad, Patricio Guzman, Fisher Stevens and Mark Cousins will be showcased in the Tiff Docs section of the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, Tiff organizers announced on Thursday.
In addition to the 25 documentaries, the festival also revealed more than 50 additional films in the Midnight Madness, Tiff Discovery and Tiff Cinematheque sections.
The documentary section will open with “The Cave” from Feras Fayyad, director of the Oscar-nominated “Last Men in Aleppo.” The film is set in an underground hospital led by a female doctor in Syria. Other former Oscar nominees and winners showing films at Tiff include Gibney with “Citizen K,” his portrait of Russian oligarch-turned-Putin-critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky; Kopple, with “Desert One,” about an Iranian hostage rescue mission; and Stevens, co-director with Malcolm Venville of “And We Go Green,” a Leonardo DiCaprio-produced film about the Formula...
In addition to the 25 documentaries, the festival also revealed more than 50 additional films in the Midnight Madness, Tiff Discovery and Tiff Cinematheque sections.
The documentary section will open with “The Cave” from Feras Fayyad, director of the Oscar-nominated “Last Men in Aleppo.” The film is set in an underground hospital led by a female doctor in Syria. Other former Oscar nominees and winners showing films at Tiff include Gibney with “Citizen K,” his portrait of Russian oligarch-turned-Putin-critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky; Kopple, with “Desert One,” about an Iranian hostage rescue mission; and Stevens, co-director with Malcolm Venville of “And We Go Green,” a Leonardo DiCaprio-produced film about the Formula...
- 8/8/2019
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Feature to open in theatres in early 2020
Grasshopper Film has acquired Us rights to former Locarno-best director winner Pedro Costa’s Portuguese drama Vitalina Varela ahead of its world premiere at the upcoming edition of the Swiss festival later this week.
The new feature from the director of Horse Money, Colossal Youth and Casa De Lava – all of which Grasshopper founder and president Ryan Krivoshey has distributed in his career – will go on to screen at other festivals throughout autumn, and will open in theatres in early 2020.
Vitalina Varela tells of the eponymous 55-year old Cape Verdean who arrives in...
Grasshopper Film has acquired Us rights to former Locarno-best director winner Pedro Costa’s Portuguese drama Vitalina Varela ahead of its world premiere at the upcoming edition of the Swiss festival later this week.
The new feature from the director of Horse Money, Colossal Youth and Casa De Lava – all of which Grasshopper founder and president Ryan Krivoshey has distributed in his career – will go on to screen at other festivals throughout autumn, and will open in theatres in early 2020.
Vitalina Varela tells of the eponymous 55-year old Cape Verdean who arrives in...
- 8/5/2019
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Towards the beginning of Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts’ “For Sama” — a bracingly horrific yet resiliently beautiful documentary about al-Kateab’s experience as a woman, a patriot, and a mother living in the ruined heart of Aleppo during the ongoing war in Syria — a few medical volunteers are seen messing around in a hospital during a break from the shelling. They’re young and smiling and you would never know what they were living through if not for the blasted concrete on the floor and the wet blood on their clothes. A few years earlier, they were regular university students pursuing regular careers; now, a normal day consists of avoiding bombs and burying friends.
Why don’t they leave? How could they stay? What inspires someone to scrap for the ashes of a country where local jihadists, foreign warplanes, and even their own president are competing to exterminate them? The...
Why don’t they leave? How could they stay? What inspires someone to scrap for the ashes of a country where local jihadists, foreign warplanes, and even their own president are competing to exterminate them? The...
- 7/26/2019
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
National Geographic has added Feras Fayyad’s “The Cave,” the latest non-fiction effort from the director of the Oscar-nominated “Last Men in Aleppo,” to its 2019 feature documentary slate. The new film will be released in theaters this fall and compete in an increasingly crowded documentary feature field for the Oscar.
“The Cave” unveils the harrowing true story of an underground Syrian hospital and the team of civilians and medical professionals led by women who risk their lives to provide medical care to the besieged local population.
The film follows 30-year-old Dr. Amani, an aspiring pediatrician forced to end her studies and medical training due to the war in Syria, as she becomes the appointed leader of a team of 130 medical practitioners in the secret hospital serving the 400,000 civilians of the besieged city of Al Ghouta from 2012 to 2018. Due to the nonstop onslaught of conventional and chemical warfare, brutalized and displaced...
“The Cave” unveils the harrowing true story of an underground Syrian hospital and the team of civilians and medical professionals led by women who risk their lives to provide medical care to the besieged local population.
The film follows 30-year-old Dr. Amani, an aspiring pediatrician forced to end her studies and medical training due to the war in Syria, as she becomes the appointed leader of a team of 130 medical practitioners in the secret hospital serving the 400,000 civilians of the besieged city of Al Ghouta from 2012 to 2018. Due to the nonstop onslaught of conventional and chemical warfare, brutalized and displaced...
- 6/24/2019
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
National Geographic has added Feras Fayyad’s “The Cave,” the latest non-fiction effort from the director of the Oscar-nominated “Last Men in Aleppo,” to its 2019 feature documentary slate. The new film will be released in theaters this fall and compete in an increasingly crowded documentary feature field for the Oscar.
“The Cave” unveils the harrowing true story of an underground Syrian hospital and the team of civilians and medical professionals led by women who risk their lives to provide medical care to the besieged local population.
The film follows 30-year-old Dr. Amani, an aspiring pediatrician forced to end her studies and medical training due to the war in Syria, as she becomes the appointed leader of a team of 130 medical practitioners in the secret hospital serving the 400,000 civilians of the besieged city of Al Ghouta from 2012 to 2018. Due to the nonstop onslaught of conventional and chemical warfare, brutalized and displaced...
“The Cave” unveils the harrowing true story of an underground Syrian hospital and the team of civilians and medical professionals led by women who risk their lives to provide medical care to the besieged local population.
The film follows 30-year-old Dr. Amani, an aspiring pediatrician forced to end her studies and medical training due to the war in Syria, as she becomes the appointed leader of a team of 130 medical practitioners in the secret hospital serving the 400,000 civilians of the besieged city of Al Ghouta from 2012 to 2018. Due to the nonstop onslaught of conventional and chemical warfare, brutalized and displaced...
- 6/24/2019
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Grasshopper Film announced today that they have acquired the U.S. distribution rights to the Brett Story-directed documentary The Hottest August. The feature will make its New York premiere at BAMcinemaFest and then open in theaters across the country in the fall. The Hottest August is set to debut on streaming platforms next year.
A complex portrait of a city and its inhabitants, The Hottest August gives a window into the collective consciousness of the present. The film’s point of departure is one city over one month: New York City, including its outer boroughs, during August 2017. It’s a month heavy with the tension of a new President, growing anxiety over everything from rising rents to marching white nationalists, and unrelenting news of either wildfires or hurricanes on every coast. The film pivots on the question of futurity: what does the future look like from where we are standing?...
A complex portrait of a city and its inhabitants, The Hottest August gives a window into the collective consciousness of the present. The film’s point of departure is one city over one month: New York City, including its outer boroughs, during August 2017. It’s a month heavy with the tension of a new President, growing anxiety over everything from rising rents to marching white nationalists, and unrelenting news of either wildfires or hurricanes on every coast. The film pivots on the question of futurity: what does the future look like from where we are standing?...
- 6/12/2019
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
In a lot of ways, the Cannes Film Festival premiere of “For Sama” should have felt like nothing new. After all, the film had premiered in March at the South by Southwest Film Festival and also screened earlier in May at the Hot Docs festival in Canada, making it the rare Cannes film to not premiere on the Croisette.
Beyond that, “For Sama” is a documentary about the bloody conflict in Syria, which has already been the subject of a string of notable nonfiction films, among them Feras Fayyad’s “Last Men in Aleppo,” Evgeny Afineevsky’s “Cries From Syria,” Matthew Heineman’s “City of Ghosts,” Talal Derki’s “The Return to Homs” and Sebastian Junger’s “Hell on Earth” in the feature realm, as well as the Oscar-nominated short docs “The White Helmets” (which won) and “Watani: My Homeland.”
What else, you could ask, is left to say about Syria,...
Beyond that, “For Sama” is a documentary about the bloody conflict in Syria, which has already been the subject of a string of notable nonfiction films, among them Feras Fayyad’s “Last Men in Aleppo,” Evgeny Afineevsky’s “Cries From Syria,” Matthew Heineman’s “City of Ghosts,” Talal Derki’s “The Return to Homs” and Sebastian Junger’s “Hell on Earth” in the feature realm, as well as the Oscar-nominated short docs “The White Helmets” (which won) and “Watani: My Homeland.”
What else, you could ask, is left to say about Syria,...
- 5/15/2019
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Like “Last Men in Aleppo,” “The White Helmets,” and other documentaries before it, “For Sama” offers a ground-level view of the ongoing conflict in Syria. Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts’ nonfiction account of that conflict differs from its predecessors insofar as it focuses on one woman’s experience, however, and for its efforts the film has already won the awards for Best Documentary at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival and the Special Jury Prize at Hot Docs.
Ahead of its upcoming debut at Cannes, where it’s being featured as a Special Screening, the film now has a trailer that has been shared exclusively with IndieWire. Watch it below.
Here’s the premise: “‘For Sama’ is both an intimate and epic journey into the female experience of war. A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo,...
Ahead of its upcoming debut at Cannes, where it’s being featured as a Special Screening, the film now has a trailer that has been shared exclusively with IndieWire. Watch it below.
Here’s the premise: “‘For Sama’ is both an intimate and epic journey into the female experience of war. A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo,...
- 5/10/2019
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Industry professionals will discuss 36 projects at all stages of development.
The fifth edition of Qumra, the Doha Film Institute (Dfi)’s regional talent and project development event begins in Doha today (Friday March 15).
Budding filmmakers from the region and leading international industry professionals will come together to discuss and nurture around 36 film projects at all stages of production at the six-day meeting. Qumra takes place in and around Doha’s Souq Wafiq area as well as the city’s I.M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art.
“The unprecedented access for emerging talent to the world’s top leaders across all...
The fifth edition of Qumra, the Doha Film Institute (Dfi)’s regional talent and project development event begins in Doha today (Friday March 15).
Budding filmmakers from the region and leading international industry professionals will come together to discuss and nurture around 36 film projects at all stages of production at the six-day meeting. Qumra takes place in and around Doha’s Souq Wafiq area as well as the city’s I.M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art.
“The unprecedented access for emerging talent to the world’s top leaders across all...
- 3/15/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Adam Kersh has departed Brigade Marketing, the New York boutique agency he co-founded in 2010.
During Kersh’s tenure, he established Brigade in the indie film sphere and grew the firm’s footprint substantially, launching films at Cannes, Sundance, Tribeca, Tiff and Venice, and propelling their profiles during awards season.
In an email to industry peers, Kersh wrote “Please note I am moving in a new direction professionally…For those of you traveling to SXSW, I hope to see you in Austin next weekend.”
Kersh will continue in film publicity with clients such as The Duplass Brothers, Lynn Shelton and The Florida Project filmmaker Sean Baker. Kersh will be at SXSW on Shelton’s new pic Sword of Trust and with Amy Seimetz who stars in the fest’s closing night film Pet Sematary.
Kersh will also continue to segue into indie feature producing, his previous credits including Madeline’s Madeline...
During Kersh’s tenure, he established Brigade in the indie film sphere and grew the firm’s footprint substantially, launching films at Cannes, Sundance, Tribeca, Tiff and Venice, and propelling their profiles during awards season.
In an email to industry peers, Kersh wrote “Please note I am moving in a new direction professionally…For those of you traveling to SXSW, I hope to see you in Austin next weekend.”
Kersh will continue in film publicity with clients such as The Duplass Brothers, Lynn Shelton and The Florida Project filmmaker Sean Baker. Kersh will be at SXSW on Shelton’s new pic Sword of Trust and with Amy Seimetz who stars in the fest’s closing night film Pet Sematary.
Kersh will also continue to segue into indie feature producing, his previous credits including Madeline’s Madeline...
- 3/1/2019
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Publicist Adam Kersh has left Brigade Marketing, the marketing firm he co-founded in 2010. Kersh headed up the traditional publicity division and will continue to work on a freelance basis with many of the filmmakers for whom he spearheaded campaigns in the past, including Mark and Jay Duplass, Lynn Shelton, and Sean Baker.
No successor has been announced at the company, but co-founder Tom Cunha will continue to oversee the digital marketing division along with the publicity side of the firm for the foreseeable future.
“I am moving in a new direction professionally,” Kersh wrote to industry peers in an email today, but declined to offer further details on his next moves. Other sources confirmed that he would continue to work with his roster of clients at the SXSW Film Festival this year while exploring new opportunities beyond publicity.
“Since Brigade’s founding, Adam has played an instrumental role in Brigade’s growth and success,...
No successor has been announced at the company, but co-founder Tom Cunha will continue to oversee the digital marketing division along with the publicity side of the firm for the foreseeable future.
“I am moving in a new direction professionally,” Kersh wrote to industry peers in an email today, but declined to offer further details on his next moves. Other sources confirmed that he would continue to work with his roster of clients at the SXSW Film Festival this year while exploring new opportunities beyond publicity.
“Since Brigade’s founding, Adam has played an instrumental role in Brigade’s growth and success,...
- 2/28/2019
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
They join the previously announced Agnès Varda, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Pawel Pawlikowski.
Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher and Mexican Academy Award-winning production designer Eugenio Caballero have been confirmed as the final two masters at the fifth edition of the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra event, which runs March 15-20 this year.
The pair join three previously announced masters: iconic French director Agnès Varda, Japanese filmmaker and writer Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski, who is Oscar nominated this year for Cold War.
Caballero’s 30-plus film credits include Jim Jarmusch’s The Limit Of Control, Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo + Juliet and Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma.
Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher and Mexican Academy Award-winning production designer Eugenio Caballero have been confirmed as the final two masters at the fifth edition of the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra event, which runs March 15-20 this year.
The pair join three previously announced masters: iconic French director Agnès Varda, Japanese filmmaker and writer Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski, who is Oscar nominated this year for Cold War.
Caballero’s 30-plus film credits include Jim Jarmusch’s The Limit Of Control, Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo + Juliet and Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma.
- 2/11/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
The social justice organisation has supported the Idfa fund since 2013.
The Idfa Bertha Fund, which supports documentaries made by filmmakers from developing countries, has secured €1.2m ($1.4m) in funding over the next three years (2019-2021) from the global social justice organisation the Bertha Foundation.
The Idfa Bertha Fund, previously, known as the Jan Vrijman Fund, was set up in 1998 and has long been an essential part of the activities of the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa). This year’s festival takes place Nov 14-25 and the opening film - Aboozar Amini’s Kabul, City In The Wind – was backed by the fund.
The Idfa Bertha Fund, which supports documentaries made by filmmakers from developing countries, has secured €1.2m ($1.4m) in funding over the next three years (2019-2021) from the global social justice organisation the Bertha Foundation.
The Idfa Bertha Fund, previously, known as the Jan Vrijman Fund, was set up in 1998 and has long been an essential part of the activities of the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa). This year’s festival takes place Nov 14-25 and the opening film - Aboozar Amini’s Kabul, City In The Wind – was backed by the fund.
- 11/8/2018
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Grasshopper Film has bought North American distribution rights to “Distant Constellation,” Shevaun Mizrahi’s documentary on the residents of a Turkish retirement home, Variety has learned.
The distributor plans an Oscar-qualifying run, starting with Metrograph in New York City on Nov. 2 before expanding to other markets, followed by a release on VOD and home video in early 2019.
“Distant Constellation,” produced by Shelly Grizim and Deniz Buga, received an Independent Spirit Award nomination in the Truer Than Fiction category this year. It premiered in 2017 at the Locarno Film Festival, where it received a special jury award, and has since won prizes at the Vienna International Film Festival, the Seville Film Festival and the Jeonju International Film Festival.
Mizrahi shot “Distant Constellation” at a government run facility for the elderly in Instanbul, where she had volunteered and formed relationships with the residents. The film portrays residents recounting stories of their youth, including...
The distributor plans an Oscar-qualifying run, starting with Metrograph in New York City on Nov. 2 before expanding to other markets, followed by a release on VOD and home video in early 2019.
“Distant Constellation,” produced by Shelly Grizim and Deniz Buga, received an Independent Spirit Award nomination in the Truer Than Fiction category this year. It premiered in 2017 at the Locarno Film Festival, where it received a special jury award, and has since won prizes at the Vienna International Film Festival, the Seville Film Festival and the Jeonju International Film Festival.
Mizrahi shot “Distant Constellation” at a government run facility for the elderly in Instanbul, where she had volunteered and formed relationships with the residents. The film portrays residents recounting stories of their youth, including...
- 8/15/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Grasshopper Film has acquired U.S. distribution rights to the thriller “The Load,” the debut feature from filmmaker Ognjen Glavonića, Variety has learned exclusively.
“The Load,” which debuted at the Directors Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival in May, centers on a truck driver hired to deliver a mysterious cargo across a dangerous, war-torn landscape. “The Load” will receive a theatrical release next year, followed by home video and VOD.
The story takes place during the Nato bombing of Serbia in 1999. To transport the mysterious load from Kosovo to Belgrade, the central character must drive through unfamiliar territory and try to make his way in a country scarred by war.
Jessica Kiang said in her review for Variety: “It is in the very banality of this day in the life of a Serbian trucker that this impressive new filmmaker illuminates a painful truth that inculpates more of us than...
“The Load,” which debuted at the Directors Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival in May, centers on a truck driver hired to deliver a mysterious cargo across a dangerous, war-torn landscape. “The Load” will receive a theatrical release next year, followed by home video and VOD.
The story takes place during the Nato bombing of Serbia in 1999. To transport the mysterious load from Kosovo to Belgrade, the central character must drive through unfamiliar territory and try to make his way in a country scarred by war.
Jessica Kiang said in her review for Variety: “It is in the very banality of this day in the life of a Serbian trucker that this impressive new filmmaker illuminates a painful truth that inculpates more of us than...
- 7/17/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Sundance has long delivered a few Oscar documentary contenders each year, most recently with “Last Men in Aleppo,” “Icarus” and Strong Island.” This year, the festival introduced a plethora of leading hopefuls, led by Morgan Neville’s heart-tugging portrait of the late PBS children’s host Fred Rogers, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” (Metascore: 83), which Focus Features scooped up last summer; it goes into release June 8. The Sundance audience was in tears, slayed by a portrait of a beloved cultural figure who tried to do good. At Sundance, Oscar-winner Neville (“Twenty Feet From Stardom”) told me that he hopes this movie about a well-meaning conservative Republican Presbyterian minister will reach a wider swath than the usual liberal moviegoer. Count on it. This zeitgeist-hitter will be hard to beat.
Two other well-reviewed Sundance biodocs could emerge from the HBO broadcast realm: Susan Lacy biography “Jane Fonda in Five Acts” and...
Two other well-reviewed Sundance biodocs could emerge from the HBO broadcast realm: Susan Lacy biography “Jane Fonda in Five Acts” and...
- 6/6/2018
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
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